Lulu Garcia-Navarro , The New York Times; The Interview Rev. James Martin on Our Moral Duty in Turbulent Times
"For many Americans, the events in Minneapolis and the upheaval across the country bring to the surface not just political dilemmas but moral and spiritual ones too. How to best defend the things we believe in, how to understand the people we disagree with and how to maintain faith in one another — these are questions I’ve been thinking about even more since I spoke with the Rev. James Martin.
Martin is a Jesuit priest, a best-selling author, an editor at large at America Magazine and also a consultant to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. In layman’s terms, that means part of his job is to help explain the Catholic Church to Americans, which he has done on social media, in his writing, even on the late-night talk shows. He has also ministered to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics — a controversial part of his work that we get into in the longer audio and video versions of this interview — and is part of the progressive wing of the church.
Martin’s efforts have become more complicated as the conflicts in America have divided the church itself: Over the past year, American bishops and clergy have increasingly spoken out against President Trump’s policies, including on immigration. This at the same time that some of the most visible Catholic figures in America — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt — are in Trump’s administration.
Martin and I spoke about all of this, including the situation in Minneapolis (though we did so before federal agents killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24). But we began with something more personal, talking about his new book, “Work in Progress,” which is about his teenage summer jobs and how they prepared him for a life of service."
