AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

By Jesuit Conference

What's AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast about?

Jesuits and friends come together to look at the world through Ignatian eyes, always striving to live Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam -- For the Greater Glory of God. Hosted by Mike Jordan Laskey, Eric Clayton and MegAnne Liebsch. Learn more at jesuits.org. A production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast episodes:

05.02.2024
English version: Reynaldo Domínguez's Deadly Fight to Care for Creation
In 60-plus years of life, Reynaldo Domínguez has never heard someone say, "I live without water and I live in peace." Water is fundamental to a healthy and peaceful life, he says. Yet for Reynaldo and his community in Guapinol,...
05.01.2024
Versión en español: La lucha mortal de Reynaldo Domínguez para el cuidado de la creación
En más de 60 años de vida, Reynaldo Domínguez nunca ha oído a nadie decir: "Vivo sin agua y vivo tranquilo". El agua es fundamental para una vida sana y en paz, nos afirma. Sin embargo, para Reynaldo y su...
04.24.2024
Grace, Attention and Beauty with Marilynne Robinson
The American essayist and novelist Marilynne Robinson may not be Catholic, but her writing reveals a deeply sacramental imagination. Through five books of fiction and dozens of essays, Robinson trains her readers in the art of spiritual attention. Where is...
04.17.2024
How Poetry and Prose Change Lives with Gary Jansen
In honor of National Poetry Month - which is currently underway during April 2024 - author and editor Gary Jansen returns to the podcast to talk about his latest book, "Meditations at Midnight: Poetry and Prose." Gary lives at the intersection...
04.10.2024
The Story Behind Flannery O'Connor's New Novel with Jessica Hooten Wilson
You might be familiar with the American Catholic novelist, Flannery O’Connor. You might have read her short stories in a class, maybe “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” or “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” to name a few. You...
04.03.2024
From Video Game Designer to Jesuit with Shane Liesegang, SJ
There’s an old saying in Jesuit circles: If you’ve met one Jesuit, you’ve met one Jesuit. A fun list to make is all the different careers guys had before joining the Society of Jesus. We have actors and comedians, doctors...
03.27.2024
Founding and Growing the Cristo Rey Network of Schools with Fr. John Foley, SJ
Fr. John P. Foley, SJ, spent 34 years as a missionary in Peru -- a full career in most lines of work. But then, in 1995, he was missioned back to the United States to start a high school for...
03.20.2024
Leading Creighton University in a Secular Age with Fr. Daniel Hendrickson, SJ
While Fr. Daniel Hendrickson, SJ, president of Creighton University, is excited for both his women's and men's basketball teams' March Madness journeys, today’s episode isn’t about basketball at all. (Well, it makes an appearance for a couple minutes at the...
03.13.2024
Making the Jesuit App “Pray As You Go” with Emma Holland
Ever since the Jesuits in the United Kingdom launched the daily prayer project “Pray As You Go” (PAYG) in 2006, the creative team behind the resource has shared fabulous audio prayer programs that are spiritually nourishing in their beauty and...
03.06.2024
How Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ, Found God in Soviet Captivity with Jim Keane
The basic details of Father Walter Ciszek life sound like a movie: An American Jesuit priest ministering in Eastern Europe around the time of World War II, he was arrested by the Soviet Union and falsely accused of being a...
02.28.2024
Learning to Love Lent Through Music with Margaret Felice
When you hear the word “Lent,” what is the first thing you think of? Maybe it’s purple or giving up social media or chocolate. Or maybe it’s trying to build better prayer habits or abstaining from meat on Fridays. Or...
02.21.2024
Synodality: Embracing Tension, Staying at the Table with Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ
Today's guest has an incredible amount of experience of the truly "catholic," global nature of the church. Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, today serves as the dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. This school is one...
02.14.2024
Get to Know Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with Sr. Kathy Duffy, SSJ, Ph.D.
Even though the French paleontologist and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin died in 1955, it feels like his work is still being discussed and debated in theological circles all the time. There are numerous associations and publications dedicated solely to...
02.07.2024
Solidarity and Service in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps with Tom Chabolla
For more than 60 years, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) has been a pioneer in the service landscape. With over 100 volunteers each year and over 12,000 alumni, they are one of the largest lay, Catholic, full-time volunteer programs in...
01.31.2024
Service Never Stops: Talking Ignatian Volunteers with Mary McGinnity
In the final meditation of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola reminds us “that love ought to manifest itself in deeds rather than in words.” We are called to love and serve in all things. And so, it’s hardly a...
01.24.2024
Beauty, Leadership and the Mystery of God with Fr. Leo O'Donovan, SJ
