Jesuitical
321 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 807 ratingsWelcome 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?
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Episodes
Christmas in Bethlehem During a War
December 15, 2023 05:00 - 41 minutesThis week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley interview Stephanie Saldaña, the author of What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and The Things They Carry. Stephanie lives with her family in Bethlehem, where the economy has long relied on tourism around Christmas time as Christian pilgrims flock to the site of Jesus’ birth. But as one might imagine with the war raging in Gaza, Advent in Bethlehem looks different this year. Stephanie helps the “Jesuitical” team to enter into that reali...
The mother of an Israeli hostage shares her son’s story with Pope Francis
December 08, 2023 05:00 - 30 minutesOn this week’s “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley are honored to welcome Rachel Goldberg, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages taken into Gaza following Hamas’s massacre at the Nova music festival in Southern Israel on Oct. 7. In the weeks since Hersh and 240 other hostages were brutally kidnapped, Rachel has met with a host of people, including the pope and the president, to share her son’s story. She was gracious enough to bring that story to “Jesuitical,” and she and the hosts...
The Catholics fighting for climate justice
December 01, 2023 05:00 - 58 minutesEven though Pope Francis recently canceled his trip to Dubai for COP28 on doctor’s orders, the meeting still represents a huge initiative in Francis’ papacy; in “Laudate Deum,” Francis writes that the meeting has the potential to be “a historic event that honors and ennobles us as human beings” (“Laudate Deum,” No. 59). So Ashley and Zac welcomed Jose Aguto, the executive director of Catholic Climate Covenant, on this week’s episode of “Jesuitical” to discuss Catholic climate advocacy at this...
How Pope Francis laid the groundwork for his papacy
November 24, 2023 05:00 - 39 minutesTen years ago, Pope Francis released his first papal document, “Evangelii Gaudium,” which lays out his vision for the church in the 21st century. To help break down this inaugural document of Francis’ papacy, Zac and Ashley welcome Rafael Luciani, an associate professor of practice at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. They discuss: Pope Francis’ call to “pastoral conversion” and “missionary discipleship” How Pope Francis’ Latin American roots guide his vision for the ch...
How a Southern Protestant learned to love Catholic social teaching
November 17, 2023 13:36 - 52 minutesThis week on Jesuitical, Zac and Ashley welcome Lee C. Camp, a professor of theology and ethics at Lipscomb University, the author of Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians and the host of “No Small Endeavor,” a podcast that explores what it means to live a good life. They discuss: Lee’s upbringing as a Protestant Christian in Alabama, and how his studies at the University of Notre Dame changed his views on the Catholic world Moral theology and the value of asking, ...
The movement of lay people behind Pope Francis’ peace missions
November 10, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutesHow does a 25-year-old woman from Salt Lake City end up facilitating peace negotiations during a civil war in South Sudan? This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley are joined by Elizabeth Boyle, an International Relations Officer in the Community of Sant’Egidio, a lay social movement of the Catholic Church whose mission focuses on three “P”s: “prayer, peace, and the poor.” Zac and Ashley talk to Elizabeth about: The journey that brought Elizabeth to peacebuilding and the work she’s doing wi...
Synod on Synodality Debrief with Father James Martin
October 30, 2023 16:22 - 46 minutesOn this special crossover episode of Jesuitical and Inside the Vatican, Zac Davis speaks with his colleagues Gerard O’Connell, Sam Sawyer, S.J., and synod member James Martin, S.J., about the concluding document of the recent synod on synodality in Rome. They discuss: The open debate about women’s ordination to the diaconate Why reference to L.G.B.T. Catholics was not included in the synthesis document What the synthesis document is and how it can be read and used widely Was this really a...
When Catholic doctrine can change–and when it can’t
October 25, 2023 04:00 - 56 minutesThis week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley discuss a, if not the, big question hanging over the synod: Can it change church teaching? They unpack the place of authority, doctrinal development and the synod with Richard Gaillardetz, the Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College and the author of a foundational text on the levels of church teaching: By What Authority?: A Primer on Scripture, the Magisterium, and the Sense of the Faithful. They ask Dr. Gaillardetz: What’...
