Jesuitical

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 exper...

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, C...

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...

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...

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 Fa...

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 ch...

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 ch...

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...

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...

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-desc...

“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 hav...

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...

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 as...

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...

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 t...

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.”...

He is risen! And so are our pint glasses, now that Lent is over. This week, we chat with Andy Otto, author of the new book God Moments: Unexpected Encounters in the Ordinary and author of the blog godinallthings.com. Who gets to be an expert on Ignatian spirituality? What are “God moments?” And how can Ignatian discernment help you with making the big and small choices in life? In Signs of the Tim...

Why is the Easter Vigil so long and why should you definitely attend it? We sat down with Fr. James Martin, S.J. (again) to talk about all things Holy Week. This week we also explain where we got the phrase “Signs of the Times,” no we didn’t make it up. All that and more for this, the holiest week of the year, and perhaps the holiest of all Jesuitical episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

We had so much fun talking Beauty and the Beast last week, that we decided to take a deeper dive into how Disney influenced our upbringings. So we decided to ring up the people best able to assess that: our mothers.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we are talking all things “Beauty and the Beast.” Alfonso Pizano, S.J., who spent 14 years working at Disneyland, “where he piloted the monorail, sailed submarines, hawked souvenirs and danced in the Christmas Fantasy Parade,” joins to offer his expertise. He is currently a Jesuit scholastic studying philosophy at Fordham University in New York. This week on jesuitical, we talk with Alfi...

Our brackets are busted! Back in Episode 4, we talked March Madness with Paddy Gilger, SJ.  We decided to give Paddy a call and rub in the fact that Zac predicted the Jesuit Elite Eight matchup between Xavier and Gonzaga. Who are the Jesuits rooting for this round, Xavier or Gonzaga? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four years ago this month, the Argentine cardinal (and Jesuit) Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis. Michael O’Loughlin, America’s national correspondent and author of The Tweetable Pope: A Spiritual Revolution in 140 Characters, has been covering this historic papacy ever since. This week on jesuitical, we ask Mike who has a better Twitter game: Pope Francis or President Trump? And in Signs of the...

Is your bracket busted? Did you pick an upset, just the wrong one? Take a break from the madness of March and listen in as we talk with Paddy Gilger, S.J., about the top Jesuit moments in the NCAA tournament’s history, the good things sports can do for us and when they become a religion of their own.  In our review of this week’s Catholic news, we look at where you can eat corned beef this St. Pat...

One year ago, on International Women’s Day, Nicole Perone had the opportunity to speak at the Vatican before hundreds of activists and Catholic leaders about the importance of giving young Catholics and women real leadership in the church. This year, she had the opportunity to tell jesuitical all about it…. Upgrade?  And in Signs of the Times, we discuss the Catholic high school that made millions...

So since we weren’t canceled after one episode, we’re happy to present Episode 2! We speak with Jorgé Corona, a producer at Gizmodo Media Company, about a viral video he made about what it’s like to be an undocumented immigrant in the United States. And in Signs of the Times, we shine some more light on the chaplain to Loyola University Chicago’s basketball team: 97-year-old Sister Jean Dolores Sc...