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?
201
What happens when your faith and health come in...
What do you do if God has commanded you to do something that could put your health and even life at risk? This is the who visit mikvah’s, small, public pools, which women immerse themselves in as part of the purity ritual after having their period....
46 min
202
Harry Potter, Soul Cycle and the Internet: say ...
You’ve heard of the “nones.” It seems like every week there is a new book, article or survey trying to explain the increasingly large segment of millennials and Gen-Zers who check “none” when asked about their religious affiliation. Tara...
54 min
203
What Pope Francis wants the world to look like ...
Bonus Quarantine Ep.8
29 min
204
The first Catholic high school for teens strugg...
For teens struggling with substance abuse and addiction, the typical pressures of high school can spill over into the realm of disastrous. Recovery high schools—with smaller class sizes, counseling and sober social activities—are designed to...
41 min
205
Living like monks in quarantine
Bonus Quarantine Ep.7
33 min
206
How will the Catholic Church change after the c...
A 25-minute conversation between President Trump and hundreds of bishops and other Catholic leaders sparked an intense debate about the right way for Catholic leaders to engage in politics. While the conference call got a lot of attention, it is just...
40 min
207
Father James Martin on praying in quarantine
Bonus Quarantine Ep.6
26 min
208
Meet the 30-year-old priest anointing coronavir...
Father Michael Trail had administered the anointing of the sick many times in his first three years as a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Usually, he would sit at the bedside and hold the hand of a person nearing death while family and other...
42 min
209
What it’s like to be pregnant during Covid-19
Bonus Quarantine Ep.5
25 min
210
Lessons from West Africa’s Ebola response for C...
In late February, when the coronavirus still seemed like a far-off threat to many Americans, officials in West African nations began to prepare their public health response: They brought out thermometers, protective equipment and handwashing stations....
34 min
211
A Jesuit reflects on coronavirus quarantine in ...
Bonus Quarantine Ep.4
26 min
212
The Friar who won “The Great American Baking Sh...
Amateur chefs and wanna-be bakers have a lot more time to spend in the kitchen thanks to stay-at-home measures meant to slow the spread to the coronavirus. And this week’s guest has some great tips for upping your recipe game. Brother Andrew...
44 min
213
Walking with Mary Magdalene to the tomb on East...
Bonus Quarantine Ep.3
23 min
214
The coronavirus poem that went viral. Ep. 136
Laura Fanucci was up in the middle of the night with her 5-week-old newborn when the words came to her: “When this is all over....” She wrote the poem on her phone and when she posted it on Instagram the next morning it caught fire. Politicians,...
41 min
215
Picture this: What it’s like to walk with Jesus...
Bonus Quarantine Ep.2
34 min
216
How the Catholic Church adapted during the Blac...
It’s not really fair or responsible to draw comparisons between the Black Plague and our current coronavirus pandemic. Our situation pales in comparison to 50 million deaths, or roughly 50% of Europe’s population alone in the mid-14th century. But...
43 min
217
Bonus Episode: Jesuit leadership lessons during...
Bonus Quarantine Ep.1
28 min
218
One bishop’s response to the coronavirus. Ep. 134
No priest becomes a bishop imagining he will one day tell his people not to come to Mass. But across the United States and much of the world, bishops have had to make the heartrending decision to shutter their churches and cancel the public...
38 min
219
Catholic health care during the coronavirus pan...
Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips treated the United States’s first coronavirus patient. She is the chief clinical officer and executive vice president at Providence St. Joseph Health, a Catholic hospital located outside Seattle. We asked her about where we...
38 min
220
Is diet culture obscuring Lent? Ep. 132
With Lent in full-swing and warmer weather around the corner, many Catholics are probably thinking about food and their bodies more than normally. But what if the way that we’re approaching fasting and dieting is harmful—especially to our...
50 min
221
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
222
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
223
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
224
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
225
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