The Spiritual Life Article: Whoopi Goldberg
Editor’s note: “The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.,” is a new podcast from America Media that focuses on how people experience God in their prayer and their daily lives. Launched on June 17, 2025, the show combines practical wisdom with deep reflections from spiritual masters like Joyce Rupp and Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, and well-known seekers such as Stephen Colbert and Whoopi Goldberg—all tracing the mystery of God’s activity in their own lives. To accompany each episode, Father Martin will reflect on the experience and offer practical advice on a few spiritual themes. You can listen to all episodes of “The Spiritual Life” here.
Columns like this one, written by Father Martin, will accompany each episode. After this first column, they will be available exclusively to subscribers. Click here to explore all subscription options from America magazine.
Did you know that Whoopi Goldberg was raised Catholic? I didn’t, until I met her a few weeks after I had helped to arrange an audience for comedians at the Vatican last summer. Of course, I had known and admired her work as an actor, most notably in “Sister Act.” But I had enjoyed her wit even before that, when she was doing stand-up work in the 1980s.
When she told me of her time at St. Columba’s Catholic School in Manhattan, however, I was surprised. This is one of the things we spoke about during our podcast conversation. I was also finally able to ask one of the most famous movie-sisters about the real-life sisters who inspired her. One of them was Sister Jeanne, who embodied joy, laughter and the freedom to “act the fool” as part of a healthy spiritual life. For Whoopi, Sister Jeanne effectively countered the stereotype of Catholicism, or religion in general, as dour or joyless. In our conversation, we also talk about how this connects to the Jesus we meet in the Gospels, a man who laughed and celebrated life.
Sister Jeanne, she said, “wanted you to know that there’s nothing wrong with laughing and dancing and and acting the fool, you know? ’Cause God’s O.K. with that.”
But our conversation touched on more than just sisters and “Sister Act.” Whoopi spoke movingly about the circuitous faith journey that she has been on since she was young. She says, “We come to it as we come to it,” acknowledging that the spiritual life unfolds differently for everyone. And as with many people these days, it was the TV series “The Chosen” that helped her to understand the humanity—the reality—of Jesus. “People looked like people from my neighborhood…. And it was the first time ever that I felt, oh, we are there. We are here. We’re all part of this.”
Whoopi emphasizes that God already knows her fully—her flaws, her gifts and everything in between—and that there’s no need to pretend or fear judgment from God. Authenticity, before others and before God, is key for her spirituality. The real struggle, she says, is with herself, especially when she falls short of being the person she aspires to be. This highlights a spiritual insight for all of us, that faith is about being authentic and honest before God, recognizing our imperfection and seeking to grow rather than pretending to be flawless.
We’re all “coming to it,” as she might say, and I hope that our conversation helps you to find God in your own journey.
