Last year, Pope Leo XIV published an apostolic letter called “Drawing New Maps of Hope.” (This is not to be confused with his apostolic exhortation on poverty called “Dilexi te.” There are lots of types of papal writings and it’s tough to keep them all straight.)

Anyway, “Drawing New Maps of Hope” was all about Catholic education, and the letter itself was released to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Vatican II declaration on education called “Gravissimum educationis.” It seemed like a good time to talk to an expert on primary and secondary Catholic education and find out how things are going in today’s environment. How do Catholic schools stand out in a crowded marketplace? How do we keep energy going even when some Catholic schools especially in the northeast and the Midwest have been forced to merge or close?

So host Mike Jordan Laskey got his old college friend Dr. Michael O’Connor on the line, who serves as Program Director of Outreach and Professional Development at Boston College’s Roche Center for Catholic Education. That essentially means Michael spends most of his time working with faculty and administration at partner Catholic schools and dioceses around the country, helping them live their mission even more deeply.

Anyone interested in the present and future of Catholic education in the U.S. will enjoy hearing Michael’s reaction to the new letter from Pope Leo and how Catholic schools are responding to our challenging times with creativity and boldness.

Pope Leo XIV’s “Drawing New Maps of Hope” apostolic letter: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/apost_letters/documents/20251027-disegnare-nuove-mappe.html

Learn more about Michael O’Connor, Ph.D., on the Roche Center staff page: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lynch-school/sites/roche/About/Bios.html

Roche Center for Catholic Education: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lynch-school/sites/roche.html

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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Last May, America Magazine ran an article entitled “Dungeons & Dragons—and Jesuits” by Robert Buckland, a Jesuit in formation. Buckland admits to being a longtime fan of D&D, but even he is surprised by how popular the game has become — and in the most surprising of places. Buckland describes how this role-playing game that was once shunned by religious communities is now aiding in the imaginative and moral formation of young men in religious life.

“Playing D&D,” Buckland writes, “can reveal dimensions of character that might otherwise remain hidden in the structured environment of houses for religious formation.”

Today’s host, Eric Clayton, was enchanted by this argument; Buckland’s essay has stayed with him for these many months since. And it’s perhaps thanks to Buckland’s writing that he then encountered today’s guest: Dr. Susan Haarman.

Dr. Haarman is the associate director at Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching and Scholarship. In that role, she facilitates the university’s service-learning program and publishes on community-based learning. But her real love is the research she conducts into the capacity of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons as formative tools for civic identity and imagination.

Most important for today’s conversation, Susan wrote a chapter entitled “Roll for Discernment: Dungeon Master as St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Director” in the 2025 book “Theology, Religion and Dungeons and Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds.”

Susan will be a panelist at an upcoming conference co-sponsored by the Jesuit Media Lab and Loyola University Chicago’s Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and it was in preparing for that conference that Eric read Susan’s work and wanted to talk with her more for our podcast.

You might be tempted to think that D&D is something just for fantasy nerds, but as Susan so passionately details, games like Dungeons & Dragons are really experiences in shared storytelling, in co-creating and inhabiting a common space in which our imaginations — and our ability to cultivate empathy and understanding — run wild.

Whether you’re a long-time fan of role-playing games or just hearing about them for the first time today, we think you’re going to enjoy this conversation. And, if you do, we encourage you to check out the links in our show notes—there you’ll find a link to the America Magazine article, the anthology in which Susan’s chapter appears and the homepage for our upcoming in-person conference on March 14th—“A Faith that Builds Worlds: The Catholic Imagination and Speculative Storytelling.” We hope to see you there.

*

“Dungeons & Dragons—and Jesuits” | https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2025/05/29/dungeons-

dragons-religious-life-250622/

“Theology, Religions and Dungeons & Dragons” | https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/theology-religion-and-dungeons--dragons-9781978716025/

“A Faith that Builds Worlds: The Catholic Imagination and Speculative Storytelling” | https://sites.google.com/view/a-faith-that-builds-worlds/home?authuser=0

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As we welcome 2026, host Mike Jordan Laskey wanted to have a deeply thoughtful and faith-filled guest on the show to propose some spirituality-related New Year’s Resolutions for us. The award-winning Catholic writer Laura Kelly Fanucci did not disappoint. Laura is the author of great books like “Everyday Sacrament” and “Called on the Way,” among others, and she came to the show with four creative, spiritually deep, totally doable resolution ideas, and she’s so enthusiastic about New Year’s that she almost convinced Mike that he has underrated it on his holidays ranking list, where it has traditionally dwelled somewhere down around Flag Day.

Laura Kelly Fanucci: https://laurakellyfanucci.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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For you eleventh-hour Christmas shoppers out there, have I got a treat for you. There’s a new book out from Loyola Press, the second volume in an increasingly essential collection of Ignatian spirituality readers. This one is, aptly named, “An Ignatian Spirituality Reader: Contemporary Writings on St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises, Discernment and More—Volume II.”

The first of these volumes was crucial for my own formation in the Ignatian tradition, covering key topics like the life of St. Ignatius, tools for discernment and ways to pray in the Ignatian tradition. I quote this book all the time.

That’s why I was so excited to get my hands on this new volume. Some of those classic topics are there—discernment, Ignatius’ life, and more—but we get chapters on racial justice, caring for the environment and the role of the imagination in the Exercises. We hear, too, from a wide ranging array of voices and experiences, adding to the richness of this edition. (I even have a chapter in there on the Two Standards and social media.)

And so, today we’re going to hear about this book from two of the editors who worked on it. But more importantly, we’re going to hear why Ignatian spirituality continues to matter in our world—and what it has to offer this moment.

Fr. Mark Mossa is a professor of religious studies at Loyola University of New Orleans and a Jesuit priest. He serves as program director of the Canizaro Center for Catholic Studies and is the author of “Already There: Letting God Find You” and “Saint Ignatius of Loyola The Spiritual Writings.”

Lori Stanley is the executive director of the Loyola Institute for Spirituality in Orange, CA. She is the first layperson to hold the role. In 2020 she was appointed to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops anti-racism taskforce for the state of California, and is a collaborator with the Jesuit Antiracism Sodality and the Jesuit West Collaborative for Racial Equity.

Both Lori and Fr. Mark are real founts of Ignatian wisdom—and I know you’ll enjoy our conversation. If you’d like to get a copy of the book, visit this link: https://store.loyolapress.com/an-ignatian-spirituality-reader-volume-2

In this special crossover episode of "AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast" and "The Jesuit Border Podcast," we hear from both Fr. Brian Strassburger, SJ, the executive director of Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, NJ.

First, Fr. Brian gives us an update on what it's like living and working on the US-Mexico border. He reflects on how Advent provides an important lens in approaching this ministry and shares stories and reflections from both his daily work and Scripture.

Then, we hear Fr. Brian's interview with Cardinal Tobin. Brian is joined by his cohost, Joe Nolla, SJ, and together they talk with Cardinal Tobin about immigration and the Church's role in accompanying the most vulnerable. This interview originally aired as the final episode of the ninth season of "The Jesuit Border Podcast."

If you want to learn more about Fr. Brian's work, visit: https://www.jesuitscentralsouthern.org/our-work/del-camino/

If you want to subscribe to "The Jesuit Border Podcast," visit: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jesuit-border-podcast/id1593208023

If you want to subscribe to Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries' newsletter, visit: https://mailchi.mp/thejesuitpost/del-camino-jesuit-border-ministries

If you want to read the US Catholic bishops' statement on immigration, visit: https://www.jesuits.org/stories/society-of-jesus-in-the-united-states-applauds-u-s-bishops-special-message-on-immigration/

Jesuit Media Lab fellows Mike O'Connell and Renée Roden join host Mike Jordan Laskey to draft their favorite things about Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It's a celebration in honor of the Jesuit Media Lab's first published book -- a communal read-aloud version of the classic novella, formatted as a play. We're encouraging folks to gather with their friends, family, neighbors or fellow parishioners to read " A Christmas Carol" aloud.

More on our version of "A Christmas Carol" and how you can host a read-aloud gathering: https://jesuitmedialab.org/weve-published-a-read-aloud-adaptation-of-a-christmas-carol-here-are-6-tips-for-hosting-your-own-communal-reading-party/

The scan of Dickens' own copy of the novella he used for public readings during his life: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/e1951b10-d507-0136-fa03-60f81dd2b63c

More about our Jesuit Media Lab fellows:

https://jesuitmedialab.org/meet-the-first-ever-jesuit-media-lab-fellow-michael-oconnell-ph-d/

https://jesuitmedialab.org/meet-our-newest-jesuit-media-lab-fellow-renee-d-roden/

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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It’s a bit of a cliché to say that we live in uncertain times. Just look at the headlines. Relationships — from the global to the intimate — are fraying. We swim in waters full of fear and worry, contempt and disdain. Anxiety abounds.

That’s why today’s guest — writer and cultural commentator, Sara Billups — has written a new book. It’s called “Nervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church and Politics.” It’s out now and — spoiler alert — Billups writes quite a bit about Ignatian spirituality.

She looks to Ignatius’ all-important idea of holy indifference as a way of approaching the anxiety-inducing moment in which we all find ourselves. You may recall that when Ignatius says “indifference,” he’s not promoting a lifestyle that is apathetic or callous to the signs of the times. Rather, Ignatius wants us to let go of how we want things to go and to instead allow God’s Spirit to use us as they Spirit wills. In short, God’s ways are not our ways; so, let’s put aside our preferences and discover God’s.

In addition to this new book, “Nervous Systems,” Billups has bylines in the New York Times and Christianity Today. She completed a Doctor of Ministry in the Sacred Art of Writing at Peterson Cetner for the Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary. She writes a Substack called “Bitter Scroll” and hosts a podcast called “That’s the Spirit.”

You can learn more about Sara and her work by exploring the links below.

Website: https://www.sarabillups.com/

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Nervous-Systems-Spiritual-Practices-Politics-ebook/dp/B0F2NC1QDL

Substack: https://www.sarabillups.com/bitter-scroll

Whenever a man joins the Society of Jesus, his family and friends have to process that big life change and figure out how it’s going to affect their relationship with the new Jesuit. In that way, Kristin Gilger is not unlike the thousands of mothers who have watched their sons join the order. Her son Patrick – who everyone else calls Paddy – joined the Jesuits in 2002.

But one big way Kristin is different from other moms of Jesuits is that she has just published a book about her experience. It’s called “My Son, the Priest: A Mother’s Crisis of Faith,” and it has all the makings of an instant spiritual classic. Kristin Gilger is a longtime journalist and journalism professor, and she brought her reporting chops to a topic much closer to home than her usual subjects. Kristin is not afraid to ask big, tough questions, she’s not afraid to be vulnerable, she’s not afraid to share about her struggles with the Catholic Church and her son’s vocation. “My Son, the Priest” is honest, human, deeply researched and often hilarious.

Kristin and Fr. Paddy recently joined host Mike Jordan Laskey to record a podcast, and we found that mother and son had so much to say and so much fun talking to each other that we could take Mike right out of the episode. So you’ll be hearing just from Kristin and Fr. Paddy here, a glimpse into the Gilger family and their story. It feels just perfect to be sharing this episode with you during Thanksgiving week, when families around the country gather with love, joy, and maybe just a bit of tension or stress.

“My Son, the Priest: A Mother’s Crisis of Faith”: https://www.monkfishpublishing.com/product/my-son-the-priest/

Kristin Gilger: https://search.asu.edu/profile/494566

Fr. Paddy Gilger, SJ: https://www.luc.edu/sociology/faculty/profiles/patrickgilgersjphd.shtml

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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Rob Lorenz was a National Park Ranger who spent time working at places Arches National Park in Utah and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. One of his favorite things to do was to give tours and ranger talks to groups, explaining the extraordinary places of natural beauty in ways that were accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. During a post in Washington, DC, where he worked near the National Mall at places like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, he started feeling like God might be calling him to something else.

Long story short, Rob joined the USA East Coast province of the Jesuits in 2019. Today, he’s in the stage of formation called regency, which is typically two or three years of active ministry that falls in between periods of philosophy and theology study. Rob is spending his regency as the outreach coordinator for the Vatican Observatory. Founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the Vatican Observatory is led by Jesuit astronomers who are doing high-level scientific research in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and Tucson, Arizona. Rob’s job is to speak with groups about the wonders of the cosmos and the work the observatory – a job not too dissimilar from what he was doing as a National Park Ranger. He stopped by our Washington, DC, studio recently for a conversation with host Mike Jordan Laskey.

Rob Lorenz, SJ: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/profile/rob-lorenz-s-j/

The Vatican Observatory: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/

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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“To many, Fantasy, this sub-creative art which plays strange tricks with the world and all that is in it, combining nouns and redistributing adjectives, has seemed suspect, if not illegitimate. To some it has seemed at least a childish folly” writes J.R.R. Tolkien in his classic essay, “On Fairy-Stories.” He goes on to insist: “Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better fantasy will it make.”

In short, Tolkien is saying that the fantastical—stories of elves and dragons and magical staffs—are not escape hatches from this world but rather invitations to delve deeper into the truth of our own reality.

Today’s guest tests that hypothesis—and, in my humblest of opinions, proves just how right Tolkien was. Rose John Sheffler is a Catholic writer who has been telling stories her whole life. She’s written a delightful volume of Biblically inspired fairy tales called “Past Watchful Dragons: Biblical Stories Retold.”

Her book invites us into the world of Erith where we meet characters we know from the Bible but…different. Still—and, as you’ll hear—the truth of these stories, the values and the hopes that they point to, are familiar and likely resonate with what lies deep in your own heart.

If you want to learn more about Rose’s work or get a copy of her book, visit rosejohnsheffler.substack.com.