Jesuitical

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Teaser: Why this 25 year old Catholic ran for public office Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

Robert McCarthy is a 25 year old Catholic law student who ran for public office in a local election in Nassau County on Long Island, N.Y. He lost, but learned a lot about local politics, vocation, and himself along the way.

To listen to the full conversation, go to patreon.com/americamedia

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Cynical about Christian mission trips? Monsignor Ramkissoon will change your mind. Nov 26, 2021

Show notes

“No child is going to be abandoned twice.” That is the mission of Mustard Seed Communities, a nonprofit founded by Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon to serve some of the most vulnerable people on earth: children and adults in low-income countries with severe mental or physical disabilities. What began as a small home for a handful of children who were left to fend for themselves on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, is now a network of communities providing 600 children and adults with shelter, education, health care and training in Jamaica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

We ask Monsignor Gregory what inspired his ministry, about the ethics of “mission trips” and how working with people the world has discarded has shaped his understanding of God.

You can find out more about Mustard Seed Communities—and support their incredible work this Giving Tuesday—here.

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How to talk with people that drive you mad (with a little help from grace) Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

Unless you are a saint (and maybe even if you are one), there is probably someone in your life, whether a relative on Facebook or a person you’ve never actually met on Twitter, who makes you think...less than charitable thoughts. While self-righteous take-downs of your political opponents can feel good in the moment, they are unlikely to change anyone’s mind—and probably aren’t great for your own emotional well-being either.

Our guest this week, Kirsten Powers, shows another way forward. A political commentator for places like Fox News and CNN, Kirsten has been at the center of our toxic national discourse for years, and in her new book, Saving Grace, she provides hard-earned wisdom for dealing with people across political and cultural divides.

In Signs of the Times, the debate over the bishops’ document on the Eucharist ends in a whimper, our friend and colleague Michael O’Loughlin gets a letter from Pope Francis and Zac and Ashley discuss an increasingly popular practice in Italy: “de-baptism.”

Thanks to everyone who is supporting Jesuitical on Patreon. We have a new bonus episode dropping for you soon! If you’re not yet a member of our Patreon community, sign up here today.

Links from the show:

What’s on tap

Margaritas on the rocks

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Bishop Frank Caggiano agrees with Pope Francis: We need a listening church Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

It’s bishops week on Jesuitical! Ashley and Zac unpack several stories surrounding U.S. bishops in the news: Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Ky., Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago.

That all leads into a conversation with Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport Connecticut, who unpacks his understanding of what Pope Francis is after in calling for a “synod on synods,” and more broadly, what it means to have a church that listens.

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Southern Comfort Manhattans

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Teaser: ‘Midnight Mass’ is Catholic horror at its finest Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

Ashley and Zac chat with Father Jim McDermott about Netflix’s ‘Midnight Mass.’ To listen to the full conversation, sign up to support Jesuitical on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/americamedia

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What chronic pain taught Ross Douthat about God and suffering Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

You might know Ross Douthat as the token conservative at The New York Times, or the Catholic critic of Pope Francis. But in his new book, The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery, you’ll see a different side of Ross: a father and husband suffering with an incredibly painful chronic disease, looking for relief—and answers. We talk to Ross about how his experience of chronic Lyme disease affected his faith, what it taught him about the suffering in our society that is often out of sight and how friends and you can best accompany a loved one who is sick or in pain.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss President Joe Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis, and share the pope’s prayer intention for the month of November.

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What’s on tap?

Pumpkinhead Ale from Shipyard Brewing Company

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Meet the Catholic map lady who wants to help Pope Francis fight climate change—if the Vatican will let her. Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

The Catholic Church owns a lot of land: churches, monasteries, schools, hospitals, cemeteries and more. What it’s missing are maps. That’s where Molly Burhans comes in. Molly is on a mission to not only make a digital record of Catholic landholdings but to help the church use that land for good. We ask Molly how Catholic organizations can make their land environmentally sustainable and socially useful, how frustrating it can be to work with the Vatican at times and how she remains hopeful in the face of climate change.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss the history of pope and president meetings ahead of Joe Biden’s trip to the Vatican. Plus, a gay teacher and music director in the Diocese of Brooklyn is fired after he married his partner. We ask: What’s the true cause of scandal in stories like this?

Finally, we have a bonus episode for the members of our Patreon community. We sit down with our colleague Jim McDemott, S.J., a.k.a. The Pop Culture Priest, to talk about why we love the extremely Catholic Netflix show “Midnight Mass.” Become a Patreon member today to get this and future bonus episodes!

Links from the show

Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis carries resonance as disputes divide U.S. Catholics

Video: Joe Biden talks his Catholic Faith, Pope Francis and Politics

A Gay Music Teacher Got Married. The Brooklyn Diocese Fired Him.

How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate

Learn more about GoodLands

What’s on tap?

Slightly expired Coors Light and Spencers Trappist beer

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Skeptics, zealots and authority: Science and religion have more in common than you might think. Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

Welcome to the age of “doing your own research.” Given the increased attention we’ve all been paying to science this past year, we thought it important to bring on Brother Guy the Catholic Science Guy, a.k.a. Guy Consolmagno, S.J. Nicknamed “the pope’s astronomer,” Brother Guy is the director of the Vatican Observatory, president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation and he’s here to give science a much needed “shot in the arm.”

During Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac unpack the pope’s call for universal basic income and a shorter work day (among other things) and discuss whether or not we still need godparents.

Links from the show:

Pope Francis’ 9 commandments for a just economy

In the Land of the Godfather Comes a Ban on Them

Vatican Observatory

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What’s on tap?

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

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Life after the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

On Oct. 27, 2018, 11 people attending Shabbat services at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg were killed in the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history. In the weeks and months that followed, when the public’s attention moved on, journalist Mark Oppenhiemer didn’t look away. He made over 30 reporting trips to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood to understand how the oldest Jewish community in America was seeking to heal after the massacre. He shares the lessons he learned in the new book Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood.

We talk to Mark about how this horrific attack affected the Jewish community throughout the country and why the media often fails to cover anti-Semitism in America.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s recent meeting with Pope Francis. Plus, Pope Francis has cleared the beatification of Pope John Paul I, who, if canonized, would become the fifth 20th-century pope to be named a saint. We ask: Should we be canonizing so many pontiffs?

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Cajun Bloody Mary’s, recipe courtesy of Kevin Acord

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Toni Morrison’s Black Catholic Novels Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

“Can we consider Toni Morrison a Catholic novelist,” Nadra Nittle asked in an article for America in 2017. Since Morrison’s passing in 2019, Nadra has been exploring that question in more depth, and the result is her new book: Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature, out this month from Fortress Press.

Zac and Ashley talk about why Morrison isn’t typically thought of alongside the usual lineup of Catholic novelists, how her experiences as a Black Catholic infused her novels and where someone who hasn’t read any Toni Morrision should start.

During Signs of the Times, the hosts unpack the release of a new report on sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church as well as an unprecedented meeting of religious leaders at the Vatican to issue a statement about climate change.

Links from the show:

What’s on tap?

Strawberry Margaritas

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