Podcasts

Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., reports on Contemplative Leaders in Action, an initiative of the Jesuit Collaborative. CLIA “is designed to nurture faith-centered leaders so they can impact society and culture.” The program comprises retreats, lecture, study, and service work, and brings together young people from a variety of professions. Fr. Hendrickson is chaplain to the CLIA […]

John W. O’Malley, S.J., the esteemed Georgetown University historian, compares the role of theologians at the Council of Trent to the Second Vatican Council. At Trent, the theologians were not pre-selected by the pope, and represented a wide array of theological opinion. Theologians gave extended lectures to the assembled bishops, who then made decisions based […]

The editors discuss the coming Mass translations and whether or not Catholic are allowed to criticize them; the outpouring of grief following Steve Jobs’ death and what it says about the spiritual needs of our society; and the surprising religious language used to describe the Occupy Wall Street protests. Read Fr. Jim Martin’s blog post […]

Dr. Christine Firer Hinze is a professor of Christian ethics and the director of the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University. She was one of the organizers of a recent conference called “Learning to Listen: Voices of Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church.” The conference was the first of […]

James Martin, S.J., explains why joy and laughter are essential to the spiritual life and why they have been too often neglected in the church. Discussing his new book, Between Heaven and Mirth, Fr. Martin retells some humorous stories from the Bible, and remembers the lives of light-hearted saints like Philip Neri. He also shares […]

In this week’s podcast Associate Editor Kerry Weber interviews Mary Karr, a poet and author of three memoirs. The most recent of these is the bestselling Lit, which describes her struggle with alcoholism and her eventual conversion to Catholicism. Kerry Weber spoke with Karr from the author’s apartment in Manhattan. Read Timothy W. O’Brien’s essay […]

Associate Editors Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., and Kerry Weber join Tim Reidy for a conversation about Manning Marable’s new biography of Malcolm X. Read Fr. Schroth’s review of Marable’s book in the September 26 issue. Also discussed: the controversial memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—why does he look so serious?—and David Brooks’ recent column […]

Jesuit scholastics Kevin Spinale and Tim O’Brien join Tim Reidy for a discussion of Peter De Vries’ 1961 novel The Blood of the Lamb. In this tragicomic tour de force, De Vries chronicles the life of Don Wanderhope, a Calvinist from Chicago who works as a garbageman and spends his nights necking in city parks. […]

Brian B. Pinter offers an intriguing account of his experiences teaching the Bible to Catholics in parishes in New York. A small but vocal minority of parishioners have taken issue with the historical/critical approach he espouses, preferring instead a literal account of Genesis and other Biblical stories. Pinter explains why some Catholics may be taken […]

Historian David O’Brien talks about how September 11 marked a turning point in his identity as an historian and “Americanist” and how impressed he was by the stories of courage and love that grew from that day. In a second interview, Fr. Robert Robbins describes his role in inter-religious relations in New York in the […]