Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for January 30, 2012

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

4:00 – To Hunt, to Shoot, to Entertain: Clericalism and the Catholic Laity
Why hasn't the Catholic Church been more successful up to now in realizing the Second Vatican Council's call for the evangelization of secular culture? The most important reason, as well as the least recognized, may be clericalism: the attitude, widely shared by Catholic laypeople as well as many priests, that clerics make up the active, elite corps in the Church, and laypeople are the passive mass; that clerics alone have intrinsic responsibility for the Church's mission while the apostalate of laypeople comes to them (if they come at all) only by delegation on the part of the clergy. Russell Shaw shares a prescription for authentic ecclesial renewal based on new, healthier lay-clergy relations in light of the teaching of Vatican II, Pope John Paul II, and other voices of the Magisterium.

5:00 – Bishop Richard Malone: “Obama Tramples on Religious Freedom”
Bishop Richard Malone, spiritual head of Maine’s Roman Catholics, said last week that President Obama’s decision to implement a contraceptive mandate on all of the nation’s health care plans is a “blatant and capricious affront to conscience rights and religious liberty. Beyond this particular mandate is the larger issue of the President’s complete disregard for religious freedom, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.” Bishop Malone joins us.

5:20 – Muslim Family Found Guilty in Canadian Honor Killings
A Canadian jury yesterday convicted three members of a family of Afghan immigrants of the "honor killings” of four female relatives whose bodies were found in an Ontario canal. Mohammed Shafia, 58; his wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42; and their son, Hamed, 21, were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Shafia's three teenage daughters and his first wife in his polygamous marriage. Sunday's verdicts followed a three-month trial, in which jurors heard wiretaps of Shafia referring to his daughters as "whores" and ranting about their behavior. Robert Spencer analyzes the case.

5:40 – Kresta Commentary