Interviews – Tony Lusvardi, S.J.

What does a missionary Church look like today?

The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier, Peter Paul Rubens 1617

I was delighted to sit down a few weeks ago to talk to Hannah Brockhaus of the National Catholic Register about Pope Leo’s call to be a missionary Church. The article is out now in the Register: “Pope Leo XIV Wants a Missionary Church — What Does That Look Like Today?” There are lots of important insights in the article from a number of top theologians and Church officials — we talk about the message, the changing cultural situation in which the Church finds herself, our motive for evangelization, the recent increase in adult conversions, and more. Here’s a snippet, but be sure to read the whole article:

From around 1500 to 1800, we thought about missionaries as being sent out from a Christian heartland, [said Father Lusvardi, the author of Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation].

Today, he explained, “we’re missionaries in the same way that they would have been in the early Church. … The whole world is mission territory, which I think actually makes the urgency of mission even greater.”

Father Lusvardi noted that missionary activity used to go hand in hand with economic, educational and healthcare development.

Those “don’t necessarily go together anymore. … I think that we have to be even more up front with acknowledging the uniquely supernatural dimension of Christianity and what it gives — it gives us a relationship with God, period. And we don’t need to justify that on any other grounds,” he said. “A relationship with God is valuable in and of itself.”

Interview on the Sagrada Familia and more

Nativity Facade, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Following up on my article in America about the Sagrada Familia and looking forward to Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain, I had a chance to sit down at the beginning of the month with Robert Duncan, host of Vatican Access, a new podcast from Catholic News Services.

It was a great conversation, and I was happy to discover this excellent new podcast. You can watch the interview here: “Why Pope Leo Chose Sagrada Família.”

Readers might also be interested to check out the 20th Anniversary Issue of Dappled Things magazine. The fact that this unique contribution to the Catholic literary scene has been going for two decades is indeed worth celebrating, and I was honored that they included one of my stories from 2017 in an anthology of their favorites. The story has dystopian ring, which in retrospect feels almost prophetic….

Here’s a final rundown of recent posts on Gaudí and the Sagrada Familia:

Baptism of desire and Christian Salvation: reviews and interview

A friend sent me this picture, which looks like a recipe for beating the midwinter blues if ever there was one. I’m pleased that a number of reviews of Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation have started to appear. And, though I haven’t seen them all–sometimes it takes a while for parcels and periodicals to arrive in Rome–it is humbling to see some really topnotch scholars engaging with my work. As far as I know, reviews have recently appeared in Antiphon, the Nouvelle Revue Théologique (in French), Hekima Review, Ephemerides Liturgicae (in Italian), and on João Vila-Chã’s page (in Portuguese). More news is collected here.

And in case you missed it in November, consider checking out my discussion of the book with Dr. Larry Chapp on his podcast Gaudiumetspes22.com. It was really an enjoyable interview, also available on YouTube:

Launched: book, articles, interview

Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation is now in orbit after an excellent turnout at the official book launch at the Gregorian last Thursday. More good news: the code CT10 still gives you a 20% discount if ordering the book directly from Catholic University of America Press. At the presentation of the book, Fr. Joseph Carola gave an overview of its content and shared some stories from personal experience to illustrate its pastoral relevance. Fr. Bob Imbelli drew on other contemporary thinkers, such as Khaled Anatolios, Charles Taylor, and William Cavanaugh to demonstrate its relevance. I hope to have video of the presentations up on the Baptism of Desire page soon.

Fr. Joseph Carola, S.J., Fr. Robert Imbelli, Fr. Anthony Lusvardi, S.J.

Just a week before, I was also pleased to talk about the book with my old friend Sean Salai at Catholic World Report. Read the interview here: Defending the necessity of baptism: An interview with Fr. Anthony Lusvardi, S.J.

On another note, in this month’s First Things I return to an issue I raised a few years ago in an article in America magazine, the effects of technology on the liturgy. Here’s the new article: “Screens and Sacraments.” The original from 2020 is here.

And, finally, if you’re looking for some pre-election reading that isn’t about either Donald or Kamala, but instead about the way voting functions as a civic ritual, check out my latest at The Catholic Thing: “Rites (and Wrongs) of Democracy.“

Book launch, podcasts, and other news

I am pleased to see Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation in the news. Ralph Martin mentioned the book in his recent video Are All Religions a Path to God? As Dr. Martin points out, the research and arguments the book offers are highly relevant to some of the most difficult theological questions the Church faces today. As I’ve said before, perhaps the most urgent question the book raises has to do with whether we should still understand salvation to be at the heart of the Church’s mission. (Spoiler alert: Yes.)

With Dr. George Ceremuga at St. Isaac Jogues this summer.

I was also delighted to have a thoroughly enjoyable conversation a few weeks ago with Dr. George Ceremuga, friend and parishioner at St. Isaac Jogues parish in South Dakota, for the inaugural episode of his new Lead With Love podcast. We talked about Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation as well as Dr. George’s new book My 50 Day Pentecost in the Holy Land, in which he recounts some of the encounters and insights he had on an amazing journey through the Holy Land last year. UPDATE: the podcast is now out here. I’m collecting info and reviews about baptism of desire here.

And finally, as you can see from the flyer at the top of this post, I’m pleased to announce that we will have a book launch for Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation later this month at the Gregorian University. If you are in Rome, please come on Thursday October 24 to hear Fr. Robert Imbelli (coming all the way from New York!) and Fr. Joseph Carola discuss the book’s significance. The event will take place at 5:00 PM in room F007 of the Frascara Building at the Gregorian University. I’ll try to get the talks posted here, too, since it promises to be an interesting discussion.

And for something just a little bit different, you might want to check out the November issue of First Things. Just saying.

Interview on Sacramental Theology

Last month I had an interesting discussion with Jesuit scholastic David Inczauskis about the sacraments–what they are, why we have them, how they and the theology surrounding them developed through time, what are the challenges for sacramental theology today. David produces an in-depth podcast on liberation theology, so my general introduction to sacramental theology was the lead-in to some of his reflections on liberation theology and the sacraments, which are also included in the podcast. Here’s the Apple version of the episode:

Episode 22: Liturgy and Sacraments, the Liberation Theology Podcast. I’m told it can be found on other podcast venues as well.