Poet-philosopher James Matthew Wilson returns to the show to read poems from his new collection, The Strangeness of the Good , including his "Quarantine Notebook" series, and to discuss the decay and renewal of Catholic intellectual life. Topics discussed include: The present narrowing of Catholic intellectual life in conservative/traditional circles How do you become cultured, in an authentic and non-pretentious way, when you’re not participating in a culture? His ideal approach to reciting poe...
Apr 05, 2021•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 102
J.R.R. Tolkien is commonly perceived as a reactionary who totally rejected the modern world, and whose literary influences began and ended with the Middle Ages. Holly Ordway's new book, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, debunks that view of Tolkien's life and work. Ordway begins with an invaluable critique of the sources of this misconception, especially the official biography written by Humphrey Carpenter, who admitted his own bias and desire to portray Tolkien as a...
Mar 29, 2021•59 min•Ep. 101
We celebrate our 100th episode with the return of a favorite Catholic Culture Podcast guest, former Pennsylvania Poet Laureate Samuel Hazo. At 92, Sam is still writing books, most recently a new collection of poems and a novel, published by Wiseblood Books. In this episode Sam reads and discusses poems from his new collection, The Next Time We Saw Paris, a recurring theme of which is how each experience in time passes away, yet in passing away it becomes a singular whole which remains present as...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 100
To celebrate the approach of Episode 100 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, here is the interview that started it all. Originally published on August 4, 2017, this interview turned out so well that we decided to launch a whole series of interviews on Catholic arts and culture. The podcast launched several months later, on May 1, 2018. Catholic composer and pianist Mark Christopher Brandt joined Thomas Mirus to discuss his classical album and suite The Nightingale , inspired by Hans Christian Ander...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 46 min
This Ash Wednesday, following a note from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, many American parishes did not distribute ashes in the customary way of smudging a cross on the forehead and saying one of two possible formulas to each recipient. Instead, as an ostensible anti-COVID precaution, they sprinkled ashes on the top of the head and said the formula once to the whole congregation. Today’s guest, Gail Finke, wrote a thought-provoking article, not so much on the appropriate...
Feb 26, 2021•47 min•Ep. 99
Famous for his chanted performances of Beowulf in the original Old English, Benjamin Bagby is the closest thing you'll find today to an Anglo-Saxon bard. Bagby joins the show to describe how he reconstructed Beowulf as a sung tale, giving a demonstration of his Anglo-Saxon harp which is modeled on harps found in burial sites from over a millennium ago. He also discusses the recordings of the complete works of St. Hildegard of Bingen made by his ensemble, Sequentia. All music and video by Bagby a...
Feb 21, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 98
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BatWN05pP1I Catholic geneticist Daniel Toma is the author of Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity: Common Experience, the Hierarchy of Being, and Modern Science . He joins the podcast to discuss what natural science, including the fossil record, can teach us about the hierarchy of being and the liturgical structure of all creation, with deified man as rational head of the physical cosmos bringing all material creation into union with God. Links Daniel Toma, Vesti...
Feb 09, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 97
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Uv7MvEHixg The Hillbilly Thomists, a bluegrass group entirely composed of Dominican friars, have just released their second album, Living for the Other Side . Percussionist Fr. Joseph Hagan, who happens to be a priest at Thomas's parish, joins the show to talk about the new album, the connections between bluegrass and the Apocalypse, and music as an expression of the Dominican mission of preaching. All songs used with permission. Links https://www.hillbillytho...
Feb 02, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 96
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zkfJ-gSMdUg Today’s Catholic culture is marked by a profound and settled religious indifferentism. Among many Catholics, to say what the Church has always taught—that Jesus Christ is the one way to salvation—is considered offensive, or at best, rash. In certain countries, the bishops’ conferences have practically made a policy against seeking converts from other religions (or lack thereof). Catholics, ruled by fear of human respect and compromised by their own ...
Jan 25, 2021•55 min•Ep. 95
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3Czyd0XSEso The alarmists were right: ideas that were only a few years ago complacently dismissed as the perennial agitation of a few campus loonies are now pervasive in the corporate world, mass media and pop culture. Critical race theory, transgender ideology, the obsessive search for oppressive power relations in every aspect of life and every feature of language, the demand for all to be activists, shutting down of dissenting speech as violence: common sens...
