What is preaching and what is it for? The Rev. Lynn Barger Elliott, a fourth-generation Presbyterian pastor, brings the wisdom of that legacy to remind us that preaching takes root in lived experience and recalls how witnessing her mom undergo back surgery gave new insight into a passage from Hebrews.
Podcasts
America offers a number of podcasts. To learn more about each individual podcast series and subscribe for free, please visit http://americamagazine.org/podcasts
Podcast: We need to talk about ‘hot priests’
This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian unpack the trend of “hot priests” on social media with Maggie Phillips, a contributing writer for Tablet Magazine.
Pope Leo meets James Martin, SJ; discusses LGBT ministry
This week, America’s Senior Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell and Vatican Correspondent Colleen Dulle unpack two significant meetings Pope Leo XIV held this week, then Gerry interviews Colleen about her new book.
Ronald Rolheiser on the spirituality of ‘sticking with it’ and priestly celibacy
Father Rolheiser’s approach helps us see celibacy not simply as an ascetic practice for the sake of denying ourselves but as intentional solidarity with the loneliest people in the world.
Father James Martin on what he learned from the youngest woman at the Synod
Julia Oseka was the youngest woman delegate at the Synod on Synodality in Rome—and held her own in conversations with patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, lay men and women theologians.
Ross Douthat and Father James Martin on God’s role in suffering
God does not make us suffer in order to teach us lessons. Rather, if we are open to it, and with God’s grace, we will learn from experiences of suffering.
Martin Scorsese on imaginative prayer and being a Catholic filmmaker
You don’t have to be a world-famous filmmaker to get something out of imaginative prayer.
Is there an ‘upside’ to aging? Sister Joyce Rupp thinks so.
Nothing in my life has been as freeing as the realization that not everyone is going to love, like or approve of me.
What is spiritual desolation—and how does God get us out of it?
“The definition of desolation is notoriously slippery,” Father James Martin writes. “It is not simply a period of dryness in prayer, which is common to everyone.”
Father James Martin and Anthea Butler on the problem with the prosperity gospel
If we imagine ourselves as satisfying a God who will “give us” things only if we do the “right things,” then our relationship with God becomes less a friendship and more a chore.
