The Catholic Culture Podcast

Mary Lou Williams: one of the outstanding jazz pianists of all time, composer, Catholic convert, visionary, performer of works of mercy. Because Williams's career lasted and her style adapted through many changes in jazz from the swing era to the early 1970s, and because she mentored two of jazz's most influential figures (Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk), this episode is an opportunity not only to dive into her life and music, but to learn a little about jazz history more generally. Deanna Witkowski, herself a jazz pianist and Catholic convert, has written a new biography of Williams, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul, and performs Williams's compositions on her forthcoming album, Force of Nature. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/B31PwFU-FrY Links Buy Deanna's book and album: https://www.deannawitkowski.com/store Musical tracks heard in this episode: Mary Lou Williams: "Waltz Boogie", "Walkin' and Swingin'", "Night Life", "Holy Ghost" (composed by Larry Gales), "Autumn Leaves" (composed by Joseph Kosma), "Aries", "Taurus", "Virgo", "Anima Christi", "St. Martin de Porres". Excerpts from Bud Powell, "Cherokee" (composed by Ray Noble); Thelonious Monk "Monk's Dream"; Elmo Hope, "Eejah". Deanna Witkowski, "Intermission", composed by Mary Lou Williams and Milton Suggs, used with permission. From Deanna Witkowski's album Force of Nature.  This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This episode contains clips of highlights from episodes 45 and 47-49 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. Episode 45—Libertarianism vs. Natural Law on Private Property https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-45-libertarianism-vs-natural-law-on-private-property/ Episode 47—Our Lady’s Habit: Wearing and Loving the Brown Scapular—Fr. Justin Cinnante, O.Carm. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-47-our-ladys-habit-wearing-and-loving-brown-scapular-fr-justin-cinnante-ocarm/ Episode 48—Authority and Submission as Gift in Christian Marriage—Mary Stanford https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-48-authority-and-submission-as-gift-in-christian-marriage-mary-stanford/ Episode 49—A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth’s Court, Pt. I—Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-49-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-i-kerry-mccarthy/

Unlikely as it may sound, Catholic fiction has a certain amount of mainstream appeal in Japanese literature. Sono Ayako, one of Japan’s most famous novelists, wrote a novel about St. Maximilian Kolbe called Miracles, which has just been translated into English. Miracles is a semiautobiographical account of the author’s personal investigation into the miracles approved by the Vatican for Kolbe’s canonization. Her ambivalence towards her Catholic faith is challenged as she traces Kolbe’s steps from his childhood to his self-sacrifice in Auschwitz, with his time in Japan standing in between as the ascetic crucible which made him a saint. Ayako writes: "Before he died, this priest flung a tough question like a red-hot iron rod at the dried-up soul of modern Man. The question was, 'what does it mean for us to love one another?'" Translator Kevin Doak joins the show to discuss Miracles, Catholic fiction in Japan (which extends far beyond Endo’s Silence), and…Endo’s Silence. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ne9Yz5lC7qI Links Miracles https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p114/miracles-sono-ayako.html Kevin Doak, “Beyond Endo: The Hidden Renaissance of Japanese Catholic Novelists” https://benedictinstitute.org/2019/07/beyond-endo/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Etienne Gilson's Metamorphoses of the City of God traces the quest of philosophers for a universal human society, as it gradually degraded from the heavenly city of which Augustine wrote to modern-day secular humanist globalism. It began with well-intentioned medieval thinkers who were overconfident in the capability of natural reason to unite the whole world in the Catholic faith - but this led gradually to a turning away from the rationally irreducible Christian mysteries and the person of Jesus Christ. Writing in 1952 as the European Union was beginning to emerge, Gilson also offered a critical assessment of various attempts to define Europe. Peter Redpath, co-founder of the International Etienne Gilson Society, joins the podcast to discuss this newly translated work. Links The Metamorphoses of the City of God https://www.cuapress.org/9780813233253/the-metamorphoses-of-the-city-of-god/ Aquinas School of Leadership https://www.aquinasschoolofleadership.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Mark Christopher Brandt returns to the show to discuss his latest album, Joy, which is based on the structure of the Rosary. It features the family choir of Mark and his three daughters, accompanied by Mark on piano. Mark began composing this music in the mid-1990s, not knowing who would sing it, when only his first daughter had been born. On the eve of the new millenium, he decided to take a hiatus from his career as a jazz pianist in order to focus on his family and his spiritual life. In 2021, by the most marvelous and unexpected Providence, Mark's selfless fidelity to God and family has been rewarded a hundredfold in making an album with his children! In addition to the album itself (pieces of which you will hear in the episode), topics discussed include: Why artists should give credit to God for inspiration How Mark taught his daughters to be discerning about music Using music to reverence the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary A spiritual perspective on “artist’s block” Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qjJz41Kdv60 Links Buy CD copy of Joy (with free book of rosary meditations) and learn more about Mark https://markchristopherbrandt.com/ Buy Joy on Qobuz (CD-quality digital purchase) https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/joy-mark-christopher-brandt/l26w0ostksrca Buy Joy on Amazon Music https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09J1Z534K/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp Buy Joy on Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/joy/1589547700 Thomas and Mark talk about working together on his album The Butterfly https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-68-what-i-learned-from-making-music-with-mark-christopher-brandt/

