The Michigan Catholic

February 20, 2015

Al Kresta

From a cheesy bit of anonymous fan fiction with vapid characters, ludicrous plot and insipid writing, “Fifty Shades of Grey” morphed into a Harry Potter-size marketing phenomenon. When the dust settles, however, we’ll discover it was little more than a self-generated, incestuous bit of media marketing foreplay without the grand socio-sexual climax promised by its boosters or prophesied by its critics.

The “Fifty Shades” franchise is a marketing windfall, but a cultural dud. One can Continue Reading

The Michigan Catholic

February 6, 2015

Al Kresta

Two weeks ago, I asked a crowd of 650 educated Catholic CEOs and their spouses if they had ever seen Osama bin Laden’s 1998 Declaration of War, in which he quotes the Qur’an against U.S. actions in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Not a single hand went up. This result would be repeated in almost every gathering of American Catholics in spite of the easy access we have to these documents online or in print.

Fourteen years after 9/11, we remain stunningly ignorant of what former British Prime Continue Reading

The Michigan Catholic

January 23, 2015

Al Kresta

Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero to most Americans. Every child is taught to look up to, if not revere, him. Every rights movement polishes itself with some of King’s shine.

But, given King’s almost universal stature as a modern saint for secularists and Christians alike, we do well to remember that he was, like the rest of us, deeply flawed. His gifts of courage and leadership, as has been said, coexisted with the intellectual sin of plagiarism and the marital sin of adultery. What do we Continue Reading

The Michigan Catholic

December 26, 2014

Al Kresta

It’s late December, and the close of another year. Of what have we been concerned, and what have we learned, in 2014?

Torture: Senate Democrats recently released a report criticizing the CIA for using “torture” to extract information from detainees. The debate revolved around the definition of “torture.” The debate is an old one.

World War I, the “Great War,” experimented with new destructive devices: machine Continue Reading

December 4, 2014

November 26,  2014

Join us for the 2014 Winter Membership Drive, Monday through Friday, December 1-5, from 8 am to 5 pm each day as we continue the work of the New Evangelization.  Our continuing theme is Build the Church, Bless the Nation.

You can pledge online here: http://www.avemariaradio.net/support/donate-now/

Or call: 1-877-288-1077.

The Michigan Catholic

November 26, 2014

Al Kresta

“Reformation Day” is celebrated by Protestant Christians on Oct. 31. As a former Protestant pastor, I use it to thank God for the disciplines of Scripture study, personal prayer and evangelism that I learned in Protestant circles. In time, however, questions forced upon me as a pastor made me reconsider the wisdom of the Catholic Church and the nature of the Protestant Reformation.

I asked myself: “Would Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, or Henry VIII now regard Continue Reading

The Michigan Catholic

November 14, 2014

Al Kresta

What Americans do on Oct. 31” would make a fun documentary or feature comedy.

For most Americans, Oct. 31 is the playful “trick-or-treat” Halloween we all loved as children. A smaller number of observant Catholics still observe All Hallow’s Eve, or the vigil of All Saints Day. Some Protestant fundamentalists and Pentecostals warn against “Halloween” for fear of opening oneself up to demonic influence. Toward the end of the 20th century, a tiny number of Celtic neopagans and Wiccans decided to reinvent Oct. 31 as the allegedly pre-Christian pagan holiday of Samhain. But for a significant number of serious Protestants, it remains “Reformation Day.”  Continue Reading

October 31, 2014

The Michigan Catholic

October 30, 2014

Al Kresta

On October 22 I celebrated St. John Paul II’s feast day with my radio listeners. The liberation of Eastern Europe came up and I was back in 1989-91. I hadn’t thought I would outlive communism and the Cold War. To friends I’d joke that Sally and I named our first two children Alexis (1981) and Nicholas (1984) just in case the Russians took over. “See, comrades, both our first-borns have Russian names.” It always got just a few laughs. But, lo and behold — ding, dong, Soviet style communism was dead just like the wicked old witch.

Back in 1989, however, my listeners were ho-hum about the faith bubbling Continue Reading