The Open Door

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss the multi-faceted issue of immigration. How can we better understand the new waves of immigrants, whether in the United States or Europe? What does the Church teach about the ethical issues that come into play? How can we assess the politics of immigration? What role should our parishes play and how might we best respond at a personal level? Our special and welcome guest is Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz. He is a professor of political science and Catholic social thought at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw as well as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Christianity—World—Politics. From 2008-2012 he served as Secretary General of the Commission of Bishops of the European Community COMECE. Mazurkiewicz recently authored Two Towers and a Minaret: Migration from a Catholic Perspective (En Route Books, 2024). Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. 

1.  Fr. Piotr, could you tell us how you came to your work on the topic of migration?
2. How would you compare current migration to Europe with migration to the United States?
3. What is national sovereignty and what is its foundation? What are the limits of sovereignty?
4. Is there a right to emigrate? A right not to emigrate?
5. What happens to property rights in times of grave necessity? 
6. How do you understand multiculturalism? Is it an ideology?
7. On what basis can we evaluate the practices of a given culture?
8. Here in the United States we often speak of a “culture of death.” Might not the first concern of many cultures be the need for repentance?
9. Should Poland respond to migration from Africa and the Middle East in the same way that it is responding to refugees from Ukraine?
10. What might it mean with regard to immigration to be neither right nor left but simply Catholic? What might be some promising political approaches to migration?

Mass migration is a serious challenge in both America and Europe. Hence the question of the ethical limits of hospitality. The answer must consider not only the needs of migrants, but also the ability of the host country to integrate migrants. This depends not only on the size of the migration, but also on its homogeneity. For example, a peculiarity of the current migration to Europe is the strong dominance of Muslims, which is changing its religious demographics and, consequently, European culture.

https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/twotowers/

On this episode of The Open Door (July 24), panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss the Catholic traditionalist movement. Our special focus will be “independent” traditionalists. How do they differ from other traditionalists? What leads them to “LeFebvreism”? What can we learn from the ongoing debate about the movement’s role in the Church? Our welcome guest is Andrew Mioni. He is a graduate of Kansas State University, with a B.A. in English. As a contributor to Faith in Crisis (Wipf and Stock, 2024), he explores the roots of what some see as a crisis of faith in Catholicism. Mioni is the author of Altar Against Altar: An Analysis of Catholic Traditionalism (En Route Books, 2024).

1. For clarification: What is the difference between the SSPX, the Society of St. Pius X initiated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and the FSSP, the Fraternal Society of Saint Peter?
2. How do you understand the word “ideology”?
3. Who are the sedevacantists?
4. How has George Weigel, a St. John Paul II scholar and frequent contributor to First Things, helped you to put the traditionalist movement in a broader context?
5. Richard John Neuhaus, once a Lutheran, thought that the chief complaints of the Reformation had been answered. You ask the “independents” what would count as the crisis in Catholicism being resolved. What sort of an answer should we expect?
6. Why do you think that “To be deep in history is to cease to be traditionalist”?
7. Just what is modernism? How is it linked to a certain view of reason?
8. To what do you attribute a crisis of faith dating back well before Vatican II?
9. What is the authority of the ordinary magisterium of the Church? Does Vatican II express that authority?
10. Could you explain the “functionalist” approach to spirituality and the liturgy?
11. How have the lessons you learned in authoring your book carried over into your own parish life?
12. What’s your next book project?

Altar Against Altar: An Analysis of Catholic Traditionalism by Andrew Mioni | En Route Books and Media

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss Catholic social thought and economics. That means taking a long, hard look at capitalism in practice and the dominance of corporations. We’ll explore the nature of usury and what’s at issue in a fair wage. We’ll consider the State as a political community and the family as the cornerstone of social justice. We’ll talk about personal responsibility as the foundation of a just social order. Our welcome guests are Thomas Storck, the editor of Money, Markets, and Morals (En Route Books, 2024) and its Australian contributors Dr. Donald Boland and Dr. Garrick Small, as well as the American distributist thinkers John Médaille and David Cooney. Among the questions we’ll address to this panel are the following. Please feel free to suggest your own!

1. Is Catholic social teaching a dimension of moral theology?
2. How should we define capitalism? How can it become a threat to justice?
3. What is the origin of the modern corporation? Is there any way to challenge its power?
4. Can you compare and contrast for us, say, the Bank of America, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a publicly owned bank or a credit union? What dangers does the former pose?
5. Just what is usury? Why is it wrong? Can you give examples of usurious practices
6. What is the distinction between a market wage and a fair wage? Where does a minimum wage guarantee fit in?
7. What is the basis of ownership? Do we own our bodies and our lives?
8. Should we think of the State as the political community of the highest degree?
9. Does the current economic order recognize the family as the first unit of a just society? What would a “family politics” look like?
10. In what ways might we practice personal responsibility in today’s profoundly complex economic order? Is personal responsibility compatible with stock ownership?

