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  • Ep. 152 - Crypto-Religiosity

    Ep. 152 - Crypto-Religiosity
    2025/06/06
    It’s often remarked that America has become less religious, especially during recent decades. But what if that religiosity hasn’t disappeared, but just taken less visible forms? That’s exactly what was happening in the arts in 1980s NYC, argues Paul Elie, author of The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s. As Elie tells it, the era wasn’t just marked by the ascendance of the moral majority and the authority of tradition—figures like Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. It also featured subtle engagement with spiritual themes by the likes of figures like Leonard Cohen, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, and Martin Scorcese, and provides a template for understanding where Catholicism stands today. For further reading: An excerpt from Paul Elie’s new book Kaya Oakes on why religion must ask better questions Susan Bigelow Reynolds on millennial religious rejection
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    28 分
  • Ep. 151 - The First U.S. Pontiff

    Ep. 151 - The First U.S. Pontiff
    2025/05/20
    The swift elevation to the papacy of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—known simply as ‘Bob’ among his fellow Augustinian friars—defied pundits’ predictions even as it was met with joy by Catholics around the world. It’s impossible to say just how Leo XIV’s papacy will unfold, though in his early Masses and remarks the pope has already voiced strong support for the continuation of Francis’s project of synodality. Leo’s chosen name signals his commitment to the advancement of Catholic social teaching. On this episode, Commonweal contributors Natalia Imperatori-Lee and Mollie Wilson O’Reilly and editor Dominic Preziosi reflect on Pope Leo’s first week on the chair of Peter. For further reading: The editors on Leo’s election Anthony Annett on Pope Leo and AI Stephen Millies on Leo and Chicago’s CTU Massimo Faggioli on what Leo’s pontificate signals for the U.S. Church
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    24 分
  • Ep. 150 - Remembering Francis

    Ep. 150 - Remembering Francis
    2025/04/24
    Three theologians—Massimo Faggioli, Susan Bigelow Reynolds, and Terence Sweeney—reflect with Commonweal editors on the pope’s legacy. More coverage of the death of Pope Francis: Isabella Simon on Let Us Dream César J. Baldelomar on Laudato Si’ Griffin Oleynick on Evangelii gaudium
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    47 分
  • Ep. 149 - When the Good Book Isn’t a Book

    Ep. 149 - When the Good Book Isn’t a Book
    2025/03/27
    Catholics listen to snippets of the Bible read every Sunday, but how many of them actually sit with and ponder the text? It’s long been a truism that Catholics don’t actually read the Bible — at least not as much or in the same way as their Protestant brethren. But that doesn’t mean Catholics don’t encounter it, whether in books, films, plays, or popular culture. On this episode, Fordham theology professor and frequent Commonweal contributor Michael Peppard, author of the new book How Catholics Encounter the Bible, joins editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how, paradoxically, the Bible shapes Catholic lives—just usually not in the shape of a book. For further reading: Michael Peppard on the Bible and Marian art Christian Wiman on the Bible as poetry Eve Tushnet on the queer Catholic imagination
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    31 分
  • Ep. 148 - What Novels Do

    Ep. 148 - What Novels Do
    2025/03/06
    What should great fiction do for us? That’s the question asked by Edwin Frank, editorial director of New York Review Books and author of Stranger than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel. Good books—and there were many written during the past hundred years—can entertain, just as they can give us pleasure. But great ones have the ‘power to breach,’ that is, to upset and provoke us, shattering our illusions about the world. On this episode, Frank speaks with Commonweal contributor and literary critic Tony Domestic about authors like Dostoevsy, Proust, and Virginia Woolf, among others. For further reading: Fiction by Alice McDermott Mollie Wilson O’Reilly on George Eliot’s double life Tony Domestico’s latest books column
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    31 分
  • Ep. 147 - The New ‘Preeminent Urgency’

    Ep. 147 - The New ‘Preeminent Urgency’
    2025/02/18
    In his first month back in office, Donald Trump has made cruelty toward migrants and refugees central to his agenda, while J. D. Vance has used his flawed understanding of Catholic social teaching to justify the administration’s plans for mass deportation. Their actions and remarks have alarmed many in the Church. On this episode, three guests tell us how and why. Massimo Faggioli, Commonweal contributor and Villanova University professor addresses the challenges for Catholicism in the second Trump era. Kerry Robinson, the head of Catholic Charities USA, explains the vital work of her organization and who will be most harmed by the freezes in federal funding. And Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago speaks about why “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants” is the Church’s new “preeminent urgency.” For further reading: Massimo Faggioli on what American regime change means for the Church Griffin Oleynick on Francis’s rebuke of J. D. Vance’s ethno-nationalism Terence Sweeney on how the bishops may respond to Trump
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    39 分
  • Ep. 146 - Aging in America

    Ep. 146 - Aging in America
    2025/02/06
    Fights over federal spending usually follow a predictable pattern, with Republicans attempting to cut entitlement programs as Democrats seek to expand the social safety net. One thing that’s rarely threatened, though, is Social Security, a testament to the political clout of “older people”—formerly known as “senior citizens” in America. How did things get that way? On this episode, historian James Chappel speaks about his recent book Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age, which details the creation of Social Security as it criticizes the failure of the political left to make its benefits more broadly available. For further reading: Peter Quinn on aging, aging, and gratitude Rand Richards Cooper on caring for aging parents James Chappel on material insecurity Charles Morris on the future of social security
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    42 分
  • Ep. 145 - Memory Matters

    Ep. 145 - Memory Matters
    2025/01/24
    For as long as humans beings have existed, we have had a knack for forgetting—not only when memory proves difficult, but when it becomes inconvenient. We need only look at Donald Trump’s pardoning of the January 6 “hostages” for the latest, most egregious example. Why do humans long to forget? Why do we hide the truth from ourselves? What is the function of memory in democratic societies? On this episode, senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University and author of the new book Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting not to Know. For further reading: Matt Boudway on a memoir by Julian Barnes Tal Howard reviews Mark Lilla’s Shipwrecked Mind Timothy Snyder on the indignity of voting for Donald Trump Tomáš Halík on what some in the Church prefer to forget
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    1 時間 4 分