Keep The Faith's Podcast

Dr. William Marra discusses the life and work of the philosopher, Leibnitz, the first economist. An extremely sympathetic philosopher of the period is Leibnitz. Leibnitz was eager to underline the goodness of God's Creation, but also wanted unity among Christians and peace in Christendom as a whole. Dr. Willliam Marra discusses his life and work with reference especially to his Christian ecumenica...

Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand discusses Blaise Pascal's life and work. One of the greatest critics of Descartes in seventeenth century France was Pascal. His God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was a God of love and the heart that Pascal could not see present in Descartes' writings. Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand discusses Pascal's life and work. Taken from Regalism, Revolution, the Reign of Terror an...

Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand describes the spiritual friendship of St. Jeanne Francois Chantel and St. Francis de Sales. The whole labor of the Catholic Reformation was one of encouraging man's love of God and transforming nature in consequence. Spiritual friendship and spiritual love were part of that enterprise. Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand discusses in this lecture the loving ascent of two historically...

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro explains St. Alphonsus Marie de Liguori's teaching and moral theology. Jansenist rigorists caused many problems for Catholic moral teachers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. St. Alphonsus' teaching was, as Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro demonstrates, a breathe of much needed fresh air. Liguori's balanced moral theology went on to become the basis for future Cathol...

Fr. Richard Munkelt describes the Enlightenment's reinterpretation of Natural Law. The Enlightenment insisted that it was simply concerned with what is "natural". But how do you determine what is a law of nature? Fr. Munkelt shows that the eighteenth century's understanding of nature and natural law is different from that of Catholic Tradition, and pregnant with many confusions as well, especially...

Dr. Jeffrey Bond presents a Catholic critique of Hobbesian Materialism. Protestantism promotes the vision of a totally depraved world in which the sinful jungle animals we call men claw endlessly at one another. Dr. Bond speaks here of how the seventeenth century English political philosopher Hobbes accepts this grossly materialist view of men and seeks to impose order upon the chaos that it expec...

Dr. Jeffrey Bond presents a Catholic critique of the American Founding. James Madison and The Federalist Papers were both instrumental in creating and achieving confirmation of the American Constitution. Dr. Bond shows how the ideas they expressed are very problematic for the Catholic world view. One special difficulty is, once again, their Lockean presumption that order is built upon maintaining...

Dr. John Rao begins by arguing that aspects of the crusading spirit are natural to man, and that it was also alive in the ancient world already. Cyrus the Great, Isocrates and Alexander the Great, historians like Polybius, and the Maccabees all illustrate examples of a crusading spirit or a call to a crusade. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 VonHildebrand Institute

Dr. John Rao says that Christianity made the crusading spirit into a battle for the construction of a soul that was fit to live eternally with God, and the creation of a social order that could aid such an ascent to the Divine. Dr. Rao shows how Christianity's appearance on the scene unleashed bitter hatred on the part of a "Grand Coalition of the Status Quo" which did not want to allow such a Cru...

Dr. John Rao describes the maturation of the idea of Crusading. This process of maturation is shown to have taken hundreds of years, from the 600's through the 1000's. Maturation involved the Heraclian "Crusade" versus the Zoroastrian Persian invaders of the Eastern part of the Empire in the early Seventh Century. Icons were symbols used in crusading at this time. Taken from Crusading, the Crusade...

Dr. John Rao says the the arrival of Islam into the Mediterranean world of the Seventh Century also aided in the shaping of Crusading concepts. Dr. John Rao shows in great detail that Islam is a terribly divided religion, but that its idea of Holy War does play a role within it, and one to which Christians were obliged to respond. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 Von...

Dr. John Rao explains that the monks of Cluny aided the maturation process enormously, teaching rough soldiers how they could use their military skills for acceptable purposes. The Pilgrimage to Compostella became a training ground for Crusaders. Also, Moslem Sufi Brotherhoods, some of them very militant, taught how spiritual and military activity could go together. Taken from Crusading, the Crusa...

Dr. John Rao speaks on the dilemmas emerging from the Great Crusades show just how much the Papacy saw fighting as only one part of the Crusading Movement. Popes like Innocent III believed that Christian failures in the Crusade required a more serious intellectual and spiritual fight for transformation in Christ and a crusade against sin in the political and social world of Christendom. Taken from...

Dr. John Rao explains that the external Crusades had to be accompanied by an internal crusade versus heresy, confused thinking in general, and corruption in the clergy and in the laity in all of their various activities. It is on this plane, Dr. Rao explains, that SS. Dominic and Francis became symbols of the Crusading spirit. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 VonHild...

Dr. John Rao says that threats to Christian security very much increased with the Ottoman victory over Byzantium. Dr. Rao describes the Ottoman advance, which continued, seemingly unabated, into Africa and southeastern Europe, causing Venice, Austria, and Spain to think that a conscious, dangerous pincer movement was in operation. Many critical moments awaited the Christian world until the Poles,...

Dr. John Rao says that in order to understand modern Holy War, it is essential to grasp the continued divisions and complexity of the modern Islamic world. One of the most important developments treated by Dr. John Rao is the growth of the "puritanical" Wahabi movement, which seeks to purge Islam from exaggerated Sufi and popular elements. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order -...

Dr. John Rao describes the influence of different modern Islamic developments for places like Asia and Africa, where Moslems are so militant today. Again, the ability of certain militant Moslem groups to provide a sense of belonging to uprooted peoples is stressed. The primarily "internal" character of much Moslem militancy, aimed against Moslem secularists, is also discussed. Taken from Crusading...

Dr. John Rao says that Pope Pius IX was the most important symbol of the Catholic declaration of independence from secular enslavement in the 1800's. Love for him, Dr. Rao explains, was overwhelming in the Catholic world. It was for this reason that Catholics responded with a crusading spirit to the assault on his center of power in the Papal States and Rome from 1848-1870. Taken from Crusading, t...

Dr. John Rao says that the danger to the Papal States became more clear by 1859. A call to create an international Papal Army went out. Men from all over the world responded: France, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Canada, and even the United States sent recruits. A retired French general led the forces. Dr. John Rao describes their life, their songs, their esprit-de-corps, their successes, and their u...

Dr. John Rao  says the opponents of the Revolution in the nineteenth century saw themselves as fighting a battle for the defense of the consequences of the Incarnation against the enemies of Christ. Many became convinced that this battle required a return to power of the "legitimate" pre-1789 monarchies. Dr. Rao describes the Faith, the successes, the failures, and, also, the mistakes and exaggera...

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro discusses the development and fiery preaching career of the great seventeenth century Capuchin friar, Marco D'Aviano. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 VonHildebrand Institute

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro speaks of the Capuchin's work in inspiring Austria to resist the Moslems at the time of the great Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683. Besides being a man who gave "soul" to the defense against external enemies, Fr. Marco also worked mightily to bring peace among all Christian rulers. Taken from Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 VonHildebrand Institute

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro discusses the Cristeros movement in Twentieth Century Mexico, a magnificent militant expression of popular Catholic crusading for the Faith against a persecuting secularist, liberal/Marxist Mexican government in the 1920s. What caused their growth? How effective was their action? What role did Rome and the American episcopacy play in weakening its impact? Monsignor Ignac...

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro tells us about Garcia Moreno, who was a cosmopolitan man of science and political reformer. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro explains how Moreno was a model Catholic leader of Ecuador in the 19th Century. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro shows that his actions led him into conflict not only with the enemies of the Faith but with clergy worried about his zeal for Catholicization as w...

Father Richard Munkelt shows that the Islamic world had a rich philosophical history in the Middle Ages, including thinkers who worked with theologians and Sufi mystics and others who posed major problems for the Faith of Allah. Moslem schools of thought often also provided a framework for social life and political action. Father Munkelt discusses the different Moslem philosophers and their attitu...