What Matters Most

This is Episode Seven of Season Three, featuring Dr. Ross Lockhart, who is Professor of Mission Studies at Vancouver School of Theology and Dean of St. Andrew’s Hall. Ross is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. His main areas of research are in Missiology and Homiletics. He is the author of numerous books, including Lessons from Laodicea: Missional Leadership in a Culture of Affluence; Beyond Snakes and Shamrocks: St. Patrick’s Missional Leadership Lessons for Today; co-author of Better Than Brunch: Missional Churches in Cascadia as well as Christianity: An Asian Religion in Vancouver and editor of Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil.  His newest book is West Coast Mission: The Changing Nature of Christianity in Vancouver and it formed the basis of our conversation.  We discuss what it means to be a Christian in Vancouver, a place where, honestly, there’s not a lot of hostility to Christianity, but maybe more a bit of disinterest or bemused curiosity for this minority religion. Ross also gave us numerous excellent resources for understanding religion in post-Christendom Vancouver, which really, as Ross explains, was never a part of broader Christendom as in the rest of Canada. Ross mentioned the work of Lynn Marx, whose book Infidels and the Damn Churches Irreligion and Religion in Settler British Columbia examines the religious history of the Canadian European wild west. Tina Block continues that work in her book The Secular Northwest Religion and Irreligion in Everyday Postwar Life that "debunks the myth of a godless frontier, revealing a Pacific Northwest that was serious about its secularity, consciously rejecting the trappings of organized religion but not necessarily spirituality – and not necessarily God." He mentioned many other scholars, but I will highlight here the work of Paul Bramadat, also from Winnipeg, who among other writings co-edited Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest, which examines religion in all of its varieties in Cascadia.  And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes: Coming up next is Dr. Christine Evans on Pop Culture Matters and the movie The Night of the Hunter, Fr. Ryan Duns on the theology of horror, Dr. Megan Fritts Cabrera, Dr. Ruben Rosario, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, and Dr. Tim Pawl. Dr. Christine Evans and I have already recorded the next Pop Culture Matters episode, inspired by a recent viewing of The Night of the Hunter and and excellent lecture by Christine at VIFF. We discuss Robert Mitchum's creepy and dreadful film. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Some upcoming events: We are now setting the program for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. We will update the website soon with information on the program and where you can register for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025 for the conference. The cost will be minimal to attend the concurrent sessions of the conference itself, around $50-60  and I think you will find it stimulating and challenging. It will be exciting. Details are coming soon. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  You can now register for the event on Eventbrite.  The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out as it continues to be updated by Fang Fang and Kevin on a regular basis! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

This is Season Three, Episode Six is here, featuring Dr. Adele Reinhartz,Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, in Canada. Her main areas of research are New Testament, early Jewish-Christian relations, the Bible and Film, and feminist biblical criticism. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including Befriending the Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John (2001), Scripture on the Silver Screen (Westminster John Knox, 2003), Jesus of Hollywood (Oxford, 2007), Caiaphas the High Priest (2011), and Bible and Cinema: An Introduction (Routledge, 2013). In this episode we spent a lot of time discussing her timely new book Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John. The title of this epsiode, however, is taken from her forthcoming book, Jousting with John. Adele has been a Member of the Institutes of Advanced Studies in Princeton and in Jerusalem and has been a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School (1999), Yale Divinity School (2010), and Boston College (2015-17). She was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 2005 and into the Academy for Jewish Research in 2014.  Adele has been the General Editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and President of the Society of Biblical Literature. She is a significant figure in NT studies and in my own life as I studied with Adele both as an undergrad and a grad student at University of St. Michael's College and McMaster University respectively. Adele tells me that I should not think about her as my teacher, as it was many decades ago, but as colleagues. I know we are colleagues and she is a wonderful and supportive colleague, but it is hard not to think about the person who introduced me to Judaism in the Second Temple period, the love of my academic life and vocation, as my teacher. With her I read books for the first time by Victor Tcherikover, Ellis Rivkin, Jacob Neusner, Elias Bickerman, and Saul Lieberman. If you do not know those names, you are a part of the 99.9%. if you know those names, you too are a Second Temple Judaism nerd and might have studied