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Episode Description
With Tim Walz joining the Democratic ticket, Ashley McGuire covers the greatest concerns Catholics should have regarding his record on life and religious freedom. Walz supports abortion on demand up until the moment of birth, for example, and removed important protections for women including from abortion coercion.
As the Knights of Columbus meet for their annual convention taking place in Canada this week, we talk with Damien O’Connor, the Knights’ Vice President of Evangelization and Faith Formation, all about fatherhood, fraternity, and the witness of their founder Blessed Michael McGivney. The Knights’ extraordinary charitable work includes providing coats for children, food for needy families, free ultrasound machines to pregnancy centers, and schools in Uganda for children orphaned by AIDS, and so much more.
Father Roger Landry offers an inspiring homily to prepare us for this Sunday’s Gospel.
Bios
Ashley McGuire is a Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association and co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Conversations with Consequences. She is also author of the book, Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female. She has written for numerous news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today and TIME magazine, and has appeared on most major TV networks. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia called Ashley, “one of the most gifted young writers, cultural critics and lecturers in the United States.” She is married with five children.
Damien O’Connor is Vice President of Evangelization and Faith Formation at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council, an organization known for its charitable activities worldwide to help children, the impoverished and underprivileged. He is a member of the National Advisory Council for the USCCB, and Chairperson (elected member) of the Executive Board that oversees all aspects of the National Advisory Council. He also serves on the Eucharistic Revival Executive Committee for the USCCB. O’Connor earned his Masters in Religious Education from Fordham University and his Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies from Iona University.
Father Roger Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts. He writes for numerous publications, speaks on radio and TV, and is the author of the book, Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God. A graduate of Harvard and the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he served as Attaché to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the UN in New York. Father Landry recently completed the full 1500-mile Eucharist Pilgrimage, an event that coincided with his 25th year in the priesthood.
The following transcript is machine generated.
Episode 277 Transcript
| Grazie | Hello friends, and welcome to Conversations with Consequences. And we are the radio show and podcast of the Catholic Association where we aim to change the culture one conversation at a time. You can listen to conversations with consequences on the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network. We are also on Sirius XM Channel one third. Of course, our radio show is always a podcast. Go to the Catholic Association, Dawgs podcasts, or directly to wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm your host is Dr. Casey Christie. And joining us next is Damien O'Connor. He's the night the Knights of Columbus, vice president of Evangelization and Faith Formation. Welcome to the show, Damien. |
| Damien O’Connor | Thanks so much. It's good to be back here. |
| Grazie | On Conversations with Consequences. We try to highlight the the work of the Knights of Columbus Whenever we get an opportunity or there's an inflection point. So that point right now is your yearly convention that's taking place in Quebec City this year. I've been I've I've had the privilege of going to one of your conventions, I think it was in Baltimore some years ago. And it's it's a really spectacular time. And tell us how it went this past week in Quebec. |
| Damien O’Connor | Well, first, thank you again for for having me. It's always it's very special to have our convention because in many ways, it's a reunion. You know, we all come together from around the world. And this year we're also celebrating or Quebec is celebrating 350th anniversary of of the church here of the first archdiocese. And believe it or not, that actually encompassed a good portion of the United States, but specifically New Haven, Connecticut, where we're from. |
| Damien O’Connor | So it's in a sense, we're coming home to our to our very first archdiocese. |
| Grazie | Damien, I'm sorry. Explain that to us. How did how what does Quebec have to do with Connecticut? |
| Damien O’Connor | Well, the winning New France was was founded here in Quebec. The first archdiocese was a massive territory. And so part of that territory included Connecticut, where we're our headquarters is. And so in many ways, it's like coming home to Quebec at their for their 350th anniversary. So it's just very special to be here. |
| Grazie | that's that's really lovely. 300 years of Catholic history. |
| Damien O’Connor | There, 350. |
| Grazie | 150. And then you have the night that don't have a very short history either. You've been around for a long time doing a lot of good. Give us a real short history of of the Knights of Columbus for our listeners. |
| Damien O’Connor | Sure. And thank you for that question. We've existed for 142 years, and we were founded by Blessed Michael Mcgivney in New Haven, Connecticut. And at that time, the there was a lot of anti-Catholicism that was going on very similar to today in some ways. Yeah. And early on, when the husband would pass away the other arrives in, the mothers and the children would struggle terribly. Father Mcgivney, a parish priest, a very good parish priest, wanted to find something to counter all the other secular kind of clubs and men's groups that were out there and started the Knights of Columbus. And his main focus was it was really two things. It was to help the widows and orphans financially. But secondly, he cared deeply about the formation of men. And you see that from the very beginning. In all his writings, those who even wrote about him. So it's interesting that he wasn't looking for formed men. That makes it if that makes sense. He was looking to for men in the faith to help them, because that obviously not only affected their family, but it affected the parish and the community greatly. |
