Inside an NFL stadium late last month, the Church marked a new kind of digital encounter. Pope Leo joined the National Catholic Youth Conference at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis by live video, speaking to young Americans in their own Midwestern accent. Filmmaker Rob Kaczmark of Spirit Juice Studios, whose team was on-site capturing the moment, said it felt special even then, and he believes that in 10 or 20 years we’ll understand just how extraordinary it really was.

Rather than scolding technology, he spoke like a father who understands the tools his children are using. “AI can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence,” he told them. Using AI responsibly, he said, means using it only in ways that help you grow in dignity and holiness – and, very practically, “don’t ask it to do your homework for you.”

He warned that “it cannot offer real wisdom” and that AI “will not judge between what is truly right and wrong.” No algorithm can stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation or form real friendships. Spiritually, he reminded the young adults that these years are for “deepening your friendship with God and becoming more like Him,” and for learning to think clearly, examine reality, and search for truth, beauty, and goodness with God’s grace.

Behind the scenes, Rob and his team were simply praying everything would work; the teens just assumed it would. After an hour of jokes, questions, and real-time interaction with the Holy Father, the day culminated in Eucharistic Adoration in the same space. Long lines for confession throughout the weekend showed how deeply the Holy Spirit was moving those young hearts.

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On Marriage Unhindered, Doug Hinderer sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Johann D'Souza to explore “optimal work,” a practical approach he learned from his mentor, Harvard psychiatrist Kevin Majors. Optimal Work, he explains, is about working at your best so you can live at your best – using modern neuroscience to bring your highest ideals into each hour of the day, especially when anxiety is high around the holidays and family demands.

At the heart of the method is the “Golden Hour”: one protected hour when you pour maximum intensity and meaning into a single task by focusing on how you work, not just what you get done. You begin with a few minutes of silence, reconnecting with why you’re doing this work for your loved ones and for God, then lay out clear steps – each no longer than 15 minutes. You set a timer, start, and stretch yourself. That one focused hour builds momentum, clears your mind, and turns work into an engine for personal holiness instead of just a to‑do list. 

Dr. D’Souza contrasts this with “activism,” the urge to just dive in and stay busy – even if you’re racing down rabbit holes in the wrong direction. The Golden Hour trains prudence as directed by St. Thomas Aquinas: through deliberation, judgement, then commanding yourself to act. It also fosters contemplation, the true purpose of life and life in Heaven, where we live in God’s presence like the saints who made each person feel like the only one in the world.

Practically, he advises guarding your “perimeter”: clear your desk, close extra tabs, put your phone in another room, and find a quiet space. A few slow breaths can become a simple Jesus prayer – “Jesus” on the inhale, “I love you” on the exhale – bringing peace to your body and heart before you begin. Used daily, especially in the holiday rush of planning, shopping, and family gatherings, the Golden Hour can turn even ordinary tasks into a school of trust, discipline, and love.

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On Trending with Timmerie, host Timmerie looks at a surprising Gen Z shift: women saying no to casual sex and stepping away from hookup culture. A 2025 national study on modern love and dating, conducted with datingadvice.com and the Kinsey Institute, points to a quiet revolution: fewer one-night stands, fewer no-commitment relationships, and a growing share of Gen Z calling themselves “celibate” or abstinent.

Casual intimacy often leaves women anxious and distressed, because their bodies and souls are wired for real commitment. Women carry babies, release more oxytocin during intimacy, and bond more deeply after sex. That design is a gift when intimacy is lived as a conjugal union within marriage – ordered to the good of spouses, children, and our sanctification.

But knowing you don’t want hookup culture is one thing; knowing how to say no is another. Drawing on Sarah Hernholm’s work at Evie Magazine, Timmerie walks through scenarios with concrete phrases: “I’m not feeling like having this tonight.” “I’m not comfortable continuing.” “I’m not doing casual anymore. If you want to keep seeing me, let’s date.” Clear, calm words that leave no room for negotiation.

