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Ep. 156 - The Counterweight: The Common Good & American Liberalism
Season 1 Episode 156
A little more than eight months into the second Trump presidency, many Americans today find the United States increasingly unrecognizable: a volatile and inflationary economy, rising political violen…
Published on 11 hours ago
Ep. 155 - The Counterweight: Against White Christian Nationalism
Season 1 Episode 155
One of the most prominent features of the second Trump administration has been its bluntly racist actions and policymaking.
Recent examples abound, from the suspension of asylum for migrants and ref…
Published on 1 month ago
Ep. 154 - The Counterweight: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching
Since becoming pope, Leo XIV has reminded us that the Catholic Church “offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching.” That tradition is especially salient now, amid the rise of Christian na…
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Ep. 153 - It’s Just Wrong
Season 1 Episode 153
For decades, public support for the death penalty in the United States has been declining. But in recent years, the number of executions has risen sharply—and a majority of Americans still say they s…
Published on 2 months ago
Ep. 152 - Crypto-Religiosity
Season 1 Episode 152
It’s often remarked that America has become less religious, especially during recent decades. But what if that religiosity hasn’t disappeared, but just taken less visible forms?
That’s exactly what w…
Published on 3 months ago
Ep. 151 - The First U.S. Pontiff
Season 1 Episode 151
The swift elevation to the papacy of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—known simply as ‘Bob’ among his fellow Augustinian friars—defied pundits’ predictions even as it was met with joy by …
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Ep. 150 - Remembering Francis
Season 1 Episode 150
Three theologians—Massimo Faggioli, Susan Bigelow Reynolds, and Terence Sweeney—reflect with Commonweal editors on the pope’s legacy.
More coverage of the death of Pope Francis:
Isabella Simon on Let …Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Ep. 149 - When the Good Book Isn’t a Book
Season 1 Episode 149
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 leas…
Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Ep. 148 - What Novels Do
Season 1 Episode 148
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.
G…
Published on 6 months ago
Ep. 147 - The New ‘Preeminent Urgency’
Season 1 Episode 147
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…
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago