The Catholic Culture Podcast

James Majewski plays guest host in this episode, asking Thomas about his recent essay critiquing the well-known Christian film distributor Angel Studios (associated with The Chosen, Sound of Freedom, and Cabrini).

Articles and podcasts mentioned:

“Angel Studios: Questioning the hype” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/angel-studios-hype/

“Cabrini secularizes a saint” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/cabrini-secularizes-saint/

“Cabrini and the denial that Christ is for everyone” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/cabrini-and-denial-that-christ-is-for-everyone/

Thomas’s article on Padre Pio in Dappled Things https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/about-that-padre-pio-film

Pope Pius XII on the Ideal Film, Pt. 2 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-pius-xii-on-ideal-film-pt-2-church-teaching-on-cinema/

New Catholic Culture columnist Peter Wolfgang https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/authors.cfm?authorid=56

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Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was one of the greatest sacred composers of the 20th century, best known for his Requiem and his motet "Ubi caritas". His lush and tranquil choral and organ works combine a deep familiarity with Gregorian chant with the style of impressionism, imbued with a sense of prayer as he was a devout Catholic.

Organist and choirmaster Christopher Berry, who studied organ under Duruflé's widow, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, joins the podcast to discuss Maurice Duruflé in his historical context as someone who, from childhood, was schooled in the Church's ancient chant tradition, and as an adult applied Pope St. Pius X's instructions for sacred music which were so influential on that generation. Schooled at the Paris conservatory, Duruflé received rigorous training in improvisation, which was the core skill for French organists at that time. His approach to improvising on chant and hymn melodies can still be heard in Catholic churches today.

Links

Catholic Institute of Sacred Music https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

Music heard in this episode:

Excerpts from the Requiem—courtesy of Voices of Ascension https://www.amazon.com/Durufle-Album-Requiem-Messe-Jubilo/dp/B0000006ZS

        (See their upcoming performance season at www.VoicesofAscension.org)

Prélude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain op. 7 - played by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé

Excerpt from Choral varié sur le Veni Creator op.4 - played by Maurice Duruflé himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SBCDScgqsQ

Ubi caritas - by Choir of St. John's Elora

Tantum ergo - by St. John's College Choir

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A collection of highlight clips from past episodes.

77 Gene Wolfe, Catholic Sci-Fi Legend—Sandra Miesel, Fr. Brendon Laroche

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-77-gene-wolfe-catholic-sci-fi-legend-sandra-miesel-fr-brendon-laroche/

Ben-Hur w/ Elizabeth Lev (Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast)

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ben-hur-1959-w-elizabeth-lev/

80 Bring Out Your Dead - Scott Hahn

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-80-bring-out-your-dead-scott-hahn/

81 Love Like a Conflagration - Jane Greer

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-81-love-like-conflagration-jane-greer/

126 How Charlie Parker Changed My Life

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/126-how-charlie-parker-changed-my-life/

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In his new book published by Word on Fire, Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts, philosopher and novelist Daniel McInerny argues for a recovery of the Aristotelian understanding of art as fundamentally imitative or mimetic. More boldly, he claims that this imitation is narrative and moral in nature, even in art forms that are not typically considered storytelling arts.

In this episode Daniel introduces this theory of mimesis, after which there is a robust back-and-forth between Daniel and Thomas on whether moral narrative is really the primary purpose of arts like painting and music. 

Links

Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/beauty-and-imitation

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Poet & philosopher James Matthew Wilson rejoins the show to read poems from his new collection, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds, published by Word on Fire; and to discuss the tradition of English poetry, especially with regard to meter.

Don't miss the title poem, a verse setting of a passage from Aquinas's Summa Theologiae!

Links

Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/saint-thomas-and-the-forbidden-birds

The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p82/The_Fortunes_of_Poetry_in_an_Age_of_Unmaking%2C_by_James_Matthew_Wilson.html

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On June 29 and 30, in South Bend, Indiana, there will be a major and even unprecedented event in the history of American Catholic art: a new, full-length classical ballet production with a new story, new music, new sets and costumes, and nationally known dancers - with a cast of about fifty. This fairytale ballet, titled Raffaella, was commissioned by Duncan and Ruth Stroik in honor of their daughter Raffaella Maria Stroik, a dancer with the St. Louis Ballet who passed away tragically in 2018 at the age of 23.

