The Dunces' Corner

The Dunces' Corner

Theology professors and their students talk about faith, reason, and culture. The conversation is sometimes erudite, sometimes humorous, not explicit though usually mature, always authentic. B-Side episodes give a closer look at people in the local community who give flesh to the topics discussed. *Views expressed belong solely to the speaker and, sometimes, only temporarily.

Episodes

July 22, 2025 53 mins
TFE Live Show/Memories, Shoutouts, and Ask Us Anything Don't call it a comeback. The Duncepod gets resurrected for a live show at The Franciscan Experience 2025. Some of the Dunces have vocation updates. Participants share illuminating memories from an incredible week with FranU's theology institute, give shout outs, and ask tough questions. Siblings show a lot of love. Jesus calls us to be poor and serve the poor. Claire was a pel...
Mark as Played
TFE 2024 Live Show/Ask Us Anything/Air Horns Everywhere The Dunces are back live at The Franciscan Experience 2024. Dr. David Moser joins the show with old-timers Dr. Pedraza, Rachael, and Josh. New majors, Ignazio and Chandler, get in the mix, and Chris the Philosopher makes a long overdue appearance. Stellar high school students share some of their favorite memories from the week and how they found Christ in the Eucharist, theolo...
Mark as Played
B-Side: Called by Name Fr. Andrew tells the captivating, sometimes funny, sometimes gut-wrenching story of Jesus calling him to the priesthood. B-Side episodes bring you a story that gives flesh to a topic talked about in a previous episode. See Episode 12, "Going on Vocation." Music Credits: "Reawakening", "Comfortable Mystery 2", "Still Pickin", "Country Ballad 2" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: B...
Mark as Played
Dr. Vukov/Feast of St. Francis/A.I. and Humanizing Technology or Technologizing Humans/A.I. vs. Meat Computers Dr. Joe Vukov (https://www.josephvukov.com/) from Loyola Chicago visits the Dunces' Corner to talk all things Artificial Intelligence and Technology. Josh and Ben join the show. Dr. Vukov shares his conversion from Protestant to atheist to Catholic and the harrowing story of how he became a philosopher. The Dunces talk abo...
Mark as Played
August 17, 2023 57 mins
TFE 2023 Live Show/Ask Us Anything/Buc-ee's The Dunces record a live show at The Franciscan Experience 2023. Rock Star high-schoolers ask about the Immaculate Conception, why the authorities at the time of Jesus decided to kill him, God and gender, the problem of evil, the ethnicity of Jesus in artwork, and why angels aren't depicted in art as they are in the Bible. Hunter and his hair return from grad school. Julia the theo minor ...
Mark as Played
July 21, 2023 72 mins
Eras of Church History/Tay-Tay vs. Mayer/Mouth Sounds You think Tay Tay's tour is big? Just you wait. Through the powers of the Dunce DeLorean, Catherine takes us to her cave in the desert and drops some St. Anthony on us; Rachael steals some pears with St. Augustine; Dr. Whidden gives you a double dose of monasticism and the One which nothing greater can be conceived; Matt almost dies then riffs on St. Francis and Sister Death; Ca...
Mark as Played
Becoming Men and Women of Communion/Vulnerability and True Community/Either-Or Game The end of Lent was Lenty. Dr. Pedraza went to a symposium on formation. Rachael talks about her NET community in Ireland. Sr. Ref gets real about the Lord doing work. Matt dropkicks instagram and fake friends. Then the CFRs bring the holy fire about community life and how to break free from shame and isolation. Br. Mariano is "sorry" that the Domin...
Mark as Played
Dr. Angela Franks on Misogyny and the Feminine Genius/Gender in a Man's World/Which is the Worse Penance? The Dunces welcome Dr. Angela Franks from St. John's Seminary to talk about her article, "Why Does Higher Ed Throw Women Under the Bus?" and then open up about church jobs, the femine genius, and the spiritual motherhood of religious sisters. Dr. Franks gives a teaser for her bioethics lectures on gender. Rachael tries to dunk ...
Mark as Played
Dr. Collier on the Christian Renewal of Healthcare/Lenty Lent/Worse Penance Game The Dunces are back. Trey and Catherine have average news. Hunter mustache you a question. Rachael is having a Lenty Lent. Dr. Collier shares her story, talks about how to let the Divine Physician go to work in healthcare, and helps men avoid mansplaining when it comes to women's health. Then everyone plays a hilarious game of "Which is the worse penan...
Mark as Played
April 21, 2021 78 mins
The Franciscan Option/The Secret of Franciscan Poverty/Emptiness and Humility/Trivia The Dunces welcome special guest Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR, to shed some light on what St. Francis can teach us about renewing the Church and the world today. Dr. Meinert asks about the secret to Franciscan poverty, Avera wants to know how best to empty herself so that God can fill her, and Catherine asks for tips on becoming humble. Fr. Agustino dr...
Mark as Played
March 2, 2021 89 mins
SNES vs. N64/What is a Vocation/The Counsels and the Married Life/Advice for Discerning Vocation The Dunces try to release some steam for those caught in the vocation discernment pressure cooker. Brady tells us the glories of his newfound married life and gets video games wrong. Catherine discerns a vocation and lives to tell about it. Elise cracks open a can of Edith Stein. Topics include the relationship between general vocations...
Mark as Played
Musings on the Last Things/Saints and Martyrdom/The Halloween Candy Power Ranking The Dunces tackle topics related to eschatology and get you ready for All Saints, All Souls, and the Candy Triduum. Daniel takes Hell seriously. Catherine has an existential crisis and wonders who or what the Anti-Christ is. Avera gets shook by the young saints God is raising up. Dr. Meinert tells us why endurance is more primary than attack. Dr. Pedr...
Mark as Played
October 3, 2020 86 mins
The Political Landscape/Principles to Guide Our Engagement in Politics Dr. Meinert's growing peas. Catherine's engaged. Daniel and Avera join the show. Highlights include: Catherine and Daniel lamenting political discourse in our country; Avera on the black Catholic experience of political, spiritual, and mental slavery; Dr. Meinert on the idolatrous aspects of political discourse dettached from transcendence; Dr. Pedraza on libera...
Mark as Played
October 1, 2020 2 mins
A preview of our first episode of the sophomore season, which will be dropping soon!
Mark as Played
May 6, 2020 67 mins
The Dunces on the Good Place/"Guess the Plot" Game In the concluding half of the special double-episode, Dr. Pedraza, Dr. Meinert, Catherine, Brady, Elise, and Trey analyze the Good Place by giving out various awards including: the Atlas Award (for who carried the show), the Saul-Paul Award (best redemptive arc), and the award for the Best Theological/Philosophical Moment. The episode comes with a little nihilism (with a side of pe...
Mark as Played
April 24, 2020 71 mins
How Catholics Should Approach Media/Our Favorite Movies and Shows Amidst procrastination, Catherine stumbles upon a video about how Catholics should approach movies and TV shows, and she, Dr. Pedraza, Dr. Meinert, Brady, Elise, and Trey talk about it. They dive into how their parents censored or did not censor what they watched, how to scrutinize culture when you're a part of it, and end by offering you some of the movies and shows...
Mark as Played
April 6, 2020 27 mins
B-Side: I Will Not Leave You Orphans Fr. Brad Doyle and priestly fatherhood during the coronavirus. Some people are worried that their shepherds have abandoned them. This story tears back the veil. B-Side episodes bring you a story that gives flesh to a topic talked about in a previous episode. See Episode 5, "We're All Lonely. Together." Pope Francis' Urbi et Orbi Address: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-03/urbi-et-or...
Mark as Played
March 23, 2020 108 mins
Life in the time of Coronavirus/The Loneliness Epidemic/St. Thomas and JPII on Community Dr. Pedraza, Dr. Meinert, Catherine, Elise, and Trey talk life in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, then share stories of loneliness and trying to form community. Dr. Meinert sheds a little wisdom via St. Thomas on friendship, and Dr. Pedraza sets the record straight on JPII's anthropology while emphasizing the pontiff's understanding of so...
Mark as Played
March 6, 2020 29 mins
B-Side: A None Among Us Lanie and her journey. One of the first steps in addressing the rise of the nones is understanding their stories. Here's one from someone from our hometown. B-Side episodes bring you a story that gives flesh to a topic talked about in a previous episode. See Episode 1 on "Evangelizing the Nones." Bergoglio's Lecture: http://communio.stblogs.org/Pope%20Francis%20on%20the%20Religious%20Sense.pdf Music Credits...
Mark as Played
Lenten Penances/ Why You Can't Feast without Fasting/ Lenten Would-You-Rather Game Dr. Pedraza, Dr. Meinert, Brady, Catherine, Hunter, and Trey talk about how to do Mardi Gras, how to avoid haphazard Lenten plans, the four ways you can relate to created goods, and making Lent a training in love. Then they play a Lenten version of "would you rather." Episode comes with a dose of St. Francis and a side of fried squirrel. Oh, and Ca...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Burden

    The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

    SmartLess

    "SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.