Dr. Ray at CUA: Two Nights Only
Image courtesy of Hunter Near.
By Millie Bamsey
This past Tuesday and Wednesday evening, CUA students and faculty flocked to Heritage Hall, which had been transformed for two nights only into a live television studio hosting Dr. Ray Guarendi, a Catholic clinical psychologist and host of EWTN television show “Living Right With Dr. Ray.” On the show, Dr. Ray and guests discuss topics of daily family life, including parenting, relationships, and aging, all in light of Catholic Church teaching and a healthy dose of humor. This week, Dr. Ray traveled to Catholic to film episodes with five of CUA’s own community members. Large groups of people filled the seats each night, including Campus Ministry student leaders, Residence Life staff, and students promised extra credit by their professors.
There were plenty of logistics laid out before the filming began nightly; the show’s producer, Dick Russ, would spend time on stage giving directions to audience members, including doling out questions for Q&A portions of the show and explaining mic etiquette—there were 16 audience mics in total hidden around Heritage Hall. Russ also shared some background on the show itself. “Living Right With Dr. Ray” is currently in its 14th season, airing three times a week in 150 countries and viewed by 450 million households, he stated. While the CUA episodes would be filmed live, he said they would not air until May or June of 2026.
On Tuesday at 5:30 pm, an episode was filmed featuring Dr. Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, director of the Political Economy program out of the Busch School of Business and scholar of family studies and demographics. She and Dr. Ray discussed the current record-low birth rates in America and other current trends around marriage. This is a theme of her latest book, Hannah’s Children (published in 2024), which centers on the stories of college-educated women who have chosen to have more than 5 children against social norms.
Later that evening, Dr. Ray hosted the married couple Claire Grabowski and Dr. John Grabowski. Dr. Grabowski is a moral theologian and scholar of marriage who teaches the ever-popular TRS 335: Christian Marriage and Family Life, and he and his wife are authors and members of the Pontifical Council for the Family. With Dr. Ray, they shared their experiences leading marriage prep for couples and how they often learn how to improve their own marriage from the couples they mentor. During a question-and-answer period, they and Dr. Ray shared advice and insight with audience members—many students—based on both data-based facts and personal experiences.
On Wednesday, Dr. Ray first taped an episode with Bear Woznick, a Christian radio and television host himself, who is not affiliated with the University. He and Dr. Ray conversed about Catholic manhood, discipline, and how Woznick’s professional surfing career shaped his faith. They also discussed key traits of a good husband and father with Woznick’s own wife present in the audience.
Afterward, two fellow psychologists joined Dr. Ray for a joint episode: Dr. Suzanne Hollman, director of the CUA Counseling Center and staff psychologist, and Dr. David Jobes, professor of psychology and head of the CatholicU Suicide Prevention Lab (SPL). They spoke about the suicide prevention method—Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality, or CAMS—that Dr. Jobes developed and implements as his method for the SPL. The psychologists discussed mental health struggles among today’s young people and how faith and psychology can be integrated.
Senior Media and Communication Studies major Alannah Murphy got to work as the floor director for the taping of the Wednesday episodes. She says that, though she’s never worked as a floor director before, she was confident in her understanding of the role simply from what she’s learned in her media classes—key responsibilities include managing applause, using queue cards, and communicating time constraints to the host during filming. When the filming of “Living Right” was confirmed for the University, Glenn Østen Anderson, Director of Undergraduate Media and Communication Studies, reached out to Alannah and fellow major Matt Nichols about the opportunity. “He knows Matt and I are both interested in working in Catholic media,” she admitted. Alannah accepted, and Dick Russ reached out and coordinated with her from there. On Wednesday evening, Alannah helped assure both a seamless taping for Dr. Ray’s team and a polished experience for the audience—both those there live and those who will see the episodes this spring.
