Today on Kresta - October 30, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 30

4:00 – Divorced from Reality: We’re from the Government, and We’re Here to End Your Marriage
The decline of the family has now reached critical and truly dangerous proportions. Family breakdown touches virtually every family and every American. It is not only the major source of social instability in the Western world today but also seriously threatens civic freedom and constitutional government. G. K. Chesterton once observed that the family serves as the principal check on government power, and he suggested that someday the family and the state would confront one another. According to our guest, that day has arrived. We talk with Stephen Baskerville about the government and its role in marriage.

4:20 – Be to Me a Father and a Priest
Fr. Peter Stravinskas says his priestly ministry has been far more challenging, interesting, and multi-faceted than he ever imagined when entering seminary. He says “Although teaching in, administering, and establishing Catholic schools (elementary, secondary, university, and seminary) have been a constant from my first days as a seminarian, I have also worn many other “hats”—from serving as a pastor, vocations director, and bishop’s secretary, to public relations work for the Church, to writing and lecturing on timely topics throughout the country and abroad, to founding a community of secular clergy devoted to the new evangelization, liturgical renewal, and Catholic education. He is here to look at the many ways in which he has been a priest, and his reflections on that vocation, without which the Church cannot exist.

5:00 – Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?
A handful of state legislatures have declared it's closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who support the few remaining Blue Laws still in effect in the U.S. Proponents of Sunday sales argue that state budgets are under plenty of pressure too and that by allowing people to buy beer, wine or liquor on Sunday at grocery or package stores, states could reap millions of dollars in tax revenue. Two years ago, Dan Hungerman, Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, released a study that shows that both society and religion have been hurt by the repeal of blue laws. Has anything changed with the recession?

5:20 – Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles with Jesus
You might reasonably wonder why anyone would shoulder a heavy backpack, grab a walking stick and hike across Spain. Whatever happened to planes, trains and automobiles? But Father Dave Pivonka knew that the Camino—the ancient pilgrim path to the tomb of Saint James the Apostle in Santiago—offered an opportunity to focus on God in the stripped-down environment typical of the religious journey known as a pilgrimage. Fr. Dave takes us along with him, eager to show that God wants to take care of you whether or not you can see down the road or, if tired and sore, you're tempted to quit. His Camino hike holds real lessons for our own life's journey.