AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

Today’s guest might make you reexamine everything you think you know about the current state of the Catholic Church in the USA. Fr. Tom Gaunt, SJ, is a Jesuit priest and the executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). Since it was founded in 1964, CARA has conducted hundreds of social science studies of the Catholic Church. If you want to know how many priests were ordained last year, or how many Catholics go to Mass weekly vs. once or twice a year, CARA is the place to go. Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked Fr. Tom for a bird’s eye view of the state of the church, and that overview provided surprising stats time after time. Be ready to be surprised. Learn more about CARA: https://cara.georgetown.edu/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. Subscribe to AMDG wherever you get podcasts, and leave us a nice review on iTunes.

During this Ignatian Year—this 500th anniversary of the conversion of St. Ignatius—a lot has been said about “cannonball moments.” The phrase comes from Ignatius’ own life story: he’s struck in the leg by a cannonball at the Battle of Pamplona. It’s that injury and its subsequent, painful recovery that confines Ignatius to bed and ultimately presents him with the opportunity to read and reflect on the life of Christ and the saints. We talk about this cannonball moment because it’s so jarring; it literally knocks Ignatius off his feet, off the trajectory he’d set for his life, and forces him to look anew at what God is inviting him to do with his life. From that cannonball moment, we get the Society of Jesus, the Spiritual Exercises and countless other good fruits. And, as a result, we’re invited to consider similar moments in our lives—when have we been struck by cannonballs; when have we had our life turned around by God? These are all good and worthy questions—and this year provides us with ample opportunity to reflect on our own ongoing conversions. We’re invited to see all things new in Christ. And yet, there’s a temptation to sanitize the cannonball moment, to forget that Ignatius—then, Inigo de Loyola—was a prideful man who led his soldiers to their deaths; whose cannonball moment was a bloody, gruesome affair, and who suffered from trauma and guilt in the many months and years that followed. This, too, is what it means to experience a cannonball moment—and we must look at the story honestly, fully, lest we risk offending or alienating those among us who have also experienced such trauma. This is the theme of today’s episode. Fr. Rob McChesney, SJ, joins us again to discuss how Ignatian spirituality and the person of St. Ignatius can help us process trauma, can help us accompany those who have experienced trauma and, ultimately, how a fuller understanding of what a cannonball moment represents might bring us closer to God. A warning: the subject matter today is heavy; we do dig into trauma and its effects, particularly where veterans and sexual abuse survivors are concerned. We hear from one combat veteran, Bob Macpherson, who shares his story of trauma and Ignatian spirituality. You can learn more about Bob and read his book at https://www.robertseamusmacpherson.com/. As a final note, Fr. Rob makes mention of several meditations found within The Spiritual Exercises. We encourage you to visit the Office of Ignatian Spirituality’s page on the Exercises to learn more. Go to https://jesuitseastois.org/spiritualexercises.

There’s a series of Star Wars books called From A Certain Point of View. Two have been released to date, each to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, respectively. Each book contains 40 short stories from 40 different authors assuming the perspective of 40 different, minor characters from those classic films. The whole idea is to give readers a new glimpse into an old story—to retell that classic tale “from a certain point of view.” The Ignatian Year—this anniversary celebration of St. Ignatius’ conversion in which we find ourselves—invites us to “see all things new in Christ.” We’re invited to contemplate St. Ignatius’ story in new ways, to look upon his conversion and his legacy with the eyes of Christ—and then to turn that same gaze on ourselves, our own lives. How is Christ using Ignatius’ story to inform and inspire our own? For those of you who have read St. Ignatius’ autobiography, you know that the pages are full of minor characters—women and men who cross Ignatius’ path ever so briefly and yet leave behind a profound impact. Here at the Jesuit Conference, we thought one way to consider Ignatius’ story anew would be to explore the perspectives of these other characters: how they saw Ignatius, what they were thinking about as they encountered saint. It’s still the story of St. Ignatius—from a certain point of view. And so, we invited authors to submit their stories. And today, I’m really excited to share the work of two authors—and my conversations with them. The first of our authors is Ryan Carroll, a PhD student in English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is a longtime enthusiast of Ignatian spirituality, having first become involved through the Ignatian Spirituality Ministry at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. His story is titled, “The Pilgrim’s Book,” and it’s an extended meditation on the life of the book itself—the book that stirred Ignatius’ own conversion. Our second author is John Dougherty, is a Catholic writer and campus minister with over a decade of experience in Jesuit education. His work has appeared in America Magazine and Millennial Journal. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children. His story, “The Provincial and the Pilgrim,” puts us in the shoes of the Franciscan friar responsible for turning Ignatius away when the would-be saint sought to live and work in Jerusalem. Both stories are beautiful opportunities to pray with the story of St. Ignatius, to “see all things new in Christ.” You can read these stories at Jesuits.org/pilgrim-stories – or, click on the link in the notes.

