The Catholic Culture Podcast

Episode

• Pope Leo XIII writes to America w/ Timothy Flanders 03.07.2026 1j 11mnt

  Timothy Flanders joins the podcast to discuss Pope Leo XIII's two letters addressed to the Catholic Church in America. Links  Article summarizing Leo's writings on America https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-on-america-and-americanism/  Leo XIII, Longinqua https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_06011895_longinqua.html  Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13teste.htm  Timothy Flanders at The Meaning of Catholic https://meaningofcath.substack.com/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters  
• Speaking in L.A. 16.05.2026 1mnt

  On May 30, Thomas is giving the keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Free to attend! https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/thomistic-artists-guild-2026-conference
• 30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future 15.05.2026 1j 16mnt

  Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination." 30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday's Vatican Film List and Catholic Imagination Today Chair: John O'Callaghan (University of Notre Dame)  Video of the panel: https://youtu.be/-7oE8d6RcCw?si=x4cTzl847-A8bG5M
• Training the tongue for virtuous conversation, w/ Fr. Gregory Pine 24.04.2026 40mnt

  Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., joins the podcast to talk about his new book Training the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech. He answers Thomas's questions about small talk, cheekiness, oversharing, the use of humor to avoid vulnerability, Millennial vs. Gen-Z irony, correcting others, and openness to pursuing truth.  Training the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech https://stpaulcenter.com/store/training-the-tongue-and-growing-beyond-sins-of-speech  DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio  SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Leo XIII on the State's duties toward the Church, w/ Thomas Pink 15.04.2026 1j 55mnt

  This interview with Prof. Thomas Pink, originally published in 2020, is being republished as part of Thomas Mirus's ongoing series covering the major encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, begins by noting that its discussion of religious liberty "has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society" and so "leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ." This episode is about discovering what that traditional doctrine was and is.  Our main source will be Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Immortale Dei, which is available in audiobook form on CatholicCulture.org. Thomas Pink guides us through a close reading of this document (with supplementary material from Libertas and Longuinqua). Here, and in the magisterium of other 19th-century Popes, we find a number of teachings on Church and State that have gone largely unmentioned since the Council, and which are sadly forgotten or even rejected by the majority of self-described conservative Catholics. Links Thomas Mirus's article summarizing the encyclical https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-states-duties-toward-church/ Audiobook of Immortale Dei https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-immortale-dei-on-christian-constitution-states/ Text of Immortale Dei (On the Christian Constitution of States) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916 Thomas Pink, "Conscience and Coercion" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/08/conscience-and-coercion Timestamps [00:00] Introduction  [4:59] The historical and theological context of Immortale Dei  [9:42] An overview of points from Immortale Dei and Libertas  [12:28] The source and nature of authority; its directive and coercive functions  [20:30] The State's duty to profess, protect and foster the one true religion  [25:56] Reasons for toleration of other religions; coercion of the baptized  [36:05] Leo's analogy of Church and State with soul and body  [45:26] Separate sovereignties of Church and State interact; State can act as the "secular arm"  [51:31] Obligations twd. religion of the State properly speaking, not just rulers as individuals  [55:03] Consequences of the State neglecting God and religion  [1:02:40] Dignitatis Humanae: drafting, intended scope, legacy, compatibility with tradition  [1:10:30] Papal condemnations of freedom of speech and opinion  [1:31:10] The Church's move away from coercing baptized heretics  [1:36:13] The importance of docility in accepting difficult teachings  [1:41:29] Need for a synthesis of the whole magisterium on Church, State and religious liberty DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio  SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• New Lives of the Popes podcast 18.03.2026 6mnt

  Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-of-the-popes/id1885968422 Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/lives-of-popes-podcast/
• Tolkien's Darkest Tale w/ Aaron Irber 16.03.2026 1j 15mnt

