In December 2021, Rob Port of the “Plain Talk” podcast invited Devlyn Brooks, a Lutheran pastor and fellow journalist, and I on his show to talk about religion. An avowed non-believer, Rob wanted to hear our thoughts about the reported declines in religious adherents, and Pastor Brooks and I gave it our best shot. That show ended up being the most popular of the year among “Plain Talk” listeners. It also renewed my thoughts about possibly starting a podcast myself.

When I launched “Matters of Soul Importance” in January 2024, Pastor Brooks was my first guest, sharing whether Jesus and journalism can co-exist. That episode prompted a desire to get our original trio back together, around Christmas time again, to dive into who Jesus is to each of us. I’m pleased it worked to have this discourse regarding this important, albeit controversial, figure from three different perspectives.

SHOW NOTES:

• Plain Talk, Episode #273 (Dec. 2021): Is America’s Religious Decline Good or Bad? https://open.spotify.com/episode/5KO0mX0VTHxU1J1VaCuo3j

• Roxane’s “Living Faith” Forum column that followed: https://www.inforum.com/opinion/columns/salonen-does-faith-mean-loss-of-freedom

• Pastor Brooks’ website: Findingfaithin.com

• Churches United for the Homeless website: https://www.churches-united.org/

Kerri Bishop was pregnant with her fifth child when she found herself in an unimagined, unwanted situation: tasting the bitterness of divorce. For a moment or two, Kerri turned her feelings of abandonment against her faith, until she realized that God and the Church weren’t to blame. God was her savior and her faith, the anchor she would need to move through the next year's whole.

Kerri’s journey through divorce and to the other side has given her a heart for others who have been abandoned and are tempted to give up on, or never even seek, God, accompanying them through the challenges of finding their purpose in this world, and often, their place in the pews, despite the challenges that will inevitably come.

SHOW NOTES: 

• Kerri’s website: https://www.singlemomsmiling.com/

• Kerri’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/single-mom-smiling-mindset-strategies-for-single-moms/id1745819514

• Life coaching through Kerri: https://www.singlemomsmiling.com/contact/coaching/

Angela Copenhaver, founder of We Teach Think and Human from Day One, once considered herself staunchly pro-choice. After reversing her position, she founded a non-profit organization in Lincoln, Nebraska, Human from Day One. She now speaks regularly on the dignity of human life. Science is on our side, she asserts, offering facts and truths in a manner that invites engagement. 

Today, we’ll ask Angela to help us sort through what lives in the womb of a pregnant woman. Is it a parasite, an alien, or a human? How we answer that question makes all the difference in the conversation regarding abortion and whether it’s a just response in a civilized society. 

SHOW NOTES:

• Human from Day One website: https://www.humanfromdayone.com/
• Angela’s email for speaking invitations: [email protected]
• “We Teach Think” app on Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/we-teach-think/id6450483394
• “We Teach Think” app on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.pushpay.weteachthink
• New animated message on We Teach Think app: https://player.vimeo.com/video/983583348 

Dr. John Sottosanti was successful in the world’s eyes. He had a lovely wife, two children, a beautiful home in California with an ocean view, and a career that had catapulted him to the top of his industry, and into spheres that only a top percentage of people penetrate. But was he happy?

In his memoir, “Mortal Adhesions: A Surgeon Battles the Deadly Sins to Find Faith, Happiness and Inner Peace,” Sottosanti recounts his motivations and missteps through a life of focusing on self, and how it nearly led him down a path of eternal destruction. Can religion make us happier? For years, he didn’t believe it could, but in this conversation, he’ll share what happened to cause a change in his heart and life. 

SHOW NOTES:

• “Mortal Adhesions” book: https://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Adhesions-Surgeon-Battles-Happiness/dp/1666774464
• Interview with the Eternal World Television Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTf_SaZr4UM
• Interview with “At Home with Jim and Joy” TV Show: Part 1: https://bit.ly/3VAOBdB; Part 2: https://bit.ly/3vCPRlC
• Dr. Sottosanti’s website: https://mortaladhesions.com/
• Worldwide Marriage Encounter: https://wwme.org/
• National Cursillo website: https://www.natl-cursillo.org/

Michelle Duppong, a woman from western North Dakota, died on Christmas 2015 at age 31 after a harrowing journey with cancer.