This is a crossover episode in which Thomas joins forces with Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from the Online Great Books Podcast,  to discuss the classic essay Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain. This episode covers beauty as a transcendental and its role in the fine arts, and intuition as the way we experience artistic beauty. The beauty of a work does not depend on the emotional effects it produces, nor can it be proven by analysis. We experience beauty intellectually, but by intuition rather than by thought. The hosts also digress into arguments over photography as a fine art, Glenn Gould, and craft beers. Links Pt. 1 of this discussion https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/116-maritains-art-and-scholasticism-pt-1/ Buy Art and Scholasticism https://clunymedia.com/products/art-and-scholasticism Read Art and Scholasticism for free online (inferior translation) https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm Learn more about Online Great Books https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/ Join Online Great Books with 25% off your first three months via this link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This is a crossover episode in which Thomas joins forces with Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from the Online Great Books Podcast,  to discuss the classic essay Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain. Maritain argues for an objective view of both art and the artist, bringing an orderly, scholastic, Thomistic approach to understanding aesthetics. Mirus says, "Maritain gets art better than any other philosopher who came before him in the Western Tradition." For Maritain, art is “a virtue of the practical intellect that aims at making." The virtue or habitus of art, Maritain writes, is not simply an “interior growth of spontaneous life”, but has an intellectual character and involves cultivation and practice. The trio also talks about how fine arts and practical arts have been cloven off. How can we hold them both in esteem without denigrating the other? Scott says, "If we really know what art is then we will be more connected to honest work— that will be a refuge from this intellectual confusion, this metaphysical disgustingness, around us." Links Buy Art and Scholasticism https://clunymedia.com/products/art-and-scholasticism Read Art and Scholasticism for free online (inferior translation) https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm Learn more about Online Great Books https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/ Join Online Great Books with 25% off your first three months via this link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, recently issued “A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology”. The document takes a strong unequivocal stance against transgender ideology, down to practical specifics like telling the faithful we must not use transgender names and pronouns. Beyond that, it excels in showing how the Church’s whole anthropology and theology are at stake in the transgender issue. Today’s guest, Fr. Stephen Schultz, was one of the Bishop’s advisers in drafting the document. Fr. Schultz is the director of the EnCourage apostolate in the Diocese of Arlington, and chaplain at St. Paul VI Catholic High School. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Sf83zKx3XeI Links “A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology” https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12554 EnCourage https://couragerc.org/encourage/ David Crawford and Michael Hanby, “The Abolition of Man and Woman” https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-abolition-of-man-and-woman-11593017500 Acedia episode mentioned https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Writer Matthew Mehan returns to the show to discuss his new children's book co-authored with painter John Folley, The Handsome Little Cygnet. This lovely tale about a family of swans in Central Park is a much simpler book than their previous outing, but introduces children to the idea of accepting one's God-given nature. That is no small matter in a world which tantalizes the young with offers of a more exciting new identity just around the corner. But we need to know what we are in order to properly shape who we will become. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oxAQpGxduCw Links The Handsome Little Cygnet https://tanbooks.com/kids/elementary-school/the-handsome-little-cygnet/ Previous episode with Mehan: Teaching Children Self-Knowledge through the Liberal Arts https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-43-teaching-children-self-knowledge-through-liberal-arts-matthew-mehan/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In this outtake from episode 113, Thomas asks writer and editor Joshua Hren whether the turn to realism in modern fiction, a historical anomaly, is also a problem from a religious and philosophical point of view. Episode 113, Can a Novelist "Create" a Saint? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/113-can-novelist-create-saint-joshua-hren/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio