Catholic Radio 2.0!

Fr. John Corapi

AND . . .

Jesse Ventura

God bless you.  On this episode of Catholic Radio 2.0, I’m joined by John L. Allen, Jr., the Vatican correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, arguably the most authoritative reporter in the English language on matters relating to the Catholic Church.  John is currently promoting his new book, The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, and he explores a few of those trends with me.  He also offers his reflections on last month’s synod of African bishops and on the role played by both bishops and Catholic laity at the grass-roots level in forcing the Hose of Representatives to include the Stupak amendment in the health care reform bill.

I’ll also talk about the Vatican’s forays into space exploration.  OK, maybe they’re not going to be blasting members of the curia into space, but they did have discussions about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. 

Finally, I’ll show you how the spirit of Casey Stengel has entered the mind of Miguel Diaz, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.

 Links:

• The Future Church, John Allen’s new blog related to the book
• All Things Catholic, John’s weekly column on the National Catholic Reporter web site
• RSS feed for all John’s reporting, including the weekly column and periodic stories
• “Vatican Observatory examines theological implications of finding alien life”, Catholic News Agency, 11/10/2009

P.S. On today’s podcast, I proudly claim the title “King of the Popping P’s”.

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To commemorate the Solemnity of All Saints this Sunday, let’s go back one year ago this weekend to an interview on BlogTalkRadio with Gina Loehr, who talked with me about the saints in general and her book, Real Women, Real Saints, in particular.

You will note that throughout the segment, I mispronounce Gina’s last name, making it sound like the word “lore”.  The correct pronunciation has the name sounding like the word “lair”.  Gina was gracious enough not to correct me.  When she returned to the show this past August, she very subtly corrected me by mentioning that her husband’s dairy farm had been “in the [LAIR] family” for generations.  I felt bad because it’s always been a sore spot for me when people address me by my last name “Craig” instead of my first name, “Brian” (no, my Mama didn’t name me “Commander” when I was born — I earned that title!)

Enjoy!

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God bless you, and welcome to episode 62 of Catholic Radio 2.0.  We’ll see the other side of the recently departed manager of some of pro wrestling’s greatest heels, Captain Louis Albano, with author Catherine Perry.  Ignatius Press CEO Mark Brumley joins us to talk about The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Fr. Ronald Tacelli, S.J.  Finally, we’ll give the often unappreciated apostle, St. Simon (aka the Zealot), a moment in the sun.

• Catherine Perry, “Captain Lou Albano, ‘Nice Italian Boy’”, Busted Halo, October 21, 2009
• “Captain Lou Albano, Wrestler and Showman, Dies at 76″, New York Times, October 15, 2009 (registration required)
• Peter Kreeft and Fr. Ronald Tacelli, S.J., The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics (Ignatius Press, 2009)
• “God Is Not the Creator, Claims Academic”, UK Telegraph, October 8, 2009
• “Saint Simon the Apostle”, Catholic Encyclopedia

Don’t forget to vote for this and all your favorite Catholic podcasts at PodcastAlley.com, beginning November 1.

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Unfortunately, my interview with Fr. Tom Berg has been postponed until next month and Dr. Scott Hahn will be on closer to the end of the year.

However, I have just recorded an interview with Ignatius Press CEO Mark Brumley, in which we discussed apologetics generally and The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics, just published by Ignatius, in particular.

I have also just called an audible.  Next Wednesday, October 28 is the feast of SS. Simon and Jude.  The other Simon became Peter, and St. Jude is a major figure in popular Catholic piety.  What about St. Simon, the apostle referred to as the Zealot?  I intend to give him his due on the next episode of Catholic Radio 2.0 !  He is NOT the Franklin Pierce of the apostles!

Don’t miss it!

Hello, friends.  Just as a baseball game postponed by rain becomes a doubleheader the next day (gee, do those cheap owners still do that?), this week’s episode of Catholic Radio 2.0 has been postponed due to inclement weather.  We will have a doubleheader episode next week, featuring an interview on apologetics with Ignatius Press CEO Mark Brumley and an update on bioethics controversies from Fr. Tom Berg of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person.

I’ve gotten very good feedback on the Ken Canedo interview, so if you have not heard it yet, please have a listen here.

God bless you and I’ll see you next week.

God bless you, and welcome to episode 61 of Catholic Radio 2.0.  Ken Canedo, author of Keep the Fire Burning: The Folk Mass Revolution, joins me to discuss the history and implications of the Folk Mass phenomenon that swept through the Church in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Ken has re-opened the case files on liturgical composers like Ray Repp, Fr. Clarence Rivers, Carey Landry, Germaine Habjan, and the Dameans.  I know that some of you, if you saw any of these people coming down the street, would cross to the other side.  But I urge you to stay tuned, because whatever your feelings about the Folk Mass, it’s important to understand how and why it happened.

Ken has produced a series of podcasts featuring the artists and music he discusses in his book.  After listening to my interview with Ken, you can go here to listen to more of the music.

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God bless you all, and welcome to the 60th episode of Catholic Radio 2.0 and the first at our new home on Podbean.  Our guest is Mike Aquilina, EWTN host, patristics scholar and blogger, and prolific author and editor.  He discusses two new works published by Servant Books, Angels of God: The Bible, The Church and the Heavenly Hosts and Fire of God’s Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist.  We’ll also have a reflection on the Guardian Angels from St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Bill Donohue Kerfuffle of the Week.

Next week: CR2.0 #61: The History of the Folk Mass with Ken Canedo!

In future episodes: Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Tom Berg on stem-cell research, and more guests to be announced.

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God bless you, and welcome to the new home of Catholic Radio 2.0 here at Podbean.com!

Host Commander Craig has been laying it down at BlogTalkRadio since February 2008.  But as of October 1, you will find new episodes here. 

Our guest at that time will be Mike Aquilina, biblical scholar and host of several series on EWTN.  He’ll be talking about two — count ‘em, TWO — new books from Servant Books, Angels of God: The Bible, the Church, and the Heavenly Hosts and Fire of God’s Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist.

 You can still sample previous episodes of the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/CommanderCraig.  We just completed a fine triptych on growth in personal holiness, with Fr. Tom Morrow covering the basics followed by Gina Loehr on women’s spirituality and Bill Moyer on the spiritual life of Catholic men.

To get a flavor of the show, you can listen to this half-hour “highlight reel”.  Enjoy!

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