Catholic critics of feminism often start with the assumption that the "first wave" of feminism, led by 19th-century figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was basically a good thing and compatible with Catholic teachings; only later in the 1960s and 70s, according to this narrative, was the movement "hijacked" by "radical feminists". The only problem is that when one actually looks closely at feminism in its early form, whether that of Stanton and Anthony or even...

St. John of the Cross is not only one of the Church’s greatest mystics, but also one of the most important figures in the Spanish poetic tradition. A new book of translations of St. John’s poems, brought into English by contemporary bilingual poet Rhina Espaillat, gives us a chance to discover or rediscover this singular spiritual and artistic master. Carla Galdo joins the podcast to discuss Espaillat’s translations of St. John of the Cross. Comparing them with earlier translations by Roy...

Anyone who went through confirmation prep at some point learned the list of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But most would struggle to define the gifts, especially the ones that sound a bit similar, like wisdom, knowledge, and understanding? The great 17th-century Thomistic commentator John of St. Thomas discoursed on the gifts of the Holy Spirit with not only technical precision, but spiritual insight and fervor. Since John was not available for a podcast interview, he sent one of his...

Today it's taken for granted that we as Christians are called to "engage the culture" in order to evangelize. Often "engaging the culture" means paying an inordinate amount of attention to popular commercial entertainment in order to show unbelievers how hip we are, straining to find a "Christ-figure" in every comic book movie, and making worship music as repetitive, melodically banal, and emotionalistic as possible. Past a certain point, "cultural engagement" begins to seem like a...

Looking back at highlights from past episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Full episodes below: CCP Ep. 63—Beauty Revealing Being (Vision of the Soul Pt. II)—James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-63-beauty-revealing-being-vision-soul-pt-2-james-matthew-wilson/ CCP Ep. 69 - The Poetry of the English Martyrs - Benedict Whalen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/ CCP...

Distributism, the social-political-economic philosophy advanced by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc under the influence of Catholic social teaching, offers intriguing ways of rethinking the modern social-political-economic order. But distributists have often been found lacking in serious practical plans to bring about their ideal social order, and in the economic fallacies they commit when critiquing other schools of thought. Distributists and economists have often seemed to be natural...

Kimberly Begg joins the podcast to discuss her new book, Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints to Moral Courage. The book tells the story of four saints - St. Joan of Arc, St. José Luis Sánchez del Río, Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko, and St. Teresa of Calcutta - and for each of those saints, includes the stories of the saints who influenced him or her. The book is intended in particular to convince parents of the importance of making the lives of the saints a part of family life, so that children...

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844-1889) is one of the poets best loved by Catholics. Immediately accessible in its abundant musical qualities, Hopkins’s poetry can still puzzle us with its idiosyncratic syntax, elliptical phrasing, and even invented words. Thus the need for an annotated collection of his poems, which, surprisingly, did not exist until the recent publication (by Word on Fire) of As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Selected and Annotated Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, edited by Holly...

This episode features highlights from episodes 61 and 67 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, and from an early episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Ep. 61—Liberal Anti-Culture vs. the Western Vision of the Soul (Pt I)—James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-61-liberal-anti-culture-vs-western-vision-soul-pt-i-james-matthew-wilson/ Ep. 67—“Why I’m No Longer A Catholic Feminist”—Melody...

Jean-Pierre Torrell, O.P.’s definitive scholarly biography of St. Thomas Aquinas has recently received its third edition. Translator Matthew Minerd returns to the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss what we can learn from Fr. Torrell about the life of St. Thomas and the context in which works like the Summa theologiae were written. This episode is a deep dive into Thomas’s vocation in a number of senses – his Benedictine formation and eventual decision to become a Dominican instead, his...

In the last of the YouTube livestreams related to Catholic Culture’s May fundraising campaign, Jeff Mirus and Phil Lawler discuss their approach to writing responsible, sober commentary during a time of crisis in the Church: that is, when the news is crazy, how can we talk about it sanely? We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our...

In this livestream, James Majewski and Thomas Mirus we discussed errors artists can fall into in pushing back against a moralistic approach to art found within the Church. Rather than reacting away from rigidity to excessive openness, the mature Catholic artist has to get over himself and be a servant. Also discussed: The relation between order and surprise in beauty, morality and culture. Note: the video begins abruptly in the middle of our introductory fundraising campaign pitch - because...

For those who missed the YouTube livestream Q&A with Mike Aquilina on May 8th, 2023, here is the audio. It was a lively conversation where Mike fielded viewer questions about important cities of the early Church, early evidence for papal primacy, the role of charity in the early Church, Origen, the providential role of easy travel for the spread of the Gospel in the first centuries, and more. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a...

Catholic University of America Press recently launched a major new series: the English Critical Edition of the Works of Karol Wojtyła/John Paul II. The first volume of the series was a new translation of Wojtyła's 1969 book Person and Act, along with related essays. In Person and Act Wojtyła set forth the foundation of his blend of phenomenology, Thomism and personalism, a foundation underlying much of his other philosophical and theological writing. The first English translation is...

We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler &...

This episode features highlight clips from episodes 50, 58, 60, and 66 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. 50: A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth’s Court, Pt. II – Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-50a-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-iikerry-mccarthy/ 58: A Hidden Life Film Review w/ James Majewski https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-58-hidden-life-film-review-w-james-majewski/ 60: Princeton Hosts Event Dedicated to St....

It's time for a big-picture look at Church history! Timothy S. Flanders joins the podcast to discuss his book City of God vs. City of Man: The Battles of the Church from Antiquity to the Present. The book is a synthesis of the approaches of St. Augustine and Christopher Dawson, whom Timothy calls the two greatest Catholic historians. Themes discussed include: The Hebrew (Old Testament) view of history The need for alliance between the "strict" and "moderate" parties of Catholic orthodoxy...

Marly Youmans joins the podcast to talk about her new verse tale, Seren of the Wildwood, the story's relation to the biblical giants or Nephilim, and the difference between myth and faerie. Publisher's description of Seren of the Wildwood (Wiseblood Books): Seren is born on the brink of Wildwood, realm of shadowy fey who listen and laugh–who sometimes bless and sometimes curse. As she grows into young womanhood, shaped by a familial tragedy tied to her conception, she is lured from home by...

It's universally acknowledged that music effects our emotions. But does it actually make sense to talk about music "expressing", emotions in any intrinsic sense (that is, can music itself be happy or sad)? And even if it does, should we treat emotional expression as the essential purpose of music, or the criterion by which we judge musical beauty? If music doesn't literally contain emotions, how does it still manage to affect our feelings so powerfully? And what is music expressing, imitating...

For decades, Steve and Evelyn Auth have been giving tours of NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Steve (who last appeared on this show talking about his book The Missionary of Wall Street) had a reversion to his Catholic faith 20 years ago, that tour soon enough became a Catholic tour of the Met. Since there is now so much demand for that tour that they can't give it to everyone, they have written its essence in their new book, Pilgrimage to the Museum: Man's Search for God. Steve joins...

Jane Clark Scharl discusses her play Sonnez les Matines, in which a young Ignatius of Loyola, Jean Calvin, and Francois Rabelais, together in 1520s Paris, find themselves implicated in a murder. Publisher's description (from Wiseblood Books): One Mardi Gras night in 1520s Paris, college students Jean Calvin (founder of Calvinism and autocratic ruler of Geneva), Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Counter-Reformation Catholic religious order, the Jesuits), and their bawdy friend Francois...

One might assume abortion has always been a hot-button topic in American politics since the Supreme Court ruling legalizing it in 1973. But that is not the case. The US pro-life movement was so non-robust for many years that by 1987, abortion was not even one of the top 10 issues for American voters. Then suddenly, in ABC's 1988 election exit poll, abortion had shot to the number one issue for voters. What made abortion into a political litmus test so suddenly? Operation Rescue was what...

Author and music critic Robert Reilly joins the podcast to discuss one of the greatest operas ever composed, Francis Poulenc’s 1957 Dialogues des Carmélites, which host Thomas Mirus recently saw at the Metropolitan Opera. Based on the true story of sixteen Carmelite nuns who were martyred in the French Revolution (famously singing the Salve Regina as they went to the guillotine), the opera is an adaptation of Georges Bernanos’s play, which in turn was adapted from Gertrud von le Fort’s...

What's behind the increasing popularity of drag queens and drag shows in America? Why is half the audience of RuPaul's Drag Race now composed of young liberal women? How has the drag subculture, originally intended as a frivolous and self-consciously artificial deconstruction of masculinity, paradoxically become one of progressivism's most potent symbols of earnest and authentic self-expression? Darel Paul, professor of political science at Williams College, joins the podcast to discuss his...

Denis McNamara and Christopher Carstens, co-authors of the new book Solemnities: Celebrating a Tapestry of Divine Beauty, join the podcast to talk about the upcoming solemnities of Christmas; Mary, Mother of God; and Epiphany. The book (co-authored with Alexis Kutarna) covers the Church's 17 solemnities. For each, there is a discussion of its theological and spiritual significance, a reproduction and analysis of a great artwork related to the solemnity, and tips on how to observe the...