Kresta in the Afternoon

When Zubair Simonson was a young adult, he supported abortion but hadn’t thought about it seriously. That began to change when he was alerted to the humanity of the unborn. He shares his story.

There are more than 10,000 canonized saints in the Church, but only eleven of them were born or lived in the US. We get to know them with Michael ONeil.

Surgeons in Maryland have successfully transplanted a genetically-modified pig heart into a human patient. Is such a procedure ethical? We talk with Wes Smith.

Dobbs v Jackson is currently the biggest pro-life story in the country and will go down as one of the most important stories of the last several years. But that doesn’t mean we should overlook other important pro-life stories. Alyssa Murphy gives us her top pro-life moments of 2021.

Sister Marije Kaleta, an Albanian nun who risked her life to bring Communion to the sick and dying under the regime of Enver Hoxha, died this week at age 92. We look at her story with Matthew Bunson, who also has the latest Church news.

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.

Christians may not have the social influence we once did, but in all areas of life you can still find Catholics who are committed to integrating their faith and their everyday life. One example is Dan Weingartz, whose commitment to his faith led him to join the fight against the HHS Mandate. He joins us to discuss integrating his faith and work life.

Do you see your work as simply a job – or does it change who you are as a person on mission? Al discusses.

In some teachings, Jesus was two millennia ahead of what psychology is only now coming to understand. And in other ways, He directly contradicts what today’s therapists teach. For years now, we have seen a so-called “Gospel of Self-Esteem” that equates Meekness with insecurity. But Jesus told us that the Meek would inherit the Earth. Dr Ray Guarendi joins us.

In 1998, Michael Bay and Bruce Willis teamed up in the action film Armaggedon, in which a team of oil drillers train as astronauts to destroy an asteroid bound for earth, saving all of humanity. Well, according to a recent thought piece by Oxford professor Richard Crisp, they may have made the wrong decision. Crisp wants us to consider, given the suffering caused by humans, if a mass extinction ev...

Many people, when discussing the challenges we face today, make the mistake of taking a very narrow view of history, which allows them to declare emphatically that things are the worst they have ever been. And we can make the same mistake when discussing the problems facing the Church. But to do so misses the point – the Church has faced great challenges in the past and risen from them stronger th...

Kresta Comments: The World’s Debt to the Catholic Church

If you’re a football fan, you know the term “Red Zone” refers to the final 20 yards a team must pass before scoring a touchdown. As he gets older, Marcus Grodi sees himself entering Red Zone of life. But we shouldn’t wait that long to start preparing ourselves for what comes next. Marcus joins us.

Tonight, Alabama football coach Nick Saban will lead him team against the Georgia Bulldogs in the hopes of winning his 7th national championship. His teams have dominated college football for more than a decade and he is one of the sport’s all time greatest coaches. He attributes his success to his faith – we take a look at him and other famous Catholic coaches.

On Dec. 21 the Hindu nationalist government of the Indian state of Karnataka introduced harsh legislation intended to prevent conversions from Hinduism to other faiths. We take a closer look at the plight of Christians in India with Ed Clancy.

Pope Francis recently remarked that society suffers when its members choose to raise pets over raising children. Matthew Bunson joins us to talk about this and many other stories.

Can we find evidence in the archaeological record to support the stories of Scripture? We talk with Luke Lancaster.

Sunday’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a time to reflect on not only the Lord’s baptism, but our own. In an extended sense, when Christ is baptized, so are we, for we are members of his Body. As Christ enters the water, he makes holy the water that will baptize us. He enters the water, and we follow. In these waters, he acquires gifts to give us. Msgr Charles Pope joins us with more.

The bishops can issue documents until the end of time, but all the documents, pastorals, and programs will have little to no effect in reviving faith in and reverence toward the Eucharist as long as Catholic politicians are permitted to receive the Body and Blood of Christ with the blood of the innocent on their hands. Monica Miller joins us.

“ That which is beyond our understanding is not beyond reason itself, or, more correctly, it is not beyond Reason Himself.” Joe Pearce opens up what this means.

By the end of its current term, the Supreme Court will have made historic decisions about the scope of religious freedom in America. It will have to settle disputes relating to state school choice, prayers said inside the execution chamber, and abortion in Mississippi.  Andrea Picciotti-Bayer gives us the details.

January 4 was the Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton. Born a member of privileged society, she would grow to create the country’s first Catholic faith community and helped launch Catholic education in America. We’ll talk more about her with Catherine O’Donnell.

Pro-life leaders say they are deeply disturbed by a recent New York Times investigation that found some prenatal blood tests have alarmingly high false positive results for genetic disorders that frequently result in the abortion of unborn children. The investigation found that tests for some genetic disorders produce false positives around 85% of the time. Michael New tells us more.

Today is the traditional feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. We talk with Steve Ray about the history of the feast.

Some Catholics devoted to the Traditional Latin Mass are planning a march from Paris to Rome to ask Pope Francis to reconsider restrictions arising from Traditionis Custodes. The Catholic association La Voie Romaine is also collecting letters from around the world that will be delivered upon conclusion of the march. Matthew Bunson has the latest.