"Star Wars" is a window into a larger universe, a universe that has the same flawed characters, hope-filled adventures and deep galaxy-altering questions as our own. A story like "Star Wars" helps us expand our own imagination, helps us better grapple with how we share and reflect upon our own stories. We dream bigger about what’s possible in our lives and our society as a result. And, maybe, we learn something new about how God works.

Don’t agree? Today’s episode of AMDG may help put your doubts to rest.
 
Today's guests our Dr. Benjamin Espinoza and Fr. Ryan Duns, SJ. 

Ben is the associate vice president for online education and assistant professor of practical theology at Roberts Wesleyan College. He’s also an ordained minister in the Wesleyan Church. 

Ryan is an assistant professor in the theology department as Marquette University. He’s also the assistant department chair and director of undergraduate studies. And, he’s a Jesuit priest. 

Both of our guests are eminently qualified to discuss theology, philosophy and pop culture. But what makes them particularly amazing guests today is that they were both involved in a brand new, very cool book, “Theology and the Star Wars Universe.” Ben was the editor; Ryan contributed an essay — and he talks about that in our conversation.

Even if you’re not a huge Star Wars fan, you’ll appreciate the conversation, the grappling with making sense of and encountering God in our culture today. 

Check out "Theology and the Star Wars Universe" here: https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Star-Universe-Religion-Culture/dp/1978707231

How Star Wars Expands Our Theology with Fr. Ryan Duns, SJ & Dr. Ben Espinoza

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.

Religion & Spirituality

Other

Spirituality

Christianity

Buddhism

Hinduism

Judaism

Islam

If you’re as interested in Catholicism and the arts as we are here at AMDG, you might also have been excited to see that a new movie about Flannery O’Connor’s writing and life is now playing nationwide. The movie is called “Wildcat,” directed and written by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke, who plays both Flannery and a range of characters who appear in the author’s stories. The movie blends traditional biopic narrative with detours into brief adaptations of O’Connor’s stories, bringing the author’s churning life alive in a moving, provocative way. The film was the younger Hawke’s idea, who first read O’Connor while in high school. The father/daughter team assembled an incredible cast of folks including Laura Linney and Liam Neeson, and we cannot recommend it to you highly enough.

Today’s guest was also intimately involved in the birth of the film. His name is Eric Groth, and he served as one of “Wildcat”’s executive producers. Eric’s background is in producing Catholic films, including the 2018 movie “Paul, the Apostle of Christ.” He initially found his way into filmmaking sort of by accident, looking to use the medium to reach teenagers during his career in Catholic youth ministry in the 1990s. Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked Eric about why and how he got involved in “Wildcat” and what it was like to work with Ethan and Maya Hawke. They also talked about Eric’s own vision of the intersection of faith and creativity and why, in his words, he likes to make “Catholic movies for atheists.” It was a fascinating conversation and we can’t wait to see what Eric works on next.

More about Eric Groth: https://www.osvtalks.com/talks/producing-catholic-films-for-atheists/

“Wildcat” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2WxoPxP_lQ 

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

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Making Catholic Films for Atheists with Eric Groth

Welcome to “Pathway to Priesthood”—a limited audio series from the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. In these conversations, host Eric Clayton talks with Jesuits who are in the final days of preparing for ordination to the priesthood. They reflect back on their vocation stories and experience of Jesuit formation, and wrestle with some of the biggest questions surrounding priestly ordination.

On this episode, we’re asking tough questions—literally. In our church and in our world, we’re surrounded by questions that make us uncomfortable, by hot-button issues and ideological divides. Like it or not, this is the world, this is the church, that our newly ordained Jesuits are stepping into. In fact, they’ve been in it all their lives. But now, they engage the world and the church as priests. Our two Jesuit guests for this episode are Tom Elitz and returning champion, Christopher Alt.

If you listened to our second episode of this limited series, you already know Christopher. He was raised in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He attended the University of San Diego and, later, Boston College. It was there that he met the Jesuits, though it would be a number of years before he took the leap and entered. Tom was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. He met the Jesuits as an undergraduate student at St. Joseph’s University. Before entering the Society, he worked as a financial analyst and internal auditor at Johnson & Johnson. 

Tough questions are inevitable in any vocation. Our hope is that today’s episode will give you some tools for reflecting on ways to approach them.

As you listen to their stories and reflections, I invite you to consider whether you or someone you know might be interested in discerning a call to Jesuit life. If so, head over to beajesuit.org.

Pathway to Priesthood: Answering Tough Questions

It’s graduation season, which means it’s commencement address season. Host Mike Jordan Laskey did a quick Google search for “most common words in graduation speeches,” and the top hit provided this list – which doesn’t include prepositions or other super-common words:

1.	Life
2.	Make
3.	People
4.	World
5.	Yourself
6.	Success
7.	Generation
8.	Human

There are certainly exceptions, but the standard commencement address is all about YOU, the graduates, and what YOU will do with YOUR immense gifts to find incredible success or change the world. Here’s some stuff you don’t typically hear: You’re not any more special than anyone else; no achievements are really yours alone; you’re going to die someday. In other words, there’s not much humility this time of year – not among most graduates and certainly not among those select few invited to give graduates advice.

My guest today thinks the world could use a lot more humility. Dr. Christopher Bellitto is a professor of history at Kean University in New Jersey and a frequent media commentator on Catholicism. His latest book from Georgetown University Press is titled “Humility: The Secret History of a Lost Virtue,” which is incredibly readable, fascinating and even fun. It traces the concept of humility through millennia, going back to Socrates in ancient Greece – when humility wasn’t always seen as a good thing – up through teachings  from Judaism, Islam and Christianity and into the Enlightenment and all the way up into our modern context.  

Mike asked Chris why he decided to write the book, and what he learned about the history of humility. They also talked a bit about St. Ignatius of Loyola, who had his own complex relationship with humility. Chris is one of my the best conversationalists around and Mike had a lot of fun digging into this underappreciated, under-practiced virtue.

Chris' book: https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/Humility

More about Chris: https://sites.google.com/a/kean.edu/christopher-m-bellitto-ph-d/

AMDG is a production 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/

The Surprising History of Humility with Christopher Bellitto

Welcome to “Pathway to Priesthood”—a limited audio series from the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. In these conversations, host Eric Clayton talks with Jesuits who are in the final days of preparing for ordination to the priesthood. They reflect back on their vocation stories and experience of Jesuit formation, and wrestle with some of the biggest questions surrounding priestly ordination.

On this episode, we’re talking about accompaniment. We’re asking the question: Who makes up the community that walks with a Jesuit? To reflect on these questions and more, we have two Jesuits: Patrick Hyland and Joe Dickan. 

Joe is from Long Beach, California and Patrick is from Cleveland, Ohio. Both men have traveled abroad as part of their formation and have been greatly affected by these international experiences they’ve had—Patrick in Spain and Joe in Lebanon. These experiences have given them insight into Jesuit community at the international level. In today’s conversation, you’ll hear what it’s like to live in such communities and you’ll be reminded again of how important a personal life of prayer is—whether or not you’re a Jesuit.  

As you listen to their stories and reflections, I invite you to consider whether you or someone you know might be interested in discerning a call to Jesuit life. If so, head over to beajesuit.org.

Pathway to Priesthood: How Am I Accompanied?

This year marks 10 years since Fr. Paul Shelton, SJ, was ordained a priest. As a result, he's been feeling a bit reflective, nostalgic even. He's been thinking about the very first Mass he ever celebrated.

But not for the reason you think.

Today's episode of "AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast" is a fun one. In it, we hear from a variety of voices, a variety of perspectives on what actually happened at Paul's first Mass. Because it was anything but ordinary. It was Pentecost. And a Jesuit caught fire.

This is the story of that day.

How Star Wars Expands Our Theology with Fr. Ryan Duns, SJ & Dr. Ben Espinoza

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