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Almost Good Catholics
Almost Good Catholics June 1, 2023

You Set a Table Before Me

The Teenage Witch Who Became a Dominican Sister

Sr. Maria Catherine, OP

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Listen:
Sr Maria Catherine was looking for Truth in the wrong places when she started practicing witchcraft as girl. But she found her way out of the darkness and into the …

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Almost Good Catholics May 25, 2023

Down to Earth: In Pursuit of Humility

A Discussion with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn

Richard J. Foster and Brenda Quinn

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Quaker theologian Richard J. Foster and charismatic pastor Brenda Quinn talk with me about Foster’s new book (which Quinn worked on with him), Learning Humility: A Year of Searching for …
Almost Good Catholics May 18, 2023

Here We Stand? (with Bishop Donald Hying)

The German Bishops Challenge Catholic Social Teachings

Bishop Donald Hying

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, wrote a statement in his diocesan journal, the Madison Catholic Herald about the German Synodal Way. The German Bishops, in defiance of Pope Francis …
Almost Good Catholics May 11, 2023

The Miraculous Mind (with Paul Bloom)

What Does Psychology Say about Religion and Morality?

Paul Bloom

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Psychologist Paul Bloom and I talk about the human brain, morality, empathy, perversity, all the things—including Professor Bloom’s new book, Psych: The Story of the Human Mind (Ecco Press, 2023) …
Almost Good Catholics May 4, 2023

People of the Book

What Muslims and Christians Share (and Don’t Share) in Common

Munir Sheikh

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
I talk with a Muslim friend about the places that Islam and Christianity overlap, and also the places where they diverge. Of these subjects, none is more interesting than the …
Almost Good Catholics April 27, 2023

Remember the Sabbath (with Senator Joe Lieberman)

Keeping God’s Commandment for a Day of Rest

Joseph I. Lieberman

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Today I talked with Senator Joe Lieberman—who ran for Vice President in 2000 with Al Gore, and for President in 2004 in the Democratic primary—about his book, The Gift of …
Almost Good Catholics April 20, 2023

Catholic Movies, Part 2 (with Jonathan Fessenden)

"The Mission" and "A Man for All Seasons"

Jonathan Fessenden

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Jonathan Fessenden and I talk about two movies, Roland Joffé’s The Mission (1986) and Fred Zinneman’s A Man for All Seasons (1966), both written by Robert Bolt, and both about …
Almost Good Catholics April 13, 2023

Revival (with Fr Norman Fischer)

The Holy Spirit at Work in Kentucky . . . and Many Other Places

Norman Fischer

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
For three weeks in February of 2023, a spontaneous ‘Outpouring’ at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, set the hearts of American Christians aflame, reviving their faith and our spiritual conversation …
Almost Good Catholics April 6, 2023

The Gospel According to Dorothy

Dorothy Sayers’ 1941 BBC Radio Play, "The Man Born to be King"

Kathryn Weir

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
In 1941, Dorothy Sayers, Christian apologist, author of The Mind of the Maker, and even more famous for her Peter Whimsey mystery novels, wrote a cycle of plays on the …
Almost Good Catholics March 30, 2023

Gary Kulik: Conscientious Objector Who Served in Vietnam

The Catholic Doctrine of Just War and How to Apply It

Gary Kulik

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Gary Kulik was a Catholic Conscientious Objector (CO) during the Vietnam War, but when he was drafted he decided to go and serve as a medic. He tells me about …
Almost Good Catholics March 23, 2023

Education in the World not of the World

A Catholic School Director and Father Talks about Forming the Whole Child

Rich Meyer

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Rich Meyer, president of JSerra High School—named for St. Junípero Serra, the ‘Apostle of California’—in Southern California, discusses what is working in Catholic education today. He and I are both …
Almost Good Catholics March 16, 2023

Saint Patrick the Forgiver

The History and Legends of Ireland's Bishop

Ned Bustard

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Ned Bustard is the author of a new children’s book, Saint Patrick the Forgiver: The History and Legends of Ireland's Bishop (InterVarsity, 2023). We talked about the book, the life …
Almost Good Catholics March 9, 2023

The Exorcist

Angels, Demons, and the Cosmic Battle around Us

Monsignor Stephen Rossetti

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
I asked an exorcist, Monsignor Rosetti, about the spiritual world around us, the demons he fights, and the mischief they cause. He talks about his life and work as an …
Almost Good Catholics March 2, 2023

Who Do You Think You Are?

Thorny Questions about Sex, Identity, and Catholic Doctrine

Garrett Johnson

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Garret Johnson works with Courage, the Catholic apostolate for people experience same-sex attractions. He describes his experience living the gay lifestyle and responds to my interview with Father Jim Martin …
Almost Good Catholics February 23, 2023

Digging for Answers

The Archaeology of Jerusalem and the Politics of Archaeology

Katharina Galor

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Katharina Galor, an archaeology professor at the at the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University who has done a lot of excavation in Israel, is the author of The …
Almost Good Catholics February 16, 2023

O Death, Where is Your Sting?

The Biblical Theology of Resurrection

M. Jeff Brannon

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
In his new book, The Hope of Life After Death: A Biblical Theology of Resurrection (Intervarsity Press, 2022), Professor Jeff Brannon traces Resurrection and Redemption from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 …
Almost Good Catholics February 9, 2023

Why a Savior?

The Theology of Sacrifice and Redemption

David Basile

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
As we start the second year of Almost Good Catholics, I asked my old friend David Basile, the theology teacher (and our very first guest last year) to come back …
Almost Good Catholics February 1, 2023

“Quintessence of Dust?”

Friendly Argument about God and Man

Peter Hall

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Peter Hall is my old friend, a once-atheist who now calls himself an agnostic; we’ve known each other for fifteen years since we both taught English literature at an international …
Almost Good Catholics January 31, 2023

Walking the Via Dolorosa

An Archaeologist Follows Jesus from His Trial to His Crucifixion

Ilka Knüppel

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Archaeologist Ilka Knüppel discusses her master's thesis—The Search for Jesus's Final Steps: How Archaeological and Literary Evidence Reroutes the Via Dolorosa—and how she came to write it. To use both …
Almost Good Catholics January 30, 2023

The Mesopotamian Connection

Comparing the Bible to Other Literature of the Ancient Near East

Cathleen Chopra-McGowan

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Professor Cathleen Chopra-McGowan examines some the incongruities of our Bible in the context of the Ancient Near East, showing how the stories and traditions of Israel resembled and borrowed from …