What is the belief of ordinary Catholics around the Eucharist? That is a harder question to answer that it might at first seem. You could put forward two options and ask a respondent if they believe this or that. But it is not easy to phrase those options correctly, nor is it easy to ensure that your respondent understands what you are trying to ask. Belief in the Eucharist is not easy, and neither is asking about it.A new study commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life and conducted by CARA at Georgetown University attempts to get closer to the real Eucharistic beliefs of ordinary Catholics. More precision was put into the questions and possible answers, an opportunity was given for open-ended responses, and sustained reflection on all the responses yielded some more textured findings than previous national studies produced. Today, I talk with my colleague, Dr. Tim O’Malley, about this new study, its findings and their significance for renewing Eucharistic belief in the Church. Tim published an article on this study in the Church Life Journal under the title“The Theological Foundations of Eucharistic Beliefs: A New National Study.”Follow-up Resources: ●     “Eucharist Beliefs: A National Survey of Adult Catholics,” study by CARA at Georgetown University, commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life●     “The Theological Foundations of Eucharistic Beliefs: A New National Study”, article in Church Life Journal by Timothy O’MalleyChurch 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.

Many of us browsing social media have had the experience of seeing horrendous images and videos from armed conflicts. Sometimes those dehumanizing acts are featured widely even before conflict fully breaks out. Seeing these things gives us a sense of rage or sorrow or concern or all of the above. It is not uncommon for our sympathies to be swayed by the suffering that we see, or the dehumanizing acts that are brought before us .Actually, that is often the point of showing these scenes and images in the first place.Computer science research shows that in the lead-up to hostilities, as well as after the outbreak of hostilities, there is a notable increase in dehumanizing political imagery that is often doctored or accentuated in some way and then reshared in digital space to evoke an emotional response. As media consumers, we may find ourselves swimming in a sea of images, not knowing what or whom we can trust. Or some of us might even focus in on the kinds of images and narratives that confirm our predetermined biases, and wed us more closely to our preferred group or tribe.My guest on the show today is a computer scientist whose research reveals how social media is regularly used as a conduit for conflict. Tim Weninger is the Frank M. Freimann Associate Professor of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for Computer Science and Engineering. His research is in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and social media (and artificial intelligence on social media). Recently, Professor Weninger and his team have been studying how coordinated social media campaigns have been used to incite violence and discord, destabilize democratic processes, and disseminate propaganda. He is an advocate for increasing media literacy who recognizes the urgent need for moral formation for engaging and using media well. He joins me today to talk about his fascinating and important work, especially in light of recent world events.Follow-up Resources: ●      News and other information about Prof. Weninger and his work●      “ND Expert Tim Weninger: Using social media to dehumanize is part of the conflict playbook,” article in ND Works by Jessica Sieff●      “Media, Polarization, and the Gospel, with Deacon Matthew Kuna,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch 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.

Jessica Mannen Kimmet was searching for spiritual resources in the Church that would guide her and strengthen her during her early years of motherhood. She was experiencing significant struggles and was confronting unmet expectations. But other than a few scattered blog posts here and there, she really couldn’t find anything that would respond to her need and desire. So several years later, she wrote the book she was looking for, a book where the Word of God is brought close to the experiences of new mothers, and to many more of us besides.In her concluding chapter, she writes, “finding my way into motherhood has been a long, convoluted road. Progress through my pain was never as linear as I would have chosen. There were better days and worse days, improvements and relapses. There were moments of hope and energy, followed all too quickly by moments of anguish and despair. … [But] God makes all things new. Even me. Even you. God has the power to end all death and mourning and pain, and God promises to do so. In the meantime, God acknowledges our suffering and sits with us in it.”Jessica’s book is for those times in between, when there is suffering and struggle, and therefore the real need for hope and companionship. The book is called Groaning in Labor, Growing in Hope: Scripture Reflections for the Hard Days of Early Motherhood. As an early reader of this book myself, I can assure you that many other people besides those in early motherhood will benefit from this book, including men, whether single, married, fathers, or even priests.Follow up Resources:●     Groaning in Labor, Growing in Hope: Scripture Reflections for the Hard Days of Early Motherhood by Jessica Mannen Kimmet●     “Some Human Beings Carry Remnants of Other Human Beings in Their Bodies,” essay in Church Life Journal by Dr. Kristin Collier●     “The Theobiology of a Mother’s Voice,” essay in Church Life Journal by Dr. Kristin Collier●     “Forming Catholic Leaders for Mental Health, with Beth Hlabse,” podcast episode on Church Life Today Church 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.