Judaism in its Hellenistic environment. Another reason it sticks with me is that I went to study in Toronto due to Fr. Jim Roberts, with whom I studied at Vancouver Community College Langara and took a course on the history of Christianity. It was here as a naïve 19- or 20-year-old I learned about antisemitism in Christianity. I was shocked and I asked Fr. Roberts, where should I go study to learn more about this? He directed me to St Michael’s College at U of T and Gregory Baum, whom I would find out later had a significant role in drafting Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II document that categorically separated the Church from earlier teachings and practices regarding the Jews. Adele too studied with Baum earlier. So here we are in 2024 and it is essential for us as Christians to continue to combat antisemitic readings of the Bible, which have too often in the past and even today led to antisemitic language and behaviours. This can be tough going for Christians to repudiate beloved passages or books of the Bible such as the Gospel of John. But it can and it must be done. There is no option but to stand against it, whether intentional or unintentional. Biblical scholars, teachers of the Bible in churches and schools, must carefully explain the historical settings and origins of these texts, but also simply say no to passages that lead to hatred and cruelty of Jews. Even simple things like the God of the OT is cruel and vindictive, but the God of the NT is loving and kind. I encourage everyone to read the Bible and see that the presentation of God in both the Hebrew Bible and the NT encompasses elements of judgment and mercy. And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes: Coming up next is Dr. Ross Lockhart on Christianity in Vancouver, Dr. Christine Evans on Pop Culture Matters and the movie The Night of the Hunter, Fr. Ryan Duns, Dr. Ruben Rosario, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, and Dr. Tim Pawl. The first episode of Pop Culture Matters is out. I hope you have listened to it. As mentioned above, inspired by a recent viewing of The Night of the Hunter and and excellent lecture by UBC film prof Christine Evans, we are going to discuss Robert Mitchum's creepy and dreadful film. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Some upcoming events: We are now setting the program for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. We will update the website soon with information on the program and where you can register for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025 for the conference. The cost will be minimal to attend the concurrent sessions of the conference itself, around $50-60  and I think you will find it stimulating and challenging. It will be exciting. Details are coming soon. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  You can now register for the event on Eventbrite.  The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out as it continues to be updated by Fang Fang and Kevin on a regular basis! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

This is Season Three, Episode Five is here, featuring Dr. Bill Cavanaugh, professor of Catholic studies at De Paul University in Chicago and director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, a research center housed in the Department of Catholic Studies and focusing on the Catholic Church in the global South—Africa, Asia, and Latin America.    Bill is one of the most significant Catholic theologians of the 21st century, having written numerous important books in the past 25 years, such as Torture and the Eucharist, Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire, and The Myth of Religious Violence. Today we are focusing on his new book from Oxford University Press, The Uses of Idolatry, where the gods of consumerism and nationalism are discussed. It was a delight to speak with an old friend, but it’s even more delightful when an old friend happens to be a great theologian, who is funny and warm. Lucky me to have this conversation with Bill and lucky us to be able to listen to this conversation. Bill says early on in the podcast, “I mean, in some ways, the thesis of the book is really simple. And it's not terribly original, right? It's the idea that we don't live in a secular world where worship has waned. We live in an enchanted world, you know, an idolatrous world where people still worship lots of things but not God.” It might not be original, but it is provocative, and I know not everyone agrees with it, such as perhaps Charles Taylor. One of the things I love about Bill’s work is that he takes on big questions and is not afraid to offer big answers. I loved talking about and subsequently thinking about disenchantment and enchantment, especially regarding the claim that modernity is disenchanted. I think Bill is right to push back on that and part of it emerges for me and my understanding of the world as an historian of antiquity. I think there is a portrayal of the ancient world as fundamentally more enchanted than people of the ancient world described it. That is, the portrayal of ancient people tends to romanticize them in comparison to modern people. Bill wrote in the The Uses of Idolatry, “there is no “race” of humans who experience the world entirely as immanent; there is rather a set of people in the West who have learned— for various reasons having to do with how power is distributed in Western societies— to describe their world as immanent and disenchanted, while they are still involved in all sorts of worship.” (9) In the same way, the ancients were not all walking around enchanted while their children died and while they tried to afford food or the rent.   