Today on Kresta - April 23, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Apr. 23
"Best of Kresta in the Afternoon" this week as Al and Nick participate in the Ave Maria Radio Membership Drive, necessary to keep programs like "Kresta in the Afternoon" on the air and distributed to over 150 stations across the country. If you can financially support the program, please go to http://www.avemariaradio.net/ and make your pledge!!!

4:00 – Abe Lincoln: The Father of Big Government?
There is a persistent rumor in the ether of talking heads that runs something like this: If we want to know who the “father” of big government in the United States is, point the finger at . . . Abraham Lincoln. Of course, it has been a long time since Abraham Lincoln was headline news, and most Americans will meet this with little more than a shrug of the shoulders. But there is a certain strain of conservative thinking today that gets its jollies from wailing that big government has been a slow-growing cancer in American life, so slow in fact that its origins need to be traced back to the 16th president. Whatever the motivation, they’ve got the wrong man in Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln scholar Alan Guelzo is here to make his case.

4:20 – Medjugorje: Why did the Vatican take the unprecedented step of creating a commission to study the alleged apparitions?
The Vatican commission studying the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina held its first meeting in late March. While the Vatican press office provided no details about the meeting, it published the names of the commission members this week. The Vatican had announced March 17 that at the request of the bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had established an international commission to investigate the claims of six young people who said Mary appeared to them daily beginning in 1981. Although the apparitions apparently are continuing and thousands of people travel to the small town each month to meet the alleged seers and to pray, the Catholic Church has never made a formal declaration about the authenticity of the apparitions. The doctrinal congregation appointed retired Cardinal Camillo Ruini, former papal vicar of Rome, to head the commission. We look at why the Vatican took the unprecedented step of creating a commission to study the alleged apparitions?

5:00 – Healing Marriages of Control and Trust Issues
More marriages and families these days are affected by control and trust issues, says Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, but through the sacraments and practice of virtue these problems can be overcome. This was the theme of a recent webinar in a series sponsored by the Institute for Marital Healing, which offers resources for couples, counselors and clergy on the topics of parenting, manhood, family life and marriage. Fitzgibbons, the director of the institute, has worked with thousands of couples and has spoken and written extensively on these topics. In 2008, he was also appointed as a consultant for the Holy See's Congregation for Clergy. Fitzgibbons is here to look at modern causes of trust issues, the distinction between being strong and being controlling, and particular virtues that provide an antidote to these problems.

5:40 – 7 Deadly Sins / 7 Lively Virtues
As we enter the season of Lent last week, we hear an engaging presentation concerning the Seven Deadly Sins, those great spiritual blocks that inhibit our flourishing in relationship with God and one another. Based on Dante’s writings, the seven deadly sins correspond to the seven stories of Dante’s Mt. Purgatory. Pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice and lust are all presented as patterns of dysfunction within us that lead to unhappiness. But that’s not all! Father Robert Barron tells us how to counteract these seven sinful patterns through a conscious process of opposition, which are the Seven Lively Virtues. The Seven Lively Virtues offer antidotes to each sin and help set us on the right path to healing and happiness.