The Department of Nuance

What is the relationship between religious faith and mental health? Where does the role of a priest end and the role of a psychologist begin? And what does it then mean to be a Catholic mental health professional? In this episode of the Department of Nuance , Bernardin Scholar and Dominican Sister Siobhan Burroughs interviews longtime friend and colleague in the mental health space, Alicia Hoyte....

How do you raise your children in the faith? And then, how do you navigate when your children become adults, growing and changing their relationships to adult religious identity? These are questions that plague parents of all religious creeds, and these questions are uniquely significant for parents who are also ministers. For our fifteenth episode of The Department of Nuance , and for his final a...

One of the most hot-button issues of our current culture is the oft-invoked “crisis of masculinity.” The situation is dire: Men are falling behind at school, in the workplace, and in the home. Cases of depression, loneliness, addiction, and suicide are at all-time highs. The multiple waves of feminist advancement have earned for women significant increases in academic, interpersonal, and career su...

When we started this podcast, we at the Bernardin Center knew it would fill a multitude of niches: Not only does a podcast make a space for academic conversations that advance scholarship and foster professional networking, but a podcast is also a ministerial project, preaching - as the CTU mission statement calls us - “Christ’s good news of justice, love, and peace.” This podcast is also a creati...

The Department of Nuance podcast is back! And there's no more perfect way to celebrate our return to the airwaves over the holidays than to have a conversation about the holidays as a significant moment of return for all kinds of people. During Advent and Christmas - as well as Ash Wednesday and Lent - Catholic Churches around the country see an increase in participants. What is it about this time...

June is Pride month, which often invites extra attention and conversation in the Catholic Church about the Church's official teaching on matters of sexuality and gender. While the areas of LGBTQ+ Catholic study and ministry have expanded over the decades, the Church’s teaching has remained relatively consistent: That only those sexual acts that are both unitive and procreative, between one man and...

On May 8th, 2025 the world was introduced to Pope Leo XIV. Imagine our surprise, here at Catholic Theological Union, when the red curtains parted to reveal a familiar face. That’s right, the Pope went to CTU. It’s only been a week and already much has been made of the first US-born Pope. The first Pope for whom English is the first language. A Pope born in Chicago. Not only this, but we have a you...

Ecumenical dialogue is one of the core values shared by Catholic Theological Union and our namesake, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Interdenominational relationships between Christian groups are a key part of community-building, peacemaking, and a robust theological education. When modern life keeps us siloed in all sorts of ways, including religiously, it can be easy to forget how much we have in com...

We've seen some frightening things in the news recently, particularly here in the United States. Many people are asking themselves, "What do I do? How can I respond? What strategies are most effective?" In times of hopelessness, it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that only violence adequately responds to violence, and it can be hard to differentiate nonviolent activism from careless...

It should go without saying that we find ourselves in a church, country, and world rife with conflict. But what is the difference between simply resolving disagreements and instead having conflict resilience? Now more than ever, we need to learn how to have difficult conversations with each other in ways that are rehumanizing, nuanced, and healthy. In this episode, Bernardin Scholar Peter Denio is...

Welcome back to the Department of Nuance podcast. It's officially 2025! Pope Francis has named this year one of Jubilee... but what does that mean? And how does it relate to the Synod on Synodality we've just undergone as a global Church? In this episode, two Bernardin Scholars - Matthew Kresich and Paul Jarzembowski - who both attended the Synod in Rome and who work in various Church ministries,...

Ahead of the 2024 United States Presidential Election, we're pleased to share an exclusive conversation between Bernardin Scholar Peter Denio and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark. For this episode, Cardinal Tobin shares with listeners a human glimpse into the role of Bishop in promoting unity, and the scriptural basis for a unified - while still diversified - Catholic Church. Thi...

In this month's episode, listeners hear from Jason Steidl-Jack, theologian and author of LGBTQ+ Catholic Ministry: Past and Present, and Bernardin Scholar Mark Neuhengen, Director of Evangelization at St. Teresa of Avila parish in Chicago. Both come to this conversation with various experiences ministering to and with LGBTQ+ Catholics. Mentioned in the episode: Jason's book: LGBTQ+ Catholic Minist...

For episode 3, Madison sits down with Russ Testa, Co-Director of the Office for Social Evangelization and Engagement with the Franciscans Friars in the United States, and Bernardin Scholar Matthew Kresich for a conversation marking 10 years of Pope Francis' historical encyclical on Care for God's Creation: Laudato Si. Mentioned in the episode: CARA Georgetown Ashlee Piper's Give a Sh*t Just Roots...

In this episode, we hear from not one, but two(!) Bernardin Scholar alumni: David Gayes and Kate Williams. David is a disability theologian and activist who has cerebral palsy, and Kate is Vice President of Sacred Music at GIA Publications. Not only are David and Kate former colleagues, but they also share a commitment to center disabled, chronically ill, and mentally ill voices in their ministrie...

For our first official episode, we sit down with Bernardin Scholar Caitlin Morneau, who serves as Director of Restorative Justice at Catholic Mobilizing Network, for a conversation with Sr. Betsy Linehan, RSM who teaches and publishes on topics of capital punishment and criminal justice reform. Mentioned in the episode: The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (insideoutcenter.org) For more informat...

In this bonus episode, Director of the Bernardin Center Dr. Steve Millies introduces listeners to Cardinal Bernardin, the Bernardin Center, and the goals of this podcast. Mentioned in the episode: Steve's book on Cardinal Bernardin, Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground Steve's book on the consistent ethic of life, A Consistent Ethic of Life: Navigating Catholic Engagement with U.S. Politics Lea...

When the late Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Bernardin, was working on his written projects, he received many drafts from his team of collaborators. In the margins of these drafts, he was known to give feedback that insisted upon greater balance, wider scope, more precision. One aide quipped that a document sent to Cardinal Bernardin made a trip to "the Department of Nuance." With Cardinal...