I loved talking about and thinking about what constitutes religion, and the difference between magic and religion, if there is one, and how nationalism and consumerism might fill the God gap for us. These ultimately Bill says are simply idols, splendid or unsplendid. Bill spoke about and wrote about how the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ as an antidote to idolatry. I wondered whether there are such antidotes in other religious traditions. Among indigenous peoples for instance?  How do people who are not Christian counter idolatries like nationalism and consumerism? Must one be a Christian/catholic to worship a/the true God? That’s not Bill’s argument and we discussed how this is the book as a Christian theologian he can write, but I raised the possibility of bringing together scholars of other religions to discuss the questions of idolatry, especially of nationalism and consumerism, which seem like universal gods, from the point of view of other religion standpoints and traditions. Bill has a clear audience in mind of course, “The first audience is those who claim to believe in God, primarily but not exclusively the Christian community. To claim to believe in God is not necessarily to worship God in reality. I hope that this book will help Christians and others to think more deeply about our own practical idolatries and to seek God’s help in remedying them and healing a broken world. The second audience is those who claim not to believe in God. I hope that the theoretical and empirical work of this book might demonstrate that the supposed divide between “believers” and “nonbelievers” is perhaps not so wide as is often assumed" (6). I think he’s right, but I see that third audience, those who follow other religious traditions and how they might respond and do in practice respond to realities of nationalism and consumerism. What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors. And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes: Coming up next is Dr. Adele Reinhartz of U of Ottawa on the Gospel of John and antisemitism in the NT and in Christianity, and on the horizon are Dr. Ross Lockhart, Fr. Ryan Duns, S.J., Dr. Ruben Rosario, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, and Dr. Tim Pawl. The first episode of Pop Culture Matters is out. I hope you have listened to it. Martin and I are ready for more and we are definitely thinking about a movie: the Matrix? The Big Lebowski? Philomena? The Meaning of Life? Let us know what you want to discuss. At this point, inspired by a recent viewing of The Night of the Hunter and and excellent lecture by UBC film prof Christine Evans, we are thinking of a discussion of Robert Mitchum's creepy and dreadful film. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. I will also post the question on Facebook @biblejunkies. We will be moving to a CCE Facebook page, but in the meantime, feel free to check us out @biblejunkies. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Some upcoming events: We are now setting the program for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. We will update the website soon with information on the program and where you can register for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025 for the conference. The cost will be minimal to attend the concurrent sessions of the conference itself, around $50-60  and I think you will find it stimulating and challenging. It will be exciting. Details are coming soon. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent Dr. Jane Barter, professor of religion and culture at the U of Winnipeg. She teaches and does research on Christianity, Religion and Gender, and Religion and Political Theory.  You can register for the webinar now at Eventbrite. On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay! The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out as it continues to be updated by Fang Fang and Kevin on a regular basis! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Season Three, Episode Four is here, featuring Dr. Daisy Vargas, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the U of Arizona (Ph.D. in History, University of California, Riverside; M.A. in Religious Studies, University of Denver), who specializes in Catholicism in the Americas, especially in the borderlands of the American Southwest. She examines race, ethnicity, and religion in the United States, Latina/o religion, and material religion. Please go to her web page to check out her publications, including some that are available online.  She describes her current project as tracing the history of Mexican religion, race, and the law from the nineteenth century into the contemporary moment, positioning current legal debates about Mexican religion within a larger history of anti-Mexican and anti-Catholic attitudes in the United States. In that context we talked about “crimmigration” and how US law enforcement sometimes determines who is a good or bad Catholic on the basis of material artifacts like prayer cards and rosaries. I found this a challenging and stimulating conversation on a topic I knew little about, but the major question - who decides on whether one's religion is good or bad? - is a perennial one. And the addition of race and ethnicity in the calculation of who is a good or bad Catholic, for instance, especially in the USA, points to the ongoing power of white supremacy at the American borderlands.  