Become Who You Are
What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? What is my true identity? Why were we created male and female? How do I find happiness, joy and peace? How do I find love that lasts, forever? These are the timeless questions of the human heart. Join Jack Rigert and his guests for lively insights, reading the signs of our times through the lens of Catholic Teaching and the insights of Saint John Paul ll to guide us.
Saint Catherine of Siena said "Become who you are and you would set the world on fire".
Become Who You Are
#627 Young People Leading A Catholic Renaissance: Gen Z Has Discovered The Splendor of Truth!
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Something unexpected is happening in France. In a nation known as one of the world's most atheistic countries, Catholic churches are suddenly filling up with young faces. This Easter alone, over 10,000 adults were baptized into the Catholic Church—a staggering 160% increase from just eight years ago. Most remarkably, 42% of these new Catholics are young adults between 18-25 years old.
Dr. Anne Hendershott, professor of sociology and director of the Veritas Center at Franciscan University, joins us to unpack this extraordinary Catholic renaissance and what it means for faith in America. Far from being a passing trend, this revival represents something profound: young hearts searching for meaning beyond what secular culture can provide.
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Link to Article: A Catholic Renaissance in France
Here are discussion topics:
- How does the Catholic Church’s sacramental nature and vision of human dignity offer a countercultural response to the moral relativism and secularism that Gen Z is rejecting?
- Dr. Hendershott highlights the role of authentic Catholic education in shaping young people’s faith. What steps can you take to seek out or support educational environments that prioritize a Culture of Life over a Culture of Death?
- The episode notes that social media, while problematic, is also drawing young people to faith. How can you use technology intentionally to grow closer to Christ and foster a holy community?
- Reflecting on the revival in France and America, what is one practical way you can contribute to or support Gen Z’s rediscovery of Catholic truth in your own parish or community?
- How Is the normalization of pornography a significant issue for today's youth?
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strange weirdo who was hurting these children. He stepped in like a hero, superhero and intervened and later the media were just like astounded that he would be so courageous to take on this scary guy who was hurting children. And he said the reason he did it was because of his Catholic faith. It empowers him and it gives him courage and it tells him to do the right thing.
Speaker 2:We destroy their culture, we destroy their people, and wouldn't this be the way Satan worked? As you were speaking right and I, of course, I a hundred percent agree with everything that you said and we felt this pressure again from elements inside the church and from outside, and it was a squeeze play, and yet these young people were waking up.
Speaker 1:I direct a center at Franciscan called the center very tough Center for ethics in the public life. Our whole idea is to bring Catholic teachings into the public square and we've been doing this for 12 years now. Vance has made it a little easier to do that and that's why I brought him to Franciscan a few years ago before he became welcome to the become who you are podcast, a production of the john paul to renewal center.
Speaker 2:I'm jack rigut, your host. Today. We're going to be diving into something unexpected that's happening across the Atlantic. A Catholic renaissance has taken place among Gen Z in particular, and in France Over 10,000 adults were baptized this Easter, with young people leading the charge. In a country known, unfortunately, for its deep secularism, catholic churches are suddenly overflowing and the media has taken notice. What's going on there? Is this a passing fad or the beginning of something bigger? What does it mean for us here in the United States? So we're unpacking that all today with Dr Anne Hindershot, professor of sociology and director of the Veritas Center at Franciscan University in Steubenville, ohio. She serves on the Ave Maria University's Board of Trustees. She's the author of the Politics of Envy and a Lamp in the Darkness, sophia Institute Press. Dr Hendershot welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you, happy to be on, jack. I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2:You know, your recent article in Crisis Magazine caught my eye, celebrating a Catholic Renaissance in France. And as you put it in there, you know, France is known as the eldest daughter of the Catholic Church, but modernity has taken its toll and there weren't a lot of Catholics left, were there, Dr Hendershot?
Speaker 1:Dr Hendershott. No, france is one of the most atheistic countries in the world. It's one of the top five. So in France it was not cool to be Catholic anymore, unfortunately, I mean and France has such a wonderful history of Catholics. I mean, we had certainly the bad period and we go through these periods. But this resurgence, I call it a renaissance, because it really is. It's very exciting and it's a renaissance that's led by young Catholics, the 18 to 25-year-old cohort. They're making 42% of the new Catholics in France. So it's very exciting and it's happening here too, and we'll talk about that later. But in France, I'm just thrilled for them because they have been struggling and I mean they're still going to struggle. But in France, I'm just thrilled for them because they have been struggling and I mean they're still going to struggle. But 10,000 new Catholics is amazing. It's 160% increase over 2015, when there were usually like 3,000 a year maybe, of new Catholics being baptized on you know, rcia people being baptized on Easter. Now it's 10,000.
Speaker 1:And I've heard it's going to be bigger next year.
Speaker 2:And of those 10,000, Dr Hintershot, as you put in your article, it's predominantly made up of young people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 42%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is Gen Z, and I love speaking to Gen Z. They're searching for something more. Is it that human heart? What's going on here? The human heart that's made for more? That's the essence I get. I know here. You know they woke up and they voted for Donald Trump, and when I speak to them, it's not like they're looking for him as a savior. They just know something is wrong. Many of them don't even know exactly why. They just saw something needs to change and he's standing up for them. And this is a great time to be talking to young people, because they're trying to find their way now. What's going on? What's going on? Is this part of it? What's?
