Indiaʼs Maharashtra state enacted a sweeping anti-conversion law on Aug. 28, prompting Catholic leaders to call for prayer and a legal challenge. Matthew Bunson has more on this and other Church news.

Segment 2: The Sacred Heart: Our Light in the Darkness (2 segments)

More than 350 years ago, Jesus unveiled to St Margaret Mary Alacoque the secrets and desires of His Sacred Heart. This summer, the USCCB consecrated the USA to the Sacred Heart. Dr Robert Stackpole reflects on this devotion.

Just before we went on the air today, a tornado warning was issued for our county. On this Feast of Gregory the Great, Marcus reflects on our duty to share the Gospel and some lessons he learned from today’s storm.

Segment 2: The ecological and human concerns of AI (2 segments)

Pope Leo has offered the most serious look to date at AI and a lot of issues relating to technology. Importantly, he emphasize that human beings need to be at the center of these debates and we must always be mindful of how new technologies will affect everyday people’s lives. Tom Doran has more.

Further Reading

Our Light in the Darkness: The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Guest Info

Dr Robert Stackpole obtained a Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He is the author of many books and the director emeritus of the JPII Institute of Divine Mercy

Further Reading

Catholic Church Weighs Legal Challenge to New Anti-Conversion Law in India

China Pressured a US Catholic Group to Censor Its Keynote Speaker. They Complied.

Enzo Bianchi, Founder of Bose Community, Dies at 83

Church in Nepal Helps Flood Victims Find Hope, Apostolic Administrator Says

An Unusual Wave of Generosity Precedes Pope Leo XIV’s Visit to France

Guest Info

Matthew Bunson is Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News and a Senior Fellow at St Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He’s the author or co-author of more than 50 books including the first English-language biography of Pope Francis and The Encyclopedia of Catholic History. Follow him on twitter at MattBunson. Register Radio airs Saturdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 11 am on Ave Maria Radio

Massachusetts’ highest court just handed the ACLU a powerful new tool for scrubbing religious references from public life. The Supreme Judicial Court blocked Quincy, Massachusetts, from installing two bronze statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian outside its new public safety building, because the statues are new, large, and “closely affiliated with a particular religion.” Andrea Picciotti-Bayer has more.

Segment 2: Pornography: You’re not meant to fight alone

The modern world and our imprudent use of technology have left many of us isolated and struggling in fruitless cycles. We are often seeking what is right, with a strong desire to be transformed to participate in what is good, but don’t feel that we have the power to get there on our own. Alex Ziolkowski is launching a new app to help people in this fight. He joins us.

Segment 3: Care for Creation Begins Close to Home (2 segments)

A world stripped of beauty, stability, and peace is not healed merely by better policies. Nor are ecological problems solved simply by purchasing a few carbon credits. Dr. Matthew Ramage joins us.

Today’s First Reading, taken from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, brings to mind the pain felt by parents who long for their children to return to the faith. Marcus shares some thoughts.

Segment 2: The challenge – and importance - of talking about difficult things

On yesterday’s program we talked with Ken Craycraft about alcoholism. And later today we will talk with Alex Ziolkowski about pornography addiction. Millions of people are fighting these battles, yet feel like they have to fight them alone. It’s important to talk about these topics, as difficult as they may be. Marcus has more.

Segment 3: Does God do any real work in the Declaration?

According to the Declaration of Independence, human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This claim raises the question: Does God do any real work in the Declaration? Is the Creator language decorative or load-bearing? Dr. Christopher Kaczor joins us.

Learn more about the Camino App here

Guest Info

Alex Ziolkowski is the co-founder of the Camino App. Learn more at thecaminoapp.com

Watch the full interview here:

Further Reading

Putting Down Roots: Care for Creation Begins Close to Home

Guest Info

Matthew J. Ramage, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology at Benedictine College where he is co-director of its Center for Integral Ecology. His research and writing concentrates especially on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, the wedding of ancient and modern methods of biblical interpretation, the dialogue between faith and science, and stewardship of creation. In addition to his other scholarly and outreach endeavors, Dr. Ramage is author, contributing author, or translator of over thirty books, his most recent being Cosmic Covenant: A Catholic Theology of Creation. His other titles include Dark Passages of the Bible (CUA Press, 2013), Jesus, Interpreted (CUA Press, 2017), The Experiment of Faith (CUA Press, 2020), From the Dust of the Earth (CUA Press, 2022), The Essential Guide to Ratzinger (OSV, 2025), and Cosmic Covenant (Word on Fire Academic, 2026). When he is not teaching or writing, Dr. Ramage enjoys exploring the great outdoors with his wife and eight children, tending his orchard, and perfecting his craft at the barbecue pit. For more on Dr. Ramage’s work, visit his website www.matthewramage.com.

