Episode 221: Teaching, Writing, and the Evangelization of Culture with Patrick Tomassi (November 10, 2021)

This week on The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss teaching, writing, and the evangelization of culture. Our welcome and returning guest is Patrick Tomassi. He teaches junior high and high school math and science at Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. He even takes students backpacking around the Pacific Northwest! Tomassi’s work has appeared in Public Discourse, America, and Plough Quarterly. He is also a contributing editor at Veritas Journal and helps organize the annual New York Encounter. He is a member of Communion and Liberation, founded by the late Msgr. Luigi Giussani. Our questions include the following. First, a quick update: When last we spoke with you, Portland’s ongoing protests were much in the news. What’s going on there now?Could you tell us a bit about Trinity Academy? Suppose a parent asks “How come kids in Singapore do so well in math and kids in this country struggle with innumeracy”? How would you reply?Do Americans know enough science to appreciate its role in political and educational debates?You are preparing for the annual New York Encounter. What’s the genesis of this event and what will the conference be like this year?Just what is Communion and Liberation and how does it function in the United States?To what extent is Communion and Liberation compatible with the Benedict Option?Are both movements at odds with ordinary parish life?How can socially engaged Catholics navigate between major party machine politics and utopian fantasies?Is there such a thing as Catholic politics?