Dec 22, 2020•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 94
All music by Thomas Tallis used with permission of the artists and labels listed below. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i-oMO9qqzKA As a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) composed sacred music for four successive English monarchs, starting with Henry VIII and ending with Elizabeth. Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician. Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician. Like his colleague (and probable pupil) Willi...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 93
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z5jrU3JYnv0 In his Five Great Odes , the great French Catholic poet Paul Claudel (1868-1955) offers a cosmic vision in which man, in his contemplative and poetic capacity, stands as mediator between God and all creation. Man, in the image of God and even more in the headship of Christ, names all creatures, unites them in his heart, speaks for them and offers them back to God as unified whole of which man himself is a part: "I extend my hands to left and to righ...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 92
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H1_78eLjaB8 The trials of St. Anthony the Great (251-356 AD), as described in St. Athanasius's Life and the medieval Golden Legend , have been a favorite subject of Western artists since the Middle Ages. Anthony, a desert monk, was frequently assaulted by Satan, who when he could not win by normal temptations, sent his demons in the form of wild beasts, beautiful women, soldiers and even monks to torment and distract the Desert Father. Artists have...
Nov 13, 2020•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 91
Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, Humanis Dignitatae , begins by noting that its discussion of religious liberty “has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society” and so “leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” This episode is about discovering what that traditional doctrine was and is. Our main source will be Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Immortale Dei , which is availab...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 90
In addition to being the host of Catholic Culture’s Way of the Fathers podcast and the author of dozens of books on the early Church, Mike Aquilina is a poet who has written songs performed by the likes of Dion, Paul Simon, and Bruce Springsteen. Mike joins the show to discuss his collaboration with legendary singer Dion, early Christian beliefs about Mary, and other topics in early Church history. You’ll hear songs from Dion’s new album Blues with Friends , and readings from Mike’s new poetry c...
Oct 22, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 89
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8zPXC9KscGs The debate over Christopher Columbus’s legacy tends to go back and forth from cartoonish demonization to glossing over the man’s real faults. Robert Royal, in his book Columbus and the Crisis of the West , does neither of those things, instead giving a nuanced picture of Columbus’s motives, worldview, faults and achievements. The book goes beyond Columbus himself, however, examining the overall significance of the encounters between cultures that oc...
Oct 10, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 88
Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ve9oqQpCrI Jeremy McLellan is a Catholic stand-up comedian who, strangely, is huge is Pakistan. He joins the show to discuss the woke takeover of comedy, the nihilistic dogmas of many comedians, the relationship between comedy and suffering, and the ethics of the word “retarded”. Thomas describes his past experience doing open mics and Jeremy gives him some pointers. Contents [1:07] “Do CHILDREN Belong in Church?” [3:24] The woke takeover of come...
Oct 06, 2020•55 min•Ep. 87
The Catholic Culture Podcast is now in video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwqvyZyc2bpzI-kOYhwrkw While the Catholic Church has condemned Marxism, Communism and socialism from their beginning, an alarming number of those calling themselves Catholic display a sympathy for these ideas: think of America magazine’s 2019 essay on “The Catholic Case of Communism”. Even some orthodox Catholic intellectuals seem to think we should mine the writings of Marx for what...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 86
There are many strange stories in rock history. But Luxury is surely the only band in which three out of five members ended up becoming Orthodox priests. Combining a hard-edged instrumental texture with sweet, melodious vocals and literary lyrics, Luxury has continued to record and perform sporadically since their beginning in the mid-1990s Christian punk scene. They have retained a loyal following and their latest album, Trophies , was released last year to much acclaim. Fr. David Lee Bozeman—s...
Sep 16, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 85
Catholic theologian Douglas Farrow and Lutheran political scholar Andrew Busch join the show to discuss their recent essays on the coronavirus lockdown, and assess the reasons and prospects for civil disobedience. In “The Health-First Heresy,” Farrow examines the responses of Catholic and other Christian leaders to the state’s orders to cease corporate worship. Whatever concessions the Church may make to the state as to the circumstances under which worship is held, she may not simply suspend he...
Sep 09, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 84
While the left continues crudely to paint America’s founding as a mere expression of white supremacy, certain thinkers on the right have been making their own attack on American principles. They argue that America’s founding principles are fundamentally a product of an Enlightenment liberalism incompatible with natural law and faith. They find in the Constitution seeds of moral relativism, leading inevitably to Obergefell and gender ideology. To this position Robert Reilly’s new book America on ...
