There aren’t many things most people agree on today across all the different political and cultural divides. But this following claim probably unites most of us: We are too distracted today and our collective ability to pay attention is in bad shape. That seems like pretty conventional wisdom.

Today’s guest enjoys few things more than taking a piece of conventional wisdom and poking and prodding it to see if it’s actually that wise after all. Jonathan Malesic is a writer and writing teacher at Southern Methodist University whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Republic, The Washington Post, America Magazine and elsewhere. He’s also author the author of the great book “The End of Burnout.” And Jon has offered fantastic spiritual nonfiction writing courses through the Jesuit Media Lab.

In a recent essay in the magazine Commonweal, Jon wrote about going to an art museum in San Francisco as a sort of experiment. He wanted to see if looking closely and attentively at works of art for a long time could help heal his own fraying attentiveness. Host Mike Jordan Laskey really enjoyed the essay and was challenged by it, so he invited Jon on to discuss his experiences. They talked about museums and Instagram algorithms and the different types of attention you need while looking at art versus, say, driving a car. The essay and this conversation might make you think some more about our crisis of distraction and what might be the right antidotes to pursue.

Jon's recent Commonweal essay, Fix Your Gaze: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/fix-your-gaze

Jon's book, "The End of Burnout": https://www.amazon.com/End-Burnout-Drains-Build-Better/dp/0520344073

Jon's Substack: https://jonmalesic.substack.com/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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If you look out at the world today, you might notice a growing trend in global politics: Again and again, voters are putting into power leaders that favor nationalistic or isolationist rhetoric and policies. Issues that require global cooperation — and sacrifice — like the climate crisis, nonproliferation of nuclear arms and the care of refugees are a hard sell to a citizenry increasingly concerned with economic and security problems affecting their own families and communities. As a result, nations all over the world turn ever inward and more distrustful of individuals and organizations beyond their borders.

We see this dynamic play out again and again in conversations around immigration, and we’ve hosted more than a few such conversations on this podcast. But another realm of international politics that is affected by this change in global thinking is the place and influence of international and transnational organizations on the global scale.

It’s tempting to shrug and wonder why you should care. Today’s guest, Dr. Michael Manulak, is here with an answer — and a challenge. The biggest issues we face today require global cooperation. That’s not just a political reality; it’s one grounded in our Catholic tradition. As Michael will discuss, the tenets of Catholic social teaching and the spirituality of St. Ignatius demand that we prayerfully contemplate the complex reality of our time and respond as best we’re able.

That means looking at our individual gifts and vocations as part of something bigger than ourselves.

Dr. Manulak is an associate professor of international affairs, anchoring the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs’ Diplomacy and Foreign Policy cluster in Ottawa. His research focuses on international organizations, multilateral diplomacy, Canadian foreign policy, global environmental politics and Non-Proliferation. An alumnus of the Government of Canada’s Recruitment of Policy Leaders program, he served mainly within the Department of National Defense. In government, he represented Canada in international proliferation security negotiations, supported the national security review of foreign investments, and composed Cabinet documents within National Defense’s Cabinet Liaison bureau.

And coolest of all, the day before this conversation was recorded, he was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal at the Senate of Canada. The Medal recognizes those that have made a significant contribution to Canadian society.

This is a timely and fascinating conversation. If you want to learn more about Dr. Manulak’s work, visit his website https://michaelmanulak.com/.

In the early morning hours of August 22, 1971, a group of Catholic anti-war protesters broke into a draft board in Camden, New Jersey to destroy draft-related documents. The action was one in a series of similar raids that Catholic activists carried out in the 1960s and ‘70s in opposition to the Vietnam War. The story of what enfolded that morning and the two years following is almost too wild to believe – it’s the stuff HBO miniseries are made of.

Professor Michelle Nickerson, a historian at Loyola University Chicago, has just published a book about the raid, the ensuing trial and all the drama that surrounded both. The book is titled “Spiritual Criminals: How the Camden 28 Put the Vietnam War on Trial.” And while the book is a work of academic history published by the University of Chicago Press, it’s also a total page turner. Again, we think the good people at HBO or Netflix need to jump on this. Michelle is an expert in the history of politics, women & gender, social movements, and religion in 20th-century America, and she brought her serious academic chops to the story. Host Mike Jordan Laskey learned so much not just about the Camden 28 themselves, but the history and development of the Catholic anti-war movement in the US. We’re so happy to be able to share some of this story with you before you watch it on a streaming service in, say, 2028.

Michelle Nickerson: https://michellenickerson.com/

"Spiritual Criminals": https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Criminals-Camden-Vietnam-Trial/dp/0226828034

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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www.jesuitmedialab.org/

Whether you’re a big New Year’s Resolutions person or not, it’s never a bad idea to take stock our own spiritual lives. Where might we want to grow in our relationship with God? So host Mike Jordan Laskey invited one of our favorite spirituality experts onto the show: Julianne Stanz. Julianne is the Director of Outreach for Evangelization and Discipleship at Loyola Press. She’s also an acclaimed author and international speaker.

A native of Ireland, Julianne was shaped by that country’s deep and distinctive Catholicism. And in line with one of the very best Irish stereotypes, Julianne is also one of the best storytellers around.

Julianne came up with three possible spiritual resolutions we might want to try out in the New Year. All three is are both meaningful and accessible. As a mom of three kids, Julianne knows huge time-intensive commitments in the spiritual life just can’t work for everyone. No matter your stage of life, you’ll enjoy hearing Julianne’s ideas and stories. Happy New Year from all of us here at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

Julianne Stanz: https://www.juliannestanz.com/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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twitter.com/jesuitnews

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instagram.com/wearethejesuits

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www.jesuitmedialab.org/

The Christmas season is upon us! We look to the manger and we see new life—a baby has been born, Jesus the Christ, and so we have reason to hope. God has once more broken into our human story with an invitation: Can we go to the others, bringing the joy and wonder of the Incarnate Christ?

Christmas is rightly a time for joy and celebration. But it’s also a time to take a hard, loving look at our world—the very world through which God again and again makes Godself known. So here’s a question and a challenge: Are we romanticizing that nativity scene? Are we placing the Holy Family high upon a pedestal without looking plainly at the hardship and struggle they themselves had to bear? We’re so quick to sing about Mary and Joseph finding no room at the inn and yet, do we respond in hospitality to those left out in the cold?

Long time listeners of our podcast have heard our crossover episodes of the Jesuit Border Podcast before. Fr. Brian Strassburger, SJ, is the director of Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries, located in the diocese of Brownsville, Texas. Along with Joe Nolla—a Jesuit regent—he’s wrapped the seventh season of the Jesuit Border Podcast. Today, we’re going to share with you the season finale, which features Bishop Joseph Tyson of the diocese of Yakima, Washington.

This conversation is a helpful one during this Christmas season. It reminds us once more to look to the holy families still on the move today, still pleading for shelter and hospitality—not unlike the Holy Family 2,000 years ago.

Let’s not reduce our God of the universe to a plastic toy in a nativity set we carefully set up once a year. Instead, let’s take up the challenge that Fr. Brian, Joe and Bishop Tyson lay out for us in this episode. Let’s walk with those families still in need today, those families who bear the image and likeness of our same God. Let’s embody a message of hope and welcome.

Listen to more episodes of the Jesuit Border Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jesuit-border-podcast/id1593208023

Learn more about Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries: https://www.jesuitscentralsouthern.org/our-work/del-camino/

It’s time for one of our favorite AMDG traditions: Our annual Christmas draft. It’s an idea we stole outright from the sportswriter Joe Posnanski’s podcast, so a tip of the Santa hat to him.

For newcomers, this is how a Christmas draft works: First, host Mike Jordan Laskey picks a Christmas related category. This year, it’s Christmas objects. Some guests and Mike take turns selecting their favorite individual members of that category. It’s like a draft that the NFL or NBA sponsors. Once someone makes a specific pick, that option is off the board for everyone else. We do three rounds. This year, we two guests: Sister Bethany Welch, SSJ, and Father Marty Ngo, SJ. A nun, a priest, and a father of three walk into a podcast… the jokes just write themselves.

We asked Bethany and Marty to introduce themselves at the top of the show, so I won’t say too much about them. But we think you’ll see why we invited them – they’re two people who are both deeply spiritual, immensely creative and just joys to be around. We’re grateful for their vocations.

And we’re grateful to all you out there in AMDG land for spending some of your busy holiday season with us. All of us here at the Jesuit Conference wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed 2025.

Sister Bethany Welch, SSJ: https://jesuitmedialab.org/how-this-catholic-sister-used-art-to-prepare-for-taking-vows/

Fr. Marty Ngo, SJ: https://www.jesuits.org/profile/martin-huynh-ngo-sj/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

www.jesuits.org/

www.beajesuit.org/

twitter.com/jesuitnews

facebook.com/Jesuits

instagram.com/wearethejesuits

youtube.com/societyofjesus

www.jesuitmedialab.org/

We were assigned The Hobbit in seventh grade. We knew it was coming, too—each class ahead of us had to read Tolkien’s classic text. Everyone in school always knew when it was that time of year again. The culminating Hobbit-themed project for every seventh grader was to create a sculpture featuring one of the characters in the book. Those sculptures would then line the halls of our school for the remaining two months of the school year. I, Eric Clayton, of course, made a not-at-all-to-scale version of the great dragon Smaug.

So, that was seventh grade and coincidentally the year Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings debuted in theaters. But long before I made a dragon out of clay, I’d fallen in love with fantasy, myth and fairy tale. I liked the adventure, of course, the epicness of these wild and wondrous worlds.

But the more I read in the genre, the more I learned about these worlds and my own reaction to them, the more I wondered: Was something else going on? Was I drawn to these kinds of stories for another reason?

Today’s guest, New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, John Hendrix, provides a pretty compelling answer in his latest book, “The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.” It’s from a particular scene in his book—and we discuss at length in our conversation. It’s a pivot moment, a conversation between Tolkien, Lewis and their mutual friend, Hugo Dyson.

