“Spiritualizing” something usually makes it less concrete, less “real.” Not for Anthea Butler, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode of “The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.,” Anthea shares her journey from Catholicism to Pentecostalism and back to Catholicism, crediting the Catholic Church’s rich intellectual tradition and dedication to working with the poor and marginalized.

00:00 Who is Anthea Butler?
1:30 Audience Question: How can I align my faith and practice as Jesus did in the Gospels?
4:34 A brief history of Anthea's Black Catholic heritage in Louisiana
7:12 Being raised Catholic in a Baptist cultural milieu
10:30 Pope Leo XIV's Creole heritage
11:20 Leaving the Catholic Church for a Pentecostal church (and seminary)
13:40 Anthea's intellectual journey back to Catholicism
19:10 Leaving a church: too much judgment, how women are treated and no room for questioning
21:15 The place of women in the Catholic Church
24:11 Being black in the Catholic Church today
26:00 How American Evangelical theology is seeping into Catholic theology today
28:41 Are recent converts to Catholicism treated unfairly by other Catholics?
30:35 Anthea's "spirituality in motion"
33:45 Breaking down the dangers of 'the prosperity gospel'
39:16 Audience Question answered by Anthea: How can I align my faith and practice as Jesus did in the Gospels?

Link to Father Jim’s spiritual advice article on this episode: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/07/15/anthea-butler-james-martin-spiritual-life-251125

Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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