Jesuitical

It is a beautiful thing when the sacred and the quirky come together in such a way that only Catholicism can arrange. Filling a crop duster plane with holy water and blessing an entire small town definitely qualifies as sacred and quirky in the best way. This week we chat with Father Matthew Barzare, the pastor of St. Anne Church in Cow Island, La., who gave the blessing. We get the full story from Father Matt: Where did the idea come from? Were there logistical issues? Canonical issues? What buildings got blessed? (Sneak peak: The town bar is among them.) In Signs of the Times, we unpack Pope Francis’ Lenten message and get a special Lenten penance from our friends Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz from Unorthodox, the world’s leading Jewish podcast. We also discuss the devastating revelations of the sexual misconduct by the late founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier.  Tell us what you think about the episode on our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and help other listeners find Jesuitical by leaving us a