“The hunger in your stomach does not prove that you will get a meal,” Tolkien says. “But it does prove that your body was meant for food. The point is simple. The ‘dying and reviving God’ images that moves you so deeply in mythology is the very same story found in the Gospels.”

Dyson adds: “Men write their myths and God writes his.”

Lewis is exasperated: “Now both of you are saying that Christ is a myth…like Loki?” he asked.

“Exactly,” Tolkien says. “With one simple difference: “Christ is the myth that entered history. He is the myth that actually came true.”

I won’t spoil any more of the story for you. But if you are curious about the intersection of fantastical storytelling and spiritual discoveries, if you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the creators of Narnia and Middle-earth and their all-important friendship, then this conversation with John Hendrix is for you. And so’s his book.

A little more about John: His books include The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler, called a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, Drawing Is Magic: Discovering Yourself in a Sketchbook, Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus, and many others. His award-winning illustrations have also appeared on book jackets, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. And he is the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art and the founding Chair of the MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

You can learn more about John’s impressive career and grab copies of his many books at johnhendrix.com.

You’ve heard of the Spiritual Exercises. You’ve probably heard of Ignatius’ autobiography. But have you heard of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus? Unless you’re a Jesuit, you probably haven’t. It’s a series of documents often dismissed as too legalistic, necessary but not relevant to daily life. But that’s not true—and our guest today, Fr. Bart Geger, SJ, professor at the Boston College’s school of theology and ministry, will make that case.

The Constitutions are foundational to the Ignatian tradition, to how Jesuits understand their mission: that being the service of the greater glory of God. The Constitutions, then, are important for all of us who stand in this Ignatian legacy, for all of us who also hope to serve God’s greater glory. The Constitutions touch on the formation of Jesuits specifically, but also point each of us toward spiritual wisdom for our own unique vocation.

Why talk about the Constitutions today? Fr. Bart has recently completed work on a new edition, which provides all of us with an opportunity to revisit this important text. As Fr. Bart writes in the introduction: “Knowledge of the Constitutions is…necessary in order to understand recurring themes and controversies in the Society’s history. Far more importantly, however, the book is vital to correctly interpret the spiritual doctrine of Ignatius himself, especially his ideas about how to discern God’s will, and the particular ideals and virtues that he desired—and still desires—for all who embrace the principle and foundation upon which all his doctrine stands.”

In short, if we believe the riches of Ignatian spirituality are vital and relevant for today’s world, then we’d do well to better understand the institutional framework with which Ignatius entrusted this legacy to be lived out.

If you'd like to get a copy of Fr. Bart's new edition or learn more about the project, head over to the Institute of Jesuit Sources: https://jesuitsources.bc.edu/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-a-critical-edition-with-the-complementary-norms-paperback/

If you’re listening to this episode on the day it drops, then we’re just a matter of hours away from celebrating Thanksgiving in the United States. Regardless of whether you’ll be surrounded by friends and family over these next few days or you’ll be passing the occasion in a quieter, more subdued manner, one thing remains the same: We are all called to cultivate a disposition of gratitude.

These Thanksgiving episodes where we reflect on gratitude as a spiritual practice have become something of a holiday tradition all on their own. Gratitude is foundational to Ignatian spirituality. And it’s something we’re called to on good days as much as on bad ones.

Today we’re lucky to have Vinita Hampton Wright return to the pod to reflect on these spiritual themes. Vinita always brings with her practical wisdom and deep knowledge of both the tenets of the Ignatian tradition and how to talk about them. Vinita is a veteran editors and writer of countless books and articles on Ignatian spirituality. She worked for many years at Loyola Press, and now gives workshops and retreats on writing, creativity and prayer.

Vinita is also the author of this year’s 2025 “Book of Grace-Filled Days,” which is currently available from Loyola Press and a wonderful companion to your prayer in this upcoming year.

Check it out here: https://store.loyolapress.com/2025-a-book-of-grace-filled-days

Last week, we began our pilgrimage to Belize. We met Fr. Brian Christopher, the superior of the country-wide Jesuit community. And we heard a little bit about the hopes and heartaches of the people of Belize. We saw how Ignatian spirituality has a role to play in helping crystalize the character of Belize, and how important collaboration is in a country made up of such a rich and diverse history.

Most importantly, we heard from Fr. Brian how the work of the Jesuits in Belize today isn’t about making plans and wracking up successes but rather that of humility, of accepting the possibility of failure. The key, Brian said again and again, is accompaniment: walking with and learning from and cheering on the people of Belize.

Last week’s episode ended with a reflection on synodality — that all-important theme of Pope Francis’ papacy. How are we called to listen to the voices of those members of our global church that so often get sidelined?

Today, in our second of our two-part series on Belize, we return to that theme of synodality: you’re going to hear from several lay leaders that are working closely with the Jesuits. Perhaps even more importantly, you’re going to hear how essential these lay leaders are in building up the local church. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without these lay leaders, the Catholic church in some of the most remote parts of Belize may simply not exist.

So, let’s continue our pilgrimage.