Jesuitical

Latest Episodes:

Inside the Vatican: How saints are made in the Catholic Church Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

Catholics love their saints. But it's not easy to become one. On this special Deep Dive episode of “Inside the Vatican,” we take you inside the grueling process of saint-making, which starts at a local diocese and involves dozens of people, a long paper trail with the Vatican, travel for miracle verification and a lot of money.

We’ll hear from Vatican historians and journalists about how the process evolved from folks being devoted to holy people in their cities to a codified Vatican process. We’ll talk with individuals who are working on Dorothy Day's canonization cause in New York about how the significant cost and local politics can lead to causes being delayed indefinitely. And finally, we’ll look into how miracles are verified—and why some people think that ought to change.

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3 Jews and 2 Catholics walk into a podcast studio to talk about Lent Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

This week, Zac and Ashley join forces with the hosts of the universe’s leading Jewish podcast, “Unorthodox,” for our annual Lenten conversation. As is custom, Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz offer the hosts of “Jesuitical” their annual Lenten practices.

Links from the show:

Unorthodox

Tablet Magazine

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Finding God in hip-hop and liberation theology Feb 17, 2023

Show notes

Catholics probably won’t hear hip-hop at Mass anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean the genre doesn’t have a lot to say about God and the plight of God’s people. Much like liberation theology starts from the experience of the poor when talking about God, hip-hop, which originated in the South Bronx in the 1970s, expresses the struggles for justice and freedom of people living on the margins of America. That’s the case this week’s guest, Alex Nava, makes in his new book, Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop. Zac and Ashley ask Alex about the history of liberation theology and about the liberating potential of hip-hop.

In Signs of the Times, we give an update on the crackdown Catholics and other opponents of the Ortega regime in Nicaragua and discuss the slick “He Gets Us” ads for Jesus at the Super Bowl. Were they an effective way to evangelize—or a massive waste of money?

Links from the show:

Pope Francis denounces imprisonment of Nicaragua’s Bishop Rolando Álvarez

What the Jesus Super Bowl ads get right (and wrong) about evangelization

Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop

What’s on tap?

French 75

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How Jean Vanier went from a ‘living saint’ to a sexual abuser Feb 10, 2023

Show notes

Jean Vanier was the founder of L’Arche, a network of intentional communities where people with and without disabilities live alongside one another in mutual friendship. While he was considered a “living saint” up until his death in 2019, allegations that he had sexually abused six adult, nondisabled women sent shockwaves throughout the L’Arche Community. And more recently, a nearly 900-page report was released last Monday shed more light on the scope of the abuse.

Jenna Barnett has been following this story since it broke. She is the host of the new podcast “Lead Us Not” from Sojourners. We talk to Jenna about Vanier and how L’Arche is responding, as well as larger questions about how we hold in tension the good works created by deeply flawed, charismatic founders.

During Signs of the Times, we talk about the developing situation between the church and the government in Nicaragua, where four priests were sentenced to 10 years in prison, as well as Notre Dame’s new food delivery robots. (After we recorded, news broke that the four priests were part of a group of 222 political prisoners who were deported from Nicaragua and will take refuge in the United States.)

Links from the show:

Listen to “Lead Us Not”

New report finds evidence Jean Vanier founded L’Arche to reunite a religious sect with ‘mystical-sexual’ practices

Explainer: The Catholic Church’s fraught relationship with the Nicaraguan government

Robot food delivery launches at the University of Notre Dame

Remembering Rachel Held Evans

What’s on tap?

Champagne for Zac’s 30th

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Cardinal McElroy: Sex and sin need a new framework in the church Feb 03, 2023

Show notes

What would it take to build a radically inclusive church? That is the question Cardinal Robert McElroy took up in a recent article published by America. In it, he called on the church to dismantle the “structures and cultures of exclusion” that alienate some Catholics, including women, the poor, divorced-and-remarried couples and L.G.B.T. Catholics. Most controversially, he argued that people who do not conform to the church’s teaching on sex and marriage should not be excluded from receiving Communion.

The article sparked a wide range of reactions online, and this week on “Jesuitical,” Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless bring on Cardinal McElroy on to the podcast to continue the conversation. They ask the cardinal whether he is in favor of open Communion, if the inclusion he’s advocating for requires a change in church teaching and if he’s worried that disagreements over the place of women and L.G.B.T. Catholics in the church could lead to schism.

Cardinal McElroy shares his view that “judgmentalism is the worst sin in the Christian life,” and says his “pastoral vision here in San Diego is to make—and it’s hard to accomplish this—to make L.G.B.T. people feel equally welcome in the life of the church as everyone else.”

Read, "Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church"

Read the full transcript of Jesuitical's interview with Cardinal McElroy here.

Watch: Why Pope Francis is going to South Sudan

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Are Catholicism and Liberal Democracy Compatible? Jan 27, 2023

Show notes

The human person is an autonomous, self-governing and self-actualizing being. It has individual rights that no government or obligation should infringe upon. At least, that is the traditionally American, classically liberal way of viewing a human being. But does this view match up with a Christian anthropology? And what does that mean for how Christians should engage in the public sphere?

This week, Ashley and Zac are joined by Susannah Black Roberts to discuss all of this and more. Susannah is a senior editor at Plough Quarterly and Mere Orthodoxy and the co-host of “The Ploughcast” podcast.

During Signs of the Times, the hosts give an overview of a new interview with Pope Francis and talk about his disdain for “long homilies.”

Links from the Show:

Pope Francis gives major interview on his critics, sex abuse, decriminalizing homosexuality and more

Pope Francis: Long homilies are ‘a disaster’—keep it under 10 minutes

Our post-liberal moment: What do we want? The common good! When do we want it? Now!

Susannah Black Roberts and Christian Post-Liberalism

Is Christianity Opposed to Liberalism?

Plough Quarterly

The Anchored Argosy: Alastair & Susannah Roberts' freight of wonders

What’s on tap?

Cosmopolitan

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Faith and wonder in Shakespeare Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

We’re changing things up a bit today and bringing you a preview of a new podcast we’re enjoying and think you will, too. Where There’s a Will searches for the surprising places Shakespeare shows up outside the theater.

Host Barry Edelstein, artistic director at one of the country’s leading Shakespeare theaters, and co-host, writer and director Em Weinstein, ask what is it about Shakespeare that’s given him a continuous afterlife in all sorts of unexpected ways? You’ll hear Shakespeare doing rehabilitative work in a maximum security prison, helping autistic kids to communicate, shaping religious observances, in the mouths of U.S. presidents, and even at the center of a deadly riot in New York City.

Join Barry and Em as they uncover the ways Shakespeare endures in our modern society, and what that says about us. In this preview, Barry and Em take a deep dive into how Shakespeare informs contemporary religious practices and faith traditions, and explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays—The Winter's Tale. Hear more from Where There’s a Will: Finding Shakespeare here.

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Catholics and the crisis of white Christian nationalism Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

For many Christians, the prevalence of the religious imagery at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol—crosses, rosary, a flag proclaiming “Trump Is My President—Jesus Is My Savior”—came as a shock. But not for this week’s guest, Brad Onishi, who joined (and eventually left) an evangelical church that combined the conservative politics and “God and country” faith embraced by many who sought to overturn the 2020 election that day. Brad is a co-host of the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast and the author of the new book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next. We discuss the history of white Christian nationalism, how Catholics and evangelicals became allies in our political and culture wars, and if there’s a non-toxic way to mix faith and politics.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley mark the passing of Sister André, a French nun and oldest known person in the world, who died this week at the age of 118; the late Pope Benedict XVI’s custom-made cologne; and the future of the March for Life on its 50th anniversary.

Links from the show:

Sister André, a French nun and oldest known person in world, dies at age 118

Pope Benedict Has Custom-Designed Cologne

The March for Life has always had one message: End Roe v. Wade. What is its mission now?

Podcast: The future of the March for Life now that Roe v. Wade is gone

Straight White American Jesus podcast

Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes, by Brad Onishi

What’s on tap?

Aperol Spritz

Music: City Girl by Flux Vortex

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Pope Benedict XVI: Social justice warrior? Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

There has been no shortage of commentary on the life of Pope Benedict XVI since his death on Dec. 31. But one aspect of Benedict’s legacy that many Americans miss is his contributions to Catholic social teaching. John Carr would know.

John is the founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University and for 20 years served as director of the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. John has more than five decades of experience working in the Catholic Church to help promote its public witness to justice. We talk to John about Pope Benedict, the perception of the church and politics as well as his personal and professional experience with the sexual abuse crisis.

As you can probably tell from Ashley’s voice in the interview, we decided to give her vocal cords a rest. So you’ll hear an abbreviated version of the rest of the show.

What’s on tap

Orange Fanta

Links from the show:

Pope Benedict’s greatest disconnect from U.S. elites wasn’t about sex. It was over economic justice.

I helped write the bishops’ first document on Catholics and voting. Here’s why I’m voting Biden, not Trump.

Eight lessons to help us move forward from the sex abuse crisis.

Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

A timeline of Pope Benedict XVI’s life and papacy: From humble beginnings to historic resignation

Pope Benedict XVI, defender of orthodoxy defined by historic resignation, dies at 95

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Mailbag! Going to Mass in a foreign language, difficult theological mysteries, and more Jan 06, 2023

Show notes

This week, Ashley and Zac turn over the keys to their listeners. In their first ever mailbag episode, they answer listener-submitted questions on a range of topics, from what it's like being a professional Catholic in a parish, to what theological mystery they struggle with the most and who they cheered for in the World Cup.

What's on tap?

Rosso di Montalcino, combined with a great story!

Note: This episode was recorded on Dec. 20, 2022. Early access to this episode was available to Patreon supporters. Join the community at: www.patreon.com/americamedia

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