In the first segment, Thomas Mirus interviews impresario Duncan Stroik about the ballet as a whole and the process of putting together such a huge production. In the second, he interviews composer Michael Kurek and choreographer Claire Kretzschmar about the collaboration between music and dance, and the difference between classical and modern ballet.

Links

Tickets for Raffaella https://raffaellaballet.org/

See rehearsal footage on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raffaella.ballet/

 Michael Kurek https://michaelkurek.com/

Claire Kretzschmar at Ballet Hartford https://www.ballethartford.com/

Duncan Stroik https://www.stroik.com/

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A new book presenting material from Flannery O’Connor’s unfinished third novel shows the great Catholic writer pushing beyond her established fictional territory. Jessica Hooten Wilson returns to the podcast to discuss her book, Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress.

Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Links

Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/542827

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Jan Dismas Zelenka was a Bohemian Catholic baroque composer who has at times been called "The Catholic Bach" because his best compositions are on par with those of J.S. Bach, who indeed knew and esteemed Zelenka. This episode covers Zelenka's career at the Catholic court chapel in Dresden with its grand liturgies inspired by Habsburg piety and Jesuit aspirations to evangelize the Protestants of Saxony.

Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Links

Janice Stockigt, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745): A Bohemian Musician at the Court of Dresden https://archive.org/details/jandismaszelenka00stoc/

Music heard in this episode:

The first movements of the trio sonatas in F major and C minor, ZWV 181/5 and 181/6, found on the album Zelenka: Trio Sonatas Nos. 1-6, performed by Ensemble Zefiro https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8121143--zelenka-trio-sonatas-nos-1-6

Nisi Dominus, ZWV 92, performed by Ensemble Inegal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-3cOwmrorI

Miserere in C minor, ZWV 57, performed by Il Fondamento/Paul Dombrecht https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAi_2B3QvAA

Missa votiva, ZWV 18, performed by Collegium 1704/Václav Luks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCL2CWQaH4A

Litaniae Lauretanae "salus infirmorum", ZWV 152, performed by Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Neue Hofkapelle München/Peter Dijkstra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRhMBJm6xs

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One of the most brilliant philosophers working today, D.C. Schindler, returns to the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss his latest book, God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics. In it, he draws an analogy between metaphysics as the most comprehensive science in the theoretical order and politics as the most comprehensive science in the practical order. Examining how in metaphysics, God is necessarily involved, yet without being the direct object of that science, Schindler argues that the same is true of the relationship between God and politics. Just as it is in God that the individual person "lives and moves and has its being", even before revelation and grace enter the picture, God is both the highest good of human community, and intimately present within it.

Links

God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics https://www.amazon.com/God-City-D-C-Schindler/dp/1587313286

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Today’s guest is a man with two names and two careers. For decades he has been a distinguished poet and translator under the name of A.M. Juster. This is an acronym for his Christian name, Michael J. Astrue, who for many years was a lawyer, biotech executive, and public servant, most notably serving as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. During this time, his political enemies tried to dig up dirt on him – but all they could find was that he wrote poetry on the side!

Juster has published multiple books of his original poems, most recently Wonder & Wrath in 2020. His work as a translator includes volumes of Petrarch, Horace, Tibullus, and the Latin verse riddles of the Anglo-Saxon bishop St. Aldhelm. Upcoming projects include another volume of Petrarch poems, a children’s book about a female juvenile manatee called Girlatee, and an anthology of poems about the legendary phoenix, from Ovid to Shakespeare.

In this episode Juster discusses his two careers, his interest in translating early Latin Christian poetry, St. Aldhelm’s riddles, and his own original poetry.

Links

A.M. Juster on Twitter https://twitter.com/amjuster

Saint Aldhelm’s Riddles https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/saint-aldhelms-riddles-aldhelm-juster/

Wonder & Wrath https://www.pauldrybooks.com/products/wonder-and-wrath

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