Erika Ahern is a seasoned journalist, Managing Editor for Refine, CatholicVote's lifestyle newsletter, and co-host of the LOOPcast.
Her writing has appeared in USA Today, Washington Examiner, and other publications. She is a contributing author and editor for CatholicVote’s 2024 book For God, Country, and Sanity: How Catholics Can Save America. She appears regularly as a guest on podcasts and talk radio.
Erika holds degrees in philosophy from The Catholic University of America (BA 2003) and Emory University (MA 2008). She and her husband live outside of New Haven, Connecticut, with their seven children.
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
LOOPcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theLOOPcast
LOOPcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-loopcast/id1643967065
Joey Wolfensberger is a full time faculty member in the Humanities Department at Montgomery College, in Maryland.
He graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University with a bachelor’s degree in 2020, with 4 majors: philosophy theology, sociology, and criminal justice.
In 2022 he earned a MA in Philosophical Studies degree from the same institution.
He has taught philosophy at Montgomery College, Mount St. Mary's, and University of Maryland - Baltimore County.
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Patrick Gill is a blacksmith of 16 years' experience and an adjunct professor of philosophy at Mount St. Mary's University.
He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 2016, a Master of Business Administration degree from Mount St. Mary's in 2019, and a Master of Theological Science degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2025.
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Zachary Robinson is Chief Scientist at Rising Tide, a startup that automates and optimizes business operations for last-mile logistics companies. He has 12 years of experience in algorithm development, applied mathematics, applied magnetics, digital signal processing, data analysis, software development, and more.
He is a 2017 graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University with a Master of Arts in Philosophical Studies degree. He has also earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics, and an MS in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 2014.
Zachary is also a husband and the father of two children.
0:00 Shifting Lanes
5:11 Rising Tide
11:06 AI Cannot Reason Algorithmically
21:25 Economic & Psychological Problems with AI
27:50 Parenthood & Self-Understanding
Study published by Apple: https://ml-site.cdn-apple.com/papers/the-illusion-of-thinking.pdf
AI losing to Atari at chess: https://futurism.com/atari-beats-chatgpt-chess
Rising Tide's website: https://www.risingtide.us/
His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharytrobinson/
MAPS program: https://msmary.edu/academics/graduate-school/master-of-arts-in-philosophical-studies.html
R.J. Matava is Dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and Associate Professor of Theology. He has taught at Christendom since 2010.
He graduated in 2002 from Mount St. Mary's University. He then earned an MA in Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, and a PhD in theology from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
He was the Liddon Fellow in theology at Keble College, Oxford, and Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Center for Medieval Philosophy at Georgetown University.
He is a co-founder of Intercollegiate Catholic Studies and of the Institute for Liturgical Formation. Dr. Matava's interests lie at the crossroads of philosophy, Christian doctrine, and moral theory. He is convinced that the doctrine of personal vocation is one of the Church's most important but underappreciated teachings.
Dr. Matava is the author of Divine Causality and Human Free Choice (Brill, 2016) as well as of several essays in journals and edited volumes, most recently the T&T Clark Handbook of Election (2023).
0:00 Memories of the Mount
3:05 Path to Professor
13:00 Oxford & St. Andrews
18:56 Christendom 2010-2025
28:45 AI Threat & Writing
38:05 Causes for Hope
41:32 Philosophy in the Life of the Church
45:10 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Harry Scherer graduated from Mount St Mary's University in 2022 with a triple major in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE), history and Latin.
He later earned a Master of Arts in human rights at The Catholic University of America.
Harry’s writing has been featured in The American Conservative, the Washington Examiner, The Lamp, Newsweek, The Federalist, and other publications.
He currently serves as speechwriter in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
0:00 Introduction
1:33 Speechwriter, Friends
5:33 Philosophy Politics & Economics
8:20 Intellectual Life Now
10:14 Love of Truth
13:17 Gaps, Surprises
16:18 Use of Philosophy on the Job
17:39 Advice to Students
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Edgar Beltrán is Rome correspondent for The Pillar, a US based Catholic news site.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2020 at the Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He then earned a research master’s in philosophy of mind and science at Radboud University in the Netherlands, graduating in 2024 with a thesis on Aquinas and the philosophy of neuroscience.
0:00 Introduction
1:27 Tweet
5:42 Apostolate of Truth
12:49 Conclave
19:00 Pope Leo
23:38 What a Journalist Does
29:05 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
https://x.com/edgarjbb_/status/1922752908602335743
https://x.com/edgarjbb_
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/
https://substack.com/@edgarbeltran
Eamonn Clark is an American doctoral student living in Rome, and a 2014 graduate of Mount St. Mary's University.
0:00 American in Rome
3:00 Conclave
5:22 Doctoral Studies
8:11 Teaching Prospects
10:19 Clericalism
11:44 Hopes for Pope Leo XIV
15:49 History of the Popes
18:38 Fundraising for Third World Ministries
21:11 Philosophy vs Theology
27:08 NFP Project
30:07 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
Emma Smith has worked in a homeless shelter, in a public defender's office, and on a farm. She is a 2023 graduate of Mount St. Mary's University.
0:00 Introduction
2:55 Volunteer DC Ministry
4:43 Murder
11:12 Existentialism
13:18 Leaving DC for the Farm
20:42 Adulthood
22:58 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Fr. Chad Arnold is Director of Seminarians for the Catholic diocese of Wichita, Kansas. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Conception Seminary College in 2006 and was ordained a priest in 2010.
0:00 Introduction
3:42 House of Formation
11:00 Propaedeutic Year
15:53 Every priest a philosopher?
