It’s the end of an era. As you heard on last week’s episode, our cohost Olga Segura is leaving America Media, and therefore Jesuitical, to freelance full-time and work on a book on race, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Catholic Church, which will be published in 2021.

To quote from Olga’s farewell newsletter for Patreon supporters:

James Baldwin—my answer to “Who would you canonize” during our first live show and my favorite writer—once wrote, “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” You—Ashley, Zac, my producer Eloise Blondiau and our listeners—helped me to remove the cover I often hid behind. I stopped code-switching and I stopped being afraid of who I was: an Afro-Latina writer in the Catholic world.

Olga offered sharp and thoughtful commentary on ecclesial and secular affairs, advocated for justice and vulnerably shared her true self with us and our listeners.

Change is hard, and this will not be easy for any of us. Olga provided a unique and necessary voice in the Catholic media, and especially so on Jesuitical. Moreover, will anyone keep the peace between Ashley and Zac?

In this special episode, we skip the Signs of the Times and Consolations and Desolations to devote an entire conversation to Olga and her work at America.

We’ll miss you Olga. Come back and visit us soon.

Love,
Zac and Ashley