This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian unpack the trend of “hot priests” on social media with Maggie Phillips, a contributing writer for Tablet Magazine. Maggie recently published an article exploring the phenomenon of the “hot priest”: Thou Shalt Not Scroll Past a Hot Priest.

Ashley, Sebastian and Maggie discuss: 

- What the “hot priest” trend says about the cultural status of the Catholic Church 

- Is there a benefit to being recognizably religious?

- The dangers of conflating social media engagement and evangelization

In Signs of the Times, Colleen Dulle, America’s Vatican correspondent and host of “Inside the Vatican,” sits down with Ashley and Sebastian to discuss Pope Leo’s response to the tragic shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis as well as his recent meeting with Father James Martin. They also take a look back at his summer activities and discuss what Leo’s talkative brother, John Prevost, has revealed about our new pope.

In a new expanded version of our “As One Friend Speaks to Another” segment, Emma Camp, an assistant editor at Reason magazine, discusses her Faith in Focus article “The case for showing up to church—even if you don’t believe in God.”

Links for further reading: 

“Thou Shalt Not Scroll Past a Hot Priest”

Maggie’s article in America: "Lay volunteers are often the backbone of Catholic parishes. But they need support, too"

Emma’s article: “The case for showing up to church—even if you don’t believe in God”

“Pope Leo calls for stop to ‘the pandemic of arms’ after Minnesota Catholic school shooting”

“Pope Leo’s response to the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting: 3 takeaways”

“Father James Martin: Pope Leo wants to continue Francis’ approach to LGBTQ Catholics”

“Pope Leo just extended his vacation. What do popes do to relax?”

“14 Things We Learned About Pope Leo From His Brother’s Latest Interview”

What’s on tap?

Aperol Spritz

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