Happiness Understood Psychologically and Theologically I Prof. Christopher Kaczor

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This lecture was given on February 15th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His eighteen books include Is Belief Believable? The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

Transcript

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0:00.0	As of July 1st, 2025, applications are open for the Thomistic Institute's Rome Study Abroad program for spring 26.
0:08.5	Emmerse yourself in the Catholic intellectual tradition and experience profound opportunities for spiritual formation in the heart of the church.
0:16.9	Applications close August 15th. Learn more and apply at www.comsticinstitute.org
0:23.5	forward slash Rome.
0:28.0	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual
0:33.3	tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square. The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute
0:41.8	chapters around the world. To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at
0:46.7	to mystic institute.org.
0:49.4	This afternoon I'm going to be speaking about happiness understood psychologically.
0:55.0	But I want to start off with the story that actually begins right here.
0:59.0	Not actually right here, but right across the street, the Catholic University of America.
1:03.0	So this was about 15 years ago, and I got this amazing dream job at Catholic You.
1:09.0	I was hired to be the director of the University Honors Program.
1:14.6	And it was fantastic. I got a huge raise. It got about a 40% raise over what I was making.
1:19.6	And we got it to this fantastic parish called St. John the Beloved, which is in McLean, Virginia.
1:24.6	It was the best parish I've ever been in. Wonderful people. I made lots
1:28.7	of friends, and it was just great. But there was one huge problem. My wife hated Washington, D.C.
1:36.7	Hated it. And so basically, we had this huge conflict, and we're fighting about where to live.
1:43.0	I wanted to live in Washington, D.C. She wanted to return to Los Angeles. And so we're fighting about where to live. I wanted to live in Washington, D.C.
1:44.7	She wanted to return to Los Angeles. And so we were fighting, fighting, fighting,
1:49.0	and basically I was not making any headway at all. So I thought, okay, I've got to invoke
1:54.7	divine aid. So I started to pray and I started to offer lunch and sacrifices that my wife would
	...

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