meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Jesuitical

Georgetown Jesuits enslaved her ancestors. Now she's working for justice.

Jesuitical

America Media

News, News Commentary, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.71K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2019

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Onita Estes-Hicks has been Catholic her entire life. Men in her family were named “Nace” after St. Ignatius, a testament to the influence of the Jesuits in her family’s life. But her relationship with her faith was forever changed in 2004, when her family discovered that they were the descendents of one of the 272 enslaved persons sold by the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University in 1838. We talk to Onita about what it was like to find out about her family’s history, what Georgetown has done to ask for forgiveness and what it’s been like to form a community of other descendants. In Signs of the Times we unpack the latest developments from the case of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick (for a fuller discussion, listen to this week’s episode of Inside the Vatican) and discuss the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C. In our new segment, “Being Frank,” we talk about the pope’s advice to young travelers to focus on encounter, not consumerism (or Instagram likes). Links from the show: GU272 Descendants Association New correspondence obtained by Crux confirms that the Vatican placed restrictions on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick In new interview that appears to have been conducted before this report was released, Pope Francis said he ‘knew nothing’ about McCarrick Washington’s black Catholic community looks to Archbishop Gregory for new leadership Pope praises Catholic tourism group dedicated to young people   What’s on tap? Goodbye whiskey from Father Eric Sundrup 😔 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by Catholic Travel Center.

0:03.0

Proud partner with America Media for six years,

0:05.0

hosting their pilgrimages to Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the Holy Land.

0:09.0

Catholic Travel Center is the customized group pilgrimage specialist

0:12.0

serving the

0:13.1

Catholic community for nearly 30 years. To organize your

0:16.4

organization's next pilgrimage, contact Catholic travel center at go catholic

0:20.4

travel.com. Hello and welcome to Jesuitical, a podcast by the Young Hip and Lay editors of

0:36.6

America Media. That lay part means we aren't Jesuits but we work with them.

0:41.0

Join us each week for a smart Catholic take on faith culture

0:44.1

in the news often over drinks. I'm Ashley McKinless and I'm joined by Olga Segura.

0:48.6

Hey guys and Zach Davis. Good to be with you Ashley. Yeah.

0:51.8

Yeah. Likewise. Do you guys enjoy your Memorial Day

0:56.0

weekends? Yeah, long weekends are great. Tuesdays after long weekends? Yeah.

1:03.0

No.

1:04.0

Such a struggle today.

1:05.0

I know.

1:06.0

But we're here.

1:07.0

We're enthusiastic.

1:08.0

What are we drinking, Zach?

1:09.0

Not to be enthusiastic.

1:11.0

Maybe a little sad.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from America Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of America Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.