The Catholic Culture Podcast

Timothy Flanders rejoins the podcast for a freewheeling conversation in which he and Thomas interview each other. Timothy talks about his upcoming book on Catholicism in Russia, and then Thomas gives his thoughts on the place of jazz in the Western music tradition, improvisation as an analogy to the moral life, and the fundamental problem with AI music: AI has no song in its heart.

Links

The Meaning of Catholic https://meaningofcath.substack.com/

Thomas's lecture on God's role in artistic inspiration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y

Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ, w/ Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/

Christians against AI art, w/ Susannah Black Roberts https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/188-christians-against-ai-art-susannah-black-roberts/

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Thomas Mirus's keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild, on May 30 at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y

Thomistic Artists Guild: https://thomisticartistsguild.org/

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Groundbreaking Catholic political thinker Andrew Willard Jones joins the podcast to discuss a brilliant lecture he recently gave at the New Polity Conference. St. Thomas Aquinas is often said (dismissively) to have gotten his view of woman from Aristotle's biology. But while he did accept some of Aristotle's biological errors, they disagree on something far more fundamental, namely their metaphysical interpretation of difference and inequality among human beings. A comparison between the Aristotelian view and the Christian/Thomistic view of inequality is profoundly instructive for how we see not only the difference between the sexes, but civil society and the entire cosmic hierarchy willed by God.

LINKS

New Polity https://newpolity.com/

Andrew Willard Jones, The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics https://stpaulcenter.com/store/the-two-cities-a-history-of-christian-politics

Episode transcript https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/hierarchy-and-woman-aristotle-vs-aquinas-w-andrew-willard-jones/

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Ralph Martin returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, The Coming Judgment: Are We Ready? He and Thomas discuss the lack of a Scriptural worldview among many present-day Catholics, and the reluctance of many to believe in or preach what the Church has always believed hell, the urgent need for repentance, and the judgments of God.

Links

Ralph Martin, The Coming Judgment: Are We Ready? stpaulcenter.com/thecomingjudgment

Thomas Mirus, "Bring back 'negative spirituality'" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/bring-back-negative-spirituality/

Eamonn Clark, "The Revenge of Amoris Laetitia" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/revenge-amoris-laetitia/

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Timothy Flanders joins the podcast to discuss Pope Leo XIII's two letters addressed to the Catholic Church in America.

Links

Article summarizing Leo's writings on America https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-on-america-and-americanism/

Leo XIII, Longinqua https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_06011895_longinqua.html

Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13teste.htm

Timothy Flanders at The Meaning of Catholic https://meaningofcath.substack.com/

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On May 30, Thomas is giving the keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Free to attend!

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/thomistic-artists-guild-2026-conference

Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination."

30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future

Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections

Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur

Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday's Vatican Film List and Catholic Imagination Today

Chair: John O'Callaghan (University of Notre Dame)

Video of the panel: https://youtu.be/-7oE8d6RcCw?si=x4cTzl847-A8bG5M

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., joins the podcast to talk about his new book Training the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech. He answers Thomas's questions about small talk, cheekiness, oversharing, the use of humor to avoid vulnerability, Millennial vs. Gen-Z irony, correcting others, and openness to pursuing truth.

Training the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech https://stpaulcenter.com/store/training-the-tongue-and-growing-beyond-sins-of-speech

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This interview with Prof. Thomas Pink, originally published in 2020, is being republished as part of Thomas Mirus's ongoing series covering the major encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.

Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, begins by noting that its discussion of religious liberty "has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society" and so "leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ." This episode is about discovering what that traditional doctrine was and is.

Our main source will be Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Immortale Dei, which is available in audiobook form on CatholicCulture.org. Thomas Pink guides us through a close reading of this document (with supplementary material from Libertas and Longuinqua). Here, and in the magisterium of other 19th-century Popes, we find a number of teachings on Church and State that have gone largely unmentioned since the Council, and which are sadly forgotten or even rejected by the majority of self-described conservative Catholics.

Links

Thomas Mirus's article summarizing the encyclical https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-states-duties-toward-church/

Audiobook of Immortale Dei https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-immortale-dei-on-christian-constitution-states/

Text of Immortale Dei (On the Christian Constitution of States) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916

Thomas Pink, "Conscience and Coercion" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/08/conscience-and-coercion

Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction

[4:59] The historical and theological context of Immortale Dei

[9:42] An overview of points from Immortale Dei and Libertas

[12:28] The source and nature of authority; its directive and coercive functions

[20:30] The State's duty to profess, protect and foster the one true religion

[25:56] Reasons for toleration of other religions; coercion of the baptized

[36:05] Leo's analogy of Church and State with soul and body

[45:26] Separate sovereignties of Church and State interact; State can act as the "secular arm"

[51:31] Obligations twd. religion of the State properly speaking, not just rulers as individuals

[55:03] Consequences of the State neglecting God and religion

[1:02:40] Dignitatis Humanae: drafting, intended scope, legacy, compatibility with tradition

[1:10:30] Papal condemnations of freedom of speech and opinion

[1:31:10] The Church's move away from coercing baptized heretics

[1:36:13] The importance of docility in accepting difficult teachings

[1:41:29] Need for a synthesis of the whole magisterium on Church, State and religious liberty

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Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-of-the-popes/id1885968422

Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/lives-of-popes-podcast/