The Gloria Purvis Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Becoming woke changed Sr. Helen Prejean's life Sep 07, 2021

Show notes

A young Sr. Helen Prejean loved retreats and pious devotions. Her life was all about praying and being kind. Then she woke up. "I had everything to learn" she says.

Gloria speaks with Sr. Helen–a world renowned anti-death penalty activist–about her experience growing up in the south as a white Catholic. Sr. Helen describes how she woke up to systemic racism and explains its impact on the criminal justice system, including the decision of prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The problem, according to Sr. Helen, is that the individuals with the power to make life and death decisions often don't know personally the suffering of the poor and the marginalized, including guilty men and women. Being steeped in the suffering of others, she says, is the key to waking up.

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Links:

Sr. Helen Prejean's spiritual autobiography, "River of Fire"

Pope Francis revises Catechism, teaches that death penalty is ‘inadmissible’

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Can Catholics be honest about the sins of their Saints? Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

For Catholics, saints are remarkable Christian witnesses worthy of emulation. But what happens when a saint or hero is found to have acted contrary to the gospel? Fanatic enthusiasts may try to explain it away, says Dawn Eden Goldstein, when they should be acknowledging and denouncing it. Goldstein reflects on the life and legacy of beloved English writer and Catholic apologist G.K. Chesterton whose writings have inspired millions of Christians, but include some controversial and prejudicial claims about the Jewish people.

Gloria and Dawn discuss why "othering" groups of people is so destructive, especially when it's done by our heroes–from the saints to the founding fathers–and how their cheerleaders can show love and appreciation for them through penance and reparations.

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Dawn Eden Goldstein's address on why GKC's fans must reckon honestly with his anti-Semitism

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How vaccines became a battle line in the Catholic culture war Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

Citing the church's teaching on personal conscience, a group of Catholic bishops from Colorado issued a statement on August 6th against state-imposed vaccine mandates. Their concern stemmed from a valid, yet very remote connection between Covid-19 vaccines and stem cells from aborted fetuses. But is their concern serving the common good or a culture war? "My issue is that this concern is being weaponized," says Sam Sawyer, SJ. While the concern about vaccines and religious exemptions is technically true theologically, it focuses on a very narrow slice of Catholic moral analysis, ultimately misrepresenting the church's official position: that taking a vaccine is morally acceptable and an act of love.

Gloria and Fr. Sam talk through the Catholic Church's moral analysis of the Covid-19 vaccines from a wholistic and nuanced perspective. They discuss why some outspoken Catholics (including bishops) are jettisoning the fullness of the Catholic moral tradition, and why concern for the "common good" is central to any discussion around vaccines and Catholicism.

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Articles by Sam Sawyer, SJ:

Catholic bishops must not turn vaccines into a culture war issue

How not to talk about vaccines: Some bishops are choosing the culture war over the common good

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After the deadliest attack on Latinos in American history, Bishop Seitz called this evil by name: racism. Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Gloria speaks with the Most Reverend Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso, a borderland community whose sister city is Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The bishop has focused his work and heart on the poor and vulnerable, including migrant families and refugees. In August 2019, a white 21 year old man shot and killed 23 people and injured 23 others in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. The gunman had just published an anti-immigrant, white nationalist manifesto online before the attack. And he explicitly targeted those he considered to be Mexicans. Bishop Seitz consoled the victims and their families in the months that followed, but he also wrote a pastoral letter “Night Will Be No More,” in which he directly confronts the evil of racism that led to this mass shooting. In it he writes, “Challenging racism and white supremacy, whether in our hearts or in society, is a Christian imperative and the cost of not facing these issues head on, weighs much more heavily on those who live the reality of discrimination.”

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Bishop Seitz’s Pastoral Letter on racism, Night Will Be No More

Bishop Seitz’s Pastoral Letter on migration, Sorrow and Mourning Flee Away

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How to be on social media without losing your soul Aug 10, 2021

Show notes

What's the real motivation behind that Facebook post or Tweet? Catholics–like many people today–spend a significant amount of time on social media platforms posting comments and articles, and some of them are divisive, hurtful or even violent. Fr. Josh Johnson, the vocations director for the diocese of Baton Rouge and a prominent young priest with a large social media following, analyses the spiritual pitfalls of social media and the unloving digital communication rampant in the Church today.

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Learn more about the Ask Father Josh podcast.

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Catholics were misled about the traditional Latin Mass–and their pain is real Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

When Pope Francis dropped a bombshell decree restricting the traditional Latin Mass, Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, had two immediate reactions: shock at its severity, and then heartbreak and concern for the people who attend the Mass.

