#christopherzehnder

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck, Andrew Sorokowski, and Christopher Zehnder interview Christopher Villiers on his book Versing the Mystery: Poems (December 11, 2024) This collection of poems verses the mystery of God and Creation. Exploring the stories and characters of Scripture, Classical history and myth, the reader confronts the glory of God and is plunged into the depths of the human condition. This work deals with the sacred and the profane, the sublime and the ridiculous. Twenty-first century readers are confronted by their own needs and greeds reflected in the foundations of western civilisation. There are also more directly personal poems, of love, hate, success and failure, rooted in the life of a rhyming sinner inhabiting an English village near the sea. And if none of that appeals to you, then at least there are also owls campaigning for political office. Versing the Mystery

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck and Andrew Sorokowski interview JonMarc Grodi of the Coming Home Network.  Some of the questions asked include the following:

 What is the Coming Home Network and how did it begin?

How successful has it been? Do you have statistics on home many non-Catholics you've helped bring into the Church?

What are the chief obstacles in your experience that prevent Protestants, and perhaps especially Protestant ministers, from considering the claims of the Church?

Have these obstacles changed in any important way during the existence of the CHN?

Most Protestant clergy have some theological or biblical formation that can be helpful in pointing them toward the Catholic Church? But what about Protestant laymen? How can they be reached best if they've never even thought about these matters, e.g., about where we get the Bible or why it is authoritative?

What is the best way for Catholics to engage their friends and neighbors who belong to other Christian bodies with the claims of the Catholic Church?

Given that many in the Catholic Church no longer promote evangelization and conversion of non-Catholic Christians, has the CHN run into criticism from Catholics regarding your apostolate?

[wcatradio]

In this episode, the panelists of The Open Door talk with Matthew Tsakanikas on Christian Zionism and its Theological Distortions (October 30, 2024) 1. What is Zionism, and what specifically, is religious or Christian Zionism?  2.  Why is it a theological error? How does it misread the Bible, particularly passages such as Romans 11:29? 3.  What are its origins? 4. Does it have much presence outside the U.S.? If not, why do you think so?5.  What effects has it had on American politics, especially American foreign policy?   6.  Can one make a sharp distinction between political and religious Zionism, at least with regard to their geographical claims? For example, with regard to an assertion of the right of Jews to move to Palestine and, at least to some extent, the displacement of the Arab inhabitants in the early part of the 20th century, did not the two forms of Zionism pretty much operate in the same way?  7. What is the correct way for Catholics to think about the Church and the Jewish people and is there any role they may still play in salvation history?

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss the multi-faceted issue of immigration. How can we better understand the new waves of immigrants, whether in the United States or Europe? What does the Church teach about the ethical issues that come into play? How can we assess the politics of immigration? What role should our parishes play and how might we best respond at a personal level? Our special and welcome guest is Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz. He is a professor of political science and Catholic social thought at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw as well as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Christianity—World—Politics. From 2008-2012 he served as Secretary General of the Commission of Bishops of the European Community COMECE. Mazurkiewicz recently authored Two Towers and a Minaret: Migration from a Catholic Perspective (En Route Books, 2024). Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. 

 Fr. Piotr, could you tell us how you came to your work on the topic of migration?

How would you compare current migration to Europe with migration to the United States?

What is national sovereignty and what is its foundation? What are the limits of sovereignty?

Is there a right to emigrate? A right not to emigrate?

What happens to property rights in times of grave necessity? 

How do you understand multiculturalism? Is it an ideology?

On what basis can we evaluate the practices of a given culture?

Here in the United States we often speak of a “culture of death.” Might not the first concern of many cultures be the need for repentance?

Should Poland respond to migration from Africa and the Middle East in the same way that it is responding to refugees from Ukraine?

What might it mean with regard to immigration to be neither right nor left but simply Catholic? What might be some promising political approaches to migration?

Mass migration is a serious challenge in both America and Europe. Hence the question of the ethical limits of hospitality. The answer must consider not only the needs of migrants, but also the ability of the host country to integrate migrants. This depends not only on the size of the migration, but also on its homogeneity. For example, a peculiarity of the current migration to Europe is the strong dominance of Muslims, which is changing its religious demographics and, consequently, European culture. https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/twotowers/

[wcatradio]

This week on The Open Door (August 7th) we will explore the thought of Servant of God Romano Guardini, a widely influential theologian whom both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis deeply admired. So did Flannery O’Connor! Guardini is often thought of as a unifying figure in the Church. Our welcome guest is Christine Myers Miller. She is a graduate of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family in Washington, DC, and is the Director of Adult Faith Formation, Marriage & Family Life at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Tulsa. Dr. Myers Miller researched Romano Guardini for her doctoral thesis, studying the topic of Christian responsibility for the world. She has published essays in the Catechetical Review, Humanum online review, and in the important theological journal Communio. Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. 

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Have you always been an Okie?

What was it like to study at the John Paul II Institute? How does the Institute reflect the vision of St. John Paul II?

What are your responsibilities as Director of Adult Faith Formation and Marriage & Family Life at your parish?  