It’s hard to know where to start an interview with Jesuit Fr. Leo O’Donovan. At 89 years old, Fr. O’Donovan’s could boast a hefty list of accomplishments and accolades—though he’s not much interested in bragging. A theologian by training, he...
01.17.2024
How the Jesuit Prison Education Network is Changing Lives with Fr. Tom Curran, SJ
Have you ever met someone so passionate about something that you just couldn’t help getting excited about it, too? That was host Mike Jordan Laskey's experience when he first met Fr. Tom Curran, SJ, today's guest. Fr. Curran, who served as...
01.10.2024
Still Following Yonder Stars with Br. Bob Macke, SJ
This past weekend, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, when the three magi followed yonder star to God’s perfect light (to paraphrase the old song). By gazing at the stars, people from near and far we’re drawn to Christ—a...
01.03.2024
An Ignatian Spiritual Boost to Start 2024 with Christopher Collins, SJ
Happy New Year! And welcome to the first episode of AMDG of 2024. Each January, to kick off a new year, we like to delve into aspects of Ignatian spirituality that might be particularly useful as we think about forming...
12.27.2023
Ignatius of Loyola, Comic Book Hero with Tyler Button of Tapestry Comics
If you’re a long-time listener of this podcast—and certainly if you’re a graduate of Jesuit education—then you likely know a thing or two about the story of St. Ignatius of Loyola. You know about his courtly life, the cannonball, the...
12.20.2023
10 Great Christmas Characters with Shannon Evans and Cameron Bellm
It's an AMDG Christmas jamboree: our first-ever five-person episode. Friends of the pod (and awesome writers/retreat leaders) Shannon Evans and Cameron Bellm join AMDG's three co-hosts Mike Jordan Laskey, Eric Clayton and MegAnne Liebsch for a draft of Christmas characters....
12.13.2023
What You Need to Know About the Life of Jesus this Christmas with Andrea Tornielli
“There is no faith without an encounter, because faith is a personal encounter with Jesus,” Pope Francis writes. He goes on: “One of the things that helps us when we have the Gospels before our eyes is to imagine those...
12.06.2023
How to Be Religious with Phil Christman
From the Jesuits of Canada and the United States, this is AMDG. I’m Mike Jordan Laskey. Sometimes, people wonder how we pick guests for the show. We tell them the Jesuit network is so huge that we’ll never run out of...
11.29.2023
Telling Old Stories in New Ways This Advent with Joe Durepos
This coming Sunday, December 3, is the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a whole new Church Year. These days leading up to Christmas and beyond can feel overwhelming: spiritually, emotionally, all of it. So, it’s tempting to...
11.22.2023
Give Thanks the Ignatian Way with Mark Thibodeaux, SJ
This week in the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday in which we’re invited to cultivate a disposition of gratitude. What are we thankful for? Who are we thankful for? How can we be gifts to others? Gratitude is...
11.15.2023
Practicing Synodality Through Art with Jen Norton and Allison Beyer
At the end of October, about 1900 people arrived at a massive hotel in Washington, DC, for the 26th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, which is sponsored by the Ignatian Solidarity Network. Most of the attendees were students from...
11.08.2023
The History of the Jesuits in the United States (Part 2) with Fr. David Collins, SJ
Today’s episode is the second part of host Mike Jordan Laskey's conversation with Fr. David Collins, SJ, about his fabulous new book “The Jesuits in the United States: A Concise History.” If you didn’t hear the first part of the...
11.01.2023
The History of the Jesuits in the United States (Part 1) with Fr. David Collins, SJ
“The history of America cannot be told without the history of religion, the history of American religion cannot be told without the history of Catholicism, and history of Catholicism in America cannot be told without the history of the Jesuits...
10.25.2023
Faith and Politics with Senator Tim Kaine
Decades before Virginia Senator Tim Kaine ran for vice president in 2016, he spent a year ministering alongside Jesuits in the country of Honduras. That experience changed his life forever. Even though Senator Kaine was in Honduras back in 1980 and...
10.18.2023
An Ignatian Approach to Mary
If you’ve ever been intimidated by Ignatian spirituality, today’s guest will put you at ease. In fact, Fr. Michael Hansen is determined to make the Ignatian exercises accessible to as many people as possible. Why? It’s simple: He knows that...
10.11.2023
From Prison in Nicaragua to Exile in the U.S. with Juan Sebastián Chamorro
If you have followed Jesuit-related headlines over the past few months, you might have heard about the situation in Nicaragua. In August, the government of dictator Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, closed the Jesuit-run University of...
10.04.2023
Meet the Jesuit University Student Voting at the Synod with Julia Osęka
You may have heard that the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is meeting all month long in Rome. This is just the latest stage of the years-long Synod on Synodality, which included listening sessions in parishes and other...
09.27.2023
Why This Standup Comedian Became a Jesuit Priest with Fr. Jake Martin, SJ
Here’s a list of famous comedians who all have at least one thing in common that’s relevant to this podcast: Bob Newhart, Bill Murray, Bob Hope, Chris Farley, George Carlin, Amy Poehler, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Dan Aykroyd,...
09.20.2023
Finding God in All Films with John Dougherty
If you’ve had any encounter with Jesuits or Ignatian spirituality, you know the whole thing rests on the simple yet radical idea that God is to be found in all things. And films — stories — are an obvious place...
09.13.2023
Reckoning with Catholic Slaveholding with Fr. Chris Kellerman, SJ
Fr. Chris Kellerman, SJ, is the author of "All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church" (Orbis, 2022), which provides a rigorously researched, era-by-era history of the Catholic Church’s teachings and actions related to slavery....
09.06.2023
Why Inter-Spiritual Trialogue is a Better Approach to Sharing Across Faiths
Many weeks ago, host Eric Clayton visited a coastal town in Kenya called Malindi — and the Jesuit community that lives there. It’s a new community, only about five or so years old, and it’s been tasked with carrying out...
08.30.2023
Why Commitment Will Change the World with Pete Davis
Conventional wisdom would have us keep our options open. Don’t commit until you have to—and even then, always have a backup plan. The world’s a big place with lots of choices, and you deserve your crack at all of them. That...
08.23.2023
What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like? with Christine Emba
If you spend any time on social media, you might have seen Washington Post columnist Christine Emba’s big essay earlier this summer. It’s headlined “Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness.” Every so often there’s a piece...
08.16.2023
Discover Your Inner Artist Spirit with Chris Pramuk
Today's host, Eric A. Clayton, encountered today’s guest’s professional title before he met the man himself. Eric was told to chase down the person who held the “Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination” at Regis University—and he was not disappointed. Dr....
08.09.2023
Less Than Half of U.S. Latinos are Catholic. How Can the Church Respond? with Hosffman Ospino
You can’t talk about the Catholic Church in the United States without talking about Latino Catholics. About half of the Catholic population in the United States is Latino, which includes U.S.-born Hispanics and about the one million Latino immigrants who...
08.02.2023
A Summer Retreat with the Four Female Doctors of the Church
As we turn the corner into the second half of summer, you might be wondering to yourself: When do I get a chance to rest and recharge? It’s been nothing but go, go, go. If that sounds like your summer...
08.02.2023
Less Than Half of U.S. Latinos are Catholic. How Can the Church Respond? with Hosffman Ospino
You can’t talk about the Catholic Church in the United States without talking about Latino Catholics. About half of the Catholic population in the United States is Latino, which includes U.S.-born Hispanics and about the one million Latino immigrants who...
07.26.2023
Inside the Unique Ministry of Jesuit Procurators with Fr. Victor Cancino, SJ
The Society of Jesus’ 71st Congregation of Procurators, which was held in Loyola, Spain. Over 100 Jesuits gathered for the congregation, one from each province in the world plus Jesuit Superior General Fr. Arturo Soca and his assistants. So what exactly...
07.19.2023
Why Media Literacy Is A Gospel Value with Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sr. Rose Pacatte was the keynote speaker at the 2023 Catholic Media Conference. She talked about how artificial intelligence and the spiritual life intersect, how social media can — and cannot — spread the Gospel, and how we’re all called...
07.12.2023
Growing Closer to God Through Sacred Art with John Herreid
John Herreid is the creative mind behind a new publication from Ignatius Press called “The Catholic Home Gallery.” This stunning volume is made up of 18 works of art by contemporary Catholic artists, each of which is removable from the...
07.05.2023
Why We Need More Feminist Prayers with Shannon K. Evans
What makes a prayer “feminist?” Shannon Evans — author, retreat facilitator, and the spirituality and culture editor at National Catholic Reporter — is back on the pod today to reflect on exactly that question. She has a great new book...
06.28.2023
The Story Behind the New Synod Working Document with Professor Anna Rowlands
A vivid definition of the Catholic Church is attributed to the literary giant James Joyce: Catholic means “here comes everybody.” Never in recent history has that felt more accurate than during the current Synod on Synodality. Lots of AMDG listeners...
06.21.2023
Henri de Lubac, SJ: From Censored to Sainthood? with Rev. Dr. Jordan Hillebert
This past April, French bishops voted to open the sainthood cause of 20th century Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac. If you had a time machine and went back to the 1950s and told Fr. de Lubac this news, he probably...
06.14.2023
How Young Adults’ Faith is Defying Classic Categories with Ellen Koneck
There are so many theories about why young adults are leaving the Catholic Church today. Maybe our parishes aren’t welcoming enough, or maybe they’re watering down the faith. Maybe young people are being asked to do too much to be...
06.07.2023
Meet the New Leader of the Church’s Global Aid Network with Alistair Dutton
If you were going to make a list of the most inspiring things the Catholic Church is doing in the world, the work of Caritas Internationalis would be right there near the top. Caritas is a global confederation of Catholic...

