Jesuitical

This week on a special, interview-only episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian talk with James Martin, S.J., editor at large for America, about his new memoir Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest. 

Ashley, Sebastian and Father Jim discuss:


The differences in writing an autobiography vs. a book on prayer


Balancing ambition and meaning


Jim’s eventual decision to choose a life and career in the Jesuits

 Links for further reading: 


Buy Father Jim’s book here


Father James Martin: Lessons from mowing lawns, riding bikes and a fateful walk to school


Check out the book’s Spotify playlist here

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Timecodes

0:00 Jim Martin has a new book: “Work in Progress”

2:13 Why Jim decided to write an autobiography on his jobs

8:19 The importance of menial labor and service 

11:45 Getting free of our desire to be liked and popular

16:36 How Jim learned to distinguish ambition v. meaning

21:14 The impact of Thomas Merton on Jim’s spiritual life

25:30 Jim’s first mystical experience in the beauty of nature

35:36 Called to the Jesuits

42:15 Jim would canonize Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J.

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This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian sit down with Kristen Gilger, author of My Son, The Priest: A Mother’s Crisis of Faith and her son, Patrick Gilger, S.J., to discuss their interwoven journeys of faith.

0:00 Critiquing our ashes

3:00 Pope Leo's first Ash Wednesday

4:35 Vatican won't join "Board of Peace"

5:50 St. Peter's has a new snack bar!

8:10 Kristin's shock when Paddy joined the Jesuits

16:58 The challenges of poverty, chastity and obedience

22:00 Giving up marriage and a family

34:45 Cafeteria Catholicism

38:35 Reconciliation without agreement

45:10 Being open to change

50:22 Catholicism's lingering appeal

1:04:25 Faith sharing: love your enemies

 Links for further reading: 

My son became a priest. I still felt conflicted about God and religion.

Buy Kristen’s Book: My Son, The Priest: A Mother’s Crisis of Faith

Pope Leo on Ash Wednesday: It’s ‘rare to find adults who repent’

Vatican will not join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, Cardinal Parolin says

Vatican expands visitor experience at St. Peter’s Basilica to mark 400th anniversary

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This week on a pre-Mardi Gras episode “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian speak with Dr. Ansel Augustine. Ansel is the assistant director for African American affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the author of Praying with Our Feet: Encountering God in the Margins. They discuss the harrowing and sacred culture of the Black Masking Indians of Mardi Gras.

0:00 Mardi Gras!

4:00 New York City has a new bishop

10:17 Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified

11:44 Catholic leaders respond to racist post

13:50 Villanova and Notre Dame bball in Rome!

15:14 History of Black masking culture

21:24 African Americans made Catholicism their own

24:02 Mardi Gras as sacred ritual

27:00 Tribal competition

29:10 Black and Indian cultural encounter

31:30 Hurricane Katrina is an open wound

34:04 The art of feasting

37:32 Diversity ministry is a challenge

45:24 Lenten resources and practices for 2026!

Links for further reading: 

CRS Rice Bowl Website

Development and Peace – Caritas Canada Solidarity Calendar 2026 

101 Things To Give Up For Lent

On Mardi Gras, Catholics should celebrate the faith and resilience of the New Orleans Black Masking Indians

You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow.  

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Bishop Kevin Kenney was born in Minneapolis and has ministered to Latino communities there for years. Now an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he speaks to America about the realities facing Latino Catholics on the ground and what the Catholic Church is doing to support them.

0:00 ICE outside churches and schools

4:45 How the Catholic Church is responding

10:00 Targeting criminals only?

11:45 Preaching during the crisis

15:12 Ministering to ICE

16:45 Latinos have enriched Minneapolis

18:53 Longterm effects

23:45 Pope Leo and prioritizing immigration

34:00 What Bishop Kenney is praying for

Links for further reading: 

⁠Twin Cities pastors preach on the killing of Alex Pretti: ‘We are walking in darkness and living in fear’ ⁠

⁠I’m a Minnesota Catholic mom. Here’s what my neighbors are saying about ICE⁠

⁠No more funding for ICE without reform. Congress must act⁠

⁠Bishop Tyson: Not all are called to be martyrs like Alex Pretti. But we can be witnesses⁠

Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund

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This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian sit down with Patrick Kelly, S.J. Father Pat holds the Heider Chair at Creighton University and is an expert in the theology of Sports.

Then, in a special faith sharing segment, the hosts speak with Patrick Hyde, O.P., a Dominican priest and the pastor of St. Paul Catholic Center at Indiana University, about recent Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza. Fernando, the quarterback of the IU football team, has been outspoken about his Catholic faith and is a frequent attendee of masses at St. Paul Center.

0:00 Olympics or Super Bowl?
5:40 Sports and the Vatican
9:02 Playing sports vs. the spiritual life
14:50 Why athletes praise God
20:20 Sports and superstition
32:30 Sports, society and polarization
39:31 Being Catholic at Indiana U
45:00 Ministering to Fernando Mendoza
52:12 Healthy (and unhealthy) fandom
 Links for further reading: 

Father Pat’s book, “Play, Sport and Spirit”

These Olympic athletes are leaning on Christian faith going into the Winter Games

Pope Leo adds feast day of St. John Henry Newman to universal calendar

Pope Leo, Archbishop Coakley urge renewal of last US-Russia nuclear treaty

You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow.  

You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/jesuitical. Please consider supporting Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe
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