Jesuitical

Running a Catholic media organization during a pandemic.
Developing a new appreciation for the Eucharist from quarantine.
What real political leadership should look like in a time of crisis.

Matt Malone, S.J., the editor in chief of America Media (a.k.a. our boss), is the guest for this first bonus episode of Jesuitical during the coronavirus pandemic. We talk with him about running a media ministry in these unsettling times and how his role as a priest has changed since the suspension of public Masses. We also ask Father Malone what it’s like to live in quarantine with 13 other Jesuits and discuss the Jesuit roots of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Lucky for us, Father Malone brings a special dispensation from our Lenten fast from alcohol! Cheers from away!

Plus, Assistant Editor Vivian Cabrera (who sits between Zac and Ashley in the office keeping the peace) helps cohost the conversation. Welcome Vivian!

Now more than ever, we treasure the community you all have helped to build on Jesuitical’s Facebook page. Don’t hesitate to share both the joys and challenges you experience during this difficult moment in the life of our church. We cannot make this show or grow this community without your support. Please consider giving through Patreon. And thank you.

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No priest becomes a bishop imagining he will one day tell his people not to come to Mass. But across the United States and much of the world, bishops have had to make the heartrending decision to shutter their churches and cancel the public celebration of the Mass and other sacraments. 

This week, we speak with Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Ky., about how his ministry has changed amid the coronavirus pandemic. We ask how people in his diocese responded to his decision to suspend public Masses, the creative ways his priests are ministering to their parish communities and what he would want to say to Catholics who are struggling with their faith in this time of sorrow, fear and uncertainty. 

On Signs of the Times, Kathleen McChesney, advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse, receives one of the U.S. church’s most prestigious awards. Plus we discuss the closure of a historic Catholic newspaper and the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic on parishes’ finance as well as the people who work for and are served by the local church. Finally, the creative ways priests are bringing the sacraments to their flock—and how the rest of us are keeping the faith alive at home. 

Now more than ever, we treasure the community you all have helped to build on Jesuitical’s Facebook page. Don’t hesitate to share both the joys and challenges you experience during this difficult moment in the life of our church. We cannot make this show or grow this community without your support. Please consider giving through Patreon. And thank you.

Links from the show

Kathleen McChesney, advocate for abuse victims, to receive Laetare Medal

Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper terminates all employees, comes as 'a shock' to staff

With Masses suspended, parishes face collection shortfalls and perilous finances

Indianapolis Archdiocese shuts down drive-thru confessions

What’s on tap?
Hand sanitizer. Lots of hand sanitizer.

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Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips treated the United States’s first coronavirus patient. She is the chief clinical officer and executive vice president at Providence St. Joseph Health, a Catholic hospital located outside Seattle. We asked her about where we are as a country in addressing this pandemic. Her answers were pretty clear: We aren’t even close to overreacting; we need to support our medical professionals; it’s normal to be afraid, but we don’t need to be conquered by our fear.

Dr. Compton-Phillips also gives insight into the unique role that Catholic health care is and should be playing during this pandemic, and what it’s done in previous public health emergencies. 

On Signs of the Times, we discuss what trying to practice our faith looks like from home and how the pandemic is affecting the church around the world. We also share a bit of good news: Washington State’s lieutenant governor (and former Jesuitical guest) Cyrus Habib announced that he's not running for re-election—he’s joining the Jesuits instead. 

Links from the show: 

Coronavirus: News, Reflections, Analysis. What you need to know.

Jesuitical’s Facebook group—Join the discussion

Podcast: Pope Francis makes pilgrimage through the deserted streets of Rome

Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib will not seek re-election in order to join the Jesuits

Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib: Why I am giving up elected office and joining the Jesuits

What’s on tap?
Nothing still, but we are starting to re-think our penances….