She even addresses unsafe situations, urging women to leave quickly and without apology – your safety comes first. After years in crisis-pregnancy work and sidewalk counseling, Timmerie has seen how a firm “no” can protect your life and future. And when we fall, Christ never leaves us stuck: we keep practicing chastity, get back up, and run again to the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation.

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On The Patrick Madrid Show, a caller named Tom from San Diego phoned back with an update that had Patrick – and listeners – breathing a sigh of relief. Two weeks earlier, he had admitted on air that he was too ashamed to go to the priest with what he’d done.

Lying awake one night, Tom replayed Patrick’s words and finally asked himself, “what would I rather do? Confess and get it off my shoulder or be embarrassed to go to Christ?” That simple, honest question cut through his fear and put eternity back in focus.

He chose Christ. Tom went to confession. Walking into church was still hard, he admitted, but God met him in the details: two priests were hearing confessions and he was able to go behind the screen, known yet unseen. “It was like Jesus said, you, I know you're embarrassed, but go ahead and I'm going to cover you and go ahead and do your, do your confession.”

The grace was unmistakable. “The weight that is off of your shoulders when you're walking out of that confessional and walking into the parking lot, getting in your car is like a breath of fresh air,” he said. Patrick summed it up: why cling to unconfessed mortal sin when a few moments of embarrassment can open the door to mercy?

“Jesus died on the cross to save us from that,” Patrick reminded him, rejoicing that Tom had chosen forgiveness over fear. Their conversation is a gentle nudge to anyone hesitating outside the confessional: don’t stay away. Christ is waiting, ready to cover you too.

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On The Drew Mariani Show, Drew Mariani and Dr. Susan Hanssen step into a remarkable 50–year window of American history, from 1776 to 1826, when the men we call the Founding Fathers were also the nation’s presidents. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe—and “honorary founder” John Quincy Adams—did not just shape documents; they governed a fragile new republic.

Dr. Hanssen notes that for a full half–century, every president was directly involved in the Revolution. They signed the Declaration of Independence, attended the Constitutional Convention, and serving in the war itself. Even young John Quincy Adams was sent overseas as a teenager, traveling all the way to the court of the czar in Russia to seek a loan for the War of Independence alongside his father.

Drew and Dr. Hanssen’s conversation turns to an extraordinary day: July 4, 1826. Exactly 50 years after the Declaration was promulgated, both Thomas Jefferson, a slave-holding Virginian from the South, and John Adams, a Puritan New Englander descended from abolitionists, died on the same day. After a “very controversial and bitter election,” they had stopped speaking, until Abigail Adams helped restore their friendship and a rich correspondence.

They held competing visions of this new nation: John Adams saw the Revolution as a conservative defense of existing English rights and liberties, while Jefferson compared it to the French Revolution, a more radical break from their past. As Adams lay dying in Quincy, Massachusetts, one of his final words was, “Jefferson still lives,” unaware that Jefferson had already died that morning at Monticello in Virginia.

Dr. Hanssen explains how this founding generation became the “fathers” Abraham Lincoln would later consult, especially on the question of slavery. Our very habit of asking about the “original intent” of the Founders—on religious liberty, slavery, or even what marriage meant in common law—is traced back to John Adams’s “midnight appointments,” especially his choice of John Marshall as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Over decades, Marshall’s decisions defined an independent judiciary and the Court’s power of judicial review, embedding the question, “Is that law constitutional?” deep into the American mind.

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Zoe from Jacksonville, Florida, called to thank Fr. Rocky and Maggie for displaying a picture of Venerable Augustus Tolton during the Family Rosary Across America. Her father, who passed away earlier this year, began praying with his parish to Tolton last July for her husband to become Catholic; now, her husband is preparing to enter the Church. 

Fr. Rocky marveled at how quickly those prayers seemed to bear fruit, and he mentioned the desire of Most Rev. Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Chicago, to promote Tolton further since a miracle is still needed for canonization. 

Then Zoe shared her prayer intention: her friend Katie is just 22 weeks pregnant, recently underwent emergency surgery, and the baby is likely to be born very prematurely. Katie’s son was born at 28 weeks last year, which was “an absolute miracle,” and now they are beseeching heaven for the same mercy for little Zellie, named after St. Zélie Martin. 

