The desire for Truth. The Passion for discovery. The education of reason. The fundamental claim about what it means to be a human being. Being formed as a person of faith through the rigors of the scientific method. 

All these things and more were discussed in the first part of my two-part conversation with Sofia Carozza, a Marshall Scholar at the University of Cambridge, studying in the field in neuroscience. 

Sofia is back for the second part of our conversation, to talk about the role of morality in the training of scientists, the breaking from disordered attachments, the education of desire, and prayer and companionship.
 
I’m Leonard DeLorenzo, this is Church Life Today, a production of the McGrath Institute for Church Life in collaboration with the Spoke Street Media Network. I’m glad you’re here.

How the Sciences Train You for Faith, with Sofia Carozza, Part 2

“Life, for the vast majority of humans, is not very glamorous. It involves doing a lot of boring and tedious things like paying taxes, cooking dinner, and sweeping the floor. And yet, these everyday tasks seem to vex Millennials; this generation has suffered from widespread ridicule for laziness and for the inability to grow up. But, somewhat paradoxically, Millennials also seem exhausted.”
 
Those words open an essay recently published through the Church Life Journal, where the experience of work and its consequences for especially Millennials living today was juxtaposed with the understanding of work that emerges from the Christian tradition and is hidden within the life of Christ. The essay is entitled “A Catholic Response to Workism: How to Lose a Life.” The author is my guest on today’s show.
 
She is Elizabeth Klein, Assistant Professor of Theology at the Augustine Institute.

There is no such thing as winning at life, with Elizabeth Klein

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. You’re familiar with that, aren’t you? But have you ever really thought about what that is saying. God loved the world. This world. This world that does not love God very well, and in fact more often rejects God that welcomes him. God loved this world so much that He gave this world what is most precious, most intimate, most beautiful: his only begotten Son.
 
And you know what can embody and manifest that kind of love? Filmmaking. And television. I bet you didn’t see that coming.
 
And I bet that you haven’t thought about the art of filmmaking or television in quite the way that my guest today thinks about it. But that’s why we’re here: to listen to what he has to say about it.
 
My guest is Doug Tooke, Vice President for Ministry Advancement at Outside Da Box Films and Renovo Media Group. No one has ever had a boring conversation with Doug Tooke. You and I both are going to enjoy this conversation.

Evangelizing through Film and Television, with Doug Tooke

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.” But do we, as Catholics, really understand what the Eucharist is? Let me rephrase that: do we really understand who the Eucharist is? Actually, let me try one more time: Do we fully revere and adore him who meets us in the Eucharist? Maybe we could use some help with all of that.
 
My friend and colleague Tim O’Malley has written a book that will help all of us both to understand the Eucharist better and, especially, to grow in our love of the Eucharist through devotion, prayer, and longing. Tim’s new book is Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter? The book is part of the new “Engaging Catholicism” series from our McGrath Institute for Church Life through Ave Maria Press, where we explore important but perhaps misunderstood doctrines and devotions of the Catholic faith.
 
In Real Presence, Tim teaches us about the related but distinct doctrines of transubstantiation and of the real presence, but he does more than merely teach us things to know. He shows us how what we come to understand must be joined to how we pray, and how we allow the Lord to transform and illumine our spiritual senses as we meet him in the Eucharist. This is an utterly practical book even as it is an utterly learned book. And today, Tim joins me to talk about the Eucharist, Eucharistic formation, and Eucharistic spirituality.

The Real Presence, with Tim O’Malley

The heart of the Christian is not his own. Instead, our hearts belong to Christ. Our lives as Christ’s disciples are an ongoing formation to love what he loves, to care for those whom he cares about, and to join him in offering our hearts to the Father. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is open to all of us.
 
Fr. Joe Laramie of the Society of Jesus has been praying into the Heart of Jesus for decades. But now, he has been called to bring people from all across the country into this devotion, joining in the prayer of Jesus and offering our own hearts to the Lord. Fr. Joe serves as the National Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, through which Catholics and others around the globe pray and work to meet the challenges of the world identified by the Pope in his monthly intentions, all while allowing the heart of Jesus to form our own hearts.
 
Fr. Joe joins me today to talk about this apostleship of prayer, the relationship of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Ignatian Spirituality, and even his own book, Abide in the Heart of Christ, which leads people through a 10-day retreat at home.

Praying into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with Fr. Joe Laramie

When we are young, we need the guidance of mentors. We never really outgrow that need for guidance, but at some point, a change must take place if we are to reach maturity. Instead of always being the one who is guided and mentored, we become the ones who provide the guidance and mentoring to others. We stop always looking for the adult in the room because we have become the adult in the room.
 
My guest today was recently awakened to the fact that she is very much at the threshold of that transition. Sarah Pelrine is a bona fide young adult Catholic, but one who is quickly moving away from the “young” part of that description and instead stepping into what it means to be an adult Catholic, a mature disciple. Professionally, Sarah works in the Archdiocese of Chicago where she applies her training in both theology and in business to help parishes undertake organizational transformations to better pursue their mission of evangelization. Personally, Sarah is relatively recently married but previously spent a great deal of time in her formative twentysomething years living and working in L’Arche communities. Together, we will talk about what we need and what we don’t need to be well-formed, engaged, and mature people of faith.

Becoming the Adult in the Room, with Sarah Pelrine

Hosted by Dr. Lenny DeLorenzo, Ph.D., of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, Church Life Today features conversations with pastoral leaders and scholars from around the country and covers issues that matter most to Church life today.

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