Church Life Today

Would you ever consider moving thousands of miles for the primary purpose of living in a committed and passionate Catholic community? Of course, people move all the time for jobs and other reasons, but to make the pursuit of a Catholic environment the main reason for a major move seems a bit unconventional. Today, we are going to talk about the unconventional with someone who is seeing just this s...

When we are young, we need the guidance of mentors. We never really outgrow that need for guidance, but at some point, a change must take place if we are to reach maturity. Instead of always being the one who is guided and mentored, we become the ones who provide the guidance and mentoring to others. We stop always looking for the adult in the room because we have become the adult in the room. My...

The heart of the Christian is not his own. Instead, our hearts belong to Christ. Our lives as Christ’s disciples are an ongoing formation to love what he loves, to care for those whom he cares about, and to join him in offering our hearts to the Father. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is open to all of us. Fr. Joe Laramie of the Society of Jesus has been praying into the Heart of Jesus for decades. But...

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.” But do we, as Catholics, really understand what the Eucharist is? Let me rephrase that: do we really understand who the Eucharist is? Actually, let me try one more time: Do we fully revere and adore him who meets us in the Eucharist? Maybe we could use some help with all of that. My friend and colleague Tim O’Malley has written a book...

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. You’re familiar with that, aren’t you? But have you ever really thought about what that is saying. God loved the world. This world. This world that does not love God very well, and in fact more often rejects God that welcomes him. God loved this world so much that He gave this world what is most precious, most intimate, most beautiful: his...

“Life, for the vast majority of humans, is not very glamorous. It involves doing a lot of boring and tedious things like paying taxes, cooking dinner, and sweeping the floor. And yet, these everyday tasks seem to vex Millennials; this generation has suffered from widespread ridicule for laziness and for the inability to grow up. But, somewhat paradoxically, Millennials also seem exhausted.” Those...

The desire for Truth. The Passion for discovery. The education of reason. The fundamental claim about what it means to be a human being. Being formed as a person of faith through the rigors of the scientific method. All these things and more were discussed in the first part of my two-part conversation with Sofia Carozza, a Marshall Scholar at the University of Cambridge, studying in the field in n...

“Hi, I’m so-and-so, and I’m a scientist. A Catholic scientist.” That might be how we would imagine an introduction in a support group for people who share a common problem. In this case, the problem would be being a person of faith in a field or profession within the sciences where prayer, belief, and openness to God would typically make you seem like less than you really should be. Or maybe we wo...

According to one recent study, fully half of the twentysomethings who were raised Catholic no longer practice the Catholic faith or name themselves as Catholic. Half. That’s troubling, isn’t it? Other recent studies have tracked the rates of disaffiliation from the Church and tried to identify some of the root causes of that disaffiliation. It is important for us to understand why young people are...

If you want to remain comfortable, do not let Jesus ask you questions. I learned this the hard way a few years ago when I decided that as a Lenten practice, I would spend time each day reflecting on and praying with the questions that Jesus asks in the Gospels. If you have ever looked for these, you’ll notice that he asks a lot of questions. • What are you looking for?• Why do you call me good?• H...

To be a parent is to be busy. We often start by wanting to get everything just right but end up just trying to hold things together. And then Lent comes around, and we either dream up fantastic spiritual regimens for ourselves, or we think, “Gosh, I can’t do another thing.” This is normal. What’s more, Lent is for normal people––not superheroes, not gluttons for spiritual punishment. But especiall...

“We have to imagine a people so deeply committed to their neighbors that they would risk their lives for them—and risk their lives perhaps not even to save them, but simply to be present and perhaps to speak to them of another life. As we imagine that, we begin to see the enormity and beauty of our own vocation as Christians.” This at the very heart of what it means to be “pro-life”Those are the w...

In the blink of an eye, digital technologies went from supplemental and exploratory in education to primary and necessary for continuing instruction during a global pandemic. This has been true in higher education as much as anywhere else. But how do you quickly move in-person learning experience into an online experience in an emergency, and then how do you plan for an entire semester of dual-mod...

Over the past year, I have been reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to my two younger boys, now age 7 and 9. We were into the third volume––called “The Return of the King”—and had just concluded the chapter entitled “Houses of Healing.” This is after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, from which came great suffering and destruction, but also great bravery and friendship. In the Houses of He...

If you were to see the sacred, what would you see? Would you see beauty, light, color, form, simplicity, complexity, joy? One thing we can be sure of is that what we would see would be immersive and full-bodied. To really see the sacred is not about a fleeting or casual glance; it is a long, loving look that changes us. My guest today is an expert in helping people to “See the sacred,” She is Jill...

If you could see the full expanse of the universe, do you think that might change your perspective? That probably seems ludicrous to even consider, but I gotta tell you: it happened to me. In 2006, I walked into a digital planetarium, and a couple hours later I walked out beginning to see things differently. The man I met when I walked in? Phil Sakimoto, former NASA astronomer, professional planet...

In a world where forgiveness seems less and less possible because transgressions are rendered more and more permanent, how can there be a tomorrow? Or maybe we need to ask that question another way: Is there a Christian way to have a tomorrow? Professor Joshua Mitchell of Georgetown University seeks to show us what is at stake in questions like these. He joins me to discuss his new book, American...

Every child is a mystery, but as scientific advances in prenatal testing grow, so does the temptation to know more and more about our unborn children. Will they be healthy? What are the chances they will have a disability? With questions like these comes another question: how much is too much when it comes to trying to know who our children will be? My guest is Dr. Mary O’Callaghan, a developmenta...

In an age when belief in God seems more and more difficult to achieve, and perhaps less and less likely to be recommended, how do we commit our lives to God? This is indeed a spiritual question, but it is also a philosophical question, a question of incredible practical import, a question of faith and reason and beauty and imagination. My guest today dives deep into the question of belief in God f...

Do you have hope for the future of American politics? Is now the time for the pro-life movement to take a leading role in that future? We’re going think about things that like on today’s show, as I welcome Dr. Charlie Camosy, associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University. We’ve got a lot to talk about, which means I’ll keep the intro brief. I’m Leonard DeLorenzo, this...

When we think about bringing Catholic young people into adulthood, what should be included and prioritized for their formation as mature disciples? There is a lot we could talk about around that question, but today we will be talking about the crucial role of intellectual formation for Catholic young adults, especially in and around the college years. Joining me to talk about the intellectual form...

When Time Magazine named Sister Norma Pimentel as one of the 100 most influential people of 2020, they said that she “has been on the front line of mercy for three decades.” The front lines of mercy. That’s where God’s preferential love for the poor and suffering meets people who are hungry, thirsty, homeless, and seeking not just safety, but compassion. For Sister Norma, that meeting place is the...

Every year more than 100,000 people visit Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart (though of course, the year 2020 may be an exception). Nevertheless, those who walk in the basilica’s doors, discover a worship space that is immaculately maintained, utterly impressive, and completely orderly. But the order and intentionality of that church is not merely a matter of polishing and tidying up; it is...

Our reliance on digital technologies and media accelerated dramatically beginning in March 2020. When we could no longer gather in offices for work, in schools for learning, or even in churches for worship, we found ways to make do through screens and chats and webinars. Even as communities and institutions started to open back up in the late spring or summer months of 2020, the increased reliance...

For Catholic Campus Ministries across the nation, the unprecedented interruptions to both typical campus life and the traditional ways of ministering to young people have generated frustration and trials, but also the possibility for rethinking approaches to ministry in terms of what is possible and what is most important. My guest today works with Catholic Campus Ministries across the country to...