The Curious Catholic Podcast

This episode is focused on grief. That is, loving and losing those whom we love, feeling acutely the absence of our beloved and the abiding ache to be reunited in fullness. We wonder: how is it that God--who we're told is love and the author of all beauty--would allow for such cause for mourning and sorrow?

Today's episode looks at all this in reference to the life of St. Augustine and his mourning the death of three particular individuals in his life: a friend, his mother Monica, and his son, Adeodatus. The episode begins with my guest's own profound experience of loss and grief, and how the writings of Augustine shed some light on these oftentimes opaque mysteries. 

Joining the show today is Erika Kidd, Ph.D., who is Associate Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She studied philosophy, Latin, and great texts at Augustine College and Baylor University and received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Villanova University.

Links:

1. Erika Kidd on Academia.edu
2. Catholic Studies Graduate Program at the University of St. Thomas
3. "Loving and Losing: An Augustinian Meditation," a talk by Erika on YouTube
4. "No Worst, There is None," by Gerard Manley Hopkins

This episode starts with a look at The Confession of Saint Patrick, written by the saint himself. While the whole work is well-worth the read, particular attention is given to three "moments": Patrick's prayer; a friend's betrayal and a "sin of his youth"; and his view of death and resurrection. This is only the quickest of looks, but I hope it gives you some motivation to read the book yourself. 

After this, the episode moves to a conversation between my wife and I about our honeymoon hike up the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, known as the site of Patrick's famous forty-day fast. We end with a back-and-forth on the romantic merit's of "The Quiet Man," which stars John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and is set in Ireland.

I tried to have some fun with this episode. I hope you enjoy it.  

1. Croagh Patrick
2. The Confession of Saint Patrick
3. "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara

Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is one of the most stunningly beautiful and heart-wrenching films I've ever seen. And it actually begins in silence; upon the black screen in white lettering are the following words from the Book of Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 7).

These words of God to Job refocus Job's vision of existence, both his own and the whole of creation. And we the viewers of "The Tree of Life" are invited into just such a re-envisioning of how we view ourselves, and ourselves in relation to others, creation, and the Divine Cause of all goodness. 

After these biblical themes are introduced, over the next few hours, the film thrusts us through the grandness, grandeur and glory of existence, of reality. And this reality in almost every dimension and depth. Its glory, beauty and joy, though none of this as untouched by tragedy, sorrow, and the deep torments of living a truly human life. We find ourselves as viewers juxtaposed between the glory of the whole of creation and the particular joys and sorrows of human lives. 

Throughout the movie, we hear its characters address God, address that by which all this stands as possible. So one especially perceptive way of viewing the film, then, is as a sort of confession to God. A confession of both one’s misdeeds and wrongness of thought and action, but also a confession of praise, gratitude and thanksgiving. It, then, can be seen as a very St. Augustine-like movie. 

Guiding us through this particular way of viewing "The Tree of Life" today is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Arthur J. Ennis Post-doctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Villanova University. 

Related Links:

1. "What Was It You Showed Me?" - Perplexity and Forgiveness: The Tree of Life as Augustinian Confession by Paul Camacho
2. Paul Camacho on Academia.edu
3. "The Tree of Life" on IMDB
4. "A Prayer Beneath the Tree of Life" by Roger Ebert
5. The Confessions by St. Augustine

The focus of today’s episode is St. Augustine’s understanding of sin as self-sabotage, and why it is that we do the things we always ultimately regret and accuse ourselves of. Of course, in his life, Augustine comes to know the healing and rest found in the person of Christ, Incarnate, Crucified, Risen, and extended through his body, the Church.  

Guiding us through all of this today is Fr. David Vincent Meconi, S.J., who is Associate Professor of Historical Theology as well as the Director of the Catholic Studies Centre at Saint Louis University; he is also the editor of Homiletic and Pastoral Review. Father earned his doctorate in Ecclesiastical History from the University of Oxford. He has published numerous books and articles on the early Church, and on Saint Augustine in particular. Today we’ll be discussing his recently published book, Augustine On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ available from Bloomsbury Academic. 

