Kresta in the Afternoon

The question of gender—who we are as men and women—has never been more pressing, or more misunderstood. Tragically, an issue that should be left in the hands of psychologists has been hijacked by political activists on both sides of the aisle. Abigail Favale joins us again to explore the roots of the gender paradigm.

Scripture portrays the covenant between God and his people as a divine-human marriage spanning through all of human history. In the eyes of Jewish scholars, God married humanity in the Garden of Eden, and that union was broken by sin and restored throughout the Old Testament. We explore this union of Divine Love further with Andre Villeneuve.

If you were to name someone who might be beyond the reach of God’s mercy, it would be Rudolph Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz who claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 2 million people. But he repented shortly before his death. Jesus wants to save every one of us. We share more from a conversation with Fr. John Riccardo.

With opened 2023 by saying goodbye to Pope Benedict XVI, one of the great theologians of the age. Marcus Peter is part of what many call the “John Paul II Generation,” but he did not embrace his Catholic faith until the papacy of Pope Benedict, whose teachings were instrumental in his life. Marcus shares more.

The film Oppenheimer raises some important moral and political questions beyond the story of the atomic bomb. Can “great” men be “good?” Why do great men so often fail as husbands and fathers? What happens when a scientist does not understand his vocation? We talk about it with Kody Cooper.

The world claims that the greatest virtue we can have today is to be “Woke.” The term may be new, but its ideology goes back for decades. Fundamentally, it is more than a political movement – it is a pseudo-spiritual one, and it must be reckoned with. But St Paul tell us in Ephesians not to be woke, but to Awake and receive the light of Christ. How do we do this? Noelle Mering joins us.

Few authors are more distinctly American than Mark Twain. And Twain was a complicated man whose views on politics, religion and other issues are often misunderstood, even to this day. We examine how religion is portrayed in his works with Joseph Csicsila.

In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul assures us that as Christians, we are "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested." The same power that converted the world in the first century is still converting the world today. Scott Hahn joins us with more.

Without Genesis, the rest of the Bible is incomprehensible. It’s the foundation upon which the rest of our faith is built. But it can also be a difficult book to understand. Who wrote the book? Is the seven-day account of creation meant to be taken literally? Steve Ray joins us for a deep dive.

A recent in-depth article championed the cause of “women priests fighting for reproductive justice.” It highlights the work of women who claim to be ordained Catholic priests and are vigorous champions of abortion. And in March leaders at the German Synod overwhelmingly voted in support of a female diaconate. What is our understanding of the authority of Mary and role of women in the Church? We talk with Monica Miller.