| Grazie | Damien, you're talking about working class people in Connecticut. 140 years ago, Irish people mostly, I suppose, in that age, I can imagine, right? A man putting in 14 hours at the mill, right. Coming home, then tired every every evening, and then Friday night rolls around. And where does he go? He goes to the pub, he goes to the local, to the local bar. And that's a place of release and companionship. And so this is my impression. Tell me if I'm wrong about Blessed Father Mcgivney. He wanted to give working class Catholic men another reason to get together besides beer and come home and and a kind of companionship that was that was leading them upwards and outwards to better things. |
| Damien O’Connor | I would agree with that. A basic level. I would absolutely agree with that. And two years ago we started an initiative called Cor c0r Latin for Heart. It's very similar to what Mcgivney did. We're simply being more intentional about it all these years later and it creates the space just like Mcgivney did, where men can come together. Any man in the parish, by the way, you don't have to be a knight. And it's for where they can receive prayer formation and just healthy fraternity together. Glory to God. It's it's absolutely taken off. In these last two years. We just had over 1000 new members join because they asked to join because they went to Cor at their particular parish. |
| Grazie | You know, I have found I've been married for 30 years myself and my husband, I've been, you know, watching my husband over the years as we grow old together and I find that men have a deep need for male companionship and many men are very lonely and even even many men that are that you think right can look at their lives from the outside. They're busy professionals and they have beautiful families and all that. But even those men are lonely. Is that what core is besides formation? Cause quarries trying to to relieve that in a way that's. That's beautiful and healthy. |
| Damien O’Connor | Yes, absolutely. And it's part of it. It's also regarding prayer. It's it's not just something wrong with Hail Mary, but it's not just a quick hail Mary. It's more substantial prayer time together. And there's the ratio can change depending on what the parish needs. But what you just said is not just an opinion that the statistics back that up to that so many men do not have just quality friendships with other with other Catholic men. And while we don't like to talk about it because it doesn't sound very masculine to us men, a lot of men are very lonely. They just are. And so we're just finding that this simple idea and it really is simple is regarding core is it works because it resonates with them and they're also encountering Christ through this time together. That's that creates a ripple effect that can't be measured. |
| Grazie | Well, and how do people access core? |
| Damien O’Connor | The easiest thing is to just to get more information is not just to plug our website, but it is right there. It's KFC dot org slash core. And then there's there's all the resources are there and there's really substantial amount of new resources that councils can use and parishes can use to facilitate that because not everybody is. They may hear this right now and say, well, I'm not really comfortable eating like a men's small group and you don't really have to be a strong leader in that category because we just walk you through it. It's very spoon fed, easy to do. Even the the guys that say, this will never work have now come around because they just love it. And it's it's very fulfilling and glory to God. We've had a lot of converts I mean we're not Catholic. They came and they said, I just love this. |
| Grazie | I've noticed in our in my environment, women have so many things. We have so many irons on the fire. Right? We have we have 1000 ways that we interact with each other. And I'm sure our relationships with men don't have so much of that outside of sports. I know that my husband, now that he's doesn't want that we don't have little children. He used to do a lot of little league and coaching and he got so much, so much happiness out of that with with the other with the other dads. Right. And then that's gone. So how wonderful that court is is taking off and filling that need for men and then making them comrades in prayer, men of prayer and men of family. That's really beautiful. |
| Damien O’Connor | And if I made the other thing that we tried to do, we're trying a very best to to Indonesian force. But let's say it's the prayer time, of course, and maybe it's because I'm a former teacher. Don't assume the men know the prayers, don't assume they've had formation before, and it's okay. We're not dumbing it down. But let's say I'm leading the rosary at core. Then we're going to hand out guides to the rosary. We're going to hand out the rosary. And if I'm leading it, I'm going to hold that guide to because it makes them feel more comfortable. Everyone is using this guide to how to pray the rosary. And I know it sounds like a little thing, but it actually makes a big difference to make men comfortable. Maybe they've never prayed the rosary before or maybe were going to adoration. Right? But the point is that we teach them and don't assume anymore. And if they've heard it before, so they hear it again. But that's been really important, too, to make them feel comfortable because they might not know the faith as best as they think they should. |
| Grazie | Damien, I promise we're going to get to the the convention. But I have I have a question for you. I was reading the other day about the way that Boy Scouts have added. They've taken down they've taken out the boy out of Boy Scouts and now coed. And it made me think about the Knights of Columbus and how the Knights of Columbus as a as an organization for men. And I wanted to hear from I want to hear from you what your thoughts are about that. Why is it important to have an organization just for the men? |
| Damien O’Connor | I guess it's easy to think if you look at it, if you've never heard of the Knights of Columbus, that it's anti-women or anti family. And it's it's quite the opposite. We it's we believe that iron sharpens iron. And so men need to be with other men. For example, you could have a prayer group with men and women. But when we've I mean, you could ask most women or most men, they would usually say, yeah, I would prefer just to be with men, or I prefer just to be with women because it is a different dynamic. And I won't get into specifics now, but we can all imagine there's some very difficult topics that could possibly come up that you would only feel comfortable talking about, that me as a man with other men. But that makes sense. Maybe some personal struggles or something like that. And it's not just like it's about therapy, but it is important to be for the men to be with the men. And we are very much a family organization as well. And that's important to stress too. If you look at all of our programs, which are they're titled Faith and Action programs, every single one of them can the family can participate, and we encourage that. But when it comes to learning about the faith and praying together in a small group setting, yes, we very much focus on men. And it's been extremely effective for us. I mean, just at this convention here, when you're 3000 people and you see this camaraderie, this fraternity, and but it's it's with the men, but also with all these families here, most of which paid their own way to come, it's really very moving just to see that here. |