1. On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ by Fr. David Vincent Meconi, S.J.
2. Fr. Meconi's homepage, where you can find out more about his work
3. The Confessions by St. Augustine

This episode focuses on the ideal of community life expressed in the words of St. Augustine, that we be “one in mind and heart on the way to God.” Clearly this phrase finds its origin in the early Christian community witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles, but it also finds expression in a rule of life written by Augustine for men and women who have chosen to live together in community, and in this unity, set off together on pilgrimage toward the fullness that is God. The rule, though written for religious, is not just for monks, friars, and nuns. It can be for all of us. Though, ancient, it can aid us moderns in our pursuit of loving God and neighbor. 

Today I’ll be speaking about all of this with Father Kevin DePrinzio, O.S.A., Ph.D., who is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. Father and I sat down in his friary to talk of Augustine, his rule, community life, and what’s to be done when we find that oneness of mind and heart difficult to achieve. 

Related Links:

1. Father Kevin DePrinzio, O.S.A., Ph.D.
2. The Rule of St. Augustine
3. The Augustinians of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
4. "The Curious Catholic Podcast" Patreon Page

Today we’ll begin a couple week focus on St. Augustine. While Augustine is known by many a Catholic by name, it’s my hope that over the next few episodes we can get to know him, his experience, and his thinking more fully.  

This present episode will look at how Augustine was shaped, challenged, and deeply impacted by two particular women in his life. The first was his mother, Monica, that is, St. Monica. The name of the other woman has not reached us through history, but she and Augustine were in a long-term relationship for over a decade, and the two of them together had a son named Adeodatus. This period occurred prior to Augustine’s baptism and the split that occurred between them, though initiated by Augustine, deeply pained him. The love of these two women proved to be profoundly formative of Augustine’s life. And not only did the authenticity of their human love shape Augustine, it was in fact revelatory of divine love. God, in mysterious but perceivable ways, reached Augustine by way of these two women. 

Today I’ll be speaking about all of this with Brother Bill Gabriel, who is presently in formation with the Augustinian Friars of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova. 

1. The Confessions, by St. Augustine
2. The Augustinians of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
3. "The Curious Catholic Podcast" Patreon Page

In the late-1920s, Edith Stein, having been Catholic for a handful of years, wrote a fictional dialogue between the philosophers Edmund Husserl and Thomas Aquinas. Stein had been a standout student of Husserl, even for a time serving as his assistant. Husserl was one of the most pivotal philosophers of the 20th-century, being credited as the founder of the school of philosophy known as phenomenology. Stein studied under Husserl during her period of youthful atheism, though she never remained closed to questions of God and religion. As her journey to and within Catholicism commenced and continued, the person and work of Thomas Aquinas took on real significance for Stein. 

So, it was with no small amount of personal interest that Stein fashioned this encounter between two of her teachers, Husserl and Aquinas. One of the more prominent topics Stein has these two thinkers wrestle with is that of the relationship between philosophy and theology, or natural and supernatural reason, as she phrases it. We might wonder, in this context, just how human reason relates to, receives, and ought to respond to that revealed by God. We might question whether or not God’s revelation, accepted in faith, negates or runs contrary to the human exercise of reason. It might even be asked whether or not faith is an irrational phenomenon. 

In the course of the dialogue, and throughout that of this episode, it will be seen that Aquinas rejects this notion of faith and the relationship between the human and divine mind. What is present in Aquinas, and in the Catholic tradition in general, is a robust vision of reason and faith as being mutually beneficial, “two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth,” as John Paul II puts it. 

In today’s episode, I speak with Richard Bernier, from Concordia University in Montreal. Richard teaches at Concordia, as well as McGill University, from which he earned his Ph.D. Richard is devoted to his work with young people as a catechist and trained spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition. Be sure to check out today’s show notes, where you’ll find a link to an essay of Richard’s that focuses on this dialogue written by Stein.