Some news on upcoming podcast episodes:  In the coming weeks we will be hearing from Dr. Bill Cavanaugh of DePaul University on his new book The Uses of Idolatry, Dr. Adele Reinhartz of University of Ottawa on hher work on the Gospel of John, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, Dr. Tim Pawl, and many more excellent scholars and thinkers. The first episode of Pop Culture Matters is out. I hope you have listened to it. Martin and I are ready for more and we are definitely thinking about a movie: the Matrix? The Big Lebowski? Philomena? The Meaning of Life? Let us know what you want to discuss. Follow us at our social media pages, linked below, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post on our socials with a question as to what you are most interested in seeing. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Upcoming Events: On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent Dr. Jane Barter, professor of religion and culture at the U of Winnipeg. She teaches and does research on Christianity, Religion and Gender, and Religion and Political Theory.  You can register for the webinar now at Eventbrite. On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay! Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Paper proposals for the upcoming conference are closed and we are going through amazing abstracts right now from Asia, Africa, and North America. We will update the website soon with information on the program and where you can register for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025 for the conference. The cost will be minimal for the conference itself and I think you will find it stimulating and challenging. It will be exciting. Details are coming soon. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Season Three, Episode Three is a banger! Do the kids still say that? Dr. Jennifer Newsome Martin, the director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, and the John J. Cavanaugh Associate Professor of the Program of Liberal Studies and Associate Professor, Department of Theology, brings incredible joy to theology and that joy is infectious. She will make you fall in love with ideas, of the true, the good, and the beautiful. Listen to her talk about theology, soil, seeds, gardening, John Henry Newman, Josef Pieper, and why it is wonderful that you exist.     You can find the full range of her publications at her website, linked above, but here are a few pieces that might interest you: On liberal education; On Jenny's conversion to Catholicism. Some news on upcoming podcast episodes:  In the coming weeks we will be hearing from Dr. Daisy Vargas of the University of Arizona, speaking on Latinx theology and "crimmigration," Dr. Adele Reinhartz of University of Ottawa, Dr. Bill Cavanaugh of De Paul University, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, and many more excellent scholars and thinkers. The first episode of Pop Culture Matters is out. I hope you have listened to it. Martin and I are ready for more and we are definitely thinking about a movie: the Matrix? The Big Lebowski? Philomena? The Meaning of Life? Let us know what you want to discuss. Follow us at our social media pages, linked below, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post on our socials with a question as to what you are most interested in seeing. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Upcoming Events: On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent Dr. Jane Barter, professor of religion and culture at the U of Winnipeg. She teaches and does research on Christianity, Religion and Gender, and Religion and Political Theory.  You can register for the webinar now at Eventbrite. On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay! Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Please consider sending in a proposal for a paper. If you are a graduate student and we accept your proposal to present a paper, we will cover your conference registration fees and the cost of the conference banquet. You do not have to present a paper to come. You can purchase a conference pass and simply attend all of the sessions. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025. You should also know that the plenary or keynote addresses are free and open to the public. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago If you are interested in presenting a paper at the conference please go to the link above. The deadline for proposals is fast approaching, October 1, 2024. All the information for how to propose a paper is on the website linked above.  The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Welcome to the first episode of Pop Culture Matters, a discussion with Martin Strong and me regarding Gospel music and the song "Straight Street," written by J.W. Alexander and Jesse Whitaker in the 1950s and first recorded by The Pilgrim Travelers in 1955. Today we are especially looking at Ry Cooder’s version of the song "Straight Street" and the biblical and other spiritual themes that suffuse this song, Cooder’s 2018 album Prodigal Son from this song is taken, and Gospel music in general. We also spend a little time discussing "Wade in the Water" by the Staples Singers. We have links to both songs on You Tube below, and also the lyrics. So, please, if you have not already, listen to the songs, read the lyrics, and then come back and join us for our conversation.  