| Grazie | Do you do you find that when that men together, when there's when they're on their own without without the female sex, do you think that there is it's easier to concentrate and build on those beautiful masculine type virtues that that that really make the world go round. Right. That kind of protectiveness and courage and that nobility of character that we can all imagine when we imagine the perfect man. Right. Do you think that that's easier to build that kind of to to help build an informed those kind of men with when you're in a single sex space? |
| Damien O’Connor | I do, absolutely. And without without a doubt. And it's not just opinion for me. It's I mean, I've experienced this over the last, well, many years. It's it absolutely works when it's when it's the men together. And sometimes we have to encourage each other and sometimes we have to challenge each other. And it it's not as comfortable when there's when there's women with us or my wife is there. There's my wife would be the first one to tell you, I don't want to be in your men's group. |
| Grazie | Yeah, I agree. |
| Damien O’Connor | We also communicate differently. |
| Grazie | Yeah, it's just very different when they talk to each other, right? They can be a little rough and. And no one cries. |
| Damien O’Connor | That's right. And there's nothing wrong with crying. But sometimes that does happen, to be honest. But it is a different dynamic. |
| Grazie | Yeah, it's different and it's. And it has its own beauty, right? And it's a beauty that maybe in so many parts of our culture, we've abandoned in favor of sort of a more feminine template of how to interact. |
| Damien O’Connor | That's right. That's exactly right. And it will bust and each other and all these things that guys do. And my wife was always like, I don't know why you guys do them. Like this. We're different times. |
| Grazie | They remind my sons and my sons in Catholic boy school. Those are the stories they come home with. And I'm and I think, it's a good thing that your teachers and the and the brothers there, they they know how to deal with boys. They know how to sure to channel all that energy the right into the right times. Right. |
| Damien O’Connor | My my son, it's a very quick story. My son, who's now 24, when he was in high school, he joined the wrestling team and he's also on the autism spectrum. And my wife saw him, you know, the guys are kind of busting on him and roll around on the floor and the math just being goofy. And she said she thought they were being mean to him. And I said, no, no, no, honey, they love him. This is guys being guys. And it was true. And to this day to take, you know, not to deflect this conversation, but they're still his close friends to this day because he learned friendship by being on this team with them. And we just act differently. We communicate differently. So, yeah, thank you for letting me share that. |
| Grazie | No know, that's a great story. I have. I have stories like that. Two of my my sons coming and one time my son came home with a with a black eye. And I said, What happened? Because no, ma'am, I deserved it. I was being really annoying to the seniors on the bus. |
| Damien O’Connor | Yeah, I am Justin. |
| Grazie | And I said, You know what? We're going to leave it at that. I'm not going to make a fuss. You're probably better off. You're better. You're a better young man with your black eye. |
| Damien O’Connor | that's great. |
| Grazie | Yeah, that's a that's wonderful. I love I love this. I love the Knights of Columbus. And, you know, I happen to know a lot about the Knights because I've interviewed several of you and and you before. And I've read I have a beautiful book about the beginning of the Knights of the the the inception. And. And I'm Blessed Father Mcgivney. And it's it's really a lovely testament to the kind of sir, that civic society that you hope will always enjoy. Right. That that people can come together at the grassroots level and and build beautiful things like without bothering the government about it or needing tax moneys or big building, you're able to build something gorgeous that then endures and keeps creating beauty for 140 years. In the case of the Knights. |
| Damien O’Connor | Yeah, but one of the things that well, for this couple of things, obviously the most important is that we we do understand we're powerless without God. And so our faith and our prayer life is super important to those that are true knights that really understand who we are, that are really trying to live it. We it's that's so important. But secondly, and maybe this is just my own opinion, but just working here and then being a knight in my own parish, it's, you know, you'll often hear what's the knight's response to such and such in the news, You know, because we're a huge organization, in my opinion, you often won't hear us give some formal opinion on whatever the issue is, for the most part, because we just keep moving forward. We just keep living our faith. And most importantly, we're in service to the church and unapologetically. So we just keep moving forward and there's stability in that. And so and we're a trusted organization because no matter what, we're going to serve the church, plain and simple. Put a period at the end of that sentence. And when you stay focused like that, it provides that longevity. You know, you might see some religious urge to kind of lose their way. They lose their charism. We try or strive to and I know we probably screw up once in a while, but we strive to stay focused on serving the church and moving forward. And it's a discipline that's not easy at times, but I'm very proud that we've been quite successful at it for 142 years. |
| Grazie | Let's turn to the conference in Quebec. You highlighted many of the I got along, I got a long email about it and I and I sat down and I read the whole thing and they were you you highlighted several you highlighted men doing special things projects of their that from from different sections of your of chapters I think chapters of your group and also even families like Spectacular families. One that really took my eye that took my attention was a family of 11 children, several of them adopted with the disabilities, I guess. That's correct. Like dancing. that was beautiful. And just a just a picture of the family. I'm standing on stage. It moved me so much I can't remember their name right now, but maybe you can tell us. And so. |
| Damien O’Connor | The family camp. |
| Grazie | Is beautiful. Beautiful. And I was thinking, what's what's the purpose for for the for the knights of of highlighting these beautiful things. You must have a special purpose. That's not just like self-congratulation. |
| Damien O’Connor | It's sure to have the I mentioned the Faith in Action programs earlier. And so those categories are faith, family, community and life. And so we always focus, we give an award. It's kind of a it's quite a process. It's done at our jurisdictions first, and then there's a winner at that level, and then it gets up to two to our level and at the spring convention. And so we honor who really focused on the faith the most our community, one of the community programs. But we always have a family of the year that just exemplifies and just encourage credible witness to being a Catholic family. And so that's one of my favorite parts of the whole of the week that we're here. The days that we're here is whoever that family is going to be, because they always, as you saw their read, they get up and they tell their story. And gosh, is that inspiring? You know, this this family, the faith, I, I hope I get this number right. But I believe they have 11 children and I believe four of them are adopted. And they have and the four have special needs. And as I said, I have special needs children. So it's it's her emotional for me. Watch this. But let's be clear. Our children, they were born this way. We didn't choose them. This family is incredible. The parents chose these children with special needs because no one else wanted them. That's incredible. Witness that. Incredible. |
| Grazie | And you know what it does for people who see that? They see the possibilities that might open up before them. Right. Of being of of of being bigger and better and nobler. Because sometimes you just don't even believe things are possible. Right? Like you said. well, I can barely get by with the the chaos at home and all the all the plates I have flashing through the air that I'm trying to keep alive. And then you say, No, no, no. You know, if if they can do that, then maybe I can do a little more. Sure, I can try a little harder. |
| Damien O’Connor | Yeah. And we've learned in our own family it's really difficult when you get these diagnoses, obviously. But the line that I use is we had to mourn what we thought they would become. You have to mourn it first so that we could then see the gift from God that's right in front of us. because so. |
| Grazie | Pretty. |
| Damien O’Connor | We all have it. When your parents, you know, we have this vision before they're born and what it's going to be like. And it's never like that, you know, And it's trials and tribulations. It all kind of stuff happens. But and this family clearly knows the one that just won this award. They know that these their children are living icons of Christ right in front of us. But you have to let go what you thought they were going to become, you know, because there's a gift right there, you know, And I see that as someone who struggled with this for a while and now finally come around years later, like it is, our kids are just gifts, you know, They really are. |
| Grazie | And, you know, I feel I believe that God wraps the biggest gifts in in in the hardest to penetrate packaging really is email like those are the most those are the best gifts. Right. The ones that that you are obvious the ones that you have to dig a little, the ones that you have to get to know and live in and and and unwrap right. Like you we unwrap our children, right? Our children come to us how they come and and yeah. Then one day you say, all those things that I thought were problems, those are the joys that God sent me. |
| Damien O’Connor | Amen. That's right. It's exactly right. |
| Grazie | Tell us more about tell us some other other people that are or projects that you highlighted that you that you awarded that you gave awards to at the ceremony at the convention. |
| Damien O’Connor | So the other one I'll share it's called the Mcgivney Award. And that's for it sounds funny, but it's the I don't want to say number one, but it's a state chaplain, so every jurisdiction in, let's say Nevada or New York or the Philippines, they have a state chaplain. And so father Chad William, who's from the state and jurisdiction of North Dakota, he won it this year. And he is an incredible knight of Columbus and witness to the faith. He's 27 years in a row, been their state, 28 years I'm sorry, been their state chaplain. |
| Grazie | You know. |
| Damien O’Connor | And he's an incredible recruiter. I mean, he and he loves Mcgivney. And when he gave his speech, I mean, he's talking about all these different places where he's Chaplain, in addition to the Knights of Columbus, like he's just a true man of faith. And so a huge honor for for him to get that. And I very shamelessly check to see if there is room at his table, because we have what's called the state dinner last night, a huge dinner with all 3000 people here. And there was room. So I just loved hanging out with him because he and I are fairly good friends and I'm just so happy for him and he deserves it. He really does. |
| Grazie | he sounds spectacular. How wonderful to have that kind of retreat. And then and he probably only sleeps three or 4 hours a night, it sounds like. |
| Damien O’Connor | I would imagine. Yeah, he's incredible. |
| Grazie | You know, you didn't you say that the night stay out of of politics or the the flashpoints of politics going on. But right now we're looking at we have elections coming up and as Catholics, the pro-life and the pro-life position means a lot to us from a political sense, right. Because our votes translate into actual, like lives and deaths when it comes to to the unborn and other life issues. But those things seem to be tied in together, right? Like if you're pro-life, you're really pro-abortion. You're also probably pretty pro euthanasia or assisted suicide is sort of a like a lack of a lack of respect for life in general or vulnerable life in general. The Knights have done so much to advance the pro-life cause. And one thing that that you've done that means a lot to me, and I wonder if you talked about it at the convention, have you highlighted it is the ultrasound machines for the the pregnancy care centers and and how important that work is and how we should think about that when we go to to the voting booths. |
| Damien O’Connor | Sure. Thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, we are we are unapologetically pro-life. And the the we're almost near, believe it or not, 2000 ultrasound machine. |
| Grazie | 2000 |
| Damien O’Connor | It's yeah, we I remember when we had a thousand and I was super impressed and we're getting to 2000 much quicker than than I anticipated. So what does that what does that mean. I think that means that more and more people are especially our councils, are trying very hard to, you know, to to put these machines where they need to be. And there's story after story after story of of a mother or maybe her mother in the end, the husband just being deeply moved by by seeing their child in that ultrasound. And it's extremely effective. And we also have now what's called our ASCAP program Aid and Country. There's the full name now, but the ASCAP is to help families after the births because, you know, sometimes you'll hear in the pro-life movement, well, you you're not really helping them once the baby is born. We most certainly are. And so we're we're focusing on on that as well. And I thank you for bringing that up. |
| Grazie | Is that a parish based program or how does how does ASCAP work? I guess we can read about it on your on your website also. |
| Damien O’Connor | Sure. No, ASCAP is it's to our to our councils. |
| Grazie | All through, right? |
| Damien O’Connor | Yeah. and that. |
| Grazie | Sounds so crucial nowadays. People are struggling so much to make ends meet. |
| Damien O’Connor | 100%. And I'm so proud of us for for doing that as well. And obviously I'm biased, but it's just important. And we do stand with you. We will be there for you, you know, and yeah, and let's face it, when a lot of these and I think you know this, but when when let's say a woman goes to Planned Parenthood, she and I, you know, they're slogans, pro-choice, but the reality is they actually go they're feeling like they have no choice, no choice at all. And and they do have another choice. |
| Grazie | That is so true. They say it's a Planned Parenthood is is a swallower of of of hope. It just just says come here and lose all hope. Yeah. |
| Damien O’Connor | And it's easy to get it's very easy to get maybe angry at women that go there. No but I also think we have to go a little bit deeper and say, well, they're often desperate, you know, and don't know what else to do. |
| Grazie | And so they've grown up in a debased culture. So, you know, degrading them from day one. And and all of them are victims of the sad the sad cycle of of of just this disgraceful cycle now, of a lack of a lack of human dignity, acknowledgment of human dignity that we've all been sort of born into. Right. If we're if we're not if we weren't born in the forties, if we've all sort of been imbibing this in the culture, I'm so glad that the Knights of Columbus is there on both ends at the ultrasound end and then after the baby's born to help pick up the pieces and get that young family started down the right path. Well, congratulations to you and the Knights for another wonderful year and tell us again the website so they so our listeners can learn more about the Knights and how they can join the chapter. |
| Damien O’Connor | It's KFC dot org. |
| Grazie | Thank you, Jamie. |
| Damien O’Connor | Thank you. |
| Grazie | Welcome back to Conversations with Consequences. I'm your host is Dr. Gracie Christie. And joining me now is my colleague at the Catholic Association, Ashley McGuire. Welcome to the show, Ashley. |
| Ashley | Hey, Gracie, it's always awesome to be talking with you. |
| Grazie | Super fun to talk to you always. And we have so much to talk about. Again, because just a couple of days ago, Kamala Harris, Vice President, Kamala Harris, she has picked Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, for her running mate, possibly to be our vice president in a few more months. And this makes the Kamala Harris Tim Walz ticket maybe the most anti-Catholic ticket in the history of the United States. Could that possibly be true? |
| Ashley | You know, people are saying that. But let's not forget, we had Obama-Biden, Biden, Harris. I mean, they've got. |
| Grazie | To go really. They've got to go really far to get to get the top billing, right? |
| Ashley | Yeah, but it's just so sad and pathetic that it's just like they keep outdoing themselves in terms of how like, bigoted. But I do I do think there's some truth to that because Kamala Harris is particularly anti-Catholic. You know, I know we've talked about that, but let's just say that it's a very bad ticket for Catholics who value our faith. |
| Grazie | Well, so easy, easy pickings, right? The Lord, the low hanging fruit is there. And is there complete devotion to abortion? Right. I mean, and they I think they're neck and neck. They they're both there are two people who believe in abortion in a way that sort of makes your skin crawl because I know you know, I know a lot of pro-choice people. My husband's family is they're atheists and I'm pro-choice. They're also really good people. And they have, like, subtlety. And they'll say, well, you know, in this case, I think it's okay. And in that case, that would be wrong. And I don't detect that from either Harris or Waltz. |
| Ashley | Yeah. You know, I mean, I think we've had a couple of weeks now to look at Kamala Harris's record on abortion. And we know that she's, you know, as extreme as they get and that she tried to wipe out pregnancy centers and she prosecuted David DeLay dying, the citizen journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood. But I was shocked to read in the National Review really excellent reporting on what's and the kind of the way that he, you know, to your point, that there is, like most Americans, even pro-choice Americans, have a very centrist view on abortion. And they can be. |
| Grazie | Subtle, actually, they can be subtle and they can be thoughtful and they can say, well, that's an ugly way to go down that path. And here's a way that seems more just to me, right? I know lots of people like that. |
| Ashley | Right. And he you know, he is managing a midwestern state where, you know, they had kind of a lot of common sense regulations that, you know, protected women's health and safety, you know, protect unborn babies. |
| Grazie | Parental protected parental consent. |
| Ashley | Right. And the things that his party stripped away and that he helped to oversee are stunning. You know, stuff about stripping away, informing women that they have the right to withdraw their consent, stripping away laws and regulations that make sure women aren't coerced into abortions. I mean. |
| Grazie | One thing one thing that apparently he hated very much and he made sure to get rid of it in 2023 was the there was a born alive infant act or law in force in Minnesota because because of a child, if a little baby survives a botched abortion. Right. If the abortionist is incompetent, like most abortionist and the baby gets away, then you have a little child squalling and struggling right on a on a stretcher. And it makes sense that that child should be assisted. So he made away with that law in May of 2023. And since then, I've read credible reports that 5 to 6 babies have been born alive and then allowed to expire without being offered aid. You know, they're just the most basic aid you'd give a human being who's gasping for air. |
