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 Vatican spy. He spent time in a KGB prison and more than a decade in Siberian labor camps. His family and his Jesuit brothers back in the U.S. assumed he was dead. During his captivity, Fr. Ciszek secretly heard confessions, celebrated Mass, baptized, comforted the sick, and ministered to the dying. His unwavering faith sustained him through solitary confinement, torture, and violent interrogations. The John F. Kennedy administration negotiated his release, and he returned to the United States in 1963.

In the years following his release, Fr. Ciszek wrote two books, “With God in Russia” and “He Leadeth Me.” The latter book, a spiritual memoir, shot up to the very top of Amazon’s bestseller list recently, decades after its publication. Why? The extremely popular Catholic prayer app Hallow, which just ran a Super Bowl commercial a few weeks ago, picked “He Leadeth Me” to anchor their Lenten prayer program this year. It’s safe to assume thousands of folks are meeting Fr. Ciszek for the first time. So we thought we’d take the chance to introduce him to AMDG listeners, too.

Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked Jim Keane to come on the show to talk about Fr. Ciszek and his legacy. Jim is a senior editor at America Media, where he oversees the book reviews, literary essays, the Catholic Book Club and the "Faith and Reason" section. Jim is a fantastic writer and storyteller and he has written several great pieces on Fr. Ciszek over the years. So Mike asked Jim to share some of his favorite Fr. Ciszek stories and reflect on why the biggest Catholic smartphone app around might have picked “He Leadeth Me” to read this Lent.

America Media's coverage of Fr. Walter Ciszek: https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/100/return-russia

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/06/08/little-known-story-behind-father-walter-ciszeks-god-russia

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2024/02/16/walter-ciszek-soviet-prison-247340

https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/article/chained-free

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2022/05/10/cbc-column-walter-ciszek-242962

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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