
Church Life Today
Hosted by Dr. Leonard DeLorenzo, of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame (http://mcgrath.nd.edu), Church Life Today features conversations with pastoral leaders and scholars from around the country and covers issues that matter most to Church life today. Church Life Today is an OSV Podcasts partner.
Latest episodes

Jul 3, 2020 • 29min
Gloria Purvis on Sin, Conversion, and Racial Justice
As the host of a nationally syndicated morning show, Gloria Purvis is used to having many people hear her voice. But in the wake of recent violence and injustice, she has been using her voice to amplify the cries against racism and the demands for personal and societal repentance. Today she joins me, Leonard DeLorenzo, to speak not merely about law and order, but indeed about sin and conversion.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Jun 20, 2020 • 28min
Eric Styles on Black Bodies, Kneeling, and the Liturgy
What does it mean to kneel? For Catholics, who are a liturgical people used to kneeling, we have a sense for that. My guest today is himself Catholic, he is himself steeped in the liturgy, and yet what he thought he knew about kneeling changed when George Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020.This is Leonard DeLorenzo on Church Life Today. My guest is Eric Styles, one of my colleagues at the University of Notre Dame, where he serves as rector of Carroll Hall. He is also Associate Artistic Director of Afro-House, a music driven performance art company. I’ve asked him to join me today to talk about his article which appeared in our Church Life Journal, under the title “Black Bodies, Kneeling, and the Liturgy.” We’ll also talk about the neglected testimonies of African Americans, and systemic racism in relation to the call to solidarity and the Catholic Church.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

May 5, 2020 • 32min
Msgr. Michael Heintz on the Formation of Future Priests
Who is forming our future priests, and how are they being formed? These are questions that have only grown in importance in recent years, especially in the wake of recent scandals in the Church. What has been going on in seminaries, and what should be going on in seminaries are topics of great interest and often of great speculation. So why don’t we talk to somebody who knows what’s what in seminary formation? Good news, I’ve got just the person! Msgr. Michael Heintz is a priest of the Diocese of Fort Wayne- South Bend. He is the former pastor of St. Matthew’s Cathedral parish in South Bend, but now here serves full-time at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland where some 20 dioceses send their seminarians for their studies and formation as priests. Msgr. Heintz is associate professor of theology at Mount St. Mary’s, as well as spiritual director and academic dean. He offered a major address on the formation of seminarians and priests at the McGrath Institute for Church Life’s Called & Co-Responsible conference. And today he joins me, Leonard DeLorenzo to answer our questions and give us a better grasp of who’s being formed in seminaries, how they’re being formed, and to what endChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Apr 25, 2020 • 32min
Elisabeth Sullivan on Catholic Liberal Education
Have we gotten Catholic education all wrong? That’s a daunting question, but an important one, and potentially a liberating one. It’s the kind of question that the resurgence of more classical models of education may be responding to. And one of the catalysts of this resurgence is the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. My guest today is the executive director of this Institute, Elisabeth Sullivan. She joins me, Leonard DeLorenzo, to talk about how the holistic model for Catholic education, that developed over two millennia, has been replaced over the course of just a few decades. And how Catholic Liberal Education seeks to retrieve what has been lost for the sake of a truly universal, integrative, and ultimately liberating education ordered to the fullness of truth, beauty, and goodness in Jesus Christ.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Apr 19, 2020 • 30min
Erin Barisano on the Spiritual Leadership of Catholic Educators
When you think about what’s important for fulfilling the mission of Catholic schools, do you think about the spiritual leadership of principals, administrators, and teachers? Dr. Erin Barisano does. As the superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Orange, the 10th largest diocese in the US, and the 2nd largest diocese in California, after Los Angeles). Dr. Barisano is of course paying attention to what every education leader has to pay attention to (enrollments, budgets, staffing and retention, and supervision. But for her, the spiritual leadership of catholic educators is one of the key distinctive elements of what makes Catholic education truly Catholic. Dr. Barisano delivered a presentation on leadership and mission in Catholic education at the Called & Co-Responsible conference hosted by the McGrath Institute for Church Life. And today she joins me, Leonard DeLorenzo, to talk about her work, as well as Catholic education in her diocese and beyond.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Apr 5, 2020 • 33min