As Michelle suffered, her devoted family began to notice the extraordinary ways she carried that cross, evidenced in part by the medical personnel who were drawn to her while in the hospital. The Duppong family soon came to know that the wider Church had been noticing her extraordinary qualities, too, and in June of 2022, they received word that Michelle, a woman of humble countenance and beginnings, was being investigated for one of the Church’s greatest anointings: canonization.

On November 2022, at a special Mass, Bishop Kagan of the Bismarck Diocese declared Michelle a Servant of God, prompting the first step in the canonization process, involving extensive investigation surrounding the person’s life to prove the depth of their demonstration of heroic virtue. There’s a lot to unpack here about the Church’s understanding of what makes a saint, praying to the dead, and other matters of life and death.

Lisa Gray, one of Michelle’s sisters, has been pulled into this conversation in a personal way, but is her sister Michelle a saint? Lisa will weigh in on her sister’s virtues as we celebrate All Saints Day.

SHOW NOTES:

• Roxane’s article for The Forum on Michelle from her siblings’ perspectives: https://roxanesalonen.com/2022/09/04/faith-conversations-north-dakota-siblings-reflect-on-saintly-sister-michelle/

• Roxane’s article for The Forum on the Mass initiating canonization process: https://roxanesalonen.com/2022/11/27/faith-conversations-servant-of-god-title-bestowed-on-michelle-duppong-at-cathedral-mass-initiating-the-canonization-process/

• In Michelle’s own words: “Abide in Christ”: https://www.mixcloud.com/BismarckDiocese/talk-1-abide-in-christ/

• Opening cause for canonization Mass for Michelle, Nov. 1, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyajoROYd2o

• Article on the process of becoming a saint: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/how-does-a-person-become-a-canonized-saint

• Article on praying to the “dead”: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252694/why-do-catholics-pray-for-the-dead-and-other-questions-about-purgatory-answered

• What is FOCUS? (Fellowship of Catholic University Students): https://focus.org/

Fr. Vincent Druding, a priest in the Archdiocese of New York, is well-versed in the realities of the spiritual world. As a trained exorcist who leads a deliverance and liberation ministry, Fr. Druding is especially equipped to answer the questions we pose today, just ahead of Halloween.

With the growing prevalence of the minimization of sin and its effects, disregard of the devil’s existence, and skepticism over whether hell is real or just a scare tactic of Christians, our need to understand the spiritual world in reality is great. Along with sharing a few stories of his participation in freeing souls weighed down by demonic possession and oppression, Father also reveals an action we can all take that is more powerful than exorcism, bringing balance and hope to an otherwise frightening subject. His story of conversion and finding his life’s purpose will undoubtedly inspire even the doubters.  

SHOW NOTES:

• Article on Fr. Druding’s draw to the priesthood: https://www.cny.org/stories/911-experiences-pointed-three-men-to-priestly-vocation-,6040

• Baccalaureate speech on Fr. Druding’s conversion: https://blog.wabash.edu/magazine/2016/09/28/a-light-that-cannot-be-hidden-by-fr-vince-druding/

• Demonic Abortion: A Sobering Commentary on the Satanic Nature of the Modern Abortion Industry: https://www.amazon.com/Demonic-Abortion-Sobering-Commentary-Industry/dp/1559220627

• Sisters of Life order and ministry: https://sistersoflife.org/

• Article, “A Witness to Love,” by Fr. Druding’s sister Colleen: https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2012/01/19/a-witness-to-love

• Fr. Druding on Integrity Restored podcast: https://integrityrestored.com/ep165/

• Articles on Fr. Druding’s newly developing Franciscan order, Sisters of the Pure Heart: https://thetablet.org/new-religious-community-aims-to-be-spiritual-mothers-to-spiritual-orphans/ and https://holycrossbronx.com/franciscan-sisters-of-the-pure-heart

When Ramona Trevino accepted a job to manage a Planned Parenthood clinic, she thought she would be helping girls and women live lives of abundant freedom through the promise of choice. But in time, the truth became evident, and she experienced a dramatic conversion of both faith and life, leading her out of the abortion industry and eventually to speaking out on life issues nationally.

