Catholic Phoenix Podcast

Senior counsel Casey Mattox talks about the Planned Parenthood investigation and the evidence levied against them in the recent series of videos made by the Center for Medical Progress. The ADF is an organization that provides legal counsel for issues primarily involving right to life and religious freedom. Click here for more info on the ADF and here for more info about the Center for Medical Progress. Please rate us in iTunes!

Fr. Fessio is the founder of Ignatius Press and also serves as its editor. He has a distinguished career that also includes the founding of the Catholic Radio Network and Campion College of San Francisco. In this episode, he talks to Doug about the pope's latest exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. More information about Fr. Fessio can be found at www.ignatius.com. Please rate us on iTunes! You can also subscribe there.

In light of his coming speech here in Phoenix on April 25th, Robert George stops in for a talk about Dr. Peter Singer, academic freedom, Joe Biden getting the Laetare Medal and music (specifically, country and bluegrass). Prof. George is a longtime champion of Catholic values and religious freedom. Also, he has written numerous books and articles on the law, constitutional interpretation and the intersection of faith and public life. He has been awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal and is currently the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. Look for him on Twitter at @McCormickProf. Please rate us on iTunes, where you can find the rest of our episodes.

Laugh 4 Hope is a clean comedy fundraiser benefiting Life Choices Women's Clinics and the Hopemobile. Judy is one of the three comics on the bill and stops by to chat with Doug about the her career and her personal journey. You can find out more about the event here and more about Judy here. Rate us on iTunes.

Graeme Wood is a contributing editor at The Atlantic and the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal, among other places. In March of 2015, he wrote a very in depth article called "What ISIS Really Wants". Doug talks with him about the article and the current state of ISIS. Follow him on Twitter at @gcaw visit his website here. Also, please rate us in iTunes.

Phoenix entrepreneur Phil Tirone talks with Doug about some of his endeavors, time/business multipliers and family. Additionally, he talks about the power of prayer and how it relates to Precarii, a free app he developed that allows people to pray for each other. Visit the Precarii app webpage. Rate us in iTunes.

Andrea Polito is a nurse in Denver who specializes in pediatric neuro-oncology. She is also living as a consecrated layperson, practicing the virtues of chastity, poverty and obedience in the "regular world" and outside of a traditional religious order. Her career and her Catholic faith give her a great insight into the Church's teaching regarding end of life issues, which she discusses on this episode. Please rate us on iTunes.

Dr. Miller is the director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. She is also an Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Madonna University in Livonia, MI. She has chronicled her work on the front lines of the pro-life movement in her book Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars. Also, Dr. Miller has been instrumental in providing humane burials for aborted babies and chronicling abortion by photographing many of these same babies. She can be found online www.prolifesociety.com. As always, please rate us on iTunes!

Freddie Steinmark was a standout defensive back at the University of Texas in the 1960s whose life was cut short by cancer in 1971. Phoenix-based author Bower Yousse was a childhood friend and high school teammate of Freddie's who was commissioned by the family to tell the story of Freddie, a faithful Catholic whose life touched so many people. You can find out more at the Freddie Steinmark website or on Twitter at @steinmarkbook. Also, please like/review us on iTunes.

Jamie Hanson visits the show to talk about The Aquinas Institute, a forthcoming program aimed at helping Phoenix-area high school students exercise faith and reason. Jamie is an attorney in the Phoenix area, one of the founders of Catholic Phoenix and is still a board member. The Aquinas Institute can be found online at www.aquinasaz.com. Please remember to rate us in iTunes.

Marshall Trimble has been entertaining and educating the people of Arizona for years, whether at libraries, public events or in his popular class at Scottsdale Community College. His presentations aren't limited to dry facts, as he often includes humor and his guitar. He's also written many books, such as Roadside History of Arizona, Arizona: A Cavalcade of History and Arizona Outlaws and Lawmen. Additionally, his popular "Ask the Marshall" column appears every month in True West Magazine. He can be reached through his website. In this episode, he chats with Doug about Arizona history, both Catholic and not-so-Catholic. Please rate and review us on iTunes!

Prof. Patrick Deneen is an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame specializing in Political Theory and Constitutional Law. Also, his writings can be found online at The American Conservative, among other places. This episode first features him discussing some of his political/philosophical influences. Then, he moves on to recent excesses involving misplaced outrage on college campuses and how these effect our freedoms. Prof. Deneen can be found on twitter at @PatrickDeneen. Please rate us on iTunes.

Doug Johnson is the brains behind "Doug on Tap", a great blog where he discusses faith, film, beer, beards and his role as a stay-at-home dad. He and his wife, Abby, live in Austin and are converts to Catholicism. Also, Abby is a former Planned Parenthood worker who found a new life as a successful pro-life advocate, speaker and author. Her work and how it colors their family life also is a regular topic of his writing. Be sure to rate us on iTunes.

Tom Perna is the Director of Adult Evangelization and Catechesis at St. Mary Magdalena Parish in Gilbert. Also, he recently wrote a book called Understanding Catholic Teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary. He and Doug talk about the book and some of the larger questions and teachings regarding this singular person, the Mother of God. You can find Tom at www.tomperna.org. Please rate the podcast in iTunes.

Kira is the artistic director of Solis Camerata, the choir that will be performing in Catholic Phoenix's Sacred Music Concert on Nov. 22. This is the fourth straight year we have partnered with them and they do excellent work. Kira talks about this year's concert and the challenges and joys of researching and performing early chant music. You can find details about the concert at www.soliscamerata.com and on our events page. Also, please remember to rate us in iTunes.

Dr. Ronda Chervin and Dr. Sebastian Mahfood are both teachers at Holy Apostles College and Seminary who have written a book entitled "Catholic Realism: A Framework for the Refutation of Atheism and the Evangelization of Atheists". It was written largely in response to the "New Atheism" and the book is a broad survey that covers a lot for ground, as it contains everything from philosophy to conversion stories. You can find their book here and be sure to rate us on iTunes.

This is a big subject, so settle in for a long one. Auday Arabo is the spokesman for the St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Diocese and stops in to give a soup-to-nuts rundown of the situation in the Middle East and specifically, how it effects the Chaldeans. For those not in know, the Chaldeans are "are the indigenous people of Iraq who speak a form of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. Chaldeans are Eastern Rite Catholic, led by the Patriarch of Babylon and affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church" (from The Chaldean Foundation website). They have a large presence in metro Detroit, as well as other areas such as San Diego and Phoenix. Auday can be reached at aarabo@afpdonline.org and be sure to subscribe and rate us on iTunes!

Barrie is a photographer and imaging expert who was on the team that studied the Shroud in 1978. He was first a skeptic, but came to believe it is the burial wrap of Jesus, though he is a member of the Jewish faith. From this unique viewpoint, he gives talks all over the world and maintains www.shroud.com, the leading source of information on the subject.

Doug dials up his brother, Shaun Connolly, to talk about the Gold King Mine blowout in the Silverton, CO area and the issues surrounding it. Shaun is a financial adviser in Durango, CO who lives a few hundred yards from the recently orange Animas River. He also co-hosts a weekend radio show that deals a fair amount with government waste and inefficiency, which was one of many contributors to the recent disaster. Shaun can be found on his financial website as well as his radio show website.

Doug sits down from the comfort of his closet and chats with his friend, Aaron Martin, the president of Catholic Phoenix. They talk about upcoming happy hours, the annual concert, the speaker we have coming in April, resurrecting the blog and current events. Rate us in iTunes, visit our website at www.catholicphoenix.com or send us an email at radio@catholicphoenix.com.