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With Lent in full-swing and warmer weather around the corner, many Catholics are probably thinking about food and their bodies more than normally. But what if the way that we’re approaching fasting and dieting is harmful—especially to our neighbors who inhabit larger bodies? This week, we speak with fat activist and host of the Fat & Faithful podcast, Amanda Martinez Beck. “It took me a long time to believe that God was not disappointed with my body,” Amanda wrote in a piece for America titled “Why Lent can be a dangerous time when you’re recovering from an eating disorder.” We talk with Amanda about how her relationship to her body and health has changed over time, and how Catholics can be more welcoming to people with larger bodies.

In Signs of the Times, we take on what is on everyone’s mind: coronavirus. We look at how Catholics around the world are responding practically, and ask if there are some spiritual lessons to be learned from the pandemic. We also discuss the recently announced 2022 synod of bishops on—wait for it—synodality, and check in on how our Lenten practices are going.

Let us know what you think about the episode on our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and help other listeners find Jesuitical by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a member of our Patreon community. Patrons get access to an exclusive newsletter written by one of your hosts each week.

Fat & Faithful podcast
Amanda’s Twitter
Coronavirus: News, Reflections, Analysis. What you need to know.
Pope Francis chooses ‘synodality’ as theme for 2022 synod
Can Catholics eat the Impossible Burger during Lent? Sure — but it’s kind of missing the point, experts say.

It’s Lent: Nothing.

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For the past 10 years, George Williams, S.J., has passed through metal doors plastered with the word “CONDEMNED” to minister to the men on death row at San Quentin State Prison, located on the north side of the San Francisco Bay. As the Jesuit chaplain for the California prison, he provides spiritual counseling, teaches theology and says Mass in what many would consider the most hopeless of circumstances. Yet amid the sin and injustice that he sees each day, Father Williams also encounters conversion, forgiveness and grace.

We ask Father Williams how he spiritually prepares men for the death penalty or life without parole, how Jesuit spirituality resonates with inmates and what he would say to Catholics who disagree with Pope Francis’ pronouncement that capital punishment is “inadmissible.”

Zac is on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, so no Signs of the Times this week. However, he sends a special message to the Jesuitical podcast community!

You can tell us what you think about the interview on our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and help other listeners find Jesuitical by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a member of our Patreon community. Patrons get access to an exclusive newsletter written by one of your hosts each week!

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It is a beautiful thing when the sacred and the quirky come together in such a way that only Catholicism can arrange. Filling a crop duster plane with holy water and blessing an entire small town definitely qualifies as sacred and quirky in the best way. This week we chat with Father Matthew Barzare, the pastor of St. Anne Church in Cow Island, La., who gave the blessing.

We get the full story from Father Matt: Where did the idea come from? Were there logistical issues? Canonical issues? What buildings got blessed? (Sneak peak: The town bar is among them.)

In Signs of the Times, we unpack Pope Francis’ Lenten message and get a special Lenten penance from our friends Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz from Unorthodox, the world’s leading Jewish podcast. We also discuss the devastating revelations of the sexual misconduct by the late founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier. 

Tell us what you think about the episode on our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and help other listeners find Jesuitical by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a member of our Patreon community. Patrons get access to an exclusive newsletter written by one of your hosts each week!

Links from the show
Internal report finds that L’Arche founder Jean Vanier engaged in decades of sexual misconduct
Pope Francis delivers annual message for Lent
Pope Francis recognizes the martyrdom of Jesuit Rutilio Grande and two lay companions in El Salvador
Why does it take so long for the Catholic Church to recognize martyrs of justice?
Louisiana parish uses plane to bless town with 100 gallons of holy water

What’s on tap?
Everything but the liquor cabinet (before we start our dry Lent)

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Ask most people what they know about black Catholic sisters, and they will probably murmur something about “Sister Act.” Dr. Shannen Dee Williams did, too, until she began digging into communities’ archives and uncovering the previously hidden lives of African-American women religious. Now she’s telling those stories in a forthcoming book (with an amazing title), Subversive Habits. 

Shannen tells us about the incredible resilience and deep faith of black Catholic women in the face of racism, discrimination and exclusion. We ask her how these stories affected her own faith and what racial reconciliation in the church looks like today.

Have you checked out our Facebook page yet? Starting today, we’ll be asking for your consolations and desolations there. You can also find us on Twitter @jesuiticalshow, support us on Patreon and send us an email at [email protected].

(Originally released June 22, 2018)

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Cyrus Habib is perhaps most interesting (and inspiring) politician you haven’t heard of—yet—unless, of course, you listened to our interview with him back in May 2018. Amid a chaotic primary season and after a polarizing impeachment trial, we thought it was a good time to bring back this hopeful conversation about faith and politics. 

Cyrus is the 16th and current Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. Born in Baltimore, Md., Cyrus is a three-time cancer survivor and has been fully blind since he was 8-years-old. His parents immigrated to the United States from Iran before he was born, and he is both the first and only Iranian-American official to hold statewide elected office in the United States.

We ask Cyrus how his Catholic faith shapes his public service and how citizens and politicians alike can work toward the common good in these polarized times.

(Originally released on May 25, 2018)

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With two dramatized popes up for Best Actor (Jonathan Pryce) and Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), are this year’s Oscars the most Catholic yet? To find out, we spoke with America’s film critic, John Anderson, about the nominees for the 2020 Academy Awards, airing Sunday, Feb. 9.

We talk with John about the films with the most obviously Catholic themes in 2019 (“The Two Popes,” “The Irishman,” “A Hidden Life”). Then we make the case for our own favorites for Best Picture—with Zac and Ashley reaching rare consensus over their love for “Little Women.” Plus, we dig into the state of filmmaking and watching in the Age of Netflix and ask: Why should we pay attention to the Oscars?

Zac was out sick this week, so no Signs of the Times or Consolations & Desolations. But if you enjoy the show and want more, make sure to go back and listen to our conversation with Jonathan Pryce about what it’s like to play Pope Francis (and the High Sparrow).

Then, tell us about your favorite films of the year on our Facebook group. If you’d like to support the show, check out our Patreon page or rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. 

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It’s not surprising that most Catholics—especially young Catholics—don’t personally know their bishops. Sure, they might have put some oil on your forehead at confirmation and made you worry about what it would do to your acne problem (this is 100 percent hypothetical), but otherwise, you’re busy, and bishops are in charge of a zillion things and a zillion people. And even if you get to sit down with them, it’s probably in a formal setting where everyone is doing their best to look buttoned up.

Our guest this week is Mychael Schilmoeller. She works in pastoral care at St. Michael’s Church in Prior Lake, Minn., in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. She also was part of a delegation of young adults who accompanied their bishops on their “ad limina” visit to Rome to meet with Pope Francis. That means she got to spend a lot of time with her bishops. Like, jet-lagged, layover-in-the-airport kind of down time. Long Italian dinners kind of time. We talk to her about what it was like to get to accompany her bishops on this trip and how this influenced her perspective on the church. Oh, and we ask her what it was like to get her and her unborn child blessed by Pope Francis and have the scene posted on His Holiness’s Instagram.

On Signs of the Times, we look at the shifting political home of abortion in American politics and where that might leave Catholics. We also talk about how Pope Francis celebrated the first official Sunday of the Word of God and discuss the tragic death of Kobe Bryant.

This week, we also hit 3,000 members in our Facebook group for listeners! It’s a place where you can interact with hosts and the rest of the Jesuitical team, as well as other listeners. You should check it out if you haven’t yet. 

Will pro-life democratic voters be courted in the 2020 primary? So far, it’s not likely.

Trump: a ‘profound honor’ to be the first president to attend March for Life

Pope Francis’ Homily for 1st Sunday of the Word of God (Full Text)

A (Complicated) Prayer for Kobe

Young adults make ‘deep dive’ into faith during ‘ad limina’ visit

Mychael’s Instagram with Pope Francis (second photo)

Inside the Vatican

Hot Toddies, to cure the common cold

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