The Catholic Morning Show
FULL SHOW | The Catholic Morning Show - 10/20/2026
Episode Summary
On the memorial of St. Paul of the Cross, Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell welcome University of Mary president Msgr. James Shea to talk campus growth and the legacy of Blessed Fulton Sheen, and Dowling Catholic senior Elyse Risovi previews the 65th annual Dowling Catholic Pancake Breakfast. Plus: what wall-to-wall negative political ads do to us, and why only one Savior is on the ballot.
Episode Notes
Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell, with producer Brian Egan, open the show on the memorial of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists.
In this episode:
- Msgr. James Shea — University of Mary — The president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, shares what's driving growth on campus: 65 tuition-free scholarships, including the Nursing, Accounting, and Elementary Education Academies; the annual Day of Service; the new Marauders Athletics Complex; and Saint Joseph's Residence Hall, home to the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mothers. He then reflects on the beatification of Blessed Fulton Sheen: listening to Sheen recordings on the tractor as a farm boy, uniting childlike faith with intellectual seriousness, and why Sheen would warn us not to look for salvation in politics. Tuition-free opportunities at the University of Mary
- Elyse Risovi — Dowling Catholic Student Philanthropy Council — A Dowling Catholic senior on the Pancake Breakfast committee shares what goes on behind the scenes, why student clubs and activities benefit, and what it's like to dress up as a pancake. Pancake Breakfast tickets
- Bo and Deacon Mark on negative political ads — Two weeks before Election Day, the hosts talk about the flood of attack ads, why campaigns borrow religious language to cast opponents as demonic and candidates as saviors, St. John Henry Newman's distinction between the real and the notional, and why your civic duty doesn't require soaking in the negativity.
- Friends of the show in the news — Boston College theologian Boyd Taylor Coolman, newly appointed by Pope Leo XIV to the International Theological Commission, and Charles Camosy of The Catholic University of America, named a consultant to the U.S. bishops' Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
- Also: news, sports, weather, the Morning Offering, and St. Paul of the Cross as our Saint of the Day. Bo also heads out on a speaking tour in Alaska.
The 65th Annual Dowling Catholic Pancake Breakfast is Sunday, October 25, from 8 a.m. to noon in the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
Catch No. 2 Dowling Catholic hosting Marshalltown on Senior Night this Friday, October 23, on the Iowa Catholic Radio Network — pregame at 6:30 p.m., kickoff at 7:00.
Find upcoming events at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
Today's Mass readings
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