Marlena Graves: The dangers of money, power and influence

Season 1. Episode 9 of Messy Jesus Business, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh

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IN THIS EPISODE:

In episode nine, Sister Julia speaks with Marlena Graves the author of The Way Up Is Down. They discussed her new book and its message about downward mobility and discipleship, how justice and righteousness go together, and how the hungers for money, power, and influence tend to complicate faithful Christian living. 

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Marlena Graves is a writer and adjunct professor. She has also worked at Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). Marlena holds an MDiv from Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, New York, and is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute. She has been a bylined writer for Christianity Today, (in)courage, womenleaders.com, and Our Daily Bread, and she is also the author of A Beautiful Disaster. She lives with her husband and three daughters in Toledo, Ohio.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced, hosted and edited by Sister Julia Walsh.

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Jason Odhner and Laura Ankeny: Nursing as a Work of Mercy and Justice 

Season 1. Episode 8 of Messy Jesus Business, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh

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IN THIS EPISODE:

In episode eight, Sister Julia speaks with two nurses who are serving during the coronavirus pandemic. Jason Odhner is nursing on a COVID ICU and thinks about the medical system through the lens of the marginalized and oppressed. Laura Ankeny was diagnosed as a presumed case of COVID at the start of the pandemic. She works in a hospital in Minnesota. 

In the interviews you’ll hear their personal stories and how they connect Scripture to the ministry of nursing. Jason outlines why he believes the four major problems with the health care system are commodification, decontextualization, compartmentalization and a lack of imagination. Both nurses describe the reality of COVID19 and how the ordinary (non-medical) person can offer care and support during this pandemic.  

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Jason A Odhner is a Registered Nurse, a Radical Quaker, and health-justice activist from Phoenix, Arizona. He is co-founder and president of Phoenix Allies for Community Health: a volunteer-driven nonprofit community whose flagship project is a free clinic serving about a thousand undocumented families in the Phoenix area. He's also a co-founder of the Phoenix Urban Health Collective, a street-medic collective that has helped train protest-medics in more than 15 cities. Jason is currently working in a COVID ICU. He is joyfully married to the amazing and beautiful Elizabeth Clara, and is the proud father of five month old Baby Levi.

Laura Ankeny grew up on a farm in Northwest Iowa and was formed in the Catholic faith through her childhood. She attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and then graduated from the University of Iowa’s college of nursing. Now she works as a nurse in a hospital in Minneapolis, and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her cats. She is an affiliate of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a loving Christian, a proud godmother to her niece, and an aunt to her nephews. 

At the date of release of this interview (July 31, 2020) the World Health Organization reports 17,106,007 coronavirus cases and 668,910 deaths in 216 countries or territories worldwide. According to the CDC, there have been 4,405,932 cases in the United States and 150,283 deaths. 

Jason and Julia also discussed No More Deaths. You can learn more about No More Deaths who offers humanitarian relief on the USA / Mexico border at NoMoreDeaths.org

The Scripture passages referred to in episode are Mark 2:1-12 (the healing of the paralytic) and Matthew 25: 35-40 (the works of mercy and the parable of the final judgement).

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced, hosted and edited by Sister Julia Walsh.

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Kateri Boucher / Geez magazine: Contemplative Cultural Resistance

Season 1. Episode 7 of Messy Jesus Business, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh

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IN THIS EPISODE:

In episode six, Sister Julia speaks with guest Kateri Boucher from Geez magazine.

Together they discuss contemplative cultural resistance, prophetic voices, composting, urban gardening and how the United States is an empire.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Kateri Boucher grew up in a suburb of Rochester, NY, and moved to Detroit, MI in the fall of 2018 following a call of community. Now she practices messy hospitality in Detroit’s Catholic Worker house and works for Geez magazine.

Learn more about Geez magazine at www.geezmagazine.org and the Catholic Worker movement at www.catholicworker.org.  

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced, hosted and edited by Sister Julia Walsh.

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"If we're really doing the Gospel work, our work is not to be loved by everyone. If we're really challenging the status quo in the way that Jesus did we're not going to make everyone happy. It is uncomfortable. It also means taking risks, it also means putting your body on the line." -Sister Alison McCrary SFCC

In episode five, Sister Julia speaks with guest D.L. Mayfield. Together they discuss prayer, White American Evangelicalism, Catholic Social Teaching, lament, Dorothy Day and the Common Good.

"Fundamentally prisons are not broken; they are designed to do something that is wrong."

--Hannah Bowman,

Founder of Christians for the Abolition of Prisons

In episode four, Sister Julia speaks with guest Hannah Bowman about how Chrisitans are called to work for Prison Abolition.

In episode three, Sister Julia speaks with guest Jessican Mesman about the arts and the struggle discipleship. The conversation explored how art and literature can feed one's faith, writing as a form of spiritual practice, and how complicated and messy it can be to be in a relationship with the Church.

In episode two, Sister Julia speaks with guest Sister Mary Perez OP about the network of women religious under age 50 that they both belong to called Giving Voice, what it means that God is a border crosser, how Christians are called to engage in inter-religious relationships and why listening is an essential part of discipleship.

Season 1. Episode 1 of Messy Jesus Business, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh

In this Episode:

In the pilot episode, Sister Julia introduces the podcast and offers a contemplative moment related to Adoration. She also speaks with guest Sister Sarah Hennessy about vocation, the mystery of the Eucharist and the charism of their community--Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

About the Guest:

Sister Sarah Hennessy a member of the Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Sister Sarah moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin in 2002 to become a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration after a long journey of discernment. She was raised as a Quaker, and her diverse experiences before making her religious vows include teaching at a Navajo high school, translating Spanish at a free medical clinic, serving as a health educator in farm labor camps, tending a daylily farm and leading junior high inner-city immersion experiences. She has served as the perpetual adoration coordinator at St. Rose Convent and as a parish minister. Now she serves as a spiritual director at Franciscan Spirituality Center where she companions people to find the holy in the ordinary. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies and a Master of Arts degree in theology from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced, hosted and edited by Sister Julia Walsh.

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