What Matters Most

This episode is the thirteenth episode of the second season of What Matters Most and features Father Nick Meisl.  Fr. Nick Meisl is an Assistant Professor at Corpus Christi and St. Mark’s Colleges where he teaches the Bible. In addition, he is Pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in New Westminster, BC. He completed his License from the Pontifical Biblical Institute and is currently a PhD candidate at Dur...

This is the twelfth episode of the second season of What Matters Most and features Reverend Mark Kleiner from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Mark is open, vulnerable, and honest, about the role of the Gospel in his life, his past struggles with alcoholism, his rock n’ roll life, and his passion for men’s health. As Mark said in the podcast, and as you can find on the Christ Church website, he is the so...

This episode is the eleventh episode of the second season of What Matters Most and features Reverend Dr. Mark Miller. Fr. Mark is currently the visiting scholar in health care ethics for St. Mark’s College and Providence Health Care in Vancouver for the academic year of 2023-2024. Fr. Mark Miller, C.Ss. R., was ordained in 1975 as a Redemptorist priest after studies in Winnipeg, Toronto and West G...

This episode, the tenth of the second season of What Matters Most, features Dr. Cristina Vanin, an associate professor of theology and Director of the Master of Catholic Thought program at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario .   I invited Cristina on the podcast to discuss Laudato Deum , Pope Francis’s newest apostolic exhortation, released in October 2023. Laudato Deum was released just...

Our guest on today's episode of  What Matters Most , the ninth episode of our second season, is Dr. Matthew Anderson.   Matthew Anderson holds a Gatto Chair in Christian Studies at St FX in Religious Studies. He is also an affiliate assistant professor at Concordia University, Montreal. Matthew was born to settlers on Treaty 4 territory. His PhD in Religious Studies is from McGill University (1999...

Today's episode Our guest on this episode of What Matters Most , the eighth episode of our second season is Dr. Jill Hicks-Keeton.  Jill Hicks-Keeton (PhD, Duke) is currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches courses on biblical literature. In 2024, she will begin a new position, as Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Souther...

Our guest on this episode of  What Matters Most , the seventh episode of our second season, is Dr. Hans Gustafson, Director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota , where he also teaches courses in the study of religion and theology for the Theology Department.   Today we are going to discuss his book p...

This episode with Charles Gallagher, S.J . takes us into some dark history concerning Nazis and the Christian Front, a Catholic lay organization, in Boston and New York in the 1930s and 1940s just prior to and during the early stages of World War II.  The story of Frances Moran, head of the Boston National Front and his Nazi handler, the German consul in Boston, Herbert Wilhelm Scholz is a depress...

Dr Amy Lindeman Allen is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) in Indianapolis and only a couple of weeks ago was appointed to an endowed chair, the Indiana Christian Church Chair in Biblical Studies at CTS. Amy is also an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Allen earned her doctorate in New Testament and Early Christian...

Today's guest on What Matters Most, Imam Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq, is from Ghana. Imam Marzuq introduces us in this episode to the country of Ghana generally and to the interfaith situation in the West African country specifically.  Imam Marzuq is the assistant to the Chief Imam of Ghana, Shaikh Dr. Osman Nuhu Sharubutu who is 104 years old. Marzuq belongs to the Tijaniyyah tariqa , or order,...

Our guest on this episode of What Matters Most , the second (new) episode of our second season, is Dr. Massimo Faggioli, a full professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (Philadelphia).  Massimo is one of the most prominent Catholic theologians working today in North America and Europe.   Massimo is a friend and was a colleague of mine at the University...

Our first guest on the second season of What Matters Most is  Rev. Dr. Robert James , Associate Professor, Anglican Formation and Studies at VST .   Rob James is an Anglican priest who was ordained in the Church of England and worked as a parish priest in Gloucestershire and then as Canon Chancellor of Wells Cathedral , Somerset, before coming to Canada. Before he was a parish priest, he worked in...

