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Kresta in the Afternoon – February 16, 2024 – Hour 1

Guest Host Pat Oedy-Murray steps into the Lenten kitchen with Helen Hoffner, and Catherine Pakaluk looks at stories of families who are defying the “Birth Dearth.” 

 

Step Inside the Lenten Kitchen

Many of us enjoyed paczki and other treats on Fat Tuesday. Traditionally, this was a way for cooks to use up butter, sugar and other delicacies before the Lenten fast. But there are other foods traditionally enjoyed throughout Lent, and many of them have special symbolism. We talk more with Helen Hoffner.

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Lenten Kitchens

Helen Hoffner is an Associate Professor at Holy Family University. She’s the author of Catholicism Everywhere: From Hail Mary Passes to Cappuccinos: How the Catholic Faith Is Infused in Culture.

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The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth

American birth rates are at historic lows, but about five percent of American women have defied this “birth dearth” and bore five or more children. Why? Catherine Pakaluk has traveled the country to hear their stories and she joins us today.

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk is an associate professor in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and the author of Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth. She earned her doctorate in economics at Harvard University. Prof. Pakaluk is a recipient of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award and the Heritage Founda- tion’s Freedom and Opportunity Prize. The mother of eight children, she lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with her husband, Michael Pakaluk.

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