Matters of Soul Importance with Roxane Salonen

Rabbi Eitan Webb co-founded the Chabad House of Princeton in 2002 with his wife Gitty, and has served as a Jewish Chaplain at Princeton University since 2007. In addition to his service to university students, Rabbi Webb serves on the board of directors of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation and of the Sinai Scholars Society. Today, we're going to talk about young people today, and if it's true that they've "checked out of" religion, as some news reports have indicated. Being so close to the source, Rabbi Webb will no doubt have some great insight to share.

SHOW NOTES:

• Chabat House at Princeton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WliRx-uxZio.

• "Gen Z and Fidelity: An Interfaith Dialogue" with Rabbi Webb and friends, June 5, 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTTlikiDHx8

Nichole Haugen is a wife, mom to six daughters, nurse, and grief coach. She spent over 10 years as a hospice nurse helping families through hard times, so she has dealt with grief both personally and professionally. Through losing her parents close together in 2019, and marriage struggles, Nichole eventually found a path to healing, forgiveness, and learning to live with grief. Today, she will help us understand what it takes to move through grief, which we all experience in some form, in a healthy way.

SHOW NOTES:

• Nichole's website to connect about grief coaching: https://catholicgriefcoach.com/

• The Retrouvaille Marriage Program Nichole mentioned for struggling marriages: https://helpourmarriage.org/

Rob Port is a reporter and a columnist for the Forum Communications Company, as well as host of the Plain Talk podcast. But beyond that, he's a husband and father who tilts conservative politically, and yet not so much that he'd always identify as a Republican. While he grew up in a Christian home, Rob doesn't practice any faith, nor does he believe in God. Today, Rob and I will share the mic to toss each other a host of questions relating to faith, or lack thereof, to probe each other's minds a bit, and, hopefully, along with our different perspectives, reveal a few places of convergence.

SHOW NOTES:

• Rob Port's "Plain Talk" podcast: https://www.inforum.com/podcasts/plain-talk

• Plain Talk, Episode #273 with Rob, Roxane and Devlyn Brooks (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

• "Who is Jesus? An atheist, a Lutheran and a Catholic answer," Dec. 20, 2024, "Matters of Soul Importance" podcast with Rob and Devlyn Brooks: https://www.inforum.com/lifestyle/who-is-jesus-an-atheist-a-lutheran-and-a-catholic-answer

Born first in a family of six children, Cariysa Powell was given a strong Catholic base on which to launch her life. But in 2020, as our world experienced a global pandemic crisis, her parents went through a personal faith crisis and departed from Christianity. This defining moment in Cariysa's life challenged her to decide what she believed.

Today, she'll share what helped her find firm grounding in an uncertain time, and set the record straight on the faith she is seeing unfold in the hearts of her peers.

SHOW NOTES:

• Converge young adult ministry: https://www.converge-roc.com/about

• Catechesis of the Good Shepherd: https://www.cgsusa.org/

Father Joel Sember, a priest from Wisconsin, is the author of a series of books about the Christian season of Advent that he's written annually since 2020. Each year's book bears the same title, "Oriens," a Latin word meaning "rising" and "dawn," and is meant to take the reader on a journey through the Advent season, with Fr. Joel as a guide. What is the origin of Oriens, and why should we even care about it or Advent? Isn't it enough to celebrate Christmas one day a year?

Today, Fr. Joel will share his thoughts on why we would benefit from taking time with Advent and consider this season, and all of our Christian lives, to be an adventure on which we embark with Jesus and one another.

SHOW NOTES:

• Sign up for the Oriens mailing list and join the 7 p.m. Sunday night Zoom here: https://pilgrimpriest.us/book

• Email Fr. Joel: [email protected]

• Oriens 2025: A Pilgrimage through Advent and Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/Oriens-2025-Pilgrimage-Through-Christmas/dp/1639663495/

• Father Joel's weekly homily podcast, "Pilgrim Priest:" https://pilgrimpriest.us/podcast

Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose work is often described as "Southern Gothic," a style which has left many readers scratching their heads, as they come across her grotesque characters who are often in violent situations — none of which match the life of their author, a devout Catholic. "Flannery," as she was known, had begun making a major impact on the American literary landscape when she died in 1964 at 39 of the same disease that had taken her father just shy of her 16th birthday.

Our guests today, Karen Mahoney and Christina Brajkovich, co-authors with yours truly of a brand-new book, "Finding Flannery," will offer insight on this formidable wordsmith and why her impact is still felt today.

