Chris Stefanick Catholic Show

What does it really mean to be a woman—and why has no one taught us?

In this episode of the Chris Stefanick Show, Chris sits down with January Donovan, founder of Catholic Feminine Formation, for a wide-ranging and deeply practical conversation about what's been lost—and what's possible when women are truly formed.

January brings nearly 30 years of experience helping women live out their God-given genius, and she pulls no punches. She unpacks how feminism—despite some early goods it sought—ultimately robbed women of their femininity, their faith, and their family. And she makes a compelling case that the Church now has an unprecedented opportunity to offer the world something better: a new model of womanhood rooted in Our Lady.

This conversation will challenge you, inspire you, and give you real, practical tools—whether you're a woman seeking to thrive, a husband who wants to better understand his wife, or a parish leader wondering how to serve your community more deeply.

In this episode:
– Why the "fragile femininity" of 150 years ago and today's "vicious feminism" are both failures—and what comes next
– What John Paul II's "feminine genius" actually means in everyday life
– The chaos of the busy household—and how formation changes everything about how you show up
– Why 7% of communication is words, and what that means for how you love your family
– The difference between faith formation and human formation—and why women need both
– How a growth mindset is really just another word for humility
– The New Woman Masterclass: a year-long formation journey for women in small groups
– How to bring Catholic Feminine Formation to your parish

HIGHLIGHTS
0:00 – Introduction: Catholic feminine formation—and why men need to watch too
8:00 – How feminism robbed women of their femininity, faith, and family
11:10 – "Fragile femininity" vs. "vicious feminism"—and the new model the world is hungry for
13:45 – What the feminine genius actually is: nurturing humanity to its greatness
19:00 – The chaos of the busy household—and the dozen skills a woman needs in that one moment
23:00 – Tone, body language, and why 93% of communication has nothing to do with words
29:30 – Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset—and why it's really about humility
34:00 – "You can't preach joy frowning": why your thriving is your evangelization
38:30 – Why the feminine genius can't be fully lived without the masculine genius
45:10 – The New Woman Masterclass: a year-long, small-group Catholic formation journey
51:40 – How to bring Catholic Feminine Formation to your parish

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• (00:00:00) - Catholic Female Formation
• (00:00:50) - Chris Stefanick: Missionaries of Joy
• (00:01:42) - Filipinos: The feminine genius
• (00:05:20) - Cook with Your Heart
• (00:10:46) - There's a New Model of Women
• (00:12:11) - What does a powerful Catholic understanding of femininity look like?
• (00:18:47) - How Many Skills Do a Woman Need To Manage Her Home?
• (00:22:15) - Women's spiritual formation
• (00:26:34) - On Growth and the Woman
• (00:32:38) - A Fixed Mindset in Relationships
• (00:37:47) - Formation of the Male Mind
• (00:42:13) - How to Salvage Your Marriage
• (00:45:08) - The New Woman: How to Be a Woman
• (00:48:10) - Wonders of the World: Marriage and Family
• (00:51:36) - Catholic Fanformation: Rebuilding Culture
• (00:54:52) - Chris on The Feminine Formation
• (00:56:17) - Praying the Hail Mary in Cebuano

Chris is on pilgrimage in Toulouse, France, taking you straight to the tomb of St. Thomas Aquinas — one of the most brilliant minds in the history of the Church (and the world). Known as "the Dumb Ox" by classmates who mistook his quiet nature for dullness, Aquinas went on to write the 1.8-million-word Summa Theologica, showing that faith and reason aren't enemies but, as John Paul II said, "two wings of a bird that lift up the soul." But the real story isn't his brilliance — it's what he asked Jesus for at the end of his life, and why he stopped writing altogether. Find out what the smartest man in Church history figured out about the point of all knowledge.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Discussion Questions

1. Chris says knowledge is meant to lead us "to the threshold of relationship," the way courtship leads to a proposal. Can you think of a time in your own life when intellectual understanding eventually had to give way to a decision of trust or commitment?

2. St. Thomas Aquinas, after writing 1.8 million words about God, said his work "amounts to straw" compared to what he glimpsed of heaven. What do you think he meant by that, and does it change your view of his life's work?

3. Chris suggests that skeptics aren't necessarily smarter than believers — they may simply be afraid to surrender to what their own knowledge points toward. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

4. When Jesus offered Aquinas anything he desired, he asked only for more of Jesus himself rather than more knowledge or answers. If you were offered the same question today, what would your honest answer be?

5. St. Albert the Great predicted that the quiet "dumb ox" would one day be heard "throughout the entire world." Has someone ever underestimated you, or have you underestimated someone else, in a way that turned out to be very wrong?

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• (00:00:00) - St. Thomas Aquinas
• (00:02:01) - St. Thomas Aquinas
• (00:04:23) - The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Chris Stefanick reflects on this Sunday's Gospel from a Benedictine cemetery at a Steubenville youth conference, where the monks buried there remind us that leaving the world behind isn't about the world being bad — it's about discovering something better. Drawing on Jesus' parable of the seed choked out by "the anxieties of this life," Chris breaks down the three classic sources of temptation — the world, the flesh, and the devil — and focuses on the trickiest one: the world, which we're actually meant to enjoy.

He shares two practical tools for keeping worldly desires in check, opens up about a painful financial low point early in his ministry, and points to St. Francis and Blessed Carlo Acutis as examples of what it looks like to hold this world loosely while loving it fully.

Discussion Questions

1. Chris says the world is the "trickiest" temptation because it's something we're actually meant to enjoy. Where do you find that line blurry in your own life?

2. What would it look like to "ask your own heart what you desire" this week — and to check that desire against your desire for eternal things?

3. Arthur Brooks' exercise imagines the person you'd have to become to get everything on your bucket list. What's one item on your list you might be willing to "empty out" or surrender?

4. Chris shares that he'd choose financial hardship over leaving ministry because he values eternal things more. Is there something in your own life you've had to give up — or would be willing to give up — for the sake of something eternal?

5. St. Francis gave up everything yet loved creation more deeply than most. How might letting go of something actually free you to enjoy it more, rather than less?

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Sign up for the Daily Anchor for free daily reflections from Chris Stefanick in your inbox: https://bit.ly/4tQCXtP

-----
Join the mission to spread the joy of the Gospel! Become a Missionary of Joy to support this free content: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

-----
Help support us as we seek to bring our transformative CORE Confirmation program to this next generation: https://reallifecatholic.com/confirmation/

• (00:00:00) - Walking around the Benedictine Cemetery
• (00:00:52) - The Secret to Growing Into Greatness
• (00:01:48) - 3 Sources of Temptation in the World
• (00:08:01) - St. Francis: What Are You Valuing More Than Money?