As What Matters Most prepares to begin its second season in September 2023, I thought we should return to the first episode with Fr. Jim Martin, released on October 7, 2022. Many of you were not listening to the podcast when this episode was released, so to prepare you for the upcoming season, this is a taste of what's on offer. I will say that a number of tweaks have taken place since Fr. Martin'...

Welcome to What Matters Most.   On this episode I speak with the Interfaith Amigos, who are  Imam Jamal Rahman, Pastor Don MacKenzie, and Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan. Rabbi Laura replaced the recently retired Rabbi Ted Falcon as a part of this interfaith trio. When you listen to the episode you will notice that I did not start with saying, "A Rabbi, an Imam, and a Minister walk into a bar..." This is...

Today’s guest on What Matters Most is Sam Rocha , associate professor of philosophy of education at University of British Columbia. This was a wide-ranging conversation and as I say at in the intro to the podcast, I am still processing all of it because we covered so much territory.  Sam is the author of a number of books, including  A Primer for Philosophy and Education with Cascade Books,  Folk...

On this episode I speak with Sister Damien Savino , F.S.E., Ph. D., Dean of Science and Sustainability at Aquinas College in Michigan. Sister Damien Marie has a Ph. D in Civil (Environmental) Engineering from The Catholic University of America (CUA),  a M.A. in Theology  from CUA, a M.S. in Soil Science from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, and a B.S.  Biogeography (High Honors) from McG...

The guest on this episode is Nicholas Olkovich , my colleague at St. Mark’s College in Vancouver. Nick was just promoted to  Associate Professor at St. Mark’s and is the Marie Anne Blondin Chair of Catholic Theology at St. Mark’s. Nick has a Ph. D. in Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College (2009-2016), an S.T.L., Regis College (2009-2013), an M.Div., University of St. Michael’s Coll...

My guest on this episode of  What Matters Most is the Canadian biblical scholar Dr. Matthew Thiessen , an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University and formerly an Assistant Professor  at St. Louis University . It was a fascinating conversation for me as Matt works in the same field, biblical studies and studies of Paul in particular, as do I. I was trained by a different gen...

Welcome to our episode with Dr. David Penchansky, professor emeritus in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota.  This was a fascinating conversation. We learn about David growing up in Brooklyn in a family that were atheists and his own religious conversion on a "hippie commune," his words, in Washington State fifty years ago. He became an Assembly of God minister be...

On this episode of what matters most I speak with Dr. Catherine  E. Clifford, a Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She holds a PhD in Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and an STL from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her teaching, research, and publications are in the areas of ecclesiology, ecum...

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Greg Kennedy. In the first epiosde we talked about ecology, animals, and spiritual direction.  In this, the second episode, we discuss his books the Reupholstered Psalms   and Amazing Friendships between Animals and Saints . What does he mean by  Reupholstered Psalms ? We talk about that title and how he is not rewriting” or “reconstructing” the Psalms...

I spoke to Dr. Steve Millies on February 6, 2023. Steve Millies  is a Catholic political theorist and the director of the Bernardin Center at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, his hometown, and Professor of Public Theology. He has written Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground (Liturgical Press, 2016), a book which won first place in the biography category for the Catholic Press Associat...

Dr. Greg Kennedy is a doctor of philosophy and a Jesuit priest.  As we discuss in this episode, though, Greg is leaving the Catholic priesthood and has requested laicization. He is not, however, leaving the Jesuit life as he continues what he calls the "joyful disciplines of poetry, spiritual direction, retreat leadership and farming on the graceful land of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, On...

In 2012 Sister Nancy Brown received the Order of British Columbia. This is what was written about Nancy on her reception of the award: “ Sister Nancy Brown is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable in British Columbia: homeless youth and young people at risk for human trafficking and sexual exploitation." In this episode I speak to Nancy, who was born in Vancouver, about her life as a Sister...

Donna Naughton is an Ojibway and Cree from Biigtigong First Nation located in northern Ontario. Donna holds both a BSW and a MSW. With a Master’s Degree in Social Work, Donna has been helping Indigenous communities for almost 30 years. She is also the Executive Director of Kateri Native Ministry, a role she has held since 2016.   Kateri Native Ministry is based in eastern Ontario and has been comm...