Episode 290: Christine Myers Miller on Servant of God Romano Guardini (August 7, 2024)

This week on The Open Door (August 7th) we will explore the thought of Servant of God Romano Guardini, a widely influential theologian whom both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis deeply admired. So did Flannery O’Connor! Guardini is often thought of as a unifying figure in the Church. Our welcome guest is Christine Myers Miller. She is a graduate of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family in Washington, DC, and is the Director of Adult Faith Formation, Marriage & Family Life at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Tulsa. Dr. Myers Miller researched Romano Guardini for her doctoral thesis, studying the topic of Christian responsibility for the world. She has published essays in the Catechetical Review, Humanum online review, and in the important theological journal Communio. Among the questions we’ll ask are the following. 

1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Have you always been an Okie?
2. What was it like to study at the John Paul II Institute? How does the Institute reflect the vision of St. John Paul II?
3. What are your responsibilities as Director of Adult Faith Formation and Marriage & Family Life at your parish?  
4. Could you introduce us to Romano Guardini? A time-line would help. And how did he survive World War II?
5.  In these “interesting times” there’s deep disagreement on just what it is to be a human being. What does this mean in terms of how we can best address ethical questions?
6. On your view, crisis can be an occasion of growth. How might this come about with regard to scandals in the Church?
7. Romano Guardini saw the apparent contradiction between faith and science as one of the main sources of crisis in his time, and it surely remains one for us. How might we effectively respond to it?
8. How might Guardini advise us to manage AI technology?
9. You have written that “faith needs culture to survive” and warned that “a faith without culture is a dying thing.” What would a Catholic culture look like today? 
10.  Might it involve a distinctive Catholic political presence?