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Friends, what’s the proper relationship between liberal democracy and the Catholic Church? Many smart and reflective people, on either side of the Catholic/American divide, have felt that the two systems, democracy and Catholicism, were incompatible. But why? Using the thought of the 19th century French diplomat and political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, Bishop Barron explores this question in his 2023 Russell Kirk Lecture for the Heritage Foundation, titled “The Breakdown of the Tocquevillean Equilibrium.” Enjoy! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!  

Friends, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis, with many calling it another pandemic. Record-high numbers of Americans are facing depression and suicide. Nearly half of young people report feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness. What’s behind this crisis, and how can the Church help? That’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s episode of “The Word on Fire Show.” A listener asks, is “just war theory” a concession to human weakness? How do we square that with Jesus’ teachings on non-violence? 00:00 | Intro 01:09 | USCCB recap on surrogacy 03:49 | Why the mental health crisis matters to bishops 06:00 | Social media's role in damaged mental health 09:39 | Community's role in healing mental health 13:03 | The connection between psychological and spiritual suffering 16:09 | Religious disaffiliation and mental illness 17:47 | Who is St. Dymphna? 18:40 | A word for those wrestling with poor mental health 20:55 | Listener question 24:17 | New book—“Christ Brings All Newness” Links Bishop Barron’s statement on surrogacy Christ Brings All Newness: Essays, Reviews, and Reflections by Fr. Robert Imbelli NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Today, we’re excited to share with you Bishop Barron’s recent talk at the 2023 Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference held in London, England. His talk was titled “What is the True Nature of Freedom?” As Bishop Barron explains, freedom for excellence is not self-determination. It is the disciplining of desire so as to make the achievement of the good first possible and then effortless. Enjoy! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!  

Friends, the Catholic Church seems locked in constant disagreements, often between so-called liberal and conservative Catholics. But is there a third way to lead us out of this quagmire? Cardinal Francis George offers a compelling answer, which Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s episode of the “Word on Fire Show.” A listener asks, did Jesus ever get sick? 00:00 | Intro 01:13 | New episodes of “Bishop Barron Presents” are back! 03:24 | Who was Cardinal Francis George? 06:31 | Cardinal George’s critique of liberal Catholicism 09:45 | Why liberal Catholicism falls short of giving life 12:26 | Cardinal George’s critique of conservative Catholicism 18:11 | Cardinal George’s solution: simply Catholicism 20:53 | How Is Catholicism for our times and against our times? 23:38 | What Cardinal George might say to us today 24:39 | Listener question 26:41 | 2024 Wonder Conference Links “How Liberalism Fails the Church” by Cardinal Francis George (Commonweal) Register for the 2024 Wonder Conference (August 2-4, 2024 – Rochester, MN) NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, today we’re excited to share with you the newest episode in our “Bishop Barron Presents” series. In this discussion, Bishop Barron talks with Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ. Fr. Fessio was formed by some of the greatest figures of twentieth-century Catholicism, including Henri de Lubac, Joseph Ratzinger, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. This fascinating conversation covers his life story, his education, his experience in Europe, the founding of Ignatius Press, and much more. Enjoy! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, we all strive to be spiritually great. We want to be magnanimous, great-souled men and women. But how do we get there? The Church offers a concrete seven-fold path, and that’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s “Word on Fire Show” episode. A listener asks, I’m coming back into the Church after a 15 year absence, and all the words [of Mass] have changed. What happened? 