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
How a punk rock journalist found healing in the...
Dawn Eden Goldstein was born into a Jewish family, but in her teens and 20s—dealing with cycles suicidal depression—charted her own path as a journalist and devotee of the religion of punk rock. In the early 2000s, as the first round of the sexual...
34 min
227
Georgetown Jesuits enslaved her ancestors. Now ...
Onita Estes-Hicks has been Catholic her entire life. Men in her family were named “Nace” after St. Ignatius, a testament to the influence of the Jesuits in her family’s life. But her relationship with her faith was forever changed in 2004, when...
42 min
228
A beginner’s guide to spiritual direction Ep. 104
For over two years, Father Eric Sundrup has provided the hosts of Jesuitical with spiritual formation. Every week, we sit and talk to him about where we found God—and where it was a little harder. Sadly, it’s Eric’s last week as an associate...
48 min
229
How this Jesuit leads the Vatican’s fight again...
Hans Zollner, S.J., has dedicated his life to protecting children from the horrific crime of sexual abuse. A psychologist and Jesuit priest, he has guided the church’s efforts to bring healing to survivors and to prevent such abuse from happening...
30 min
230
Remembering Rachel Held Evans. Ep. 102
Like so many, we were devastated by the news of Rachel Held Evans’s death last weekend. Rachel’s willingness to write candidly and prophetically about her faith inspired countless believers and doubters. The importance of Rachel’s life and work...
42 min
231
Kate Bowler on faith, cancer and the prosperity...
On this week’s episode, we talk with Kate Bowler, the author of the New York Times bestseller Everything Happens For A Reason (And other lies I’ve Loved). She just won a Christopher Award for the book. (The were created in 1949 to celebrate...
33 min
232
Jesuitical’s 100th episode: This time, Ashley, ...
Zac, Olga and I have had the chance to interview some pretty incredible people over the course of 99 episodes—from and to , and so many more. But this week, we’re turning the tables: To celebrate our 100th episode, former guest and CNN analyst...
38 min
233
Should Catholics care about what happens at the...
Should you care about what’s going on at the Vatican? It seems clear that you should pray for the pope and for the people making important decisions about the church’s governance, but should you follow the updates about hirings and firings,...
34 min
234
Meet the two teens who started a feminist club ...
Matias Benitez and Matt Chen are students at Regis High School in New York City, and in February of 2018, the teenagers started HeForShe, the school’s first feminist club. Every week, a dozen or so students gather after school to discuss the...
33 min
235
Meet the evangelical pastor who spoke with Pope...
“Walk together, work together, love each other.” That is how the journey of building Christian unity in the 21st century. Michael Rudzena is walking that path as part of the , an ecumenical group dedicated to responding to the...
48 min
236
Marquette’s Markus Howard is changing the way a...
Marquette University men’s basketball standout Markus Howard is having a banner year. He’s earned the Big East Conference Player of the Year award on his way to leading Marquette toward a (hopefully) deep run in the N.C.A.A. tournament. He’s...
26 min
237
Meet Mireille Twayigira: Rwandan Refugee, Docto...
When Mireille Twayigira was two, she fled Rwanda with her family after her father was killed in the country’s genocide. At the age of eight, she entered a Jesuit Refugee Service school in Malawi. After she graduated from secondary school as one of...
38 min
238
The Catholic nun stories that haven’t gone vira...
Catholics a good nun story. cleans up after Hurricane Irma? Social media gold. Nuns ? Yes please. And who can forget Sister Jean? (). But every day and on every continent women religious are doing life-saving, cutting-edge work in hospitals,...
33 min
239
What in the hell? How Vinson Cunningham imagine...
Vinson Cunningham doesn’t meet many people who believe in hell—but he still does. We sit down with Vinson, who is staff writer at the New Yorker, to discuss his recent essay We talk about our first memories of hell, how it still impacts...
41 min
240
Will the sex abuse crisis ever end? Ep. 92
This week, America and Spoke Studios published “,” a new podcast about the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Maggi van Dorn is the host and executive producer of “Deliver Us.” Following the release of the Pennslyvania grand jury...
35 min
241
How do we talk about consent on Catholic campus...
In recent years, there has been a lot of debate around the word “consent” when it comes to preventing sexual assault on campus. What can Catholic colleges and universities bring to these discussions? To find out, we talk with Brianna Maturi, who...
36 min
242
Live from Australia: How young Catholics are ch...
This week, Jesuitical is coming to you live from Australia. We’ve mastered driving on the left side of the road (sort of); we got up close and personal with a kangaroo; and even though Ashley tried to leave me to drown in the Great Barrier Reef, we...
37 min
243
How the New Wave Feminists are changing the con...
In 2004, Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa founded , a pro-life feminist organization dedicated to changing the divisive language surrounding the abortion debate. New Wave works to give women the support and resources needed to make motherhood a feasible...
35 min
244
The Catholic Church has a leadership problem. L...
The Catholic Church, according to this week’s guest, is facing not one but two crises. The first is the sexual abuse of children and its cover-up; the second is a complete break down of trust in church leadership. Kerry Alys Robinson has been...
43 min
245
Sister Helen Prejean fought the death penalty—a...
Sister Helen Prejean has been the face of the anti-death penalty movement for decades. A member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Sister Helen has been accompanying inmates on death row and lobbying against capital punishment in the United...
40 min
246
Thinking about your death will make you a bette...
“Reflecting on death is not a morbid affair,” believes Sister Theresa Aletheia, “it is a healthy and often healing practice that helps us accept the inevitable with hope.” Sister Theresa is a self-proclaimed #MediaNun with the Daughters of...
34 min
247
Juan Carlos Cruz: the survivor who changed the ...
Juan Carlos Cruz was abused by the notorious predator Fernando Karadima, a Chilean Catholic priest. For years, the Catholic Church in Chile disregarded the abuse allegations against the powerful cleric. One cardinal even told Juan Carlos it was hard...
36 min
248
Catholic women are leaving the church. This gro...
The Catholic Church is failing to engage Catholic women. of Catholic women published by America earlier this year found that 26 percent rarely or never attend Mass; 27 percent only attend a few times a year; and 67 percent of Catholic women have...
30 min
249
How Catholics influence U.S. politics Ep. 83
Stephen P. Millies is the author of Good Intentions: A History of Catholic Voters’ Road from Roe to Trump. In his book, Stephen analyzes the history of the Catholic vote, from the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade to the presidential...
32 min
250
You have to visit the border to understand the ...
Family separations, the caravan, birthright citizenship—immigration stories have dominated the headlines in the lead-up to the 2018 midterms. But for Sister Norma Pimentel, who has worked on the U.S.-Mexico border for decades, migration is not a...
34 min