Mar 13, 2025
In this episode of The Open Door, Thomas Storck, Christopher Zehnder, and Andrew Sorokowski Discuss Politics (March 12, 2025)
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In this episode of The Open Door, Thomas Storck, Christopher Zehnder, and Andrew Sorokowski Discuss Politics (March 12, 2025)
In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck, Andrew Sorokowski, and Christopher Zehnder interview Hyrum Lewis on the Left/Right Binary.
Can you explain the thesis of your book? Why do you speak of the Left and Right as being a myth?
How did you come to see through the Left/Right binary?
Given some of the obvious counter-examples to the prevailing narrative, why is it so established and powerful? Intellectual laziness? Vested interests? cf. p. 64ff.
Is part of the problem the fact that political scientists, by and large, do not see themselves as concerned with ideas as such, but with political behavior and data as raw material for scientific analysis, much like chemists studying the reactions of chemical elements?
Are you familiar with the Nolan chart? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart Do you see that as much of an improvement?
If we are to make use of any kind of political typologies, how do we deal with the fact that people can hold similar or identical views on the same issue but for very different reasons? Cf. pp. 63, 88ff.
Does it make sense, in your opinion, to speak more in terms of broad philosophic-political movements and perhaps with those movements we could speak of left or right? E.g., socialism, fascism, classical liberalism, etc.
In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck, Andrew Sorokowski, and Christopher Zehnder speak with Gideon Lazar, the Coordinator of the St. Basil Institute. They ask the following questions:
You are the coordinator of the St Basil Institute which your website describes as "A think tank dedicated to the renewal of theological discourse on the doctrine of creation within the Catholic Church." Could you comment on both what you mean by the theology of creation and why it is important? https://stbasilinstitute.org
You speak of your effort "to revive the Catholic Church’s perennial teachings on creation." How and why have these teachings been obscured?
The entire thrust of modern Western culture seems to be concentrated on what man can manufacture and not on what God has provided through his work of creation. Lately this seems to be reaching its logical end with transhumanism, the rapid development of AI, and the erosion of the two natural human sexes via technology. What are the trends in Western culture that have fostered this kind of thinking? What hope do we have of resisting these things?
The trajectory over at least the last century has seen the abandonment of rural life and small farms. In many places the countryside has become simply an abode for factory farms with as few workers as possible. Obviously that has implications for rural parishes, schools, businesses, etc. Has the neglect of the Church's teaching on creation contributed to this situation?
What are the practical implications of creation theology for topics such as organic farming, food quality, natural medicine, and care of the environment in general?
When speaking of the theology of creation, at least in the U.S. one immediately thinks of debates about creationism and evolution. Does your theological work have any reference to those debates?
What projects or activities are you planning and how can interested viewers take part in these?
In this episode of The Open Door, Thomas Storck and Christopher Zehnder interview Vicente Hargous, attorney, Professor of Constitutional Law in the Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile, and editor of the online review, Suroeste. https://revistasuroeste.cl/ 1. On your website you write regarding Hispanic America that, "It is not difficult to find our land on maps, where we are, but to understand what we are and what we are called to be in the history of the world is not so easy." In a 2002 article, two Chilean professors, a philosopher and an anthropologist, set forth four possible cultural self-identities which have been advanced by Latin Americans: the indigenist, the hispanic, an identification with the Western world in general and the thesis of "mestizage cultural" or a fusion of indigenist with Spanish or Western identities. Could you comment on any of these points? 2. You also speak on your website of the various ideas and trends which are affecting the entire world, but especially the West. You mention among others environmentalism, feminism, indigenism, esoteric currents. Given that both Europe and North America are affected by these ideas, do they affect Latin America in any particular ways? 3. In North America we read much about the inroads of Protestantism in South and Central America and Mexico. Is this another example of North American cultural imperialism or does it speak to any weaknesses of the Catholic Church, either historical or contemporary? Does the Catholic Church play a role today in setting the cultural agenda in Hispanic America? 4. How has Hispanic American culture changed in the last 50 years? Culturally speaking, can it defend itself against trends originating in North America or Europe? 5. Your review, Suroeste, is connected with the organization Comunidad y Justicia, which works to promote human rights in Chile. What is the connection between the review and the organization? How does your Catholic commitment inspire both? https://comunidadyjusticia.cl/ 6. As a continent originally nearly entirely Catholic, is there any realistic hope of restoring the Church's cultural and religious role? 7. How does the overwhelming influence, political and economic, of the United States affect the cultural situation of Latin America?
