Jesuitical

When Pete Lucier deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 he believed in the war and the Marine Corps and violence. It was only after returning to civilian life that he began to question not only the reasons for the United States’ Middle East wars but his identity as a soldier who is loved “for my sins,” as he wrote in America.

Following the U.S. drone strike on an Iranian general and ominous talk of “World War III,” we wanted to talk to Pete about the ways Americans think and talk about war. We ask about how his experience in Afghanistan has changed his relationship to violence—and God—and about the responsibility of Catholic citizens in times of ongoing conflict and new military tensions. 

In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis condemns anti-Semitism once again ahead of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz; President Trump offers new guidelines for praying in public schools; and the consecration of a female Espicopalian bishop at a Catholic Church in Virginia gets called off in the face of internet outrage.

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:

Pope Francis: “I will never grow tired of condemning every form of anti-Semitism”

President Trump issues new guidance on prayer in public schools

‘An act of charity’: Virginia bishop defends parish hosting Episcopalian consecration

As a soldier I was loved for my sins. Now I must repent for them.

What’s on tap?

St. Louis’ finest: Budweiser

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Awareness of the Catholic Church’s—and the Jesuits’— role in slavery in the United States has grown in recent years thanks to reporting and research from journalists, univerisities and descendents. But there is still much that remains unknown about the enslaved people owned, rented and borrowed by the Catholic Church: How many of them were there? Who are their descendents? What were their day-to-day lives like? 

The Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project, a collaboration between the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States and St. Louis University, is working to uncover the untold stories of enslaved peoples. We talk with Jonathan Smith and Laura Weiss from the project about what they’ve learned so far and what they hope to achieve. 

In Signs of the Times, we break down the controversy surrounding Cardinal Robert Sarah’s new book on celibacy and what Pope Benedict’s role is in it. We also look at how Catholic bishops are advocating for refugee resettlement on the state level and a new marriage prep program in Spain.

Thoughts on the show? Join the discussion with other Jesuitical listeners in our Facebook group. Also, thank you to everyone who has responded so far for our call for new Patreon supporters. We can’t do it without your support. 

Links from the Show: 

Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation

Benedict XVI has asked Cardinal Sarah to have his name removed from the book on priestly celibacy

Texas Catholics decry Governor’s decision to spurn refugees

Minn. Catholic, Lutheran bishops' open letter backs refugee admission

Catholic church in Spain launches years-long marriage training for couples

What’s on tap? 

The Chilton, as recommended by listener Isaiah Lucio Lopez.

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In April of last year, seven Catholic activists broke into the naval submarine base in Kings Bay, Ga., home to several nuclear-armed submarines. Inside, they carried out nonviolent actions to protest the U.S. nuclear weapon’s program: They spilled their blood on the property, beat weapons with hammers and put crime-scene tape around the base. All seven were arrested, convicted and await sentencing. One of those Catholics was Martha Hennessy.

Martha is the granddaughter of another Catholic peace activist: Dorothy Day. We ask her how she prepared spiritually for the protest, how her grandmother has shaped her faith and what she thinks about the state of Catholic activism.

In Signs of the Times, we discuss the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian military leader and how Catholic leaders are (and aren’t) responding. Plus: a 100-gallon blessing of holy water on farmland in Louisiana and Pope Francis’ eventful New Year’s Eve. 

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!

Finally, are you a college senior at a Jesuit college or university interested in writing, journalism or production? Or do you know someone who is? America Media’s Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., Fellowship is an incredible opportunity to live in New York City while working with the smartest, kindest Catholic media professionals out there. The deadline for applications is Jan. 15 so don’t wait. Learn how to apply here: oharefellows.org

Links from the show:

Pope Francis prays for dialogue as tensions mount between the U.S. and Iran

The U.S. killing of Soleimani could have devastating consequences for Iraq’s Christians

Louisiana parish uses plane to bless town with 100 gallons of holy water

Pope shows up unannounced at funeral Mass of Italian lay woman and friend

Pope Francis SlapGate

What’s on tap?

Father Andy’s Manhattan: Four(!) parts bourbon, one part sweet vermouth, splash of bitters and a maraschino cherry

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Are you working out for the body of a god? What about the body of a convict?

Meet Coss Marte, our guest this week. After being arrested at 19 for running a multimillion dollar drug trade in New York City, Coss was sent to prison. There, doctors told him that his health problems and weight could kill him within a few years.

After dropping 70 pounds in six months, and helping train other convicts to make dramatic changes, Coss also experienced a religious revival in a moment of desperation.

Now Coss is the head of ConBody: a gym that offers prison-style bootcamp classes taught by formerly incarcerated trainers.

We’ll be talking with Coss about how ConBody was developed, how his faith helped him while incarcerated and his prison reform activism. After, we’ve got consolations and desolations, where we tell you where we did or didn’t find God this week.

(Originally released on July 28, 2017)

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It’s the end of an era. As you heard on last week’s episode, our cohost Olga Segura is leaving America Media, and therefore Jesuitical, to freelance full-time and work on a book on race, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Catholic Church, which will be published in 2021.

To quote from Olga’s farewell newsletter for Patreon supporters: 

James Baldwin—my answer to “Who would you canonize” during our first live show and my favorite writer—once wrote, “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” You—Ashley, Zac, my producer Eloise Blondiau and our listeners—helped me to remove the cover I often hid behind. I stopped code-switching and I stopped being afraid of who I was: an Afro-Latina writer in the Catholic world. 

Olga offered sharp and thoughtful commentary on ecclesial and secular affairs, advocated for justice and vulnerably shared her true self with us and our listeners.

Change is hard, and this will not be easy for any of us. Olga provided a unique and necessary voice in the Catholic media, and especially so on Jesuitical. Moreover, will anyone keep the peace between Ashley and Zac? 

In this special episode, we skip the Signs of the Times and Consolations and Desolations to devote an entire conversation to Olga and her work at America. 

We’ll miss you Olga. Come back and visit us soon. 

Love, 

Zac and Ashley

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If you are a fan of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” you probably remember thinking when you first saw the High Sparrow: Wow, that guy looks exactly like Pope Francis. That guy was Jonathan Pryce, a distinguished Welsh actor on the stage and screen. And it was a likeness that proved irresistible for the director of “The Two Popes,” now streaming on Netflix. In the film, Pryce plays Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who has been called to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins), to discuss the latter’s decision to renounce the papacy.

We ask Pryce how he prepared to play the pope, whether the film changed his perception of the Catholic Church, and about his own spirituality.

In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis abolished the “pontifical secret” for cases of sexual abuse; how are advocates and victims reacting? Also at the Vatican, the Peter’s Pence collection comes under scrutiny for potentially misleading donors. And in U.S. church news, Gwen Stefani needs an annulment, a survey of how the length of homilies compare to sermons in other denominations and a bishop opens up about mental illness.

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

Pope Francis abolishes the pontifical secret for sexual misconduct cases involving clerics

Is the Vatican misleading donors? Peter’s Pence, explained.

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Are Ready to Get Married But It "Isn't Possible Currently" Because of Her Faith

An Analysis of Online Sermons in U.S. Churches

Bishop Conley announces medical leave of absence from Lincoln diocese

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/09/us-catholic-priests-beset-overwork-isolation-and-scandals

What’s on tap?

Fanta

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This week, we talk to Kaya Oakes, a contributing writer for America and a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley. Kaya is the author of The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Believers, Seekers, and Those in Between on the religiously unaffiliated or religious “nones.”

Most recently, she wrote an article on spiritual direction and why so many non-Christians are seeking the practice. We talk to Kaya about Ignatian spiritual direction, her training to become a spiritual director and more.

In Signs of the Times, we discuss the appointment of Cardinal Luis Tagle, a.k.a. “Chito,” as the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Nancy Pelosi’s viral “As a Catholic” moment; the Nativity scene depicting Mary, Jesus and Joseph in cages; new research on how the gap between church attendance among the poorest and richest in America has grown since the 1970s; and how Blue Christmas services can help people struggling during the holidays.

Feel free to send us your questions, concerns, cocktail recipes or join us for discussion on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can help other listeners find the show by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

If you’re not doing so already, please consider supporting us on Patreon, where we have started a newsletter exclusively for Patrons! Thank you to those already supporting us. We would not be able to do this without you.

Links for the show
Pope Francis appoints Cardinal Tagle to head Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Why Nancy Pelosi doesn’t hate President Trump and prays for him instead
A church nativity scene depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees separated in cages
Jesus Came to Proclaim Good News to the Poor. But Now They’re Leaving Church.
‘Blue Christmas’ services help Christians in down times in holiday season

What’s on tap? 
Chamomile Tea

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The story of Catholics and the AIDS epidemic in the United States is often told as one of “gays versus the church.” But the reality was much more complicated than that. So complicated that our colleague, Michael O’Loughlin, has spent years talking to people who lived through that harrowing period to paint a fuller picture of how Catholic patients and activists, religious sisters and bishops, hospital administrators and volunteers responded to the crisis. And now you can hear their stories in a new podcast from America Media, “Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church.”

We ask Michael how the church was a source of both healing and hurt, whether the relationship between the church and the L.G.B.T. community has changed since the height of the epidemic and what the deep faith of gay Catholics who lived through this period can teach us today.

In Signs of the Times, a Jesuit priest wants to create a less toxic gaming environment and Pope Francis wants you to set up a nativity scene. Plus, a groundbreaking new survey of Catholic employees and a Catholic school faces a lawsuit over what critics consider a racially discriminatory hair policy.

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
A Catholic Priest is Creating a Non-Toxic Minecraft Server Questions Of Faith: Exclusive Survey of Catholic Church Employees
NYC Catholic schools hold fast on boys’ braid bans despite laws banning hair discrimination
Pope Francis, at site of first nativity scene, issues letter on the importance of the crèche

What’s on tap?
St. Germain hot toddy

Nursing students treat a patient in the AIDS ward of Saint Vincent's Hospital in the 1980s. (Courtesy: Archives, Sisters of Charity of New York)

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This week the Jesuitical team are bringing you a new podcast from America Media. In “Plague,” America’s Michael O'Loughlin investigates stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church. The release of the first episode coincides with World AIDS Day.

In this first episode, Mike tells the story of David Pais, whose journey exemplifies the experience of many gay Catholics who were personally affected by the AIDS epidemic in the early days. He describes the role his faith played helping him cope with his own diagnosis—and his struggle as he walked away from the church in anger. 

You can learn more about "Plague" at americamag.org/plague.

You can find Mike on Twitter @mikeoloughlin.

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This week, we welcome, for the second time, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz, two-thirds of the Jewish podcast, “Unorthodox.” They just published an amazing new book, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between.

We talk to them about Jewdar, Chinese food and Christmas, Drake, Thanksgivuhkuh and other fascinating entries in the book!

In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis urges us to ask: “Do I, a Christian, have at least one poor person as a friend?” And he considers updating the Catechism to include “ecological sins.” In our third and last story, we discuss a new study from the Pew Research Center that analyzes how American adults feel about the relationship between religion and politics.

Feel free to send us your questions, concerns, cocktail recipes or join us for discussion on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can help other listeners find the show by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

If you’re not doing so already, please consider supporting us on Patreon, where we have started a newsletter exclusively for Patrons! Stay tuned for things like .gifs from Ashley, advice requests from Zac or book recommendations from Olga.

Thank you to those already supporting us. We would not be able to do this without you.

P.S. America Media will be launching a new podcast next month called “Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church,” hosted by our national correspondent, Michael O’Loughlin. The first episode premieres on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. Please visit the show’s page or wherever you listen to podcasts and listen to the trailer and subscribe.

Links from the show:

Pope Francis calls on Christians to remember the poor, ‘the treasure of the church’
Pope Francis: Catechism will be updated to define ecological sins
Americans Have Positive Views About Religion’s Role in Society, but Want It Out of Politics

What’s on tap? 

Stephanie and Liel brought us Arak, “a delightfully alcoholic beverage made of grapes and aniseed.”

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