Voices
Jim McDermott, Los Angeles Correspondent
Jim McDermott, S.J., studied literature at Marquette and Harvard University and Old Testament and Liturgy at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. A former teacher at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Associate Editor at America, Father McDermott recently
@PopCulturPriest
Articles By Jim McDermott
Arts & Culture Culture
Disney parks want us to escape reality, but real-world conflicts are sometimes unavoidable
Jim McDermottJuly 13, 2017
Last month, Disney announced that it would remove the "wench auction" from its popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Some fans were not happy.
Courtesy of Netflix
Arts & Culture Television
‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ invites us to the land of the happy fools
Jim McDermottJune 28, 2017
‘Kimmy’ takes on everything about life that is hard and makes it all so much bigger and more absurd.
Faith Dispatches
Want to keep your homilies fresh? Take a page from Louis C. K.
Jim McDermottJune 27, 2017
I’ve only been a priest for 13 years. How could I possibly be at the point that I am just recycling ideas?
Los Angeles ordinations in 2017. Photo courtesy of the Jesuit Conference.
Faith Dispatches
The Francis effect on Jesuit mergers: Being more present and going to the margins
Jim McDermottJune 21, 2017
The consolidation is a work in progress. The brethren have mixed feelings about it, and their provincials know it.
Protesters gather outside the White House in Washington on June 1 to protest President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the Unites States from the Paris climate change accord. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Politics & Society Dispatches
Paris Agreement or not, ‘Laudato Si’’ moves ahead in the Diocese of Monterey
Jim McDermottJune 05, 2017
In parts of the U.S. church 'Laudato Si'' has sparked creativity and innovation with impacts not so easily set aside. One such experiment is the Diocese of Monterey’s advocacy of Community Choice Energy.
Politics & Society Dispatches
The extraordinary life of China’s Jesuit Mr. Rogers
Jim McDermottJune 02, 2017
George “Jerry” Martinson, S.J., was one of the most significant Jesuits to work in China since World War II and almost certainly the most well known.
Faith Dispatches
In California, prison chaplains wanted—and wanting
Jim McDermottMay 22, 2017
Given the number of those in the California legal system today who are Latino, “you can guess a large percentage of them are Catholic.”
Kyle MacLachlan in Showtime's relaunch of "Twin Peaks" (photo: CBS)
Arts & Culture Television
"Twin Peaks" returns with despair, wonder and damn fine coffee
Jim McDermottMay 17, 2017
Our lives, “Twin Peaks” suggested, are far weirder than we generally care to consider, more ridiculous and more frightening
Politics & Society Dispatches
Will Hawaii prove a sanctuary for undocumented people?
Jim McDermottMay 05, 2017
“So far we do not know of anybody on Oahu that has been visited by ICE or picked up.”
Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) and Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) in "American Gods" 
Arts & Culture Television
'American Gods' explores the power of belief
Jim McDermottMay 01, 2017
“American Gods” looks primed to deliver interesting meditations on belief, as well as visually sumptuous storytelling.