Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
JesuiticalJanuary 07, 2022
Father Charles Coughlin, c. 1938 (Wikimedia)

A charismatic demagogue with millions of devoted followers. A novel means of communication with little government regulation and few guardrails. The threat of violence in the streets and a country in crisis.

No, we’re not talking about the 45th president but America’s first radio priest, Father Charles Coughlin. On “Radioactive,” a new podcast series from Tablet Studios, Andrew Lapin takes listeners through the history of Father Coughlin, who through a mixture of Catholic piety, anti-Semitism and raw political ambition became the most popular voice on the U.S. airwaves during the Great Depression and the lead up to World War II.

[Related: Before Rush Limbaugh, Father Coughlin was America’s first demagogue of the airwaves]

We ask Andrew what Father Coughlin’s story can tell us about the connection between religious demagoguery and authoritarianism; the Wild West of new media platforms; and the failure of the church to rein in Catholics who exploit these toxic forces.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley share some Pope Francis-inspired New Year’s resolutions and give their predictions for Catholic stories coming in 2022.

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Bringing in the New Year with some Bubbly

The latest from america

Two people hug reunited in front of a wall
We should focus on what today’s reading outlines as a uniter, that being a sanctuary under God.
Cristobal SpielmannMarch 31, 2023
Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan outside the parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been coming out into the streets for the past three months in escalating pro-democracy protests against the most politically and religiously extreme right-wing government Israel has ever had.
Judith SudilovskyMarch 31, 2023
Pope Francis waving to the crowd in front of a depiction of Che Guevera in Havana, Cuba
Ahead of the U.S. theatrical release of “In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis,” America spoke with Gianfranco Rosi about his ideas for the documentary and how the film is a modern-day Stations of the Cross.
Ryan Di CorpoMarch 31, 2023
pope francis greets medical workers in a hospital in 2021
I was pleasantly surprised to realize that amid all the polarization and turmoil found online among Catholics, we can still come together to pray for an old man who happens to be our pope.
Molly CahillMarch 31, 2023