  The darkest, and perhaps most underrated, story J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote was the tale of Túrin Turambar, a great man of the First Age of Middle-Earth, whose life was ruined by the curse of Morgoth (Tolkien's Satan-figure) and by his own pride. The tale, which resembles a Greek tragedy, was given its longest and most satisfying version in the posthumously published book The Children of Hurin. Aaron Irber, host of a podcast "about stories, myths, and Catholicism", joins Thomas to discuss this underappreciated work by Tolkien. Aaron's podcast, I Might Believe in Faeries https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-might-believe-in-faeries/id1584838118 DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Pope Leo XIII against Freemasonry 05.03.2026 28mnt

  Pope Leo XIII's 1884 encyclical Humanum Genus is the Church's most comprehensive explanation of why, ever since 1738, she has forbidden Catholics to become Freemasons. Reading the encyclical today, one has the thought that its continued relevance has less to do with the present-day activities of Masonic organizations, and more to do with the fact that Masonic ideas have already come to pervade Western society. Thomas's article about Humanum Genus https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-against-freemasonry/ Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18840420_humanum-genus.html DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Seeking Beauty in the Old World w/ David Henrie 10.02.2026 38mnt

  Actor, writer, and director David Henrie (Wizards of Waverly Place, How I Met Your Mother) joins the podcast to talk about his new EWTN travel series, Seeking Beauty with David Henrie - season 1 is a journey through Italy. David and Thomas discuss what it is so many travelers still find so alluring about the heritage of Catholic Europe. They focus especially on Florence's Dominican convent of San Marco filled with masterpieces by Fra Angelico, how cities used to be built as dwelling places for men made in the image of God, and how David's show features Catholic artists and craftsmen working in Europe today. Links Seeking Beauty with David Henrie https://www.seekingbeauty.show/ Novo Inspire Studios https://www.novoinspirestudios.com/ John Byron Kuhner, "The Men Behind the Met" https://firstthings.com/the-men-behind-the-met/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Phil Lawler on four decades of independent Catholic journalism 27.01.2026 1j 16mnt

  Veteran Catholic journalist Phil Lawler recently retired as the editor of Catholic World News at CatholicCulture.org. Phil was the first lay editor of Boston's archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, but negative experiences trying to do real journalism while financially dependent on the Church hierarchy prompted him to move on to a career in independent Catholic journalism, with stints as editor of Crisis, Catholic World Report, and finally founding Catholic World News, which in 1995 was the first English-language Catholic news service operating on the internet. In the early 2000s, CWN merged with Catholic Culture. Phil joins the podcast to look back on his journalistic career, the problems with Church-run news agencies, the value of financially independent Catholic journalism, the current state of Catholic media, and his reporting on the clerical abuse crisis for years before most people found out about it in 2002. Links Phil Lawler's Substack https://pflawler.substack.com/   DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio  SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Resisting modernist "demolition troops": Ida Friederike Görres, w/ Jennifer Bryson 15.01.2026 51mnt

  Ida Friederieke Görres is little-known to English-speaking Catholics (except perhaps for her biography of St. Therese of Lisieux), but she was a major voice of the orthodox Catholic laity in mid-20th-century Germany, with Joseph Ratzinger giving her eulogy. Jennifer Bryson has translated Görres's 1970 essay collection, Bread Grows in Winter, which is a response to the crisis in the Church immediately following Vatican II. Görres's beautiful and profound writing gives a sense of what it was like to live in those troubling times, and how we (perhaps especially the laity) should respond to the troubles of our own times. Links "Trusting the Church" on Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ida-friederike-grres-trusting-church/  Ida Friederieke Görres, Bread Grows in Winter, trans. Jennifer S. Bryson https://ignatius.com/bread-grows-in-winter-bgwp/  Görres, The Hidden Face: A Study of St. Therese of Lisieux https://ignatius.com/the-hidden-face-hfsstp/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Leo XIII on what marriage owes to the Church 02.01.2026 56mnt

  Thomas Mirus discusses Leo XIII's 1880 encyclical Arcanum, on Christian marriage. This was "the first formal and synoptic teaching on marriage since the Council of Trent" – a gap of four centuries. Arcanum is focused on what the Church has done to uplift and protect marriage throughout history. Leo argues at length that the state has no right to usurp the Church's governance of marriage. LINKS  Thomas's article on Arcanum https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-what-marriage-owes-to-church/ Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum.html  Audiobook of Pius XI's Casti Connubii https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-pius-xi-casti-connubii-on-christian-marriage-full/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Edgelords, Profanity, & Taming the Tongue w/ Matthew Schmitz 16.12.2025 58mnt

