Mezzo by Chris Damian

In this episode, I share some of my personal story about immigration, faith, and family. My grandfather once overstayed his visa and, for a time, was considered an "illegal immigrant." Looking at today's immigration debate, I can't help but wonder how differently my own family might have been treated under our current political climate. I also reflect on why I was initially hopef...

In this episode, we explore why many Catholic arguments against transgender identities fail to persuade—even among people who are sympathetic to Catholic teaching. Drawing on the work of Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, we examine how many Catholic discussions about transgender people begin with assumptions that don't accurately describe how trans people understand themselves. Instead...

Can Catholic seminaries admit gay men to holy orders? In this long, nerdy, and surprisingly hopeful conversation, I sit down with my friend Dan Quinan, a canon lawyer and Substack writer, to unpack what Church law actually says about “homosexual tendencies,” “gay culture,” and seminary admissions. We walk through the 2005 Vatican instructions, the difference between actions, habits, and desires, a...

Today, natural law arguments about sexuality are often based on distorted understandings that risk dehumanizing and dismissing the profound complexity of human persons. What if the way natural law is currently used—objectivized, empiricist, and mechanistic—is actually a betrayal of Aristotle and Aquinas’s true tradition? In this episode, we'll unpack how modern misreadings of natural law not o...

When the Church’s most rigid teachings threaten your identity, the path to authentic faith often starts with a simple truth: You Can, If You Want To. James Allison, theologian and priest, unpacks how embracing God's love and forgiveness—not morality—can radically transform our understanding of ourselves and others. If you're tired of the moralism that keeps good people feeling defective or...

In this episode, we explore why coming out in the Church can function as an act of moral agency and even civil disobedience. Drawing from the work of Martin Luther King Jr., Black Christian theology, and his own experience as a gay Catholic, Chris Damian discusses silence, disclosure, queer identity, Church power structures, and the spiritual cost of marginalization. We talk about being pressured...

Most of us are unprepared for the profound questions the digital age is forcing us to ask about humanity, justice, and the future. Which is partly why Pope Leo XIV has recently published Magnifica Humanitas, his encyclical on safeguarding humanity in the age of AI.He moves us to ask: What if AI isn't the enemy, but a mirror revealing our deepest moral choices? In this episode, Chris Damian rea...

What happens when your “tiny” online platform suddenly follows you into real life—family dinners, gay bars, dating apps, and DMs from priests in crisis? In this episode, Chris Damian (lawyer, gay Catholic writer) and Cade (ex-Catholic atheist YouTuber) unpack the weird reality of hyper-niche fame: stalkers, parasocial relationships, over-sharing faith and sexuality online, and learning to set boun...

In this episode, I’m joined by Paul Fahey, a former parish catechist turned licensed counselor in Michigan who now works at the intersection of mental health, Catholic theology, and spiritual abuse. Paul shares his journey from homeschooled, Steubenville-era zeal and a full-time job in parish ministry to walking away after years under a narcissistic pastor, a hostile work environment, and a dioces...

The Catholic case at the Supreme Court: Can faith-based schools receive public funds while discriminating? This episode unpacks a pivotal legal battle shaping the future of Catholic education and religious liberties in America. The Supreme Court case St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy tests a fundamental question: Can faith-based schools accept public funding and still refuse enrolling children becau...

In this episode, Christopher Dowling-Magill and Danny Peterson return to share the bizarre and often shocking things their Catholic conversion therapists encouraged them to do in the name of “healing” same-sex attraction. From “non-erotic” group cuddling and “snuggle prayer” to Journey Into Manhood weekends, skate-park inner-child rituals, deliverance sessions, and psychological warfare, they unpa...

A deep, provocative conversation on how Christian communities confuse repression with asceticism—and how that confusion harms women, gay men, and anyone raised in purity culture. We explore the work of Alasdair McIntyre, Sarah Coakley Coakley, Augustine, Pope Benedict XVI, and the lived experiences of queer Christians to ask: What does a healthy, imaginative, morally mature approach to sexuality l...

Content warning: This story includes discussions of suicide, sexual violence, assault and abuse, including clergy sexual abuse. If you're having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988.In September 2013, former chancellor Jennifer Haselberger went public with allegations that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis had mishandled clergy sexual abuse cases. A few weeks later, the Department o...

This is a deep dive into conversion therapy—its philosophical underpinnings, psychological history, theories, and practices. Conversion therapy shows up in the Church in many ways today and has impacted just about every LGBTQ+ Catholic. If you stick around to the end, you'll learn how conservative promotion of conversion therapy actually has its origins in liberal secular psychoanalysis that t...

Last night, I hosted an impromptu discussion on the Supreme Court decision that was just released for the case Chiles v. Salazar. The Court held that conversion therapy bans such as that in Colorado must meet the exacting requirements of strict scrutiny review, putting conversion therapy bans across the country at significant risk. In this discussion, I’m joined by a diverse group of Catholics and...

Many women’s ministries are beacons of faith, community, and empowerment — but what happens when the internal culture turns controlling and toxic? Lindsay Shaw, who found herself deeply embedded in the world of the Catholic ministry Blessed Is She, pulls back the curtain on the spiritual abuse, perfectionism, and betrayal she endured behind the scenes. From navigating the pressures of ministry whi...

Three former writers for Blessed Is She — Colleen, Patty, and Shannon — sit down to tell the inside story of a Catholic women’s ministry that went from a ragtag group of collaborators to a tightly controlled brand. We talk about the early days of genuine community, the slow creep of theological “gatekeeping,” regional Facebook groups that needed “policing,” and how politics, bishops, and big money...

In this episode, Chris sits down with lobbyist and longtime Hill staffer Dan Tilson to have the kind of conversation you almost never see online: a nuanced, honest look at conservatism from two gay Catholics who refuse to stay inside culture-war boxes. Dan shares his journey from Latin Mass parishes and Republican campaigns to lobbying on immigration, serving at a Catholic food bank, and working w...

In this episode, I step back from the culture war and ask a deeper question: what is erotic desire, and what does that mean for homosexuality and homoerotic love within Catholicism? Drawing on Plato, the Greek Fathers, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and the Catechism, I argue that eros is far bigger than sex—it’s about beauty, creativity, friendship, and pro-creativity in the broadest sense. We explo...

What does “traditional Christian marriage” actually mean? In today’s debates about same-sex marriage, Catholics and Christians often argue as if the tradition has always understood marriage as the highest form of friendship, intimacy, and personal fulfillment. But history tells a far more complex—and surprising—story. In this video, Chris Damian (attorney, gay Catholic, and writer) explores how Ch...

Is chastity merely a check-list of bad behaviors for Catholic singles to avoid, or is it something far more expansive—and more human? In this episode, we dive into the recent launch of the dating app Sacred Spark and its controversial "broken heart" badge for those who don’t "value chastity." Using this as a jumping-off point, we peel back the layers of modern "purity culture" to reveal a surprisi...

What does it look like when gay, queer, and trans people who were deeply formed by Catholicism sit down and speak honestly—without caricatures, slogans, or outrage? In this roundtable conversation, former and current Catholic insiders share their stories of faith, deconstruction, relationships, theology, and rebuilding a life after coming out. Many of us were theology students, pro-life activists,...

Content warning: This conversation includes discussions of suicide, mental health crises, and related topics. If you're struggling, call or text 988. I spent a weekend with a group of people who grew up in intense Catholic environments. We all ended up in different places. Some are in the Church, some are out. I asked: raise your hand if you at some point had to fight for survival because of m...

Content warning: This conversation includes discussions of purity culture, suicide, mental health struggles, and related topics. I spent a weekend with a group of people—former insiders who grew up in intense Catholic environments. We all ended up in different places today. Some are in the Church, some are out. We spent a weekend having conversations about our lives and what all of this means. The...

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi Jr. inherited conversion therapy practices from his father and has considerable influence on the Catholic community. He's been promoted by Lila Rose, the Ruth Institute, Fresh Catholic Podcast, and EWTN. He recently submitted a legal brief about Colorado's conversion therapy ban. Nicolosi rebranded his efforts as "reintegrative therapy" or "sexual attract...