Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 24, 2012

Talking about the "things that matter most" on January 24

4:00 – The Problem of Suffering: A Thomistic Approach
Journalist and best-selling author Lee Strobel commissioned George Barna, the public-opinion pollster, to conduct a nationwide survey. The survey included the question “If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?” The most common response, offered by 17% of those who could think of a question was “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good, why does he let so many bad things happen? This question raises what philosophers call “the problem of evil.” We talk with Dr. Eleonore Stump about that very “problem.”

4:40 – Kresta Commentary

5:00 – Raised by the Church: Growing up in New York City's Catholic Orphanages
In 1946 Edward Rohs was left by his unwed parents at the Angel Guardian Home to be raised by the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters hoped that the parents would one day return for him. In time they married and had other children, but Ed's parents never came back for him. And they never signed the legal papers so he could be adopted by another family. Raised by the Church chronicles the extraordinary life of Ed Rohs, a bright, mischievous boy who was raised in five institutions of the Catholic orphanage system in postwar Brooklyn. Rohs was one of thousands of children taken in by Catholic institutions during the tumultuous post-WWII years: out-of-wedlock infants, children whose fathers had been killed in the war, and children of parents in crisis. It’s a personal testimony and a testimony to the Church that raised him.

5:40 – Kathleen Sebelius, Alexia Kelley, and the Obama Administration’s Twisted War on Religion
Champions of Change is a weekly initiative from the Obama Administration’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Its purpose is to “highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.” The office is led by Catholic Obama supporter Alexia Kelley, who co-founded the group “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” which acted as a Catholic apologetic agency for Obama in 2008. The office is also under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, led by another Catholic, Kathleen Sebelius. Yesterday the office announced that tomorrow they will be honoring “nine leaders in Catholic education from across the country as Champions of Change.” This comes just a few days after Sebelius betrayed Catholics of all stripes in her decision on the health care mandate. Al ties this all together.