| Ashley | Yeah, No, he he's he made his state a haven for Gosnell type abortionists and. Exactly. And it's it's so extreme. And, you know, we've we've talked about you and I have written about this really a heartbreaking study that came out in the last year showing that the overwhelming majority of women who have abortions didn't want to, and something like two and three of them felt coerced into having their abortion. So the fact that he was content and gave his governors stamp of approval to laws that stripped away regulations that made sure women aren't coerced into abortion, I mean, that opens the door for human trafficking. I mean. |
| Grazie | He basically took a broom and just swept away every possible commonsense regulation or protection around a procedure that everybody understands is very consequential. And it's and it's a procedure that that that women and girls turn to at crisis points in their lives when they're vulnerable, when they're in fear, when they're nauseous. Right. Like these are not procedures that should be thrown out there and an accessible freely and also administered by unscrupulous actors that we know are in it, you know, to make to rake in the big bucks. So he took a broom and he swept everything away. Maybe our listeners don't know. And we should mention it, that he passed, right? He passed a law. He helped pass a law and he signed it. And he he helped, you know, drum it through the legislature that made abortion for any reason at all legal in his state for four of the 40 weeks of pregnancy. And then he turned around and passed more laws that swept away whatever little protections were left, like the infant born alive Act and the court, the act against the law, against coercing women. What else? Parental consent. I mean, just tremendous. And let's not forget before, you know, maybe we talk a lot on the show about abortion because we're so pro-life and and we have we have five children and we love children. But let's not forget the trans the transgender ideology component of the Walt's administration. What do you know about that? |
| Ashley | Well, I just know that, you know, he's very much in lockstep with the gender ideology movement. And, you know, we're watching the Olympics right now. And, you know, like women's sports, for example, this is something that ordinary Americans of almost all stripes agree should be protected. And so, you know, I think we can be certain that he's somebody who is not going to defend women's sports and is going to be whipped around by a movement that, you know, frankly doesn't have concern for women, for women's safety, for women's rights. |
| Grazie | And and the children and the children. |
| Ashley | Well, and religious liberty, too, You know, I mean, this is a real yeah, this is a real clash point between our faith and the current culture, which is that our faith teaches us that men and women are different, that were created in the image of God, and that, you know, the gender ideology is a real affront to our faith because it suggests the opposite. It suggests that God didn't have a divine plan that we, you know, aren't complimentary or equal on that complementarity. But but it's also a movement that is constantly threatening the religious liberty of our schools, of our churches, of our institutions. And the honors. |
| Grazie | Even, you know, as as people of religion, we we especially hold on to the truth, right? Like for us, Jesus is the truth. So for us to to to have to live in a state or a country in which you're not able to freely express the truth at school, for instance, when you're teaching children and you have to teach them lies, which is basically what happens when you live in under a state governance that insists that transgender ideology has to be taught and you have to stick to that. You're you're literally dabbling in lies all day long. And so, you know, forgetting the I mean, you have this important complementarity and how God made us so beautifully, but it's also pure lies and loser of of the evil one. |
| Ashley | Right. Well, and let's not forget that Waltz would work for Harris. And she has been both the sponsor. She's been the sponsor of multiple bills that would directly threaten the religious liberty of the Catholic Church and its myriad institutions in this country on this particular issue. So, you know, they they they pose a acute and a direct threat, a religious liberty threat to the church. I think, you know, and again, I you know, I know we're talking about warts, but let's not forget that Harris is somebody who thinks that, you know, Catholic doctors should be forced to perform abortions. Do you think Waltz's not going to line up in lockstep with her on that? No question. |
| Grazie | I'm 100% sure that he's he thinks that's a great plan. |
| Ashley | This is the way the party the way the party works on these issues is you line up and you what? You march in lockstep and their party is totally out of step with average Americans on on these issues. And and again, they pose a direct threat to the conscience rights of Catholic health care workers, of Catholic teachers and parochial schools. |
| Grazie | What about Catholic parents who could have their children taken from them if they parental rights? Yeah, parental rights. |
| Ashley | Or just just the basic parental rights of parents. You know, in Montgomery County, Maryland, where I live, there's a huge lawsuit going on right now over whether or not religious parents and it's not just Catholics. I mean, they're being joined by Muslims and evangelicals who who want to opt their children out, the basic right to be informed of when their children are going to be taught as young as kindergarten, sexually explicit gender, ideology, material and want to opt out. And the the Montgomery County Public School district is is digging in their heels. And one I mean, again, you can be absolutely sure that a waltz Harris ticket is going to take that national. |
| Grazie | Yeah I'm 100% sure of that. That is very scary. You know what else is scary? And and Waltz has has spoken out on this topic is the border. And as Catholics, obviously, we feel very strongly that the the stranger must be welcomed. But a border the way the border is being run right now is a danger to every single person that approaches it, that crosses it, people who live on the American side, who are having cartels trafficking people in drugs across their front yards, the fentanyl, that's being the poison, the girls who are being trafficked across the border for for sex, sex purposes. I mean, there's so much horror going on across our southern border. And both of these politicians feel very strongly that that should continue, as far as I can tell. Waltz talked about building them ladders, and I guess when he says them, he's talking about the drug cartels and the sex traffickers. |
