Radio Shows
2024
LA Catholic Morning Radio Interview Archives
Topic: What About Dignity? What Does a "Death with Dignity" Really Look Like?
Do Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Offer Us a "Death With Dignity" or Do They Attack Our Fundamental Human Dignity? Todd, Ellen and Father Tad discuss how end of life situations can be messy and difficult. There may be loss of control of our bodies, odd sounds and gurgling as our loved ones approach their end. How is this dignified? But isn't it really the case that we should be looking at how we can achieve a "death well-died" by assuring abundant support for the dying individual, the presence of family and friends, surrounded by prayers and love being shared? If we can look beyond the challenging aspects, there are great blessings in a communal sharing of the passing on of a loved one.
Broadcast Date: December 16, 2024
Topic: Double Effect, Catholic Hospitals, and Difficult Life-of-the-Mother Cases
Why Did A Catholic Hospital in California Agree to Provide Emergency Abortions Following a Lawsuit by the State? Todd, Ellen and Father Tad look at the concerns raised when Providence St. Joseph Hospital denied a patient emergency care when her water prematurely broke while she was 15 weeks pregnant with twins and told her to drive to another smaller hospital 12 miles away, armed with a bucket and towels, while she was hemorrhaging. Father Tad points out how a proper understanding of the Principle of Double Effect and the Directives of the Catholic bishops, which it appears that the Catholic hospital workers were not well-versed in, would have allowed for an early induction of labor in her situation.
Broadcast Date: November 20, 2024
Topic: Are Catholic Hospitals Doing Gender Reassignment?
How Many Young People are Receiving Gender-Transitioning Interventions? Father Tad, Todd and Ellen discuss the release of a database that offers a searchable internet resource comprehensively cataloging sex change treatments performed between 2019-2023 on minors in the US. They examine the ethical implications of the fact that a number of Catholic hospitals and health care systems appear in the database. They also discuss the strength of the cultural narrative that is pushing for people to believe that their discomfort around their sexuality can be addressed by a medical assault on their anatomy.
Broadcast Date: October 28, 2024
Topic: Medical Marijuana During Pregnancy?
Does It Make Sense For Pregnant Women to Use Medical Marijuana for Morning Sickness? The main psychoactive component of marijuana, known as THC, has been shown to cross the placenta and can be detected in breast milk. This raises concerns when women facing morning sickness use cannabis during pregnancy. A growing accumulation of research data is pointing towards a number of potential bad effects from prenatal cannabis exposure, and raising ethical questions about its use. Various effective treatments for morning sickness exist that do not rely on cannabis, and these are likely to be recommended by health care professionals.
Broadcast Date: September 25, 2024
Topic: What Are Our Duties Towards Our Loved Ones Who End Up in a Persistent Vegetative State?
Feeding Tubes and Caring for the Vulnerable. Todd, Ellen and Father Tad discuss cultural attitudes towards those facing serious disabilities, especially those who, like Terri Schiavo, find themselves in seriously compromised situations unable to care for themselves. Those in a persistent vegetative state are often unable to eat or drink, and a recent document from the Pontifical Academy for Life offers guidance regarding our moral duties to feed and hydrate our loved ones, including in those situations where doing so may require the utilization of a feeding tube.
Broadcast Date: August 21, 2024
Topic: Part II — How Should We Think About Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)?
NDE's, "Angelism," and the Afterlife. Todd, Ellen and Father Tad discuss cultural attitudes towards death and dying, and how these affect a range of issues, including discussions about near-death experiences (NDEs). Could NDEs have a natural origin or explanation, relying, for example on central nervous system hallucinatory mechanisms? They look at how cultural attitudes towards NDEs often seem to presuppose a flawed understanding about the kind of being that we are as humans, almost treating humans as angelic spirits devoid of bodies, rather than fundamentally embodied beings. The show wraps up by pointing out how Christ, the One who came from the heavenly abode is the most important and reliable source to slake our hunger for knowledge regarding the afterlife and the eschaton.
Broadcast Date: July 24, 2024
Topic: Part I — Are Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) Supernatural Phenomena?
Looking at the Brain Under Situations of Stress and Oxygen Deprivation. Father Tad, Todd and Ellen look at some of the common elements reported in near-death experiences and the semi-religious overtones that often accompany such reports. NDEs are not instances of a person actually dying and then returning from the dead to tell about it, but could they somehow be providing a glimpse beyond death, or just a manifestation of the way we process the world around us through our brains? Researchers who have studied NDEs extensively note how other situations resemble NDEs, such as fainting, hallucinations, and psychedelic drug use. As a general rule, we ought to prefer a natural explanation for a phenomenon, unless and until the evidence for a supernatural explanation becomes truly compelling or overwhelming.
Broadcast Date: June 25, 2024
Topic: Errors in Thinking About Physician-Assisted Suicide
Physician-Assisted Suicide and Gambling with Our Fate After Death. Father Tad, Todd and Ellen discuss the significance of the choices we make at the end of our life, as discussed in his column entitled, "The Most Serious Miscalculation of All?". Physician-assisted suicide is marketed as an "easy end" to end our life, especially when it has been marked by suffering and pain. This decision on our part is often not fully thought out, especially in terms of the potentially drastic consequences for us on the other side. We make the risky assumption that physician-assisted suicide gives us a "get out of jail free" card, while we may instead be locking ourselves into further, even more severe purgation, or maybe even eternal loss and regret, than if we had remained on earth until the appointed time for our passing. Just believing that we should get what we want, an easy out, doesn't make it so. They also discuss how our lives are not our own and how our decisions affect others, and connect us to others and to society as a whole, so we can easily fail in our charitable obligations towards others if we opt for physician-assisted suicide.
Broadcast Date: May 29, 2024
Topic: The Overlap of Mental and Spiritual Health
Depressive Disorders, Anxiety, Suicide and a Crisis of Hope. Father Tad, Todd and Ellen discuss the surge in mental health issues, and how the Church speaks to people and families struggling with these challenges. They review how psychological problems can have spiritual roots, and how the longing for meaning and connection among people is an important psychiatric area of ministry. They look at how the spiritual vacuum left by stepping away from faith and religion can be unsatisfyingly filled by yoga, Reiki, crystals and witchcraft. They discuss the stigma of suicide, and of mental illness and the importance of pushing through that stigma towards healing and wholeness in Christ.
Broadcast Date: April 23, 2024
Topic: Do Human Embryos at Fertility Clinics Deserve Protection?
The Legal and Political Battleground Heats Up Around Frozen Embryos. Father Tad, Todd and Ellen discuss the remarkable decision by the Alabama Supreme Court in April, 2024 extending legal protection to embryos by noting that Alabama's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” This has triggered the IVF mega-industry to suddenly become activated and start pushing back against the decision and as they strive to safeguard their turf and their highly lucrative business model that relies on the exploitation of young and vulnerable human life.
Broadcast Date: March 5, 2024
Topic: Is Surrogacy "Deplorable"?
Are the Pope's Comments at the Start of 2024 About Surrogacy Too Strong? Reflections shared by Pope Francis suggesting that surrogacy involves a form of child trafficking received some pushback in the media, but what does surrogacy really involve? Father Tad, Todd and Ellen discuss several of the unseemly realities that are part-and-parcel of the contemporary practice of surrogacy and in vitro fertilization.
Broadcast Date: January 31, 2024
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