New “In Focus” episode on Faith & Reason features Dr. Arthur C. Brooks and Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, on purpose, technology, suffering, and the Catholic response.
Bestselling author and happiness researcher Dr. Arthur C. Brooks joins Franciscan University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, for a wide-ranging conversation on the growing crisis of meaning in modern life—and why the Catholic faith offers a powerful response—in a new episode of In Focus premiering today on Franciscan University’s Faith & Reason platform.
Brooks, whose latest book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, examines why so many people struggle to find purpose and significance, speaks with Father Pivonka about loneliness, depression and anxiety among young people, the effects of smartphones and screen-mediated life, suffering, relationships, prayer, beauty, and the science behind the human search for meaning.
“We are made to love and be loved,” Brooks says. “This is the essence of what it actually means to be alive, which is, I believe, what it means to be in God’s image.”
Brooks argued that the widespread loss of meaning in modern culture is not simply a social problem but also presents Christians with an opportunity.
“I believe that American Catholicism is literally what the world needs,” Brooks says. “Where we see the crisis of depression and anxiety among young people and not so young people, that’s the opportunity for evangelization.”
The conversation draws heavily from Brooks’ research into happiness and human flourishing.
Father Pivonka and Brooks also discuss suffering and the modern tendency to treat pain and difficulty as signs that something has gone wrong. Brooks argues instead that suffering can become one of the places where people discover the deepest meaning of their lives.
“If you spend your life trying to exempt yourself from suffering, trying to avoid the pain in life, you will avoid the meaning of your life,” Brooks says.
The conversation turns repeatedly to Brooks’ Catholic faith. He speaks openly about attending daily Mass, prayer, the influence of his Christian father, and his conviction that faith provides answers to the human need for significance, relationship, and love.
Brooks is an internationally recognized social scientist, bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading voices on happiness and human flourishing. He is an endowed professor of the practice of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University and a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. His books include the New York Times bestsellers The Meaning of Your Life, Build the Life You Want, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, and From Strength to Strength.
In Focus, hosted by Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, brings leading voices into conversation about culture, science, politics, theology, the arts, and other pressing questions through the lens of faith and reason.
Watch the episode on the Faith & Reason platform.
