What We Can't Not Talk About

In this episode, UT Professor of Philosophy Dr. Daniel Bonevac joins us to discuss the contents of a recent seminar he presented at Stumberg Hall on the philosophy of time. He discusses and explains some of the authors he selected for the seminar including Augustine, Boethius, Borges, and McTaggart. An eclectic selection to be sure, but one that makes sense given the implications of time Dr. Bonevac wished to explore for the seminar. Is time real? How does time bear on memory, identity, human freedom, fate, or ethics? These are some of the questions that will be explored here at length, and we hope you find it edifying and even helpful for better understanding the role of time in your own life.

Everyone suffers. For many Catholics, however, deep psychological and emotional pain persists despite our frequent encounter with the sacraments. We're rightfully confused when we do not receive any healing from the touch of our Lord that we find in the Church. Healing seems to evade us. In this talk, we will explore the nature of our emotional and psychological pain, practical steps to address our pain and increase our healing, and daily practices that will allow us to live in the freedom to which Christ has called us. About Our Scholar Matthew Breuninger is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He received his Psy.D. in clinical psychology from Baylor University as well as an M.A. in Theology from Ave Maria University. His research interests lie generally in psychology of religion. In particular he is interested in how churches perceive and address mental illness, God attachment, religious and spiritual struggles, clinical disorders, and implicit and explicit attitudes toward God. His current research includes looking at the relationship between religious/spiritual struggles and well-being in adolescents, the effects of perceived parenting style on religious/spiritual struggles, and comparing the predictive validity of implicit and explicit attitudes toward God on various outcome variables. When not teaching or researching, he enjoys fishing and hiking in the mountains of Pennsylvania with his family.

In this episode, Professor in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and Senior Fellow of the Austin Institute Mark Regnerus discusses his latest research on the state of the Roman Catholic clergy in the United States. He found that, to the surprise of some, the priesthood in America is becoming increasingly conservative on matters of Church teaching in contrast to previous decades.

In this episode, Dr. Joseph Price, Professor of Economics at Brigham Young University and Senior Fellow of the Austin Institute, discusses matches in the marriage market, particularly for women with higher education. He points to the apparent scarcity of potential spouses for these women and describes how this may have come to be. Dr. Price shares his research on this subject and what it could mean for those of us navigating the marriage market. Mismatches in the Marriage Market research: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335623782_Mismatches_in_the_Marriage_Market

The art of the Faith — i fiori della Fede— in places of the Faith -- nei luoghi della Fede — are visible prayers. They are to be meditated upon in the manner of a ‘lectio divina’, rather a ‘visio divina’, and not as mere “pictures at an exhibition”. In this talk, Professor Emeritus Norman Farmer will discuss beauty, faith, and the time they both require. Supplementary materials recommend for this conversation include Dietrich von Hildebrand's "Beauty in the Light of Redemption" as well as some familiarity with St. Francis' of Assisi's "The Canticle of Brother Sun." Norman Farmer is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at UT Austin and received his Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966. He served as the director of the Humanities Program in the College of Liberal Arts for over a decade, and received many awards over the years, including the UT "Best Professor" Teaching Award, the Thomas Cranfill Teaching Fellowship, The Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence, and the Graduate School Award for Teaching Excellence. He was also a director and teacher for The University of Texas Study in Italy Program at Castiglione Fiorentino, Italy. Through the Center for International Leadership in Washington D.C. he led seminars for executives of American and multinational corporations examining corporate culture, leadership development and corporate as well as individual ethical values.

Professor Byron Johnson joins us for a conversation on a core piece of the human experience that many of us hold dear but has been neglected in studies of criminology and other fields for decades: the influence of religion on human behavior. In this episode, he covers a brief history of our nation’s understanding of the purpose of prisons, the role of faith-based programs in prisons in making prisoners more “pro-social,” the work of Prison Fellowship International in aiding the rehabilitation of prisoners, why people commit crime and why people follow laws, i.e. don’t commit crime, are both important, and how cancel culture is harming our ability to forgive one another, and the dramatic effects of faith-based programs led by inmates in rehabilitating their fellow inmates such as those in an Angola Prison. Byron Johnson is a Senior Fellow of the Austin Institute and a Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University. He is a leading authority on the scientific study of religion, the efficacy of faith-based organizations, and criminal justice.  Recent publications have examined the impact of faith-based programs on recidivism reduction and prisoner reentry. Prison Fellowship International: https://pfi.org/ The Prisoner’s Journey: https://pfi.org/what-we-do/hope-for-prisoners/the-prisoners-journey/ Prison Fellowship: https://www.prisonfellowship.org/

This fast-paced talk reviews a number of the puzzles, paradoxes and misconceptions about the family in America, including the myth of soulmate marriage, the myth of the good divorce, and the myth that our deepest divisions are political. In this episode, Dr. Catherine Pakaluk, Professor in the Busch School of Business and founder of the Social Research academic area at Catholic University of America, reviews some of the most important contributions to social science of the family, and place these findings in light of the Catholic faith. Reading materials: The Marriage-Go-Round: https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Go-Round-State-Marriage-Family-America/dp/0307386384 Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010: https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Apart-State-America-1960-2010/dp/030745343X Video recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXhOvmlvJ3k

In the year 2019, Professor Catherine Pakaluk traveled to ten American regions and talked with women who were raising (or had raised) five or more children, to understand who they are and why they do what they do. In this episode, we talk about these stories. We talk about the normality of being mothers. We talk about the hardships of living as unencumbered selves. Once again, an episode that is worth your time! Mother of Eight Takes on France's President: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oqh7bEg_R0 Mom (and researcher) who started #postcardsforMacron is not angry: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/10/19/mom-and-researcher-who-started-postcardsformacron-not-angry Lecture: Soulmates and Other Myths about the Family in America https://youtu.be/RXhOvmlvJ3k

This special episode is the recording of a table talk that Dr. Kurt Schroder gave for the Austin Institute on September 21st, 2021. Tune in to listen how our board member, a Ph.D. in Physics and a brilliant inventor, helps us uncover our illusions about time and about its scientific measurement. Dr. Schroder will also stimulate personal answers to the question: "What would you do if the time you still had to live was "shorter" than you think?" Is it not? Here is the video to the Table Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k61ySdbv0Es&t=25s

Marriage, in vitro fertilization, pornography, these are all very hot and very divisive topics. But if we do not address them with our children, someone else will do it for us. Dr. Ana Samuel, Academic Director of CanaVox, and mother of six, explains how the CanaVox network of reading group works, why and how it was founded and what is coming next. Started less than 10 years ago, CanaVox is now present throughout the world, with several groups in Texas, including in Austin. Tune in to learn more! This episode was recorded at the end of July 2021. Links: https://canavox.com/who-we-are/