Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - December 13, 2012

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Dec. 13

4:00 – Bernanke Explains New Fed Guidance, Confusing Reporters and Self
Yesterday Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to reporters held a 90-minute press conference following a two-day meeting of the U.S. central bank’s powerful rate-setting committee. The Fed said it would keep its remarkably low benchmark interest rates for the moment and believed "this exceptionally low range for the federal funds rate will be appropriate at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6-1/2 percent." With some reporters still seemingly struggling to digest the significance of the announcement, Bernanke made a couple of explanatory statements that paradoxically made the Fed’s new position both more explicit and more confusing. Here to help us understand is economist George Schwartz.

4:20 – The Hobbit Hits Theaters At Midnight: A Literary Professor Reviews It
Nearly a decade after the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the first film in the Hobbit trilogy hits theaters at midnight tonight. Literary professor and Tolkein expert Dr. Henry Russell is here to discuss the film and offer his expert review.

5:00 – Kresta Comments: Vatican Observatory Comments on Mayan Calendar / FBI: 67 hate crimes against Catholics in 2011

5:20 – My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir
In My Sisters the Saints, author Colleen Carroll Campbell blends her personal narrative of spiritual seeking, trials, stumbles, and breakthroughs with the stories of six women saints who profoundly changed her life: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Faustina of Poland, Edith Stein of Germany, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Mary of Nazareth. Drawing upon the rich writings and examples of these extraordinary women, the author reveals Christianity's liberating power for women and the relevance of the saints to the lives of contemporary Christians. She joins us today.