AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

Every minute, 24 people are forced to leave their home because of war, persecution or violence. Experts estimate that there are more people who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict than at any other point since World War II. We are in midst of a global refugee crisis. In over 50 countries where the crisis is the worst, the Jesuits are there. Jesuit Refugee Service, which was founde...

If you had met Fr. Ted Penton, SJ, right before turn of the millennium and told him he’d be ordained a Jesuit priest in 2019, he wouldn’t have believed you. Ted was an atheist when he decided to go on a retreat at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand while traveling after college. His experience there changed everything, and led him on a path back to the Catholic Church, the spiritual home of his chil...

As my wife would tell you, I am a compulsive Amazon shopper. A few taps of my thumb and voila – diapers or granola bars or a massaging seat cover for the car show up at our house two days later. I wish I wasn’t so bad at this, because I know Amazon is not a great company, to put it mildly. Their CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world and his lowest-paid employees barely make $30,000 a year...

On Monday afternoon here on the East Coast, the horrifying photos and videos began to pour in: the Notre-Dame Cathedral was on fire. The international outpouring of sorrow and compassion was immediate, even among people who've never been to the cathedral. Why? What does a great cathedral mean to us -- even in this secular age? Our guest Fr. Gilbert Sunghera, SJ, is a Jesuit priest who was trained...

Host Mike Jordan Laskey chats with his former college roommate, Fr. Michael Rossmann, SJ, about Fr. Michael's vocation promotion ministry, Pope Francis' new letter on young people and the church, and they take turns drafting books of the Bible, assembling Scriptural super-teams of five books apiece. (It's like the NFL Draft but way more fun.)

This past winter, the cause for sainthood for Fr. Pedro Arrupe was officially opened in Rome. Fr. Arrupe served as the Jesuits’ superior general from 1965 to 1983, right in the middle of the huge changes in the church caused by the Second Vatican Council. He’s sometimes called the “second founder” of the Jesuits because so much of what he emphasized continues to characterize the Society of Jesus t...

Six years ago this week, an Argentinian Jesuit named Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope. That's a pretty good chunk of time to get your priorities in motion. Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, sat down with host Mike Jordan Laskey to talk about Pope Francis' leadership and vision. Plus, Fr. Tim shares what the Holy Father told him when t...

February 6 is the Feast of St. Paul Miki and Companions. Paul Miki was a Japanese Jesuit brother who was martyred with 25 other Catholics in Japan in 1597. Fr. Jody Magtoto, SJ, is a Filipino Jesuit missioned to Japan. He's spending a few months in the United States "interning" with the Jesuit Conference here in preparation for launching a communications office back in Japan. He shared a bit about...

"Justice" is Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. What does that word mean to Jesuits? Mike Jordan Laskey from the Jesuit Conference called up Fr. Jeremy Zipple, SJ (https://twitter.com/jzipple), who's serving at St. Martin de Porres Parish and School in Belize. He offered some great insight into what it means to have a "faith that does justice." Learn more about Fr. Jeremy here: http://jesuits.org...