Betsy Bohlen on Developing Strategic Leaders for the Church
We all know that we need better leadership in the church. Of course that means that those we already recognize as leaders must be formed for and embody the highest levels of integrity, honesty, accountability, humility, and charity. But better leadership also means discovering new models of leadership, more co-responsible models. Whereby the gifts and expertise of both laity and clergy, professionals and pastors, men and women are brought together in service of the church’s mission of evangelization. So what role does managerial and strategic expertise play in this development of church leadership? The church is not a business, but parishes and dioceses face strategic challenges that call for the expertise of business professionals in an increasingly complex world. My guest today is not only thinking about these dimensions of leadership in the church, she also bears responsibility for them in the third largest diocese in the United States. She is Betsy Bohlen, Chief Operating Officer for the Archdiocese of Chicago. She delivered a major presentation on leadership and strategic management at the Called & Co-Responsible conference, hosted by the McGrath Institute for Church Life. And today she joins me, Leonard DeLorenzo, to talk about her work, her archdiocese, and leadership in the church today.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Mar 28, 2020 • 28min
Bishop Frank Caggiano on Co-Responsibility and Evangelization
Bishop Frank Caggiano came to the University of Notre Dame to deliver a major presentation about promoting co-responsibility between the laity and clergy for the mission of the church. That is, the mission of evangelization. In his own diocese of Bridgeport, CT, Bishop Caggiano has exercised both tremendous initiative for attempting bold new ventures in evangelization and simple humility in recognizing the ways in which that initiative has needed to be redirected or reshaped from time to time. But both the initiative and the humility are in service to a fundamental gospel ideal. As he said during his address at Notre Dame "The love that we have discovered has taken our life over and compels us to share it with others. That love has a face, and that face is Jesus Christ. The responsibility we all share is to witness to the one who saves us." Today Bishop Caggiano sits down with me, Leonard DeLorenzo, at the McGrath Institute for Church Life to talk about the mission of evangelization and co-responsibility among all the baptized.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Mar 27, 2020 • 29min
Rick Garnett on Religious Liberty
Professor Richard W. Garnett teaches and writes about the freedoms of speech, association, and religion and constitutional law more generally. He is a leading authority on questions and debates regarding the role of religious believers and beliefs in politics and society. He has published widely on these matters and is the author of dozens of law-review articles and book chapters. Garnett is regularly invited to share analysis and commentary in national print and broadcast media, and he contributes to several law-related blogs, including Mirror of Justice and PrawfsBlawg.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Mar 14, 2020 • 28min
Kristin Collier and Charlie Camosy on the COVID–19 Outbreak
Today I welcome a medical doctor and a bioethicist to talk about the developing situation surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. My guests are Dr. Kristin Collier , assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, and Professor Charlie Camosy, associate professor of bioethics in the department of theology at Fordham University.Our conversation was recorded on March 13, 2020.------Live: www.redeemerradio.comFollow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@RedeemerRadioFollow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram:@McGrathNDSubscribe to the Podcast:iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Mar 2, 2020 • 27min
Brandon McGinley on the Meaning of Liturgical Time
What is the meaning of time? I don’t mean that as an abstract philosophical question but rather an utterly practical one. How we measure time tells us a great of what we think like is all about, both on the grand scale and every day. Our guest today has developed a resource for helping us reclaim time as sacred—that is, as liturgical. Brandon McGinley writes about faith, culture, and politics from his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He works as Editor of EWTN Publishing, Inc., a book publishing collaboration between the global Catholic media network and Sophia Institute Press. He is the creator of the weekly newsletter “These Seven Days” and today he talks with us about how the reclaiming the rhythm of the liturgical calendar helps us to live our faith as Catholics.------ Live: www.redeemerradio.com Follow Redeemer Radio on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @RedeemerRadio Follow McGrath Institute for Church Life on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @McGrathND Subscribe to the Podcast: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloudChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.