Back in the innocent days of February 2020, host Mike Jordan Laskey sent a Twitter message to author Nick Ripatrazone in reply to a tweet Nick posted about reading the Graham Greene novel "The Power and the Glory" for Lent, which is something he does every year. What if we invited others to read along with us and talk about it online? Mike asked. Nick was up for it and the Jesuit Book Club was born. Since then, the Jesuit Book Club has hosted a series of live events featuring conversations with some of today’s best authors who are rooted in the Catholic literary tradition, including Alice McDermott, Kirstin Valdez Quade and Phil Klay. For this summer’s Jesuit Book Club selection, we read Nick's own most recent book, which is titled "Wild Belief: Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness." The book traces the theme of wilderness through the work of almost a dozen writers in creative and surprising ways. This time, instead of a live event, the Jesuit Book Club discussion is happening as an episode of AMDG. Mike and Nick discuss the work of three of the writers Nick focuses on in his book: Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Everson and Mary Oliver. Join us in October for our next book and live author event with a very special guest (Nick announces who it is during this episode!). If you can't wait that long, check out jesuits.org/bookclub to sign up for the virtual gathering.

Nobody in the history of swimming has been as good at freestyle as our guest today is. Katie Ledecky is the literal GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), as she is the world record holder in the women's 400-, 800-and 1500-meter freestyle. (If you're an American who prefers yards to meters, Katie also has the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, 1500- and 1650-yard freestyle events.) Katie is just back from her third Olympics, where she won two gold medals and two silvers. In addition to dominating in the pool, she also has some great Jesuit connections: Katie's godfather is a Jesuit priest named Fr. Jim Shea, SJ, and Katie has also lent her voice and platform to the urgent work of the Jesuit Refugee Service. She talked with host Mike Jordan Laskey about those Jesuit connections and her Catholic faith, plus some swimming stuff -- like what’s going through her head as she swims a grueling 1500-meter race. Learn more about the Jesuit Refugee Service here: https://www.jrsusa.org/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get podcasts, and leave us a nice review on iTunes!

It was only a few weeks ago that Fr. Jean Denis Saint-Felix — the superior of the Jesuit community in Haiti – was our guest on this podcast. He shared with us his reflections on the assassination of the Haitian president. Tragically, a lot has happened in Haiti in just these few weeks. On August 14, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated Southwestern Haiti — an earthquake even stronger than the one so many of us remember from 2010. Fr. Jean Denis encouraged us to hope — and trust in the Haitian people. And so today’s guest, Nate Radomski, the executive director of Magis Americas, is here to tell us what he’s heard from Jesuit partners across Haiti — and how the work of Magis Americas and its many partners is working with the Haitian people to rebuild. That’s at the heart of Magis Americas’ mission: to foster, support and accompany Jesuit partners in the Global South as they strive toward a more just, dignified and equitable society. If you want to learn more about — and support the work of — Magis Americas, visit magisamericas.org, give.magisamericas.org/supporthaiti and https://www.jesuits.org/stories/support-the-jesuits-relief-effort-in-haiti/.

It’s cliché to say but Ignatian Pilgrimage: There’s an app for that. It’s called “Journey with Ignatius” – and it’s a cool new project developed by the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. On today’s episode, Fr. Casey Beaumier, SJ, director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, shares the thinking and reflection that went in to developing this app. But the conversation doesn’t stop there. The app itself is meant to be a pilgrimage, an experience of Ignatian spirituality, a tool to deepen our lives of faith. The conversation spans those topics and more: How the pandemic has served as a catalyst for innovation where faith and spirituality is concerned; How the very idea of pilgrimage can still apply to us – even if we’re still stuck at home; How the life and legacy of St. Ignatius is relevant today as ever, particularly as we continue our own global pilgrimage through the Ignatian Year. If you want to learn more about the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies or want a direct link to where you can get the app, check out the links below: https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/centers/iajs.html https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/centers/iajs/about/news/app-release2.html

It’s not every day you crack open a copy of the New Yorker Magazine and find a long profile of an incredibly impressive, inspiring young Catholic woman. But that was the case in the February 8th issue, where you can find an article headlined “How a young activist is helping Pope Francis Battle Climate change. That young activist is Molly Burhans, and she’s today's guest. Molly is the founder and executive director of GoodLands, an organization created to enable the Catholic Church to use its extensive landholdings for good. She had the insight a few years ago that effective stewardship of Church-owned land could have an enormous positive impact on the environment given that the Church is one of the largest landholders in the world. Molly has made mapmaking her ministry. She talks about how she got her start, where her passion for this work comes from, and what keeps her charging ahead.

Jamie Kralovec’s work is deeply rooted in his faith and Ignatian spirituality, but he’s not a theologian or a youth minister. Jamie is an urban planner by trade, and he’s on the show today to convince you that caring about cities and urban parks and transit and zoning is a deeply Catholic endeavor. Jamie first saw the connections between urbanism and Catholicism while a high school student at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, and he has turned interest in that convergence into a career. In addition to teaching urban planning at Georgetown, he’s the associate director for mission integration at the university’s School for Continuing Studies. That word in his job title “integration” is such a perfect one to describe Jamie, who models how faith and justice go hand in hand. He’s one of the most Ignatian people you’ll ever meet and a bright, incisive guest. Read Jamie’s recent interview in US Catholic Magazine: https://uscatholic.org/articles/202104/urban-planning-is-an-inherently-catholic-practice/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

Cameron Bellm, a poet and columnist for Jesuits.org, explores the rich legacy of St. Ignatius of Loyola in a conversation brimming with insights. She shares the heartwarming story behind her viral Prayer for a Pandemic and its role in fostering community during isolation. With a PhD in Russian literature, Cameron links literary giants to Ignatian themes, enriching her poetic expressions. She introduces her e-book, Christ Plays in 10,000 Places, inviting listeners to embrace Ignatian spirituality with practical tips and encouragement.