The Commonweal Podcast

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Ep. 39 - El Paso: One Year Later Jul 31, 2020

Show notes

On August third one year ago, a 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, drove across the state to a Wal-Mart in El Paso, alongside the Mexican border, where he shot and killed 23 people and injured 23 others, the majority of them Mexican and Mexican-Americans.

The El Paso matanza, or massacre, is considered to be the deadliest anti-Latino attack in U.S. history, and one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

On this two-part episode, we talk with several people from El Paso about that day, about what has transpired in the year that has passed, about how life has and hasn’t changed along the border—politically, culturally, and spiritually.

In part one, we’re joined by Monsignor Arturo Bañuelas, a priest in the diocese of El Paso, and Professor Neomi DeAnda, the current president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. Look for part two soon.

For further reading:

Night Will Be No More, Bishop Mark Seitz
Confronting White Supremacy, John Gehring
Injustice at the Border, a collection of Commonweal pieces

Links:

Ep. 38 – A ‘Form for Failure’ Jul 24, 2020

Show notes

While we may experience moments of clarity and insight in our spiritual lives, more often we face struggles as we try to shed old habits and find new ways of thinking about God.

On this episode, poet Christian Wiman joins us to read and discuss several poems from his new collection, Survival Is a Style. He also shares insights he’s gleaned from his own grappling with faith and doubt, explaining how poetry not only delights us, but helps us become free.

For further reading:

· ‘Eight Distillations,” Christian Wiman

· Issues of Blood, Christian Wiman

· Goaded by Doubt, Paul K. Johnston

Ep. 37 - A ‘Musical’ Life Jul 09, 2020

Show notes

Classical pianist and composer Stephen Hough is known as one of the world’s greatest musical performers.

He’s also a polymathic writer, with a new book called Rough Ideas. Itcollects two decades’ worth of short, witty, and perceptive essays, on everything from Lou Reed and Thomas Aquinas to bioethics, sacramentality, and the challenges of living as a gay Catholic.

He joins Commonweal editor Dominic Preziosi for a discussion about his writing, his art, and his new life during the coronavirus quarantine.

Ep. 36 - ‘Divine’ Summer Reading Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

Summer’s here, and we’re reading new books from three writers: Molly McCully Brown, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, and Amy Jo Burns.

Their work falls into different genres: memoir, first-person reporting, and fiction. But they’re linked by an abiding interest in God, communal religious practice, and the strangeness of American life at the margins.

They speak with managing editor Kate Lucky, who also reflects on her time at Commonweal, a place where she has found not just intellectual and literary fellowship but a true sense of community and of “being known.”

For further reading, three Commonweal pieces, all by Kate Lucky:

Ep. 35 - A Response to Racism Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis nearly two weeks ago, American cities have seen protests over racism and police brutality on an unprecedented scale.

On this episode we speak with Fr. Bryan Massingale, author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church and professor of theology at Fordham University in New York. Racism persists in America and the church, Massingale contends, because racist policies and structures benefit white people—and white people assent to it through a kind of perverse “liturgy.”

Massingale also tells us what Americans shocked at Floyd’s death, particularly white bystanders, need now: the virtue of courage, motivated by righteous anger. We must move beyond the mere conviction that racism is wrong, and actually begin dismantling it.

For further reading:

Police Brutality & Protest, The Editors
A Sign of Contradiction, Gregory K. Hillis
King & His Mentors, Gary Dorrien

Ep. 34 - Is There a Religious Left? May 14, 2020

Show notes

Donald Trump’s election provoked backlash from many people of faith, with religious leaders taking a highly visible role in protesting the administration’s policies. But does the so-called “religious left” really exist?

Indeed, argues religion reporter Jack Jenkins. His new book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Countrytraces the inspiration, dreams, and demands of the clergy and activists that make up this growing “coalition of coalitions.”

Jenkins speaks with Commonweal associate editor Matt Sitman about how the religious left differs from the religious right, the growing influence of Rev. William Barber, and what the Democratic party might do to court religious voters in the upcoming 2020 election.

For further reading

· From Catholic Worker to DSA, Gary Dorrien

· Reading Buttigieg, James T. Kloppenberg

· Three Cheers for Socialism, David Bentley Hart

· American Paganism, David Albertson

Ep. 33 - A Community Afflicted May 01, 2020

Show notes

Even as New York City shows signs of progress, the toll of the coronavirus crisis over the past two months has been high. Hundreds of thousands have been infected, and more than half of the city’s residents say they know someone who’s died from COVID-19.

On this episode, we hear from three different people who’ve been dealing with the impact of the pandemic in New York City: Paul Saunders, a cardiothoracic surgeon in a Brooklyn hospital; Zach Presutti, SJ, founder of a nonprofit serving the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated in the greater New York area; and Fr. Robert Imbelli, a priest living in a retirement community in the Bronx.

Together, they offer a portrait of a city under duress—shaken and afflicted, but not without hope.

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