Jesuitical
Welcome to Jesuitical, a podcast for young Catholics hosted by two young, lay editors at America—Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless. Each episode features a guest who offers a unique perspective on faith, culture or current events. We also bring you some of the top (and maybe more obscure) Catholic news of the week. And we'll ask: Where do we find God in all this?
226
What’s it like to say Mass on death row? Ep.131
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...
30 min
227
Meet the Louisiana priest behind a 100-gallon t...
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...
49 min
228
The untold history of black nuns in the United ...
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...
23 min
229
Can Jesuit spirituality save our politics?
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...
28 min
230
Your Catholic guide to the Oscars 2020. Ep. 129
With two dramatized popes up for Best Actor () 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, , about the nominees for the 2020 Academy Awards, airing...
30 min
231
What it’s like to get to know your bishop on pi...
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...
37 min
232
A Catholic veteran on faith in war. Ep. 127
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...
34 min
233
Learning the stories of the enslaved people own...
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 , and . But there is still much that remains unknown about the enslaved people owned,...
32 min
234
Dorothy Day’s granddaughter on prayer, prison a...
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...
38 min
235
A workout program for you, from the formerly in...
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...
19 min
236
The one where Olga says goodbye. Ep. 124
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,...
28 min
237
Meet the star of “The Two Popes”. Ep. 123
If you are a fan of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” you probably remember thinking when you first saw the High Sparrow: . That guy was Jonathan Pryce, a distinguished Welsh actor on the stage and screen. And it was a likeness that proved irresistible...
34 min
238
Spiritual direction for Nones. Ep. 122
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 on the religiously unaffiliated or religious “nones.” Most recently, she wrote on spiritual...
35 min
239
The complicated history of AIDS and the Catholi...
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...
41 min
240
Introducing PLAGUE: Untold Stories of AIDS and ...
This week the Jesuitical team are bringing you a new podcast from America Media. In “,” 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...
42 min
241
Gentiles and Jews interrupt each other over boo...
This week, we welcome, for the second time, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz, two-thirds of the Jewish podcast, “.” They just published an amazing new book, . We talk to them about Jewdar, Chinese food and Christmas, Drake, Thanksgivuhkuh and...
46 min
242
Pope Francis’ struggle to reform the Catholic C...
Pope Francis’ reforms of the Catholic Church are, depending on whom you ask, a long-awaited breath of fresh air or a slippery slope toward surrender to the modern world. Austen Ivereigh, who has already written one biography of Pope Francis and...
43 min
243
What the Left (and everyone else) can learn fro...
We’ve all heard Jesus’ command to “love your enemy.” But can you love your enemies if you don’t know who they are? On the podcast “,” hosts Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell—self-described Bernie Bros—try to understand their...
51 min
244
Where is former Cardinal McCarrick now? Ep. 117
This week Ashley and Olga interview Ruth Graham, a staff writer at Slate who consistently reports on religion with sensitivity and nuance. Ruth isn't afraid of tackling the most difficult topics—she recently got an interview with former Cardinal...
22 min
245
The Amazon synod should matter to you. Here’s w...
The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is underway in Rome. This week, we welcome Luke Hansen, S.J., a former associate editor at America and special correspondent for the synod, to discuss why the synod is so significant. Since the start of the synod on...
33 min
246
Loneliness isn’t something you can “fix” (or ne...
Loneliness: When you’re experiencing it, it can seem like you are the only person in the world who feels this way. But when you say it out loud, you find out almost everyone, at some point, has had the feeling that they are missing out or that they...
31 min
247
Is Augustine the most relatable saint? Ep. 114
Forget what you think you know about Saint Augustine. Maybe you only know the cities that take his name, or you had a tough experience in your introduction to philosophy class and found him medieval (in the pejorative sense) and scrupulous. But...
44 min
248
Faith and politics in Silicon Valley Ep.113
Faith is probably not the first thing you think of when you hear “Silicon Valley.” But Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents the capital of the tech world in Congress, says many people in his diverse district can be found in the pews on Sunday. The...
31 min
249
What makes Catholic School Movies so great? Ep....
As someone who never attended Catholic grammar or high school, I am not exactly the most qualified to break down what makes a Catholic school movie great. Then again, I rarely let qualifications get in the way of my opinions. A few weeks ago,...
35 min
250
Why you (yes, you) should go on a retreat Ep. 111
If you’ve never been on a retreat—or if you have—this week’s guest is perfect for you. Father Joe Laramie is a Jesuit and campus minister. For years, Father Joe has been giving retreats, and this year, he published Abide in the Heart of...
33 min