Catholic Comments

Moral theologian and Creighton professor Dr. Julia Fleming comes back to the show to discuss Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate. This new encyclical represents a significant addition to the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching. Since the document covers many topics, including a major section on the environment, we conducted this interview in two parts. The first part appeared on September 14th, 2009. If you are interested in reading Caritas in Veritate, it is available online here. Listeners may also enjoy our interview with George Weigel about the pontificate of Benedict XVI.

Program hosts John O'Keefe and Wendy M. Wright discuss the life and legacy of Saint Teresa of Avila. Teresa was a 16th century mystic and a reformer of the Carmelite order.  She was named a Doctor of the Church in 1970. Photo: "Transverberation of St. Teresa" by "Nick in exsilio" from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)

Teresa Monaghan, a faculty member in Creighton's summer program in Christian spirituality, discusses the origins and spirit of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The feast is celebrated on October 7th. Listeners may also enjoy our discussion of Saint Francis of Assisi from the archives: http://www.cucatholicctr.org/?p=45 Photo: "Our Lady of the Rosary reredos" by "Lawrence OP" from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)

In this week's program hosts Dr. John O'Keefe and Dr. Wendy M. Wright discuss St. Jerome.  Jerome, whose feast day is September 30, was a 4th century Christian scholar and monk. A doctor of the Church, he is most famous for the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible that still forms the basis of the official Latin Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. Photo: "Saint Jerome" by "Paul Lowry" from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)

Today (September 21) is the feast of Saint Matthew. Fr. Dennis Hamm, S.J. comes back to the show to talk about both Matthew, one of the twelve, and the gospel that bears his name.

Moral theologian and Creighton professor Dr. Julia Fleming comes back to the show to discuss Pope Benedict XVI's new encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate. This new encyclical represents a significant addition to the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching. Since the document covers many topics, including a major section on the environment, we are going to offer two installments of this interview.  The second  will be posted in a few weeks. If you are interested in reading Caritas in Veritate, it is available online here.

Dominican sister Janice Bachman discusses the role of dreams and dream interpretation in Christian Spirituality.  Janice is an experienced spiritual director, retreat director and Jungian Analyst. Janice has been involved in the training of spiritual directors for the past ten years. A graduate of Creighton University's (Omaha) Christian Spirituality Program, Janice is on the summer faculty of Creighton's Masterís Program in Christian Spirituality as well as faculty for the Wellstreams Ecumenical Spiritual Direction Training Program in Columbus.

Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change joins host John O'Keefe to discuss the Catholic perspective on climate change.  The program also considers the Catholic Climate Covenant, an initiative of the Center. For more information, visit these two web sites: The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change The Catholic Climate Covenant

The feast of St. Augustine is August 28th. In today's program, hosts John O'Keefe and Wendy M. Wright reflect on the legacy of this great Christian. Photo: "St Augustine" by "Lawrence OP" from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)

Tara Joyce Whipp and Patrick Hoarty join hosts John O'Keefe and Wendy M. Wright to discuss the vocation of the high school theology teacher. Tara teaches at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha. Patrick teaches at Skutt Catholic high school, also in Omaha. The image to the left is of Catherine of Alexandria, one of the patron saints of teachers. Photo: "St Catherine debating the philosophers" by "Lawrence OP" from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)  

Program hosts John O'Keefe and Wendy M. Wright discuss the life and legacy of Saint Jane de Chantal whose feast day is August 12.

Dominican Sister Kathleen Flood discusses the life and legacy of Saint Dominic.  She also reflects on the contemporary relevance of Dominican spirituality. During the interview, several websites are mentioned that listeners might wish to visit: Stillpoint, a spirituality center in Nashville, TN. The Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.

Dr. Mike Lawler, Professor Emeritus of Theology, discusses the significance of the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium, also known as the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Listeners who would like to read the document can do so online at the Vatican web site, which hosts all of the documents in a downloadable format. This program is one of series on Vatican II. Click on the Vatican II tag below for a full list of these programs. From the archives for this week: Fr. Larry Gillick on St. Ignatius of Loyola

Dr. Tom Kelly of Creighton's theology department discusses the significance of the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes, also known as the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Listeners who would like to read the document can do so on line at the Vatican web site, which hosts all of the documents in a downloadable format. This program is one of series on Vatican II.  Click on the Vatican II tag below for a full list of these programs. From the archives for this week: Dr. Susan Calef on Mary Magdalene

In March 2009, John O'Keefe traveled to Uganda with Computers for Africa. (Listen to the interview we did with the founders a few years ago.) In Lira he had the opportunity to interview Rev. Pontiano Okalo, vocations director for the diocese of Lira. Twenty years ago, Fr. Okalo was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army and forced to be a child soldier. O'Keefe spoke with him about his experience and his ministry. The interview took place at St. Joseph Seminary in Aboke, Uganda. Aboke was also the site of a large abduction of school age girls, which has been chronicled in the book Aboke Girls: Children Abducted in Northern Uganda. Our program "The Church in Northern Uganda 1," was posed on May 5th, 2009 Photos of one of Northern Uganda's refugee camps can be seen at John O'Keefe's photostream on flickr.