Catholic influencers or digital missionaries? Bringing the synod to the internet
October 20, 2023 04:00 - 45 minutesAs a young adult, José Manuel de Urquidi had a lot of questions about faith but couldn’t find satisfying answers. He went to law school, opened a craft brewery and started a family, but it wasn’t until he started podcasting that he found his purpose as a digital missionary. José is a voting member in the synod on synodality at the Vatican this month and his advocacy for evangelizing–or rather listening–in digital spaces is turning heads. Leading up to the synod, he worked closely with the syn...
The French Dominican bringing Middle East Catholics’ concerns to Rome
October 18, 2023 04:00 - 40 minutesThis week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley turn their attention to the Middle East. Their guest is Olivier Poquillon, O.P., a French Dominican priest who, until recently, served as the pastor of a Catholic Church in Mosul, Iraq. That church was almost completely destroyed by ISIS in 2014 when the terrorist group took over one of the few remaining religiously diverse communities in the country. After ISIS was driven from the city, Father Poquillon returned to oversee the reconstruction of the c...
The risks of the Vatican's synod media strategy
October 16, 2023 09:56 - 6 minutesListen to this full bonus episode on Patreon! Ashley and Zac are joined by their colleagues, Sebastian Gomes and Colleen Dulle to break down the curious media strategy around the Vatican's synod on synodality. Synod members are "fasting" from public speaking after Pope Francis decried what he perceived to be distorted media narratives around previous synods. But this media blackout strategy brings very real risks. Support Jesuitical and access bonus content–including this full episode–on Patr...
The lay woman bringing Catholic social teaching to the heart of Vatican
October 13, 2023 04:00 - 44 minutesAshley and Zac get schooled in social justice from a Latin American perspective. Emilce Cuda, the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the highest ranking lay woman working in the Vatican, joins the podcast to explain how “el pueblo”—ordinary, working class people—are at the forefront of a burgeoning synodal church. They also discuss: Populism in Latin America versus North America Pope Francis’ vision for a church that does social justice What it’s like working as a...
What it’s like giving a speech inside a synod of bishops
October 11, 2023 04:00 - 51 minutesThe synod on synodality learned a lot from the young people who attended the youth synod in 2018, says Julian Paparella, who was 25 years old when he addressed hundreds of bishops in that assembly. Now studying in Rome, he joins Zac and Ashley to shed light on the dynamic at work inside synods and how the process has evolved over the past five years to truly listen to lay—and especially younger—people. They also discuss: The young people’s call in 2018 for greater inclusion of women in the c...
Everything you need to know about the Synod on Synodality
October 06, 2023 09:49 - 44 minutesHello from Rome! Ashley and Zac are joined by their colleague Gerard O’Connell, a journalist who has covered the Vatican since 1985. They bring questions from listeners about the Synod on Synodality, which began this week: How will the discussions inside the synod hall work? How will the synod deal with internal polarization? What will determine the success of this synod? They also discuss: The changes that Pope Francis has brought to the synod, making it more open and inclusive. How to lis...
The Holy Spirit: The most misunderstood person of the trinity?
September 29, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutesThis week on Jesuitical, Zac and Ashley are joined by Chris Hadley, S.J., to talk about the oft-overshadowed third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. Father Hadley, an associate professor of systematic theology at Santa Clara University, uses his expertise in pneumatology to guide us through a great discussion about: How Catholics understand the Spirit, from biblical times to today Signs of the Holy Spirit at work in the world How Catholics can open themselves to the Holy Spirit—at th...
The Catholics responding to New York’s migrant crisis
September 22, 2023 06:00 - 47 minutesThis week on Jesuitical, Zac and Ashley are talking about the migrant crisis in New York City and the work Catholics are doing to respond. They are joined by Richard Slizeski, the senior vice president for mission at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens. They talk to him about: Migrants’ often harrowing experiences coming to the United States What’s missing in the political debates around the migrant crisis in New York How Catholic Charities’ mission and Catholic identity informs their w...
Catholic seminarians need therapy (like the rest of us)
September 15, 2023 04:00 - 54 minutesThis week, Zac and Ashley are talking about the psychological care that seminarians (i.e., priests-in-training) receive as part of their formation. They are joined by Maribel Laguna, the founder and owner of Cor Sacrum Counseling and Consulting. They talk to Maribel about: The Catholic Church’s relationship with psychology and counseling, historically and today The unique challenges seminarians are facing The type of psychological screening that goes into the decision to accept someone int...
