Today on Kresta - September 14, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Sept. 14

4:00 - 475 abuse allegations THIS YEAR in Belgium; Bishop goes into hiding
A commission established by the Church in Belgium to investigate clerical abuse issued its report on September 10, documenting 475 allegations received this year. “Almost every institution, every school, particularly boarding schools, at one time harbored abuse,” said the commission’s director. The report found that two thirds of the victims were male, that abuse peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, and that 13 abuse victims had committed suicide. On Sunday, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who has admitted he had abused his nephew, announced he would depart from a Trappist monastery where he had lived since his April resignation and go into hiding. It may be the most disturbing handling of sex abuse in the Church yet. We talk to Matthew Bunson, co-author of Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis.

4:20 – The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief
The new atheists are on the warpath. They come armed with arguments to show that belief in God is absurd and dangerous. In the name of societal progress, they promote purging the world of all religious practice. And they claim that people of faith are mentally ill. Some of the new atheists openly declare their hatred for the Judeo-Christian God. Christian apologists have been quick to respond to the new atheists’ arguments. But there is another dimension to the issue which begs to be addressed—the root causes of atheism. Where do atheists come from? How did such folks as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens become such ardent atheists? If we are to believe them, their flight from faith resulted from a dispassionate review of the evidence. Not enough rational grounds for belief in God, they tell us. But is this the whole story? James Spiegel is here to answer that question.

5:00 - The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Fr. Dennis Brown, OMV has a specialized ministry directing individuals through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius which is the primary apostolate of his religious congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. In fact, he just finished directing several 30-day and 8-day exercises. He joins us in studio to discuss Ignatian retreats as well as his long, gradual conversion - from 60s hippy to at retreat-master priest.

5:40 - “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI”
A group of 30 journalists from around the world participated in a seminar entitled “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI” organized in Rome by the School of Church Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. First offered in 2008 and designed to provide journalists who write about religion with an array of tools to strengthen their coverage of today’s Roman Catholic Church, the seminar has drawn reporters from such media outlets as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, Il Corriere della Sera, El País, Le Monde, the BBC News Website (UK), The National Post (Canada), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (USA), The Witness (South Africa) and The Record (Australia). Also among them was Patrick Novecosky of Legatus. He is here to report on the conference.