Francis' decree, Traditionis Custodes, seeks to phase out the traditional Latin Mass, says Fr. Ruff, in a noble attempt to bring all Roman Catholics back together around the altar of the reformed Mass envisioned by Vatican II. But that could take decades, and the pain that traditional Catholics are feeling right now is real. Gloria and Fr. Ruff discuss the history of the Mass and why the pursuit of a pre-Vatican II church is misguided and dangerous.

A Benedictine monk of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, Fr. Ruff teaches liturgy and liturgical music, and directs Gregorian Chant. He blogs at Pray Tell.

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Pope Francis restricts celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass in new decree

Explainer: What is the history of the Latin Mass?

I once fell in love with the Latin Mass—which is why I understand why Pope Francis restricted it.

I love Latin Mass and Pope Francis. Please don’t let a few (very loud) traditionalists ruin it for the rest of us.

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Canada’s racial reckoning: The Catholic Church’s role in the colonization and destruction of Indigenous lives Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

Recent evidence of hundreds of unmarked graves at numerous residential schools in Canada has made headlines around the world. But the news is not new, says to Sam Rocha, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia.

The Catholic Church participated in Canada's residential school system in the 19th and 20th centuries, where 150,000 Indigenous children were sent against their wills to be assimilated into European settler–and Christian–society. An unknown number of children never returned to their families.

Gloria and Sam speak about the legacy of the Church's involvement in the residential school system and colonization more broadly. While some Catholics have felt the need to defend the Church's actions in light of her evangelizing mission, Sam suggests that it's those Catholics who need to be evangelized to the Gospel.

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Túpac Shakur at 50: Remembering an underdog prophet by Sam Rocha

Learn more about Sam Rocha and listen to his podcast, Folk Phenomenology here

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What if you are wrong?–How to engage with opposing ideas and beliefs Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

There is nothing to fear from deep, respectful, honest engagement with people who think and believe differently than we do. That's the mantra of Robert P. George, McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison program in American ideals and institutions at Princeton university.

George offers a historic overview and penetrating legal explanation of a hotly debated topic in American society today: religious liberty. He argues that a republican democracy must allow for diverging–even opposing–beliefs to be heard in the public square. A staunch defender of the freedom of speech, truth-seeking and dialogue, George challenges listeners to wrestle with a terrifying idea: that our opinions and beliefs may not be true.

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Links:

Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression - A Statement by Robert P. George and Cornel West

Dignitatis Humanae - Vatican II's declaration on religious freedom

Nostra Aetate - Vatican II's declaration on non-Christian religions

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What Catholics need to know about Critical Race Theory Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Is Critical Race Theory compatible with Catholic social teaching? Or, is it an inherently misguided school of thought corrupting the minds of high school and college students about race in America?

Vince Rougeau, the Dean of Boston College Law School and the new president of the College of the Holy Cross, joins Gloria for a candid conversation on Catholic education today, including Critical Race Theory , "wokeism" and lingering systems of racial injustice.

“Not every conclusion that comes out of Critical Race Theory is compatible with Catholicism," says Rougeau, "but how could it be the case that Catholics would not want to engage with an intellectual tool that helps deepen our understanding of race?”

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Boston College’s initiative to transform the way we think about racial justice in America by Vincent Rougeau

Should Catholic Schools Teach Critical Race Theory? by Christopher Devron, S.J.

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Should President Biden be denied the Eucharist? Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

A debate is raging in the Catholic Church about "Eucharistic coherence" around president Joe Biden and whether or not he should receive Communion in light of his policy positions on abortion. The U.S. Bishops are constructing a teaching document around the Eucharist in the life of the church that could single out public figures who support legalized abortion.

Timothy O'Malley, director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame, joins Gloria to weigh into the conversation and to discuss what Catholics actually believe about the Eucharist.

O'Malley's perspective offers some much needed nuance: on the one hand, the Eucharist is "intrinsically political" because it's a public act committing every Catholic to transforming the world in love. So, the question around president Biden receiving Communion is a legitimate one. On the other hand, if those Catholics who insist on denying Communion to the President feel vindicated or take delight in the process, it's a clear sign that perhaps they should not receive Communion themselves. The whole debate, according to O'Malley, is an invitation to each baptized person to reflect on their own Eucharistic coherence.

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Links:

PEW study: Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ

Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter? by Timothy P. O'Malley

A Pastoral Letter on the Human Dignity of the Unborn, Holy Communion, and Catholics in Public Life by Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco

Read more from America on the debate on Eucharistic coherence here

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