America's poetry editor Joe Hoover S.J. sits down with Ohio's first poet laureate Amit Majmudar to talk about his poem "Year of the Rat." They discuss the unforgettable year that was 2020, writing during Covid, and mystical parallels between Catholicism and Hinduism. 
Read 'The Year of the Rat' here.

'Year of the Rat'

This is where the Catholic Church meets the most interesting and consequential issues of our time. Each episode explores a different topic through immersive stories told by America’s editors. “Church Meets World” is the best of our award-winning magazine content reimagined in podcast form. It’s not only what you read in our pages but how you hear it. Presented by Maggi Van Dorn and Sebastian Gomes.

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We have an exciting new podcast from America Media to share with you. It’s called “Preach: The Catholic Homilies Podcast.” 
On each episode listeners will first hear an inspiring homily, especially delivered for the podcast, and then take a privileged peek into the heart and mind of the preacher in a conversation with the host, Jesuit priest and America’s associate editor, Ricardo da Silva, S.J. 
Whether you’re a preacher looking for inspiration or a Catholic in the pews, who believes like Pope Francis, that Catholic homilies could use some work, I hope you’ll check out the Preach podcast!
To give you a taste of the show, we’re sharing this week’s episode of Preach, featuring America’s editor in chief, Sam Sawyer, S.J.  
Listen to more episodes of Preach.

Introducing "Preach: The Catholic Homilies Podcast"

After the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of Afghan refugees have been seeking a permanent home in the United States. This is the intimate family portrait of Ali, a child refugee since eleven years old, and his American foster parents, Mary and Mark Kaech. 
The episode is based on an article written for America Magazine by J.D. Long-García called 
Thousands of Afghan refugees fled to America in search of a new home. Too many are still waiting.
Learn more about the Afghan Adjustment Act

What it’s like to be an 11 year old Afghan boy fleeing the Taliban

Church Meets World is proud to share the latest podcast in the America Media family: Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols.
Subscribe to the entire Hark! podcast series online, on apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
It is hard to imagine a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve without Silent Night. Musicians may treat it differently—singing it a cappella, with spare chords on the organ in the background, or to the gentle picking of a guitar as its creators intended—but it is universally cherished. Its basic three-chord structure makes it a cinch to play and its lilting rhythm is perfect to soothe a congregation and lull a baby to sleep—even to sing to a president breathing his last. But it has also been usurped for evil.
Join host Maggi Van Dorn on this final episode of “Hark!” as she plumbs the historical and emotional depths of this Austria-born classic with Jesuit priest Ed Schmidt and Rusty McDermott, the songbird mother of another Jesuit. To pull apart the chords and arpeggios of Silent Night, we invited back Colin Britt, the composer and conductor we spoke to in episode three about “Hark! the herald angels sing.”  
Special thanks to the Liturgy Arts Group at Boston College, One Hope Project, Harpa Dei, Portsmouth Cathedral Choir; Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir, Convivium Records and the Ignatian Schola for allowing us to play their recordings of Silent Night. 
To support the production of “Hark!” and to access other great Advent reflections from America Magazine staff, please subscribe at americamagazine.org/subscribe. 
Related articles:
Ed Schmidt, S.J. : Is ‘Silent Night’ the greatest Christmas song ever?

Introducing: Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols

What does it mean to be ruined for life? Join America’s summer intern Amelia Jarecke, as she follows three young women who have spent the last year serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. They wrestle with lots of challenges, like:

How do you live on a $100 month?

Can you live simply and gluten-free without breaking the bank?

How do you reconcile being Catholic and bisexual?

What happens when your prayer life dries up?

And what does it mean to take the Pedro Arrupe prayer seriously- and let your love for the world define everything?


Related links:
Jesuit Volunteers Corps

Young adults struggle with the church. But they are also its best advocates for justice.

Three years ago, a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report described in graphic detail the abuse of over 1,000 minors at the hands of more than 300 priests.
Then, Theodare McCarrick, an influential cardinal in the American Church, was found credibly accused of abusing minors and adult seminarians.
For survivors, the news was painful, yet validating. How did this second wave of scandal–the news of both abuse and cover up–affect the Catholic faithful more broadly? What do they 
believe caused the crisis? Did the Grand Jury report and news about McCarrick impact their faith and affiliation with the Catholic Church?
Maggi Van Dorn, the host of the Deliver Us podcast, unpacks a new and ground-breaking survey conducted by America magazine and CARA in the latest episode of the “Church Meets World” podcast.
*Audio correction: Only 33 percent of respondents said their parish actually helped them process the sex abuse crisis. The word “percent” was mistakenly omitted from the original file. 

Related articles:

Editorial: How you see the sexual abuse crisis
Three years after the 2018 ‘summer of shame,’ what do American Catholics think about the sex abuse crisis?
AWAKE Milwaukee

Related episodes from the Deliver Us podcast:

Episode 2: How’s Your Celibate Life Going?
What is the cause of the sexual abuse crisis? Does it happen more in the Catholic church than other institutions?
Episode 4: Are the reforms working?
How has the Catholic Church dealt with the abuse crisis?

'Year of the Rat'

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