Jesuitical

This week, Zac and Ashley are putting the Rome in Roman Catholic. Why did Peter go to Rome? Is he actually buried under St. Peter’s Basilica? And why has Rome remained the center of the Roman Catholic Church for 2,000 years?

To help answer these questions, they are joined by Professor Kenneth Bartlett. Professor Bartlett is a Renaissance historian, author and professor at the University of Toronto. He is also the guide of “Smithsonian’s: The Guide to Essential Italy,” which is available for streaming on Wondrium, our partners who provided support for this episode.

Links from the show: 

Wondrium

What Catholics need to know about Kazakhstan before Pope Francis’ visit

Diocese of Phoenix creates Office of Mental Health Ministry

What’s on tap?

Brunello di Montalcino 

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What do Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Britney Spears and Shia LaBeouf have in common (besides being famous)? All four of these celebrities made waves by announcing they had become Christian in recent years. Rightly or wrongly, we ordinary Christians often celebrate when a high-profile figure joins our “team.” But what should we think when our church leaders become celebrities?

It’s a question Katelyn Beaty explores in her new book Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church. Katelyn looks at the phenomenon of “celebrity Christians” in the evangelical church, but the trend of priests and pastors gaining massive followings—online and IRL—exists across many denominations and in the Catholic Church. (After all, who’s a bigger celebrity than the pope?) We ask her the dangers of having a faith that is centered on charismatic individuals, how social media is changing the ways we relate to church leaders and how people in the pews can build real community in our celebrity-obsessed era.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley break down some of the top Catholic news stories you might have missed while on summer vacation.

Links from the show:

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Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church

Pope Francis releases new letter on liturgy: Catholics need a better understanding of Vatican II’s reforms

Full text: Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous Peoples in Canada

​​Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals, including Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego

Lessons for evangelization from Britney Spears’ journey with the Catholic Church

The missing piece of Shia LaBeouf’s conversation with Bishop Barron: the stories of abuse victims

What’s on tap?

Dirty gin martinis 

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This week, Ashley and Zac chat with Rebecca Jennings, a senior correspondent at The Goods by Vox, who is the author of a new article, “How Catholicism became a meme: One of the world’s most powerful religions is now an alt status symbol.” Rebecca explains why Catholicism’s aesthetic is popping up across the internet, and what that says about the church’s place in wider culture.

During Signs of the Times, the hosts discuss the murder of two Jesuit priests in Mexico and the launch of a three year Eucharistic revival in the United States.

This is Jesuitical’s last episode of the season—we’ll be back in your feeds this fall! In the meantime, follow Jesuitical on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the show on Patreon.

Links from the show: 

What’s on tap?

The Jennings: Vodka soda with a splash of St. Germain and a lime.

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Jesuitical 2022 Reader Survey

That the Catholic Church is firmly opposed to abortion is not news to anyone. However, what Catholics in the pews think and feel about the issue is not as clear—and we don’t ever talk about it.

In this special episode of Jesuitical, we try to change that. In this show, you’ll hear from three guests on a few topics related to abortion. First, Tricia Bruce, a sociologist affiliated with Notre Dame who authored a landmark study about how Americans (including Catholics) understand the abortion issue. Next, Rachel Lu, a moral philosopher and contributing writer for America, who believes that the next focus point after Roe v. Wade will be about motherhood and honor. Finally, you’ll hear an excerpt from a conversation we had last year with Caitlin Flanagan, who considers herself a pro-choice Catholic but still grapples with both sides of the issue. 

Links from the Show: 

How Americans Understand Abortion a comprehensive interview study of abortion attitudes in the U.S.

The next issue in the abortion debate after Roe v. Wade: Do we really honor motherhood?

The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate: Why we need to face the best arguments from the other side

Jesuitical 2022 Reader Survey

Join Jesuitical in Italy 

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Last July, Pope Francis issued a document restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, setting off a heated and at times toxic debate between more traditionalist Catholics and those who want to see the reforms of the Second Vatican Council more fully implemented. Is there a way for us to talk about the liturgy without it turning into a war?

To find out, we brought on the Rev. Pierre Amar, a priest in the Diocese of Versailles in France. Father Amar grew up attending the Latin Mass and was ordained into the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an order dedicated to the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass rite. But he also loves and celebrates the novus ordo or ordinary form, and does not think the two forms of the liturgy need to be in conflict. We ask Father Amar why people today are still attracted to the Traditional Latin Mass over 50 years after the council and what he thinks about Pope Francis’ move to restrict the celebration of the older rite.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley are joined by Colleen Dulle, host of the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, to discuss speculation that Pope Francis is preparing to resign. 

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Pre-Vatican II Dewars scotch

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If we are what we eat, how could our consumption habits not be morally fraught? This week’s guest, Robert Cruz, believes they are, and he wants Catholics to be more intentional about what goes on their dinner plates. Working in the meat department of his local grocery store opened Robert’s eyes to the way meat is processed, marketed and sold—and inspired him to start a small regenerative farm on his own property. We ask Robert what Catholic social teaching says about ethical eating, how eating chickens he raised himself changed his relationship to food and animals, and why fake meat is not the morally superior option many vegetarians assume it to be.  

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley weigh in on Archbishop Salvator Cordileone’s decision to bar Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion because of her “aggressive” support for abortion rights. Plus, Pope Francis has named a new U.S. cardinal: Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego.

Links from the show:

Archbishop Cordileone on barring Nancy Pelosi from Communion: ‘I cannot in my conscience allow the situation to continue.’

​​Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals, including Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego

Dear Catholic vegetarians: Eating fake meat isn’t going to save the planet.

Regenerative Farmers of America

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What’s on tap?

Old Fashioned

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This week, an 18-year-old in Uvalde, Tex., killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. The massacre came less than two weeks after a white supremacist killed 10 people at a supermarket in a majority-Black neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y.

We’ve been here before. This happens all the time in America. And it feels like we have the same reactions, the same conversations, read the same tweets.

Which is why instead of a normal show this week, we’re revisiting a conversation from 2018 about gun control. In the aftermath of a shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., we brought on Patrick Blanchfield, who writes about gun violence in the United States. We discussed what gets missed in our gun control conversations, the familiar debate over “thoughts and prayers” and how violence in American schools and on our streets is connected to American violence abroad.

Links from the show:

Catholic leaders react to Texas school massacre: ‘Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem.’

Cardinal Cupich: The Second Amendment did not come down from Sinai

How the Catholic Church in Uvalde is helping a devastated community grieve and heal

Sad, tired and angry: A prayer in the face of gun violence

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The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of our lives, and our religious practices were no exception. How this period of uncertainty affected the spiritual lives of young people is the subject Springtide Research Institute’s latest report, “The State of Religion & Young People 2021.” We talk with Springtide’s executive director, Dr. Josh Packard, about why young people have lost faith in the church and its leaders—and what older Catholics need to do to meet Gen-Z where they’re at. 

In Signs of the Times, producer Sebastian Gomes joins Ashley as a guest host this week to discuss the U.S. bishops’ decision to cease the domestic operations of Catholic News Service. What does this closure mean for Catholic journalism and the people in the pews?

Links from the show:

Pope Francis’ recipe to heal his painful knee? A shot of tequila

Catholic News Service closure opens the door to partisan and ideological church coverage, Catholic journalists warn

The State of Religion & Young People 2021 – Catholic Edition

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What’s on tap?

Tequila!

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On the surface, Jane Austen’s classic novels like Pride and Prejudice and Emma might seem to be about courtship and marriage, manners and the social hierarchies of Regency England. But while weddings and ballrooms abound in her books, so do lessons about how to live a virtuous life. 

This week on Jesuitical, we speak with Haley Stewart, a self-described Jane Austen evangelist and the author of the new book, Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God. We ask Haley how virtues like humility and patience are cultivated in Austen’s fiction; what Jane would say about modern dating and romance; why Catholics (and men) should take her novels seriously.

In Signs of the Times, Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested and briefly detained for his involvement in pro-democracy protests. Zac breaks down what this arrest means for the (very complicated) situation of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and mainland China. 

Links from the show:

Join Jesuitical in Italy

Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, arrested in Hong Kong

Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be

What’s on tap?

Balcones bourbon, distilled by our guests’s husband!

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Last month, FemCatholic published an investigation on the maternity leave policies at diocesan offices around the United States. What they found wasn’t flattering. Two of the report’s authors, Kelly Sankowski and Renée Roden, join the show this week to talk about their findings. 

During Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac are joined by Gloria Purvis to give their off-the-cuff reactions to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that appears to signal the court’s readiness to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer. 

Links from the show: 

Podcast: Is a better abortion debate possible?

What's the State of Maternity Leave in the US Catholic Church? FemCatholic Investigates

FemCatholic Mother’s Day petition to U.S. bishops

U.S. bishops respond to Supreme Court abortion opinion leak: We ‘stand ready to help all pregnant women’

Have Catholics been praying the Our Father all wrong?

What’s on tap? 

Margaritas, sans lime, simple syrup and contrieua 

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