Jesuitical - Podcast Rankings and reviews

Jesuitical is top notch in the quality of the show. The interviews are great and Zac and Ashley do not shy from the tough questions. I love my church and this podcast helps everyone who listens to become more educated and more thoughtful. Thanks!

I love the conversational tone of the hosts who have a sense of humor but also love of the faith and the Catholic church. They keep me informed about the latest news in the Catholic church and take a deep dive into many different interesting topics

I enjoy this podcast. I originally was interested in young Catholics - wondering if they actually exist. Zach is very knowledgeable and shares his faith with much depth and gives me hope! Ashley is obviously very intelligent and her nervousness comes out in giggles. Many times the giggles are during pretty serious topics. If she could work on that, it would benefit what she is discussing. Perhaps America is looking for that balance between the hosts. The topics are usually paramount to the day.

I’m really enjoying the podcast. I have recently been attending a Jesuit parish and appreciate this podcast helping me to get better acquainted with things Jesuit.

Really kind of shocked at how dismissive this podcast was of the very real reasons I and many others in my life left the church. I stumbled across this podcast helping my mom find another America podcast and found calm and grounding in an excellent episode about responding to political violence and tragedy. But the episode about why Catholics leave was both superficial and a bit insulting- that perhaps we just weren’t fully “in” the Church to begin with, as opposed to wrestling with very real questions about the nature of power, judgement and love, what it means to have a voice in a hierarchy of power and what it means to be always kept just outside, overlooked, or erased, and how that does or does not live up to (an interpretation of) Jesus’ teaching. Catholicism is not a “club” that I stepped away from because I didn’t feel people would notice if I left. It’s a frankly ongoing wrestling with what has become a fundamental disconnect with philosophies that once brought me great grounding, searching and solace. Perhaps this is no longer the place for me, and that is fine and well - but give those of us with a foot out the door a little credit, please. We didn’t leave because we want to have sex outside of marriage or take birth control, we left because of how fundamentally patriarchal the power structure is -in terms of who gets to participate in conversations of doctrine- because of how the abuse scandal was handled, of the implicit judgement of our queer friends and loved ones, because of points of difference of Biblical interpretation and because of judgement, the seeming obsession with what people are doing in their bedrooms at the expense of conversations on poverty, social and climate justice, and how to love humans deeply not just despite their failures but because of them, because love is what brings us closest to God. Of course, we can differ on what it means to love and what that looks like in practice, and that deserves lively and healthy conversation… but perhaps that’s also the rift. Anyway, Pope Francis time as Pope was the closest I’ve felt to my faith in a long time, and now St. Anthony is doing some serious heavy lifting (dude always comes through)!

Anyway, just don’t sell us short, ok? Maybe the church is not what we thought we were taught (k-12 Catholic school here, altar server). Maybe it’s moving away from the people we’ve become or maybe we moved away from it. Maybe it was just time to part ways amicably. Maybe I personally just didn’t find the right church. But we have our reasons, and it’s not because we were never “in” or didn’t feel part of the club.

Used to love this podcast and felt a sense of belonging listening to it as a left-leaning Catholic. Unfortunately, the first few episodes of this season have made me realize that this podcast is no longer for me. Ashley is frequently talking about being frustrated with people on the left and a lot of the Jesuit-ness of the show seems to have gotten lost. Really recommend Fr. James Martin’s newish podcast to anyone in a similar position to me!