Risking the Questions

"Risking the Questions" invites you into conversations that most of us only have in our own minds. Sr. Joan Chittister — whose courageous and surprising spiritual insights come from 70 years as a Benedictine sister — and her friend and biographer, former National Catholic Reporter editor Tom Roberts, discuss deep and universal topics in this series. Listen in as they wrestle with questions like the nature of God, our purpose in life, how to respond to changing times, and much more. See what questions and answers arise in you.

This podcast is a joint project of Benetvision and NCR and has been made possible in part by the generosity of Bill and Jeanne Buchanan.

The Holy Spirit window is pictured through the Baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Risking the Questions podcast: Why she stays

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: Being a woman in the Catholic Church, a nun who insists on asking difficult questions and holding those in power to account for what they say and do, can make for a sometimes lonely, difficult life. So why does Sister Joan stay?

Wooden blocks displaying letters spell out the word "wisdom." (Unsplash/Alex Shute)

Risking the Questions podcast: Engaging the world and traditions beyond the monastery

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: In this episode Sr. Joan Chittister describes how she came to understand the significance of other traditions. Her understanding of the world's wisdom carries practical implications for each of us.
 

A woman sits outside with her hands folded on top of an open book, possibly a bible. (Unsplash/Olivia Snow)

Risking the Questions podcast: Women and the Catholic Church

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: Sr. Joan Chittister still feels the negative effects of being a woman in the Catholic Church, but she also thinks on many levels and in society, things have changed for the better.
 

person walks a tightrope

Risking the Questions podcast: The earliest struggles

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Childhood memories became a significant force behind Sr. Joan Chittister's relentless advocacy for women in all circumstances, in the church, in society, across cultures.
 

A person stands on top of a sand dune, with sunlight coming from the left of the photo.(Unsplash/NOEM)

Risking the Questions podcast: Struggle as the pathway to hope

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: Sister Joan recounts an incident of struggle in her early life and the lifelong insights that emerged from it.

Katie Gordon, left, and Benedictine Sisters Jacqueline Sanchez-Small and Val Luckey, are pictured during now-Sister Sanchez-Small's first profession ceremony with the Benedictine community of Erie, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 13, 2021. (CNS/Courtesy of Global Sisters Report/Katie Gordon)

Risking the Questions Podcast: The old and new meet

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: Sr. Joan Chittister talks with Sr. Valerie Luckey, a 36-year-old who entered the Erie Benedictines in 2016. The two provide a look at where tradition sparks and a new, engaging future emerges.

Benedictine nuns are pictured in 1900 before the completion of St. Anthony's Hospital in Bemidji, Minn. The image appeared in a 2011 documentary titled "Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America," which chronicled the 300-year contribution of U.S. women religious. (CNS/Courtesy Benedictines of Duluth)

Risking the Questions podcast: Religious life isn't dead. It is changing.

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: The much smaller and aging corps of women religious may suggest that this way of religious life is over. "Wrong," says Sr. Joan Chittister, in episode 3 of her podcast, "Risking the Questions."
 

Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister and former NCR editor Tom Roberts record the podcast "Risking the Questions." (Benetvision/Jacqueline Small)

Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister is 'Risking the Questions' in a new podcast

By Tom Roberts, Joan Chittister

Listen: Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister has a reputation as one who dares to ask big, bold questions. Explore them with her in this podcast conversation with her friend and biographer, former NCR editor Tom Roberts.