AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

Way back in June, 17 Jesuits from the US and Haiti were ordained to the priesthood. One of them was Joe Kraemer. And like many of his fellow Jesuits, as the summer months wind down, he’s preparing to start his new ministry as a Jesuit priest. Joe, though, didn’t “become” a Jesuit as his ordination. He’s been one for years, living and working with the Society of Jesus and its many collaborators. It’s easy to forget that the word “Jesuit” isn’t a synonym for “priest.” There are countless Jesuits in formation, and of course, there are Jesuit brothers the world over. Jesuits – as priests, brothers and men in formation – are still Jesuits, carrying on the mission and legacy of St. Ignatius, the early companions and all that have followed in their footsteps. And so, today, Fr. Joe Kraemer joins us on AMDG to talk about what his years of formation looked like, what it has meant for him to now become a Jesuit priest, and what he hopes for his only ministry and that of the Society as he looks to the future. Joe has great stories about a cross-country pilgrimage, ministering to those in prison and working closely with Martin Sheen. If you’d like to learn more about the newly ordained Jesuits, check out this link: http://www.jesuits.org/ordinations/2022-ordinands/

Today’s guest is Stephen Schneck, a political philosopher by training and a well-known advocate for Catholic social justice teachings in public life. He spent more than 30 years at The Catholic University of America as a professor, department chair and dean, and he was the founder and long-time director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. He’s worked with Catholic Climate Covenant, Catholic Mobilizing Network, Franciscan Action Network and as a member of the Obama Administration’s White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. And now, he’s here to talk to us about his latest role. He was just recently appointed by President Biden to serve as a commissioner on the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. What is the US Commission on International Religious Freedom? What does it do? Steve provides answers—as well as insights into why religious freedom and the freedom of belief are so important to communities around the globe. He highlights a few key issues and regions where religious freedom is particularly threatened that we should keep our eyes on. And he offers his reflections on how Catholics in the United States can advocate on this issue. Below you can find the full excerpt from "Fratelli tutti" that is mentioned during the episode: “Ancient conflicts thought long buried are breaking out anew, while instances of a myopic, extremist, resentful and aggressive nationalism are on the rise. In some countries, a concept of popular and national unity influenced by various ideologies is creating new forms of selfishness and a loss of the social sense under the guise of defending national interests. … there are those who appear to feel encouraged or at least permitted by their faith to support varieties of narrow and violent nationalism, xenophobia and contempt, and even the mistreatment of those who are different.” (FT 11/86)

The Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola on July 31 will mark the end of the Ignatian Year, through which we have been celebrating the 500th anniversary of Ignatius getting hit in the leg with a cannonball. This is admittedly a weird-at-first-glance event to be marking. What about Ignatius’ birth or the beginning of his ministry? The cannonball gets special attention in Ignatius’ story because it was such a vivid and transformative moment. The cannonball sparked Ignatius’ conversion. It shattered his plans for a life of chivalry and set him on a dramatically new path. This anniversary has been a great opportunity for all of us to look at our own life paths and see how the Lord might be trying to reach out to us or maybe even shake us up a little. Today’s guests took the opportunity of the Ignatian Year to start a brand-new creative project. Dr. Paola Pascual-Ferrá is a communications professor at Loyola University Maryland. Her friend Sean Bráy is the interim vice president for mission at the university. They decided to start a podcast called "This Ignatian Year," which welcomed guests to reflect on how they live Ignatian spirituality in their everyday lives. They talked with host Mike Jordan Laskey about how their how their own spiritualities were affected through this process, and how we might continue living the key themes at the heart of the Ignatian year even after this celebration is over. Listen to “This Ignatian Year”: https://www.loyola.edu/department/campus-ministry/ignatian-spirituality/ignatian-year Read about its creation: https://www.ajcunet.edu/june-2022-connections/2022/4/25/loyola-maryland-thematic AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

July 31st, 2022 ends our journey through the Ignatian Year. To mark this important moment in the life of the global Society of Jesus, Fr. General Arturo Sosa will travel to Loyola, Spain to renew the Jesuits’ consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What is the Sacred Heart of Jesus? And why does a renewed consecration matter? For many of us, this devotion might be little more than a prayer card found in our grandmothers’ purse. But there’s so much more to it – and so much it can add to our spiritual lives. So, we invited Fr. Joe Laramie, SJ, the Jesuit in charge of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network in the United States to join us today. Foundational to this ministry is the devotion to the Sacred Heart. Fr. Joe walks us through what this devotion is, why it matters, and what it can mean for us and world today. Fr. Joe provided us with a ton of interesting, helpful links – you can find them below: • Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network site: popesprayerusa.net • Resources on the Sacred Heart: http://popesprayerusa.net/2022/07/18/jesuits-renew-consecration-sacred-heart-jesus/ • Fr. Joe Laramie’s site: joelaramiesj.com • Social handles: @popesprayerusa | @JoeLaramieSJ

You’ve heard of FOMO – the “fear of missing out.” You’ve probably experienced it, too. It’s paralyzing. You find yourself trapped, asking the same question over and over again: What am I missing out on? And what will it mean for my future? Fr. Michael Rossmann, SJ, is back on the pod today to tweak the meaning of FOMO. His new book is called “The Freedom of Missing Out: Letting Go of Fear and Saying Yes to Life.” And rather than allow ourselves to become paralyzed by all the opportunities we inevitably say no to, Fr. Rossmann encourages us to look at this “missing out” as a chance to engage more deeply with the deepest, most important aspects of our lives. You can find his new book wherever books are sold – or follow this link: https://store.loyolapress.com/the-freedom-of-missing-out