Ramona’s message challenges us to consider how contraception has become a gateway to abortion, insisting that we can’t have an honest discussion about abortion without recognizing contraception’s contributing role; a role that has often been unacknowledged or ignored, to the great detriment of society. Ramona brings the experience of her own unplanned pregnancy and surviving abuse, as well as the joys of following God’s plan for an openness to life, into her work spreading a message of hope.

● The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/seasons-and-feast-days/our-lady-of- guadalupe-21357 ● Pope Paul VI's encyclical on human life, Humanae Vitae: https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p- vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html ● Ramona’s memoir, “Redeemed by Grace: A Catholic Woman’s Journey to Planned Parenthood and Back”: https://a.co/d/e1hZz9q ● 40 Days for Life website: https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/ ● “What is Natural Family Planning?” article (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops): https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family- planning/what-natural-family-planning

Bree Solstad, or, as she refers to herself on X, “Miss B Converted,” describes herself as a former porn actress and producer whose life was transformed dramatically after a trip to Europe. While overseas, Bree was unexpectantly wooed away from the porn industry by a woman of whom Bree had little knowledge before the encounter.

How did Bree, who grew up in a Christian home, find herself on a wayward path in the first place, and who was the mysterious woman who convinced her of a better life; one not devoid of a moral compass and haunted by past sins, but into a future that has been redeemed by grace? She’ll discuss this and more in today’s interview.

More:

• Bree’s custom Rosaries on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/market/bree_solstad_rosary
• Catholic News Agency piece on Bree’s conversion at the Easter Vigil 2024: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257362/former-porn-actress-bree-solstad-embraces-catholic-faith-after-trip-to-italy-that-changed-her-life
• EDIFY’s interview with Bree: https://youtu.be/wZWWeVHCu7w?si=JQOq7cjUpClkKKGa
• Jason Evert’s interview with Bree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxjxHFYgG0
• Interview with Dr. Brant Pitre on his book, “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary”: https://youtu.be/jmii0zRKP5A?si=ShXs1Hda8fAIPb5M

In this episode, Dr. Stacy Trasancos will discuss the difference between science and what some have dubbed “scientism,” and why it even matters.

Dr. Trasancos brings with her discussions advanced degrees in chemistry, dogmatic theology, and systematic philosophy, as well as her work as an educator, speaker, author and mother committed to the intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church.

Dr. Trasancos hasn’t always been Catholic. She grew up evangelical, and eventually left her faith for a time, fully dedicating her energies to the pursuit of science. But when that pursuit left her empty, Dr. Trasancos eventually found her way back into a life of grace.

Now, she’s able to bring both her intellectual curiosity and training and her experiences with a vibrant faith life into discussions, merging these disciplines in a way that is rarely found in one place in our times.

SHOW NOTES: 

• Particles of Faith book: https://a.co/d/8G3lts5

• Dr. Trasancos’ website:  https://stacytrasancos.com/

• God & Elements (Dr. Trasancos’ Substack): https://stacytrasancos.substack.com/

• Roxane’s “Faith Conversations” article on Dr. Transancos’ Fargo visit: https://roxanesalonen.com/2022/03/27/faith-conversations-chemist-calls-science-the-study-of-gods-handiwork/

Max and Micah Fischer, a Christian couple in their mid-20s, are a contrasting witness to these times in which studies show young people falling away from the Christian faith at lightning speed. Even as pews that previously were occupied by younger families are emptying, more young couples are also forgoing having children, not to mention marriage.

Despite this marked shift in society, however, not all young people have determined God to be dead. Some, like the Fischers, have discovered a life-giving raft in the midst of a tumultuous cultural storm. But it hasn’t always been easy.

In this episode, Max and Micah converse about everything from abortion to the culture’s current obsession with the devil. As they discuss some of the pitfalls of their generation, and the freedoms they’ve discovered through cultivating a life steeped in Christian truths, they offer hopeful insight on whether this ship can be turned around before hitting the iceberg ahead. 

SHOW NOTES: 

• Northview website: https://www.northview.life/

• Cameron Bolton news stories: 

• https://www.inforum.com/changing-lives-one-rock-at-a-time-family-honors-cameron-boltons-life-with-rock-campaign

• https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/video-family-friends-remember-cameron-bolton-during-flag-raising-ceremony-at-fargos-sanford-hospital

• https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/crash-that-killed-22-year-old-fargo-man-prompts-criminal-charge