Kresta in the Afternoon

This Sunday’s Gospel calls us to reflect on several spiritual needs: recognition of Jesus’ divinity, the need for persistence in prayer, the power of great faith and God’s response to humility. Peggy Stanton joins us.

Christ’s pilgrim Church has suddenly found itself in the late innings of, perhaps, transformation and schism, and few are around anymore to help save the day. But there is a Catholic Way forward.

Many atheists say they reject Christianity because they prefer the idea of being food for worms to the possibility of an eternal Hell. This preference for extinction is relevant to a popular apologetic issue—namely, that many people embrace Christianity because (only because) it is comforting. But can’t the notion of permanent extinction be comforting also? Especially given the difficulties of this life and the prospect of death’s “sweet relief”? Pat Flynn talks more.

One of the major casualties of the rampaging sexual revolution is a proper sense of shame. Sexual relations are the exclusive privilege of heterosexual marital love. But many people engage in errant sexual activities purely for pleasure without the slightest hint of shame or regret. Dr. Rich Spinello joins us.

Is Catholicism in America doomed when the vast majority of the baptized—the 80% who stay home on Sunday—are unchurched? David Bonagura joins us.

The Enlightenment’s misreading of man and history has led to a reductionist understanding of human society. This, in turn, has led to the reduction of the human person to that of being a mere subject, or dare we say, guinea pig. The consequences of such a bad idea are clear enough. It leads and has led already to the crushing of humans in the name of humanity. We’ll talk more about it with Joseph Pearce.

The gospel of John has been recognized as unique from the other Synoptic Gospels – but why? Michael Pakaluk looks for the answer by examining the subtle but powerful influence of our Blessed Mother within John’s Gospel, drawing out the deeper meaning of what happened when the beloved disciple took her into his home.

Marian devotion plays a special role in Catholic life. She appears in countless works of art, is the subject of hundreds of books, and is a central character in Mel Gibson’s film The Passion. But the Scriptures don’t often mention her. Do we overemphasize Mary? Al discusses.

Whatever one thinks of Jesus, it is impossible to be neutral about Mary's place in Christian doctrine and devotion. Either Mary is essential to the faith as the Mother of God, or she is a mere woman, or (perhaps) she is a quasi-pagan goddess who endangers the dignity and prerogatives of her son as Creator and Lord. There is no middle ground, no shared pronunciation by which Mary might be both the glorious Virgin Mother and the historically humble mother of Jesus. What was the real Mary like, and how was she regarded in the early church? We talk with Dr Rachel Fulton Brown.

During the rise of the Radical Feminist movement, there was one element that held many ideologies together: abortion. Millions of women were convinced that the most precious and natural bond on earth, that of mother and child, was no longer important, and in fact was actually an impediment to a woman’s happiness. How is it that this lie could spread so quickly and so resoundingly? We talk with Carrie Gress.