  For the past century or more, the left has put a high value on moral provocation, deliberately transgressing what they see as society's hypocritical or puritanical moral norms, whether in religion, sexuality, or public decorum in general. Now the right, too, is getting in on the fun, performatively violating the speech norms held sacred by liberals - which is sometimes good, but sometimes itself violates traditional morality, not just leftist ideology. Matthew Schmitz joins the podcast to discuss his First Things article "Taming the Tongue", about the psychology of edginess, the problem with widespread profanity, and the need for restraint in speech. Links "Taming the Tongue" https://firstthings.com/taming-the-tongue/ Against the Grain podcast https://www.patreon.com/againstthepod Compact Magazine https://www.compactmag.com/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Christian Poetry Around the Globe w/ Burl Horniachek 12.12.2025 59mnt

  To Heaven's Rim is a new anthology of great Christian poetry translated from non-English languages, from the first 18 centuries of the Faith. Editor Burl Horniachek joins to discuss and read samples from poets from a variety of traditions, like St. Jacob of Serug (Syriac), St. Romanus the Melodist (Greek), an anonymous medieval Irish monk, the criminal Francois Villon (French), Michelangelo's friend Vittoria Colonna (Italian), and the Chinese Jesuit/painter/poet Wu Li. To Heaven's Rim: The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry: Beginnings to 1800, in English Translation https://www.amazon.com/Heavens-Rim-Christian-Beginnings-Translation/dp/1666716820 DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• The Most Dangerous Man in England: Newman and the Laity - Paul Shrimpton 21.11.2025 1j 28mnt

  Paul Shrimpton assisted in the process of making St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. He joins the podcast to discuss his involvement in the process, and his new book from Word on Fire Academic, "The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity. During his lifetime, Newman was a controversial figure within the Catholic Church in large part due to his views on the laity and his advocacy for their role in running Catholic schools. Shrimpton's book gives us a picture of Newman's view of the laity not only through his ideas, but through his practical endeavors in the world of education, his pastoral activity, and his deep and abiding friendships with many laypeople. "The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/the-most-dangerous-man-in-england SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters  DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
• Should mothers work outside the home? w/ Margaret H. McCarthy 14.11.2025 1j 51mnt

  Should mothers work outside the home? If you want an answer more solid than groundless internet opinion or conveniently vague appeals to personal discernment, this is the podcast for you. Margaret McCarthy joins the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss her essay on why anti-sex-discrimination law's treatment of the sexes as abstract interchangeable units hurts real women, real men, and real children (and real workplaces!). Then we dive into the neglected teachings of John Paul II and earlier popes on the objectively different relationships that men and women have to the home and to work outside the home. Margaret Harper McCarthy is associate professor of theological anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family, at the Catholic University of America. She is the editor of Humanum: Issues in Family, Culture, and Science, serves on the editorial board of the English edition of Communio: International Catholic Review, is a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, and is a consultant to the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine. 00:00 Introduction 2:30 Anti-discrimination law discriminates against real women, children, men, and workplaces 34:30 Sex difference: division of labor and customs 1:03:43 Catholic teaching on working mothers 1:33:08 Contraception and public life vs. the real feminine genius Links  Margaret H. McCarthy, "The Case for (Just) Sex Discrimination" https://newpolity.com/blog/sex-discrimination Thomas's article citing John Paul II and earlier popes on working mothers https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/why-young-catholics-are-rejecting-feminism-pt-2/ Humanum Review https://humanumreview.com/ Some other articles mentioned: Helen Andrews, "Lean Out" https://americanmind.org/features/rule-not-by-lies/lean-out/ Maria Baer, "Maybe Women Can Have It All—But Can Their Kids?" https://ifstudies.org/blog/maybe-women-can-have-it-all-but-can-their-kids  Matthew Mehan, "Wanted: Men of Purpose" https://americanmind.org/features/restoring-single-sex-education-at-vmi-and-beyond/wanted-men-of-purpose/  Magisterial texts mentioned: Rerum Novarum, Divini Illius Magistri, Quadragesimo Anno, Laborem Exercens, Familiaris Consortio Pope Pius XII's addresses to married couples, Dear Newlyweds https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12716 Ratzinger/CDF, "On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World" https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040731_collaboration_en.html DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio  SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Triumph of the Heart director faced glorious trials making great Catholic art - w/ Anthony D'Ambrosio 22.10.2025 54mnt