Father James Martin on Jesus’s Greatest Miracle
September 08, 2023 04:00 - 56 minutesOn the season premier of Jesuitical’s seventh season, Zac and Ashley talk with their friend and colleague James Martin, S.J., who is out with a brand new book, Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus's Greatest Miracle. They ask Father Martin: If Jesus actually raised Lazarus from the dead (and do Catholic have to believe it) What Mary, Martha and Lazarus can teach us about friendship And how we can all come forth into new life in our daily lives In Signs of the Times, we discuss the “DJ Priest”...
What the Catholic Church can learn about change from baseball’s pitch-clock innovation
August 19, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutesWe have a great summer bonus episode, all about baseball! To listen to the full episode, become a patron of Jesuitical! This is the first season with a pitch clock in Major League Baseball, which was implemented to try to speed up the game and appeal to younger viewers. But to some longtime baseball fans the rule change feels gimmicky and disrespectful to the grand tradition of America's pastime. If the debate sounds familiar, that's because the Catholic Church is at a similar pivotal moment ...
Cardinal Czerny on Pope Francis, Catholic social teaching and the legacy of Vatican II
June 30, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutesOn the season finale of “Jesuitical,” Zac and producer Sebastian Gomes talk with Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., who leads the Vatican’s department for social justice and human development. (Ashley was out of the country at the time of the interview). Cardinal Czerny is also the co-author of the new book Siblings All, Sign of the Times: The Social Teaching of Pope Francis. We talk to him about: The disputed legacy of Vatican II How Pope Francis has developed the church’s social teaching How...
A Religious Trip: Finding God on Psychedelic Drugs
June 23, 2023 06:00 - 1 hourThis week on Jesuitical, Ashley and Zac chat with Bryan McCarthy, who teaches philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg, and is the author of a new paper, “Christianity and Psychedelic Medicine: A Pastoral Approach.” They discuss: What the church teaches about drugs and intoxication How psychedelic drugs are being used in therapeutic settings, and how Christians should respond Bryan’s own religious experiences while using psychedelic drugs During Signs of the Times, Ashley ...
Pope Francis called homilies “a disaster.” Here’s what we can do about it.
June 16, 2023 10:00 - 45 minutesEarlier this year, Pope Francis called most Catholic homilies “a disaster.” Well, we’re doing something about it. This week, Ashley and Zac welcome Ricardo da Silva, S.J., their colleague and the host of the brand new podcast from America Media, “Preach: The Catholic Homilies Podcast.” “Preach” releases weekly and features a diverse cast of the finest Catholic preachers. On each episode, preachers open up their hearts and minds, sharing their spiritual lives, approaches to interpreting Script...
Does prayer belong in a public school?
June 09, 2023 10:00 - 43 minutesThis week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley chat with Linda K. Wertheimer, a journalist and the author of the book Faith Ed: Teaching about Religion in an Age of Intolerance. In a recent article in The New Republic, Linda explores renewed efforts in some parts of the country to get prayer back into public schools. They discuss: Linda’s experience of being the only Jewish student in a public school with weekly Christian Bible classes The history of school prayer at the Supreme Court How to ba...
How one bishop’s experience of suicide loss led him to start a mental health ministry
June 02, 2023 10:00 - 51 minutesThis week, Ashley and Zac are joined by Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix to talk about losing several members of his family to suicide, a groundbreaking new mental health ministry in his diocese and how the church can better support those struggling with mental health issues. They are also joined by America colleague James Martin, S.J., who serves as a consultor for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. They discuss the dicastery’s new document “Towards Full Presence: A Pasto...
How a religious congregation decides it’s time to close up shop
May 26, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutesThis week, Jesuitical is joined by Sister Donna Dodge, the president of the Sisters of Charity of New York, which recently decided to embark on a “path to completion,” meaning the over 200-year-old congregation will no longer accept new vocations (though their ministry continues). We discuss: How religious life has changed since Sister Donna joined in 1966 How the sisters discerned that it was time to let go—and how their charism of charity will live on in the work of lay collaborators Why...
Faith, culture and ritual in Toni Morrison's life and writings
May 19, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes“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. This week, Zac reintroduces this popular interview with Nadra Nittle from 2021 which explores the Catholic sensibilities and love for aesthet...
Joining a parish (or club) could save your life.
May 12, 2023 10:00 - 48 minutesThis week, Jesuitical is joined by Pete Davis to talk about his new documentary “Join or Die,” “a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it.” They discuss: Why Americans join fewer clubs and associations than they used to Why churches are suffering the same fate The work of Robert Putnam in his groundbreaking book, Bowling Alone During Signs of the Times, Zac highlights a new transcript of Pope Francis in conversation with Jesuits in Hungary. Links ...
Luke Russert on losing his father, quitting journalism and traveling the world
May 05, 2023 10:00 - 59 minutesThis week on Jesuitical, we’re joined by Luke Russert, the author of the new memoir Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself. Luke is the son of Tim Russert, the legendary host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and served as an NBC News correspondent from 2008 to 2016. We talk to Luke about: What it was like to lose his father and hero Tim Russert the year he graduated from college Why he decided to leave a successful career in journalism to travel the world The limits of travel when...
Why Hulu's "The Pope: Answers" is the most thrilling movie out right now
May 02, 2023 10:00 - 13 minutesEverything is on the table: immigration and racism, women's ordination, abortion, sexual abuse, pornography, gender identity and dating apps. We’ve never seen a conversation with the pope like this. In Hulu’s “The Pope: Answers,” Francis sits with a group of 20 to 25-year-olds to discuss their most profound questions and struggles with faith and the church’s teachings. The young people also get practical, asking if the pope gets a salary. Ashley and Zac are joined by two Jesuit colleagues, Ri...
Will ChatGPT change the Catholic Church? Should it?
April 28, 2023 10:00 - 1 hourThis week, Jesuitical is joined by Sam Sawyer, S.J., the new editor in chief of America Media to talk about: How Sam went from working as a software developer to joining the Jesuits The Catholic Church’s approach to technology, and what A.I. and ChatGPT have in store for it His latest essay in America: “Catholicism, authentic communion and the way out of our polarization trap” And during Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac discuss the following news stories: Pope Francis has given women...
Should Catholics have kids during a climate crisis?
April 21, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutesLet’s face it: talking about climate change can feel depressing and futile. It seems like every few years there’s a new dire report, another agreement signed, and little progress is made. This week’s guest, Dorothy Fortenberry, is a writer and executive producer of “Extrapolations,” a new show from Apple TV+ that aims to shake us from our complacency by showing us what the world might look like in 10, 20, 30 years if we stay on our current trajectory. We talk to her about getting people to ca...
Fr. Ron Rolheiser on sex, spiritual energy and what isolation does to our souls
April 14, 2023 10:00 - 1 hourThis week, Jesuitical chats with Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I., spiritual master and the author of many books, including “The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality.” Ashley and Zac talk to Father Rolheiser about the importance and universality of spiritual energy, sex, isolation and the differences between therapy and spirituality. During “Signs of the Times,” the team is joined by Michael O’Louglin to unpack an FBI memo that seems to be targeting “traditionalist Catholics.” Later ...
Praying on the Way of the Cross
April 07, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutesFor this special triduum edition of Jesuitical, we’re doing something a little different. Instead of a regular interview, we’re sharing an episode from the America Media podcast “Imagine: A Guide to Jesuit Prayer,” by our friend and colleague Tucker Redding, S.J. In this episode, Tucker guides us through an imaginative prayer focusing on the Way of the Cross, the time between Jesus’ trial under Pontius Pilate and his crucifixion. In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley give an update on Pope Fr...
What Sister Jean learned in her first 100 years about God, Life and Basketball
March 31, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutesBefore Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, B.V.M., captured the heart of America during Loyola Chicago’s Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2018, she was Zac’s hero and mentor while he was attending Loyola. To be fair, she had been many things to many people in 100 years of life. Sister Jean is out with a new book (written with help from ace basketball writer Seth Davis) titled Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years. She joins the podcast to discuss that magical Final Fo...
Going on ‘Digital Pilgrimage’ and praying with a smartphone
March 24, 2023 10:00 - 38 minutesWhat if you could pray with the Black Madonna of Montserrat, on the banks of the River Cardoner or the cave in Manresa where St. Ignatius developed the Spiritual Exercises—from the comfort of your couch? Today’s guest, Vivian Richards, S.J., wants to help Catholics do just that. Father Vivian is a Jesuit priest of India’s Karnataka province and part of the team of Jesuits who developed the JesuitPilgrimage app. The app provides photos, prayer and audio guides and interactive maps to bring use...
Brooklyn’s Bishop Brennan on parish diversity, church closings and his move from Ohio to New York
March 17, 2023 10:00 - 58 minutesBishop Robert Brennan leads the most diverse diocese in the country: Brooklyn-Queens. Every Sunday, you are able to find Mass in over 25 languages throughout the diocese. Before coming to Brooklyn, Bishop Brennan was bishop of Columbus, Ohio (Zac’s hometown). This week, we talk to Bishop Brennan about the differences between Ohio and Brooklyn, what it’s like to switch dioceses as a bishop and the future of parish life in an era of church closings and reorganization. In Signs of the Times, Ash...
You've never heard Jesus' Passion like this
March 10, 2023 11:00 - 1 hourEach year, during Holy Week, Catholics hear the story of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the washing of the apostles’ feet, and finally, the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. These events at the heart of our faith can become familiar, even sanitized after a while. But this year, we can hear them all anew thanks to “The Passion,” a new musical production from the Notre Dame Folk Choir. Zac and Ashley talk with J.J. Wright, the director of the University o...
Inside the Vatican: How saints are made in the Catholic Church
March 03, 2023 11:00 - 51 minutesCatholics 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....
3 Jews and 2 Catholics walk into a podcast studio to talk about Lent
February 24, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutesThis 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Finding God in hip-hop and liberation theology
February 17, 2023 11:00 - 53 minutesCatholics 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: Betwe...
How Jean Vanier went from a ‘living saint’ to a sexual abuser
February 10, 2023 11:00 - 48 minutesJean 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 follo...
Cardinal McElroy: Sex and sin need a new framework in the church
February 03, 2023 11:00 - 1 hourWhat 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...
Are Catholicism and Liberal Democracy Compatible?
January 27, 2023 11:00 - 47 minutesThe 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 ...
Faith and wonder in Shakespeare
January 24, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesWe’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 r...
Catholics and the crisis of white Christian nationalism
January 20, 2023 11:00 - 59 minutesFor 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...
Pope Benedict XVI: Social justice warrior?
January 13, 2023 13:11 - 45 minutesThere 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...
Mailbag! Going to Mass in a foreign language, difficult theological mysteries, and more
January 06, 2023 11:00 - 38 minutesThis 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 ...
What's your (least) favorite Christmas carol?
December 23, 2022 11:00 - 27 minutesChristmas drinks, Christmas carols, Christmas movies–it's the Jesuitical Christmas special! On today's festive episode, Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis are joined by two colleagues, Maggi Van Dorn, the host of America Media's podcast "Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols" and associate editor Jim McDermott, S.J., to discuss the making of "Hark!", the incredible history of the Ukrainian classic, "Carol of the Bells", and why carols are so meaningful year, after year, after yea...
Everything you want to know about Catholic Mass—but were too afraid to ask
December 16, 2022 11:00 - 1 hourIs there a question you have about the Catholic Mass that you’ve always been too embarrassed to ask? Like: When we say, “Only say the word and my soul shall be healed,”...what’s “the word”? You’re in luck. This week, we’re talking to Father Dave Dwyer, the executive director of Busted Halo, a media outreach of the Paulist Fathers, and the author of the new book Mass Class: Your Questions Answered. Zac and Ashley ask Father Dave their own burning questions about the liturgy, what he would say ...
Matt Maher on ‘The Chosen,’ anxiety, racial justice and his new album
December 09, 2022 17:44 - 59 minutesThis week, Ashley and Zac are joined by Matt Maher. Matt is a nine-time-GRAMMY nominee and three-time-GMA Dove Award winning musician. His latest album is “The Stories I Tell Myself.” They talk to Matt about his connection with the hit TV show “The Chosen” and how the events of the past couple of years influenced his new album. They discuss how the pandemic affected his art, why he decided to write songs about racial justice and polarization and they get Matt’s take on the liturgy wars. Durin...