Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)

Today, we’re joined by a very special guest, our friend Dave VanVickle. Dave is a lay evangelist, spiritual warfare expert, and father of five, who has spent the past 22 years assisting priests and dioceses with exorcisms. Dave is the sanest, most balanced expert we know on this topic, so we were eager to have him share his wisdom on the nature of exorcisms, the dangers of the demonic AND of paying too much attention to the demonic, the problems with “generational curses,” and the best thing all of us can do to protect our families from evil (HINT: It’s not praying deliverance prayers).

You can learn more about Dave (including how to book him for talks at your parish) on his Website: www.thecatholictruthaboutangelsanddemons.com. You can also tune into hear him weekly on “Every Knee Shall Bow,” a podcast put out by Ascension Press.

Mentioned on this Podcast

An Exorcist Tells His Story by Father Gabriel Amorth

Spiritual Theology by Jordan Aumann

“Can We Heal Our Family Tree and Wipe Out Ancestral Sin?”

Plenty of opinions, lots of questions, but very few answers is what we have for you this week as we talk about raising kids in the age of cell phones, Internet, and graphic crime shows streaming eternally on TV.

Chasing Childhood (Documentary)

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies Are Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Summers

“Honoring Our Parents: Weekly Notes” by Emily Stimpson Chapman

Two weeks ago, Emily answered a question in her newsletter about whether or not a wife should honor her husband’s request that she get breast implants. Everyone felt like there was a lot more to talk about than Emily was able to fit into her answer, so we recorded a whole podcast about it. It’s a perfectly clean conversation, but if you have any 12-year-old boys around who break out into hysteric laughter at the mention of the word breast, maybe put your headphones on for this one.

Show Notes

The Substack that started it all: On Catholic Jobs, Breast Implants, and Books

A Return to Modesty byWendy Shalit

The Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Modesty in Outward Apparel” Summa Theologiae, II-IIae Q. 169

Today, the gang is breaking down Pope Francis’ new pastoral letter on literature “On the Role of Literature in Formation.” Why do priests need to read more stories? We do we all need to read stories? What are the very best stories? What do they teach us? And what is wrong with all the people who hate Harry Potter?

So. Many. Links. Today. Probably missing a dozen. But here is the best list we could manage.

“On the Role of Literature in Formation,” by Pope Francis

The Catholic Writer Today by Dana Gioia

Mystery & Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor

“Misguided Hope, Questionable Television, and Harry Potter … So Much Harry Potter,” by Emily Chapman

Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos

Under Satan’s Sun by Georges Bernanos

The Power and the Glory by Georges Bernanos

The Prince of Darkness & Other Stories by J.F. Powers

Contemporary Catholic Poets: Jane Greer, Sam Hazos Mike Aquilina

Lamy of Santa Fe by Paul Horgan

Humble Powers: Three Novelettes by Paul Horgan

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Made for You by Jenna Satterwaite

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Death Comes for an Archbishop by Willa Cather

Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather

Gilead by Marilynn Robinson

*The above links include affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking on the link, a few pennies will make their way back to us.

Chris and Casey are back in the classroom, and everyone’s summer vacation is coming to an end, so the Chapmans and Stapletons are officially kicking off the second season of Visitation Sessions by looking back on a summer that was anything but restful and talking about the quest for rest, the purpose of recreation, and the glory of routines.

Related to this episode:

Leisure as the Basis of Culture by Joseph Pieper

Reasonable Pleasures: The Strange Coherence of Catholicism, Father James Schall

“The Forgotten Virtue of Eutrepelia,” Father Jean-Francois Thomas

“The English Game” on Netflix

Beaver Island

“We Need to Talk About Over-Tourism, Part 1: The Cinque Terre,” Chandi Wyant

“We Need to Talk About Over-Tourism Part 2: Over-Tourism in Florence, Venice, and Rome,” Chandi Wyant

“Is Over-Tourism Killing Florence’s Dining Scene,” Emiko Davies

The Affordable Floors

We crowded into a hot childfree attic on a Sunday night to talk about what everyone else is talking about: Ballerina Farm … and farming … and trad wives … and social media …and minding our own business … and why no matter what we do, the world is going to hate believing Christians (or aspiring Christian as the case may be) who are trying to live our faith.

Mentioned in this episode:

Meet the Queen of the Tradwives

Momforce Podcast with Hannah Neelman

Is There Darkness Behind the Ballerina Farm Brand

How To Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key

Drunkards Prayer (Over the Rhine)

This week, your hosts Chris and Emily Chapman and Casey and KATE Stapleton (not Chris Stapleton 🤦🏼‍♀️) review some of the flash points in Butker’s Benedictine speech and discuss why both the speech and Emily’s Substack article about it are making so many people so danged crazy.

Note 1: This will be our last podcast for the next two to three months, as the Chapmans head off on pilgrimage, the Stapletons head off on tour, and we all try to keep our houses from collapsing down around us. Thank you so much for listening to this first season of Visitation Sessions, and if you don’t want to miss the first episode of Season Two, when it premiers later this summer, subscribe to our Substack today.

Note 2: Emily wants you to know she was having a hard time with words the day we recorded this and besides referring to Kate as Chris in the opening and forgetting the word liceity, she also said that Saul was going door to door in ancient Jerusalem dragging Jews out of their houses. They were Jews. And they weren’t yet called Christians. But it was the Jews who followed Christ that he was after, just in case there was any confusion on that point.

Note 3: If you’re enjoying this podcast, we would love it if you could head over to Apple and say nice things about us. Just nice things, please. Emily could use a break from being called bad names.

Mentioned on the Podcast:

Harrison Butker’s Commencement Address

Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions)

Ohio State University 2024 Commencement Address

Butker’s Speech by Amy Welborn

In Case You Missed It

Men (and Women) at Work

Hard Workin’ Women

In Search of the Masculine Genius

Today, we’re talking about homeschooling, the purpose of the domestic Church, why awkwardness matters, and a whole lot more of listener requested topics, in this special Q&A Episode.

In This Episode:

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

John Henry (Tonie character)

John Henry (short—Also available on Disney Plus)

Future Faithful Families Project

“Every Tech Tool in the Classroom Should Be Ruthlessly Evaluated,” by Jessica Gros

“To Fight Less About Books in Schools, Have More Books at Home” by Brandon McGinley (Paywalled. Sorry!)

This week, we dive deeper into the Christian obligation (yes, obligation) to practice hospitality and answer your questions about what that looks like when you’re tired, strapped for cash, and would rather just watch Netflix.

Mentioned in this episode:

Apostolica Acuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity), Second Vatican Council

“Enduring Homelessness Requires More Than Just Survival,” by James DeMasi

“Why Dutch People Don’t Mind You Peering Into Their Homes” by Katja Brokke

Around the Catholic Table: 77 Recipes for Easy Hospitality and Everyday Dinners (Cookbook) by Emily Stimpson Chapman

The Catholic Table: Finding Joy Where Food and Friendship Meet (Book), by Emily Stimpson Chapman

Two high schoolers, a homeschooling mom, and a sleep deprived writer sit down over drinks to talk about learning. It sounds like the beginning of a very boring joke, but it actually was a fascinating late night conversation about learning, education, technology in classrooms, the virtue of studiositas, the vice of curiositas, the wonder of children, and why Emily dislikes the word “educator” almost as much as she dislikes the word “creative” when it’s used as a noun.

Mentioned on Today’s Show

“Every Tech Tool in the Classroom Should Be Ruthlessly Evaluated,” by Jessica Gros

Real Learning Revisited by Elizabeth Foss

“Why I am Not Going to Buy a Computer,” by Wendell Berry

Men I Have Chosen for Fathers by Marion Montgomery

Another Sort of Learning by Father James Schall

St. Michael’s Abbey