The Catholic Culture Podcast CatholicCulture.org

This is a discussion of an interesting little book from 1967 that has re-entered the discourse, Prayer as a Political Problem by Jean Danielou, SJ, recently reprinted by Cluny Media. In this book which seems confoundingly ahead of its time, before its time, and (irksomely) of its time, Danielou insists that prayer forms a constitutive part of the temporal common good. Governments, therefore, have a responsibility to create conditions making it easy for the common people to conduct a spiritual life. Danielou’s claim that religion and prayer are necessary even for the temporal good of civilizations is timely, and his reflections on the dangers of technological civilization are prescient. The book is not without its troublesome aspects, though, most notably Danielou’s peculiar sociological definition of religion. Brandon McGinley, who has dealt with this subject matter in his own books, joins the show to discuss Danielou's work.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/95hjrIHO-aY
Links
Jean Danielou, Prayer as a Political Problem https://clunymedia.com/products/prayer-as-a-political-problem
Previous episode with Brandon McGinley on his book The Prodigal Church https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-82-habitual-counterculture-brandon-mcginley/
Brandon McGinley and Scott Hahn, It Is Right and Just https://stpaulcenter.com/product/it-is-right-and-just-why-the-future-of-civilization-depends-on-true-religion/
Other things mentioned:
Jacques Maritain, The Primacy of the Spiritual https://clunymedia.com/products/the-primacy-of-the-spiritual?_pos=7&_sid=66d0aa627&_ss=r
The Lord of Spirits podcast episode on the Nephilim, "A Land of Giants" https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/land_of_giants
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Catholic circles, especially online, have seen significant division and anger over the COVID-19 vaccines. The majority position is essentially “The Church says taking the vaccine is OK”—“Rome has spoken”—while a loud minority insists that no circumstances can ever justify using vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines.
Neither side accurately represents the Church’s guidance on the matter, especially her most authoritative statement, Dignitas Personae (2008), which says that only grave reasons may allow taking such vaccines, and that those who do so have a special obligation to protest the use of abortion and aborted fetal cells in its production. It also says that refusing out of conscience to take such a vaccine is not only allowed, but can be praiseworthy.
This discussion with Michael Pakaluk and Jay Richards, two signers of the statement “To Awaken Conscience”, avoids undue rigorism about cooperation with evil, but also avoids a permissive legalism that says, inaccurately, that the Church says it’s allowed under any circumstances and therefore there is no reason of conscience to refuse the vaccine. Instead of dictating to or dulling conscience, it assists conscience by clarifying a number of issues related to the production and use of vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines.
We do so by consulting Dignitas Personae as well as examining the moral issues with the actual production of the vaccines. While the liceity of vaccine production and the liceity of using the end product are two distinct issues, the latter decision is clarified when we know precisely what we are remotely cooperating with (not so much the original abortion, but an ongoing series of outrages by research scientists continuing to use aborted fetal cells). We also distinguish between the moral principles provided by the Church and the prudential judgments about public and personal health which lie outside the Church’s competence.
We also address various other statements that have been made, such as the one by Archbishop Schneider, Bishop Strickland and other bishops; and the statement by the Ethics & Public Policy Center.
Watch discussion on Rumble: https://rumble.com/vho187-abortion-derived-vaccines-conscience-over-legalism-michael-pakaluk-jay-rich.html
Read a full transcript of this discussion: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12522
Links
Church documents discussed:
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Personae (relevant paragraphs are 34-35) https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html
CDF, Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 Vaccines (2020) https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html
Commentary discussed:
 “To Awaken Conscience” https://mailchi.mp/7742dd12483f/statement-of-conscience-to-awaken-conscience
Michael Pakaluk, “Why I Signed ‘To Awaken Conscience’”  https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/why-i-signed-to-awaken-conscience
Jose Trasancos, “The Cell Lines Used for COVID-19 Vaccines Came from Carefully Planned Abortions, Not Miscarriages” https://stream.org/the-cell-lines-used-for-covid-19-vaccines-came-from-carefully-planned-abortions-not-miscarriages/
Bishops Schneider, Strickland, et al, “COVID Vaccines: ‘The Ends Cannot Justify the Means’” https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/covid-vaccines-the-ends-cannot-justify-the-means
Ethics & Public Policy Center, “Statement from Pro-Life Catholic Scholars on the Moral Acceptability of Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines” https://eppc.org/news/statement-from-pro-life-catholic-scholars-on-the-moral-acceptability-of-receiving-covid-19-vaccines/
Roberto de Mattei, On the Moral Liceity of the Vaccination https://libri.

Observing both Church history and the events of our lifetime, we can no longer be surprised at the existence of corrupt and abusive priests and bishops. Priestly sexual abuse, for example, was a problem the Church had to fight during the Middle Ages.
The scandal of 2020 and beyond, however, finds no equal precedent in Church history. That bishops throughout the world would choose, of their own volition and without even the excuse of persecution, to deny participation in Mass to the laity for long periods of time, is still as shocking to contemplate today as it is nightmarish to witness.
The Church's response to COVID-19 was and is a failure of Christian witness like few we have seen. By and large, Catholics in no way distinguished themselves from their secular peers either in rejecting irrational fear or in simply valuing other things above bodily health. The example of the early martyrs, who were willing to risk their lives to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, seems to have been forgotten entirely.
Catholic Culture's own Phil Lawler has written a new book addressing this massive scandal and advocating a different approach - Contagious Faith: Why the Church Must Spread Hope, Not Fear, in a Pandemic.
Topics covered in this interview include:
How the Church's behavior in this pandemic differs from the oft-cited response of St. Charles Borromeo to plague Bishops acting like public health bureaucrats instead of shepherds of souls Why a confrontation with civil authorities must be forced to ameliorate the evil precedent set for future actions against the Church How the laity can encourage their priests and bishops to defy illegitimate restrictions on the Mass What does obedience require of us? Must Catholics cooperate with absurd requirements from pastors to exercise their basic right to attend Mass? Can Catholics attend illicit masses? Can Catholic priests celebrate them in defiance of their bishop? Is there a moral obligation to take extraordinary measures to protect one's neighbor from even the slightest risk of catching a disease? Catholics must be a witness to hope in the power of prayer and in eternal life Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aFxgWqp1J80
Links
Phil Lawler, Contagious Faith https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/contagious-faith
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Michael Pakaluk joins the show to discuss his new translation and commentary on St. John's gospel, making the case that this loftiest of gospels echoes the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the evangelist's adopted mother) in subtle but profound ways.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G0PDD5Qyfh0
Links
Mary's Voice in the Gospel According to John https://www.regnery.com/9781684511198/marys-voice-in-the-gospel-according-to-john/
Episode 34 on Michael Pakaluk's translation of Mark's Gospel https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-34-memoirs-st-peter-michael-pakaluk/
Donate to support the show: www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This episode features highlight clips from episodes 26-30 of the Catholic Culture Podcast.
Links
Online Great Books opens a new enrollment period approximately once a month. Get in there using discount code “catholicculture” for 25% off your first three months! Or use this referral link: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibition book https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Maker-Middle-earth-Catherine-McIlwaine/dp/1851244859/
29 - Catholic Feminism: Should We? - Abigail Rine Favale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-29-catholic-feminism-should-we-abigail-rine-favale/
28 - An Introduction to Maritain's Poetic Philosophy - Samuel Hazo https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-28-introduction-to-maritains-poetic-philosophy-samuel-hazo/
26 - The Arts, Contemplation and Virtue - Basil Cole, OP https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-26-arts-contemplation-and-virtue-basil-cole-op/
27 - Always Wanted to Study the Great Books? Here's How You'll Actually Follow Through - Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
30 - What Tolkien's Visual Art Tells Us About His Creative Mind - John McQuillen, Holly Ordway https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-30-what-tolkiens-visual-art-tells-us-about-his-creative-mind-john-mcquillen-and-holly-ordway/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Did you know there's a hotel in NYC named after Pope Leo XIII? The Leo House was founded in the 1880s as a boarding house for German Catholic immigrants, at the behest of the Holy Father, and is still operating today as a Catholic hotel providing charitable hospitality at a discount.
In this episode you'll learn from the Leo House's chairman and president, Michael Coneys, about the hotel's fascinating history. The story involves Pope Leo's special care for the Catholic Church in Germany as it was struggling under Protestant Prussian rule; as well as the St. Raphael Society, which helped political dissidents to escape Nazi Germany. It also involves a very providential visit from Mother Teresa! But this is also a very contemporary story story of one of many Catholic nonprofits struggling to survive the past year's lockdowns.
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8888Qu0oonc
Links
Learn more: https://leohousenyc.com/
Donate to the Leo House: https://leohousenyc.com/donate/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio