Rob Lorenz was a National Park Ranger who spent time working at places Arches National Park in Utah and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. One of his favorite things to do was to give tours and ranger talks to groups, explaining the extraordinary places of natural beauty in ways that were accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. During a post in Washington, DC, where he worked near the National Mall at places like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, he started feeling like God might be calling him to something else.
Long story short, Rob joined the USA East Coast province of the Jesuits in 2019. Today, he’s in the stage of formation called regency, which is typically two or three years of active ministry that falls in between periods of philosophy and theology study. Rob is spending his regency as the outreach coordinator for the Vatican Observatory. Founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the Vatican Observatory is led by Jesuit astronomers who are doing high-level scientific research in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and Tucson, Arizona. Rob’s job is to speak with groups about the wonders of the cosmos and the work the observatory – a job not too dissimilar from what he was doing as a National Park Ranger. He stopped by our Washington, DC, studio recently for a conversation with host Mike Jordan Laskey.
Rob Lorenz, SJ: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/profile/rob-lorenz-s-j/
The Vatican Observatory: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/
All content for AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast is the property of Jesuit Conference and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Rob Lorenz was a National Park Ranger who spent time working at places Arches National Park in Utah and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. One of his favorite things to do was to give tours and ranger talks to groups, explaining the extraordinary places of natural beauty in ways that were accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. During a post in Washington, DC, where he worked near the National Mall at places like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, he started feeling like God might be calling him to something else.
Long story short, Rob joined the USA East Coast province of the Jesuits in 2019. Today, he’s in the stage of formation called regency, which is typically two or three years of active ministry that falls in between periods of philosophy and theology study. Rob is spending his regency as the outreach coordinator for the Vatican Observatory. Founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the Vatican Observatory is led by Jesuit astronomers who are doing high-level scientific research in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and Tucson, Arizona. Rob’s job is to speak with groups about the wonders of the cosmos and the work the observatory – a job not too dissimilar from what he was doing as a National Park Ranger. He stopped by our Washington, DC, studio recently for a conversation with host Mike Jordan Laskey.
Rob Lorenz, SJ: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/profile/rob-lorenz-s-j/
The Vatican Observatory: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/
Why This Catholic Author Retold Bible Stories As Fairy Tales with Rose John Sheffler
AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast
41 minutes 25 seconds
1 week ago
Why This Catholic Author Retold Bible Stories As Fairy Tales with Rose John Sheffler
“To many, Fantasy, this sub-creative art which plays strange tricks with the world and all that is in it, combining nouns and redistributing adjectives, has seemed suspect, if not illegitimate. To some it has seemed at least a childish folly” writes J.R.R. Tolkien in his classic essay, “On Fairy-Stories.” He goes on to insist: “Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better fantasy will it make.”
In short, Tolkien is saying that the fantastical—stories of elves and dragons and magical staffs—are not escape hatches from this world but rather invitations to delve deeper into the truth of our own reality.
Today’s guest tests that hypothesis—and, in my humblest of opinions, proves just how right Tolkien was. Rose John Sheffler is a Catholic writer who has been telling stories her whole life. She’s written a delightful volume of Biblically inspired fairy tales called “Past Watchful Dragons: Biblical Stories Retold.”
Her book invites us into the world of Erith where we meet characters we know from the Bible but…different. Still—and, as you’ll hear—the truth of these stories, the values and the hopes that they point to, are familiar and likely resonate with what lies deep in your own heart.
If you want to learn more about Rose’s work or get a copy of her book, visit rjsheffler.wordpress.com.
AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast
Rob Lorenz was a National Park Ranger who spent time working at places Arches National Park in Utah and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. One of his favorite things to do was to give tours and ranger talks to groups, explaining the extraordinary places of natural beauty in ways that were accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. During a post in Washington, DC, where he worked near the National Mall at places like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, he started feeling like God might be calling him to something else.
Long story short, Rob joined the USA East Coast province of the Jesuits in 2019. Today, he’s in the stage of formation called regency, which is typically two or three years of active ministry that falls in between periods of philosophy and theology study. Rob is spending his regency as the outreach coordinator for the Vatican Observatory. Founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the Vatican Observatory is led by Jesuit astronomers who are doing high-level scientific research in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and Tucson, Arizona. Rob’s job is to speak with groups about the wonders of the cosmos and the work the observatory – a job not too dissimilar from what he was doing as a National Park Ranger. He stopped by our Washington, DC, studio recently for a conversation with host Mike Jordan Laskey.
Rob Lorenz, SJ: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/profile/rob-lorenz-s-j/
The Vatican Observatory: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/
