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?
251
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
252
A good Catholic meddles in politics (and votes ...
The nuns are back (on the bus). Headed by Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, the almost-annual campaign (they’ve traveled six of the last seven years), is traveling across the country to...
30 min
253
Christians have been in Iraq for thousands of y...
Kevin Clarke is the chief correspondent at America. Recently, he traveled to Iraq for 12 days where he met with Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities. We talk to Kevin about why he decided to take this trip and the future of Christianity in...
47 min
254
Haley Stewart’s Catholic guide to living simply...
I’m sure I am not the only city dweller who sometimes fantasizes about putting in my two-weeks notice and escaping to a dude ranch in Wyoming or an organic pumpkin farm in Nebraska (or wherever they grow pumpkins). The ever-increasing rent, the...
36 min
255
Lakota and Catholic: Jesuit education on the Pi...
“My hope is that we can learn that we can be indigenous and all these other things: Catholic, worldly, a diplomat, a scientist, etc. My hope is that being indigenous is not limited,” Maka Clifford in the pages of America last year. Maka is the...
34 min
256
A survivor of sex abuse on how the church can h...
“[The sex abuse crisis is] not something that I think can be fixed by our priests alone,” Amanda Zamora told us this week. “The pain and the harm has been caused by the church and the solution will need to come from the church—and that...
38 min
257
Stephanie Saldaña on love, loss and memory in t...
He was a French novice living in a desert monastery in Syria. She was a journalist from Texas who wanted to become a nun. Then, they fell in love. I know, it sounds like a rom-com. But that is, in fact, how this week’s guest, Stephanie Saldaña,...
38 min
258
Synod on Youth preview: How will we keep young ...
Next month, the Vatican will hold the Synod of bishops on young people. Earlier this year, in preparation for the October gathering, the Vatican hosted 300 delegates from around the world. These delegates met in Rome and produced an 11-page document,...
32 min
259
"I can't date Jesus": A conversation with Micha...
Michael Arceneaux has stopped going to church. After growing up as a gay black Catholic in the South, he eventually decided that he could not find a way to integrate his identities into the Catholicism he grew up with. In his new memoir: I Can’t...
34 min
260
We don’t use religious words anymore. That’s a ...
When was the last time you talked about faith with a friend? If you’re listening to this podcast, maybe you don’t mind dropping words like “sin,” “grace” and “confession” in casual conversations. But most Americans, according to , have...
38 min
261
Julio Ricardo Varela on being the only Latino (...
“Being the only Latino means that while the white men get to disagree with each other and develop idiosyncratic or counterintuitive arguments, you can never just say how you feel or what you think about a story,” wrote Julio Ricardo Varela in ...
39 min
262
The one where two of the Jesuitical hosts get e...
Did you miss us? Jesuitical is BACK from its summer break and we are sunsprayed, rested and ready to hit the studio for a new season. We also have some pretty big personal news to share, so tune in for some life updates. We also loved getting to spend...
41 min
263
What does Catholic architecture look like in th...
This week, we talk with Gilbert Sunghera, S.J. He is an architectural consultant and associate professor of architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy. Gilbert has worked on projects such as the , the parish of in Wyoming and . We talk with...
22 min
264
Why you (yes you) should care about theology. E...
You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in theology to write about religion (thank goodness)—but Tara Isabella Burton’s work shows it certainly doesn’t hurt. After getting her doctorate in theology at Oxford University, Tara became the first full-time...
17 min
265
Questioning the Bible just might help you fall ...
Rachel Held Evans grew up loving the bible. Like, was on her high school’s homecoming court representing the Bible club. She was taught to honor and defend it from all its enemies, science and history included. But her Biblical worldview started to...
41 min
266
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...
37 min
267
How living in L’Arche made Jeremy McLellan a be...
This week, we talk with Jeremy McLellan, a comedian from Charleston, S.C. Jeremy was recently named a “New Face of Comedy” at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He was recently baptized at this year’s Easter Vigil. We talk to the...
31 min
268
What Mario Lopez learned about his Catholic fai...
It was a curious Tweet that came across my timeline. Was A.C. Slater really getting baptized in the Jordan River? Got baptized in the same river Jesus did... — Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) And there was another one—this time at the...
33 min
269
Fighting Islamophobia with social justice comed...
How do you change the mind of someone who thinks you don’t belong in this country because of your faith? Make them laugh, says Negin Farsad, Muslim-American comedian, actress, writer and filmmaker. And she does. Back in 2014, she took a troupe of...
37 min
270
Meet Cyrus Habib: the most interesting Catholic...
Cyrus Habib is the 16th and current Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. Born in Baltimore, Md., Cyrus is a three-time cancer survivor and has been fully blind since he was 8-years-old. His parents immigrated to the United States from Iran before...
48 min
271
Ross Douthat is worried about Pope Francis’ lea...
It’s not an easy position for faithful Catholics to stake out, criticizing a popular pope. But is worried about where Pope Francis is leading the Catholic Church. In his new book, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism,...
46 min
272
What makes a good "Christian" movie? Ep. 61
What makes a Christian movie? Can you define it based on its themes and subjects? Or is it all in whom it’s marketed at? is a film critic at , where she covers film and culture. Before writing at Vox, Alissa was critic-at-large at . We discuss the...
39 min
273
Wajahat Ali reminds U.S. Catholics of their own...
This week, we talk with Wajahat Ali, a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times, where he covers religion, family life and U.S. politics. Wajahat is also one of the producers of the Emmy-nominated series, which takes a look into the...
49 min
274
From alcoholism and agnosticism to converting t...
“Any way I tell this story is a lie.” Mary Karr opens her memoir “Lit” with a warning about the inevitable unreliability of memory. But don’t be fooled. Mary Karr delivers many truths that you need to hear. Mary Karr is an award-winning poet...
42 min
275
Have we reached a turning point in the gun cont...
As I write this, thousands of students across the country are walking out of their high schools to protest gun violence. April 20 marks the 19th anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo., which left 13 dead. At the...
42 min