Jesuitical

When was the last time you talked about faith with a friend? If you’re listening to this podcast, maybe you don’t mind dropping words like “sin,” “grace” and “confession” in casual conversations. But most Americans, according to Jonathan Merritt, have forgotten or never learned how to “speak God”—and that’s bad news for people who care about the future of the church. We ask Jonathan, an award-winning religion writer, podcast host and author of the new book Learning to Speak God from Scratch, why spiritual conversations matter, how we can save endangered sacred words and what distinguishes Catholic and Protestant approaches to language. This week in Signs of the Times we focus on one story that’s been on all of our minds: the unfolding sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church. We bring you up to speed on developments since the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on Aug. 14, ask how the church got here and discuss possible ways forward as the church seeks to bring healing to victims and a