Today on Kresta - April 12, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Apr. 12

4:00 – Kresta Commentary – Common Misconceptions About the Crusades
On this day in the year 1204 the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The attack virtually destroyed the Byzantine Empire and ruined any hope of reunifying eastern and western Christians. Not everything done during the Crusades was defensibly, but not everything needs to be apologized for either. Al takes us through some common misconceptions about the Crusades.

4:20 – Enemies Among Us: A Novel
Novels about undercover FBI agents nabbing terrorists are more credible when written by former FBI agents. Bob Hamer's nearly three decades as a street agent gives weight to this thriller about erstwhile reckless agent Matt Hogan's redemption with the agency, his wife, and guilt-ridden past. In order to save his job, Hogan must leave his dangerous operations and infiltrate a Christian hospital, which he sees as a red herring to get him off the streets. But as the hospital is suspected of helping terrorists, Hogan has never had a more important assignment. Beyond thriller-speed action, the author includes references to Osama bin Laden, and reflections on the difference between guilt and shame societies. Stereotype-bending dialogue and believable characters elicit fear of evil and call forth hope that good exists in all ethnicities and religions. Bob joins us.

5:00 – Papal Trip to Commemorate St. Paul’s Shipwreck in Malta
This weekend the Holy Father will depart for Malta to celebrate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck on the island that, according to tradition, occurred in the year 60 A.D., during the Apostle's second voyage toward Rome. The Holy Father will meet with the president of the nation, as well as Maltese youth and clergy. This will be the Pope's 14th international apostolic trip and the third time for the Mediterranean archipelago to be visited by a Pontiff, after Pope John Paul II's visits in 1990 and 2001. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964. It has more than 410,000 inhabitants, 98% of whom are Catholic. Fr. Richard Cassidy, author of Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of St. Paul, is here with us in studio to discuss this Papal trip.

5:40 – Kresta Comments – Archbishop Burke cites “public and obstinate betrayal of religious life” by Catholic Nuns who supported Health Care Reform Bill
This weekend Archbishop Raymond Burke spoke at three-day conference put on by the Institute on Religious Life and was awarded the Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award. The speech he delivered on Saturday was biting - even by Archbishop Burke standards. He called out the nuns who publicly supported the pro-abortion health care bill with phrases such as "public and obstinate betrayal of religious life," "defiance of the bishops," "contradicts their very nature," "knowingly and obstinately acting against the moral law,” "grave scandal," and "cease identifying themselves as Catholics." We take a listen.