We also discussed why What Matters Most is introducing this new podcast format, what we are getting at, and why we think pop culture matters as a spiritual force. Honestly, it was about a lot more than "Straight Street," it was also about why we think these conversations are important and the spirituality that underlies how we share our cultural touchstones as well as the spirituality within the songs, movies, books, and other forms of art that we love. And we managed to touch on a lot more pop culture, like Fargo, No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, Ricky Gervais, Jim Carrey, The Verdict, and much more.  Martin and I will be back, and we have a lot of ideas for things to discuss, but we hope that you will make some suggestions for us too. What should we talk about next? We’re thinking of Godland, or Life of Brian, or the last season of Fargo, or some other movie or tv show, but why not let us know what you want to discuss. Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We’ll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. I will also post the question on Facebook @biblejunkies. We will be moving to a CCE Facebook page, but in the meantime, feel free to check us out @biblejunkies. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Thanks to Martin Strong for joining me in this venture! Thanks to Kevin Eng for editing and engineering this episode. Thanks to Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform.  The Songs:   The Pilgrim Travelers, Straight Street Staple Singers, Wade in the Water Ry Cooder, Straight Street The Lyrics: Straight Street [Verse 1] Well I used to live on Broadway, right next to the liar's house My number was self-righteousness and a very little guide of mouth [Chorus] So I moved, I moved and I'm living on Straight Street now I moved, I had to move, I'm living on Straight Street now [Verse 2] Before I moved over, let me tell you how it was with me Old Satan had me bound in chains and I had no liberty One day my heart got troubled all about my dwelling place I heard the Lord when He spoke to me, and he told me to leave that place [Chorus] So I moved, I moved and I'm living on Straight Street now Yes I moved, I move, well I'm living on Straight Street now [Bridge] Since I moved, I'm really living, I've got peace within I thank the Lord for everything, so glad I found new friends [Chorus] So I moved, I moved and I'm living on Straight Street now I moved, I had to move, and I'm living on Straight Street now [Outro] I'm living on Straight Street now Yes I moved, I had to move, I'm living on Straight Street now Yes I moved, I had to move, yes I'm living on Straight Street now Well I moved, yes had to move, and I'm living on Straight Street now (Move, move, living on Straight Street now) (Move, move, living on Straight Street now) (Move, move, living on Straight Street now) Written by J.W. Alexander and Jesse Whitaker Wade in the Water: [Chorus:] Wade in the water Wade in the water children Wade in the water Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water I stepped in water and the water is cold Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water Said it chilled my body but not my soul Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water [Chorus] Well I went to the water one day to pray Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water And my soul got happy and I stayed all day Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water [Chorus] There is love (In the water) In the water (In the water) There is joy yeah (In the water) In your water yeah (In the water) Your peace (In the water) Is in the water (In the water) Your deliverance (In the water) Is in the water yeah (In the water) Oh step in, step in (In the water) Joy is in the water In the water yeah (In the water) Oh step in, step in (In the water) Love is in the water (In the water) Oh step in yeah (In the water) For deliverance (In the water) Everything (In the water) In the water yeah Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) Everything you need (In the water) God's gonna trouble the water God's gonna trouble the water (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) God's gonna trouble the water (Ooh) God's gonna trouble the water Oh wade in the water Written by Ramsey Lewis

Welcome to the second episode of the third season of What Matters Most, featuring Dr. Lynn Huber. Dr. Lynn Huber is Maude Sharpe Powell Professor, Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University in North Carolina and author of the new Wisdom Commentary on Revelation, published by Liturgical Press. Apart from her Wisdom Commentary, co-written with her late mentor Gail O’Day, Lynn has written: Thinking and Seeing with Women in Revelation.  London:  Bloomsbury T and T Clark, 2013; “Like a Bride Adorned”:  Reading Metaphor in John’s Apocalypse.  