AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

How do you pray with the stars? That’s the question underpinning today’s conversation with returning guest, Br. Guy Consolmagno. Guy is a Jesuit brother and director of the Vatican Observatory. He’s also the author of the new book, “A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars: Exploring Wonder, Beauty and Science.” As you’ll soon learn, Br. Guy is infinitely quotable. Let me give you an example. He writes, “To me, miracles have nothing to do with scientific laws. Rather, a miracle is any remarkable sign that serves to direct our attention to God.” For Br. Guy, that’s what his work in planetary science is all about: How do we better understand God? How do we better see God at work in our world? If you’ve heard Br. Guy speak before, you know he sees no conflict between science and religion. Rather, they’re different forms of knowing, different ways of coming into contact with our God of the universe. What does it mean to pray with the stars? Br. Guy tells the story of how many folks often ask him to explain what the star of Bethlehem was. Stars are his thing, right? He should know! But Br. Guy, true to that quote I read above, isn’t interested in collapsing science into religion or vice versa. What’s the star of Bethlehem? Whatever leads us closer to Christ. But that’s not all. We also talk about how formative science fiction and fantasy have been for Br. Guy’s vocation and about that one time he met William Shatner. Get Br. Guy's book: https://store.loyolapress.com/a-jesuits-guide-to-the-stars Learn more about the Vatican Observatory: https://www.vaticanobservatory.va/en/

Fr. Bill McCormick, SJ, is a political scientist by trade and a current writer at the Vatican-sponsored, Jesuit-run journal La Civiltà Cattolica in Rome. Host Mike Jordan Laskey invited him onto the podcast for a special bonus episode on this moment of transition for the Catholic Church. They discussed the current mood in Rome; Pope Francis’ legacy; the Society of Jesus’ special connection to the papacy through its history; how Ignatian spirituality might inform our approach to the conclave and this period of change; what it means to believe the Holy Spirit is guiding the conclave without whispering a name into the cardinals’ ears; the papacy and celebrity culture; and more. We wanted to bring it to you before the conclave begins on Wednesday, and we hope it will help you get into the right frame of mind and heart in this very full, liminal period of time. For further reading, courtesy of Fr. Bill: Bishop Erik Varden, https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/bishop-varden-were-never-passive Fr. James Martin, SJ, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/04/28/conclave-francis-new-pope-father-james-martin-250502 Fr. Raymond De Souza, https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2025/04/26/the-liturgical-deaths-of-popes/ Fr. Bill's work at America Magazine: https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/bill-mccormick-sj Fr. Bill's work at La Civiltà Cattolica: https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/author/william-mccormick/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. www.jesuits.org/ www.beajesuit.org/ twitter.com/jesuitnews facebook.com/Jesuits instagram.com/wearethejesuits youtube.com/societyofjesus www.jesuitmedialab.org/

Even though Easter started ten days ago now, the season continues for a full 50 days. So we will wish you a happy Easter and encourage you to keep that going for a few weeks, even if it confuses your friends and neighbors. Last month, as the famous cherry blossoms hit their peak bloom in Washington, DC, host Mike Jordan Laskey sat down in our studio with Emma Hudson, the director of the incredible Jesuit audio prayer resource called Pray As You Go. As you’ll hear from her accent, Emma is English, and while Pray As You Go is a project of the Jesuits in Britain, well more than half their regular listeners are here in the US and Canada. You can bring Pray As You Go into your own daily prayer life by downloading their app or subscribing to their feed wherever you get podcasts. Trust us, you’ll be glad you did. Anyway, Emma was in the U.S. with a great Polish filmmaker named Miko Cemplaj to do some filming for Pray As You Go projects. Mike roped her into recording this Easter episode with me. The prompt was to have a draft of signs of Easter hope. Mike had to explain the concept of a draft to Emma, which has roots in American sports. They don’t have amateur drafts in English sports, see, so Mike had to lay it out for her. But Mike and Emma found it was a spiritually helpful exercise to talk about signs of hope, especially when the world around us can feel not-that-hopeful pretty frequently. Hope is something you have to work at even when you’re not feeling it. We know that can feel naïve, especially given global events these days and the recent death of Pope Francis, but we don’t know what else we can do. Maybe our conversation will prompt you to think about signs of hope in your own life these days. Eastertide blessings from all of us here at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. Pray As You Go: https://prayasyougo.org/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. www.jesuits.org/ www.beajesuit.org/ twitter.com/jesuitnews facebook.com/Jesuits instagram.com/wearethejesuits youtube.com/societyofjesus www.jesuitmedialab.org/

Fr. Brian Paulson, SJ, the president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, reflects on the legacy and witness of Pope Francis. Fr. Paulson and host Mike Jordan Laskey discussed the Holy Father's pastoral style, his Ignatian spirit, his approach to leadership, and some of the Pope's decisions that will likely affect the Catholic Church for years to come. Fr. Brian Paulson, SJ: https://www.jesuits.org/profile/brian-paulson-s-j/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. www.jesuits.org/ www.beajesuit.org/ twitter.com/jesuitnews facebook.com/Jesuits instagram.com/wearethejesuits youtube.com/societyofjesus www.jesuitmedialab.org/

In this final episode of "The Work of Lent," Fr. Eric Immel, SJ, accompanies us through Holy Week to Easter and challenges our assumptions about suffering.