Speaker 1:your take on this. Absolutely, that's what it is. Of course, I've been so blessed I've been a Franciscan for the past decade more than a decade and that's a faithful university. It's one of the faithful few where I'm surrounded by students who are on fire for the faith. I mean, our logo is passionately Catholic, so I've been kind of like this has been going on in my life for years. But when you step outside and go to one of these nominally Catholic universities that are Catholic in name only, you see some sadness. But even on those campuses, in spite of their terrible theology programs and their gay lavender graduations, they call them.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, you know and their gay clubs and their drag queen I mean even Villanova has drag queen bingo now, you can't make this stuff up. No, you can't make this up drag queen bingo. But even there there are pockets of faithful students, young students who are searching for meaning in their lives. I mean, even at Franciscan there are students who come to us who are unsure, but then they hear a little bit and they get excited. I teach sociology, not theology, but I always bring in theology they read a lot of things like Rerum Novarum.
Speaker 1:So I have them reading papal documents and they get excited about it because it's new to them. They may not have heard it, and so it's exciting. They want meaning in their lives and they're not getting it in the secular world. They're just not. And the Catholic Church offers that because we're a church of mystery, we're a church of sacraments and they feel that and it isn't just like the traditional Latin Mass, which is nice, but that's not what they come for In Franciscan. They come to our liturgies because they're excited to hear the word of God and excited to participate in our praise and worship. I mean, we're known for that the excitement of our masses and our prayer services and our worship services and they love that. They're exposed to so much online. That's negative, but now they're finding things online. That's positive. Things like you, you know online and our president, father Pavanka, who is part of HALO. Now you know H-A-L-L-O-W.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that. I love that app, you know, especially for young people, and I started to promote it for young people but then I got started to get on it. I was using the Magnificat, you know, and things like that, which I love, but then I started to use it and, you know, it sets those reminders and I think it's good, especially for people coming into the faith, you know, or fairly new. You know they're busy and they get those little reminders going off. I love it. I mean, you know they're using AI in a good way.
Speaker 2:So let me ask you this as a professor of sociology, I mean, you've really studied, probably, what's going on in this secular humanism, this world. So I would think that this is a very it has to be like you expressed an exciting time because you can see the emptiness that's been coming through all these years. I know in your article it said do you think, you know? Basically, the question becomes do you think Catholicism is cool or hip in certain circles? But I don't think that's what this is. I think it's not about being cool, it's about seeking something more, don't you?
Speaker 1:It is I mean, but it's nice that it is cool.
Speaker 2:Yes, I agree, that's a good point. No, that's a good point.
Speaker 1:There are some cool people that are Catholic and that that is not to be discounted no, people don't want to be viewed as I mean. I don't want anyone to think that this is a tiktok trend, because it really is not when I say I guess that was my point. Yeah that trend, that this is not like tide pods and you know, any of those silly things.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But it is on TikTok, because there are some things, some wonderful things on TikTok and there are some celebrities who are Catholic and they're not ashamed of being Catholic. You know, eduardo Verstruggo, some of the people you know, celebrities who are cool but they're Catholic. And then in this article I bring up this one French man yes, yes. Yes, that's an interesting story. I don't know if you read that.
Speaker 2:I did, I did and I have my notes to ask you about him Henry, henry, what's his last name?
Speaker 1:I forget his last name.
Speaker 1:Henri French, of course 25-year-old was in France for a mission, for a ministry conference. He was on a mission and he was at a French playground and he saw these two children being assaulted by some strange weirdo who was hurting these children. He stepped in like a hero, superhero, and intervened and later the media were just like astounded that he would be so courageous to take on this scary guy who was hurting children. And he said the reason he did it was because of his Catholic faith. It empowers him and it gives him courage and it tells him to do the right thing. And I was like, wow, you know, this is what our faith is about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, these stories will get around.
Speaker 2:And you know, the reason I believe that that was so important in your article was that these young people are looking for models. You know, they see, just like you expressed earlier, you know when, the when, when, when this craziness, this insanity of the LBGTQ agenda we talk about that a lot on our show, obviously, and and and you know not to demean those young people that are caught up in that, but but that this is being was being forced from our government and from the World Economic Forum and the societal and cultural pressures, and these young people are confused and they had no base, no foundation. You know, I think it's like running up a sand dune and you start to fall down. You know, and there's nothing to stop you, what I think so many young people are looking for with the Catholic faith. They're finding answers and they're saying, no, there's a foundation here, I can get my feet on the ground here and I could start to move forward again. It's very exciting to be able to share the beauty.
Speaker 2:Look at the richness that you have at Steubenville right, I would imagine Scott Hahn is still there. You have some incredible people.
Speaker 1:We have theologians that are world-class theologians, so our students get this firm grounding in theology. But these students that are on other campuses, even they are starting to get it and they're able to fight. I mean, I shouldn't pick on Villanova, because our Pope was there and when Pope Leo was at Villanova he started the first pro-life club 50 years ago and it's still going strong.
Speaker 2:Did he start it? He started the first. He started that. Pope Leo XIV started that. Pope Leo XIV started the Villanova. Glory to God. Isn't that wonderful.
Speaker 1:We are very blessed with this new pope and Villanova. I mean, they're having a moment now because they nurtured his vocation 50 years ago. It's a very different school now but there are still pockets of faithful students and faithful faculty at Villanova and that will grow, and that's why I just wrote an article that said Villanova. I mean he's a gift to Catholic higher education. I think Pope Leo is because he's such a loving Pope, but he knows what's the truth, you know, and he's not shy about proclaiming the truth. And pope francis did too. He was very pro-life and very much against the gender ideology, but he's got his work cut out for him at villanova. I mean, like I said, they have a lavender graduation, they have dry queen bingo, they've got a gala coming up. You, you know they're all in on woke and so it's almost unbelievable to me.
Speaker 2:I guess I haven't been paying much attention to Villanova, but that kind of surprises me, I guess and maybe you shouldn't, you know, when I, when I know some young people that go to Notre Dame and, and, and they were feeling the same thing and standing up against it, and they had some success, the students themselves, and this is the beauty of this. Again, I get back to Trump again. You know, trump's not our savior, but when he stood up and said fight, fight. And when he started to talk about God in the public square again and people started to catch that and look, he's a broken man, just like I am and every other person I know right, we're all sinful in a certain way. But he brought God back in.
Speaker 2:And as he gets older, as he gets older, I think he really feels something there, you know, a connection to God. I don't know how deep his faith is, but he's got Marco Rubio there with him now and he's got JD Vance a convert, and so when you start to think about the cabinet that he's surrounded himself with, you know we feel it here, dr Hendershot, that there's a little pressure off of us, you know, of being canceled. You know, I wouldn't know if it's called hip or cool, but it still feels a lot better than it did before. And so here I'm going to throw this in your lap now, because you said you brought up Pope Leo XIV. He can really be a catalyst for this movement of young people now. And he came out of the gate and maybe it's too early to tell, but I'm sure feeling good about him.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's why I wrote the article I think it's in Catholic World, I think it's from Catholic World Report that Pope Leo is a gift to Catholic higher education. He can strengthen those schools in a nice way, yeah, where in some ways they were empowered by Pope Francis a little bit and that he'd kind of left them alone. And I'm sure Pope Leo won't be a heavy hand, but he's an amazing person. I've read a lot of what he's written and just his gentle way he's a quieter, gentler Pope than we're used to, I guess, and I don't think he'll be saying things that will confuse people.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was a big problem, right? Look, we went through 13 years or so of this, was you know I would have a look at. I don't want to bad mouth anybody here but right now, but I had an ache in my heart almost every day. I'd get up because I saw this confusion, you know, and Pope Leo comes off. Because I saw this confusion, you know, and Pope Leo comes off. And here's one thing I don't know if you noticed this or not, but the John Paul II Institute for the Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family, Unfortunately, Pope Francis appointed oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, thank you, and he basically gutted that out. Yeah, and you saw the move that Pope Leo just made, right, it's wonderful news, yes, and that will come back. This is a big.
Speaker 1:It's been gone for a while.
Speaker 2:Do you think it'll be able to come back? I mean, will they be able to bring some of those? I hope those teachers are still around, because some of them had deep roots in John Paul's work and man to lose those people was just it really hurt.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe they'll bring new, younger ones too. I mean, you know, we don't want just old people like me.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, that's right.
Speaker 1:You know we want young people or me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're getting, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, it's exciting. I am so encouraged by all of this and I think he'll have such a. I mean, I just wrote an article about the United Nations that Trump is having a tremendous. All these countries like Nigeria, Uganda, UNESCO. The United Nations is really a cesspool for Catholics.
Speaker 1:It was Now we have this new administration, they say, oh, hold it a minute. So, even though the Vatican is at the United Nations, we're not voting members. The Holy See does not get a vote. They get a place at the table and they can help influence. But the Trump administration can really help influence because we give them most of their money. They wouldn't be around if it weren't for the United States. So if Trump is saying we won't be doing the Agenda 2030 because we don't want this global governance, 2030 was going to impose global governance. You want food, then take the gay marriage stuff. You want health care, then take same-sex marriage and take abortion and contraception and all these countries that don't want it. But they're desperate for the food or the medicine.
Speaker 2:So, over time, we destroy their culture, we destroy their people, and wouldn't this be the way Satan worked? As you were speaking right and of course, I 100% agree with everything that you said and we felt this pressure again from elements inside the church and from outside, and it was a squeeze play, and yet these young people were waking up. Can you imagine now that they're waking up and coming on board and we have a different administration in the United States and an American pope that you know? I saw the picture of him with Marco Rubio and JD Vance sitting there and you know, these people want to bring what's true, good and beautiful in the world. You know, look, it's just the reality and it's not easy in this broken world, is it?