In this episode of The Open Door (June 26),  panelists Jim Hanink, Christopher Zehnder, and Valerie Niemeyer discuss the role of spiritual direction. Just what is it? What is the ministry of the spiritual director? Our special and welcome guest is Msgr. Patrick Gaalaas. He is a priest of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. Msgr. Gaalaas retired from parish work in 2022 at the age of 75. But “retirement” has led to “redirection.” He has worked as a spiritual director at Conception Seminary College in Missouri for the past two years. (Full disclosure: Monsignor has known Jim Hanink from the time they were fellow college seminarians at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas.) Msgr. Gaalaas spent his final four years in the seminary at the American College at the University of Louvain in Belgium. There he earned a bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology and a master’s degree in Moral and Religious Sciences. Among the questions we’ll be asking are the following. 

1. You moved from parish work to a Benedictine Abbey. Is there a distinctive Benedictine spirituality?
2. Spiritual direction pairs a spiritual director with a person interested in direction. But how does the average Catholic, if there is such a creature, know whether to seek spiritual direction?
3. What’s the difference between spiritual direction and psychological counselling?
4. How does one go about finding a spiritual director? What might one expect if one Google searched “spiritual direction near me”?
5. How does one become a spiritual director? Who can become a spiritual director?
6. Is a personal calling from God requisite for being a spiritual director?
7. Do spiritual directors ordinarily have diocesan recognition?
8. What sort of direction do spiritual directors themselves have?
9. Might we say that the Holy Spirit is at the center of spiritual direction?
10. What are some signs that spiritual direction is going well? Or is not going well?

This week on The Open Door (June 12) we complete our series on education. Our focus is developing Catholic textbooks that give history its deepest perspective. Our welcome guest is Christopher Zehnder, M.A. He is the General Editor for the Catholic Textbook Project. A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, he has worked as a graphic artist, journalist, school headmaster, and teacher of history, literature, theology, and mathematics. Mr. Zehnder has been affiliated with the Catholic Textbook Project since its founding in 2000. He has authored several of its textbooks, edited and contributed chapters to others, and made art selections for many of them. He is a novelist as well! A member of the American Solidarity Party, Christopher is on the town council of Hartford, Ohio. With his wife Katherine and their family, he has made his residence there since escaping Southern California.

The following are among the questions we asked him: 

1.  How did you come to be an educator?
2. Why does it matter how we define education?
3. What led to your interest in history?
4. You write historical fiction. Is there any way to get beyond writing stories about history?
5. Can you sketch for us the history of education in the United States? What has led to the resurgence of interest in classical education?
6. How did the Catholic Textbook Project come about? What does it bring to the table in today’s educational milieu?
7. What do you make of “critical race theory”?
8. How can Catholic educators teach the truth about the uglier dimensions of history?
9. How can Catholic educators help form students into citizens who embody both charity and solidarity?
10. Are you writing a new textbook? How about another novel?

In this episode of The Open Door (May 29, 2024), panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Valerie Niemeyer talk about the work of State Catholic Conference Directors. Our focus will be on the role that they can play in developing Catholic education. Our welcome guest is Tom Venzor. He has served as the Executive Director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference since 2016. Prior to this, he served as the Associate Director for Pro-Life & Family for the Nebraska Catholic Conference. Before joining the NCC, Tom worked as a legislative aide in the State Legislature, as well as in various capacities throughout several other legislative sessions. Tom earned his undergraduate degree in political science, philosophy, and religious studies from Doane College in Crete, his master’s degree in philosophy from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and his law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln. Tom and his wife, Makayla, have four children at home: Monica, Claire, Anthony, and Julia. And they have a little one in heaven: Thérèse.

1.  Let’s start with an encouraging breakthrough and then move to context. The Nebraska Legislature recently passed school choice legislation! Could you tell us some of the particulars of this legislation? What led to this victory?
2. People of goodwill want public schools to be adequately funded in their service to students, especially the most vulnerable. Could you help us to understand how school choice does NOT undercut support for public school teachers and students?
3. What’s involved in serving as the Director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference? And what are some of your current projects? Are any of them related to education?
4. Catholicism has a rich tradition of promoting the liberal arts. Is there a way that the Nebraska Catholic Conference can contribute to that tradition?
5. How does the Catholic Conference work in conjunction with the bishops of Nebraska?
6. In what ways does the Conference seek the collaboration of the laity? Are they tuned in to your work?
7. What sort of press has the Conference had in past years?
8. How does the Conference forge bonds with particular legislators? And how does it engage with legislative opponents?
9. What organizational or advocacy mistakes have you made, and what have you learned from them?
10. True or false: Catholic Social Teaching can build bridges with “wokeism”?

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Valerie Niemeyer continue our discussion of education. We’ll focus on preparing, and supporting, Catholic school teachers. Our welcome guest is Deacon Omar Gutiérrez, the President and Executive Director of the Evangelium Institute. An expert on Catholic Social Teaching, he has been published in many print and online periodicals, has authored several books on the subject, and has a podcast series on Discerning Hearts. Most importantly, Dcn. Gutiérrez is happily married to Miriam, and they are very blessed by their five children.

1. Could you tell us about your background and work in the area of Catholic Social Teaching? How did you come to teach and write about this topic that we here at the Open Door care so much about?
2. How did the Evangelium Institute come to be, and what are the services it provides?
3. Hillaire Belloc claims that "The faith is not taught. It is inhabited and breathed in." What's wrong about this claim? What's right?
4. Can you share some stories that illustrate the impact Evangelium Institute has been making?
5. What are the greatest challenges that Catholic school administrators and teachers face? What are some good ways to support them?
6. Religion is often seen as a matter of private feeling. But Catholicism has a rich intellectual tradition. Is this tradition at work in Catholic education as you have experienced it?
7. How do Catholic Social Teaching principles, such as solidarity, subsidiarity, economic democracy, and others, apply to the realm of education? Does the Evangelium Institute incorporate them into the formation you provide?
8. We’ve heard it said that the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of Saints. We’ve all had occasion to be disappointed, if not scandalized, by poor leadership in the Church and in Catholic schools. Do you have any suggestions, based on your experiences, for how to respond or NOT respond to such situations?
9. How can folks support the good work the Evangelium Institute is doing in the realm of Catholic education?
10. Any last thoughts for us before we close with the Gospel for today?

Here at The Open Door, we are turning our attention to education for the next few episodes. This week (May 1) we will consider the growing trend of homeschooling. Our special guest is Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur. She is a lifelong Catholic who has been homeschooling her three children, two of whom are grown, for 17 years. In a welcome effort to provide both information and inspiration for homeschool families, she has managed, for over a decade, the Today's Catholic Homeschooling Website. From there folks can access her Homeschooling Resource Guide for free, along with a variety of helpful articles and book reviews. She herself has written a number of books, including The Crash Course Guide to Catholic Homeschooling. Patrice is a Member of the Catholic Writers' Guild and Catholic Library Association. She has a Master's Degree in Applied Theology and 20 years of experience working for the New Evangelization. Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. Please don’t hesitate to ask your own!

1. Perhaps we should begin by defining our terms. What is homeschooling? Simply doing school at home? What makes it "official"? 
2. We are pretty sure homeschooling is on the rise, but do you have any stats that might help us understand the reality by the numbers? 
3. What are the reasons people most often choose to homeschool, in your experience? 
4. What are some common misconceptions about homeschooling?
5. No doubt some criticisms of some homeschoolers are on the mark. Do any examples come to mind?
6. Some families feel called to homeschool throughout high school, often with the support of local or online educational services to one degree or another. As more and more kids have become homeschool graduates, are there any notable, established outcomes we are seeing that reflect the positive potential of this educational path?
7. We’ve all heard about teacher burnout. Is there homeschooling burnout? If so, what are the causes...and remedies?
8. Homeschooling parents come from many backgrounds. Are there some conversations across different backgrounds that you think might be productive but perhaps do not yet see?
9. Parents are the first educators of their children, and children are not the mere creatures of the State. Doesn’t it follow that the State’s role in education should be carefully limited?
10. Any other food for thought you'd like to offer for our listeners?

On this episode of The Open Door (April 17th), panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Valerie Niemeyer discuss medical ethics. Our focus will be the debate about the criteria for brain death. Our special guest is John A. Di Camillo, PhD, BeL. He is an Ethicist and the Personal Consultations Director at The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC). He manages its 24/7 free ethics consultation service as well as the Personal Consultations Fellows and Interns Program. He applies Catholic moral theology to science and medicine through research, writing, speaking, mentoring, and fielding hundreds of ethics questions every year. His areas of focus include cooperation with evil, sexual orientation and gender identity, reproductive technologies, and pregnancy complications. Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. Please feel free to suggest your own.

1. What is Catholics United on Brain Death and Organ Donation about? What were the goals of writing it and seeking endorsements for it?
2. Why is there no moral certainty of death when following the American Academy of Neurology guidelines for a determination of brain death?
3. What is ongoing hypothalamic function? Is it compatible with brain death? What would be the effect of improved clinical guidelines that require cessation of hypothalamic function?
4. Should patients expect that the existing American Academy of Neurology guidelines—or something even less rigorous—will be applied in practice? Is there a reasonable expectation that the existing guidelines will be improved in the near future?
5. Does a person considering organ donation have good reason to expect that he or she will be truly dead at the time of vital organ procurement?
6. Given that we must presume life until death is certain, and given the lack of moral certainty of death whenever the current brain death criteria are used, can we still assume that a majority of vital organ donors are deceased at the time of organ harvesting?
7. Is it wise, at this time, to decline organ donor status at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) upon first receiving a driver’s license? To revoke organ donor status through the appropriate channel in one’s state?
8. Should we advocate for the right of patients and health care professionals to conscientiously object to the use of the current brain death criteria for a determination of death?
9. How can we best highlight the Church’s teaching on the need for moral certainty of death as a condition for vital organ procurement?
10. What do you hope will happen next, now that Catholics United has been published?