For episode 14 of Beyond Rome this week, James O’Reilly is joined by Cecily Routman of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. In this episode, Cecily shares about her journey as a pro-life Jewess, how she came to know God through her suffering, and how the Torah informs us about the dignity of each human life and how it has become manipulated as a resource for justifying abortion in the Jewish community.Cecily founded the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation (JPLF) in 2006. A native of Pittsburgh, she was Bat...

October 28 marks the anniversary of the promulgation of Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on its relation to non-Christian religions, especially with Judaism and the Jewish people.To commemorate this anniversary, Mary and Simone joined James O’Reilly to talk about their participation at a conference that was hosted last year by Philos Catholic and Franciscan University at the University’s campus. They also speak about the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA), which was lau...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by George Weigel for episode 12 of Beyond Rome. In this episode, George argues that Eastern Catholics offer six special gifts to the Universal Church and shares how we can learn from their faithful witness in the 21st Century. George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholi...

This week Simone Rizkallah is joined by Dan Burke for episode 11 of Beyond Rome. In this episode, Dan speaks about his organization, The Avila Institue, and his perspective as a Hebrew Catholic of the conflict in the Holy Land between Israel and HamasDan Burke is the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 72 countries and prepares men for semi...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Dr. Richard Crane for episode 10 of Beyond Rome. In this episode, Dr. Crane shares with us the story of French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain and his journey from ultra-nationalism and antisemitism to becoming one of the lone Catholic voices to speak out publicly against the virulent antisemitism of the Nazis and others during WWII.Dr. Crane is a professor and chair of the Department of History at Benedictine College in Atchis...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Dr. John Cuddeback for episode 9 of our Beyond Rome journey. In this episode, Dr. Cuddeback addresses the meaning of Sunday, the purpose of leisure, and how we can become more fully human through rest on the Lord’s Day.Dr. Cuddeback is professor of Philosophy at Christendom College, where he has taught for twenty-five years (four of which included teaching our co-host James!). He lectures widely on topics including virtue, fatherhood...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Zac Crippen for episode 8 of our Beyond Rome journey. Zac leads international expansion for Hallow, the #1 prayer app in the world. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar), Zac served as an active duty Air Force officer for seven years before embarking on a career in technology.Zac lives with his wife, Sally, and their five children on the outskirts of South Bend,...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Dr. Russell Hittinger to speak about two declarations from the Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate (On the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) and Dignitatis Humanae (On Religious Freedom). Russell Hittinger, a leading scholar of Catholic political and social thought, serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology (IHE). He is a Research Professor Ordinarius in The Catholic University of Ame...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Mother Marla Marie and Sr. Therese Maria to speak about the “Wonderworker of the East,” St. Charbel, a Lebanese priest and monk whose feast day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates on July 24! Mother Marla Marie & Sr. Therese Maria are religious sisters in the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light. Their community was founded in the USA by Bishop Gregory Mansour in 2008 to serve the pastoral and spiritual needs of our Maron...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly are joined by Fr. Benedict Kiely, the founder of Nasarean.org, an organization which advocates for and supports persecuted Christian minorities in the Near East. Fr. Ben is a Catholic priest, incardinated in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Born in London, and ordained in Canterbury, England in 1994, he has spent most of his priestly ministry in the United States. In the summer of 2014, Father Ben perceived a call to devote his ...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly talk to Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo, a married priest in the Melkite Church, about his journey from Roman Catholicism to the East, his founding of the Institute of Catholic Culture, and his thoughts on the urgency of Catholics to tap into their Hebraic and Near Eastern Christian roots. Beyond Rome is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and a variety of other media platforms!The New Evangelization, in order to be modern and effective, must start f...

This week Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly talk to Canon Lawyer Nicole Delaney on Orientalium Ecclesiarum, a short decree from the Second Vatican Council on the Eastern Churches! This decree was the inspiration behind the Eastern Code of Canon Law—we do realize that inviting a canon lawyer to join us as our first special guest was a very Roman thing to do! Beyond Rome is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and a variety of other media platforms!Show notes:3:35— Eastern Catholics are not ...

Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly discuss not just the what (last week) but the WHY of the journey they’d like to take with you on this podcast. Why do our Hebraic and Near Eastern Christian roots matter? Why duc in altum? (Luke 5) Yes, Simone studied Latin. James probably did too?Show notes1:40 - You are called for some definite purpose 2:56 - Theology of the Laity 4:56 - Personal Vocation, revisited 10:58 - The Prophetic Imagination 14:18 - The Church is Prophetic...

Join Simone Rizkallah and James O’Reilly for our pilot episode of Beyond Rome, a podcast production of the Catholic team at The Philos Project. In this episode, you’ll learn who and what The Philos Project is, the stories of how Simone and James came to work in the Near East space, and why we do the work we do.