Speaker 1:It's not easy, but the idea. I direct a center at Franciscan called the Veritas Center for Ethics in the Public Life and our whole idea is to bring Catholic teachings into the public square, and we've been doing this for 12 years now. Vance has made it a little easier to do that and that's why I brought him to Franciscan a few years ago before he became a senator. And he spoke before he was even a senator, because I had read his Hillbilly Elegy, I heard about his conversion.
Speaker 2:I knew he was going to be the future.
Speaker 1:I felt that he would be the future because he is going to be integral at bringing catholic social teaching and moral teaching into the public square yes, how exciting.
Speaker 2:So so he was a fairly new convert when you brought him in as a new convert. Yes, wow, how did the talk go. How did his presentation?
Speaker 1:very well, it's franciscan, of course.
Speaker 2:He'd be well received no, no, I mean, how was he, though? Because he's a new. He was a new cat. It was wonderful, was he?
Speaker 1:because that was his goal. He said why can't catholic teachings influence policy? Why can't we have a seat at the table? I mean remember when kennedy was going to be president john f kennedy and he went to houston he said, oh, I'm not going to let my catholic faith influence anything, don't worry, I'm catholic, but I'm not really catholic.
Speaker 2:That's pretty much and he said, oh, I'm not going to let my Catholic faith influence anything, don't worry, I'm.
Speaker 1:Catholic, but I'm not really Catholic. That's pretty much what he said, and it was like the nail in the coffin of bringing Catholic teachings to the public square.
Speaker 1:And we've never recovered from that because everybody's been afraid. Jd Vance is not afraid, marco Rubio is not afraid. I mean, we're not going to become a papal state in the United States, but we just want a seat at that table to help make decisions, so that when an education bill is being drafted, we might be able to say hey, I don't think there should be gender ideology in curriculum of second graders and I don't think men should be playing on women's teams and that's Catholic teachings, but it's also common sense.
Speaker 2:It's common sense and it's reality.
Speaker 2:You know, when you steal the innocence of young people, and especially children, and you obliterate their moral imaginations. This is nefarious and I am so surprised. Here is our problem with the baby boomers that I'm part of, and then Gen X and then the millennials. You know, we allowed our faith to come out of the public square. Actually, it came out of our own hearts, our own marriages, in and out of the public square. And yet, despite all of that, these young people are saying you know, I want to ask you about the human heart a little bit. You know it. You know the human heart was made from where I?
Speaker 2:You know, when I speak to people about the, the catechism, I always say you know, catechism is this big book about everything catholic, right, but it starts, section one, chapter one, paragraph one, on desire. It starts, section one, chapter one, paragraph one, on desire. It starts on desire, desire of the heart, and we have that famous quote from St you know, and with a professor in front of me, I don't know if I'm going to butcher it. I always get self-conscious with St Augustine. Now, and I'm not sure how do you say St Augustine? I must say it every time I talk, I must say it three times in the same. Yeah, augustine.
Speaker 1:I must say it every time I talk. I must say it three times in the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, augustine, that's the Catholic way. So he talks about. You know, our hearts are restless, lord, until they rest in you, and I think you know when young people are, you know would start to read that they go. Yes, that's my heart. It was restless and I knew something was wrong. This world doesn't make sense anymore when you can swallow the lie that a man can become a woman just because I think I'm a woman. If you swallow that camel, dr Hindershot, and you'll swallow any lie, and I think that's really what they were trying on these young people and they finally said enough is enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're fighting back. I think they're getting the strength to fight back and for many of them, it's the faith that's giving them that strength, just like Henri in France, His faith gives him courage. Faith has always given me courage. I don't worry so much about what people think of me. I probably should worry a little more.
Speaker 1:But, we can't. We can't worry what mainstream E probably should worry a little more. We can't worry what mainstream Eternity's a long time. We are creatures toward that, we're strangers in a strange place, pilgrims, all those cliches. But they're not cliches, because they're true. They're true yeah, I love that hymn, Hungry Heart even though some of my traditionalist friends think it's so I love that song yes, yes we have hungry hearts yes, we do have hungry hearts.
Speaker 2:You know that's. There's a sword behind me. I don't know if you can see it because I'm in front of it, but it's called the claymore sword.
Speaker 2:It's a big sword and it's, it's it's, it's one of our apostolates within, our apostolate for young men, and it's been going for a while. It's Claymore, is the logo and it's the disciple young men. And because we saw this spark a while back, you know, before this, they came out and verified this by voting for Donald Trump, and I don't know how much they knew, how much did they know at the university where you're at, about how nefarious our government in many ways has become, and even elements within the church. We have to be able to talk about those things because young people will see them and they need answers of the beauty, of this deposit of faith that comes down. But unfortunately, we have sinners in the church, you know, and in fact we're all sinners in the church, aren't we?
Speaker 1:We are. What a wonderful group you have there. I had never heard of that Claymore. That's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's militant yeah it's militant, Christi right, Soldiers for Christ. I think we're going to further develop it using Michael the Archangel, you know, especially with Leo coming in, Pope Leo XIII, of course, came up with the St Michael prayer and again, there's just roots to this right. This is a battle. Roots to this right, this is a battle. What the sword signifies is that the battle, like John Paul said, starts in the battlefield of the human heart, between love and self-giving and grasping and taking. You know, and you know, 90% of young people were subscribing to moral relativism high school, college age just a couple of years back, and I'm hoping those numbers are coming down now. What do you think?
Speaker 1:They are. There are certain pockets that they aren't. The issue of same-sex relationships, same-sex behavior, that's still contested terrain, even with some faithful Catholics and that's something that I kind of have to deal with it. Even at Franciscan there are some students who think it's cruel to say that same-sex behavior is disordered and for some of them it's the first time they've heard that, like in a theology class or even in my sociology class when they're reading, and so that's tough. And when I say contested terrain, I say they're confused because the mainstream embraces it and has so normalized it that they just see it as normal and good.
Speaker 1:And many of them have gay relatives, like I do, many of us do, and we love our relatives and we want them to be happy, and we want them to be happy and we want them to be fulfilled and have a wonderful life, and so they think it's cruel to say that what they're doing is sinful if they're engaging in that. But I mean, there's lots of things that are sinful.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say that. You know, isn't it interesting that it's only the sexual sins that we allow, right? I mean, you know, of course I should take that back now with the Biden administration, but there was a time when stealing was wrong, when lying was wrong, you know, when coveting your neighbor's wife was wrong. All that was going out the window until this new administration came back. I mean, the violence on the streets and stuff was crazy.
Speaker 2:But despite that, we don't really condone all those things up front, but we condone the sexual sins so often, you know, and these poor young people have been brought up in this milieu where love has been reduced down to a feeling and then further reduced down to sex. And so what they say is if the Catholic Church doesn't let two men get married or two women get married, you're saying that they can't love each other and they get love mixed up with an attempt of sexuality, which, of course, two men and two women can never have an actual sexual relationship. So you have to unpack that and you have to do it. You know, like you know, st Teresa, benedicta, right, always, you know, speak the truth and love, and love people in the truth, right?
Speaker 1:Gently right, and that's what my favorite saints are the gentle ones, the little flower, the ones who now my writing is never that gentle. I can be a little strident.
Speaker 2:When I teach.
Speaker 1:I try to be gentle, you know, and loving and supportive, because you just don't want to come down and well, that's sinful behavior, you know?
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't work, you know. And the Puritan model doesn't work either, you know, and that's not a Catholic model.
Speaker 1:It's not, oh my goodness no.
Speaker 2:I just pushed something out today. In fact I just sent it into the Catholic Exchange, if they want to use it, but I wrote it for the John Paul II Renewal Center specifically to address this and it's a very short article but it's let me see if I have it here someplace. But it's basically marriage is the primordial sacrament and it just unpacks that If we don't do that for young people. So John Paul gave us this beautiful theology of the body and I'm seeing as I get older, that it's just getting to be more relevant, more relevant. More relevant Because it does what you just said right it presents the truth in a very beautiful way that the human heart can accept. That's affirming.
Speaker 1:That's what I love about it. I'm teaching a new class in the fall, called Culture of Death, culture of Life. Oh nice, it's a sociology class. Well, it's a sociology, theology, philosophy it's really a cross-disciplinary.
Speaker 2:How exciting to teach a class like that I did.
Speaker 1:I've never taught it before. It's one of our programs. We have a human life studies program and so this is the entry-level course. So I'm very excited I'm having them read wow first book. It's called architects of the Death.
Speaker 2:Wait, whose book is that?
Speaker 1:Ben Weicker, and I think he has a co-author. I forget the co-author.
Speaker 2:That's okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hold on, it's Donald DeMarco he often publishes in Chrysos. It's a great book. And so I'm going to have them read this. So I've got it all highlighted. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm going to spend all the month getting ready for this course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so young people can still read books, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they like these, these are short chapters and they're different chapters, for like Schopenhauer's chapter one one of the architects of the culture of death, nietzsche. Margaret Sanger has her own chapter, charles Darwin. So we're going to look at the culture of death, the first half of the class, and then the second half we're going to look at, you know, all the papal encyclicals and how we as Catholics can create a culture of life, and we'll be looking at your material and some podcasts from you.
Speaker 2:I'll be loading, and this one yes, yes, We'll make sure we get the links and things out to you because it's so important. You know those encyclicals of John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor and Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life, huh, and the other one is the Splendor of Truth. You know I mean, when you read those your heart does change. Thank you for bringing them up, because they're spectacular.
Speaker 1:They really are and students love reading them. I never thought they would. I mean, I've had them read them in the past because I didn't think they would read them all. But they do, because they're easy to read, they're short and they understand them I think.
Speaker 2:I think that you're the way you're doing this class, the way I can imagine you're doing it is you're really linking. Well, you are. You just explicitly said that you're linking the contrast between what they're feeling in their heart when this culture of death, that's what they're feeling in essence, and you unpack that for them. And now you say we have an alternative and let's look at that. I mean, this is very exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will be giving them little bits of alternative each week. It's a 15 week class and the first seven is the architects of the culture of death. But I don't want them to get so depressed in the first seven weeks that they want to leave the class Like oh no. So, they will be reading and looking at podcasts like yourself in the front too, to sort of like give a contrast. You know what can we do here, but then the second half.
Speaker 1:What they'll take away for the last seven weeks are these encyclicals, and it'll arm them so they can, like you said, when they're climbing that mountain, it's not just sand underneath their feet, it's encyclicals, it's Catholic teachings, it's your words, it's my words, it's my books.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of my books is the Politics of Abortion and I show them how society has sold us abortion, you know, making it the best choice possible.
Speaker 2:you know, you can imagine, you know, when you say, when you make a statement like that, that talk about swallowing a camel, we swallow the camel, that not only do we have the right to take the innocent, the life of the innocent, but we have the right to take our own child. I mean, you know, when you really sit back, dr Hintershot, and you think about how nefarious this is, that we've accepted that. Here's another thing about and look, and I'm not just here to you know to be a rah-rah for Donald Trump, but he sent that back to the states. To me, that was a mark on our country as a United States, as our country, and by pushing it back to the states it didn't eradicate it, of course, but it's no longer a stain on our whole country. We don't all have to participate like we did before and and we have to fight it in each state. I'm in illinois, here. We're in the belly of the beast. I mean it's a incredible battle here, but at least it's not a stain in our own country and I think.
Speaker 2:I think god gave us a window that we didn't deserve. You know. You know in in true justice. You know god wouldn't, you know he would give us what we deserve right, which is which is awful what we're doing. But I think he, you know God wouldn't you know he would give us what we deserve right, which is awful what we're doing. But I think he, you know, in his justice, he doesn't always just give us what we deserve. He gives us what we need. And I think he heard our prayers, you know, and he brought an American president that actually cares about morality, as broken as he is, and cares about the truth, as broken as he is. He's finding his way to end corruption the best he can. This is a deep state, and now we have an American, which I was astounded.
Speaker 1:From.
Speaker 2:Illinois, from Illinois. I'm from the South Shore. He's only a mile and a half from Dalton's, only a mile and a half South of me, so that's very exciting. And then he brings in this framework that you alluded to earlier, this, this really we call it. You know the easy way to reframe it is three necessary societies. You know, you know, I always think of it as a pyramid in front of me, like a triangle, but like a pyramid in front, and holding it all up as marriage and the family, christ and the church. And then, of course, we go out and deform culture, and then, of course, what we would call polity, which is really the way we organize ourselves, and when those laws they should be supporting right, they should be supporting life, marriage and the family and religious freedom. And did we not see all of that being taken away from us, didn't we?
Speaker 1:We did, we absolutely did, and now we're seeing it praised again the idea of family and that's why someone like Hillary Clinton she almost like she was shrieking that you know that Donald Trump and the administration want to encourage women and support women to have children. She doesn't like that, you know she's. Did you hear her yesterday? Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, I did not hear her yesterday, but I can imagine Give us, give us a witch shrieking.
Speaker 1:She was just so angry that Donald Trump would want to encourage women having children. She wants to put you back in the patriarchy and she denigrated half the country of women who voted for Trump people like me. So I didn't take it personally, because I think she's just really a witch. And she was so angry about this idea that he was going to reward women for having children.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know, let's stretch that analogy in a little different direction, but I think it would be good for young people. We're getting more and more young people listening to this show and you know, over time, you see adults, you see people as they get older. You see adults, you see people as they get older and they throw away God and so, in essence, we turn our back on the truth. We've become very irrational and then we can become very violent. You know, not only taking the life of a womb that you know right from the womb and innocent, but also breaking apart marriage and family. Taking a baby from a surrogate, you know, taking it from its mom without a second thought and giving it to two men without concern for the baby.
Speaker 2:You know, we lose our hearts somewhere and I think that's what you see in these old politicians and old businessmen and old athletes, old singers these old singers like you know, bruce Springsteen, right, I mean it becomes pitiful. So let me ask you, don't we almost become caricatures of human beings when we take God? I think this is very important for young people just to pay attention to that. If you're sitting with that frog in a proverbial pot for too long, you really do something dies within a human being.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's what's happened, but it can be undone. You know, I don't think we have to just accept it.
Speaker 2:Yes, it can be, undone.
Speaker 1:Because people know that a child is being killed with abortion. They know that in their heart. There's no way they can't know that. I mean that crazy clinic fertility clinic bomber. He was called a pro-mortalist. I just wrote about him in American Spectator. I have an article. I mean, even he knew there were human beings embryos in that place and that's why he wanted to kill them, because he thinks no one should be born. He was crazy. I mean he was, but there's 12,000 people in his Reddit group. I did a lot of research on the pro-mortalist movement. We should talk about that someday. If you want.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would love to have you back to talk about that.
Speaker 1:A bad rabbit hole, though these people think the worst thing you can do is have a child, that there should be no one on this planet.
Speaker 2:I think I think this is a perfect time to talk about these things, not on this show right now, but I mean in this time, because of your course coming up. You know, the culture of life and the culture of death, I mean, that was really coined and made you know, really brought out into the forum by John Paul II, and he spoke about this often. This is that attitude, do you not feel that, you know, in a way, look, nobody likes evil and nobody likes all the sin, especially with the innocent. But I do like that. The evil is standing up, it's no longer hiding. This is not a hard discernment anymore, like what is good, what is evil? It's there, isn't it?
Speaker 1:No, I mean they wear T-shirts, movie stars. I had an abortion. They're celebrating it. They're celebrating it. They're out there. That isn't the whole safe and rare thing, it's. They're celebrating it and they know that a child is being killed. They know that and just like this and all these embryos. And when the doctor found out about the that his clinic was bombed, he went on the media and said I just want to assure parents that the embryos are safe. Now, what was he saying? He was saying these human beings and now I'm. You know we can't support IVF, but he at least is acknowledging that there's life in that place, even though they discard them willy-nilly. Unfortunately and that's part of the problem with IVF that too many embryos are just carelessly discarded when people change their mind or they have too many. But in a way I was sort of encouraged that at least the media is carrying that these are human beings. In that fertility clinic that he wanted to bomb, he wanted to kill all those embryos, destroy them so they couldn't be implanted. That's the culture of death.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the reason I really like doing these podcasts and thank you again for coming on is that you know it's like a bookshelf. You know podcasts are like a library and when you have a, you know I just had someone speaking about IVF and somebody a young person can just go and grab that book off the shelf and listen to it. Right, I had station trusankos on ivf is not the way and she and she did a great job with this and and she wasn't trying to uh, write a book on ivf in the beginning, uh, but she wanted to get this point across because before it becomes politically okay, you, you know what I mean Because that, because of the Trump administration, he doesn't understand he's not Catholic.
Speaker 1:So we have to educate. You know we have to go out and educate, and I think if he knew there were alternatives that the Catholic Church has encouraged and supported to help people who are infertile and supported to help people who are infertile, that they're not just adoption but ways to become pregnant that are okay in the. Catholic Church because they don't destroy the unitive act. You know not that I know a whole lot about IVF myself, but I know there are legitimate ways of doing this that are sanctified.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you for bringing that up too. And again, you know I had Dr Hilgers on a number of times from the Pope Paul VI Institute with Napro Technology. Not only are they having a greater success than IVF, it's much cheaper to do. And the beauty yeah, the beauty is you're actually going into the underlying health issues that are affecting a woman. Instead of IVF is just leaving that woman with these underlying health issues and just basically saying, look, we're going to do this in a lab and don't worry about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't heal that woman. So I'm meeting more and more people now that are going to Napro doctors and so, yeah, this is a beautiful thing. You know we're, as we start to wind up here, tell us, you know about those young people on those campuses. You know where their hearts at. You know we talked a little bit about this but but some of it was, you know, give us some good things to think about it as we go out here. You know what kind of you know. You know what kind of intellect, what, what kind of you know you?
Speaker 1:know what kind of intellect, what, what kind of you know a thirst are they having when they come to, to, to class? To franciscan, because they know they'll get, or their parents know they'll get the truth. Not all of them want the truth. They want to have a good time and they want to have a wonderful experience, but once they get there, a little, of that's not so bad right no, it's not. They do have a good way yeah, in and a good way.
Speaker 1:Very fun campus. I mean we have households in that they're like sororities, only they're very accepting. There's no hazing. These households each have a different mission, like one of them bakes bread and sells it for the missions, and others there's these St Joseph's and the men one day on campus wear a jumpsuit to show that they're carpenters. You know they're a tight group. They are just the best and I'm so happy to be there. I used to be at the University of San Diego, which is a wonderful school and I loved it and I retired from there. But I wanted a faithful Catholic school. San Diego had kind of lost its way and so when this opening came at Franciscan, I was just thrilled and I've just finished this whole book. It's a new book called Lamp in the Darkness and it's about schools like Franciscan and Ave Maria University and Christendom Wyoming. There's about a dozen, no, maybe 18, I think.
Speaker 2:Okay. So yeah, talk about that book a little bit, because people are searching and parents are searching now and there are people in their 19, 20 years old that are going to community college now and they need to go finish up somewhere.
Speaker 1:So, if they want a faithful experience, franciscan is the place to find it, or one of these in this book. It's called-.
Speaker 2:Is that what that book is? Okay, so the premise behind that is for to find colleges.
Speaker 1:It's to help parents and students find a faithful college, because there's 230 Catholic colleges and only about 30 or less are really faithful.
Speaker 2:Okay, so your book is going to help us find the proper school. Going to help us find the proper school, find a faithful school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the subtitle of the book is how the faithful few are helping to save the church.
Speaker 2:Wow thank you. You know people ask me what should I do with my child? Where can I send them to?
Speaker 1:school now.
Speaker 2:And now we got your book. We know, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you have the link up on your site.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm going to put it definitely put it I'll have it in the show notes.