To love your neighbor, you must know your neighbor. And to know your neighbor, you often times have to go beyond the mind you have. The Greek word for conversion, metanoia, means just that: “to go beyond the mind you have”, so that loving your neighbor usually requires some kind of conversion. Conversions are often uncomfortable and even painful. It can be hard but it can also be liberating and healing to let go of what you assumed to be true so as to accept a little more of what is actually true, especially what has been and is actually true for someone else––namely, your neighbor.A new narrative podcast series called The Ark and the Dove seeks to allow listeners to grow in knowledge of their neighbors in the Catholic Church and in the United States. The way it does that is by investigating the complex dynamics of race and religion in America through the lens of the Black Catholic Church. It holds together both broad issues of race and religion with local, particular stories of specific communities, parishes, and schools, especially within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Our episode today focuses on The Ark and the Dove, with my guest and the podcast’s co-creator, Edward Herrera.In addition to his work on The Ark and the Dove, Edward Herrera is the Executive Director of the Institute for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.Follow-up Resources:The Ark and the Dove podcast series“The Catholic Response to the Sin of Racism, with Gloria Purvis,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Black Lives and the Preferential Option for the Poor” by John Cavadini, via Church Life JournalThis episode is sponsored by: Dr. Michael Dauphinais, https://catholic-theology-show.castos.com/Church 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.

One of the surest ways to incite wonder and love for the Lord in our children is for us to rekindle wonder and love for the Lord in ourselves. As mature Christians, we have a responsibility to instruct our children––to model and share our faith with them. For many of us, this begins as a daunting and uncertain task: we might question our own faith, or feel awkward in our wording or mannerisms in sharing faith, or recognize our own lack of knowledge when it comes to Scripture or the particularities of Catholic doctrine. I felt all those things myself when it was time for me to begin forming my children to reverence our Eucharistic Lord and welcome him in the Blessed Sacrament. But starting some years ago, I took on this precious and challenging responsibility in a new way, when I began reading Scripture with my then six-year-old son to help him prepare for his First Communion. In particular, we read and wondered at 12 biblical episodes of God feeding his people: six from the Old Testament and six from the gospels, when Jesus fulfills what has been prefigured. From all our time spent together, including my son’s work in illustrating each of those 12 biblical scenes, I came to see that paying attention to these particular actions through Scripture created one firm, clear, and beautiful memory for my son, which was this: the Lord feeds his people. Even more, when he stepped forward to receive his First Communion in May of that year, he rejoiced at the wonder that now he himself was being fed by the Lord.I think this way of sacramental preparation is more important now than ever, especially as belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist continues to wane among Catholics. In the Catholic Church in the U.S., we are hoping for a Eucharistic revival, and I want to think together about how to form our children better for First Communion, to set the best foundation for a sacramental, Eucharistic life. This is the second of two episodes where I share some of the teachings on the biblical episodes of God feeding his people. These teachings are drawn from my book Fed by the Lord: At-Home Scriptural Formation to Prepare Children for First Communion, from Liturgical Press. Fed by the Lord is written especially for parents, godparents, teachers, and catechists with two primary goals: first, to help enrich and renew the adults’ understanding of and wonder at the way in which God feeds his people throughout Scripture, and second, to offer guidance to adults as they seek to form their children and students for First Communion.In the last episode, I shared my teachings on one Old Testament episode and the corresponding Gospel episode that fulfills it. From 2 Kings 4, we focused on the prophet Elisha and the abundant bread, then from Mark 6 we contemplated Jesus feeding the five thousand. In this episode, I want to add two more: from the Old Testament, we will turn our attention to the Passover in Exodus, and then from Luke 22, the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Follow-up Resources:●     Fed by the Lord: At-Home Scriptural Formation to Prepare Children for First Communion (Liturgical Press, 2023), by Leonard J. DeLorenzo●     Church 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.

