Recently on Relevant Radio®, John Morales and the Morning Air team welcomed one of the most decorated and legendary coaches in the history of basketball, Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, onto the air for a discussion about his upbringing, life as a basketball coach, and what role faith played in his career. Born in Chicago to Emily and William Krzyzewski, Coach K was raised a Catholic and attended St. H...
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Mar 28, 2023 | In Reviews Ignatius Press has recently published a new book by the late Pope Benedict XVI, a collection of six lectures he gave in 1985 while he was still, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. These lectures are one more example of Ratzinger’s unparalleled brilliance. Entit...
“for no one is suddenly made perfect.”Venerable Bede Discouragement is a primary even if oft unnoticed enemy of the good life. Frankly, I often see it; and experience it. People with high ideals and fond hopes, both in what they want for themselves and their loved ones, get discouraged. This undermines intentionality and focus. It sucks energy and deflates resolve. Among diverse causes of discoura...
In one of Edward St. Aubyn’s novels, a man is asked if he was his own worst enemy. “I certainly hope so,” the man replies. “I dread to think what would happen if somebody else turned out to be better at it than me.” In the life of the mind, one way to be your own worst enemy is by means of self-defeating statements, such as, “I am not writing in English right now” or “I never, never, never u...
Keep sacrificing. Keep praying. And when you fall, pick yourself up, and get back in the box. It seems that when we truly love things, our heart struggles to find similarities between those things. Perhaps that is why I am often struck by how much baseball resembles the Catholic spiritual life. I thought about this again recently when I saw an interview that confirmed my perspective. The interview...
As of Thursday morning, the pope’s agenda lists no appointments for the day for March 30. He is still scheduled to preside over a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 2 for Palm Sunday and to give the usual Sunday Angelus address. “In recent days Pope Francis has complained of some difficulty breathing and this afternoon went to [Gemelli Hospital] to carry out some medical tests. The results of the...
Fifty years ago, then-Fr. Joseph Ratzinger and Ida Friederike Görres were watching their era’s equivalent of a livestream of the implosion of the Church in Europe. And they were asking the same questions about the “reformers” in the Church that many of us are asking today: Why are they so optimistic about their efforts that are patently leading to a decline in the Church? And why do these people r...
Calls for police to release the “manifesto” that authorities say was written ahead of Monday’s Nashville school shooting has prompted concern among LGBTQ+ groups, who caution against the publication of such a document. While many details remain to be unveiled about the massacre at The Covenant School this week, police have identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Hale. On Mon...
Pope Francis has “a respiratory infection that requires some days of appropriate medical therapy in hospital,” Matteo Bruni, the director of the Vatican press office, said in a statement, sent by telegram to the Vatican accredited media on the evening of March 29. Tests were carried out on him this afternoon at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome and “excluded” that the pope has Covid-19. “Pope Francis c...
The problem with the cloistered nun is that to describe her in terms of her “usefulness” is to have fundamentally misunderstood her. Her life was already obscure; now it is hidden nearly in full. To think of a “useful nun” renders her true meaning invisible, decrowns her vocation of its glory. Yet, this seems to be the only category by which contemporary Americans are able to entertain the idea of...
My wife, Nancy, and I have been blessed with seven kids…so far. It’s not very likely God will send us any more, but he’s known for doing weird things, and we’re always open to the prospect, so who knows? If he does decide the world needs more Beckers in it, then you can bet they’ll end up in Catholic schools, although we didn’t begin there. Back in the day, we started off homeschooling – rather, N...
A frightening trend emerged when I was working in Catholic school administration. The acceleration of problems related to sexuality for young kids was startling, beginning even as early as kindergarten. There was one common source: technology. Without a doubt, the fact that young children regularly use smartphones has led to frequent exposure to sexual images and messages that have made some kids ...