18:12 Philosophy Among the Laity
20:53 Catholic Philosophy of Life
23:09 Advice to Discerners
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
About Four O'Clock podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5VV0IquSkSAnxvXvTTayon?si=371b44e25f944de4
https://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/vocations/
Makala Harrison is a graduate student in entomology at the University of Maryland and a 2024 graduate of Mount St. Mary's University.
0:00 Introduction
3:21 Daddy Longlegs Project
8:45 Philosophy in Retrospect
11:21 Closeted Philosophers
16:57 Teaching
21:50 Covert Instruction
26:01 Pluralism vs Common Vision
31:04 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Clips from the 11 episodes of Season 3 of Life After Philosophy, Aug-Oct 2024.
Season 4 premieres summer 2025.
0:00 Deep State
6:25 Luxury Beliefs
9:35 Chat GPT
12:26 Masculine Identity
15:59 Moral Exemplars
20:54 Latin
26:15 Modern Philosophy
32:43 Alan Rickman
36:18 Enhanced Experience
38:26 Justice
41:27 Aquinas
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Brett Snow is...
0:00 Religious Education
5:10 Philosophy
9:19 Faith Formation
15:34 Young Adults
22:19 Advice for Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
Daniel Scully is a prosecutor in the District Attorney's Office of Queens County, New York.
He is a 2018 graduate of Mount St. Mary's University with a philosophy major and earned his JD from Fordham University School of Law in 2023.
0:00 Path to Now
5:00 Intake Bureau
10:05 Justice System
12:36 Law School
15:59 Working in the System
21:10 Discerning
24:19 Philosophy in the Prosecutor's Office
26:35 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
David McGinley (MSMU Class of 2011) is a husband, father, CPA, and cancer survivor. He is also the brother of Stephen McGinley, interviewed in Episode 18: THE FARMER. He took philosophy courses as part of the Mount St. Mary's Core Curriculum.
0:00 Introduction
1:13 Cancer Story
11:24 Full Time Sick
15:13 Philosophy Consolation
23:44 Enhanced Experience
25:46 Advice to Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/testicular-cancer/about.html
Dr. Brian Tullius graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2003 with a BA double major in in philosophy and biology, and then completed an MA in philosophy.
He earned an MD from University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 2008 and did a pediatric internship at Naval Medical Center San Diego, but then was selected as a flight surgeon. He got his wings in Pensacola and then went to the fleet as a flight doctor for 5 years. He returned to civilian pediatric residency and graduated in 2017.
He then went to pediatric hematology oncology fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, graduating in 2020. The following year he finished a pediatric bone marrow transplant and cellular therapy fellowship.
Since then he has been research medical director for pediatric cellular therapies at AdventHealth for Children in Orlando, Florida.
0:00 Introduction
1:58 Present Medical Work
4:10 Phenomenology of Cells
7:17 Semester in Austria
9:34 Flight Surgeon
11:35 Working with Sick Children
13:55 Philosophers Who Become Physicians
16:35 Admiral Stockdale
19:25 Ethics Boards
21:00 How to Get More Humanist-MDs
22:36 Self-Care
25:19 Advice from Alan Rickman
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
Mother Asterone Dodeka Garry (MSMU Class of 2010) is a sister of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará community (Servadoras), part of the religious family of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE).
She is also the local superior of the Servadoras missionary community in Thurmont, Maryland, and a collaborator for the Cornelio Fabro Cultural Project.
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
0:00 Philosophy & Conversion
8:20 Catholic Attitudes to Modernity
16:00 Translating Fabro
20:40 Being a Superior
25:30 Ministry
28:50 Challenges of Religious Life
34:00 Advice to Students
37:40 Advice to Discerners
Links:
https://iveamerica.org/ssvm/
https://www.corneliofabro.org/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelio_Fabro
Fr. Dylan Schrader is a priest of the diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri.
Fr. Schrader completed his philosophy studies at Conception Seminary College in 2006. He was ordained in 2010, and completed a PhD in systematic theology at the Catholic University of America in 2019.
He is currently pastor of parishes in Westphalia and Folk, Missouri, and teaches regularly for the Veterum Sapientia Institute.
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
0:00 Introduction
1:15 Theology & Parish Life
5:30 Pastor as Educator
8:15 Precise Use of Language
10:12 Latin
16:50 Authoritative Texts
21:18 Learning Latin
22:50 Celibacy & Transcendence
26:00 Celibacy in Pop Culture
28:00 Liturgical & Military Images of Celibacy
30:00 Habits
Links:
https://veterumsapientia.org/
Dr. Edward David is a (former) postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University, and now Lecturer in Ethics and Values in the Department for Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London, as well as Director of the Associateship of King's College.
He earned an MA in Philosophical Studies degree from Mount St. Mary's University in 2010.
0:00 Introduction
1:12 Update August 2024
6:57 Original June 2024
10:08 Being an Outsider
18:38 Research Project
30:27 Natural Law & Zagzebski
37:23 Advice for Students
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardadavid/
Fr. Etienne Huard OSB is a Benedictine monk of Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri.
Fr. Etienne holds a BA in Philosophy (2009) from Conception Seminary College, as well as Master of Divinity, MA in Systematic Theology, and MS in Psychology degrees.
He teaches Scripture, Theology, and Psychology at Conception, and is the director of seminary liturgy and director of propadeutic stage of seminary human formation.
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Seminary Formation
5:00 Growth in Virtue
12:25 Loneliness & Community
21:25 Living for Truth
24:14 Masculine Identity
29:15 Advice for Men Today
Hosted by Christopher Anadale
Links:
Conception Abbey: https://www.conceptionabbey.org/
Conception Seminary College: https://www.conception.edu/
About Four O'Clock Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5VV0IquSkSAnxvXvTTayon?si=5251b476f8524ef8
Article in Homiletic and Pastoral Review: https://www.hprweb.com/2024/03/saint-paul-masculinity-and-priestly-identity/