Today on AMDG, host MegAnne Liebsch talks about how investment advocacy can stop climate change. Stick with us! Investing might sound boring, but the people who engage in shareholder and divestment advocacy are anything but boring. Plus, by holding polluting industries like fossil fuel accountable, these responsible investment strategies are helping reduce carbon emissions. MegAnne talked to three people who have helped transform Jesuit institutions through fossil fuel divestment and shareholder advocacy. First, we'll hear from Emily Burke, a student activist who led the fossil fuel divestment movement at Creighton University. Then, to learn more about how divestment works, we talk with Katharine Wyatt, who led Loyola University Chicago's divestment process. Finally, MegAnne talks to our colleague John Sealey about how the Jesuits use their investments to push companies to adopt greener practices. To learn or get involved with the Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility, click here: https://www.jesuits.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022.2.8-JCIR-E-news.pdf

Why are so many young Catholics leaving the church? And what we can do to stop that trend and maybe even reverse it? There are lots of Catholic scholars studying these questions, and one of them is our guest, Dr. Tracey Lamont. Dr. Lamont serves at Loyola University New Orleans as the interim Director of the Loyola Institute for Ministry and Assistant Professor of Religious Education and young adult ministry. The Loyola Institute for Ministry offers graduate and undergrad programs online and in person to help shape leaders in all sorts of church contexts. Tracey shared her energetic and super insightful perspectives on how we can help make our parishes and schools communities that truly welcome and empower young people. There’s no silver bullet, but we have a pretty good sense of what keeps people involved in their faith. It’s just up to all of us to work together to renew our local church cultures. Learn more about the Loyola Institute for Ministry: http://cnh.loyno.edu/lim Learn more about Dr. Lamont: http://cnh.loyno.edu/lim/bios/tracey-lamont AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, was founded in 1843. It’s the oldest Jesuit and Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the whole country. Despite 178 years of educating students, Holy Cross’ current president, Vincent D. Rougeau, represents two huge firsts in the history of the college: He is the first lay president and the first Black president of the school. President Rougeau and host Mike Jordan Laskey talked recently, just a few weeks after the end of his first academic year as president. President Rougeau is a legal scholar and came to Holy Cross after serving as Dean of Boston College’s Law School, and he talked about how his experience in the law has affected his views on social justice and how a Jesuit college can be a force for good in the world especially as higher ed institutions face an increasingly competitive landscape. Read President Rougeau’s work in America Magazine: https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/vincent-d-rougeau AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

There are two temptations – at least! – that we often fall into when it comes to looking at our current state of politics. On the one hand, we may be tempted to look back at some previous period and say, “Our political discourse was really good then; I wish we could go back.” We romanticize the past and ignore the challenge and struggle and oversights that we’ve muddled through to get to the present. On the other hand, we may be tempted to look at our present state – our institutions, our ideologies, our political systems – and assume we’ve made nothing but progress. Things aren’t perfect, but they’re better than they were, we may say. And as a result, we assume we have nothing to learn from what’s come before. I think – I hope! – the vast majority of us fall somewhere in between, eager to keep improving our political processes so as to represent and include more and more voices, and also curious about what worked in the past, what we might have to learn from those who have gone before. If that sounds right, then this conversation is for you. Bill McCormick is a Jesuit and scholar of political science and philosophy. He’s a frequent contributor to America Magazine, and has written a new book called “The Christian Structure of Politics.” In it, Bill takes us way back in time to the political thought of Thomas Aquinas and his work De Regno – which was a letter the saint wrote to a prince. Bill helps us think through what this obscure text written for a very different political system can say about our politics today.

One cool thing about the Jesuits is the huge number of incredible men who have served the Lord so faithfully over the centuries. A lot of these guys are so well-known you can call them by just a single name: Ignatius, Xavier, Gonzaga, Canisius, Faber, Claver, Arrupe, Teilhard, Hopkins. But there have been thousands of other fascinating Jesuits who aren’t quite as famous, and it’s always fun to learn about them. Guest Robert Ellsberg has forgotten more about saints and other holy men and women than most of us will ever know. Robert is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books, the esteemed publishing arm of the Maryknoll order. He is also the author of “Blessed Among Us”, a column on saints and other saintly witnesses that appears in the monthly Catholic prayer resource “Give Us This Day.” He has written about over 1000 saints, both canonized and not. Host Mike Jordan Laskey wanted to know which Jesuits Robert has encountered in his research and own faith journey have inspired him the most. In particular, who are three under-known Jesuits we might all want to meet? Robert picked three three: Jean Pierre de Caussade, Alfred Delp and Walter Ciszek. The conversation also veered to Dorothy Day often, which is going to happen anytime you get Robert on the line. He served as the editor of the Catholic Worker newspaper in the final years of Dorothy Day’s life. In fact, Dorothy introduced him to the work of Jean Pierre de Caussade, and he shares that story in the episode. He also talked his famous father, Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 released to the press a classified document related to the United States’ history in Vietnam called the “Pentagon Papers.” His dad’s bold act of heroism had a huge impact on Robert’s life, especially in forming his strong pacifist views. Orbis Books: https://www.maryknollmagazine.org/orbis-books/ "Blessed Among Us": https://litpress.org/Products/E4745/Blessed-Among-Us Robert Ellsberg in America Magazine: https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/robert-ellsberg AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.