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Inspired
Inspired is the nation's leading public radio show about faith, ethics and spirituality. Each week we offer you analyses of the big headlines alongside lesser-told stories – those of Orthodox Jewish artists and African-American atheists, Muslim feminists and spiritual seekers. Through these stories, a rough sketch of our country’s religious landscape begins to emerge. It’s a marketplace of beliefs and ideas too complex for sound bites, and too important to ignore.
This week on Interfaith Voices:
Millennials: Pope Francis’ Toughest (And Most Important) Crowd
Catholics under 30 are abandoning the church at breakneck speed. Just 16 percent of millennials call themselves Catholic–a number that has dropped 6 percentage points in the last decade. We talk to three very different millennials–a traditional teacher, a gay reformer and an ex-Catholic–to learn what Pope Francis needs to do to inspire them to stay.
The Annual Season of Saying “I’m Sorry”
This year, as Yom Kippur gets closer, a lot of people have been asking Rabbi Rachel Gartner the same question: What’s the best way to apologize to someone? Every fall, Jews are supposed to say they’re sorry to people they’ve wronged–face to face or over the phone. It’s one way of honoring the central message of the annual Day of Atonement, when Jews seek forgiveness for their misdeeds and make amends to do better next year.
Comforting Jewish Prisoners on the Day of Atonement
For the 7,000 or so Jews in America’s prison and jails, Yom Kippur—the annual chance to seek forgiveness and wipe the slate clean–is kind of like the ultimate holy day. And it’s a point not lost on Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, who works directly with Jewish inmates every day and tells us the holiday is wildly popular in prison.
Reviving Michaelmas, a Forgotten Christian Holiday
Before her kids started attending the Washington Waldorf School, Bonnie Auslander had never heard of Michaelmas. And for good reason—few Americans observe this obscure Christian festival that honors the archangel Michael, that fearless cherub in the book of Revelation who battled the devil and the powers of darkness. The holiday has found new life in Waldorf schools around the world, where every September 29th, students celebrate what they call the “festival of strong will.”
Featured speakers/guests:
Victoria Bonutti, conservative Catholic and high school literature teacher
Ryan Hoffmann, liberal Catholic and Communications Director at Call to Action
Emily Wachner, former Catholic and Episcopal Priest at Trinity Church in NY
Rabbi Rachel Gartner, Director of Jewish Life at Georgetown University
Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, Executive Director for the North East Region at the Aleph Institute
Bonnie Auslander, essayist and business communications instructor in Bethesda, Md.