Related Links:

1. Knowledge and Faith by Edith Stein
2. Fides et Ratio: On the Relationship between Faith and Reason by Pope John Paul II
3. Richard Bernier, Ph.D.
4. Richard's paper on Stein's dialogue
5. "Husserl and Aquinas at the After Party," by Matthew Chominski 

In this episode, we’ll continue and bring to a close my conversation with Donald Wallenfang of Sacred Heart Major Seminary about Edith Stein’s understanding of empathy and its central and essential place in human life.

Before that, though, I want to take a quick bit of time to explain something of this podcast, what it’s about and all. Essentially, I see each episode as part of a longer pilgrimage through the Catholic Imagination. That is, an exploration of the vision of reality, God, ourselves and others that has been shaped and developed over the centuries by that faith centered on the Incarnational revelation of the Triune God.

I want this show to be part of that gradual movement toward greater fullness that is captured in the image of pilgrimage. As it is, then, I want to spend sustained time with the personalities and movements that have shaped this Catholic vision. So the idea of the show is to spend a couple episodes, spread over a number of weeks, with a particular person in the tradition.

Of course, presently, we’re focused on Edith Stein. In about two weeks we’ll transition to St. Augustine. I want this show to, in its own small way, help unfurl the richness and depth found in the Church’s past and present, this being done by focusing on the personalities that have given tangible expression to the joy and challenge of living in relationship with Christ and his Church.

With that said, let’s get to the final part of my discussion with Donald Wallenfang. I gave a more full bio. blurb last episode, but just as a short reminder, Donald is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and is a Secular Discalced Carmelite. I very much recommend his book Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein available from Cascade Books.

Links:

1.    On the Problem of Empathy by Edith Stein

2.    Essays on Woman by Edith Stein

3.    Life in a Jewish Family by Edith Stein

4.    Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein by Donald Wallenfang

5.     Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue by Alasdair MacIntyre

6.     Donald Wallenfang, Ph.D., OCDS

When it came time to select a topic for her doctoral dissertation in philosophy, the young Edith Stein eventually settled on the topic of empathy. Today, this work of hers can be read in English under the title, On the Problem of Empathy.

In German, the word Stein uses for empathy is einfühlung, and it gives a sense of “inward feeling.” More than just a sympathetic awareness of the feelings and thoughts of others, empathy is understood as the very experience within ourselves of the experience of other persons. In a way, we bear within ourselves the life of the other, thus opening up the very possibility of interpersonal life. 

My guest on today’s episode is Donald Wallenfang, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. Donald is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and received his Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago. Donald has written and edited numerous books, articles and essays, but today we discuss his work titled, Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein. 

Over the course of this interview, Wallenfang helps us see Edith Stein’s understanding of empathy, how it contributes to our own selfhood, communal life, and our relationship with the completely Other, God. 

 Links:

1.     On the Problem of Empathy by Edith Stein

2.     Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein by Donald Wallenfang

3.     Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue by Alasdair MacIntyre

4.     Donald Wallenfang, Ph.D., OCDS

My guest on today’s episode is Sister Judith Parsons, IHM, Ph.D., a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Immaculata University. 

We begin by discussing the development of Sister’s awareness of, and appreciation for, the life and work of Edith Stein. We then delve into Stein’s work found in the collection, Essays on Woman. As you’ll hear, Sister finds great richness in Stein’s teaching on the human person’s “ontic core,” that sphere of personal life that is completely private to the person and God alone. This core of the person unfolds and develops over the circumstances of life and the choices made by the person throughout a lifetime. 

Over the course of the interview, Sister emphasizes Stein’s lifelong pursuit of truth--Truth, even--and how this aided Stein as she shaped her life into one of great integrity. 

Related Links:

1. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter proclaiming Ss. Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Co-Patronesses of Europe
2. Edith Stein by Sarah Borden
3. Essays on Woman by Edith Stein
4. Life in a Jewish Family by Edith Stein
5. Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942 by Edith Stein
6. Sister Judith Parsons, IHM, Ph.D.