Window Light Podcast

The Schemmel Lecture: The Future of the Synodal Church in the US

After a long hiatus, the Window Light podcast is back with the final episode of Season 2, a recording of the Frederik and Emma Schemmel Theology Lecture I delivered at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa on April 15. The topic of the lecture was “The Future of the Synodal Church in the US,” and I focused on how the proposals put forward in the final document from the Synod on Synodality not only promise to renew the Church, but also can serve as a prophetic witness to a world characterized by loneliness, polarization, and a declining sense of human dignity. Thank you to Clarke University for making a recording of the lecture available to share. The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe [https://windowlight.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Interview: Taylor Patrick O'Neill

In this episode, I interview Taylor Patrick O'Neill [https://substack.com/profile/134845770-taylor-patrick-oneill], a professor at Thomas Aquinas College’s New England campus and a co-founder of the Sacra Doctrina Project, a community of theologians hoping to revive the traditional speculative and sapiential dimensions of Catholic theology. In our conversation, we talked about the Sacra Doctrina Project and its mission, but we also discussed the 20th-century debate between Thomists and the ressourcement movement, the state of academic theology today, the appeal of universalism, and O’Neill’s work on the doctrine of predestination. Interview date: October 30, 2024 The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe [https://windowlight.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Interview: Kent Lasnoski

In this episode of the Window Light podcast, I interviewed Kent Lasnoski, the president of San Damiano College for the Trades, a Catholic higher education institution opening its doors in the fall of 2025 that will offer students a liberal arts education combined with training in the trades. Lasnoski was previously a professor of moral theology at Quincy University in Illinois and Wyoming Catholic College. We talked about the mission of the college, its curriculum, and how a professor of moral theology came to be the president of a college, among other things. Interview date: October 25, 2024 The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe [https://windowlight.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Special Episode: Interview with Paul Fahey

Paul Fahey, the host of the Third Space [https://www.catholicthirdspace.com/podcast] podcast [https://www.catholicthirdspace.com/podcast] and the author of the Third Space [https://www.catholicthirdspace.com/] newsletter [https://www.catholicthirdspace.com/] on Substack, recently interviewed me for his podcast about voting as a Catholic, and particularly about the U.S. Catholic bishops’ guide for voters, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. We talked about the history of the document, the impact of political polarization on Catholic voting, and how the political landscape has changed for Catholics in the past eight years, among many other things. Paul has kindly given me permission to include our interview as an episode of the Window Light podcast. The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe [https://windowlight.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Interview: Jordan Denari Duffner

Season 2 of the Window Light podcast begins with an interview with Jordan Denari Duffner, a theologian, speaker, and scholar focusing on interreligious dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. She is the author of Finding Jesus Among Muslims: How Loving Islam Makes Me a Better Catholic and Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know and Do About Anti-Muslim Discrimination. Jordan and I talked about her work, Pope Francis’s dialogue with Muslims, how Catholic parishes can promote dialogue with Muslims in their community, and how to raise children rooted in the Catholic tradition but open to religious pluralism. The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe [https://windowlight.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]