Further Reading

Massachusetts Court Says Town Can’t Build Statues Of Christian Heroes Because They’re Christian

Guest Info

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News. She also directs the Conscience Project. Follow her on Twitter @bayerpicciotti and visit conscience-project.org.

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Further Reading

Why Invoke God in the Declaration of Independence?

Created Equal with Unalienable Rights?

The Declaration Tells Us Nobody Is a Nobody

Guest Info

Dr. Christopher Kaczor is President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association and Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. A Fulbright scholar, his eighteen books include most recently, Vital Conflicts: Debating Abortion, Gender Treatments, and Claims of Conscience. Kaczor was appointed a von Humbolt Fellow, a Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow at Princeton University. He can be found on X at @Prof_Kaczor.

Children often need help with the basic skill of expressing their emotions. Dr Greg Popcak frequently hears from parents, even parents of teenagers, whose children have anger issues that can explode out without warning. What can you do in this situation?

Segment 2: Three Ways Satan Attacks our Happiness

A quote popularly attributed to St Anthony of the Desert identifies three ways Satan tries to steal our joy:

1) Regretting the Past

2) Fearing the future

3) Being ungrateful for the present.

While we couldn’t find documentation of this precise quote, its wisdom remains. Marcus shares some more thoughts.

Segment 3: Bearing the Cross of Alcoholism (2 segments)

On December 16, 2002, Ken Craycraft made an impulsive decision that changed the course of his life. He gathered the liquor bottles from around his house and poured them down the sink – and he has not taken a drink since. Ken and Marcus speak about their experiences as alcoholics, bearing the cross of addiction, and what they want the loved ones of alcoholics to understand.

Today’s Office of the Readings includes an excerpt from Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. He warns us of a very dangerous spiritual illusion – the assumption that just because we were faithful yesterday, we will automatically be faithful tomorrow. The Christian life depends on waking up every day and seeking the grace of God to sustain us in fidelity. Marcus has more.

Segment 2: The World Needs more Ghost Stories

Catholic Answers President Christopher Check will be speaking at St Matthew’s Catholic Church in Flint tomorrow about why the world needs more ghost stories. He gives us a preview.

Segment 3: The Soul of a Disciple: Praying with Fulton Sheen

There is a hunger inside all of us that the world cannot satisfy. Yet it remains – that quiet ache for something real, something lasting, something holy. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen knew that hunger well. He spent more than sixty years assuaging it in the best way: on his knees, in silence, before the Blessed Sacrament, in what he called his daily Holy Hour. From that secluded hour flowed everything – his preaching, his books, his television ministry that reached millions, and his spiritual fire that made him one of the most compelling voices of the twentieth century. We talk about it with Allan Smith

1) Regretting the Past

2) Fearing the future

3) Being ungrateful for the present.

While we couldn’t find documentation of this precise quote, its wisdom remains. Marcus shares some more thoughts.

Guest Info

Dr Greg Popcak is the founder and director of CatholicCounselors.com, a group pastoral telecounseling practice providing faithful help to Catholics dealing with personal, emotional and relationship problems. He is also the former chair of the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies program at Holy Apostles College and Seminary and an adjunct professor of psychology and graduate theology at Franciscan. Together with his wife, Lisa, he is the author of over 20 books integrating insights from counseling psychology and the timeless wisdom of our Catholic faith. They are also the developers of the CatholicHOM app, a resource helping Catholic families thrive.

Catholic HOM App

Further Reading

The Soul of a Disciple: Fulton Sheen’s Meditations on the Cross, the Eucharist, and the Christian Life

Archbishop Sheen’s Book of Sacraments: An Anthology

Lord, Teach Us To Pray: A Fulton Sheen Anthology

Guest Info

Al Smith is the founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada and editor of the best-selling book The Cries of the Jesus from the Cross: A Fulton Sheen Anthology. He has served the Church for many years as a Catholic evangelist, radio host, writer, Internet broadcaster, and retreat director and has served on the board of directors of the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation in Peoria, Illinois, promoting the cause of Sheen’s canonization.

Learn more about the event

Guest Info

Christopher Check is president of Catholic Answers. A graduate of Rice University, for nearly two decades he served as vice president of The Rockford Institute. Before that he served for seven years as a field artillery officer in the Marine Corps, attaining the grade of captain. He lectures on Church and military history. He and his wife, Jacqueline, have four sons. The Checks show and breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, famed companions of the Stuart kings, under the kennel name Top Meadow Cavaliers, named for G.K. Chesterton’s Beaconsfield estate.