In just a few moments, Zoe’s call connected Venerable Augustus Tolton, a grieving daughter, a husband moving toward the Catholic Church, and a fragile baby in danger. As Fr. Rocky assured her, “We’re going to pray for that,” trusting that every prayer is heard and that God loves Zellie and her family even more than we do.

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On the show Father Simon Says, a listener named Jordan asked whether Galatians 4:7 supports infant Baptism: “You are no longer a slave but a child of God… and an heir.” Fr. Richard Simon unpacked the Greek word doulos, meaning “slave,” and St. Paul’s insistence that in Christ we are not just servants but heirs.

That opened the deeper question: why baptize someone who cannot yet speak for himself? Some Christians argue you must first “profess your faith” for baptism to be valid. But, Fr. Simon said, “baptism is not our choice for Christ, it’s Christ’s choice for us.” Grace comes first; trust grows over time.

He reminded listeners that sacraments actually do something serve a real purpose. “They aren’t just rituals that talk about our joining a club or making a decision. They are actual actions that bless body, mind and spirit with grace.” That’s why the Sacrament of Baptism is more than a symbol; it really marks us as God’s own.

Still, he gently discouraged grandparents from secretly baptizing grandchildren whose parents refuse the Faith, since that places a child in a covenant he or she may never be taught to live. Instead, he urged them to trust God’s mercy, pray – even the Surrender Novena – and remember that “the baptism of children is not only valid, it’s important.”

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On The Inner Life, Patrick Conley introduced a call from Mark, a catechist walking with a mother and her almost‑13‑year‑old son in OCIA. The boy has begun using explicit material online in a compulsive way and, with no real religious background, is asking a blunt question: “What’s wrong with it?” Mark wants to answer in a way that is truthful, gentle, and age‑appropriate.

Father Ryan Brady said a conversation like this calls for prudence and delicacy. In a culture that treats visual sexual content as harmless or even positive, he urged Mark to present a different picture: every person is meant to be received as a gift, not viewed as an object on a screen. “Living more simply” means removing media and habits that distract us from God and that can erode both our own dignity and that of others.

To answer the deeper “why,” Father Ryan turned to St. Augustine’s insight that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. We often try to fill that restlessness with food, entertainment, or repeated viewing of explicit content, like forcing the wrong‑shaped piece into a puzzle. Only the love of the Lord truly fits the “God sized hole” in the human heart. Patrick finally pointed Mark and the boy’s mother toward a previous Inner Life episode on chastity with Father Allen Hoffa and toward Integrity Restored, a ministry that offers practical and spiritual help for those affected.

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A caller who has struggled with scrupulosity for 20 years—and now sees the same patterns in her daughter—asked Father Simon what true holiness looks like. She fears that her obsessive perfectionism has harmed her family and wonders how to “be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” without becoming perfectionist. Father Simon turned to the Greek word for “perfect,” teleios, which means reaching the goal or going the full distance—not being flawless. God’s perfection is not meticulous rule-keeping but love itself: to will the good of another. Jesus commands us to love as He loves and to forgive as He forgives, to the same degree and in the same way. God forgets sins completely; He is not fixated on performance. Real holiness focuses on the Father’s goal—sacrificial love—rather than flawless execution or never making mistakes.

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An 8-year-old boy named Joey called into Relevant Radio from San Jose, California during a Best of the Week segment. Fr. Rocky warmly greeted him, and Joey shared that he wanted to pray for his sister Rose, his brother, and someone named Howe. He also wanted to sing “Happy Birthday” for Maggie and for his mom, whose birthday had passed on November 7th. Joey said he had tried calling earlier but couldn’t get through. Fr. Rocky invited him to sing, and Joey asked him to sing along. Together, they joyfully sang “Happy Birthday” to Joey’s mom and Maggie. Fr. Rocky praised Joey, calling him “the best.”

The best way to listen to the Best of the Week is on our #1 Free Catholic App. It’s free and always will be! To get and share the Relevant Radio app, check it out here.