Kresta in the Afternoon

There are many challenges to marriage in the world today – the breakdown of the family, the widespread availability of pornography, the me-first mentality of the culture and more. But you can build a strong marriage, and Dr Richard Fitzgibbons advises doing so by building on positive psychology, focusing on the growth of virtue in you and your spouse. We talk with Dr Fitzgibbons about habits for a...

Satan is constantly at work disturbing our peace, corrupting our thoughts, demoralizing us in our weaknesses, and diverting our attention away from God. His goal: to paralyze our spiritual efforts and mire us in a life of sin. How can we overcome these sinful thoughts? Fr. Thomas Morrow joins us.

Hulu has produced a documentary series that continues the work of the 1619 project. In an episode entitled Capitalism, the writers contend that capitalism “is based on the exploitation of labor” and that “American slavery can never be separated from the history of capitalism.” We get some analysis from Phillip Magness.

For several months we’ve been following the German Synod, and many Catholics are understandably concerned with what seems to be an inevitable schism. Michael Warsaw has written his own memo to the Germans – he joins us.

It seems like every time we check the news, there’s another story about the US shooting down another foreign object. Most fingers are pointed at China, and some people online even think aliens are behind it. We get an update from Victoria Coates.

Last night’s Super Bowl was, once again, a spectacle. The Chiefs and Eagles gave us one of the greatest games in recent memory, but much more is being said about what happened outside the field of play. Al shares some thoughts on the “Black national anthem,” the all-female flyover, the halftime show and more.

Archbishop Charles Chaput was recently asked to weigh in on the German Synodal way. His response was that "The only worthy agenda for the synod is the one given to us by Jesus in the Gospels. The Church right now is a divided house, both the ecclesial left and right have agendas. Church gatherings should be about proclaiming the Gospel and not about advancing a particular ideology or sociological...

This weekend the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles square off in Super Bowl LVII. Outspoken Christians can be found on both teams. Al shares some of their stories.

The word "Fire" appears more than 500 times in the Bible. Christ made salvation possible through a baptism of fire and the Lord hopes to accomplish much in our lives through his Holy Flames. We'll talk more with Peter Herbeck.

Every one of us is going to die. In all likelihood, within a century of our death few people will know we existed. So if all he work for, learn, and experience simply comes to nothing, does life actually have any meaning? A Christian can answer Yes, citing the Hope of Heaven – but if Heaven is so wonderful, why waste our time on earth? As the Church has written for centuries, death is not a negati...

This Sunday’s Gospel is one you could study for weeks on end. It concerns the Mosaic Law. Jesus presents His disciples with portions of the old Law and how these laws can be violated beyond their literal meaning. Jesus has not come to abolish the Law – He has come to fulfill it. We take a closer look with Peggy Stanton.

Later in today’s program we’ll talk with Randall Smith about the meaning of life and death. All of us are invited by Jesus to accept his gift of Eternal Life. What does the Bible say about this? Al discusses.

We spoke last week with John Czarnetzky about the Supreme Court decisions that are considered to be the worst in history, including Dred Scott and Roe v Wade. We ran out of time in that segment, so Dean Czarnetzky returns today for a more in-depth discussion.

For more than a decade now, parents have worried about the effects social media has on their kids. And those concerns are getting attention. Utah is considering a bill that would require kids under 16 to have parental permission to use social media, President Biden called for greater accountability in his State of the Union, and the Surgeon General says kids under 13 shouldn’t use it at all. We ta...

As political tensions in America continue, more and more voters say they are fed up with the two-party system. And as we saw last night, not even the State of the Union is exempt from political bickering. Dan Lipinksi joins us to look at the writings of Leo XIII for a solution.

Even if we pray consistently, there are times when we are more persistent in prayer than other times. Why are we so often dissatisfied with our prayer lives? Al discusses what the saints have to say about persistence in prayer and honors the late historian Paul Johnson.

Have you ever just wanted to just go back to a world without smartphones and social media? We can take breaks from mass media, but like it or not is here to stay. Paul Patton joins us to propose a process he calls mindful media attachment: promoting the holy habits of sacred intentionality, sacred interiority, and sacred identity.

We are living at a time when we can barely agree what words like “race” and “justice mean,” much less deal with the issues surrounding these concepts. When you combine that with journalists, pundits, and diversity trainers all desperate to advance their own causes, it’s easy to see why we’ve become so polarized on this issue. How do we work, and talk, our way out of this mess? Ismael Hernandez wei...

Throughout American history, tragedies have brought the nation together. When President Kennedy was assassinated, Americans didn’t see it as the death of a Democrat – they mourned the death of their president. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans came together to pray. But in the face of the Coronavirus tragedy, many Americans resorted to blame-casting and name-calling. What changed? Al discusses.

For Pope Benedict, the first message the world needed to hear in his pontificate was that God is Love. He wrote, “I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others.” We talk more about it with Tyler Graham.

The Associated Press added an entry to its style guide directing journalists to put the term “ crisis pregnancy center ” in scare-quotes, and to use “anti-abortion center” instead, to convey that “the centers’ general aim is to prevent abortions.” Clare Kosmalski joins us with a pro-life update.

Over the last few years we all experienced a lot of confusion and worry about the future. How can we maintain – and even cultivate – virtue during troubled times? We talk with JonMarc Grodi.

The word "Covenant" denotes a promissory agreement establishing a kinship bond between two parties. Covenants can be found throughout the Scriptures, and marriage is a special kind of covenant. We talk more with Jeff Kassab.

Pope Francis is the first pope to visit the world’s newest country – South Sudan. He is visiting the war-torn nation on a “pilgrimage of peace” with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Joseph Welby and Iain Greenshields, moderator of the Church of Scotland. Matthew Bunson joins us with the latest on the trip and other Church news.

We learned late last night that the Pentagon has been tracking a Chinese balloon for several days as it floats over the US. Intelligence experts suspected it was a reconnaissance craft, but decided not to shoot it down because it likely was not providing any information already gathered by Chinese satellites. Today, China confirmed the balloon is theirs, but claim it is a civilian research craft t...