Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell close the week on the Memorial of Saint Augustine, welcoming author Shaun McAfee to unpack his new TAN Books release, the Compendium of Eucharistic Miracles, and why documented signs of the Real Presence still spark conversions today. Deacon Kurt Heinrich, who teaches theology at Dowling Catholic, joins to introduce Saint Augustine on his feast — his conversion, his mother Saint Monica, and the restless heart that shaped Western Christianity. Deacon Dan Rouse previews Sunday's Gospel on carrying the cross, Jeanne Thill teases Bishop Joensen's Making It Personal, and the new Iowa Catholic Radio app arrives September 1. It's news, sports, and weather for Friday, August 28.
Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell open Friday on the Memorial of Saint Augustine, one of the four great patriarchs of the Western Church and the saint whose name Pope Leo XIV invokes when he calls himself a son of Augustine. Mass today is at 8 a.m. at Saint Augustine in Milo (105.3 FM).
Deacon Dan Rouse, a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Dubuque assigned to the Cedar Rapids Area Central Pastorate, prepares listeners for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 16:21–27. He offers three points on Jesus foretelling his passion: pride pulls our trust away from God and back onto ourselves; trials are a reality of a fallen world; and giving our lives away to others is how we grow in love. Deacon Dan traces how Peter goes from the rock of last Sunday's reading to a stumbling block just seven verses later, and invites listeners to bring Jesus into their sufferings rather than white-knuckling through them alone.
The new Iowa Catholic Radio app launches Tuesday, September 1. Apple users will update automatically; Android users will need to download the new app. The rebuilt experience puts live listening one click away and makes shows, events, and station information easier to find — worth doing before Friday night football coverage kicks in. Details at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
Author and apologist Shaun McAfee joins to discuss the Compendium of Eucharistic Miracles: An Encyclopedia of Miraculous Events Confirming the Real Presence (TAN Books). Shaun explains why Eucharistic miracles were instrumental in his own conversion, why the Church offers them as private revelation rather than required belief, and how the book pairs roughly ninety pages of Eucharistic theology — typology from the manna in the desert and Melchizedek through John 6 and the Church Fathers — with the miracle accounts themselves. Get the book at TAN Books and find more of Shaun's work at ShaunMcAfee.com.
Deacon Kurt Heinrich, a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Des Moines who teaches theology at Dowling Catholic High School, gives listeners the short course on Saint Augustine: born in 354 to a non-believing father and a devout mother, a man of the world who chased wealth, fame, and career through Rome and Milan before his baptism at thirty-three by Saint Ambrose, followed by more than two hundred books and a thousand sermons and letters. Deacon Kurt's throughline is that no one lives the faith alone — Augustine is inseparable from Saint Monica's long-suffering prayer, and his closing word to parents is simply to pray and sacrifice for their kids. Bo adds his own recommendation for anyone wanting a short entry point into Augustine: Letter 130, to Proba, a compact catechism on prayer built around the idea that God has set aside gifts our hearts are not yet large enough to receive, and that prayer is what enlarges them.
Jeanne Thill previews Making It Personal with Bishop William M. Joensen, airing Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. This week's guest is Fr. Ross Caniglia, a Council Bluffs native and Saint Albert alum, now a priest of the Diocese of Sioux City — a musician and former meteorologist who is the featured speaker at the Bishop's celebration of Catholic schools on Saturday night, an annual evening honoring teachers, principals, volunteers, and alumni.
Coming up: Forge invites men to an evening with former Navy SEAL officer Sam Blair on identity rooted in being a son of the Father, Monday, September 14 at Smash Park in West Des Moines — doors 7:30 p.m., talk at 8 p.m., tickets $25, at MyForge.org. Iowa Catholic Radio's Eucharistic Miracles banner display is still available for parishes and schools to host (October is booking up; Ss. John and Paul in Altoona has claimed a spring slot), and the banners will be on full display at the Christ Our Life Conference, September 26–27 at Casey's Center in downtown Des Moines — ChristOurLifeIowa.com.
Listen live weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio, or catch up anytime at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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