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Sivis pacem, para bellum … if you want peace, prepare for war. Can the practice of marial arts be consistent with spiritual enlightenment and inner peace? We visit with Prof. Andrea Molle, a professor of political science at Chapman University, who has written about the connection between spirituality and martial arts, as well as being a black belt who is active in the Aikido community. Andrea explains how various martial arts enhances religiosity and how the connection between combat and spirituality developed over time. He also discusses his experience with teaching martial arts to youth at a Southern Californian Christian church.

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Why and how do religious groups motivate generosity? We visit with Prof. Carolyn Warner (ASU) who is involved in a multi-national, cross-faith, and interdisciplinary investigation exploring why religious individuals give money and volunteer time to help others. As part of a larger team of scholars, she has conducted interviews with Catholics and Muslims in France, Ireland, Italy, and Turkey using both person-to-person interviews and an experimental design to see if there are differences across these to faith traditions. She and her team discover that Catholics tend to be motivated by “love of God” whereas Muslims are moved to give out of a “duty to God.” This sheds light on whether organizations need to provide close monitoring and sanctioning of volunteer behavior or whether individuals can be counted to be generous on their own.

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Would you ever consider taking a vacation in an actual, working Catholic monastery? Prof. Margarita Mooney did … and not just once! Prof. Mooney shares her experience of living among the Servants of the Lord convents in Washington DC and Italy, as well as a visit to the Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. We talk about the monastic life in the Catholic Church from a sociological point of view at first, discussing various trends in who joins religious orders. Then Margarita shares her own experiences in living for short periods of time among nuns and monks, revealing what daily life is like for many of these folks and what it is like to be an “outsider” living amongst them. She notes how enlightening such trips can be, how welcoming many of these religious orders are, and how you could schedule your own such visit. Click on “read more” for relevant links.

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St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Patrick. We know these saints. But what about St. Pietro Parenzo, the Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio, or St. Faith of Conques? Who dat? Brian O’Neel, author of “Saint Who? 39 Holy Unknows” talks to us about Catholic sainthood, discussing the process by which one becomes a saint, how someone might be removed from sainthood (St. Christopher anyone?) and why saints are important in the life of the Church. Along the way, we talk about the life of a couple lesser known individuals who lived extraordinary lives and who serve as role models for Catholics and many other individuals of great faith.

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In March of 1939, Eugenio María Giuseppe Pacelli became Pope Pius XII just days before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and months before Germany continued their march into Poland. Prof. James Felak (University of Washington) examines the life and times of Pope Pius XII and explores the controversy surrounding his papacy. Interestingly, we learn that criticism of Pope Pius XII’s actions only emerged two decades after World War II. Prof. Felak discusses the difficult diplomatic and moral situation that Pius XII found himself in during the war, lays out the logic of his actions, and then assesses the overall impact (including his post-war proclamations) of Pius XII’s papacy on the contemporary Church Church.

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