In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck, Andrew Sorokowski, and Christopher Zehnder interview Christopher Villiers on his book Versing the Mystery: Poems (December 11, 2024) This collection of poems verses the mystery of God and Creation. Exploring the stories and characters of Scripture, Classical history and myth, the reader confronts the glory of God and is plunged into the depths of the human condition. This work deals with the sacred and the profane, the sublime and the ridiculous. Twenty-first century readers are confronted by their own needs and greeds reflected in the foundations of western civilisation. There are also more directly personal poems, of love, hate, success and failure, rooted in the life of a rhyming sinner inhabiting an English village near the sea. And if none of that appeals to you, then at least there are also owls campaigning for political office. Versing the Mystery
In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck and Andrew Sorokowski interview JonMarc Grodi of the Coming Home Network. Some of the questions asked include the following:
What is the Coming Home Network and how did it begin?
How successful has it been? Do you have statistics on home many non-Catholics you've helped bring into the Church?
What are the chief obstacles in your experience that prevent Protestants, and perhaps especially Protestant ministers, from considering the claims of the Church?
Have these obstacles changed in any important way during the existence of the CHN?
Most Protestant clergy have some theological or biblical formation that can be helpful in pointing them toward the Catholic Church? But what about Protestant laymen? How can they be reached best if they've never even thought about these matters, e.g., about where we get the Bible or why it is authoritative?
What is the best way for Catholics to engage their friends and neighbors who belong to other Christian bodies with the claims of the Catholic Church?
Given that many in the Catholic Church no longer promote evangelization and conversion of non-Catholic Christians, has the CHN run into criticism from Catholics regarding your apostolate?
In this episode, the panelists of The Open Door talk with Matthew Tsakanikas on Christian Zionism and its Theological Distortions (October 30, 2024) 1. What is Zionism, and what specifically, is religious or Christian Zionism? 2. Why is it a theological error? How does it misread the Bible, particularly passages such as Romans 11:29? 3. What are its origins? 4. Does it have much presence outside the U.S.? If not, why do you think so?5. What effects has it had on American politics, especially American foreign policy? 6. Can one make a sharp distinction between political and religious Zionism, at least with regard to their geographical claims? For example, with regard to an assertion of the right of Jews to move to Palestine and, at least to some extent, the displacement of the Arab inhabitants in the early part of the 20th century, did not the two forms of Zionism pretty much operate in the same way? 7. What is the correct way for Catholics to think about the Church and the Jewish people and is there any role they may still play in salvation history?
In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Valerie Niemeyer, and Christopher Zehnder discuss the multi-faceted issue of immigration. How can we better understand the new waves of immigrants, whether in the United States or Europe? What does the Church teach about the ethical issues that come into play? How can we assess the politics of immigration? What role should our parishes play and how might we best respond at a personal level? Our special and welcome guest is Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz. He is a professor of political science and Catholic social thought at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw as well as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Christianity—World—Politics. From 2008-2012 he served as Secretary General of the Commission of Bishops of the European Community COMECE. Mazurkiewicz recently authored Two Towers and a Minaret: Migration from a Catholic Perspective (En Route Books, 2024). Among the questions we’ll ask are the following.
Fr. Piotr, could you tell us how you came to your work on the topic of migration?
How would you compare current migration to Europe with migration to the United States?
What is national sovereignty and what is its foundation? What are the limits of sovereignty?
Is there a right to emigrate? A right not to emigrate?
What happens to property rights in times of grave necessity?
How do you understand multiculturalism? Is it an ideology?
On what basis can we evaluate the practices of a given culture?
Here in the United States we often speak of a “culture of death.” Might not the first concern of many cultures be the need for repentance?
Should Poland respond to migration from Africa and the Middle East in the same way that it is responding to refugees from Ukraine?
What might it mean with regard to immigration to be neither right nor left but simply Catholic? What might be some promising political approaches to migration?
Mass migration is a serious challenge in both America and Europe. Hence the question of the ethical limits of hospitality. The answer must consider not only the needs of migrants, but also the ability of the host country to integrate migrants. This depends not only on the size of the migration, but also on its homogeneity. For example, a peculiarity of the current migration to Europe is the strong dominance of Muslims, which is changing its religious demographics and, consequently, European culture. https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/twotowers/