The Open Door

This week, we explore concrete and person to person ways of serving low income people and the homeless. Our guest is Mary Agnes Erlandson. She directs St. Margaret's Center, a program of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. The Center provides help to about 10,000 unduplicated individuals annually. Over the past 34 years, people with multiple needs have come to the Center for food, shelter, legal, m...

The Open Door (December 15th) we discuss evangelizing young people. Statistics suggest that many of them will join the ranks of the “Nones” and profess no religious identification. Some commentators take the view that the “Nones” are prone to replace religion with politics. Our welcome and returning guest is Ed Rushman of Anaheim, California. He is a consultant who directs the enterprise IT effort...

Welcome to The Open Door! This week (December 1) we discuss the direction of the Catholic Church, especially in the United States, and the currents of thought—and action—that shape that direction. Our welcome guest is Larry S. Chapp. He taught theology for two decades at De Sales University. Currently he owns and manages, with his wife Carrie, the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Farm in Harveys Lake,...

Welcome to The Open Door! (November 17th) Today we discuss theology, bioethics, and evangelizing the culture. We’ll also explore how it can be necessary to challenge one’s academic alma mater. Our welcome guest is Samantha Stephenson. She holds three degrees from Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles). She has hosted the podcast Brave New Us: Bioethics in the Light of the Catholic Faith and blo...

This week on The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss teaching, writing, and the evangelization of culture. Our welcome and returning guest is Patrick Tomassi. He teaches junior high and high school math and science at Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. He even takes students backpacking around the Pacific Northwest! Tomassi’s work has appeared in P...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss political philosophy. We’ll introduce the work of the late John Rawls and offer a critical examination of his legacy. Their special and welcome guest is Christopher Wolfe. Prof. Wolfe is Distinguished Research Scholar at the University of Dallas and Emeritus Professor at Marquette University....

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Christopher Zehnder engage Akampurira Medard, LIFE Runners Chapter Leader of Kabale, Uganda (October 13, 2021)

This week on The Open Door we discuss a young missionary order, seminary education, and spiritual theology. Plus, we do so with a shared foundation in metaphysics. Our welcome and special guest is Fr. Charles Carpenter, M.A.P. Fr. Carpenter hails from Hawthorne, California, and this Christmas was the first he’s celebrated in the United States in 50 years! He has a doctorate from Rome’s Gregorian U...

Welcome to The Open Door! Jim Hanink here again, even though our producer, Sebastian Mahfood, is again in Italy. Today, we have an opportunity to learn about a remarkable initiative for vulnerable people, especially children, in Uganda. The Site for Community Services Programme (SCOSP) integrates education, health care, and human rights advocacy. Our special and welcome guest is Michael Sabiiti. O...

Welcome to The Open Door! Could it be true that Look Space blocks Catholic devotional posts? This week (September 15th) we explore such provocative, yet evidence-based, conjectures. Our special mystery guest (SMG) is an artist and evangelist. We’ll be talking about devotional posts and what some of our Puritan forefathers would have banned in Boston. Our SMG is also an accomplished iconographer at...

This week (Sept. 7) we discuss Tradistae, a new development inspired by the Catholic Worker tradition. Our special and welcome guest is Sean Domencic. He is the director and co-founder of Tradistae. Domencic has written and spoken extensively about Catholic social teaching, economics, and politics. He and his wife Monica recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary! They live at Holy Family...

This week, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder return to a theme central to the Christian life: evangelization. Our special and welcome guest is Jessica Murdoch, Ph. D. She is an Associate Professor of Systematic/Constructive Theology at Villanova University. Murdoch is a wife and mother who is active in parish ministry. We will ask her the following questions. As alwa...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss some political provocations. We’ll tell you why we’re provoked and what we think. Please don’t hesitate to tell us what’s on your mind! 1. An old Jesuit, a priest of blessed memory, once observed that “we pretty much get the political leaders we deserve.” If that’s true, shouldn’t we blame ou...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Christopher Zehnder talk with Eric Anton, a writer on military matters for the American Commons, about Afghanistan from the perspective of the American Solidarity Party. (August 17, 2021)

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss a pro-life amendment to the US Constitution. (August 11, 2021)

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss with Dr. Rene Trabanino what it means to be a consistently pro-life physician in California. We’ll also explore what it’s like to serve immigrants, the poor, and the under-insured. Last but not least we’ll consider what it’s like to discover the American Solidarity Party! Among the questions...

This week (July 28) on The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Mario Ramos-Reyes discuss Pope Francis’s Traditionis Custodes and its import for what Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI termed “The Extraordinary Rite.” Our welcome and returning guest is Fr. Donald Kloster. We are familiar with his role in preparing the Traditional Latin Mass National Survey. Among the questions we will consider are the foll...

On this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Christopher Zehnder discuss dialogue and debate among Christians as well as the presence of Christians in the public sphere. Our special guest is the prolific commentator, Casey Chalk. He’s a respected and frequent contributor to journals of opinion. Among the questions we plan to ask him are the following. Please feel free to suggest othe...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder speak with guest Tony Guidotti on how an international vision and a commitment to life, justice, and peace translate into a leadership role in the American Solidarity Party. Tony holds a Masters of Global Affairs degree from the University of Notre Dame. Guidotti has worked with Catholic Relief Servi...

This week (June 30th) on The Open Door we discuss reparations in the United States, specifically at the local level, and (yes!) living in Japan. Our special guest, Jason Morgan, PhD (Japanese history), studies legal and political history and philosophy. He recently penned an intriguing essay on reparations for Public Discourse, and he is a frequent contributor to the New Oxford Review and other jo...

Literature, in the light of beauty and form, with James Matthew Wilson, Professor of Humanities and the Founding Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program at the University of St. Thomas (Houston). Among his many books is The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in the Western Tradition (Catholic University of America Press, 2017) and The Strangeness of the Good (Angelico, 2020). Here...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder speak with Rebecca Ginsburg on prison abolition. 1. Isn’t it true that prisons keep us safe? 2. How do you imagine abolition working? Would we wait until we had a new system to put into place, and simply replace all the prisons? 3. One of the main objections that many people have to incarceration is...

In this episode of The Open Door, Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder talk with Sebastian Mahfood about his life, vocation, and work. (June 4, 2021)

On this episode of The Open Door, Jim Hanink and Mario Ramos-Reyes discuss the missionary spirit and how it expresses our faith. Mary Kloska will join us as our special and welcome guest. She presents an overview of her multifaceted work on her website, marykloskafiat.com (May 30, 2021) We will ask our guest the following questions. Please don’t hesitate to suggest others. 1. Mary (if we may), cou...

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss Philosophical Mentorship with Owen Anderson, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Arizona State University (May 19, 2021)