What's AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast episodes:

English version: Reynaldo Domínguez's Deadly Fight to Care for Creation

Versión en español: La lucha mortal de Reynaldo Domínguez para el cuidado de la creación

Grace, Attention and Beauty with Marilynne Robinson

How Poetry and Prose Change Lives with Gary Jansen

The Story Behind Flannery O'Connor's New Novel with Jessica Hooten Wilson

From Video Game Designer to Jesuit with Shane Liesegang, SJ

Founding and Growing the Cristo Rey Network of Schools with Fr. John Foley, SJ

Leading Creighton University in a Secular Age with Fr. Daniel Hendrickson, SJ

Making the Jesuit App “Pray As You Go” with Emma Holland

How Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ, Found God in Soviet Captivity with Jim Keane

Learning to Love Lent Through Music with Margaret Felice

Synodality: Embracing Tension, Staying at the Table with Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ

Get to Know Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with Sr. Kathy Duffy, SSJ, Ph.D.

Solidarity and Service in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps with Tom Chabolla

Service Never Stops: Talking Ignatian Volunteers with Mary McGinnity

Beauty, Leadership and the Mystery of God with Fr. Leo O'Donovan, SJ

How the Jesuit Prison Education Network is Changing Lives with Fr. Tom Curran, SJ

Still Following Yonder Stars with Br. Bob Macke, SJ

An Ignatian Spiritual Boost to Start 2024 with Christopher Collins, SJ

Ignatius of Loyola, Comic Book Hero with Tyler Button of Tapestry Comics

10 Great Christmas Characters with Shannon Evans and Cameron Bellm

What You Need to Know About the Life of Jesus this Christmas with Andrea Tornielli

How to Be Religious with Phil Christman

Telling Old Stories in New Ways This Advent with Joe Durepos

Give Thanks the Ignatian Way with Mark Thibodeaux, SJ

Practicing Synodality Through Art with Jen Norton and Allison Beyer

The History of the Jesuits in the United States (Part 2) with Fr. David Collins, SJ

The History of the Jesuits in the United States (Part 1) with Fr. David Collins, SJ

Faith and Politics with Senator Tim Kaine

An Ignatian Approach to Mary

From Prison in Nicaragua to Exile in the U.S. with Juan Sebastián Chamorro

Meet the Jesuit University Student Voting at the Synod with Julia Osęka

Why This Standup Comedian Became a Jesuit Priest with Fr. Jake Martin, SJ

Finding God in All Films with John Dougherty

Reckoning with Catholic Slaveholding with Fr. Chris Kellerman, SJ

Why Inter-Spiritual Trialogue is a Better Approach to Sharing Across Faiths

Why Commitment Will Change the World with Pete Davis

What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like? with Christine Emba

Discover Your Inner Artist Spirit with Chris Pramuk

Less Than Half of U.S. Latinos are Catholic. How Can the Church Respond? with Hosffman Ospino

A Summer Retreat with the Four Female Doctors of the Church

Less Than Half of U.S. Latinos are Catholic. How Can the Church Respond? with Hosffman Ospino

Inside the Unique Ministry of Jesuit Procurators with Fr. Victor Cancino, SJ

Why Media Literacy Is A Gospel Value with Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP

Growing Closer to God Through Sacred Art with John Herreid

Why We Need More Feminist Prayers with Shannon K. Evans

The Story Behind the New Synod Working Document with Professor Anna Rowlands

Henri de Lubac, SJ: From Censored to Sainthood? with Rev. Dr. Jordan Hillebert

How Young Adults’ Faith is Defying Classic Categories with Ellen Koneck

Meet the New Leader of the Church’s Global Aid Network with Alistair Dutton