Living Catholic with Monsignor Don Wolf

Canonization can sound mysterious, but the heart of it is simple: the Church recognizes what God has already done in a life of real, visible holiness. In this episode, I talk about Blessed Stanley Rother and why the work at the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City is not about hype or “winning” a popularity contest, but about helping people encounter a priest and martyr whose bravery,...

Confession lines used to be short enough that a priest could sit for an hour and hear only a handful of people. Now we’re seeing the opposite, and it’s not just in one parish or one generation. In this episode, I share what I’ve watched change across Oklahoma and beyond, including the moment it clicked for me at a national youth gathering where priests heard confessions for hours on end and the li...

Good news can feel almost suspicious when you have lived through decades of grim headlines about the Church. We are seeing something different right now: record numbers of adult converts at Easter, packed Rite of Election liturgies here in Oklahoma, and even surprising reports from places like France. I walk through what we are hearing on the ground and why it may signal a real moment of Catholic...

June 6, 1944 is a date most of us can picture without opening a book, but why does Normandy carry so much weight when World War II included so many other invasions, fronts, and losses? In this episode, I start with the history we think we know, then pull back to show how “D-Day” went from a generic military label to a single moment that now represents sacrifice, courage, suffering, and national wi...

A life can turn on a single promise, and you rarely understand it on the day you make it. Monsignor Don Wolf looks back to 1981, when he was ordained a Catholic priest at Our Lady’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City, then walks forward through 45 years of priesthood with the kind of detail only memory and gratitude can sharpen: a hot, humid day, a cranky air conditioner, and the strange feeling of realiz...

Memorial Day can feel like a switch flips and suddenly it’s summer, but we don’t want the holiday to become just another weekend that disappears into the blur. In this episode, we talk about the pace of time and the quiet danger of sleepwalking through our days, when everything is “busy” yet almost nothing is remembered. If we don’t pause on purpose, the moments that should shape us can slide into...

Someone stands up in a pulpit and says the quiet part out loud: parts of the Bible are “problematic,” so maybe we should rip those pages out and replace them with a brand-new “Third Testament.” The backlash makes sense, but we don’t want to stop at outrage. We want to ask the harder question: what are the Scriptures, and how are we supposed to read them when a passage feels confusing, offensive, o...

Someone says the quiet part out loud: what if we just rip out the Bible passages that bother us? A pastor in Oakland suggests removing “problem” pages and even adding a third testament, and the internet predictably erupts. We slow the whole thing down and ask what’s actually at stake when Christians treat scripture as disposable, outdated, or only selectively “God’s Word.” In this episode, we talk...

Funerals are quietly disappearing, and I do not think we realize what we are trading away. More and more, families tell us there will be no services at all, or we learn someone has already been buried with no prayer, no gathering, no public mourning. That choice is not just about preference. It exposes what we believe about the human person, what we think death means, and whether faith is still st...

Prayer can feel like it should be simple, but many of us quietly experience it as awkward, distracting, or even discouraging. In this episode, we tackle the question: why is prayer so hard?  We reflect on how naturally human beings communicate, then trace why communion with God can feel less natural than we expect. The Christian story of Eden points to an original harmony of heart and mind, while...

Nobody walks to the tomb expecting a new world. In this episode, that’s where we start: with the disciples’ honest assumption that Jesus is gone for good, and with the uncomfortable way that grief trains all of us to think death, defeat, and shame are permanent. We talk through why the Resurrection of Jesus isn’t just a first-century mystery but a living Catholic claim that reorders how reality wo...

In this episode, we start with Iran in the headlines and then pull the camera back to something smaller and more personal: an Iranian student in an Oklahoma high school, far from home, carrying a life we barely understood. That memory becomes a challenge to how we talk about conflict, national security, and “winning” while ordinary families on every side try to survive the day.  From there, we fac...

Before sunrise, a group of women walks through a city controlled by Roman power, carrying spices and cloth for a burial they expect will be painful and final. They’re not looking for a miracle. They’re looking for a body. That simple, human mission becomes the doorway to one of the most disruptive claims in Christian faith: the tomb is open, the grave is empty, and the world is no longer limited b...

Jerusalem is packed for Passover, and it feels like the whole city is holding its breath. In this episode, we step into that tension on Palm Sunday, when Roman occupation, local religious leadership, and street-level resentment all collide with one name on everyone’s tongue: Jesus. From the first minutes, we follow the rising pressure of a place where whispers can become a revolt, and where every...

Prayer is suddenly everywhere online, from polished apps to celebrity invitations to “join us” for a few minutes a day. Are we witnessing a genuine renewal of prayer, or are we simply more aware of it because the internet puts constant spiritual marketing in our pocket? If we can learn to approach God together, maybe we can begin to hunger for the unity Christ desires, and avoid the shallow cycle...

Missiles fly, predictions spread, and suddenly “World War III” becomes a casual phrase on the lips of people who will never pay the real cost. In this episode, let's take a sober, Catholic look at the war talk surrounding current military conflict with Iran, and why reckless language can do more than describe reality. Words can pressure leaders, inflame public emotion, and make escalation fee...

What if the real plot twist isn’t learning you’re dead—it’s discovering you’re already alive? In this episode, I start with the movies we all know, from Ghost and The Sixth Sense to Shaun of the Dead, and then flip the lens to reveal a deeper current running through ancient myths, modern history, and the Gospels. Instead of a world where choice manufactures meaning, we enter a world where meaning...

What if the loudest place in town is the best place to learn how to pray? In this episode we will talk about the Living Stations of the Cross at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City—a crowd shouting, a cross moving, voices cracking—and follow that energy into a bigger question: how does faith change when it steps outside and faces the street? From there, we trace a living thread thro...

In this episode, we rethink sin not as a list of wrongs but as a power that shapes habits, culture and the heart, and we frame Lent as training in freedom through grace. Stories, theology and poetry converge to show how confession, prayer and the sacraments move us from bondage to hope. • why images of sin as simple stains fall short • Lent as a reset for deeper truth and renewal • Feynman’s maps...

Forgiveness can feel simple when we’re kids and impossibly heavy when life grows complicated. We open the door to the confessional and suddenly see the darkness of our own uncertainty staring back. In this conversation, we walk from childhood ritual to adult conversion, exploring why confession can become harder over time and how the sacrament still offers a direct encounter with Christ’s mercy—cl...

What if healing isn’t a narrow medical fix but a return to wholeness that touches body, soul, and community? We sit down to rethink the Anointing of the Sick as a living encounter with Christ’s presence—one that forgives, restores, and draws scattered lives back into order. Anchored in James 5 and the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ healing, we explore how the Church keeps that same hope alive at hospit...

What happens when the culture that once supported everyday faith turns indifferent—or even hostile—to belief? We take an unflinching look at that question and map a path forward that blends sturdy community with courageous truth-telling. Drawing on Rod Dreher’s ideas, we explore how the Benedict Option can look beyond cloistered walls: neighborhood prayer groups, classical academies that form soul...

What happens to a country when the value of life is negotiated instead of protected? In this episode, we take a hard, honest look at how abortion has reshaped law, culture, and conscience from Roe to Dobbs, and why the arguments on both sides have stayed fixed even as methods and numbers shift. With clinics declining and chemical abortions rising, the data reveal a sobering reality: legality moves...

In this episode, we trace how Scripture, history, and lived experience confront modern corruption, then map a practical path toward honesty built on guardrails, subsidiarity, and courage. The call is clear: design for integrity, tell the truth out loud, and hold hope steady in Christ. • warnings in the Bible against bribes and favoritism • original sin as a reason for guardrails and audits • the p...

In this episode, we trace Christmas beyond the manger to Epiphany, where the Magi reveal a Messiah meant for every nation and not just one people. From creation’s scope to early Church debates, we show why inclusion is baked into the Gospel and how to watch for God in nature and culture. • Epiphany as culmination of Christmas  • Gift giving rooted in the Magi’s homage  • Creation narratives showin...