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Three expert pope-watchers do a post-mortem on last week’s meeting at the Vatican between the Trump entourage and Pope Francis. They are: Christopher Hale, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good; Mat Schmalz, religious studies professor at the College of the Holy Cross; and Jamie Manson, columnist and books editor at National Catholic Reporter.
Awkward!
In happier times.
SPRING PLEDGE DRIVE
Reminding you that WESU-FM’s spring pledge drive is in full swing. Please go to http://www.wesufm.org/pledge and give what you can. Keep independent, community-supported radio strong! Now more than ever, it matters!
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Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus for Those Who Don’t Believe, by Tom Krattenmaker
or
I Heart Francis: Letters to the Pope from an Unlikely Admirer, by Rev. Donna Schaper
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Warren Packer is a 3rd-degree Freemason in his Manchester, CT, lodge. Here, he displays the ring and car insignia featuring the “square and compasses,” symbols harking back to medieval craft guilds. For reasons Packer says are incorrect, Pope Benedict has declared Freemasons to be in a “state of grave sin” and therefore unworthy to receive holy Communion.
John Gehring, Catholic program director for the DC-based Faith in Public Life, a strategy center for the interfaith community, attended a $1,250-a-plate gathering of conservative Catholics at the Trump Hotel in DC. He brought back a full report for The Washington Post and talks about it in the episode. Here’s a link to the Post piece: 
Msgr. John Augustine Ryan was ahead of his time in calling for social reforms that became part of FDR’s New Deal. In writing a book about Msgr. Ryan, Arthur Meyers, retired director of Middletown’s Russell Library, is making it his mission to bring the good padre to a wider audience. 
Reasonably Catholic: Keeping the Faith 