In a 2019 study, the Pew Research Center found that just one-third of U.S. Catholics Agree that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. That is a sobering statistic. Even if we account for the way in which the survey question may have been imprecisely formed, it still seems that the overwhelming majority of Catholics surveyed espoused belief in a more symbolic meaning of the bread and wine on the altar, as opposed to the sacramental, real presence of Jesus Christ.The Eucharistic Revival in the United States seeks to respond to issues like this, to help increase both belief in and devotion to the Eucharist. One area that I have become especially attentive to is the formation of children for First Communion. Of all those Catholics who were surveyed and said that they believed only that the bread and wine of the altar were symbolic, most if not all of them had been formed for their First Communion and have likely received the Eucharist numerous times throughout their life. We could think that a Eucharistic Revival is about correcting and reforming the belief of adults, and enkindling their devotion, but I say that we ought to think deeply about Eucharistic formation from the very beginning, which means the period of preparation for First Communion.I am also interested in that issue because I am a parent, and four of my own children have been formed for First Communion, with two more to go. More than anything else, I want them to know and to believe that the love of God does not stay far away, but draws near. The love of God is near enough for us to touch, near enough to taste. The Eucharist is the love of God Incarnate, given for us: the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.Follow-up Resources:●     Fed by the Lord: At-Home Scriptural Formation to Prepare Children for First Communion (Liturgical Press, 2023), by Leonard J. DeLorenzo●     Article on the 2019 Pew Study on U.S. Catholics belief in the EucharistSponsored link: The Catholic Theology ShowChurch 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.

In 1965, in an NBC News documentary, J. Robert Oppenheimer reflected on his role in leading the Manhattan Project that yielded the first nuclear weapons by saying this:“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed; a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multiarmed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.” The new blockbuster film, Oppenheimer, chronicles the race to develop the means of mass destruction, and focuses on the man who led that effort. We take up a discussion of the film in today’s show, and I welcome in two guests to join this discussion with me. Both my guests are from the Univresity of Notre Dame. Dr. Ted Barron is executive director of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center as well as the Judd and Mary Lou Leighton Director of Performing Arts; he also teaches in the Department of Film, Television, and Theater. Dr. Phil Sakimoto is one of my longtime collaborators on a science and religion planetarium project who has joined me on Church Life Today once before to talk about our presentation, “All Creation Gives Praise”. He is an astrophysicist, a professional astronomer, and the Director of the Minor in Sustainability at Notre Dame.Our episode today is produced in partnership with the Notre Dame Alumni Association, and specifically the FiresideND podcast from ThinkND, which brings the experience and expertise of Notre Dame to you, whenever, wherever. From STEM and art, to religion and health, FiresideND allows you to listen and learn with ND on the go. I want to thank our friends at ThinkND for bringing the idea for this episode to us and for helping it to come to fruition.Follow-up Resources:“All Creation Gives Praise, with Phil Sakimoto,” podcast episode via Church Life Today.“Oppenheimer and the Lesson of Fat Man,” journal article via Church Life JournalFiresideND podcast from ThinkNDChurch 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.

