In this episode, Christiaan Alting von Geusau speaks with his special guest Joe Grogan, former Director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House during the first Trump administration, also having served in the G.W. Bush administration before that. We discuss the background and genesis of the National Security Strategy that was published by the White House in December 2025, and the consequences this document and the resulting policies have for international affairs. We also discuss in...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Description: This series for (aspiring) legislators, government leaders, and others in public office seeks to provide timeless insights and share enduring wisdom needed in the execution of one’s daily duties and responsibilities, always aiming at justice and the advancement of the common good. Christian leadership for those holding high office is above all a fundamental way of life, consistently lived and carefully guarded, bringing lasting unity to the spheres of faith, family and public dut...
Episode 8: Taking Care of Creation in all its Dimensions: What is the Proper Attitude? Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html 3. Pope Francis: Laudato Si: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco...
Episode 7: Christian Responsibility in the Political Community Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html See for our series on Politics & Conscience: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1546282/epi...
Episode 6: Human Work and Economic Life. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html See for our previous series on Education and the Role of the State: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1546282/e...
Episode 5: Marriage and Family in Society. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html 3. Pope Francis: Amoris Laetitia: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-f...
Episode 4: Basic Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine: Subsidiarity and Solidarity. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
Episode 3: Basic Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine: The Common Good. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
Episode 2: Basic Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine: Human freedom. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
Episode 1: Reason and Origins of Catholic Social Doctrine. Resources: 1. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html 2. Leo XIII: Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
Edith Eger, in her book (The Choice), writes: “We can't choose to vanish the dark, but we can choose to kindle the light – (..) Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.” - The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Since the end of World War Two, there has been an international effort to codify human rights in legal instruments, allowing them to be enforced across borders. Treaties, constitutions, laws and declarations have been issued to make the global protection of human rights an effort of all nations. The fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, religion and expression are considered the first and most important of these human rights, yet it is here that during the past decade we have seen a ma...
Since the end of World War Two, there has been an international effort to codify human rights in legal instruments, allowing them to be enforced across borders. Treaties, constitutions, laws and declarations have been issued to make the global protection of human rights an effort of all nations. The fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, religion and expression are considered the first and most important of these human rights, yet it is here that during the past decade we have seen a ma...
Since the end of World War Two, there has been an international effort to codify human rights in legal instruments, allowing them to be enforced across borders. Treaties, constitutions, laws and declarations have been issued to make the global protection of human rights an effort of all nations. The fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, religion and expression are considered the first and most important of these human rights, yet it is here that during the past decade we have seen a ma...