Kresta in the Afternoon

When the Dobbs decision was announced, several large corporations announced they would help financially assist any employee seeking an abortion. Peter Rex is taking a different approach - his company has pledged to support any pregnant employee who wants to keep their child and seek an adoption. He explains how he came to make this decision.

In this Sunday's Gospel we are presented with another tricky command from Jesus - that in order to be his disciple we must hate our fathers, mothers, children and even our own lives. What does He mean? Peggy Stanton joins us.

What is American political conservatism? Is it the movement defined by William F Buckley and Ronald Reagan? The Tea Party movement that arose in the mid-2000s? That which is identified by allegiance to Donald Trump? All of the above? Something else? We’ll talk it over with Matthew Continetti.

It's been just over a year since the US officially left Afghanistan. At this time last year, Emily Belz told us the story of James, an Afghan who had worked for seven years as a translator for US Forces, and was essentially left behind to face the Taliban. This weekend, he landed safely in the US. Emily returns to tell the rest of the story.

Yesterday the Russian media announced the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the final president of the Soviet Union, whose resignation on Christmas Day 1991 "officially" marked the end of the USSR. Gorbachev had a complicated relationship with the USSR's legacy and, despite some reports that he was a believer, never publicly professed a faith in God. We discuss more of his legacy with Paul Kengor.

Ever since Elizabeth Warren declared pro-life pregnancy centers to be “fake clinics,” tech giants like Google have been working to reinforce that message. Google will modify its search results to add tags to pregnancy centers stating that they do not provide abortion services. Clare Kosmalski joins us with more on this story and other pro-life news. 

In January of 1956, five young evangelical missionaries were speared to death by a band of the Waorani people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Two years later, two missionary women--the widow of one of the slain men and the sister of another--with the help of a Wao woman were able to establish peaceful relations with the same people who had killed their loved ones. The story has becoming a defining momen...

How are Christians viewed in the broader culture? We blush at the possibilities. Brainwashed fanatics? Out-of-touch dogmatists? Buffoons? The task of bearing faithful witness to Jesus is complicated by persistent―and not altogether baseless―cultural stereotypes.  Tim Muehlhoff joins us to discuss interacting with a culture that has rejected us and our message.

A recent study found that young single men are the loneliest they have been in generations, and we all experienced loneliness to some extent during the COVID lockdowns. In John 15, Christ speaks of true friendship: “Remain in my love…I have called you friends…” Al takes a look at what it means to have friendship with Christ.

In the wake of the feminist revolution, sociologists and politicians turned to the latest research to see how best to address needs such as access to equal education and employment. Pope John Paul II took a different approach: he turned to the Book of Genesis and connected theology to human sexuality. Sr. Joseph Andrew explains how and invites you to join her on the Good News Cruise.

On Friday the Justice Department released a redacted version of the affidavit used to secure the warrant for the FBI to search former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. What, if anything, have we learned about the search? Andrew McCarthy joins us.

President Biden has announced the cancellation of thousands of dollars of federal student debt for those who qualify. What are some of the effects of such a move? Was this debt even the President’s to forgive? And is college even worth the investment anymore? Richard Vedder is our guest.

We invite you to join us on the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, as we visit the burial places and memorial sites dedicated to the victims of abortion. This simple action humanizes these innocent victims and deepens our commitment to ending the injustice of abortion. This year’s National Day of Remembrance is on September 10, and Monica Miller has the details.

For centuries, Paul, the apostle who “saw the light on the Road to Damascus” and changed dramatically from zealous Pharisee persecutor to devoted follower of Jesus, has been one of the church’s most widely cited early teachers. Yet for leading New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop N. T. Wright, most Bible scholars and pastors have not fully grasped what Paul was actually doing and why.

What does an ancient thinker born centuries after Christ have to say that applies to our lives today? Well, if that thinker is St Augustine of Hippo, he has a whole lot to say. Dr James K A Smith has traveled long on the road with St Augustine, he joins us with a look at how Augustine can be a pilgrim guide to the complicated world we live in.

There’s a tricky passage in Chapter 12 of St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. He speaks of being given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being conceited. When he asked the Lord to remove the thorn, the Lord responded “My grace is sufficient for you.” What is the meaning of this thorn in the flesh? Al discusses.

The College of Cardinals is in the midst of three separate "consistories." There is a lot on the agenda, including the elevation of new cardinals and a discussion of the new constitution for the Roman Curia, Praedicate Evangelium. Matthew Bunson reports from Rome, and also tells of the tarnished legacy of the late Archbishop Weakland.

In this Sunday's Gospel Jesus gives us a lesson on humility: "when you are invited to a banquet, do not recline in the place of honor…rather, go and take the lowest place." What lessons can we take from this? And did Jesus really tell us not to invite our family to the wedding feast? Peggy Stanton joins us

An already-damaged section of grain silos in Beirut collapsed Tuesday after a fire slowly burned in the block for weeks when grains trapped inside ignited. The silos were first damaged in the 2020 blast that killed more than 200 people, wounded thousands, and destroyed more than 70 thousand apartments. We talk again with Fr. John Tayar, who is returning to Beirut this weekend.

We probably all know someone who has lost a friend or loved one very suddenly – maybe in a car accident or heart attack. In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us of this: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” What does it mean to live a ready life? Al opens up the Scriptures for the answer.

Peter Flies was raised Catholic, but lost faith when he discovered drinking. He was into sports and church, but those interests shifted to drinking and books. Years later, he would find himself sitting in a police car after being pulled over for driving under the influence. He tells us why that day was the best day of his life.

George Orwell once observed that “At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.” What does this “orthodoxy” look like today? What so-called truths are we all supposed to accept? Al discusses.

Is religion a right given to us by the state? Is it an opium for the masses? Is it private opinion with no role in the public sphere? Secularists claim that religion is merely a private matter, personally engaging but socially irrelevant. They may concede that a little bit of faith can be helpful, but you should mostly keep it to yourself. Religion, modern secularists say, is irrelevant to modern...

Today we celebrate the Feast of the first saint from the Americas, St Rose of Lima. Though she only lived to be 31, she is an incredible model of following the sufferings of Christ. Jessica Keating Floyd tells her story.

The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but communism didn’t. One hundred years after the Bolshevik Revolution, one-fifth of the world’s population still lives under single-party communist regimes in China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. And in the West, more and more people are expressing favorable attitudes towards communism and socialism. In times such as this, we must remember the stories of the...