Church Meets World is proud to share the latest podcast in the America Media family: Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols. Subscribe to the entire Hark! podcast series online, on apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It is hard to imagine a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve without Silent Night. Musicians may treat it differently—singing it a cappella, with spare chords on the organ in the background, or to the gentle picking of a guitar as its creators intended—but it is universally cherished. Its basic three-chord structure makes it a cinch to play and its lilting ..read more

What does it mean to be ruined for life? Join America’s summer intern Amelia Jarecke, as she follows three young women who have spent the last year serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. They wrestle with lots of challenges, like: How do you live on a $100 month? Can you live simply and gluten-free without breaking the bank? How do you reconcile being Catholic and bisexual? What happens when your prayer life dries up? And what does it mean to take the Pedro Arrupe prayer seriously- and let your love for the world define everything? Related links: Jesuit Volunteers Corps ..read more

Three years ago, a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report described in graphic detail the abuse of over 1,000 minors at the hands of more than 300 priests. Then, Theodare McCarrick, an influential cardinal in the American Church, was found credibly accused of abusing minors and adult seminarians. For survivors, the news was painful, yet validating. How did this second wave of scandal–the news of both abuse and cover up–affect the Catholic faithful more broadly? What do they  believe caused the crisis? Did the Grand Jury report and news about McCarrick impact their faith and affiliation with the C ..read more

As the world went into lockdown, the residents at Terence Cardinal Cooke–a Catholic nursing home and rehabilitation center run by the Archdiocese of New York–did too. Many seniors required long-term care while others had only expected to stay for a short period of recovery. The pandemic changed everyone’s experience. Ricardo da Silva, S.J., an associate editor at America, takes us through the center to hear from the residents who not only survived Covid but persevered through a year of extreme isolation from family, friends and loved ones. Hear their stories and where they were able to find wh ..read more

In 1838, to save itself from financial ruin, the Jesuits at Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved persons. It’s a shameful piece of history and one that the Jesuits are reckoning with like many other communities and institutions today. But the bill of sale that has been recently recovered has enabled thousands of descendants to discover their ancestry and reunite for a better future. And the Jesuits have pledged $100 million to a partnership with those descendants called, the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. And while this marks one of the largest collaborations of its ..read more

Should college athletes get paid? That’s the question we’re exploring in today’s episode of Church Meets World. It was written, produced and narrated by Kevin Jackson and based on a feature he wrote last year called, “Should colleges pay their athletes? What Catholic social teaching has to say.” This episode of Church Meets World is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Sign up for The Great Courses Plus and get an entire month of unlimited access to thousands of video and audio courses from the world’s best professors by visiting http://thegreatcoursesplus.com/cmw ..read more

On January 6th, 2021, a violent mob, incited by President Trump, stormed the US Capitol. They were there to disrupt Congress as it was certifying the election of Joe Biden. The mob overwhelmed the capitol police and made their way into the offices and chambers, as elected officials ran for safety. In conversation with Fr. Matt Malone, America’s Editor in Chief, Fr. Bryan Massingale says the insurrection was a direct result of four years of lies from Donald Trump. This interview first aired as a video on America Media’s YouTube channel and has been reformatted for podcast with additional commen ..read more

Is your relationship with work undermining all the other goods in your life? If so, you might have what Jonathan Malesic calls a “demonic work ethic.” He’s not alone in saying so. After years of academic burnout, Jonathan made a trip to the Christ in the Desert monastery, where the Benedictine monks helped him rediscover the sacred rhythms of work and rest. Everyone from Thomas Aquinas to Annie Dillard has written about the importance of leisure, and yet, Catholic Ethicist Conor Kelly says that for most of us, our fast-paced, capitalist culture makes free time an afterthought. And we certainly ..read more

On January 20, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will make history in several ways: He received over 74 million votes, surpassing any presidential candidate in history. Biden is the oldest person and only the second Catholic to become president. And his running mate, Kamala Harris, is the first woman and first woman of color to hold the office of the Vice President. But beyond the polls, numbers and issues, Biden’s Catholic faith has become a subject of great interest. So we’re sharing an interview from 2015 that America Media’s editor-in-chief Fr. Matt Malone did with then Vice President Joe Bi ..read more

Should college athletes get paid? That’s the question we’re exploring in today’s episode of Church Meets World. It was written, produced and narrated by Kevin Jackson and based on a feature he wrote last year called, “Should colleges pay their athletes? What Catholic social teaching has to say.” This episode of Church Meets World is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Sign up for The Great Courses Plus and get an entire month of unlimited access to thousands of video and audio courses from the world’s best professors by visiting http://thegreatcoursesplus.com/cmw ..read more