Conversations with Consequences

Your hosts Grazie Christie, Ashley McGuire, and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer this week are joined by Luke Goodrich, Vice President and Senior Council at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a religious freedom legal advocacy group— a.k.a. “God’s ACLU.” Luke is the author of the new book “Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America.” Discussion topics include definitions of religious...

This week on the podcast, your hosts Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer interview distinguished guest Mary Hasson, who is the Kate O’Beirne Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and director the Catholic Women’s Forum. The ladies are also joined by Beth Pearce, the mother of a transgender child, who has startling insight into how the tra...

Your hosts Dr. Grazie Christie and Ashley McGuire are joined by Dr. Brad Wilcox, a distinguished researcher who writes on marriage, parenthood, and cohabitation, and the ways that marriage, gender, and culture influence the quality and stability of family life in the United States and around the world. They discuss the importance of fatherhood in the life of children; the benefits of growing up in...

The Catholic Association's “legal eagle” Andrea Picciotti-Bayer recently joined Dr. Tim Uhl, Superintendent of Montana Catholic Schools, to discuss the Espinoza Supreme Court case, which has the potential to overturn all state Blaine amendments. This case could affect funding for Catholic schools nationwide. Dr. Uhl Kindly gave us permission to post Andrea’s full conversation about this important...

Father Benedict Kiely, a champion of Christians in the Middle East, has been trying to get a visa to visit Syria for several years. The situation for Christians and minorities in the Holy Land is “even more complicated than you realize,” he tells our hosts Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer. Father Kiely reminds us that Christianity in the West came from the Holy Land in the East, and...

Your hosts Grazie and Andrea discuss religious freedom with Dr. Tom Farr and Ismail Royer of the Religious Freedom Institute. They discuss religious freedom in the United States from the perspective of the Catholic Church, particularly Vatican II and Dignitatis Humanae, and how Catholics are working to defend religious freedom in the world today. Helpful links: www.religiousfreedominstitute.org/ h...

Your hosts Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer are joined by Father Juan Vélez, a priest of the prelature of Opus Dei and author of “Passion for Truth, the Life of John Henry Newman.” Father Vélez is an expert on the soon-to-be saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, the famous British convert from Anglicanism whose canonization is coming up Oct. 13. Vélez, Grazie and Andrea discuss, among ma...

Your hosts Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer sit down with Mallory Millett, a former actress and widely published author whose sister, Kate, was instrumental in the feminist movement of the 1960s. Also joining is Dr. Carrie Gress, whose new book "The Anti-Mary Exposed" is a fascinating look at what feminism has wrought on our society— not least of which, our guests say, is a loss of t...

Good friend of the podcast Kathryn Jean Lopez stops by the studio to discuss her new book, “A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living,” as well as Kathryn’s long and successful career at National Review. Kathryn is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and editor-at-large of National Review. In addition to discussing the book, Kathryn, Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciot...

The Catholic Association’s Dr. Grazie Christie and Maureen Ferguson discuss the recent, horrifying revelation that a late abortion doctor, who operated in Indiana, was found to have over 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains hidden at his home in Illinois. Grazie and Maureen discuss the saddening details as well as the tepid response from presidential candidate and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigie...

In the Catholic Church, everything was calm and placid until the Second Vatican Council…right? There’s the history of the Catholic Church and modernity that you think you know— modernity acts, Catholicism simply reacts— but there’s an “irony” in that history that you probably don’t know; one that turns the history of the Church on its head. How has the world’s largest religious body dealt with the...

The sexual revolution has created a crisis of identity - leading people to cling to identity politics in their primal quest to answer the question "who am I?” This week’s amazing guest is Mary Eberstadt, senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. She is a writer and essayist whose work has appeared in Quillette, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post,...

This is the second episode of our special series, “Church on the Ground: Going Forward in Joy.” This week, the TCA’s Grazie Christie, Andrea Piccioti-Bayer, and Maureen Ferguson are joined by Father Bill Byrne, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Maryland. The hilarious Father Byrne talks about his own upbringing and Catholic formation, as well as his thoughts on the scandals and the ab...

On this special bonus episode of Conversations with Consequences, Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Piccioti-Bayer discuss Bishop Robert Barron’s new book, “Letter to a Suffering Church,” which addresses the abuse crisis head-on. Don’t miss Grazie and Andrea's timely and hard-hitting discussion from their perspective as lay women, working mothers, and concerned Catholics. Buy the book: https://order....

The abuse crisis has rocked the Church. Should we assume that any priest accused is guilty? The conviction of Australian Cardinal George Pell should give any Catholic and defender of the rule of law pause. An incredible allegation of abuse formed the basis of Pell's conviction and his accuser's perceived credibility was recently cited in dismissing his appeal. What about the overwhelming evidence...

Planned Parenthood will no longer receive Title X funds, after refusing to separate out abortion from the rest of what they do. Now what? Women in need can look forward to the expansion of federally-funded family planning clinics that truly support "positive birth outcomes and healthy families" — the primary goal of the Title X grant program.  TCA's Dr. Grazie Christie and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer a...

Is late term abortion ever medically necessary? Can the abortion pill really be reversed, or is that just a pro-life twisting of the facts? Our host Dr. Grazie Christie interviews another doctor, Dr. Mary Jo O’Sullivan, about late term abortion, pro-life bioethics and how Dr. O’Sullivan works to reverse medication (abortion pill) abortions. Helpful links: https://www.abortionpillreversal.com/ http...

What does “sex” mean? What about “gender?” There’s a lot of competing information out there about the ways in which men and women are different, and why it matters. Your host, Dr. Grazie Christie, sits down with the Catholic Association’s Ashley McGuire and Andrea Picciotti-Bayer to talk about Ashley’s 2017 book, “Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female." We talk about what the breakdown...

Planned Parenthood: With revenues of over half a BILLION dollars a year from taxpayers, is this giant corporation a “healthcare” provider or a political machine? We argue that the recent firing of Dr. Leana Wen tells us Planned Parenthood is not interested in women’s health, but only in their bottom line and political clout. Dr. Grazie Christie and Ashley Mcguire of The Catholic Association drill...

Are we a suffering Church? A Church in crisis? Yes. But we are also a Church deeply alive. Parishes across the U.S. are vibrant and energetic, filled with luminous men and women who are busily doing their part to bring about the Kingdom. Our new series “The Church on the Ground: Going forward in Joy” will highlight some of these ordinary, extraordinary people and their marvelous work. Our inaugura...

Does your family have its own "family" culture? Are you reacting to the challenges of parenting or do you have a plan? This week's guests on Conversations with Consequences, Mike and Alicia Hernon, share their experience in running the Messy Family Project (messyfamilyproject.org). This dynamic husband and wife duo not only raised 10 kids, but also seek to help other parents become more "intention...

Is an abortion the best "care" for a child with limited life expectancy? Recent extreme abortion legislation has enshrined the "right" of New Yorkers to an abortion up until the moment of birth. Illinois took things one step further by stripping any regulation directed to the safety and well-being of women in the state. Are women well-served by "progressive" deregulation of abortion? This week's g...

Public education in America is in a sorry state; maybe it's time to "Get Out Now." The greatest threat to our children is not poor academic performance but the push for ideological conformity in the classroom. Promoting gender ideology, kicking God out of the classroom, and encouraging a victim mentality are pillars of today's "progressive" curriculum for public school students in America. Parents...

Do women make important contributions to the world of work? Yes, absolutely! In this week's podcast, Grazie is joined by Ashley and Andrea to talk with two Catholic women who are making their mark on the media. Meg McDonnell, editor-in-chief at Verily magazine, discusses her professional ascent and Verily's purpose to "elevate what is honest, real, and beautiful for the modern woman." And Susanna...

Is abortion good for minority women and minority communities? Is it possible to be a woman of color and be pro-life? How does an abortion culture affect the disabled? "Big Abortion" is inherently racist, from its inception by the infamous eugenicist Margaret Sanger to today, with most Planned Parenthood clinics located in minority neighborhoods. Today’s guests Gloria Purvis and Notre Dame Professo...