Speaker 2:In fact, I'll run it across the screen here when we edit it. We'll make sure that it gets up there and oh, thank you for that. These are the reasons we have these shows because we want to speak to these young hearts and all the people that love them. Right, and this will go out across the country. So, if people are looking for for colleges and they're looking for, you know, to disciple these young people, that's what that's what our Claymore Miletus Christie is all about. Because we'll say, you know, I met this young person, dr Hendershot, and there I see the spark. And they're there, I see the spark. What should I do? And so this is this is based on pope leo, the 13th blueprint for taking back the human heart, marriage and the family and taking back the culture. You know, uh, john paul ii uh wrote, of course, uh, centesimus, uh, annus, uh, you know, 100 years looking at pope leo's rerun Navarro and just brought this forward.
Speaker 2:And now what we do is we just bring it forward a little bit further because of the cell phones, the pornography, and you know not that none of that stuff was there before, but not like it is today. You know, 100 percent of the young people we meet today, dr Hindershot, 100% that we work with have been exposed to hardcore pornography of the young men. And they got in by accident. They would hear you mentioned it earlier. They would hear something at school. They'd be curious, they'd Google it and boom, they'd be pulled into this and this is like whoa, what was that? And then they'd be caught into it and those images. Some of them are mad today in their 20s and 30s because those images are stuck in their mind when they were 9, 10, 11, 12 years old. This is what we're doing to those young people. Yeah, it is sad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is sad. Even at Steubenville, you know, you could have the greatest people come in there, but they were exposed, probably accidentally, a lot of times to these things and they got to work through those issues myth because pornography is part of the culture of death. And so it's a very little book and it explores these 10 myths by Matt Fradd of what pornography isn't, because society has so normalized. I mean, I see people in Connecticut here that are wearing Pornhub t-shirts and they have no embarrassment about it. They think it's shirts and they have no embarrassment about it. They think it's. And sometimes you just hear on TV shows you know, oh, he's just watching porn as if that's normal. There's nobody who's ashamed of it on TV and in the media and in the t-shirts. But in this class we're going to look at the myths, because that's one of the myths that porn is normal and that porn will prevent rape and that women can't get addicted to porn. That's another myth, because women can, just like men can, get addicted.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they and they certainly suffer the repercussions Right In marriages. You know not to get into all of that, but this is all about this culture of life and it's just this beautiful image. I was just speaking on Monday night, a couple nights ago, to a group of newlyweds. It was a big group, they were married from one to six years and so they were invited by a number of churches to come in. We were going through the beauty of John Paul's work on theology of the body and stuff and really talking through these issues.
Speaker 2:You know, because a woman, even if she understands porn or somebody brings pornography into their marriage, she's going to feel used and abused. You know women will sense this and over time, you know when that initial you know, kind of spark of eros, we would call it right, when that starts to fade, and it will naturally fade over a year and a half or so, those chemicals that Russia chemicals is not going to be there as much. And then you're left with lust and selfishness and, man, is it so beautiful when people understand this and they come out of it and they start looking at each other not as people to use but as people to love. Huh, and when I tell young men. Dr Hintershot, you know, look into a woman's eyes. It's not so easy today with all this porn and stuff, but look into her eyes and try to see into her heart, right To see, to know and to love. And it's a battle, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Oh, it really is, especially when the culture is so degraded and the movies are so degraded and that porn is so normalized. I mean, women watch movies and many of them are pornographic now, or even like old people my age. This Candace Bergen movie recently was like the women's book club, was all about pornography. I didn't go see it but my friend said, oh, you should see it. It's so funny, it's these women who watch porn. I'm like why would I see that? I think it's disgusting old women watching it's not only disgusting and degrading.
Speaker 2:It's like those old actors and those singers like Bruce Springsteen who we watch. You become a caricature of yourself. It's embarrassing, I think.
Speaker 1:I'm embarrassed for them. I'm embarrassed for Bruce Springsteen. I'm embarrassed for Candace Bergen to be in that movie because it was just a stupid movie. The idea that elderly women are all into pornography. I don't believe that.
Speaker 2:No, and if it is, they're not very happy. They're not very happy. Hey, god bless you. Thank you so much. As we start to wind down here, I'm going to, I'm going to make sure that I put your books in the show notes. It sounds exciting to to be able to help some parents and some young people too, with that and and and. Are there any other links we need to get in the show notes, dr Hendershot?
Speaker 1:No, just if you want to reach me, go to Franciscan University. I've got a website there at Franciscan and the Veritas Center. Come to our conferences. We're having a conference this year on family and work, so you know.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, well, you know it's such a blessing to have people like you out there. You know, beautiful, well, you know it's such a blessing to have people like you out there. You know, right, you give, you, give us hope that some kids are going to get that education, a great education, and not only that, you know they'll share this Right, they'll be able to share this for the rest of their lives. I have a feeling that we need to do this now. You know there's there's an urgency, and I think these young people are starting to understand there's a certain urgency to figuring this out, because if they want to raise families and stuff, we're going to have to change this culture. We're going to have to create a culture of life and and beauty for them, aren't we?
Speaker 1:We are and that's we're doing our part at Francis.
Speaker 2:Yes, you are. Hey, God bless you. Thanks everyone.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us. Talk to you again soon.