On this episode of our limited series, "The Work of Lent," we talk to Mike Jordan Laskey, director of communications for the Jesuit Conference and Jesuit Media Lab, about Lent as a time of reconciliation.

The art of discernment is a hallmark feature of Ignatian spirituality. From the moment Ignatius began to differentiate between consolations and desolations during his eleven-month convalescence in Loyola to today, Jesuits and lay collaborators have been mining the depths of what it means to listen to and act on God’s invitation in our lives. Today, we get a crash course in discernment. Fr. Mark Thibodeaux—renown spiritual author, Jesuit priest and the pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church in New Orleans—is back on the pod to talk about his newest book, “Discern: Listening for God’s Whispers.” Fr. Mark is a modern-day master of the Ignatian spiritual tradition. As you listen to this conversation, I invite to really bring his ideas into your own prayer. We’re all constantly tasked with making decision—big, small and otherwise. Ignatian discernment can be a big help, no matter where you are in your own vocational journey. Get your copy of "Discern" here: https://store.loyolapress.com/discern

I’m not much of a fan of horror films. But I do love speculative storytelling — of which horror is a sub-genre. Even more, I love using stories of pop culture to dive deeper into faith, spirituality and the nuances of scripture. Which is how we’ve arrived at today’s horror-themed episode. Fr. Ryan Duns — a Jesuit priest and professor at Marquette University — has a new book out from the University of Notre Dame Press called “Theology of Horror: The Hidden Depths of Popular Films.” Throughout the book, Fr. Duns invites us to reflect more deeply on what horror reveals about our real world, our spiritual selves and the God who is present in all of it. There was one particularly stirring moment in this conversation that I’ve come back to again and again. Fr. Duns is reflecting on the role of the monster in these stories. Whatever the tale, the monster interrupts the status quo, business as usual, whatever constitutes normal and consequently leaves characters scrambling to put the pieces back in place. These sort of horror films are about killing the monster, killing the thing that disrupts our accepted understanding of how the world works so as to continue living as we always have. Now here’s the kicker: Jesus is the monster. Right? In the story of scripture — and in our world today — the ideas that Jesus represents, the Good News he comes to bring of hope and healing and compassion and mercy disrupt the status quo. What do the characters in the story do? They kill the monster. And they try to pretend the whole thing never happened, that what Jesus said and pointed to and called us to take on was a lie. I’m struck by this, particularly as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter. Because we know that Jesus isn’t dead, the new world he pointed to is real, and nothing can ever be the same again. And so, what will we do as a result? What part do we play in this proverbial horror story? If that idea piques your interest, then buckle up. Get the book: https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268208554/theology-of-horror/

In this episode of our limited Lenten series, Sr. Erin McDonald, CSJ, digital youth minister for the Congregation of St. Joseph and co-host of the "Beyond the Habit" podcast challenges us to hope.

If you’ve ever eaten at a university dining hall or at an airport bar or in a corporate cafeteria, you have relied on the labor of thousands and thousands of people whose work often goes unseen. Our guest today spends his own working hours fighting to make sure those food service workers are paid fairly and have access to good benefits and safe working conditions. Chuck Hendricks is the food service lead director for UNITE HERE, a labor union in the US and Canada that has about 300,000 active members. Chuck is also the board president of a group called the Catholic Labor Network, which promotes the cause of workers and Catholic social teaching in labor unions, parishes and other organizations. It was really fun to welcome Chuck into our Washington, DC, studio to talk about his work, his history with organized labor, and how his spiritual journey led him to the Catholic Church. You may or may not be familiar with the Catholic tradition’s deep history of supporting worker’s rights and unionizing. Back in 1891, Pope Leo XIII published the first modern papal encyclical on social justice issues. It was called “Rerum Novarum” and it emphasized the rights of workers in the wake of the often-dehumanizing Industrial Revolution. In his service with the Catholic Labor Network, Chuck has found a holistic way to support workers by practicing his faith. We think you’ll really like getting to know him and learning about the contemporary labor movement. "I came to the Church because the Church came to the workers" by Chuck Hendricks: https://catholiclabor.org/i-came-to-the-church-because-the-church-came-to-the-workers/ The Catholic Labor Network: https://catholiclabor.org/ AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. www.jesuits.org/ www.beajesuit.org/ twitter.com/jesuitnews facebook.com/Jesuits instagram.com/wearethejesuits youtube.com/societyofjesus www.jesuitmedialab.org/