Ignatius Press Podcast

Because the Catholic Church has always taught that only men can be ordained to the priesthood instituted by Christ, there is a perception that the Church’s story is a story about men. There’s the Blessed Mother, of course, and maybe the occasional nun who rises to prominence, but since only men can be ordained, the thinking goes, it is men who have built and shaped the Church’s common life throughout the centuries.

Not only is this...

They’re simple questions, and ones that every believer has to confront at some point in his or her life: why do we suffer, and why does God—who we believe to be good and loving—allow it?

Humanity’s struggles with these questions have inspired countless works of art and literature—from the book of Job on through the ages—as well as theological treatises. But the struggle is also very personal; we all must undergo suffering in our li...

Francis X. Maier has been immersed in the life of the Church at different levels for decades. As senior aide to Archbishop Charles Chaput for more than twenty years, and as editor-in-chief of the National Catholic Register for many years before that, he got to know the leaders and major players in the American Church in both professional and personal settings.

When he sat down to write a book offering a snapshot of Catholic life i...

In a society that often claims to value the voices of the marginalized, one group that find themselves frequently silenced by the very people claiming to speak for them are detransitioners—men and women who have gone down the road of “gender transition,” only to change their minds, embrace their biological sex, and reverse course.

In this episode, Andrew Petiprin speaks with Jennifer Lahl, a nurse and documentary maker who works to...

Is beautiful sacred art a thing of the past? Is it impossible for contemporary artists to inspire the kind of reverence and devotion for sacred subjects that the artworks of great masters have done for centuries?

The Catholic Home Gallery is an answer to these questions—a collection of eighteen artworks by contemporary artists that embody the richness of the Catholic artistic tradition with fresh creativity and insight. Gwy...

When Mark Wahlberg’s hit movie “Father Stu” was released in 2022, audiences all over the country were introduced to Father Stuart Long, a former boxer-turned-wannabe-actor-turned Catholic priest who died in Helena, Montana in 2014 at the age of 50. The motorcycle-riding tough guy who found his way to Christ and the priesthood captured the hearts of many moviegoers, but the film only told part of the story of the real Father Stu’s r...

“Grief is a call to expand our hearts.” Dr. Daniel and Bethany Meola have worked with hundreds of individuals from broken homes who are grieving—grieving the divorce or separation of their parents, grieving the loss of the “ideal” family, even grieving a sense of identity rooted in parental love. They have pulled together valuable insights and wisdom from their work into a new book, “Life-Giving Wounds: A Catholic Guide to Healing ...

In times of civil unrest and heightened public discourse about racial issues, it can be tempting—even for Catholics—to look only for political solutions to the divisions that plague our society. But if, as the Catholic Church teaches, racism is a sin and, as such, an obstacle to the soul’s growing in holiness, political arguments about policies and party platforms will not eradicate it. We will need to go deeper.

Deacon Harold Burk...

Living wills? Palliative care? Brain death? Cremation? Many of us know we need to think about these and other end-of-life questions for ourselves and our loved ones, but how many of us know where to look for guidance?

Dr. Stephen Doran, M.D. is uniquely positioned to help us think about these often uncomfortable topics. An experienced neurosurgeon, a bioethicist, and a Catholic deacon, Dr. Doran brings insights from modern medical ...

Thomas Howard had a unique perspective on contemporary Christian life. The son of a prominent evangelical family who was drawn to liturgical worship, a friend of C.S. Lewis who eventually converted to Catholicism, Howard was a keen observer and erudite writer, an articulate defender of the truths of the Gospel and the power of art to bring man closer to God.

In this episode, host Andrew Petiprin speaks with Keith Call, editor of a ...

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. believes in God, the soul, and an afterlife. This is not surprising, as the Jesuit priest is a well-known defender of the precepts of the Catholic faith in his books, lectures, and numerous media appearances. But Fr. Spitzer holds that these beliefs are well-founded scientifically, and has written a book presenting his evidence.

In this episode, host Andrew Petiprin speaks with Fr. Spitzer about the most up...

State surveillance. Artificial intelligence. Advanced reproductive technology. Many of the elements Peco Gaskovski depicts dramatically in his new novel Exogenesis seem to be only a step or two ahead of where we are in the world today. But Gaskovski’s dystopian vision of a society with mass sterilizations of undesirable populations, an intricate social credit system managed by AI, and omnipresent government surveillance is, ultimat...

Tomie dePaola was one of the most beloved authors and illustrators of children’s books of the last 50 years. When he died in 2020, readers of all ages mourned. While many knew him best for his Strega Nona stories, dePaola also wrote and illustrated many books about Catholic saints and feast days, as well as adaptations of Bible stories.

Sarah Mackenzie, author and founder of Read-Aloud Revival, got to know Tomie dePaola in the la...

Fall is here and the kids are back in school, which makes this week’s episode particularly timely. Host Andrew Petiprin speaks with Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, about the changing landscape of religious education, the explosion of Catholic resources now available to parents wishing to form their kids in the Faith, and the new Word of Life catechetical series, co-published by Ignatius Press and the Augustine Institute.

“Lead, kindly light.” These words of St. John Henry Newman have long resonated with Christians who strive always to place their trust in Christ. The saint’s words are perhaps particularly dear to those whose Christian journey has taken them through the Anglican Communion and into the Catholic Church, as Newman’s did.

One such pilgrim is Fr. Dwight Longenecker, whose path from Protestant fundamentalism, through the Church of England...

When Pope Benedict XVI passed away on December 31, 2022 at the age of 95, Catholics the world over mourned the loss of a spiritual father as well as a brilliant theologian. Among those who knew the late pontiff best was Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder and editor of Ignatius Press. Fr. Fessio studied with Pope Benedict—when he was still Fr. Joseph Ratzinger—during Fessio’s doctoral studies in theology in Germany in the 1970s.

In th...

Since the 2012 release of her first book on the Sexual Revolution, Mary Eberstadt has engaged in what she considers an often thankless task—honoring the suffering of those who have been victimized by the massive changes that have rocked society since the 1960s. The Pill, no-fault divorce, and plummeting marriage rates have not made us freer, happier, or healthier, Eberstadt has argued; instead they’ve ushered in an era of unprecede...

While the name of Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty may not be well known among Catholics today, during the Cold War the archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary was one of the most noteworthy Catholic churchmen in the world. Admired for his heroic resistance in the face of Communism, then Nazism, and then Communism once again, Cardinal Mindszenty spent years in prison for his Christian witness against brutal totalitarianism.

In thi...

“How do I make up my mind?”

Making decisions, from the life-changing to the seemingly inconsequential, can be a frustrating, even paralyzing, experience for many. With more distractions at our finger-tips than ever before, young people in particular face a host of challenges when it comes to discerning and navigating a path through life.

Fr. J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B. has written a unique book for the perplexed—or even just those w...