Jesuitical

Bishop Robert Brennan leads the most diverse diocese in the country: Brooklyn-Queens. Every Sunday, you are able to find Mass in over 25 languages throughout the diocese. Before coming to Brooklyn, Bishop Brennan was bishop of Columbus, Ohio (Zac’s hometown). This week, we talk to Bishop Brennan about the differences between Ohio and Brooklyn, what it’s like to switch dioceses as a bishop and the future of parish life in an era of church closings and reorganization.

In Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac look at St. Patrick’s Day dispensations around the country and a new “cannabis studies” certificate offered by St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

Links from the show: 

Bishop Brennan Podcast: Big City Catholics

St. Joseph’s University has a cannabis certificate program, and some Catholics aren’t pleased

When St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday in Lent, should we eat the corned beef?

Jesuitical March Madness: Facebook

What’s on tap? 

Scotch! (We have a St. Patrick’s Day dispensation ourselves)

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Each year, during Holy Week, Catholics hear the story of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the washing of the apostles’ feet, and finally, the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. These events at the heart of our faith can become familiar, even sanitized after a while. But this year, we can hear them all anew thanks to “The Passion,” a new musical production from the Notre Dame Folk Choir.

Zac and Ashley talk with J.J. Wright, the director of the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, and Tristan Cooley, the creative director and librettist for “The Passion,” about the origins of the album, how spending so many hours with these Gospel passages affected their faith and how current realities—clergy sex abuse, police brutality and ongoing discussions about the place of women in the church—shaped the production.

In Signs of the Times, we mark International Women’s Day by discussing the record number of female employees at the Vatican—as well the hope expressed during synod consultations for greater inclusion and leadership for women in the church. Next, newly discovered asteroids were named for three Jesuits and a pope. Why are there so many monuments to Catholics in space? And finally, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis and share what we remember most from his historic papacy.

Make sure to check our Facebook page to vote in the Jesuitical Saint Sixteen (and shout out to our organizers Chris Kinkor and Jeff Johnson!)

Links from the show:

10 years of Pope Francis: Significantly more women working at the Vatican

Synod working document for the continental phase

New asteroids named for 3 Jesuits and pope of ‘Gregorian calendar’ fame

Everyone has an opinion about the pope. But how does Pope Francis understand his past 10 years?

A Big Heart Open to God: An interview with Pope Francis

Tour dates for “The Passion”

Stream “The Passion” on Spotify

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Catholics love their saints. But it's not easy to become one. On this special Deep Dive episode of “Inside the Vatican,” we take you inside the grueling process of saint-making, which starts at a local diocese and involves dozens of people, a long paper trail with the Vatican, travel for miracle verification and a lot of money.

We’ll hear from Vatican historians and journalists about how the process evolved from folks being devoted to holy people in their cities to a codified Vatican process. We’ll talk with individuals who are working on Dorothy Day's canonization cause in New York about how the significant cost and local politics can lead to causes being delayed indefinitely. And finally, we’ll look into how miracles are verified—and why some people think that ought to change.

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This week, Zac and Ashley join forces with the hosts of the universe’s leading Jewish podcast, “Unorthodox,” for our annual Lenten conversation. As is custom, Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz offer the hosts of “Jesuitical” their annual Lenten practices. 

Links from the show: 

Unorthodox

Tablet Magazine

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Catholics probably won’t hear hip-hop at Mass anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean the genre doesn’t have a lot to say about God and the plight of God’s people. Much like liberation theology starts from the experience of the poor when talking about God, hip-hop, which originated in the South Bronx in the 1970s, expresses the struggles for justice and freedom of people living on the margins of America. That’s the case this week’s guest, Alex Nava, makes in his new book, Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop. Zac and Ashley ask Alex about the history of liberation theology and about the liberating potential of hip-hop.

In Signs of the Times, we give an update on the crackdown Catholics and other opponents of the Ortega regime in Nicaragua and discuss the slick “He Gets Us” ads for Jesus at the Super Bowl. Were they an effective way to evangelize—or a massive waste of money?

Links from the show:

Pope Francis denounces imprisonment of Nicaragua’s Bishop Rolando Álvarez

What the Jesus Super Bowl ads get right (and wrong) about evangelization

Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop

What’s on tap?

French 75

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Jean Vanier was the founder of L’Arche, a network of intentional communities where people with and without disabilities live alongside one another in mutual friendship. While he was considered a “living saint” up until his death in 2019, allegations that he had sexually abused six adult, nondisabled women sent shockwaves throughout the L’Arche Community. And more recently, a nearly 900-page report was released last Monday shed more light on the scope of the abuse.

Jenna Barnett has been following this story since it broke. She is the host of the new podcast “Lead Us Not” from Sojourners. We talk to Jenna about Vanier and how L’Arche is responding, as well as larger questions about how we hold in tension the good works created by deeply flawed, charismatic founders.

During Signs of the Times, we talk about the developing situation between the church and the government in Nicaragua, where four priests were sentenced to 10 years in prison, as well as Notre Dame’s new food delivery robots. (After we recorded, news broke that the four priests were part of a group of 222 political prisoners who were deported from Nicaragua and will take refuge in the United States.)

Links from the show: 

Listen to “Lead Us Not”

New report finds evidence Jean Vanier founded L’Arche to reunite a religious sect with ‘mystical-sexual’ practices

Explainer: The Catholic Church’s fraught relationship with the Nicaraguan government

Robot food delivery launches at the University of Notre Dame

Remembering Rachel Held Evans

What’s on tap?

Champagne for Zac’s 30th 

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What would it take to build a radically inclusive church? That is the question Cardinal Robert McElroy took up in a recent article published by America. In it, he called on the church to dismantle the “structures and cultures of exclusion” that alienate some Catholics, including women, the poor, divorced-and-remarried couples and L.G.B.T. Catholics. Most controversially, he argued that people who do not conform to the church’s teaching on sex and marriage should not be excluded from receiving Communion.

The article sparked a wide range of reactions online, and this week on “Jesuitical,” Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless bring on Cardinal McElroy on to the podcast to continue the conversation. They ask the cardinal whether he is in favor of open Communion, if the inclusion he’s advocating for requires a change in church teaching and if he’s worried that disagreements over the place of women and L.G.B.T. Catholics in the church could lead to schism.

Cardinal McElroy shares his view that “judgmentalism is the worst sin in the Christian life,” and says his “pastoral vision here in San Diego is to make—and it’s hard to accomplish this—to make L.G.B.T. people feel equally welcome in the life of the church as everyone else.”

Read, "Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church"

Read the full transcript of Jesuitical's interview with Cardinal McElroy here.

Watch: Why Pope Francis is going to South Sudan

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The human person is an autonomous, self-governing and self-actualizing being. It has individual rights that no government or obligation should infringe upon. At least, that is the traditionally American, classically liberal way of viewing a human being. But does this view match up with a Christian anthropology? And what does that mean for how Christians should engage in the public sphere?

This week, Ashley and Zac are joined by Susannah Black Roberts to discuss all of this and more. Susannah is a senior editor at Plough Quarterly and Mere Orthodoxy and the co-host of “The Ploughcast” podcast.

During Signs of the Times, the hosts give an overview of a new interview with Pope Francis and talk about his disdain for “long homilies.” 

Links from the Show: 

Pope Francis gives major interview on his critics, sex abuse, decriminalizing homosexuality and more

Pope Francis: Long homilies are ‘a disaster’—keep it under 10 minutes

Our post-liberal moment: What do we want? The common good! When do we want it? Now!

Susannah Black Roberts and Christian Post-Liberalism

Is Christianity Opposed to Liberalism?

Plough Quarterly

The Anchored Argosy: Alastair & Susannah Roberts' freight of wonders

What’s on tap?

Cosmopolitan

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We’re changing things up a bit today and bringing you a preview of a new podcast we’re enjoying and think you will, too. Where There’s a Will searches for the surprising places Shakespeare shows up outside the theater.

Host Barry Edelstein, artistic director at one of the country’s leading Shakespeare theaters, and co-host, writer and director Em Weinstein, ask what is it about Shakespeare that’s given him a continuous afterlife in all sorts of unexpected ways? You’ll hear Shakespeare doing rehabilitative work in a maximum security prison, helping autistic kids to communicate, shaping religious observances, in the mouths of U.S. presidents, and even at the center of a deadly riot in New York City.

Join Barry and Em as they uncover the ways Shakespeare endures in our modern society, and what that says about us. In this preview, Barry and Em take a deep dive into how Shakespeare informs contemporary religious practices and faith traditions, and explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays—The Winter's Tale. Hear more from Where There’s a Will: Finding Shakespeare here.

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For many Christians, the prevalence of the religious imagery at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol—crosses, rosary, a flag proclaiming “Trump Is My President—Jesus Is My Savior”—came as a shock. But not for this week’s guest, Brad Onishi, who joined (and eventually left) an evangelical church that combined the conservative politics and “God and country” faith embraced by many who sought to overturn the 2020 election that day. Brad is a co-host of the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast and the author of the new book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next. We discuss the history of white Christian nationalism, how Catholics and evangelicals became allies in our political and culture wars, and if there’s a non-toxic way to mix faith and politics.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley mark the passing of Sister André, a French nun and oldest known person in the world, who died this week at the age of 118; the late Pope Benedict XVI’s custom-made cologne; and the future of the March for Life on its 50th anniversary.

Links from the show:

Sister André, a French nun and oldest known person in world, dies at age 118

Pope Benedict Has Custom-Designed Cologne

The March for Life has always had one message: End Roe v. Wade. What is its mission now?

Podcast: The future of the March for Life now that Roe v. Wade is gone

Straight White American Jesus podcast

Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes, by Brad Onishi

What’s on tap?

Aperol Spritz

Music: City Girl by Flux Vortex

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