Catholic Review Radio

This June, Archbishop William E. Lori ordained eight men to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Baltimore at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. That number represents the biggest class of new priests in the Baltimore archdiocese in more than four decades. The archdiocese is also seeing increasing numbers of men applying to become priests. Joining us to talk about vocations to the priesthood is Fat...

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore welcomed students for the new academic year Aug. 28. This year, Catholic schools are projecting an overall 1 percent increase in enrollment. George Matysek talks with Dr. Donna Hargens, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, about enrollment trends, affordability of Catholic schools, Catholic identity, special programs,...

Have you heard about the life and ministry of Sister Maria Rosa Leggol, sometimes called “the Mother Teresa of Honduras”? Over more than 70 years of service to the impoverished and orphaned in her country, she helped more than 87,000 children and their families. Sister Maria Rosa is the subject of a documentary, “With This Light,” now available on many streaming platforms. Catholic Review Editor C...

Ark and Dove is a five-episode narrative podcast, produced in Baltimore, investigating the complex dynamics of race and religion in America through the lens of the Black Catholic Church. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Edward Herrera, executive director of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Institute for Evangelization and one of the producers and hosts of the podcast, to learn ab...

World Youth Day 2024 has wrapped up and many young people had memorable experiences, but is it just a short-term spiritual high? Greg and Susan Rohr and Father Collin Poston share the longer term fruits of their powerful experience at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. Father Poston, now pastor of St. Bartholomew in Manchester, traveled there when he was a Methodist and came back with a deep desir...

Seek the City to Come is a two-year pastoral planning effort launched last year concerning the future of all 57 parishes in Baltimore City and several in Baltimore County. The initiative is focused on strengthening church’s ministries and presence in the city at a time when the number of Catholics in city parishes has fallen dramatically. Hundreds of people gathered in the Cathedral of Mary Our Qu...

July 30, 2023 | New religious community serves Baltimore’s forgotten people of the streets by Catholic Review Media

Father Boniface Hicks is a Benedictine monk of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa. A seasoned spiritual director, he has led numerous retreats and is the director of spiritual formation for St. Vincent’s Seminary. Along with Benedictine Father Thomas Acklin, he has co-authored books entitled, “Through the Heart of St. Joseph,” “Spiritual Direction: A Guide for Sharing the Father’s Love” and “Per...

Is there a role for Jesus in modern evidence-based medicine? Catholic Review Managing Editor George Matysek talks about it with Dr. Luigi Adamo, director for Cardiac Immunology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology in Baltimore. Born and raised in Southern Italy, the parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore completed his medical degree at th...

John and Tracy Sullivan are the parents of Russ Sullivan, a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Baltimore preparing for the priesthood at St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park. The Sullivans, parishioners of St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, share their experience of having a son in the seminary and offer some advice to other parents whose children are interested in the priesthood or religious li...

How can we understand new media technology in the context of faith? Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Daughter of St. Paul Sister Rose Pacatte about digital literacy and what she calles “media mindfulness” – consuming media in a thoughtful way that looks at not only what you read and see, but who creates it and who benefits from it. She also talks about her “interview” with Chat...

What’s the state of Catholic media these days? As the Catholic Media Association met in Baltimore June 6-9, Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Rob DeFrancesco, executive director of the association, and Gretchen Crowe, the new president of the CMA, to discuss today’s challenges and learn how Catholic media outlets are thriving as they include once-common diocesan newspapers as we...

Bishop Victor Galeone was a much-loved priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore who was served as pastor of St. Bernard in Baltimore, St. Thomas More in Baltimore and St. Agnes in Catonsville before being named bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, Fla. He died at age 87 on May 29. On this episode of Catholic Review Radio, Monsignor James Farmer, a close friend of Bishop Galeone who gave the homil...

Ken Hackett led Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore for decades, but his retirement was short-lived, as he was tapped to become U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talks with Hackett about his experiences at the Vatican, building relationships and helping prepare for a visit of President Barack Obama to the Vatican – and the significance of the gift he broug...

Preachers of the so-called “Prosperity Gospel” have had great success winning followers – including Catholics. What is the Prosperity Gospel and how did it take hold in the United States? How does it conflict with Catholic beliefs? Thomas Storck, author of “The Prosperity Gospel: How Greed and Bad Philosophy Distorted Christ’s Teaching,” discusses it with George Matysek. Storck, a convert to the C...

Jesuit Father Peter Ryan shares his witness and the importance of being open to the Holy Spirit within your life. He speaks about St. Ignatius Loyola’s Rules for Discernment that are patterns of how God inspires us and how to recognize that it’s from the Lord. Father Ryan holds the Blessed Michael J. McGivney Chair in Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, where he teaches moral th...

“The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis is one of the most beloved children’s series of all time. Joining us to talk about the significance of Lewis’ imaginative world and the spiritual benefit Lewis’ stories have on children and adults alike is Leonard DeLorenzo, editor of “Chronicles of Transformation: A Spiritual Journey with C.S. Lewis.” DeLorenzo is a professor of theology and director of un...

What do you get when you combine classic cars with a need to raise funds for vocations in the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico? You get V8s for Vocations, a program that has been running several years to raise money for seminarian education in one of the poorest dioceses in the country. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talks with Father Matthew Keller, the car buff who founded the program,...

Throughout the centuries, Catholic saints have written countless spiritual classics that have touched hearts and changed lives. But, until now, many of these worked have been inaccessible to modern audiences because they haven’t been translated from Latin. Tan Books has launched a new initiative called TAN Resurrection that is bringing back to life these great works. Father Robert Nixon, a Benedic...

Archbishop William E. Lori will ordain six men transitional deacons during a 10 a.m. Mass May 20 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. Becoming a transitional deacon is the final step before a man is ordained a priest. Joining us to talk about his vocational journey is Michael Misulia, a parishioner of St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown, who left medical school to enter the seminary. M...

Father Chris Alar speaks of the “ABCs” of Divine Mercy and the five new channels of grace given to the world through the message of Divine Mercy. It includes the Divine Mercy Feast Day, the Image, the Novena, the Divine Mercy Chaplet (intercessory prayer), and the Hour of Mercy. Father Alar is provincial superior of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy Province of the Marian Fathers of the Imm...

As we celebrate Easter, it helps to understand why the early disciples had such an urgency about sharing the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection and how we can do the same. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talks with Father Erik Arnold, pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, about how his own faith was renewed and revived and how the message of Easter can radically reorient our li...

Based on a true story of faith and survival, the new movie, “On a Wing and a Prayer” follows passenger Doug White’s harrowing journey to safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger, after their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Roma Downey, producer, and Doug White, the real-life inspiration for the film, about ho...

Daniel Markham set out about two years ago on an ambitious quest to visit 52 different churches over the course of a little over a year – one in each state plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty caught up with Daniel now that the journey is complete and a book about the project has been published – “52 Masses: A Journey to Experience Catholicism Acr...

Award-winning TV chef and “cooking priest” Father Leo Patalinghug and theologian and mixologist Dr. Michael P. Foley talk about their new book, “Dining with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Righteous Feast.” The book brings the liturgical year to life, pairing more than 200 saints’ stories with a smorgasbord of international recipes.