Podcasting, the tool linking Jesuit networks

The podcast phenomenon is becoming one of the most attractive on the Internet. By April 2021, it is estimated that there are more than 48 million podcast episodes published in more than 100 languages. At the Church level, there are many possibilities of this format that squeezes the best of on-demand content and audio, which makes it especially compatible with travel or rest time. We can find podcasts of homilies, prayers, cultural content or simply reflections from spirituality or theology. Jesuit networks are not turning their backs on this reality and more and more channels are being created to transmit the Society’s news, projects or simply to transmit the Word.

The Conference of Canada and the United States (JCCU) has a podcast: AMDG which has been updated weekly for more than two years. It is a space in which Mike Jordan Laskey and Eric Clayton share with Jesuits and collaborators conversations on different issues related to spirituality and its connection with current affairs. It is published in English and has a variable duration.

RezandoVoy is one of the podcasting projects that offers a daily audio prayer to pray along with biblical readings, poems and texts for reflection, images and music. It is published in Spanish and lasts approximately 15 minutes. This successful project was inspired by the classic Pray-as-you-go (English) and its counterparts Prie-en-Chemin (French) and Bidden-onderweg (Dutch).

But if there is a platform that stands out for the publication of podcasts (in addition to other digital formats), it is America, the magazine published by the Jesuits in the United States. America Media has nine active podcasts, including James Martin’s daily podcast, The Examen, which helps to carry out the examination proposed by St. Ignatius in the Exercises. It is published in English and lasts 18 minutes. Another guide for prayer, in this case for contemplations, is Imagine, a podcast directed by Tucker Redding. It is published irregularly in English and is 20 minutes long.

Another of America’s podcasts is The Word, which is published weekly as a commentary to the weekly readings. It is also in English and has a variable length of no more than 30 minutes. One of America’s youth-oriented podcasts is Jesuitical, where two of the magazine’s younger editors (Zac Davies and Ashley Mckinless) have a guest with whom they discuss faith, culture and church news. It is approximately one hour long and is published weekly in English.

Finally, two other relevant podcasts from America are Inside The Vatican and Church Meets World. In the former, the most important news from the Holy See is presented each week by Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connel, the magazine’s Rome correspondent. Both talk about the internal reality of the Vatican. The publication is in English and lasts 20 minutes. Church Meets World is a meeting point between the reality of the Church and interesting current affairs. Presented by Maggi Van Dorn and Sebastian Gomes, its episodes last 45 minutes and are published monthly.

If you know of more podcasts produced from within the scope of the Society of Jesus write to us at [email protected] as we would love to use this article to identify and systematize the podcasting efforts of Jesuit networks.