Kresta in the Afternoon – August 2, 2019 – Hour 2
Listen Now:
+ Register Recap: Cuban Cardinal was a truly remarkable Churchman
- Description: Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the former cardinal of Havana, passed away on July 26 following a battle with cancer. He served the country in a time when the Church faced intense pressure from Castro's regime and is remembered for doing for that country what John Paul II did in Europe. Some Cuban refugees, however, feel he was not forceful enough against Castro. We talk with Matthew Bunson and also look at a new bill to stop federally-funded embryonic stem cell research.
- Segment Guests:
-
-
Dr. Matthew Bunson
Matthew Bunson is a Senior Contributor to EWTN News and the National Catholic Register and a Senior Fellow at St Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He’s the author or co-author of more than 50 books including the first English-language biography of Pope Francis and The Encyclopedia of Catholic History. Follow him on twitter at MattBunson. Register Radio airs Saturdays at 7 pm and Sundays at 11 am.
-
+ The Vandals Sack Rome…Again
- Description: We talked earlier this week with JD Flynn about faculty overturn at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family. To better understand the story we need to look back at the history, which traces to the Second Vatican Council. We talk with George Weigel.
- Segment Guests:
-
-
George Weigel
George Weigel is a New York Times bestselling author of many books, including the forthcoming Irony of Modern Catholic History. He's a distinguished senior fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center. Visit EPPC.org.
-
+ Kresta Comments: Unresolved Issues in the Death Penalty Debate
- Description: The US Government has reinstated federal executions, a move decried by the US Bishops. While there are certainly valid arguments in favor of abolishing the death penalty, problems arise when it is declared "intrinsically evil." Al has some thoughts.
-
-
By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment
The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases. Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate—not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty. Some arguments against the death penalty falsely suggest that there has been a rupture in the Church's traditional teaching and thereby inadvertently cast doubt on the reliability of the Magisterium. Yet, as the authors demonstrate, the Church's traditional teaching is a safeguard to society, because the just use of the death penalty can be used to protect the lives of the innocent, inculcate a horror of murder, and affirm the dignity of human beings as free and rational creatures who must be held responsible for their actions. By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed challenges contemporary Catholics to engage with Scripture, Tradition, natural law, and the actual social scientific evidence in order to undertake a thoughtful analysis of the current debate about the death penalty. (learn more)
-
A Place Of Peace – November 14, 2020