Aug 26, 2020•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 83
This episode revisits some great moments from past Catholic Culture Podcast episodes: 18 - Acedia, the Forgotten Capital Sin - R.J. Snell https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/ 19 - Understanding the Church's Abuse Crisis - Fr. Roger Landry https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-19-understanding-churchs-abuse-crisis-fr-roger-landry/ 21 - Gosnell, the Abortion Story No One Wanted Told - Ann McElhinney https://www.catholicculture.or...
Aug 12, 2020•1 hr 4 min
In this episode originally from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, Thomas asks attorney and scholar Louis Karlin whether Robert Bolt’s play and film A Man for All Seasons accurately depict St. Thomas More’s views on the rights of conscience, and his motives for martyrdom. More’s involvement in the prosecution of heretics is also examined: even if More was a martyr of conscience, is it accurate to call him a champion of religious freedom? One thing is certain: the portrayal by Hilary Mantel and...
Aug 07, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Something a little different: this is the audio from a video on the DeClue's Views YouTube channel, which I am republishing here because I want to give these men a wider audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQenCC8iQo Description: In a recent video,Taylor Marshall presented what he considers to be errors in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. This video by Richard DeClue and Chris Plance serves as a rebuttal. It starts by highlighting general problems with Marshall's approach and ...
Jul 31, 2020•2 hr 22 min
The Catholic Church in America has largely lost its distinctive flavor and with it, its ability either to retain the faithful or to evangelize the infidel. The problem precedes Vatican II: in the Tridentine 1950s, many Catholics, eager for mainstream respectability, had already adopted a bourgeois spirituality. In his first book, The Prodigal Church: Restoring Catholic Tradition in an Age of Deception, Brandon McGinley calls for Catholics to return to the essence of the faith, rather than to a p...
Jul 28, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 82
From 1981 to 1993, Jane Greer edited Plains Poetry Journal , publishing poets who were reviving the traditional tools of “rhyme, meter, alliteration, assonance, painstaking attention to diction” which had been abandoned in favor of free verse. (These poets included names you will be familiar with from the Catholic scene today, such as Anthony Esolen and Mike Aquilina.) Then, as they say, life happened, and Greer didn’t write a single poem for almost thirty years. But God’s ways are unpredictable...
Jul 17, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 81
Modernity treats the human body pretty much as a machine for the production of pleasure. It is tuned up, fueled, and oiled for peak performance, and then when it is no longer of use, it is burnt and disposed of in a maximally efficient manner. Paradoxically, the denial of a soul which persists after bodily death has led us to deny the body itself as fundamental to human identity. The allegedly soulless modern has less hope of resurrection than the Saducees ever did. We somehow fear death more ye...
Jul 03, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 80
This is the second half of an interview with G.C. Dilsaver on his book The Three Marks of Manhood: How to be Priest, Prophet and King of Your Family . Dr. Dilsaver discusses how the Christian husband and father must wield three staves: the scepter of authority, the crosier of co-episcopacy, and the cross of redemption. This last is most important, as the Christian patriarch's mandate is to lead in self-abnegation so that he may decrease and Christ may increase. The measure of his success is not ...
Jun 26, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 79
There is a great need for Catholics to acknowledge the timeless Biblical and Magisterial teachings about the headship of fathers over their families. Yet St. Paul’s simultaneous call for husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church - that is, to the point of death - is sometimes treated as an addendum when in fact it is the very essence of Christian patriarchy. In his 2010 book The Three Marks of Manhood: How to Be Priest, Prophet, and King of Your Family , the “father of Christian ps...
Jun 19, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 78
After much popular demand, Thomas pays tribute to legendary Catholic sci-fi writer Gene Wolfe, who passed away last year. Though not known to the general public, Wolfe is a sci-fi author’s sci-fi author—a number of his contemporaries considered him not only the best in the genre, but in American fiction at the time (Ursula Le Guin said “Wolfe is our Melville”). Among today’s writers, one of his biggest fans is Neil Gaiman. One critic described Wolfe’s magnum opus, The Book of the New Sun , as “a...
Jun 12, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 77