| Ashley | Know and you know, our church you're right. They they the Catholic Church emphasizes the the the need to welcome the migrant and the stranger. But it also preaches that nations have a right to their own sovereignty. You know, and and the the issue of how to manage a border is is something that it relegates to lawmakers and lawmakers in the Democratic Party have obstructed any attempt to secure the border in the most basic of ways, as you point out, to prevent nefarious actors who, you know, whether it's terrorists or drug dealers or human traffickers from entering our country and exploiting our people, including exploiting the the immigrants who who are coming here seeking a better life who just want to feed their children. You know, these people exploit them, too. Yeah. |
| Grazie | They're the ones you know, child labor has gone up since the border was opened and children are being brought across that border and put to work illegal child labor. And there's an I don't even get me started on the sex trafficking because that just makes me insanely upset that we could basically, you know, hold up a sign and say here, traffic across our border because we have lots of rich Americans who are willing to pay high prices. I mean, just terrible the amount of the amount of the fear and all that one fears when you see a possible Harris Waltz combination ticket. You know what I. I did some research because I've been writing a piece on pregnancy care centers. I am I'm the director of the Archdiocese of Miami Centers. And I read their ultrasounds and Tim Waltz. One of the things that he did that he was very eager to do was to to take away any state funding from the pregnancy care centers in Minnesota. And that was that was just a holy grail for him. And he succeeded in 2023. |
| Ashley | Yeah. No, For all their talk about choice, the left seems very intent on removing the other choice for women who are contemplating abortion, which is to to choose life and the all the wonderful pregnancy centers that want to walk right up and help women to make the choice that we know they actually want to make, which is to have their child and to support them. And and it's it's it's shameful. And, you know, I think by choosing him, Kamala Harris is showing what kind of administration she would run, which is one that's anti-life, anti-family and anti Catholicism. |
| Grazie | Do you think that Catholics in general are are you understanding these these subtleties? I find that I worry that because them the mainstream media is so adulatory and so, you know, they're so excited about that. The Harris Waltz team that a lot of people are maybe not hearing these important things that I mean, important to all Americans, not just Catholics not and and as you say, not just pro-life Americans. Right? Even pro-choice Americans have a lot to worry about with this with this, you know. |
| Ashley | Pro pro common sense Americans. Yeah. No, I think that's a concern. But, you know, I thankfully, we live in an era where there's more ways to get to consume information than just the major news outlets. And you know, I guess you and I have their work cut out for us between now and November. |
| Grazie | Yes, we do. So thank you so much, Ashley, for joining me. And I hope that all our listeners gleaned a lot of information about about this very important topic. And we'll continue looking at that as the months go on. |
| Ashley | Thanks, Gracie. |
| Grazie | Every morning the Catholic Association reviews all the latest news and sends our subscribers a carefully curated collection of the most important news of the day. Items are specifically selected for a smart Catholic audience like you don't let the world take you by surprise. Subscribe to our daily media roundup at the Catholic Association dot org. Welcome back to Conversations with Consequences. It's the end of summertime and we look around and in our own homes and on our streets, people are coming back to start the new school year, saying goodbye to the happy and pleasant semi relaxation of summer because all of us have busy lives. The new traffic, right? That starts when the kids go back to school and you have to struggle harder to get to work and come back from work as the traffic gets. It occurred to me that it's a wonderful time to think about how to have a really good plan of life to sustain us spiritually every day as we deal with all the complications of all our very complicated lives. For me, a plan of life has to do with having a daily, several times a day contact with God in various different ways, like daily mass and a daily rosary, and a time for spiritual, a time for meditative prayer. And that sounds like a lot to to stuff into an already busy life. But in my experience, it's been something that has become indispensable in order to do everything else in my life that has to get done properly, with peace, with with a really strong and present knowledge of my my daughter ness to God. Right. That I am God's daughter, just like all of you are, or God's son. And how important that is to keep front and center as we face the rest of this year, which is going to be a difficult year because of elections and all the ways that difficulties assail us. And now Father Roger Landry offers us, as is customary, a short and inspiring homily to prepare us for this Sunday's gospel. |
| Fr. Landry | This is Father Roger later, and it's a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the rest of our cheese wants to have with each of us. This Sunday, in which, we will go more deeply into the third week of Jesus five week course on the mystery of his body and blood in the Holy Eucharist, which Jesus taught for the first time in the synagogue of Capernaum and renews for us every third summer. The timing this year is particularly appropriate as we seek to profit more deeply from and share in the ongoing Eucharistic revival Renewing the Church in the United States. Two weeks ago we had the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, which was a foreshadowing of the multiplication of the meal of the Last Supper throughout every land and time to feed the spiritually famished human race. Last Sunday, Jesus told us not to work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. That he would give us. And in response to the crowds asking him to one up Moses in the desert, who gave them manna from heaven every day for 40 years, Jesus told them that it wasn't Moses who gave them the manna, but God, the Father who gives them the true manna. This Sunday, Jesus continues that consequential conversation which gets into the heart of his teaching on his self gift to us in the Holy Eucharist on the faith we need to believe in as Eucharistic presence and the opposition his teaching on the Eucharist has received from the beginning. Let's Take each part in turn. First, Jesus emphasized more deeply how he is the true man, the nourishment God the Father provides for us in the desert of life until, we reach the eternal promised land. I am the bread that came down from heaven, he tells us. And then he adds, I am the bread of life. It's a basic truth that we become what we eat. And Jesus foretelling that when we consume him, we become one with his life, Since he is eternal, to consume him is to receive everlasting life. He tells us, Your ancestors ate the men in the desert, but they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. Then he specified even more. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. These are extraordinary words which we shouldn't watered down or pass over. First, they sound cannibalistic, as if Jesus is saying that we need to eat Him the way we consume animals or animals consume carcasses. Of course, that's not what his words mean. We're not killing Jesus in order to consume as flesh like cannibals do. He's giving us under the miraculous appearances of bread and wine, his entire body, blood, soul and divinity. Second, once we let those words of his sink in, we get to Jesus. Mind blowing. Promise that when we eat him, we will not die but live forever. He swears an oath and says, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood as eternal life will raise them on the last day. And he tells us why? Because whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me. And I in him tries to explain this mystery by analogy to his own relationship to God. The Father, just as a living father sent me. And I have life because of the father. So also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. That's the upshot of this deep mystery, is that by receiving Holy Communion, by eating Jesus body and drinking his blood, his life becomes the principle of our life. We draw our life from him just as he draws his life from the father. And since his life is eternal, death for us will just be a passage into a new and permanent form of life. Communion with him was triumph over death and holds all life in existence. There are two responses to Jesus's words. One is doubt. We see it first in the passage this Sunday, when the crowds murmured, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say I have come down from heaven? To them, Jesus was basically a preaching carpenter from Nazareth, and they questioned his credentials. Afterword As we'll hear next Sunday, the crowds questioned the substance of his remarks, quarreling. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? And later, in a passage we will consider in two weeks, they'll say The saying is hard. Who can accept it? We shouldn't dismiss these objections because many of our contemporaries will raise the same ones. Jesus makes huge claims both about his origin as well as our destiny. Through the gift to the Eucharist, he gives. The only way either of them could make sense is if Jesus were truly far more than a man. If he were, God would come down from heaven. And if, through consuming his flesh and blood, we would be doing more than eating cells with 46 chromosomes, but coming into contact with divine life itself. That's why we need to pass to the second response to Jesus words. Precisely faith. Jesus said to the doubting crowd, Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draw him and I will raise on the last day to leave, in his words. Jesus says, We must be drawn by God, the Father. We need the gift of divine grace just continues. It's written in the prophets. They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my father and learns from him comes to me. God. The Father wants to teach us, but we need to listen and learn from him. That's the fundamental openness of faith that we're docile to God in his teaching, that we allow him to stretch us beyond our human category, that we trust in his ability to do what human experience is. What by human experience is simply impossible and therefore miraculous. Jesus listeners at the time did not realize that God, the Father had drawn them to his son right there in the Capernaum synagogue. There was attempting to teach them right then and there through his through Jesus, but they were resistant to listening and learning. They needed to learn how to trust in Jesus enough to trust in his words, whereas that would only make better sense a year later, when during the next Passover, Jews would take private bread and wine into his hands and totally transform them into his body and blood under the appearance, appearances human food and say, Take and eat. This is my body and take and drink. This is the chalice in my blood. Faith, however, involves this trust. A Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote for us in his famous a Dorota to vote for the first Corpus Christi celebration. 760 years ago, I believe whatever the Son of God has said, because nothing is truer than the word of truth drawn by the Father, listening and learning as he sought to teach us through Jesus. We trust in what Jesus says because we trust in Him, the one sent by God. The Father will have a chance to enter more deeply into Jesus challenging words again over the next two weeks. But for now, we need to ensure that this conversation with Jesus is truly consequential. Consequential in allowing God the Father, to draw us toward His Son and the Holy Eucharist, consequential and having us truly listen to him and learn from him as he seeks to draw us into the greatest mystery of salvation history of all. It wasn't enough for God's love that he took on a humanity at the Incarnation. Wasn't enough that he died for us from Calvary and rose in the third day. He wanted to make it possible for us to draw our life from him by means of the Eucharist, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which he has given for the life of the world and for your life. And for my life. Just as much as we survive off the food and drink, we eat materially so much more. Do we survive off the spiritual food? He gives us his body blood in the Holy Eucharist. Therefore, we need to ensure that this Sunday's conversation is consequential in getting us to eat Jesus flesh and drink his blood in a life giving way, seeking to become whom we eat and draw our life from him in all aspects of our existence, just as he draws his life from the father. And we also need to ensure that it's consequential in getting us to stake our whole life. On what he affirms that through this act of the mass and a reception of Jesus in Holy Communion, Jesus will indeed give us eternal life by raising us up in the last day. May this Sunday's gospel be consequential in all these ways. God bless you. |
| Grazie | Thank you, Father Landry. To hear more from Father Landry, check out his website on Catholic priest CNN.com. And you can also catch his writings at EWTN on National Catholic Register. A big thank you to all our listeners for joining us. I hope that this show was helpful. I hope that it gave you more peace and more hope and more joy and you go with our prayers. |