New York:  T and T Clark, 2007. She has also written numerous articles and encyclopedia entries which you can find on her website at Elon University. Lynn is a true expert on the text. She takes the polyvalent images and language of the text and reads it through a feminist and queer lens. This might challenge people, but it also opens up new horizons and new ways to understand Revelation. This episode is in many ways about reading gender in Revelation. Lynn refers to her work as idiosyncratic, in that she references and engages with reality TV, the Olympics, including the great Simone Biles, current music and concerts, as well as all the ancient context and history. We also discuss at the end of the podcast how much power Revelation has been assigned in our culture, but Lynn also turns that discussion of power upside down, as does Revelation itself: what does it mean to see victory based upon the lamb who was slain? Why are male virgins seen as the ideal in Revelation 14 when in Roman culture, as Christian Laes says, they were basically unknown and certainly not acclaimed. This positive role of male virgins though is coupled with a presentation of sex with women as inherently defiling. This sort of misogynistic portrayal renders women as separated from salvation. In addition, there is a lot of sexual violence portrayed in the text, such as with Jezebel and with the portrayal of the whore of Babylon, language which Lynn says is a correct translation but troubling too. But there is also the presentation of the woman in chapter 12 who is pursued by the Dragon and hides her child away. There is also the fascinating image that Lynn describes of girls as the victors, of the image of conquering basically being an image of female conquering. The lamb who was slain is both victim and victor. Finally, there is the image of the male virgins as the bride of Christ. Does this only include men? Or are these only those who are presented in revelation 14 as part of the redeemed and righteous community? Lynn finally discussed an image of inclusivity that she sees as a positive message of Revelation. What does full inclusivity in the people of God mean? When we are inclusive of some who have been marginalized does that inherently exclude others?   Some news on upcoming podcast episodes:  Coming up next is Dr. Jenny Martin of Notre Dame discussing theology and gardening. In the coming weeks we will be hearing from Dr. Adele Reinhartz of U of Ottawa, Dr. Daisy Vargas of the University of Arizona, and many more excellent scholars and thinkers. Also, and this is big news for us, we are expanding the sorts of podcasts we do under the umbrella of What Matters Most. We are not changing the bi-weekly format of what you have just heard here today with Margaret MacDonald, but we are adding more. We are adding a Pop Culture Matters podcast, in which music, movies, novels, etc. with religious themes are added to the mix. Martin Strong and I will start off the series by discussing Ry Cooder’s Straight Street – go out and listen to it now; I dare you to listen to it just once – and the Danish/Icelandic movie Godland. Please send in your suggestions for Pop Culture that Matters. Don’t be afraid, suggest away. Maybe you could join us as a co-host for an episode. The wonder of Zoom makes this is a possibility wherever you are! Martin also suggested a podcast on religious sites, local and international, which we call Places that Matter. What’s a place that matters to you? St. Peter’s in Rome? Some obscure shrine? Pacific Spirit forest?  Let us know. Finally, I am encouraging my colleagues at St. Mark’s to join me as guest hosts this year, so I hope you will soon hear from Kevin Eng, Fang Fang Chandra, Nick Olkovich, Fr. Nick Meisl and more. More What Matters Most. Upcoming Events: On September 13, CCE is presenting a film on AI with Regent College and VST in which we screen The End of Humanity followed by a panel discussion. This event is now sold out, but pay attention for news of a livestream and join the waitlist in case a ticket comes open. On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent who I can now tell you is Dr. Jane Barter, professor of religion and culture at the U of Winnipeg. She teaches and does research on Christianity, Religion and Gender, and Religion and Political Theory.   On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Please consider sending in a proposal for a paper. If you are a graduate student and we accept your proposal to present a paper, we will cover your conference registration fees and the cost of the conference banquet. You do not have to present a paper to come. You can purchase a conference pass and simply attend all of the sessions. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025. You should also know that the plenary or keynote addresses are free and open to the public. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Welcome to the first episode of the third season of What Matters Most, featuring Dr. Margaret MacDonald. Margaret MacDonald is Professor of Religion at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Margaret MacDonald is a prominent and preeminent scholar in the fields of New Testament and early Christianity. We discuss Margaret’s excellent book The Power of Children: The Construction of Christian Families in the Greco-Roman World, but much more, as you will soon hear, including her forthcoming lecture at the Promise of Christian Education conference in Vancouver in May 2025 on ancient Christian learning circles, which forms part of her forthcoming book on Christian education in antiquity. In the course of doing that, we talk about household codes, house churches, families, girls, boys, enslaved children, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pauline letters, the Pastoral epistles, Deutero-Pauline epistles, Paul and Thecla, and a lot more.  She offers an integrated picture of early Christian families, fathers, mothers, children, and enslaved people and their roles in the family, in the Church, and the broader world in this book and in her other, extensive research.  