00:00 | Intro 00:55 | Bishop Barron’s California recap 02:18 | How spiritual works of mercy relate to corporal works of mercy 05:08 | Why loving others includes meeting spiritual needs 05:44 | 1) Admonish the sinner 08:24 | 2) Instruct the ignorant 10:17 | 3) Counsel the doubtful 13:32 | 4) Comfort the sorrowful 15:54 | 5) Bear wrongs patiently 19:00 | 6) Forgive all injuries 22:18 | 7) Pray for the living and the dead 26:18 | Listener question 28:32 | New book—Ethics for Beginners by Peter Kreeft Links Ethics for Beginners by Peter Kreeft NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Today, we’re excited to share with you Bishop Barron’s recent talk at Harvard University titled “The Catholic Intellectual Tradition,” sponsored by the Harvard Catholic Forum. Bishop Barron explores some foundational themes in the Catholic intellectual tradition, including God, the human person, sin and grace, society, and freedom. All flow from Christology, our understanding of Jesus, so that, as St. Bonaventure said, Christ is truly found at the center of all the disciplines pursued in the university. Get your copy of Word on Fire's 2024 Lent Reflection booklets: WordonFire.org/Lent2024 NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, each of us wants to be a good person. But how do we actually do that? How do we truly become a person of love? That’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s “Word on Fire Show” episode. A listener asks, if I did not inherit the sins of my parents, why did I inherit the sins of Adam and Eve? 00:00 | Intro 00:46 | Update on Winona-Rochester Diocesan Pastoral Center 02:38 | Dorothy Day and the need for corporal and spiritual works of mercy 04:41 | The seven corporal works of mercy 05:50 | Corporal works of mercy as measuring marks for self-examination 06:36 | 1) Feed the hungry, 2) give drink to the thirsty, 3) clothe the naked 10:53 | Direct aid for the needy vs. indirect aid 12:57 | 4) Visit the imprisoned—is this literal? 14:41 | How acts of love can lead to peace 17:27 | 5) Shelter the homeless 18:53 | 6) Visit the sick 21:02 | 7) Bury the dead 22:57 | How ordinary parents can pursue corporal works of mercy 24:12 | Listener question 27:21 | 2024 Lenten Reflections booklet from Word on Fire Links 2024 Lent Reflections Booklet – FREE copy! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, the prologue of the Gospel of St. John is one of the richest and most densely textured writings in the scriptures as John expresses the very nature of God and the profundity of the Incarnation that we celebrate every Christmas. Merry Christmas to you on behalf of my whole Word on Fire team! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, is the Christmas story little more than a sweet, saccharine tale about a cute baby being born? Or do the Gospels present something more subversive and revolutionary, a battle between two great kings? That’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s “Word on Fire Show” episode. A listener asks, whose body is the Body of Christ in the Eucharist? Infant, crucified, or resurrected Jesus? 00:00 | Intro 01:31 | Bishop Barron at Good News Conference 03:56 | The surprising subversiveness of the Christmas story 05:44 | Christmas details—Caesar and his census 08:31 | Christmas details—“no room in the inn” 10:37 | Christmas details—swaddling clothes 12:06 | Christmas details—laid in a manger 13:36 | Christmas details—shepherds as first witnesses 15:47 | Christmas details—“do not be afraid” 18:38 | Christmas details—“heavenly host” of angels 23:47 | Why did God come as a baby? 25:16 | Listener question 26:43 | Join the WOF Institute Links Word on Fire Institute – Join Today! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Today, we’re excited to share with you Bishop Barron’s keynote talk from the 2023 Acton University conference, hosted by The Acton Institute. “Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked its way into the minds and hearts of our young people, into the world of entertainment, and into the boardrooms of powerful corporations. But what is it precisely, and where did it come from? Bishop Barron argues in his presentation that “wokeism” is a popularization of critical theory, a farrago of ideas coming out of the French and German academies in the mid-twentieth century. Until we understand its origins in the thinking of Adorno, Horkheimer, Derrida, Marcuse, and Foucault, we will not know how critically to engage this dangerous philosophy.   NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, can everything in the world be reduced to atoms bumping against each other, and chemical reactions in our brains? Or is there something more to reality than its material elements? That’s what Brandon Vogt and I discuss on today’s “Word on Fire Show” episode, with the help of a new book by Justin Brierley, titled The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again. A listener asks, if feelings are not acts of the will, what is contrition? A feeling, an act of the will, both, or neither? 00:00 | Intro 00:58 | Word on Fire’s New Ressourcement Conference 03:10 | The problem with Materialism 07:56 | The problem with Determinism 10:57 | Consciousness and the problem it poses to Materialism 16:34 | Rationality, C.S. Lewis, and atheism 19:44 | Beauty as a path to transcendence 23:25 | Materialism’s inadequacy as a source of meaning 26:03 | The Meaning Crisis without the Highest Good 29:48 | Listener question 31:36 | New book—“Popcorn with the Pope” Links The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again by Justin Brierley Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List by David Paul Baird, Andrew Petiprin, and Michael Ward NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!