The State of the Church with Fr. Thomas J. Reese

Interrogating the Tradition with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Levine has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. In addition to receiving three audiences with Pope Francis (which she recalls for us here), in spring 2019 she was the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. In 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent books include The Bible with and Without Jesus, co-authored with Marc Z. Brettler, and The Pharisees, co-edited with Joseph Sievers, to which Pope Francis contributed an essay. With Marc Brettler, she co-edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament. She is also the editor of the 13-volume Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, and The Historical Jesus in Context. She has given close to 1,000 lectures on the Bible, Christian-Jewish relations, and religion, gender, and sexuality across the globe. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Levine about her formative religious experiences and the development of her interest in Christianity and the New Testament, the impact of Nostra Aetate and the Second Vatican Council on Jewish-Christian relations, and various “blind spots and stumbling blocks” Christians might have about the representation of Jews and Judaism in the gospels. Along the way, Dr. Levine shares her thoughts on the rise of lectionary-based faith-sharing communities in the Catholic Church, explores why it is essential to preserve both the “logic and mystery” of Sacred Scripture, and explains why Jews and Christians are both “unfinished products” who can use their shared state as a means of dialogue and collaboration. See also: Faculty page at Hartford International University [https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/faculty/amy-jill-levine] The Pharisees [https://www.eerdmans.com/9781467462822/the-pharisees/], edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Joseph Sievers (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021) [https://www.eerdmans.com/9781467462822/the-pharisees/] Report on Dr. Levine’s lecture, “Reading the New Testament as Jews: History, Antisemitism, Respect,” [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/p/hartford-international-university]Tomorrow’s American Catholic [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/p/hartford-international-university], March 19, 2026 [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/p/hartford-international-university] “Celebrating the Jewish Annotated New Testament at the Gregorian University,” news brief from the Gregorian University Foundation, April 1, 2019 [https://gregorianfoundation.org/2019/04/01/jewish-new-testament/] Get full access to Tomorrow's American Catholic at www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Humanizing the Border with Mary Fontana

Mary Fontana is an author, essayist, and award-winning poet whose prose and poems have appeared in The Sun, America, BorderLore, Prairie Schooner, and other publications. Her book Strangers in the Province of Joy: Practicing Radical Hospitality on the US-Mexico Border was released in May by Orbis Books. This narrative history of Annunciation House, a house of hospitality for migrants and refugees in El Paso, Texas, where Mary has volunteered for two decades, draws on her personal experience and extensive interviews to tell the story of migration across the US-Mexico border over the past fifty years. In addition to her literary output, Mary has a PhD in Immunology & Pathogenesis from the University of California–Berkeley and did infectious disease research for a decade, all the while volunteering part-time with Annunciation House. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. In this episode, Mary shares the history and mission of Annunciation House and its culture rooted in personalism, liberation theology, and “doing small things with great love.” We look at how US immigration policies have changed over time, and how the lack of legal pathways in our current system ultimately endangers migrants’ lives. Mary also explains the importance of “humanizing people and seeing them as worthy of our compassion” and elaborates on the core goal of her book as helping readers “really come to know specific stories of immigrants, migrants, refugees, so that they can feel more of a kinship with them, more of an understanding of why they come.” See also: Mary Fontana’s official website [https://maryfontana.com/] Strangers in the Province of Joy [https://orbisbooks.com/products/strangers-in-the-province-of-joy-practicing-radical-hospitality-on-the-us-mexico-border] at Orbis Books [https://orbisbooks.com/products/strangers-in-the-province-of-joy-practicing-radical-hospitality-on-the-us-mexico-border] “Rio Grande Roulette,” essay at [https://lemonwoodquarterly.com/archives/spring-2025-issue/lemonwood-quarterly-spring-2025-toc/rio-grande-roulette-by-mary-fontana/#RioGrandeRoulette]The Lemonwood Quarterly [https://lemonwoodquarterly.com/archives/spring-2025-issue/lemonwood-quarterly-spring-2025-toc/rio-grande-roulette-by-mary-fontana/#RioGrandeRoulette] Awareness [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/39365/awareness-by-anthony-de-mello/]by Anthony De Mello, a formative influence on Mary’s spirituality [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/39365/awareness-by-anthony-de-mello/] Get full access to Tomorrow's American Catholic at www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

