The Catholic Culture Podcast

Many Catholics have become cynical about the possibility of changing the political landscape, but perhaps we’ve given up before we’ve really tried. It’s not just about electing the right congressmen and nominating the right justices, it’s about keeping them accountable.

In this episode, former Virginia delegate Bob Marshall shares practical insights drawn from his encyclopedic knowledge of the American political tradition and from his own achievements in politics: for example, he was behind the Hyde Amendment which stopped abortion funding via Medicaid. He reminds us that “To render to Caesar, you have to know the structure of Caesar’s world.”

Did you know that Congress has the Constitutional authority to decide what kinds of cases the Supreme Court may hear? What about the possibility of amending appropriations bills to render SCOTUS decisions like Obergefell unenforceable? Have you given real consideration to the fact that local politics is the foundation for everything else? If not, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

Links

Robert G. Marshall, Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America https://amzn.to/2xSQxlg

Jeff Mirus’s review of Reclaiming the Republic https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1565

Bob Marshall’s recent articles for The Federalist https://thefederalist.com/author/robertgmarshall/

Msgr. John Sanders, the priest who played with Duke Ellington https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1575

Timestamps

2:41 Bob Marshall’s political career and recent defeat

6:01 Why Bob wrote Reclaiming the Republic; natural law in the American founding

9:25 Catholics ought not withdraw from politics: Biblical precedents

13:25 Judicial branch is not the final authority on what is Constitutional; Congress’s authority to decide what cases the Supreme Court can hear

23:32 The importance of educating your representatives

26:47 Bob’s role in passing the Hyde Amendment; importance of the power of the purse

34:13 Appropriations bills can be used to keep bad Supreme Court decisions from being enforced

36:22 Our representatives avoid voting on the record so we can’t hold them accountable

39:24 How to get your representative to go on the record

41:03 The oath of office—you can’t fulfill it if you don’t read the bills you vote on!

44:15 Anti-commandeering laws, by which states can refuse to enforce federal laws

48:47 Why you should vote in primary elections

50:41 “All politics is local”: issues that affect people’s daily lives

53:18 The importance of the precinct; door-to-door campaigning tips

57:45 The role of corporations in promoting immoral policies

The new feature film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, about the investigation, trial and conviction of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, has defied opposition from the film industry and the press alike to become an artistic and financial success, even briefly making it into the top ten in box office results. Writer Ann McElhinney discusses the film, her research process (including the disturbing experience of interviewing Gosnell himself), and the numerous obstacles the filmmakers faced in telling a story nobody wanted to see the light of day.

At the beginning of the episode, Thomas also discusses the recent film about Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (the Gosnell interview starts 10 minutes in).

Links

The film: http://www.gosnellmovie.com

The book: https://amzn.to/2Rt20A5

https://twitter.com/annmcelhinney

https://www.facebook.com/annmcelhinney/

In a wide-ranging and erudite interview, poet and translator Ryan Wilson joins the podcast to discuss how the poet makes use of the classical virtue of xenia or hospitality, what poets can learn from the work of translation, the "romantic turn" (inner vision) and the "classical turn" (communication/craft) in poetry, the great Latin poet Horace, and more. Ryan performs, in his dynamic style, classic poems by Horace and others, as well as his own poems.

Ryan Wilson is an adjunct professor of English at the Catholic University of America, editor of the journal Literary Matters, and a visiting professor of poetry in the MFA program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He is the author of three books: The Stranger World, a collection of original poems; How to Think Like a Poet; and Proteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020. Forthcoming are his anthology of contemporary Catholic poetry from Paraclete Press (spring 2023), and another book of original poems, The Ghostlight.

Timestamps

0:00 - Proteus Bound

13:09 - Hospitality as fundamental principle of community, thought, and poetry

28:05 - The romantic turn and the classical turn

46:22 - Ryan Wilson, “Xenia”

53:39 - Proteus, Hermes, and Orpheus as figures of the poet

1:03:35 - Translation as training for the poet

1:17:47 - The Latin poetry of Horace

2:07:55 - Charles Baudelaire, “The Voice”

2:20:00 - How Ryan relates as a Catholic to classical literature

2:27:10 - Ryan Wilson, “Philoctetes”

Links

Proteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020 https://www.cuapress.org/9781736656129/proteus-bound/

How to Think Like a Poet https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p97/How_to_Think_Like_a_Poet%2C_by_Ryan_Wilson.html

The Stranger World http://www.measurepress.com/measure/index.php/catalog/books/stranger-world/

Literary Matters https://www.literarymatters.org/

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Historian Árpád von Klimó joins the podcast to give an introduction to József Cardinal Mindszenty (1892-1975), prince primate of Hungary. Mindszenty was not only the face of Hungarian resistance to fascism and communism, but ultimately a symbol Catholic resistance to communism worldwide. From 1948 to 1956 he was in a communist prison, from 1956 to 1971 he was isolated from the world as a refuge in the U.S. Legation in Hungary. He then spent the last 4 years of his life in exile from his country and in increasing tension with the Vatican's more conciliatory approach to diplomacy with Soviet nations.

Links

Victim of History: Cardinal Mindszenty, a Biography https://www.cuapress.org/9780813234991/victim-of-history/

Árpád von Klimó https://history.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/von-klimo-arpad/index.html

The critical theorists and social justice warriors are trying to do to medieval studies what they’ve done to other disciplines, and if you don’t get on board, you’re a white supremacist. Over the past two years or so, the mob has targeted University of Chicago professor Rachel Fulton Brown, calling her a fascist, trying to intimidate her department into censuring her, and banning her from conference sessions. She joins me to discuss her ordeal, why even tenured professors are willing to stand up for unpopular truths, and the stakes of the battle for medieval studies.

Links

Rachel Fulton Brown’s academic homepage http://home.uchicago.edu/~rfulton/

Milo Yiannopoulos’s essay “Why the Battle for Medieval Studies Matters to America” (profanity warning) https://www.dangerous.com/45111/middle-rages/

Rachel’s fascinating Professional Self-Portrait http://home.uchicago.edu/~rfulton/Professional%20Self%20Portrait.pdf

Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought:

Purchase https://amzn.to/2MPrGFf

Read Chapter 2 https://issuu.com/columbiaup/docs/mary_and_the_art_of_prayer_ave_mari

Timestamps

2:56 Rachel Fulton Brown

3:41 The initial blog post that made Rachel’s colleagues angry

10:15 Rachel’s friendship with Milo Yiannopoulos

15:19 The progressive witch hunt within medieval studies

28:25 The letter 1,500 academics signed attempting to get her department to censure her

34:40 Rachel’s defenders in academia

36:49 Why even tenured academics fear the mob

41:23 Critical theorists coming from English literature into medieval studies

45:27 What will be lost if medieval studies is taken over by progressives: the study of Christianity

51:02 This week’s reading: Bl. John Henry Newman

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio