Sister Chioma Ahanihu shares how the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd's death helped her find her voice in the midst of the mess, when she was part of a protest for the first time.
Episode 1, Season 6 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. "When you are in a place of paradox, you're on holy ground." - Sister Julia Walsh LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this very special episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh takes on the role of podcast guest, and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the conceptualization of Messy Jesus Business Podcast. Podcast editor Charish Badzinski serves as host for this episode, and together she and Sister Julia explore the lessons of the past 49 episodes, and what it means to say yes to the mess. Sister Julia explains how the program got its start and its name. She also gets the chance to respond to the questions she frequently asks her guests, including offering her thoughts on what radical discipleship means to her, and what she thinks is especially messy. During this episode, we also hear from past guests who pop in to in the join the celebration, as well as podcast listeners who share what listening to Messy Jesus Business means to them. And lastly, Sister Julia gives a sneak peek into possible future topics she'd like to explore in the next 50 episodes. Please note that the Messy Jesus Business team is taking a break over the summer to plan the next 50 episodes, and the podcast will return with fresh content this fall. ABOUT THE GUEST: Sister Julia Walsh is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and part of a new generation of Catholic Sisters. She’s often writing and podcasting about the messiness of following Jesus and being Catholic and doesn’t hesitate to ask important questions. She can often be found visiting jails, leading retreats, companioning spiritual seekers, advocating for peace, teaching about social justice, praying in the chapel or camping in the woods. Sister Julia has been frequently featured in the media, and is widely published. Julia Walsh grew up on a goat farm in a small community in Northeast Iowa with her parents: Kevin and Elsie, and three siblings. She attended college in Iowa, starting at Wartburg College in Waverly, then ultimately transferring to Loras College to discern her vocation. While a student at Loras in Dubuque, Iowa Julia studied abroad in South Africa and realized her passion for social justice, equality and Gospel living. In 2003 she graduated from Loras College magna cum laude with a BA in History, Secondary Education and Catholic Studies. After graduation Julia interned with the Iowa Catholic Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, and then moved to California and joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. As a Jesuit Volunteer, Julia worked with young parents and their children transitioning from homelessness to healthy interdependence at Waking the Village/Tubman House in Sacramento, California. Her experiences in South Africa, as an intern with the Iowa Catholic Conference and in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps helped her to develop her passions for Gospel-centered systemic change. In 2006 Julia entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, (FSPA) based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She entered the novitiate and received the name Sister in 2007. She professed first vows in 2009 and perpetual vows in 2015. Sister Julia began her teaching ministry at Catholic high schools in Chicago where she lived and served from 2008 to 2012. In 2012, Sister Julia moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin to be closer to her community’s motherhouse and minister at Aquinas High School, where she served as a theology teacher until 2016. In the fall of 2016, Sister Julia joined the staff of Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center on Trout Lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, where she presented programs and retreats and served as a freelance writer. In August 2017, Sister Julia graduated from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago with a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies. Sister Julia returned to Chicago in August 2019 and became a certified spiritual director though the Claret Center in May 2020. That same year, she joined her congregation’s formation team, serving women who are discerning their vocation. In 2021 she co-founded The Fireplace, an intentional community and house of hospitality on Chicago’s southside that offers spiritual support to artists and activists. In addition to writing, serving as a spiritual director, companioning people who are discerning their vocations, facilitating retreats, and managing Messy Jesus Business blog and podcast, Sister Julia also volunteers at Kolbe House, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Jail Ministry Center. Sister Julia enjoys hiking, camping, watching movies, gardening, creating and taking in art, cooking, traveling and spending time with her community, family and friends. On a sunny day in Chicago she can be found riding her bicycle throughout the city and writing poetry about her relationship with God. MESSY JESUS BUSINESS podcast is produced and hosted by Sister Julia Walsh, and edited by Charish Badzinski. In this special 50th episode, Sister Julia Walsh is the podcast guest and Charish Badzinski serves as host. Email us at messyjesusbusiness@gmail.com BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness Twitter: @messyjesusbiz SUPPORT US: https://www.patreon.com/messyjesusbusiness
Season 5, Episode 9 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. "Going barefoot connects me to the Earth, which connects me to the whole." - Sister Roselyn Heil LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with "Nature Nun" Sister Roselyn Heil about energy, oneness, and the physics of spirituality. "Everything is energy," says sister Roselyn. "All energy is light." They also talk about why Sister Roselyn loves going barefoot, how it connects her with the Earth and helps energy flow. They also explore how time functions differently with God, and the sacredness of the here and now. "When life gets hectic and I get caught up in the chronological, I take a deep breath and go into the now, to the core of what is here," sister Roselyn explains. ABOUT THE GUEST: Sister Roselyn Heil grew up on a farm in Marathon, Wisconsin with eight sisters and three brothers. She made first vows with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in 1970, left after nine years, and returned in 2004. She is a graduate of Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, with a bachelor's degree in teaching/social studies and she also holds a master's degree in Culture and Creation Spirituality. She has served as a Liturgist, a National Park Interpretive Ranger, and as a Chaplain. She currently serves as a Pastoral Associate at St. Mary's Parish on the Bad River Ojibwe Reservation in Odanah, Wisconsin. CONTEMPLATIVE MOMENT is John 16:12-13. MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced and hosted by Sister Julia Walsh, and edited by Charish Badzinski. Email us at messyjesusbusiness@gmail.com BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness Twitter: @messyjesusbiz SUPPORT US: https://www.patreon.com/messyjesusbusiness
Season 5, episode 8 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. "There's an emptiness...there's a hole we are perpetually trying to fill....and the hole is God." -Brother Matt Wooters LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Brother Matt Wooters about how he became a Jesuit, and his work in vocations. "I think sometimes people think...in vocation work, we're in sales. And I'm really not interested in selling anything," Br. Matt explains. "I believe that everyone has a vocation, I don't believe everyone has a Jesuit vocation. And so my job is to accompany young men to see where their vocation might be, even if it's not with us." They also discuss how discerning a religious vocation works today. "I think a vocation is a combination of your skills...your best self, where is the need in the world, and what's something you can't not do. So it's something you keep thinking about," he says. They also discuss swimming, how it is a form of prayer for Br. Matt, and how he has integrated his passion for swimming into his vocation. Finally, we talk about the mess of showing up, and how commitment means we have to show up even when the going gets tough. ABOUT THE GUEST: Brother Matt Wooters is a native of Washington, DC. He joined the Jesuits in 2012 after graduating from John Carroll University. After college, he served for two years with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Belize. He holds graduate degrees in Social Work and Theology from Saint Louis University and Santa Clara University, respectively. Br. Matt has spent most of his life working with people experiencing homelessness, migrants, and those struggling with addiction. He is an open water swimmer, a podcaster, and a lover of stand-up comedy. CONTEMPLATIVE MOMENT is taken from Suscipe, a prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola. MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced and hosted by Sister Julia Walsh, and edited by Charish Badzinski. Email us at messyjesusbusiness@gmail.com BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness Twitter: @messyjesusbiz SUPPORT US: https://www.patreon.com/messyjesusbusiness
Season 5, episode 5, of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. Photos by Scott Langley. "We are called to create, where nothing exists." - Sister Helen Prejean LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Sister Helen Prejean, who is known for her work to end the death penalty. They discuss how Sister Helen became a minister to Pat Sonnier on death row, which led her to work for justice. "A fire began to burn in my heart," she says. Sister Julia and Sister Helen also talk about how the Gospel calls the Church to be among the poor and on the margins. "To engage in social justice means you're going to...take on the sufferings of people who are voiceless and made to suffer. And you're going to undertake systemic change," Sister Helen explains. Sister Helen also talks about how storytelling has a power to change hearts and minds, and the true meaning of justice. "Justice means that everybody's got a fair shake, and they've got equal access to liberties and freedom and a way to have a livelihood and a life." ABOUT THE GUEST: Sister Helen Prejean is known around the world for her tireless work against the death penalty. She has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on capital punishment and in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. Photo by Scott Langley. Born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1957. After studies in the USA and Canada, she spent the following years teaching high school, and serving as the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans and the Formation Director for her religious community. In 1982, she moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans in order to live and work with the poor. While there, Sister Helen began corresponding with Patrick Sonnier, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of two teenagers. Two years later, when Patrick Sonnier was put to death in the electric chair, Sister Helen was there to witness his execution. In the following months, she became spiritual advisor to another death row inmate, Robert Lee Willie, who was to meet the same fate as Sonnier. After witnessing these executions, Sister Helen realized that this lethal ritual would remain unchallenged unless its secrecy was stripped away, and so she sat down and wrote a book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. Dead Man Walking hit the shelves when national support for the death penalty was over 80% and, in Sister Helen’s native Louisiana, closer to 90%. The book ignited a national debate on capital punishment and it inspired an Academy Award winning movie, a play and an opera. Sister Helen also embarked on a speaking tour that continues to this day. Sister Helen works with people of all faiths and those who follow no established faith, but her voice has had a special resonance with her fellow Catholics. Over the decades, Sister Helen has made personal approaches to two popes, John Paul II and Pope Francis, urging them to establish the Catholic Church’s position as unequivocally opposed to capital punishment under any circumstances. After Sister Helen’s urging, under John Paul II the catechism was revised to strengthen the church’s opposition to executions, although it allowed for a very few exceptions. Not long after meeting with Sister Helen in August of 2018, Pope Francis announced new language of the Catholic Catechism which declares that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, with no exceptions. Today, although capital punishment is still on the books in 29 states in the USA, it has fallen into disuse in most of those states. Prosecutors and juries alike are turning away from death sentences, with the death penalty becoming increasingly a geographical freak. Sister Helen continues her work, dividing her time between educating the public, campaigning against the death penalty, counseling individual death row prisoners, and working with murder victims’ family members. Sister Helen’s second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in 2004; and her third book, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey, in 2019. CONTEMPLATIVE MOMENT is a reading from Amos 5:12-15, 22-24. MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is produced and hosted by Sister Julia Walsh, and edited by Charish Badzinski. Email us at messyjesusbusiness@gmail.com BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness Twitter: @messyjesusbiz SUPPORT US: https://www.patreon.com/messyjesusbusiness