Jesuitical

Rap got religious last year. At least that’s what Zac wrote earlier this year for America. The truth is, while it may have gotten more explicit about religion in 2016, hip-hop has always had a deep religious undercurrent to its bars and beats. This week we’re chatting with Alex Nava, the author of In Search of Soul: Hip-Hop, Literature, and Religion. We talk to Alex about religion’s influence on hip-hop and why people are surprised to find out about it. If you need any convincing before or after listening to us—go listen to Kendrick Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost.” In Signs of the Times, we talk Pope Francis in Colombia, rapping nuns, beer-brewing monks and proposing in front of Pope Francis. Links from the show: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you connect our episode title to Beyoncé, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or even Vampire Weekend, maps matter. This week we are talking with Molly Burhans, the founder and executive director of GoodLands, a startup that is mapping the global Catholic Church. Information can change lives and Molly helped us wrap our heads around the amazing work she and h [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk with Lino Rulli, host of “The Catholic Guy” on Sirius XM’s The Catholic Channel. We talk balancing his Catholicism and comedy, being vulnerable on air, relationships, late-night television and more. Is there anything he hasn’t (or wouldn’t) share with listeners after 10 years on the radio? In Signs of the Times, the “Mother Teresa of Pakistan” gets a state funeral. Iceland claims that it is on its way to eliminating people with Down Syndrome. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan gets grilled by a Dominican nun from Wisconsin on how he reconciles his politics and Catholic beliefs. St. Junipero Serra’s statue gets defaced in California amid national dialogue surrounding Confederate statues. Do statues with offensive history belong in public spaces? And finally, William Aitcheson, a Catholic priest in Virginia, has stepped down after revealing that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan 40 years ago. Is he irredeemable? This week we also [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc

How could I possibly have kids if I can barely do my taxes without calling my mom in a panic on April 14? It’s a question I must admit that has crossed my mind more than once. I’ve never even owned a dog. Isn’t that a prereq for parenting these days? Our guest this week, Liz Bruenig, wears many hats: Washington Post editor, socialist, Catholic convert, Twitter enthusiast—and “young” mother. She pushes back against the idea that young people need to have their lives figured out before starting a family. In Signs of the Times, with a fun art project to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the church is trying to reach out to the so-called selfie generation. So why are they asking people to snail mail their selfies? Next, just how far will some parents go to get their kids on the basketball team or honor roll? Two Catholic school parents in New Jersey took their case all the way up to the cardinal and the courts. Finally, we talk [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f

Three years ago this week, on Aug. 9, 2014, police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an African-American teen in Ferguson, Mo. Within 24 hours of the shooting the Ferguson uprising began. On this episode, we talk with the Rev. Broderick Greer, an Episcopalian priest in Memphis, Tenn., who boarded a bus and headed to Ferguson following Mr. Brown’s death. He wrote about this experience in an article for America, “How Ferguson helped me understand my baptismal identity.” We ask Rev. Greer about his experience in Ferguson, black Christianity and why he doesn’t call himself an activist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For millions of women around the world, women’s magazines—from Teen Vogue and Seventeen to Cosmopolitan and Glamour—have played a pivotal role in the way we are taught to view ourselves. These publications condition the way we view our hair, bodies, sexuality and relationships. But what are the damaging effects these publications can have on women? This week, we talk with Kara Eschbach, founder, CEO and editor in chief of Verily Magazine, “a photoshop-free magazine empowering women to be their best selves.” We talk with Kara about Verily’s mission statement, the differences between Catholic and secular media, accepting our flaws and more. And in Signs of the Times, Pope Francis celebrates the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci, both Catholics, are out of the Trump administration. How long will the new chief of staff, Joh [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you working out for the body of a god? What about the body of a convict? Meet Coss Marte, our guest this week. After being arrested at 19 for running a multimillion dollar drug trade in New York City, Coss was sent to prison. There, doctors told him that his health problems and weight could kill him within a few years. After dropping 70 pounds in six months, and helping train other convicts to make dramatic changes, Coss also