SHOW NOTES:

• Finding Flannery testimonials and pre-order link: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/findingflannery/

• Flannery O'Connor Institute for Humanities at Flannery's alma mater: https://www.gcsu.edu/oconnorinstitute

• Georgia State College and University information about Andalusia: https://www.gcsu.edu/andalusia/about

• The monastery where Thomas Merton lived and wrote (our first main stop): https://monks.org/

• The life you save may be your own: An American Pilgrimage, by Paul Elie: https://a.co/d/fvLx9wg

• Roxane's Forum article comparing Charlie Kirk to Flannery: https://roxanesalonen.com/2025/10/19/living-faith-charlie-flannery-drew-large-startling-figures/

• Karen's Substack: https://substack.com/@karenannemahoney

• Christina's Substack: https://substack.com/@christinabrajkovich

• Roxane's Substack: https://roxanesalonen.substack.com/

Leah Libresco Sargeant describes herself as an author, speaker and, interestingly, instigator. She's written for such publications as "First Things," "The American Conservative," and "Commonweal," and has been a guest on CNN as well as at "Theology on Tap" events in multiple countries.

Her interests include religion, statistics, and the theater. She grew up Jewish and atheist, and in 2012, converted to Christianity after many vigorous discussions and a thorough exploration of its claims. Currently, Leah works on family policy at a think tank in Washington, D.C., where she and her husband, Alexi, and their three young children reside.

SHOW NOTES:

• Leah's newest book: The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto: https://www.amazon.com/Dignity-Dependence-Feminist-Manifesto-Catholic/dp/0268210330

• Leah's second book: Building The Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Benedict-Option-Gathering-Together/dp/1621642178/

• Leah's conversion story: Arriving at Amen: https://www.amazon.com/Arriving-Amen-Seven-Catholic-Prayers/

• Leah's Substack, "Other Feminisms": https://www.otherfeminisms.com/

• Leah's website: https://leahlibresco.com/

• Leah's conversion story on video (2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kThUVIe704I

• Roxane's tribute to sidewalk advocate Lila Harmsen: https://www.inforum.com/opinion/columns/salonen-well-done-good-and-faithful-servant-lila

In this episode, we'll be introduced to the man who became known as "the Rosary priest," Father Patrick Peyton, by the priest helping advance his cause for canonization, Father David Marcham of Holy Cross Family Ministries. How did Father Peyton, a poor farmer's son from Ireland, end up in America? What was his impact here and elsewhere? And did he really coin the phrase, "The Family that prays together stays together?"

SHOW NOTES:

• Website for Father Patrick Peyton: https://www.fatherpeyton.org/

• Holy Cross Family Ministries page on Father Peyton Center in Easton, Mass: https://www.hcfm.org/peyton-center-project

• "The Family that Prays Together Stay Together" book by Fr. Willy Raymond: https://www.amazon.com/Family-That-Prays-Together-Stays/dp/1646802551

• "All for Her: The Autobiography of Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.": https://a.co/d/cboYO8w

• "Pray" movie trailer (The story of Patrick Peyton): https://www.praythefilm.com/shop

In this episode, Dr. Stacy Trasancos will discuss the premise for her latest book, "IVF is Not the Way," which tackles the topic of in vitro fertilization, or fertilization that takes place in a scientific laboratory, using the Church's age-old wisdom as a grounding place, and a logical, moral, philosophical approach to move through it thoughtfully.

SHOW NOTES:

• IVF is Not the Way book: https://www.amazon.com/Ivf-Not-Way-Artificial-Procreation/dp/1644137984

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

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

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

• "Donum Vitae" ("Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation" issued on February 22, 1987): https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

• "Dignitas Personae" ("The Dignity of the Human Person"): https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

• Roxane's email for book drawing (respond by Oct. 24, 2025 to enter): [email protected]

Ken Koehler has been speaking out on abortion locally for many years now, and prays regularly at our area's only abortion facility, where, on average, a classroom of babies die every week. A faithful Lutheran and longtime member of Lutherans for Life, Ken has been a powerful force in keeping this important topic before us, including as a frequent contributor to The Forum's "Letters to the Editor" section, where he broaches issues of life and morality in our day. In recent years, even while many claim that men shouldn't have an opinion when it comes to abortion, Ken has been steadfastly bringing a voice of gentleness and truth to the topic. Today, he will share his thoughts on the role men play in the ongoing abortion conversation, challenging the idea that men shouldn't speak up when it comes to the intentional ending of innocent human life.

SHOW NOTES:

A few of the many Letters to the Editor to The Forum newspaper written by Ken Koehler:

• "Yes, let's talk about abortion": www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/letter-yes-lets-talk-about-abortion

• "Minnesota votes for death": www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/letter-minnesota-votes-for-death

• "Abortion is not healthcare": www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/letter-136

• 40 Days for Life: https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/

• Life Runners: https://www.liferunners.org/

• Pro-life Action Ministries (offers training and support for our local sidewalk advocates): https://plam.org/

Additional area pro-life resources:

• Women's Care Centers: www.womenscarecenter.org