Kresta in the Afternoon

It’s easy to feel agitated about what is going on in the Church and world. But there is a love that keeps us rooted and sane. From the standpoint of eternity, this is what we strive for. Al discusses.

Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from The View last week after she made the claim that the Holocaust was not based on “race” because it was a matter of one group of white people killing another group of white people. The comment may seem wildly misguided. And it is. But she’s not alone. Her comment betrays a widespread misunderstanding about the history of racism. Richard Weikart joins us with more.

"You will find you are most fulfilled and most joy when you are rooted in your purpose." NFL star Cooper Kupp has had a great season, but that's not where he finds his reward. Al discusses the story and has a few other thoughts on this weekend's Super Bowl.

Last month, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg stated that Church teaching related to homosexuality “is false,” because the “sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct.” Peter Herbeck joins us as we continue our look at this story.

Dr. Bella Dodd, the famous one-time Communist lawyer who reverted to the Catholic Faith of her youth, has been the subject of much discussion over the past few decades. She is said to have planted more than 1000 men into the Catholic seminary system to destroy the Church from within. But a talk she gave in 1961 that has recently resurfaced sheds some new light on the story. We take a look with Kev...

As Christians, we are confident that we will see the face of Jesus after our death. But what does that look like? If, as St. Paul says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, how can our bodies enter Heaven? We talk with Jim Papandrea.

The 2022 Winter Olympics in China have started off with comparatively poor TV ratings in the US, including a record low for the Opening Ceremony. One of the reasons is people boycotting the Games, largely due to China’s genocide of the Uyghur Muslims and other minorities. Reggie Littlejohn has more.

A plenary meeting of the German Catholic Church’s “Synodal Way” ended on Saturday with votes in favor of draft texts calling for same-sex blessings and changes to the Catechism on homosexuality. It’s a sign of just how successful the “gay rights” movement has become—and we need to appreciate just what this means for the understanding of and the very practice of the Christian religion. Monica Mille...

The number of churchgoers has steadily dropped in the US for decades, but the pandemic and its associated lockdowns accelerated that fall. The Barna Group now estimates that in-person church attendance is between 30% and 50% lower than it was before the pandemic. What can we do about it? We talk with Doug Keck.

Last month Pope Francis called for a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine – and it’s not the first time a pope has spoken in support of the people who were being threatened by Russia. In December 1945, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical addressed to the people of Eastern Europe and Ukraine, who were being persecuted by Stalin’s communists. Paul Kengor tells the story.

It's been 11 days and the Truck Protest is continuing in Ottawa. Yesterday a judge granted a 10-day injunction that forbids people from sounding horns in the downtown area, and police have begun confiscating fuel from the protestors. Joe Warmington gives us the latest.

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.

It's easy to forget how far Catholic have come in the US; we were never the cultural majority and for a large part of American history, Catholics have faced harsh anti-Catholicism. What was like for Catholics in the South during the years leading up to the Civil War? How did they handle life in a society in which slavery was so ingrained? We talk with Adam Tate.

What is beauty? Is it just a matter of opinion or in the eye of the beholder? How can the virtues help us to better perceive and enjoy beauty? We'll talk with John-Mark Miravalle

Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Social gatherings are accused of promoting Cultural Appropriation. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. But despite all these efforts to make students feel "safer," rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as...

Any talk about apostates and former Catholics who persecute the Church is bound to grab attention, and Pope Francis’ Wednesday audience drew a reaction from some who wondered whether he had intentionally included the damned in the communion of saints. We look at this and other stories with Matthew Bunson

Tensions continue to rise in Ukraine as Russian troops amass near the border and US troops mobilize to nearby Poland. What is a morally justifiable response to the threat? The Church's teaching on Just War is deeply rooted in tradition and scripture. We examine it today with Peggy Stanton.

This week we are celebrating Catholic Schools Week. We can’t talk about the history of Catholic education in America without looking at the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who lived at a time when Catholics in America were viewed with suspicion. We look at Elizabeth’s contributions to Catholic education with Sister Betty Ann McNeil.

Some preliminary rounds of Olympic events are already underway in Beijing and the games will officially open tomorrow. With Western democracies staging a diplomatic boycott, the Games have given authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin even more time in the spotlight – just what he wants as troops gather near Ukraine. We take a look at the situation with James Carafano.

This week President Biden formally approved the deployment of 3,000 US troops to Poland, Germany and Romania, in a move to bolster NATO countries in Eastern Europe. This happens as tens of thousands of Russian troops amass along the Ukrainian border. Archbishop Borys Gudziak gives us a report from Ukraine.

You may recall the story of John Chau, a missionary who went to the isolated North Sentinel Island off the coast of India, hoping to evangelize a tribe there that has been out of contact with civilization for thousands of years. Chau was killed, and the way the West reacted to his death is a telling point on how our culture views Christianity and Evangelism. Ed Stetzer joins us to discuss this sto...

Catholics all around the world have deepened their faith and grown in their devotion to Christ and His mother through Fr. Michael Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory. Now, he invites you to take the next step with 33 days to Greater Glory. He joins us.

At every Sunday Mass, Catholics confess that Jesus came down from heaven “for us men and for our salvation.” But what does “salvation” mean? Michael Barber joins us with a thorough, deeply Catholic, and deeply biblical look at the Cross, the Church, the Trinity and Salvation.

Few passages in the Hebrew Bible have been subject to more scrutiny than Genesis 1 and 2. Kyle Greenwood joins us with a review of the different ways the passages have been interpreted from the earliest times to the present.

The toymaker Mattel recently announced it would release a “nonpartisan” edition of Uno without any red or blue cards. It’s a silly example of a larger, more troubling problem – we’d rather avoid our differences entirely rather than engage and understand each other. When society loses its focus on Christ, we lose the value we see in others. A society that rejects Christ doesn’t simply become post-C...