What Is Yours to Do? with Michele Dunne

Michele Dunne is a professed Secular Franciscan and the executive director of the Franciscan Action Network [https://franciscanaction.org/], a collective Franciscan voice seeking to transform United States public policy related to peace making, care for creation, poverty, and human rights. Before coming to her current position, Michele’s career focused on the Middle East and US foreign policy. From 2006 until 2021, she headed programs focused on peace, human rights, and democracy in the Middle East at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Atlantic Council. Prior to that, she served for nearly 20 years in the US Department of State, including assignments in Jerusalem and Cairo. She holds a PhD from Georgetown University and currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband. In this episode, Michele shares with us her spiritual journey and the gradual revelation of her Franciscan vocation—what she describes as “the greatest gift that God ever gave me, and also the most challenging and most humbling”—and explores those elements of the “life-giving and life-affirming” Franciscan Rule that have enriched and encouraged her along the way. We take a close look at the work of the Franciscan Action Network and its mission to “inform, inspire, and mobilize” its collective membership of religious communities, local affinity groups, and thousands of individual members across the country. Michele also touches on the relationship between Franciscan spirituality and activism and explains how the Network supports its members in discerning and carrying out their own unique calling. Get full access to Tomorrow's American Catholic at www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Heart Is in the Body with Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox is a spiritual theologian, Episcopal priest, and activist for gender justice and eco-justice. He holds a doctorate in the history and theology of spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. To date he has written over 40 books, including Original Blessing, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, and A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey. Though he was silenced by the Vatican in the early 1990s, the influence of his work in the field of Creation Spirituality reemerged a generation later in documents such as Laudato Si’—in fact, one of Fox’s former students, Fr. Sean McDonagh [https://www.americamagazine.org/from-our-archives/2015/07/14/church-and-world-prehistory-laudato-si/], served as an advisor in the drafting of that encyclical. Seeking to establish a new pedagogy for learning spirituality melding the ancient Western wisdom tradition with contemporary scientists and modern mystics, Fox founded the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality in 1976. After pressure from the Vatican’s Congregation of Doctrine and Faith, the institute closed in the early 1990s. Fox went on to establish the University of Creation Spirituality, or UCS, in California in 1996. On the UCS faculty were persons from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Sufi, Native American, and Hindu traditions, as well as scientists and ecological and social justice activists and artists. Fox has since taught at Stanford University, Vancouver School of Theology, and the California Institute of Integral Studies, among other places. Fox is recipient of the Abbey Courage of Conscience Peace Award, the Gandhi King Ikeda Award, the Tikkun National Ethics Award, and other awards. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Academy of the Love of Learning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and conducts numerous workshops each year. Our wide-ranging conversation looked at Matthew’s early life and the influence of Dominican theologian M. D. Chenu on the formulation of Creation Spirituality; explored the fourfold path of the spiritual journey, with a particular focus on the via creativa that links art and meditation; and related the importance of interspirituality or “deep ecumenism” for the future of the planet. Matthew also shares why he feels “human beings need ritual to survive” and how ritual sustains community by “bringing people together to rejoice, to grieve, to commune, to be nourished, and to be strong to return to serve.” See also: The core tenets of Creation Spirituality [https://www.matthewfox.org/what-is-creation-spirituality] An overview of the Cosmic Mass [https://www.matthewfox.org/cosmic-mass] An overview of the “four mystical paths” of Creation Spirituality [https://www.allcreation.org/home/cs-journey] Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/] “Continuous Creation”: Our report on Matthew Fox’s presentation for the Association of Pittsburgh Priests on August 6, 2025 [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/p/continuous-creation] Get full access to Tomorrow's American Catholic at www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Pastoral Emergency of Hope with Sergio Lopez

Sergio Lopez is a husband, father, educator, and Catholic organizer from Southern California. He serves as the National Director for Mission and Leadership Formation for Catholics in Communion [https://www.catholicsincommunion.org/], where he accompanies Catholic leaders, parishes, and organizations working to build a more just, compassionate, and faithful church. He previously served in leadership formation with Catholic Relief Services, helping Catholics deepen their commitment to global solidarity and social justice. Sergio also teaches pastoral leadership at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. As a Latino Catholic leader, he is passionate about forming communities of faith that respond to the struggles of our time with hope, courage, and a deep commitment to human dignity. In this episode, we speak with Sergio about his awakening to faith as a son of Mexican immigrants, his transition from seminary to the vocation of parish ministry and community organizing, and how recent cuts to US foreign aid impacted the mission of Catholic Relief Services and other international development organizations. Sergio shares how Catholics in Communion arose in response to a “pastoral emergency of hope,” especially around issues of anti-immigrant violence, and gives us an overview of their Season of Faithful Witness initiative [https://www.catholicsincommunion.org/join-us] and ways that people can get involved [https://www.catholicsincommunion.org/corpus-christi-parish-toolkit]—“Catholics being Catholic in the public space,” as he explains, “coordinating love, organizing hope.” Our conversation also touches on the opportunity to “speak as one church” in the era of Pope Leo XIV by reinvigorating social teaching and developing a “shared language around what it means to be Catholic.” Listeners are encouraged to read the accompanying article, “A Season of Faithful Witness: Catholics Are Learning to Walk Together Again,” [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/p/a-season-of-faithful-witness-catholics] published in tandem with this episode in Tomorrow’s American Catholic. Get full access to Tomorrow's American Catholic at www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe [https://www.tomorrowsamericancatholic.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]