The America Magazine Podcast

Robert Ellsberg, the editor of The Duty of Delight, the Diaries of Dorothy Day remembers first meeting the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and what he has learned about Day by editing her diaries and her forthcoming collection of letters.

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William Bole offers a critique of the social conservative movement, arguing that too often their positions are indistinguishable from the platform of  the Republican National Committee. This is unfortunate, Bole contends, because a truly independent social conservative movement could play a key role in implementing policies designed to strengthen the family.

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Associate editor Kevin Clarke interviews John Donaghy, a lay missionary from Honduras, on the country’s political crisis in wake of the ouster of Manuel Zelaya on June 28. Donaghy assesses the church’s response to what some have called a coup d’etat, and what impact the political strife will have on the country’s poor.

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What would “Mexican Night” look like in heaven? The Jesuit Peter Steele offers a playful scenario in his poem of the same name, read here by the author along with “Kyrie Eleison, “Lazarus at the Gate (After Tiepolo),” and other writings. For more on the Australian poet read Jim McDermott’s profile of Steele in the October 19 issue.

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Paul Moses recounts the remarkable meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Kamil in the midst of the Fifth Crusade. Moses explores why this meeting was glossed over for so many years, and what the encounter can teach contemporary observers in an age of tense Muslim-Christian relations.

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Susan Windley-Daoust, a professor of theology at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, makes the case that birth is not simply an ordeal to endure, but a rich spiritual gift that is comparable in many ways of the prayer life. She argues that while medicine has made great strides in the area of childbirth, it has not come without some cost to the spiritual immediacy of the experience.

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James Martin, S.J., America’s culture editor, looks at the first few seasons of the AMC television show “Mad Men” and the literary and philosophical themes it invokes, from John Paul Sartre and Richard Yates to Flannery O’Connor.

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Jesuit ethicist Thomas Massaro considers the legacy of Ted Kennedy and Robert McNamara, and explores the complexities of bringing the church’s social tradition to bear on political decisions.

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Karen Sue Smith, editorial director of America, reports on obstacles to health care reform and why despite growing opposition the passage of a bill is more likely today than in 1994. Also, a closer look at the uninsured. For more on this subject read Karen Smith’s blog posts on the path to health care reform.

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Alon Ben-Meir of New York University analyzes U.S. strategy in Afghanistan under President Barack Obama and offers commentary on the upcoming Afghan election.  Read Professor Ben-Meir’s article, “Obama’s Long War,” from the August 17-24 issue.

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