Jesuitical

At a time when young people are leaving the Catholic Church, and those who remain are less likely to attend Mass, evangelizing may not seem like a top priority. It can be tempting for Catholic leaders to think: We need to stop the internal bleeding first, then we can worry about the rest of the world.

Bishop William Wack disagrees: In every age and place, Catholics are called to “make disciples of all nations,” and our time is no different. Named the head of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida in 2017, Bishop Wack recently authored a pastoral letter on evangelization, titled “Sharing the Gift.” Ashley and Zac talk to Bishop Wack about praying in public, talking to friends (and strangers) about Jesus and what makes evangelization different from proselytizing. 

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley talk with their colleague Jim McDermott, S.J., about how Catholics should think about wearing masks—even when they are not required. What Catholic principles can help us discern our way through what is hopefully the final stages of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Links from the show:

Catholics: Please keep wearing your masks. Listen to the whole conversation here.

Bishop Wack: We need more evangelical Catholics

Pastoral Letter, Sharing the Gift

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What’s on tap?

Threes Brewing Logical Conclusion IPA

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If you had a chance to ask Pope Francis one question, what would it be? That was not a hypothetical question for this week’s guests. Emily Burke and Henry Glynn are two of the students who were selected to take part in “Building Bridges North-South: A Synodal Encounter Between Pope Francis and University Students,” hosted by Loyola University Chicago. The conversation centered on migration, and Emily and Henry used their time with Francis to talk about climate change refugees. 

We ask these young climate activists what it was likely to speak with the pope, how they hope to get more members of the U.S. church, including priests and bishops, to make the climate a priority and how they stay hopeful in their fight for the planet.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss the German Synodal Path—and the bishops who are concerned it could lead to schism. 

Links from the show:

The German Synodal Way, Explained

74 bishops sign open letter warning of German Synodal Path’s ‘potential for schism’

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Learn more about Catholic Climate Covenant

What’s on tap?

Champagne—Christ is risen and so are our glasses!

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Father Joshua Whitfield is a priest of the Diocese of Dallas and the author of The Crisis of Bad Preaching. He’s also a married man and a father of six. This week, Father Joshua joins Ashley and Zac to talk about his vocation as a husband, father and father, why most Catholic homilies are just plain awful and why he still has hope for the upcoming synod on synodality. Ashley and Zac also discuss a recent semi-secret gathering of bishops, theologians and journalists and whether or not God still speaks to us in our dreams. 

Links from the Show: 

Register to join Ashley, Zac and Father Eric in Italy this September

Not many Catholics care about the synod. But I’m not ready to give up on it yet.

Father Josh: A married Catholic priest in a celibate world

Bishops have frank conversations with lay theologians about Pope Francis, U.S. Church and Vatican II in semi-off-the-record meeting

The Crisis of Bad Preaching

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Wondrium special offer

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The sexual revolution and second-wave feminism were supposed to empower women in society—and in the bedroom. So why are so many millennial women miserable when it comes to their dating and sex lives? Even after the #MeToo movement enshrined “enthusiastic consent” as the baseline requirement for sexual encounters, women (and men) continue to have sex they don’t really want and don’t enjoy. 

This week, we talk to Christine Emba, herself a millennial woman, who has surveyed this bleak landscape and think we need to build a new sexual ethic based on empathy and “seeking the good of the other.” Christine is a columnist for The Washington Post and the author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. We ask her why consent is not enough to guarantee ethical sex, how young Catholics can have conversations around these fraught issues and what values a healthier sexual culture would uphold. 

No Signs of the Times or faith-sharing this week—but that doesn’t mean there was not a lot of Catholic news! Check out some of the great work being done by our America colleagues in the links below. 

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Coffee

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During his historic address to a joint session of Congress in 2015, Pope Francis raised up four virtuous Americans as models of citizenship: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. That last name was certainly familiar to Catholics who came of age after Vatican II, but do young Catholics know much about this mid-century Trappist monk and author?

Thomas Merton is best known for his spiritual autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. But he was also a prolific letter writer and, though living in a monastery, engaged with the most pressing social and political issues of the 1950s and ’60s: the civil rights movement, nuclear proliferation and the Vietnam War. In his new book, Man of Dialogue: Thomas Merton's Catholic Vision, Greg Hillis introduces Merton to the next generation of Catholics. We ask Greg why some question Merton’s Catholicity, what we should make of the monk’s brief affair with a nurse and why his writing is still relevant today.

In Signs of the Times, we discuss Pope Francis’ major overhaul of the Roman Curia and what it means for the mission of the church. 

Links from the show:

Join Jesuitical in Italy!

Pope Francis is drawing on Vatican II to radically change how the Catholic Church is governed

Man of Dialogue: Thomas Merton's Catholic Vision

Wondrium special offer

What’s on tap?

Something. Anything!—feel free to pour yourself a glass if you’re listening on Friday since it’s the Feast of the Annunciation. Fasting dispensed!

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The Jesuits, from their founding, have always been heavily involved in education. And in the last 50 years, they’ve made it their mission to expand access to their world-class schools to the poor who have traditionally been excluded and left behind. This week, Ashley and Zac talk with Steve Katsouros, S.J., founder of the Come to Believe network, “a results-oriented, affordable 2-year commuter program offering associate degrees in the liberal arts and sciences, designed to ensure that students complete their degrees with little to no debt and are prepared for either a 4-year higher educational institution or the workforce.”

During Signs of the Times, Matt Malone, S.J. comes on the show to talk about America Media’s new marketing campaign, #OwnYourFaith. And then they get into the question: Where does accountability end and cancel culture begin? 

What’s on tap:

Manhattan (dispensed for St. Patrick’s Day)

Links from the show: 

Join us in NYC: Film screening, “POPE FRANCIS IN IRAQ”

Come to Believe: How the Jesuits Are Reinventing Education (Again)

Come to Believe Network

The Catholic Church belongs to all of us. It’s time to #OwnYourFaith.

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If you think meatless Fridays or forgoing sweets for the duration of Lent is hard, imagine giving up English—or whatever your primary language is. This week’s guest, Jimin Kang, did just that last year. Jimin speaks five languages but is most comfortable in English. We ask her how giving up English affected her relationship with her family and with God, and how people who only speak one language can adapt this Lenten practice to open themselves up to new people and cultures. 

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley talk with their colleague Jim McDermott, S.J., about the Arizona priest who performed thousands of baptisms that have been declared invalid because he used one wrong word. How should the church respond when priests make mistakes like this? 

I Gave Up English for Lent

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As is our custom, Jesuitical asked our friends from the Unorthodox podcast to suggest some additional Lenten penances. Stephanie, Liel and Mark did not hold back this year, so Zac and Ashley get creative about how to incorporate these new sacrifices into their Lenten journey. 

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This week, Ashley and Zac talk to Patrick Saint-Jean, S.J., a Jesuit in formation, an assistant professor of psychology and a student therapist at Creighton University. Patrick is the author of a new book, The Crucible of Racism, as well as The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice: A Month of Meditations with Ignatius of Loyola. We talk with Patrick about why anti-racism isn’t optional for the spiritual life, his experience with racism in the Jesuits and what young people should be looking for this Lent. 

During Signs of the Times, we look at how Pope Francis is responding to the war in Ukraine, and what it means to pray for peace, even if it feels useless sometimes. 

Links from the show: 

The Crucible of Racism

The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice

Podcast: Can Pope Francis negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine?

Praying for peace in Ukraine—even when it feels useless

What’s on tap?

Nothing for Lent.

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The global health community and countless others who were healed, taught or simply inspired by Dr. Paul Farmer were shocked and saddened to learn of his death on Feb. 21. Dr. Farmer was a medical anthropologist, physician and co-founder of Partners In Health, a nonprofit that revolutionized global health care. He believed the poorest of the poor in places like Haiti and Rwanda deserve high-quality medical care—then dedicated his life to delivering it.

Dr. Farmer was also deeply Catholic and a man with a gift for friendship, including with Jennie Weiss Block, who we speak with this week in Signs of the Times. Jennie, a Dominican laywoman and practical theologian, served both as Paul’s chief adviser starting in 2009 and his spiritual director. We talk to Jennie about the sides of Paul the world never saw and what she thinks Paul would want his many admirers to do now to carry on his legacy.

We also had the great blessing of speaking with Paul back in June 2021, and in honor and celebration of his life, we are sharing that conversation again this week.

Dr. Paul Farmer, pray for us. 

Links from the show:

Paul Farmer was my friend. He should be made a saint—and a doctor of the church.

Dr. Paul Farmer: Medicine and liberation theology

Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor

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