To deceive yourself is easy, but to stop deceiving yourself is hard. This truth is more apparent to each of us when we look to other people than it is when we look to ourselves. Why? Because we tend to believe the lies we have told ourselves, so much so that they really aren’t lies anymore for we have forgotten the truth. One of the gifts of excellent drama––especially tragic drama but even the right kind of comedic drama––is that we are given the chance to see dynamics like this in play in the lives and worlds of characters on the stage or on the screen. If we are brave and honest enough, we may even be willing to see partial reflections of ourselves. We’ve been spending a few episodes now diving into the masterful television dramas Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, following a lecture series we hosted here at the McGrath Institute for Church Life on the two shows. Today, we will continue that exploration, turning our attention now to the themes of self-deception, transparency, and redemption, or lack thereof. My guest today will guide us through these considerations, based on the lecture he delivered on this topic for our lecture series. Kenneth Craycraft is the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology, the seminary for the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He writes a monthly syndicated column for OSV News, a weekly column for Our Sunday Visitor (“Grace is Everywhere”), and monthly columns for The Catholic Telegraph and the U.K.-based Catholic Herald. Dr. Craycraft is the author of The American Myth of Religious Freedom. His forthcoming book, Neither Left nor Right: How Catholic Moral Theology Transcends Partisan Politics, will be published by OSV Press in the Spring of 2024. He is a licensed attorney in Ohio, who holds a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.Follow-up Resources:“Men and Women in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, with Francesca Murphy,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Meth, Money, and Marriage in Breaking Bad, with Gary Anderson,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayWebpage for “Gilligan’s Archipelago” conference, where videos from each of the five lectures on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are posted.The collection Kenneth Craycraft’s articles for Our Sunday Visitor.Church 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.

It probably comes as a surprise to no one that cases with issues of religious liberty regularly make their way before the Supreme Court. What might surprise many, however, is that there is a lot of agreement if not unanimity among justices when they decide such cases. In 2023, the justices returned a 9-0 decision in a religious liberty case regarding a US Postal Service worker who sought a religious accommodation to abstain from work on Sundays. The court sided with the postal worker. There were of course other cases decided this summer that received a good deal of attention, especially ones pertaining to affirmative action, student loan debt forgiveness, and the freedom of expression of a web designer. As has become our custom here on Church Life Today, we are hosting Notre Dame Law Professor Rick Garnett to walk us through some of these decisions, especially in regard to questions of religious liberty.This is the sixth episode that Professor Garnett has recorded with us, which puts him in the lead as our top contributor. When he is not appearing on Church Life Today, Rick is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law in the Notre Dame Law School. He is also Concurrent Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program on Church, State & Society. He teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion.Follow-up Resources:●     “Refreshing Unity on Religious Liberty,” essay by Rick Garnett in Law & Liberty●     “Rick Garnett on Religious Liberty,” podcast episode via Church Life Today●     “2020 SCOTUS Decisions, Part 1, with Rick Garnett,” podcast episode via Church Life Today●     “2020 SCOTUS Decisions, Part 2, with Rick Garnett,” podcast episode via Church Life today●     “2022 SCOTUS: Dobbs, Roe, and Abortion Law, with Rick Garnett,” podcast episode via Church Life Today●     “2022 SCOTUS: Religious Liberty Cases, with Rick Garnett,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch 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.

Once when my eldest son was about five years old, we happened to be reading the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel when we came upon the account of a man with an unclean spirit. My son asked me what that meant. I didn’t know how to answer so I said: “What do you think?” He didn’t know. So we read it again. He noticed that the unclean spirit did not want to be near Jesus, and he knew that Jesus was God with us. I asked my son, “well, what do you think an unclean spirit is now?” And he replied: “I guess it is wanting to live in the world without God.”My guest today on the show is not a five year old child, but rather Gary Anderson, the Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Thought in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. We are going to talk about his read of the show Breaking Bad and its central character, Walter White, whom Professor Anderson sees as a profile in the determined resolution to live in the world without God. But unlike the unclean spirit in Mark’s Gospel, Walter White doesn’t even acknowledge God or recognize the possibility of his presence. For him, “there is nothing but chemistry here.”My conversation with Professor Anderson follows a lecture that he delivered for a conference on the shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul that was hosted at Notre Dame in May of 2023. His lecture at the conference bore the title “Science and Marriage in the Life of Walter White.”Follow up Resources:●     Webpage for “Gilligan’s Archipelago” conference, where videos from each of the five lectures will be posted when available.●     “Men and Women in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, with Francesca Murphy” podcast episode via Church Life Today●     “God Doesn’t Break Bad in the Old Testament,” essay by Gary Anderson in Church Life JournalChurch 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.