  An episode from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, too good not to share for Catholic Culture Podcast listeners! Anthony D'Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to produce this independent film with a low budget, high artistic standards, and deep Catholic spirituality. Film is an expensive medium. Since a high budget requires one to calculate mainstream appeal in order to make one's money back, a low budget can leave more room for artistic and spiritual integrity. Though the production faced many hardships, it was buoyed up by the hope that the project could break a new path for other Catholic filmmakers to follow. Triumph of the Heart is available to screen at your parish, and will start streaming on its official website November 1. Links Show Triumph of the Heart at your parish https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/ Our review of Triumph of the Heart https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/triumph-heart-is-film-worthy-its-subject-st-maximilian-kolbe/ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters  DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
• Highlights: America's medieval roots; Rock band with 3 Orthodox priests; Are heist movies moral? 16.10.2025 1j 19mnt

  Highlight clips from two episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and one episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast – links to full episodes below. 83 The American Founding's Medieval Roots – Robert Reilly https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-83-american-foundings-medieval-roots-robert-reilly/ 85 Three-Fifths of Our Band Got Ordained - Luxury https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/85-three-fifths-our-band-got-ordained-luxury/ Are Heist Films Moral? The Lavender Hill Mob https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/lavender-hill-mob-1951/ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/ newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
• 20 Years of Catholic Arts Revival - Dappled Things 02.10.2025 1j 9mnt

  Dappled Things: The Quarterly of Ideas, Art, and Faith is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In its 20 years it has contributed to the beginning of a Catholic literary revival, nurturing the talents of many Catholic writers and visual artists. In recent years especially, many exciting new initiatives, presses, and magazines have branched off from Dappled Things. Bernardo Aparicio Garcia (founder and publisher) and Rhonda Ortiz (editor-in-chief) join the podcast to discuss Dappled Things's mission and various topics to do with Catholic fiction. Links Dappled Things https://www.dappledthings.org/ See the winners of the Sacred Heart Art Competition https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/winners-of-the-sacred-heart-art-competition "The Off Season" by Ennis James Sheehan https://www.dappledthings.org/fiction/the-off-season Rhonda Ortiz https://rhondaortiz.com/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
• Leo XIII Against Modern Liberties 18.09.2025 57mnt

  One of the most important encyclicals we need to rediscover is Pope Leo XIII's Libertas (1888), on the true nature of human liberty. This encyclical explains what true liberty consists of, followed by a lengthy exposition of the Church's condemnation of liberalism, in the Enlightenment/classical sense rather than today's narrower use of the word. Most people who call themselves conservative now would, in certain ways, fall into the category of liberalism as defined by Leo.  Prophetically warning of the evil consequences of political liberalism, Leo also takes aim at various false liberties in which modern people take such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thought, and worship. In each of these instances, liberals fail to recognize that freedom is not the right to do and say what one wants, but to do justice and to speak truth. As starting as Leo's teaching may be to modern Catholics, his fundamental principle is the one that Pope St. John Paul II enunciated when he said that "freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."  Pope Leo XIII: "Man, by a necessity of his nature, is wholly subject to the most faithful and ever-enduring power of God; and that, as a consequence, any liberty, except that which consists in submission to God and in subjection to His will, is unintelligible. To deny the existence of this authority in God, or to refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a free man, but as one who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition of mind the chief and deadly vice of liberalism essentially consists. Thomas's article on Libertas: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiiis-condemnation-liberalism/ Pope Leo XIII, Libertas https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4885  DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio  SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters