Messy Jesus Business

A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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Photo by Ales Maze on Unsplash

IN THIS EPISODE

For this special time of year, we present to you this Easter contemplation episode of Messy Jesus Business Podcast. Sister Julia shares some thoughts about the joy of the resurrection and reads from John 20:1-9. You can find the translation she uses here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20

We hope this short meditation can help connect you with the wonders of Easter and the Resurrection!

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.

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Episode 73 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with guest host, Rev. Adam Bucko

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For Love of the Broken Body book cover

IN THIS EPISODE

In the latest episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, guest host Rev. Adam Bucko interviews Sister Julia Walsh FSPA about her new spiritual memoir, For Love of the Broken Body. Their conversation explores the story of the accident that shaped Sister Julia's experience as a novice with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. She speaks about how she felt called to share her powerful story. "In alignment with my vow of poverty, I felt like I couldn't keep this story to myself," Sister Julia admits. Rev. Adam and Sister Julia also explore how brokenness is a normal and sacred part of being human and how all people can give who they are for the sake of the common good. They explore vocational discernment, vulnerability, Sister Julia's experience in finding a publisher for the book, the messiness of maturing in faith, trusting in God, and sharing life in community.

Download a free reflection guide to accompany Sister Julia's memoir, For Love of the Broken Body, here.

ABOUT THE GUEST HOST

Father Adam Bucko has been a committed voice in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality and the growing New Monastic movement. He has taught engaged contemplative spirituality in Europe and the United States, and authored Let Your Heartbreak be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation, and co-authored Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation and The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living. Committed to an integration of contemplation and just practice, he cofounded an award-winning non-profit, the Reciprocity Foundation, where he spent 15 years working with homeless youth living on the streets of New York City, providing spiritual care, developing programs to end youth homelessness, and articulating a vision for spiritual mentoring in a post-religious world. He currently serves as a director of The Center for Spiritual Imagination at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York, and is a member of “The Community of the Incarnation,” a ‘new monastic’ community dedicated to democratizing the gifts of monastic spirituality and teaching contemplative spirituality, in the context of hearing and responding to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Adam leads The Buddhist-Christian Community for Meditation and Action along with his wife, Kaira Jewel Lingo, a Buddhist teacher and former nun in the community of Thich Nhat Hanh.

ABOUT Sr. JULIA WALSH FSPA

Sister Julia Walsh FSPA

Sister Julia Walsh is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and part of hercongregation’s formation team, serving women who are discerning their vocation. Along with another Franciscan Sister, she co-founded The Fireplace, an intentional community and house of hospitality on Chicago’s southside that offers spiritual support to seekers, artists, and activists. She has an MA in Pastoral Studies from Catholic Theological Union and is a spiritual director and secondary teacher. As a creative writer, educator, and retreat presenter she is passionate about exploring the intersection of creativity, spirituality, activism, and community life. A regularly published spiritual writer, Sister Julia’s work can be found in publications such as America, Living Faith Catholic Devotional, and Living City. She hosts the Messy Jesus Business blog and podcast and is the author of FOR LOVE OF THE BROKEN BODY (Monkfish, March 2024).

Rev. Adam Bucko with Sr. Julia Walsh FSPA

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

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A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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Photo by Ryan Cheng on Unsplash

IN THIS EPISODE

During this sacred season of Lent, we invite you to pause and contemplate God's loving presence in the midst of the mess. As we offer our breath and our bodies to God, as we pray, fast and give alms — how might our Lenten practices allow others to be fed?

The Scripture in the mediation is Isaiah 58:5-12.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

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Episode 72 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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“We have to understand the environment and appreciate it, both aesthetically and scientifically --as well as historically. And so it means taking all of the modalities of exploration and understanding that God has given us and bringing those together.” -Molly Burhans

IN THIS EPISODE

This episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast is the second of two featuring Sister Julia Walsh’s conversation with Catholic cartographer Molly Burhans.

In this episode, Burhans and Sister Julia explore the mess of restorative land practices and using data for good. Burhans shares how her team was the first to make a global projection map of Catholic Church jurisdictions since 1801. Sister Julia asks Burhans to comment on what stewardship means to her and what Catholics are meant to be doing in movement spaces related to land justice. They also discuss the complexities of Catholic identity and devotion in a messy Church whose structural sins have caused injustice and abuse. Regarding persisting in faith, Burhans encourages, "we have to be brave.  And if we are the kingdom of God, we can build it. And I'll map it, if you need any help."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Molly Burhans is an award-winning Catholic environmentalist, cartographer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of GoodLands, an organization whose mission is to mobilize the Catholic Church to use its landholdings for environmental and humanitarian good. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first unified global map of the Church, which premiered at the Vatican in 2016. She was named one of Encyclopedia Britannica's 2022 “20 Under 40,” is a winner of the Sierra Club’s EarthCare Award, a U.N. Young Champion of the Earth, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and an Ashoka Fellow. Molly is a visiting professor at Canisius College and adjunct professor of urban design at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In 2021 The New Yorker published a profile of her entitled How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change.

(Molly wanted to give a special shout out to David Cheney, who runs the website catholic-hierarchy.com. David's volunteer work keeping track of diocese and bishop information is crucial to the land work that Molly is doing with the church.)

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

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Twitter: @messyjesusbiz

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Episode 71 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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“There's always a freedom, though, that I feel... even if I was totally wrong about everything, I have full faith that Christ and God still love me and are still there.” -Molly Burhans

IN THIS EPISODE

This episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast is the first of two featuring Sister Julia Walsh’s conversation with Molly Burhans.

In this episode Burhans, a cartographer, shares the intertwined stories of how she came to find her Catholic faith in her twenties while developing a love for maps and the power they hold for social and environmental change.

Together Burhans and Sister Julia explore how Burhans' appreciation for life and living brought her to environmentalism through a passion for regenerative land usage. Her love for the planet and devotion to the Catholic Church led her to look for something that wasn’t yet there — institutions devoted to conservation within the global Catholic Church. She then tells the incredible story of how all these interests — her faith, cartography and environmentalism — brought her into what was almost a cold-call to the Vatican in an attempt to inspire the usage of the Church’s landholdings for good.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Molly Burhans is an award-winning Catholic environmentalist, cartographer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of GoodLands, an organization whose mission is to mobilize the Catholic Church to use its landholdings for environmental and humanitarian good. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first unified global map of the Church, which premiered at the Vatican in 2016. She was named one of Encyclopedia Britannica's 2022 “20 Under 40,” is a winner of the Sierra Club’s EarthCare Award, a U.N. Young Champion of the Earth, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and an Ashoka Fellow. Molly is a visiting professor at Canisius College and adjunct professor of urban design at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In 2021 The New Yorker published a profile of her entitled How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change.

(Molly wanted to give a special shout out to David Cheney, who runs the website catholic-hierarchy.com. David's volunteer work keeping track of diocese and bishop information is crucial to the land work that Molly is doing with the church.)

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

Twitter: @messyjesusbiz

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Revisiting Episode 17 from December 3, 2020.

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Author Shane Claiborne

IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, originally released as episode 17 from Dec. 3, 2020, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Shane Claiborne, a best-selling author, speaker and activist. They discuss what it means to be a peacemaker while living in one of the world’s most heavily armed countries and a monumental gun death toll. “Violence is one of those demons that goes back to our very foundations in our country,” Claiborne says.

Claiborne says the U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, but almost half of the world’s guns, and poses the question, “What would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, be saying right now?”

Sister Julia and Shane Claiborne also discuss the importance of remaining joyful and hopeful, even when surrounded by the pain of the world.

“I like how Karl Barth said we need to read the bible in one hand, but we need to hold the newspaper in the other… so that our faith doesn’t just become a ticket into heaven and a license to ignore the world we live in, but our faith should actually fuel us to want to change the world,” Claiborne says.

In addition, they discuss the importance of community and the messiness that comes from the Christian veneer of perfection.

“A lot of the times we sort of act like the church is a country club for saints, rather than a hospital for sinners.” Claiborne says honesty can help manage the resulting mess. He remembers walking into a church where greeters wore shirts that said, “No perfect people allowed.”

“If that was greeting every person coming into every church, it would give you a sense of reality, like this is a home for you even if you don’t have it all together… our wounds are not our liabilities, they are our credentials.”

He adds, “Honesty can show this Gospel is not for the Righteous, but for the sinner.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Learn more about the Red Letter Christians movement, headed by Shane Claiborne, by exploring their website.

To read more about how Shane Claiborne’s work influenced Sister Julia, see the 2015 Messy Jesus Business blog post: A Visit to The Simple Way.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist and best-selling author. He worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He leads Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living “as if Jesus meant the things he said.” Claiborne is a champion for grace which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence.

Claiborne’s books include, “Jesus for President,” “Red Letter Revolution,” “Common Prayer,” “Follow Me to Freedom,” “Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream,” “Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers,” “Executing Grace,” his classic: “The Irresistible Revolution,” and his newest book: “Beating Guns”. He has been featured in a number of films including, “Another World Is Possible” and “Ordinary Radicals.” His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks more than a hundred times a year, both nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame.

Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals and conferences around the globe.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Interview with Shane Claiborne edited by Charish Badzinski.

Email us at [email protected]

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Episode 70 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, enjoys a conversation with Kerry Alys Robinson, CEO and President of Catholic Charities USA, who shares that witnessing the joy and faith of Catholics serving others in her childhood sparked her own inspiration and desire to serve behind the scenes in pursuit of the common good. “True leadership is service,” says Kerry. “It is a disposition of other-centeredness.” Expressing her passion for Catholic Social Teaching, she addresses the realities of wealth gaps and classism and how injustice can divide the people of God. Responding to the needs of the people of God, Kerry emphasizes, requires not competition but charity and justice. “Generosity is humankind's birthright,” says Kerry about the call to kindness, both to oneself and to others. Together she and Sister Julia explore the messiness of diversity, polarization, judgment and how a life of service and prayer require openness to the other. Says Kerry, “Everything belongs and is interconnected.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Catholic Charities USA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson is a noted expert in Catholic leadership and philanthropy and only the second woman and second layperson to lead the U.S. Catholic Church’s domestic humanitarian work. In the past year, the nationwide Catholic Charities network served more than 15 million people in need. For decades, Kerry has served the church and its mission to alleviate human suffering. Most recently, she was an executive partner at Leadership Roundtable, which since 2005 has promoted excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resource development of the Catholic Church. She was the group’s founding executive director. Prior to that, Kerry served as director of development for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University, leading a $75 million fundraising campaign to expand and endow the chapel’s ministry and construct a Catholic student center. A member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities), she has been an advisor to and trustee of more than 25 grantmaking foundations, charitable nonprofits and family philanthropies. She served for 15 years on the national committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Robinson is an accomplished writer and speaker and wrote the prize-winning Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service. A graduate of Georgetown University and Yale, Robinson is married to Dr. Michael Cappello, professor of medicine and public health at Yale University. They have two children, Christopher and Sophie.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

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Episode 69 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Mary J. Novak, executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice in Washington, D.C. Mary shares life experiences that proved her power to serve and respond to human suffering. They get into the mess of human oneness and the necessity for collaboration in response to existential threats like the climate crisis and the fragility of democracy. Their conversation explores the Catholic tradition to “meddle in politics,” voting rights and why it’s essential for us to focus on strengthening democracy. In answer to Sister Julia’s question, “are we called to imagine new systems?” Mary responded, “We all need structures in our lives for us to flourish. Maybe there’s a better way for us to put democracy together, but much is still working right.” Mary added that “this is an evolutionary moment, and so how do we keep showing up and how do we surround ourselves with community? Democracy is about participating.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

Mary J. Novak is the sixth executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and the first lay leader to guide the organization founded by Catholic Sisters 50 years ago. She is also an associate member of the Congregation of St. Joseph. Mary’s experience as an organizer and activist as well as a trauma-informed lawyer, educator, chaplain and restorative justice practitioner informs her ability to integrate all aspects of the organization to advance NETWORK’s mission. These experiences have also inspired her to initiate a shared leadership model for the first time in NETWORK’s history. Together the leadership team is positioning NETWORK for the future, strengthening relationships with partners who serve the common good, and ensuring that the NETWORK community flourishes in the shared pursuit of justice. A graduate of Santa Clara University Law School and Washington Theological Union, Mary also studied theology and spirituality at Santa Clara University. Prior to leading NETWORK, Mary served as associate director of mission integration and a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Mary served as Catholic Mobilizing Network’s founding board chair and is currently chair of the advisory board for the University of St. Thomas Law School’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

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Episode 68 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode of the Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair of Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. Vincent shares how his studies awoke him to the harm technology and consumption can lead to; the impetus that, in order to explore deeper questions, changed his course from engineering to theology. Regarding consumer culture, Vincent says that although every material good has an origin story, “the world we live in makes us see certain things and hides other things from us.” Sister Julia and Vincent also explore how, even though awareness can be painful, global and relational consciousness is part of what it means to be Christian. They delve into the sorrow and horror of war, climate crises and environmental destruction, and how the spiritual response is to be centered in relationality, to respond to calls to love and hope. “We’re called to be part of the community of creation, and we’re called to realize the pain we’re putting onto creation,” Vincent says, adding that because of the brokenness of our planet, people and systems, we are meant to “embrace the blemished world and learn to love there."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Vincent Miller is the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. He is the author of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture and editor of The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected. He lives with his family in Dayton and is a regular contributor to America Magazine and Commonweal Magazine. Vincent has been featured in many publications as well as television and radio programs that include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Guardian, Il Foglio, CNN, NPR, BBC, the O’Reilly Factor and Mongabay.Vincent Miller’s article on the Oregon fires in Commonweal: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/tears-ashes

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

Twitter: @messyjesusbiz

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Episode 67 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.

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IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Sister Laura Nettles, the Executive Director of Mission and Social Justice at Viterbo University. Sister Laura shares her vocation story and how she came to know her call to be a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. They discuss the relational and communal charism of Franciscanism as well as the charism of FSPA: being Eucharistic presence to others. Sister Laura shares the importance of Christian action and outreach combined with an openness to the complexities and struggles for social justice. They get into the danger of bias and why it's essential to stay open to learning and knowing different perspectives, and how Christians are called to conversion. “Conversion in the Franciscan sense about just going inward and looking at yourself and reevaluating always what do I know and what don’t I know … We are not static, we are always changing,” says Sister Laura.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Laura Nettles is the Executive Director of Mission and Social Justice as well as an associate professor in Religious Studies and Theology at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Currently she is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Moral and Systematic Theology at the Chicago Theological Seminary, researching topics within the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition, Catholic Social Teaching and the inter-textual connections between Medieval Franciscans, Jews and Muslims. Most recently, Sister Laura has been exploring the connection between Christianity, Catholicism and racism. She regularly teaches courses in introductory Christian theology, World Religions, Franciscan theology, Catholic Social Teaching and Womanist, Mujerista and Asian feminist theologies. Sister Laura is also the author of multiple articles and book chapters and speaker of topics like Franciscan theology and spirituality.

In addition to her ministry of education, Sister Laura serves the congregation in the ministry of justice and peace, primarily as a member of the FSPA Anti-Racism Team, missioned to authenticate unity in diversity by fostering the growth of FSPA into an anti-racist community and organization that dismantles racism through prayer, witness, study and action. Sister Laura also serves as co-chair of the La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, a group dedicated to the eradication of islamophobia.

Viterbo University's Sister Thea Bowman Center

MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. 

Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.

Email us at [email protected]

BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness

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