AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

What words would you use to describe the American healthcare system?

Here are a few:

Broken. In need of healing. Confusing. Centered on making money. Enormous. Stressful. But also: full of compassionate professionals. Full of potential.

Our guest today would probably agree with these words. He might also add that our healthcare system is a privileged place to find God. The Jesuit priest Fr. Michael Rozier, SJ, is a scholar and professor of public health at Loyola University Chicago. He has a brand-new book out, which is titled “Growing Our Moral Imagination: Approaching Health Care with a New Faith-Based Vision.” It’s published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. The book combines elements of memoir, theological reflection, storytelling and commentary on health care challenges. And perhaps the most interesting part of the volume is how in each chapter, Fr. Rozier reimagines one of Jesus’ parables from the Gospels and applies it to healthcare issues today. This approach leads to chapters in the book with titles like “The Good Death of Lazarus,” “The Demons of Anxiety and Fear,” and the “Public Health Samaritan.”

It’s a fascinating read that host Mike Jordan Laskey can’t wait to recommend to the Catholic healthcare professionals he knows. It’s also a compelling read for anyone of faith who’s ever interacted with the healthcare system at all, which means pretty much all of us. You’ll love to hear Fr. Rozier’s passion for public health and the healing ministry of Jesus throughout our wide-ranging conversation.

Fr. Michael Rozier, SJ: https://www.luc.edu/parkinson/ourpeople/facultystaffprofiles/michaelroziersj.shtml

“Growing Our Moral Imagination”: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54073/growing-our-moral-imagination

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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Welcome to the third season of our annual series “Pathway to Priesthood”—a special podcast series from the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

In these conversations, host Eric Clayton talks with Jesuits who are in the final days of preparing for ordination to the priesthood. They reflect back on their vocation stories and experience of Jesuit formation and wrestle with some of the biggest questions surrounding priestly ordination.

On this episode, Eric talks with Nathan Krawetzke. Nathan is a Jesuit of the Midwest province. Originally from Erie, Michigan, Nathan’s Jesuit formation has brought him to the Red Cloud Indian School, to Hekima University in Nairobi, Kenya and on a variety of backpacking trips across the United States.

As you listen to Nathan’s stories and reflections, we invite you to consider whether you or someone you know might be interested in discerning a call to Jesuit life. If so, head over to beajesuit.org.

One of host Mike Jordan Laskey’s favorite things to do is to discover that a writer or other creative person whose work he loves has a Jesuit connection that makes them eligible to be a guest here on the show. Today’s guest is the music journalist Josh Terry, and he’s the latest addition to our “surprise Jesuit connection” list. Josh writes the music and culture email newsletter “No Expectations,” which Mike looks forward to receiving in his inbox every Thursday. Based in Chicago, Josh listens to an extraordinary amount of new music and writes about it in a way that’s perceptive, generous and a joy to read. It turns out Josh is a proud alum of Loyola University Chicago, and even more unexpectedly, it turns out his great uncle was Fr. Thomas Terry, SJ, a Jesuit priest who served as president of Santa Clara University from 1968 until 1976.

Mike asked Josh about his career in music criticism and journalism and what he thinks the role of the music critic is. They also talked about reasons a lot of people just don’t listen to much new music, and what Josh thinks of the common cultural narrative that music and other art forms just aren’t being made as well now as they used to be. Finally, Josh recommended three of his favorite relatively new artists to you might want to check out yourself.

Josh Terry's "No Expectations" newsletter: https://www.noexpectations.fyi/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/

There’s an old Latin saying about some of the famous male founders of religious orders. In translation, it goes like this: “Bernard loved the valleys; Benedict loved the mountains; Francis the towns; Ignatius loved great cities.”

So it’s probably no surprise that in the U.S., no city has more Jesuit schools than New York, which has nine total across all the educational levels. Our guest today, James Kennedy, is an alum of one of these schools – Regis High School, where he also taught and led fundraising efforts – and the current president of another. James is in his third year leading Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, which is a middle school serving low-income families of diverse races, ethnicities and faiths in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. BJP currently serves 100 students, both boys and girls, in grades 5 through 8. The entire student population is composed of students of color and 74% of them are either immigrants or first-generation Americans. Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked James to talk about the school’s history and what makes it a special place.

James also discussed how anti-immigrant polices and attitudes across our country today are affecting the BJP community and how they’re responding. It was a fascinating conversation about both Brooklyn Jesuit Prep and urban pre-secondary education more broadly. You’ll be struck by James’ passion and depth of insight.

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep: https://www.brooklynjesuit.org/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/

J.R.R. Tolkien is considered by many to be the father of modern fantasy. The vast world he created in Middle-earth is full of elves and orcs, magic and mystery, lore and legend, and more than a few pieces of troublesome jewelry. In addition to “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and “The Silmarillion,” Tolkien left a trove of hand-drawn maps and scribbled notes and half-started plotlines that have enchanted both casual reader and literary scholar alike.

It is well-known, too, that Tolkien was a serious Catholic; his faith inevitably affected his work. But unlike his contemporary, C.S. Lewis — the master and maker of other fantastical lands, most notably Narnia — Tolkien was loathe to thrust upon the reader his own allegorical message. He wanted readers to find their own way and their own meaning in his words.

All to say, Tolkien was still a man of profound faith. His Catholic imagination was still very much alive and well as he peopled Middle-earth, as he wove in themes of hope and redemption and mercy. The reader is not forced to adhere to a Catholic worldview while engaging Tolkiens’ writing; but for a Catholic — or Christian — with a desire to see it, there are spiritual insights to mine that can inform the workings of a Catholic life.

That is what Kaitlyn Facista set out to do in her new book from Ave Maria Press, “Into the Heart of Middle-Earth: Exploring Faith and Fellowship in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” And she’s well equipped to do it — she’s the founder of the online community Tea with Tolkien.

She’s our guest today. In our conversation — and in her book — Kaitlyn ferrets out key spiritual themes of Tolkien’s life and work and offers them to us for our own reflection. If you’re a fan of Tolkien, fantasy or just interested in applying a Catholic imagination to pop culture and literature, you’re going to enjoy today’s conversation.

If you’re interested in learning more about the book or Tea with Tolkien, check out the links below:

Tea with Tolkien: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/

Get the book: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/into-the-heart-of-middle-earth?srsltid=AfmBOoqAaxWrmwgG-H2PdFx4yAQPaK7eevhX5A_lyuvESJ8EKhXyHUkJ