Jesuitical

Are you working out for the body of a god? What about the body of a convict? Meet Coss Marte, our guest this week. After being arrested at 19 for running a multimillion dollar drug trade in New York City, Coss was sent to prison. There, doctors told him that his health problems and weight could kill him within a few years. After dropping 70 pounds in six months, and helping train other convicts to make dramatic changes, Coss also experienced a religious revival in a moment of desperation. Now Coss is the head of ConBody: a gym that offers prison-style bootcamp classes taught by formerly incarcerated trainers. We’ll be talking with Coss about how ConBody was developed, how his faith helped him while incarcerated and his prison reform activism. After, we’ve got consolations and desolations, where we tell you where we did or didn’t find God this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is it about habits and cassocks that capture the imagination of even secular audiences? Mix those priests and nuns with a murder mystery and you’ve got a ready-made hit. Netflix’s Emmy-nominated documentary series “The Keepers,” begins with the story of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a beloved Catholic high school teacher, who was murdered in 1969 and whose case remains unsolved. But it quickly evolves into something much larger: an excruciating investigation into clerical sex abuse at the school. This week, we talk to Nick Ripatrazone about the series—and ask why it is important for Catholics to watch shows and films that expose the church’s sins. And in Signs of the Times, a message from the Holy Father: Stop complaining! At least to the pope. Save it for the Lord; he’s much more patient. Next, a Catholic priest in [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re going back to college. That means Natty Light, hook-ups and figuring out “gluten” is. This week our guest is Kerry Cronin, professor of philosophy at Boston College. She teaches her students, among other things, about the pitfalls of hookup culture and the dos and don’ts of Catholic dating. She frequently makes headlines (like this one: Ask Someone on a Date—or Kerry Cronin Will Fail You) because of an unorthodox assignment she includes in her classes: asking someone on a date. Like, a real date. So we discuss with Kerry what it’s like to date in college and beyond; we also break open the perennial debate of Tinder vs. Catholic Match. (Swipe right for Jesus!) In Signs of the Times, we break down the Vatican’s (not-so-new) rules on gluten-free Communion; pasta made to strangle priests; God propping up Stephen Colbert’s ratings; and the Cathol [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the United States celebrated the Fourth of July: a day where people gather with friends and families, drinking Budweisers and eating hot dogs. This week’s episode reflects on the state of the country. Our own Zac Davis wrote “Donald Trump’s sins are our sins, too, and impeachment won’t absolve them,” which we discuss in conversation about American exceptionalism and more. This week we chat about the new survey released by the Vatican in anticipation of next year’s Synod 2018 on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. What does it mean to be a “young person” in the church? And how do you minister to the different age ranges within this demographic? We discuss this and more with Danny Gustafson. And finally, in a special consolations-only segment, we tell you where we find hope in the [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk Latina identity, journalism and more with Juleyka Lantigua-Williams. She is the former senior supervising producer and editor of NPR’s Code Switch and a former staff writer at The Atlantic. She has covered issues ranging from women’s rights at home and abroad, environmental justice, U.S. immigration policy, poverty, maternal health, early childhood development and demographic changes. Lantigua-Williams is also the founder of Lantigua Williams & Co., a production company that seeks to amplify the “voices of organizations, people and projects that have a real sense of social justice.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking about mental health isn’t easy. And when you throw faith into the mix it often becomes even harder. Many Catholics mistakenly think that needing mental health treatment amounts to a kind of spiritual failure. This week, we talk with writer Simcha Fisher, author of The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, about how she learned to balance her Catholic faith and therapy. And in Signs of the Times, for our listeners who have been anxiously awaiting an update, the stolen relic of St. John Bosco has been found—inside a teapot! In papal news, Pope Francis urges parents to “stop pretending to be adolescents”; and he meets with NFL legends. We also  talk about Britanny Hamama, a University of Michigan ju [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Father James Martin tells us why he was disappointed with how many church leaders spoke about the Orlando attack (very few uttered the word “gay”)—and what he’s doing to change the conversation within the church between the hierarchy and L.G.B.T. Catholics. (This being the prolific Jim Martin, there is a new book involved.) Zac Davis is in China. Sad! But we have found a Jesuit Zach to take his seat. Zach with an H works in prisons and with the formally incarcerated in New York City and we so enjoyed his company that we invited him to come back next week. In Signs of the Times: Who wore it better, Francis or JPII? According to the tailors and cobblers of Rome, papal fashion is changing under ou [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you keep your sanity while covering the news in the Trump era? This week we’re talking with NPR congressional correspondent, host of the NPR Politics Podcast and proud Fordham alum Scott Detrow. Scott has some great tips for keeping up with the news without drowning in it. Pro-tip: Listen to jesuitical while bike riding. Church can help, too. In this week’s Signs of the Times, our self-described “tone deaf” pope belts out some hymns while at Mass with Charismatic Catholics, and our self-described “evangelical Catholic” vice president says, “American Catholics have an ally in President Trump.” Next, it has been said, “You can take away a relic of Don Bosco, but you can’t take away Don Bosco from the church or the world.” Wel [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I had at least thought there would be nobility in war. I know it exists. There are so many stories, and some of them have to be true. But I see mostly normal men, trying to do good, beaten down by horror, by their inability to quell their own rages, by their masculine posturing and their so-called hardness, their desire to be tougher, and therefore crueler, than their circumstance. And yet, I have this sense that this place is holier than back home. Gluttonous, fat, oversexed, overconsuming, materialist home, where we’re too lazy to see our own faults.” That’s just a sample of the stinging and raw prose found in Phil Klay’s collection of short stories, Redeployment. Klay, a veteran of the Iraq war and recipient of the National Book Award, sat down with us to talk about Memorial Day, why we find it diffi [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the word “rabbi” stand for? Is a priest just the Catholic version of one? If you’ve ever had these questions, this week’s episode is just for you. We talk Judaism 101, “radical hospitality” and more with Rabbi Avram Mlotek. In Signs of the Times, Pope Francis selects five new Cardinals; Haitians in the United States get temporary protected status extensions; and Vice President Mike Pence and Greg Boyle speak at the Notre Dame Commencement. And, in what is slowly becoming the “Zac Davis Wonders Why This Is Interesting” section, we discuss “The Bachelorette.” Finally, the meeting everyone has been excitedly and anxiously awaiting: President Donald J. Trump and Pope Francis meet at the Vatican, or as we like to call it, PRUMP 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices