The Commonweal Podcast

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Ep. 149 - When the Good Book Isn’t a Book Mar 27, 2025

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Catholics listen to snippets of the Bible read every Sunday, but how many of them actually sit with and ponder the text?

It’s long been a truism that Catholics don’t actually read the Bible — at least not as much or in the same way as their Protestant brethren.

But that doesn’t mean Catholics don’t encounter it, whether in books, films, plays, or popular culture.

On this episode, Fordham theology professor and frequent Commonweal contributor Michael Peppard, author of the new book How Catholics Encounter the Bible, joins editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how, paradoxically, the Bible shapes Catholic lives—just usually not in the shape of a book.

For further reading:

Michael Peppard on the Bible and Marian art
Christian Wiman on the Bible as poetry
Eve Tushnet on the queer Catholic imagination

Ep. 148 - What Novels Do Mar 06, 2025

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What should great fiction do for us?

That’s the question asked by Edwin Frank, editorial director of New York Review Books and author of Stranger than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel.

Good books—and there were many written during the past hundred years—can entertain, just as they can give us pleasure. But great ones have the ‘power to breach,’ that is, to upset and provoke us, shattering our illusions about the world.

On this episode, Frank speaks with Commonweal contributor and literary critic Tony Domestic about authors like Dostoevsy, Proust, and Virginia Woolf, among others.

For further reading:

Fiction by Alice McDermott
Mollie Wilson O’Reilly on George Eliot’s double life
Tony Domestico’s latest books column

Ep. 147 - The New ‘Preeminent Urgency’ Feb 18, 2025

Show notes

In his first month back in office, Donald Trump has made cruelty toward migrants and refugees central to his agenda, while J. D. Vance has used his flawed understanding of Catholic social teaching to justify the administration’s plans for mass deportation.

Their actions and remarks have alarmed many in the Church. On this episode, three guests tell us how and why.

Massimo Faggioli, Commonweal contributor and Villanova University professor addresses the challenges for Catholicism in the second Trump era.

Kerry Robinson, the head of Catholic Charities USA, explains the vital work of her organization and who will be most harmed by the freezes in federal funding.

And Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago speaks about why “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants” is the Church’s new “preeminent urgency.”

For further reading:

Massimo Faggioli on what American regime change means for the Church
Griffin Oleynick on Francis’s rebuke of J. D. Vance’s ethno-nationalism
Terence Sweeney on how the bishops may respond to Trump

Ep. 146 - Aging in America Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

Fights over federal spending usually follow a predictable pattern, with Republicans attempting to cut entitlement programs as Democrats seek to expand the social safety net.

One thing that’s rarely threatened, though, is Social Security, a testament to the political clout of “older people”—formerly known as “senior citizens” in America.

How did things get that way?

On this episode, historian James Chappel speaks about his recent book Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age, which details the creation of Social Security as it criticizes the failure of the political left to make its benefits more broadly available.

For further reading:

Peter Quinn on aging, aging, and gratitude
Rand Richards Cooper on caring for aging parents
James Chappel on material insecurity
Charles Morris on the future of social security

Ep. 145 - Memory Matters Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

For as long as humans beings have existed, we have had a knack for forgetting—not only when memory proves difficult, but when it becomes inconvenient.

We need only look at Donald Trump’s pardoning of the January 6 “hostages” for the latest, most egregious example.

Why do humans long to forget? Why do we hide the truth from ourselves? What is the function of memory in democratic societies?

On this episode, senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University and author of the new book Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting not to Know.

For further reading:

Matt Boudway on a memoir by Julian Barnes
Tal Howard reviews Mark Lilla’s Shipwrecked Mind
Timothy Snyder on the indignity of voting for Donald Trump
Tomáš Halík on what some in the Church prefer to forget

Ep. 144 - Best Interviews of 2024 Dec 27, 2024

Show notes

As you probably know by now, 2024 was a big year for Commonweal, marking one hundred years of continuous publication.

It was also an important one for the podcast, which for five years—and nearly one hundred and fifty episodes—has been bringing you reflective conversations with inspiring writers, thinkers, artists, and political and religious leaders.

On this episode, we’re revisiting four of our favorite episodes from the past year:

Marilynne Robinson and Christian Wiman on Genesis
Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman on the ethics of having children
Vinson Cunningham on criticism as a way of life
Rabbi Shai Held on Judaism’s loving heart.

Ep. 143 - ‘Hope Grows in the Dark’ Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

What does it mean to “have hope,” especially during challenging times? Is it something we can possess, like a talisman to ward off despair?

No, argues Norman Wirzba, distinguished professor of Christian theology at Duke and author of the new book Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. Instead, “hope” is a verb—an action we have to do.

On this episode Wirzba explains how he manages to hope, even in the face of some of our most intractable problems—including war, migration, and the climate crisis.

For further reading:

Oscar Romero on politics and Christian love
Vincent Miller on Pope Francis’s ecological hope
Eric Miller on the fiction of Wendell Berry

Ep. 142 - ‘What Backlash Looks Like’ Nov 26, 2024

Show notes

In the wake of the 2024 election, many are wondering how to make sense of the results—including how a capable, qualified woman could lose to a man like Donald Trump, an adjudicated rapist whose campaign regularly celebrated a version of masculinity that many find offensively misogynistic.

On this episode, Commonweal editor-at-large Mollie Wilson O’Reilly and Natalia Imperatori Lee, professor of religious studies at Manhattan University, reflect on what just happened. They also parse what the second Trump administration might portend for Democrats, the Church, and especially women.

It’s long past time, they argue, not only for men to confront sexism and misogyny, but to work to articulate healthy versions of masculinity. Trump’s election may be a massive setback for feminism—but how the story ends depends on our response.

For further reading:

Mollie Wilson O’Reilly ponders Trump’s 2016 election
Regina Munch on why we can’t disengage
The editors on why the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Ep. 141 - Follow the Money Nov 14, 2024

Show notes

The invitation-only Catholic prelature known as Opus Dei, founded in Spain in 1927 by the recently canonized priest Josemaría Escrivá, currently counts just around 3,000 members in the United States. Yet its influence, especially among rightwing Catholics who occupy significant posts in Washington, is vast.

On this episode, editor Dominic Preziosi speaks with financial journalist Gareth Gore, author of the new book Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church.

Relying on bank records and the testimony of whistleblowers, Gore demystifies the secretive world of Opus Dei, showing how it has recruited powerful individuals and harmed vulnerable ones in its quest for political sway.

For further reading:

Daniele Palmer on Opus Dei’s ‘ordinary secularity’
George Scialabba reviews Opus for The Baffler

Ep. 140 - Fewer Screens, More Meaning Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

It’s no secret that there’s a mental health crisis affecting young people in the United States. Rates of anxiety, symptoms of depression, and even suicide attempts have hit record highs.

That’s partly what motivated Anna Moreland and Thomas Smith to write The Young Adult Playbook, a kind of “self-help” book intended to help high school and college students think through the deep questions of life, love, and vocation.

On this episode, Moreland and Smith speak with associate editor Regina Munch about their book, explaining how young people can live rich, flourishing, and meaningful lives.

For further reading:

Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko on the good life
Regina Munch on the advantages of marriage
Brenda Noriega on synodality, young people, and leadership

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