Could you introduce us to Romano Guardini? A time-line would help. And how did he survive World War II?

 In these “interesting times” there’s deep disagreement on just what it is to be a human being. What does this mean in terms of how we can best address ethical questions?

On your view, crisis can be an occasion of growth. How might this come about with regard to scandals in the Church?

Romano Guardini saw the apparent contradiction between faith and science as one of the main sources of crisis in his time, and it surely remains one for us. How might we effectively respond to it?

How might Guardini advise us to manage AI technology?

You have written that “faith needs culture to survive” and warned that “a faith without culture is a dying thing.” What would a Catholic culture look like today? 

 Might it involve a distinctive Catholic political presence?

[wcatradio]

Coming next on The Open Door (July 24) we will discuss the Catholic traditionalist movement. Our special focus will be “independent” traditionalists. How do they differ from other traditionalists? What leads them to “LeFebvreism”? What can we learn from the ongoing debate about the movement’s role in the Church? Our welcome guest is Andrew Mioni. He is a graduate of Kansas State University, with a B.A. in English. As a contributor to Faith in Crisis (Wipf and Stock, 2024), he explores the roots of what some see as a crisis of faith in Catholicism. Mioni is the author of Altar Against Altar: An Analysis of Catholic Traditionalism (En Route Books, 2024).

For clarification: What is the difference between the SSPX, the Society of St. Pius X initiated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and the FSSP, the Fraternal Society of Saint Peter?

How do you understand the word “ideology”?

Who are the sedevacantists?

How has George Weigel, a St. John Paul II scholar and frequent contributor to First Things, helped you to put the traditionalist movement in a broader context?

Richard John Neuhaus, once a Lutheran, thought that the chief complaints of the Reformation had been answered. You ask the “independents” what would count as the crisis in Catholicism being resolved. What sort of an answer should we expect?

Why do you think that “To be deep in history is to cease to be traditionalist”?

Just what is modernism? How is it linked to a certain view of reason?

To what do you attribute a crisis of faith dating back well before Vatican II?

What is the authority of the ordinary magisterium of the Church? Does Vatican II express that authority?

Could you explain the “functionalist” approach to spirituality and the liturgy?

How have the lessons you learned in authoring your book carried over into your own parish life?

What’s your next book project?

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss Catholic social thought and economics. That means taking a long, hard look at capitalism in practice and the dominance of corporations. We’ll explore the nature of usury and what’s at issue in a fair wage. We’ll consider the State as a political community and the family as the cornerstone of social justice. We’ll talk about personal responsibility as the foundation of a just social order. Our welcome guests are Thomas Storck, the editor of Money, Markets, and Morals (En Route Books, 2024) and its Australian contributors Dr. Donald Boland and Dr. Garrick Small, as well as the American distributist thinkers John Médaille and David Cooney. Among the questions we’ll address to this panel are the following. Please feel free to suggest your own!

Is Catholic social teaching a dimension of moral theology?

How should we define capitalism? How can it become a threat to justice?

What is the origin of the modern corporation? Is there any way to challenge its power?

Can you compare and contrast for us, say, the Bank of America, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a publicly owned bank or a credit union? What dangers does the former pose?

Just what is usury? Why is it wrong? Can you give examples of usurious practices

What is the distinction between a market wage and a fair wage? Where does a minimum wage guarantee fit in?

What is the basis of ownership? Do we own our bodies and our lives?

Should we think of the State as the political community of the highest degree?

Does the current economic order recognize the family as the first unit of a just society? What would a “family politics” look like?

In what ways might we practice personal responsibility in today’s profoundly complex economic order? Is personal responsibility compatible with stock ownership?

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door (June 26),  panelists Jim Hanink, Christopher Zehnder, and Valerie Niemeyer discuss the role of spiritual direction. Just what is it? What is the ministry of the spiritual director? Our special and welcome guest is Msgr. Patrick Gaalaas. He is a priest of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. Msgr. Gaalaas retired from parish work in 2022 at the age of 75. But “retirement” has led to “redirection.” He has worked as a spiritual director at Conception Seminary College in Missouri for the past two years. (Full disclosure: Monsignor has known Jim Hanink from the time they were fellow college seminarians at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas.) Msgr. Gaalaas spent his final four years in the seminary at the American College at the University of Louvain in Belgium. There he earned a bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology and a master’s degree in Moral and Religious Sciences. Among the questions we’ll be asking are the following. 

You moved from parish work to a Benedictine Abbey. Is there a distinctive Benedictine spirituality?

Spiritual direction pairs a spiritual director with a person interested in direction. But how does the average Catholic, if there is such a creature, know whether to seek spiritual direction?

What’s the difference between spiritual direction and psychological counselling?

How does one go about finding a spiritual director? What might one expect if one Google searched “spiritual direction near me”?

How does one become a spiritual director? Who can become a spiritual director?

Is a personal calling from God requisite for being a spiritual director?

Do spiritual directors ordinarily have diocesan recognition?

What sort of direction do spiritual directors themselves have?

Might we say that the Holy Spirit is at the center of spiritual direction?

What are some signs that spiritual direction is going well? Or is not going well?

[wcatradio]

This week on The Open Door (June 12) we complete our series on education. Our focus is developing Catholic textbooks that give history its deepest perspective. Our welcome guest is Christopher Zehnder, M.A. He is the General Editor for the Catholic Textbook Project. A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, he has worked as a graphic artist, journalist, school headmaster, and teacher of history, literature, theology, and mathematics. Mr. Zehnder has been affiliated with the Catholic Textbook Project since its founding in 2000. He has authored several of its textbooks, edited and contributed chapters to others, and made art selections for many of them. He is a novelist as well! A member of the American Solidarity Party, Christopher is on the town council of Hartford, Ohio. With his wife Katherine and their family, he has made his residence there since escaping Southern California. The following are among the questions we asked him: 

 How did you come to be an educator?

Why does it matter how we define education?

What led to your interest in history?

You write historical fiction. Is there any way to get beyond writing stories about history?

Can you sketch for us the history of education in the United States? What has led to the resurgence of interest in classical education?

How did the Catholic Textbook Project come about? What does it bring to the table in today’s educational milieu?

What do you make of “critical race theory”?

How can Catholic educators teach the truth about the uglier dimensions of history?

How can Catholic educators help form students into citizens who embody both charity and solidarity?

Are you writing a new textbook? How about another novel?

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink and Valerie Niemeyer interview Karina Fabian, the president of The Catholic Writers Guild. (March 20, 2024) We discuss all things literary. For a start, was Walker Percy, as a naysayer claimed, the last Catholic novelist? We don’t think so. And what’s the range of the “literary”? It includes, of course, non-fiction. It welcomes poets and dramatists. But what about bloggers and podcasters? Just how ecumenical should we be? Our welcome guest is Karina Fabian. She is the new president of the Catholic Writers Guild, an association committed to the development of Catholic arts and letters. The following are among the questions we’ll be asking her. 

Karina, if we may, could you fill us in about the history of the Catholic Writers Guild

How did you—a self-described geek, teacher, humorist, and Miata driver—come to be involved in the Guild?

How does the Guild help authors and readers? Book stores and publishers?

What is your advice for aspiring writers who have not yet published any of their work?

The Guild is serious about core Catholic values. In what ways does it promote these values?

What makes a book distinctively Catholic? Did Graham Greene and Flannery O’Connor write distinctively Catholic novels and short stories?

Has the internet helped or harmed our literary capacities? Can we sit still long enough to read and write serious literature?

Who are some little known contemporary Catholic writers that we ought to become familiar with?

Can you tell us a bit about some of the publishers that your members have worked with?

Writers, so they say, (mostly) stay in and write. What are you working on these days? And is it true that you hate zombies?

[wcatradio]

In this episode of The Open Door (Monday, March 4th) we’ll discuss the role of tradition in forming Catholic teaching. Some argue that Pope Francis overlooks the normative role of tradition. Others argue that some papal critics, as well as critics of Vatican Council II, misunderstand the dynamic nature of tradition itself. We’ll discuss, too, the development of doctrine and what it means. Our guest is the Portugal-based Pedro Gabriel. Dr. Gabriel is one of the co-founders of the apologetics website “Where Peter Is.” He is also a medical oncologist. He recently authored Heresy Disguised as Tradition (En Route, 2023). The following are among the questions we’ll ask are the following. Please feel free to suggest others!

What counts as “tradition”? Does a simple appeal to the social sciences answer this question? (25)

What is a radical traditionalist? Is there such a thing as “hyperpapalism”?

What is the scope of the teaching that Catholics are “to be united in mind and heart” with the Holy Father? Does it extend to matters of diplomacy? To philosophical orientation?

How are we to know the mind of the pope, especially when it is changing?

Should we assume that Pope Francis is as attuned to the Catholicism of Africa as he is to the Catholicism of Europe and the Americas?

To what extent is culture normative?

Would you assess Pope Francis’s restrictions on the Latin Mass as “harsh”? (17)

“Subjective culpability” can become a “mitigating circumstance” in moral assessment of an act involving grave matter. In such cases how are we to provide sound moral guidance?

Could you explain for us the concept of “complexio oppositorum”? Is it compatible with the principle of non-contradiction?

Has synodality come to terms with fundamental theological disagreements?

[wcatradio]

Episode 250: Dr Alan Fimister, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Holy Apostles College & Seminary (December 14, 2022)

[wcatradio]

Episode 249: Rick Clements speaking on Von Balthasar in his The Meaning of the World is Love (November 23, 2022)

[wcatradio]

Episode 248: Virgil Gheorghiu’s La Condottiera with Inez Fitzgerald Storck, Iuliu-Marius Morariu, and Thierry Gillyboeuf (November 9, 2022)

[wcatradio]

Episode 247: Professor Callum Scott on being a Catholic Philosopher in South Africa (November 2, 2022)

[wcatradio]

Episode 246: Thomas M. Ward, Professor of Philosophy, on Affordability and Federal Interference in Higher Education (October 19, 2022)