In addition to numerous essays and journal articles, her publications include four other books: Carolyn Osiek and Margaret Y. MacDonald (with Janet Tulloch), A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity (2006); Colossians and Ephesians (Sacra Pagina; 2000); Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion: The Power of the Hysterical Woman (1996); The Pauline Churches: A socio-historical study of institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Writings (1988). Enjoy this deep dive into the world and lives of ancient children! Some news on upcoming podcast episodes:  Coming up next is Dr. Lynn Huber discussing her new commentary on Revelation for the Wisdom Commentary series. You will not want to miss this revelatory podcast, I make no apologies for my pun, and Lynn’s feminist and queer readings of John’s Apocalypse. If you wonder, what does it even mean to read Revelation in this way? Stay tuned. In the coming weeks we will be hearing from Dr. Jenny Martin of Notre Dame, Dr. Adele Reinhartz of U of Ottawa, Dr. Daisy Vargas of the University of Arizona, and many more excellent scholars and thinkers. Also, and this is big news for us, we are expanding the sorts of podcasts we do under the umbrella of What Matters Most. We are not changing the bi-weekly format of what you have just heard here today with Margaret MacDonald, but we are adding more. We are adding a Pop Culture Matters podcast, in which music, movies, novels, etc. with religious themes are added to the mix. Martin Strong and I will start off the series by discussing Ry Cooder’s Straight Street – go out and listen to it now; I dare you to listen to it just once – and the Danish/Icelandic movie Godland. Please send in your suggestions for Pop Culture that Matters. Don’t be afraid, suggest away. Maybe you could join us as a co-host for an episode. The wonder of Zoom makes this is a possibility wherever you are! Martin also suggested a podcast on religious sites, local and international, which we call Places that Matter. What’s a place that matters to you? St. Peter’s in Rome? Some obscure shrine? Pacific Spirit forest?  Let us know. Finally, I am encouraging my colleagues at St. Mark’s to join me as guest hosts this year, so I hope you will soon hear from Kevin Eng, Fang Fang Chandra, Nick Olkovich, Fr. Nick Meisl and more. More What Matters Most. Upcoming Events: On September 13, CCE is presenting a film on AI with Regent College and VST in which we screen The End of Humanity followed by a panel discussion. This event is now sold out, but pay attention for news of a livestream and join the waitlist in case a ticket comes open. On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent who I can now tell you is Dr. Jane Barter, professor of religion and culture at the U of Winnipeg. She teaches and does research on Christianity, Religion and Gender, and Religion and Political Theory.   On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Please consider sending in a proposal for a paper. If you are a graduate student and we accept your proposal to present a paper, we will cover your conference registration fees and the cost of the conference banquet. You do not have to present a paper to come. You can purchase a conference pass and simply attend all of the sessions. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025. You should also know that the plenary or keynote addresses are free and open to the public. Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out! What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Welcome to the twenty-sixth and final episode of the second season of What Matters Most, featuring Dr. Massimo Faggioli. Today’s episode is the keynote lecture Massimo gave on May 4, 2023 at the Pope Francis and the Future of the Church: Prospects and Challenges for Renewal conference held at St. Mark’s College on  May 4-6, 2023. His lecture was titled, “Laudato Si' in a Time of Global Disruption: Francis and Politics," the inaugural Annual Laudato Si' Lecture. You can also find the video for this lecture on our You Tube channel.  Laudato Si’ is the document of Pope Francis that has captured more attention from non-Catholics and young people, and, at the same time, has inspired opposition and dismissal. Dr. Faggioli’s lecture addressed Pope Francis’s interpretation of the situation of global disruption during his magisterium. A special focus of the lecture was Laudato Si’s focus on the relationship between the Church and politics in the context of the rapidly changing patterns of influence on both the Church and politics of the sciences, economics and information systems. Massimo remarks in his comments at the end of the lecture on the strange situation of the Church today being the defender of democracy.  The Annual Laudato Si’ Endowment Lecture was established by local donors to plant seeds and raise awareness to encourage change in the way we consider and treat the environment. Laudato Si’ calls upon all the people of the world to take seriously the needs of the environment and climate change, including economic and political systems and the needs of our poorest citizens. Laudato Si’ calls us to learn what we can all do locally and globally for the environment. Massimo is one of the most prominent Catholic theologians working today in North America and Europe.  Massimo is a friend and was a colleague of mine at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota between 2009 to 2016, where we both worked together in the Department of Theology. He studied in Ferrara, Bologna, Tübingen, and Turin, where he got his PhD in 2002. He taught at the University of Bologna, at the Free University of Bolzano and at the University of Modena-Reggio Emilia. He worked at the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna between 1996 and 2008 under the mentorship of the founder of the Bologna School Giuseppe Alberigo. He was the founding co-chair of the study-group “Vatican II Studies” for the American Academy of Religion between 2012 and 2017. He has a column in La Croix International and is a contributing writer for Commonweal magazine and the Italian magazine Il Regno. He is co-editor with Bryan Froehle of the new series “Studies in Global Catholicism” for Brill Publishers (first volume scheduled 2023). His books and articles have been published in more than ten languages. His latest books are Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century (Liturgical Press 2017), and The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis. Moving Toward Global Catholicity (Orbis Books, 2020), and Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States (Bayard 2021).  He is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II (Oxford University Press, 2023) with Catherine Clifford, who has also been a guest on this podcast.  He is under contract with Oxford University Press for a book on the history of the Roman Curia. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and their two children. Upcoming Events: On September 13, CCE is presenting a film on AI with Regent College and VST in which we screen The End of Humanity followed by a panel discussion. This event is now sold out, but pay attention for news of a livestream and join the waitlist in case a ticket comes open. On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent. Much more to come on Fall 2024 and other speakers! On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Please consider sending in a proposal for a paper. If you are a graduate student and we accept your proposal to present a paper, we will cover your conference registration fees and the cost of the conference banquet. You do not have to present a paper to come. You can purchase a conference pass and simply attend all of the sessions. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025. You should also know that the plenary or keynote addresses are free and open to the public, Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC

Welcome to the twenty-fifth episode of the second season of What Matters Most, featuring Dr. Emilce Cuda. Today’s episode is the keynote lecture Emilce gave on May 5, 2023 at the Pope Francis and the Future of the Church: Prospects and Challenges for Renewal conference held at St. Mark’s College on  May 4-6, 2023. Her paper was titled, “The Reform of the Church is Not a Change but a Commitment.” Emilce Cuda asks people who want to understand Pope Francis in North America to read the encyclicals, read Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, read Praedicate Evangelium on the Roman Curia, where the mission of the Church and the Christian is described as in the Gospels to touch the suffering flesh of humanity.  I am so happy to bring this lecture to all of you who were unable to be at the conference. In the coming weeks, we will bring you the keynote lecture of  Dr. Massimo Faggioli also. Dr. Emilce Cuda is an Argentinian theologian, university professor, and Roman Curia official.  In 2021, Pope Francis appointed her to serve the Holy See as an official in the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, first as head of the office and then as Secretary.  In the spring of 2022, Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and to the Pontifical Academy for Life.  She views her mission as assisting the Holy Father in preaching the gospel by building bridges that are about the peripheries. Born in Buenos Aires, Emilce completed a cycle of studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina that resulted in Bachelor, Master, Licentiate, and Ph.D./STD degrees. She also studied philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires.  She has an MBA from the Commercial and Economic Sciences University.   In December 2022 the National University of Rosario in Argentina bestowed upon her a Doctorate of Humane Letters in honoris causa. Upcoming Events: On September 13, CCE is presenting a film on AI with Regent College and VST in which we screen a film called The End of Humanity followed by a panel discussion. This event is now sold out, but pay attention for news of a livestream. On October 29, we will have a webinar on the American election featuring Steve Millies and his new book, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics. We will also have a Canadian respondent. Much more to come on Fall 2024 and other speakers! On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  Finally, the CCE is presenting a conference in 2025, The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Please consider sending in a proposal for a paper. If you are a graduate student and we accept your proposal to present a paper, we will cover your conference registration fees and the cost of the conference banquet. You do not have to present a paper to come. You can purchase a conference pass and simply attend all of the sessions. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025. You should also know that the plenary or keynote addresses are free and open to the public, Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers:  Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences.  Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. Let us know what you think. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations! John W. Martens Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC