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Almost Good Catholics
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 …

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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 …
Almost Good Catholics January 29, 2023

Apocalypse Past, Present, and Future

Thinking about the End in History and Culture

John Jeffries Martin

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Historian John Jeffries Martin traces narratives of the Apocalypse over the last 500 years in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions in his new book, A Beautiful Ending. This discussion …
Almost Good Catholics January 28, 2023

Chatting with the Homeless

Looking for Jesus among the Least of Our Brothers

Brother John Vianney Russel, OP

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Dominican Friar John Vianney Russel has made a habit of talking with homeless people and shares what he has learned. He doesn’t have all the answers and, in fact, we …
Almost Good Catholics January 27, 2023

What if You're Gay?

Starting Conversations with and about LGBT Catholics

Father James Martin, SJ

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Since 2016, and with the blessing of Pope Francis, Father Jim Martin has been talking with LGBT Catholics about their relationship with their church. That’s the subject of his book …
Almost Good Catholics January 26, 2023

In the Swiss Guards

Reflections on Two Years Guarding the Pope

David Geisser

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
David Geisser was a Swiss Guard protecting Pope Francis and the Apostolic Palace between 2013 and 2015. He was following the footsteps of his father who had been in the …
Almost Good Catholics January 25, 2023

Stabat Mater

A Sandy Hook Mom Stands with Mary at the Foot of the Cross

Laura Phelps

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
One morning in December of 2012, Laura Phelps’s little children went to school and lived through an attack by a madman who shot 20 of their classmates. Laura’s community was …
Almost Good Catholics January 24, 2023

Faithful Frontiers

A Turkish Scholar Describes How She Became a Catholic Apologist

Derya Little

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Derya Little has been a Muslim, an atheist, and a Protestant; today she is a Catholic writer and apologist. She tells the story of her conversion, talks about faith, family …
Almost Good Catholics January 23, 2023

Catholic in Karachi

Living as a Christian in an Islamic Country

Ayyaz Gulzar

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Ayyaz Gulzar, journalist and Catholic youth leader in Pakistan, describes the challenges and persecutions the Church faces in the Islamic Republic, which includes the county’s blasphemy laws. He also talks …
Almost Good Catholics January 22, 2023

The Feminine Genius

Everyday Mysticism and How to Organize Your Life around It

Danielle Bean

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Danielle Bean talks about everyday mysticism and learning to listen for God in her book, Whisper: Finding God in the Everyday. God is there in our daily tasks and especially …
Almost Good Catholics January 21, 2023

Reflections of a Mormon who Became a Catholic

A Discussion with Jeremy Christiansen

Jeremy Christiansen

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Jeremy Christiansen’s autobiography, From the Susquehanna to the Tiber, tells the story of his happy Mormon upbringing, the questioning of his faith, and his ultimate pilgrimage to the Catholic Church …
Almost Good Catholics January 20, 2023

Bless Me, Father, for I have Sinned

Understanding the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Father Joe Horn

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Father Joseph Horn explains the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where it comes from, how it works, and what many of us don’t know about it. At its inception, the Sacrament of …
Almost Good Catholics January 19, 2023

Better Call Paul

How Did the Early Jewish Christians Understand “Works of the Law”?

Matthew Thomas

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
In his new book, theologian Matthew Thomas takes on the big question of what the Apostle Paul means when he talks about "Works of the Law" -- as opposed to …
Almost Good Catholics January 18, 2023

We Shall Overcome

Sister Thea Bowman and the Black Catholic Experience

Father Maurice Nutt, CSsR

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Though we are all one—“there is neither Jew nor Greek,” St. Paul wrote to the Galatians—each of us brings a particular heritage to the mosaic of God’s universal pilgrim church …
Almost Good Catholics January 17, 2023

Words and the Word

How Scripture Brings Us into God’s Eternal Moment

Jeremy Holmes

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Jeremy Holmes, Theology Professor at Wyoming Catholic College, describes his study of scripture through the lenses of narrative criticism and theological exegesis, following the model of St. Matthew. he needed …
Almost Good Catholics January 16, 2023

Pray like a Mystic

Mystical Traditions and What to Do with Them

Bishop Don Hying

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
I asked Bishop Don Hying of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, about mysticism and evangelization. He describes Christianity as unique among the world’s religions because “the universal, mysterious, all-powerful, invisible …
Almost Good Catholics January 15, 2023

Holy Paradox and St. Teresa of Ávila

Mysticism in Sixteenth-Century Spain

Carlos Eire

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Carlos Eire, author of The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila: A Biography (Princeton UP, 2019) and professor of medieval and early modern European history and religion at Yale University, discusses …
Almost Good Catholics January 14, 2023

Eternity Now

Talking about Mysticism with the Apostle to the Gangs of LA

Father Greg Boyle, SJ

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Jesuit Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in East LA, the world’s largest and most successful gang intervention and rehabilitation program. He talks about this ministry and …
Almost Good Catholics January 13, 2023

Marxists and Mystics

A Vatican Journalist Discusses her Biography of Madeleine Delbrêl and the New Papal Constitution

Colleen Dulle

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Vatican journalist Colleen Dulle discusses her biography of the French Mystic Madeleine Delbrêl, author of The Marxist City as Mission Territory (1957), and Catholic evangelist among the urban poor of …
Almost Good Catholics January 12, 2023

Queen of Heaven

How the Holy Spirit Works in the Catholic Tradition

Keith Berube

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Keith Berube, professor of Mariology, theology, and literature, explains how the Holy Spirit is at work in the scripture, tradition, and magisterium in the Catholic Church; he also tells the …