On the Feast of All Souls, many people fondly remember their deceased grandparents. For Billy, that experience of boundless love for an elder helped break through a distracting period of prayer.
All posts by Billy Critchley-Menor, SJ
Billy is a native of Duluth, Minnesota. Before joining the Jesuits in 2015, he studied at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. When he isn’t talking about how Catholic sisters have changed the world, he is collecting cardigans and organizing his room. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in American Studies at Saint Louis University, focusing on racism and antiracism within the postwar American Catholic Church.
Joined in 2017 32 posts bcritchleymenorsj@thejesuitpost.org
Centering the Lives of People Enslaved to the Jesuits: Black History, Memory, and Reconciliation
Most existing histories of Jesuit slaveholding prioritize the actions and voices of Jesuit slaveholders, and not the people they held in bondage. Ayan Ali tells about her research with the Jesuits’ Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project which seeks to address this historical bias by conducting extensive historical research with an intentional focus on the lives of enslaved people.
Responding to Bishop Barron: Racism, Not Postmodernism, is the Reason for the Abyss.
Bishop Barron says an abyss has developed between religion and protest movements since the 1960s and sees postmodern philosophy as the cause. However, the divide, which is not new, is more complex than that and its cause is not postmodernism, but racism.
Did You Know? Boring Prayer is Good Prayer.
I am far from the only person who has ever been frustrated by prayer in which “nothing happens.” In fact, I hear this quite regularly from people sharing their spiritual lives. We want to experience our prayer as we do almost everything else: productively. We wish to finish a time in prayer feeling that we have accomplished something, learned something, moved forward, or used our time well.
Accountability and the Oppressed Jesus | Know Justice, Know Peace: A Jesuit Antiracism Retreat
When I speak about racism, am I generally more worried about how white people will feel, react, or think of me than I am about how people of color will? Does my Church, my workplace, my classroom consider mainly the sensitives, comfort and concerns of white people? Billy Critchley-Menor points the anti-racism conversation in the right direction when he explains that it is about white people being held accountable to People of Color. White supremacy has shaped society around the accountability of white people. Anti-racism refocuses our attention so we are held accountable by the oppressed in our society; those in whom Jesus lives according to the Gospels.
Getting Married in a Pandemic Calls You to “See the Unseen”
A wedding in the midst of a pandemic puts things in perspective.
This Quarantined Holy Week I’m Thinking of a Brother Jesuit in Jail
“What is truth?” Pilate will ask Jesus. And, Jesus will answer with his life. I’ve been thinking this week about a Jesuit brother of mine who has been sitting in jail in Brunswick, Georgia, for the last two years trying to do the same: answer with his life.
Life Changes from Lent and Coronavirus: What TJP Readers Are Doing
Both the season of Lent and the current coronavirus crisis are desert experiences. Just as we adapt new practices during Lent, we are experiencing radical changes in our lives with the spread of COVID-19. Last month, we reached out to TJP readers about how they are praying, fasting, and giving alms this year. Many of you responded. Read the responses, along with the graces that readers are receiving. You’ll find that these words echo even stronger amid the uncertainty and anxiety of the current crisis.
On Ash Wednesday I Am Reminded Why Church is a Safe Space for the Everyday Sinner, Like Me
There is something I find at Mass on Ash Wednesday that I don’t find elsewhere. Nowhere besides here do I step in line with old ladies in purple sweaters, fellow students, elderly widows, the nuns, the homeless, the workers on lunch hour, the priests, and the University president to face our shame, imperfections, and our transgressions, together.