Thinking with the Church

In this episode, we speak with the Archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Thomas Collins, who discusses his serious concerns over a controversial new government requirement on organizations seeking federal funding for summer hires. This new attestation is proving problematic for many faith-based organizations. It also doesn’t sit well with many Canadian citizens, including many people who, though they broadly agree with the government’s social policy agenda, don’t think organizations ought to be subjected to what amounts to an ideological litmus test.

In this edition of Thinking with the Church, a conversation with Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, also at Princeton. In thinking through the nature and scope of Catholic education, we thought it would be good to hear from a committed Catholic academic, whose faith informs his intellectual life and professional endeavor, which he lives and carries out in an institutional environment that - while not at odds with Catholic faith or commitment - is nevertheless not dedicated to the specifically Catholic embodiment of the idea of the university.

In this edition of Thinking with the Church, a conversation with Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

In this edition, a conversation with Dr. Leonardo Franchi, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow and editor – along with Ronnie Convery and Raymond McCloskey – of the volumes Reclaiming the Piazza: Catholic Education as a Cultural Project and Reclaiming the Piazza II: Catholic Education and the New Evangelization.

Fr. Paul Samasumo of Zambia is vice president of the World Catholic Association for Communication, SIGNIS, the first African to hold one of the top three positions in the organization, to which he was elected in the summer of 2017 by the delegates to the SIGNIS world congress in Quebec. He met with TwtC's Chris Altieri recently, for a broad-ranging conversation on the state of the Church in Africa.

David is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and Director of Development for that same. A trained theologian and poet, David is deeply Catholic and profoundly patriotic: people don’t talk like he does anymore. Getting to know him better in this edition was at once edifying and delightful.

A look in three parts at the upcoming season of Thinking with the Church, which will be exploring Catholic education. We speak with Leonardo Franchi, David Franks, John Dickson, David Anthony Dehner, and others, about what it is to form the whole person.

Will Pope Francis Pull it Off? is the title of Prof. Rocco D'Ambrosio's new book about the reform program of Pope Francis. In this edition, we go inside the slim, powerful volume with the author, who is a priest of the Diocese of Bari and Professor of Political Philosophy in the School of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

This week's episode is a reflection on how irreconcilable differences need not lead to irreducible conflict.

In this edition of Thinking with the Church: a conversation with Philip Larrey, priest, professor and author of Connected World: from Automated Work to Virtual Wars - the future, by those who are shaping it (320 pages, Penguin, 2017).

Continuing our special programming at Holy Week with a reflection on the week that opens with the Vigil and ends with the great Dominica in albis, now Divine Mercy Sunday, the Octave of Easter

A short meditation on Good Friday

The first in a series of meditations on the significance of Holy Week, from co-Founder and GM Chris Altieri

In this edition of Thinking with the Church: a conversation with Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

In this *special* edition of Thinking with the Church, we are doing something a little bit different: rather than feature a conversation, our co-Founder, General Manager, and host, Chris Altieri, proposes an itinerary for the recovery of some basic notions regarding marriage.

In this edition of Thinking with the Church: Part II of a conversation with theologian Christopher Wells, who is pursuing a doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas - the Angelicum - here in Rome. In Part I of our conversation, we explored the Doctrine of Papal Supremacy and the Dogma of Papal Infallibility - both definitively taught by the I Vatican Council in Pastor Aeternus. Here, we delve more deeply into the historical roots and theological origins of the two teachings - but we come to that part of the conversation rather organically - beginning as we do with a discussion of the role of the Pontifical universities in the life of the Church.

In this edition of Thinking with the Church we explore the nature and purpose of Papal authority with theologian Christopher Wells, Th.L., of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

This week on Thinking with the Church: a conversation with Claudia Giampietro on language, the law, and genuine truth-seeking dialogue as a form of public witness to the faith in the search for Christian unity.

In this special edition we speak with Fr. Brian Reedy SJ about the recent discovery of possibly habitable planets in our corner of the galaxy - and about the possible implications of finding life on another world - or worlds.

In this edition: a conversation with veteran Vatican beat reporter Andrea Gagliarducci

. In this edition: the second part of a conversation with a man who has dedicated his life to studying, praying, and working to achieve Christian unity. Andrew J. Boyd – “A.J.” to his friends – is Adjunct Professor of Theology in the Rome program of the Catholic University of America, as well as in the Rome programs of Providence College and Assumption College. This week, A.J. and I explore some of the concrete possibilities for achieving a further and substantial measure of unity, especially as regards the Lutheran community.

In this edition: Part 1 of a conversation with a man who has dedicated his life to studying, praying, and working to achieve Christian unity. Andrew J. Boyd – “A.J.” to his friends – is Adjunct Professor of Theology in the Rome program of the Catholic University of America, as well as in the Rome programs of Providence College and Assumption College.

This week, we spend more time with Prof. Nicolas Steeves SJ, of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Prof. Steeves is a Jesuit priest who teaches Fundamental Theology at the “Greg” – as it is affectionately known by its alumni. You can hear Part One of our conversation in Episode 4 of the podcast, which you’ll find, along with show notes, at www.thinkingwiththechurch.wordpress.com.There, we talk about the role of imagination in theology – and we pull on several threads that we do not really tie up. So, in this episode, you can hear us tying those bows. Before we tie them, though, we delve more deeply into the questions we left open, including: Ignatian spirituality; how Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech works on the imagination, and what Fundamental Theology is.

This week, we are speaking with a Jesuit priest and theologian who teaches fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Prof. Nicolas Steeves SJ, who is most recently the author of Grâce à l’imagination: intégrer l’imagination en théologie fondamentale – a profoundly challenging and refreshing exploration of the role of imagination in the work of theology, and more broadly, in intellectual and social life.

Two deaths in the family of Vocaris Media prompted this meditation on the Last Things

This week on Thinking with the Church: a conversation with a biologist who designed – together with his students at Cristo Rey Prep in Houston – one of the experiments sent to space on the Space-X 9 and conducted aboard the International Space Station, with a convert to Catholicism who came to the fullness of the faith through a conviction in the oneness of truth and the need to seek the truth intrepidly, with an officer in the United States Navy, and with a Jesuit priest currently doing doctoral work in philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Our first round-table edition? Not yet. Fr. Brian Reedy SJ is our guest this week.

When have we stopped supplying nature and begun to supplant it? If there is nothing wrong - in principle - with improving on nature, then where do we draw the line when it comes to our efforts to improve (on) it? When we design technology capable of anticipating our needs - and our desires - what do we risk losing? Most importantly: what resources can we find within the Catholic tradition of thinking, to help us find our way across the troubled landscape of technological (r)evolution, with all its challenges and opportunities? These were the focuses of my conversation with Fr. Philip Larrey, a priest of the Rome diocese and Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he teaches logic and epistemology.

The Premiere episode of Thinking with the Church, featuring Marshall McLuhan, Eric Voegelin, Pope Pius XI, Pope St. John Paul II, Johnny Ringo & Doc Holliday, Adam & Amanda Bonner, and of course, host Chris Altieri

What do Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Lt. Worf, Vizzini & Inigo Montoya, Mr. Bean, St. Augustine of Hippo, Benedict XVI, & Eric Voegelin have in common? Turns out, they have a lot of common history. Get ears on this sneak preview edition of #TWTC to find out more.

A short "mailbag" edition of TWTC, with thanks for all the support listeners have shown so far, and some further explanation of what TWTC will - and won't - be doing over the course of its run. Of course, there's a tin cup rattle at the end.

This is a sneak preview of Thinking with the Church, featuring extended conversations with the fundamental theologian, Prof. Nicolas Steeves SJ of the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the philosopher, Fr. Philip Larrey, Professor of Logic at the Pontifical Lateran University. Hosted by Christopher Altieri.

This is Episode "0" of Thinking with the Church: the flagship program of Vocaris Media productions – an hour-long weekly audio show featuring interviews and round-table discussions with officials of the Roman Curia, professors from Rome’s Pontifical universities, and Catholic thought leaders from every area of intellectual and cultural life – giving listeners a chance to hear and understand how the Church thinks at the highest levels of governance.