Podcasts
As the language of humanity, art tells stories of inspiration, hope, and healing even as it acknowledges the hurt and despair that afflicts us all.
Episode 8: Hard Won Pilgrimages: Paul Elie discusses Literature, Bach’s Music, and his Journey as a Catholic
Paul Elie (from the Berkley Center at Georgetown University) talks about his two books, The Life You Save May be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (2003) and Reinventing Bach (2012), especially the “hard won” pilgrimages of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy. Elie goes on to speak of his own pilgrimage in and around the Catholic Church, his struggle to remain within its story while writing about some “awful things”—such as the sexual abuse crisis. He speaks of Bach’s unique place as religious artist and, finally, of his work on the American Pilgrimage Project, where he has discovered the healing power of a diversity of American religious experience beyond even his broadest expectations.
Episode 5: Music, Connection, and Joy: Alicia Olatuja and the Presence of Voice
Alicia Olatuja is a vocal artist and life coach, who, the New York Times says, has a “luscious tone and amiably regal presence.” As the soloist at Barack Obama’s second inauguration, Olatuja discovered that she needed to align her head, heart, and voice to connect not only with her audience, but to discover a more authentic self. Now she not only performs, but also shares her experience from the stage with those seeking their own voice. Finding this voice, Olatuja contends, offers a way past the doubts and traumas we face in our troubled times.
Episode 3: In Our Era of Loss, Imbalance, and Malaise, Bach's Music Recenters, Restores, and Heals
Sean Duggan, OSB, is a monk of Saint Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana, and a Professor of Music at SUNY Fredonia. He’s also a world-class pianist with a passion for J.S. Bach. Duggan discusses his attraction to Bach, the balance Bach offers to our topsy-turvy world, and Bach’s insistence on continually pointing away from himself to “something higher.” In this self-abnegation, Bach offers a clue to overcoming our contemporary sense of loss and malaise.