Kresta in the Afternoon

What's it like to be a military chaplain? To travel to all corners of the world, instead of staying in one parish? To witness and serve to people who risk their lives every day? Fr. Daniel Mode is a priest in the Archdiocese of the Military. He joins us to share his experiences. We'll also look at the dramatic story of Fr. Vincent Capodanno, a priest who gave his life on a Vietnam battlefi...

Senator Tom Cotton has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan – and also as part of The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, performing military funerals for hundreds of veterans and fallen comrades. He joins us with an inside look of the Army unit whose mission is to honor fallen heroes on the most hallowed ground in America.

This weekend we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Trinity. This mystery is nearly impossible for us to understand or explain without drifting into heresy, but we begin to unpack it with Michael Dauphinais.

The Marian dogmas are deeply rooted in Scripture, not just in the New Testament but in Jewish tradition as well. Andre Villeneuve joins us.

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is considered the central mystery of Christian life. Marcus offers some thoughts.

Pope Francis has recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, paving the way for him to become the first millennial saint. Matthew Bunson joins us with more on this and other Church news.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. We unpack what the Catechism says about this mystery with Peggy Stanton.

In 1965, the Church published the document Dei Verbum – the Dogmatic Constitution on Scripture. Marcus reflects on what it has to teach us.

Bland sameness afflicts much of life today. Wherever one turns these days, it is hard to miss some institution proclaiming its commitment to diversity. Businesses, the military, churches, and, especially, universities all claim to be diverse places. But behind these identical claims to difference there is a rush towards sameness, a rush that is particularly acute at the university level. Terrence...

How much worse off we would all be without physical pain! As counterintuitive as it sounds, pain is your friend. Pain is a mechanism to warn you that something is wrong. Twenty years ago, it was pain that made Robert Kloska go see a doctor – who was able to catch his growing cancer before it was too late. Robert shares more on why he is grateful for pain.

The Second Vatican Council, in its document Gaudium et Spes, teaches us that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light, that Christ fully reveals man to himself. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit were first realized in Christ’s own humanity, and then shared with us. We talk more with Tyler Pellegrin.

The United Kingdom’s Department of Education intends to prohibit the promotion of gender ideology within public schools, set age-based guidelines for sex education, and protect parental rights, according to proposed guidance for schools. Tyler Arnold has the story.

There are seven sacraments administered in the Catholic Church. What are they, and what do they do? Why do human beings require sacramentalized, visible realities to seal their confession of faith in Jesus Christ? Why does the Catholic Church administer the sacraments in the way that it does? Fr. Romanus Cessario joins us to unpack the mysteries of the sacraments.

While Catholics regularly gather for liturgical celebrations and for devotions such as the Rosary and Stations of the Cross, we also pray in all sorts of settings and for many reasons where we aren’t quite sure what to say. Justin McClain joins us with prayers for all occasions.

Joseph Pearce has spent decades studying both the public and private lives of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. So he was surprised recently to discover an old letter by their friend that taught him something new about Tolkien. He joins us.

Yesterday we celebrated Pentecost - the Birthday of the Church. We discuss the power of the Holy Spirit with Peter Herbeck.

A recent article published by the AP claims the American Church is “taking a step back in time” as Generations of post-Vatican II Catholics are “giving way to religious conservatives.” We look at what the authors get right – and wrong – with Stephen White

Years of research continues to show us that more and more young people are leaving the Church as they enter adulthood, largely because they don’t like or trust “organized religion.” But a survey last year showed another disturbing trend – even among “affiliated” Catholic teenagers, nearly half say they have “little or no trust in organized religion.” Joel Stepanek joins us with more and also looks...

Our culture is feeling the effects of men who have lost sight of their vocation as fathers. Deacon Joe Grote joins us with little daily reflections to help us understand the meaning of fatherhood and the role fathers play in our lives.

In an interview with “60 Minutes” airing this Sunday, Pope Francis takes aim at his “conservative critics” in the United States, reportedly saying a conservative is someone who “clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.” Shannon Mullen takes a look at this and other Church news.

A federal appeals court ruled this week that parents in Maryland have no right to be informed when their children are being instructed with LGBTQ materials or to opt their children out of that instruction.

We wrap up the Easter season this weekend with Pentecost Sunday. Peggy Stanton joins us for our weekly discussion to connect the Sunday Gospel reading with the Catechism.

Who would have ever thought a football player’s commencement speech at a small Catholic college would go viral? Yet that’s what’s happening with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after his speech at Benedictine College. We talk about it with Paul Kengor.

Over the past decade Rome has been marked with sharp, and often unwarranted, criticism of the Church in the United States and American Catholic life. But very few of the critics have taken the time to talk, systematically, with a wide range of U.S. Catholics to understand their concerns. Francis Maier has had those conversations. He joins us.

Once a year in Tanzania, on its world-forgotten islands, unvisited mountainsides, and in jungles and brush with man-eating animals, the Sisters of Mary enter some of the most dangerous villages in Africa to recruit their incoming class. Kevin Wells joins us with the story.