experienced a religious revival in a moment of desperation. Now Coss is the head of ConBody: a gym that offers prison-style bootcamp classes taught by formerly incarcerated trainers. We’ll be talking with Coss about how ConBody was developed, how his faith helped him while incarcerated and his prison reform activism. After, we’ve got consolations and desolations, where we tell you where we did or didn’t find God this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is it about habits and cassocks that capture the imagination of even secular audiences? Mix those priests and nuns with a murder mystery and you’ve got a ready-made hit. Netflix’s Emmy-nominated documentary series “The Keepers,” begins with the story of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a beloved Catholic high school teacher, who was murdered in 1969 and whose case remains unsolved. But it quickly evolves into something much larger: an excruciating investigation into clerical sex abuse at the school. This week, we talk to Nick Ripatrazone about the series—and ask why it is important for Catholics to watch shows and films that expose the church’s sins. And in Signs of the Times, a message from the Holy Father: Stop complaining! At least to the pope. Save it for the Lord; he’s much more patient. Next, a Catholic priest in [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re going back to college. That means Natty Light, hook-ups and figuring out “gluten” is. This week our guest is Kerry Cronin, professor of philosophy at Boston College. She teaches her students, among other things, about the pitfalls of hookup culture and the dos and don’ts of Catholic dating. She frequently makes headlines (like this one: Ask Someone on a Date—or Kerry Cronin Will Fail You) because of an unorthodox assignment she includes in her classes: asking someone on a date. Like, a real date. So we discuss with Kerry what it’s like to date in college and beyond; we also break open the perennial debate of Tinder vs. Catholic Match. (Swipe right for Jesus!) In Signs of the Times, we break down the Vatican’s (not-so-new) rules on gluten-free Communion; pasta made to strangle priests; God propping up Stephen Colbert’s ratings; and the Cathol [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the United States celebrated the Fourth of July: a day where people gather with friends and families, drinking Budweisers and eating hot dogs. This week’s episode reflects on the state of the country. Our own Zac Davis wrote “Donald Trump’s sins are our sins, too, and impeachment won’t absolve them,” which we discuss in conversation about American exceptionalism and more. This week we chat about the new survey released by the Vatican in anticipation of next year’s Synod 2018 on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. What does it mean to be a “young person” in the church? And how do you minister to the different age ranges within this demographic? We discuss this and more with Danny Gustafson. And finally, in a special consolations-only segment, we tell you where we find hope in the [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk Latina identity, journalism and more with Juleyka Lantigua-Williams. She is the former senior supervising producer and editor of NPR’s Code Switch and a former staff writer at The Atlantic. She has covered issues ranging from women’s rights at home and abroad, environmental justice, U.S. immigration policy, poverty, maternal health, early childhood development and demographic changes. Lantigua-Williams is also the founder of Lantigua Williams & Co., a production company that seeks to amplify the “voices of organizations, people and projects that have a real sense of social justice.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking about mental health isn’t easy. And when you throw faith into the mix it often becomes even harder. Many Catholics mistakenly think that needing mental health treatment amounts to a kind of spiritual failure. This week, we talk with writer Simcha Fisher, author of The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, about how she learned to balance her Catholic faith and therapy. And in Signs of the Times, for our listeners who have been anxiously awaiting an update, the stolen relic of St. John Bosco has been found—inside a teapot! In papal news, Pope Francis urges parents to “stop pretending to be adolescents”; and he meets with NFL legends. We also  talk about Britanny Hamama, a University of Michigan ju [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Father James Martin tells us why he was disappointed with how many church leaders spoke about the Orlando attack (very few uttered the word “gay”)—and what he’s doing to change the conversation within the church between the hierarchy and L.G.B.T. Catholics. (This being the prolific Jim Martin, there is a new book involved.) Zac Davis is in China. Sad! But we have found a Jesuit Zach to take his seat. Zach with an H works in prisons and with the formally incarcerated in New York City and we so enjoyed his company that we invited him to come back next week. In Signs of the Times: Who wore it better, Francis or JPII? According to the tailors and cobblers of Rome, papal fashion is changing under ou [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you keep your sanity while covering the news in the Trump era? This week we’re talking with NPR congressional correspondent, host of the NPR Politics Podcast and proud Fordham alum Scott Detrow. Scott has some great tips for keeping up with the news without drowning in it. Pro-tip: Listen to jesuitical while bike riding. Church can help, too. In this week’s Signs of the Times, our self-described “tone deaf” pope belts out some hymns while at Mass with Charismatic Catholics, and our self-described “evangelical Catholic” vice president says, “American Catholics have an ally in President Trump.” Next, it has been said, “You can take away a relic of Don Bosco, but you can’t take away Don Bosco from the church or the world.” Wel [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I had at least thought there would be nobility in war. I know it exists. There are so many stories, and some of them have to be true. But I see mostly normal men, trying to do good, beaten down by horror, by their inability to quell their own rages, by their masculine posturing and their so-called hardness, their desire to be tougher, and therefore crueler, than their circumstance. And yet, I have this sense that this place is holier than back home. Gluttonous, fat, oversexed, overconsuming, materialist home, where we’re too lazy to see our own faults.” That’s just a sample of the stinging and raw prose found in Phil Klay’s collection of short stories, Redeployment. Klay, a veteran of the Iraq war and recipient of the National Book Award, sat down with us to talk about Memorial Day, why we find it diffi [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the word “rabbi” stand for? Is a priest just the Catholic version of one? If you’ve ever had these questions, this week’s episode is just for you. We talk Judaism 101, “radical hospitality” and more with Rabbi Avram Mlotek. In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis selects five new Cardinals; Haitians in the United States get temporary protected status extensions; and Vice President Mike Pence and Greg Boyle speak at the Notre Dame Commencement. And, in what is slowly becoming the “Zac Davis Wonders Why This Is Interesting” section, we discuss “The Bachelorette.” Finally, the meeting everyone has been excitedly and anxiously awaiting: President Donald J. Trump and Pope Francis meet at the Vatican, or as we like to call it, PRUMP 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does capitalism not do it for you? Communism a bit much? There’s another way. This week we’re talking with Nathan Schneider (and his adorable baby, Daniel) about co-ops. Now, that word might bring to mind hippies living together and making vegan meals from the community garden (which Nathan did)—but there are hidden cooperative businesses all around you: REI, Dairy Queen, Southwest Airlines. We ask him about the Catholic roots of the co-op movement and why he thinks it’s making a comeback.  In Signs of the Times, President Trump is heading to the Vatican. Will Francis be “pope-like” enough for him? And, Simone Biles: great Catholic gymnast or the greatest Catholic gymnast? Next, it’s commencement speech controversy season. Do speakers at Catholic colleges need to agree with church teaching? Does anyone even remember commencement speeches? We discuss. Finally [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aside from being fodder for tattoos and Twitter bios, “Finding God in all things,” is a powerful idea that can spark an exploration into realms of pop culture that often are considered… surprising. This week we chat with Professor Tom Beaudoin from Fordham University about his course: “Faith in Music: Sound Theology From the Blues to Beyoncé.” In Signs of the Times, we’ll catch up on the recently unemployed James Comey and the flood of news surrounding President Trump and his visit to Rome. All that and more on this week’s epsiode of Jesuitical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you a Sorta Catholic? Symptoms include: residual guilt, love for Pope Francis, alternating between church and SoulCycle Sundays. This week’s guest is a Sorta Catholic who wound up having a Very Catholic Wedding. Tracey Wigfield won an Emmy as a writer for “30 Rock” and is a graduate of Boston College (you can decide which is more impressive). In Signs of the Times, we check in on the bros of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Much to our dismay, the Ringling Bros are not a traveling fraternity. May Day, Catholic scientists, Pope Francis in Egypt and a new study on college education and religion, all that and more this week on Jesuitical.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re talking with Brother Joseph Hoover, S.J., about the Catholic Church’s fight against the death penalty. Signs of the Times includes a band formed by four Dominican sisters. On the Pope Francis news front, we’ve got his latest donations to an Italian non-profit, his comparison of refugee camps to concentration camps and his surprise TED Talk calling for a “revolution of tenderness.” And finally, we wade into the debate around being a Catholic and a member of the Democratic Party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices