Whiplash with Maxwell Kuzma

What happens when faith becomes more about control than love? In this episode, we kick off our High Control Catholicism series by unpacking the patterns of authoritarianism, rigidity, and fear that show up in certain corners of the Catholic Church—from the windswept plains of St. Marys, Kansas to the halls of Opus Dei and Franciscan University. We share stories from our readers, reflect on our own...

Kaya Oakes is a Catholic writer, feminist, teacher, and author of Radical Reinvention , The Defiant Middle , and most recently, Not So Sorry . Kaya’s work wrestles with some of the deepest tensions in faith: grief and joy, resistance and belonging, accountability and forgiveness. In this conversation, we explore her journey from Catholic schoolgirl to Bay Area punk activist and back to church on h...

In this special Pride Month episode of Whiplash, Max and Emma sit down with Evelyn Lundy, cohost of the podcast Leave, Laugh, Love, to talk about queer awakening, Catholic deconstruction, and what happens when faith communities can’t hold the fullness of who we are. Evelyn shares her journey from youth group devotion to Franciscan University, where a mix of theology classes, queer Catholic classma...

Dani (@ andhersaints ) is a queer Catholic artist who grew up in an Opus Dei all-girls high school, where they were assigned to make religious art long before they believed in God. What started as a reluctant chore became a source of spiritual freedom. In this episode, Dani shares how they reclaimed Catholic imagery through humor, creativity, and queer embodiment—transforming saints from symbols o...

Twenty-five years ago, Shannon Vavich heard someone say, “It will all be better when there’s a Catholic king.” At the time, it sounded like fringe fantasy. But today, she sees that same dream resurfacing in the far-right Catholic movement, Project 2025, and a growing push toward theocracy. In this episode, Shannon—a progressive Catholic and outspoken critic of far-right groups—joins us to talk abo...

What happens when doctrine demands obedience, but love calls you to something deeper? In this episode, we speak with Julie, a Catholic mother from Texas whose journey took her from conservative Anglicanism to the Catholic Church—and eventually into full affirmation of her LGBTQ+ children. Along the way, she confronted the harms of fundamentalism, rejected fear-based theology, and embraced the radi...

In this episode of Whiplash , we sit down with our friend Jessica—a musician, theologian, and educator who grew up in a relaxed, West Coast version of Catholicism that stood in sharp contrast to the rigid forms Emma and I were raised with. From youth ministry to music, Jessica shares how her understanding of faith, aesthetics, and queerness evolved over time, eventually leading her to teach theolo...

When Teresa Thompson sat down with Emma and me, we talked about religious trauma, global perspectives on Catholicism, and how queer people survive in systems not built for us. Teresa encourages us to see healing not only as repair but as a reclamation of our stories and our faith. Together, we explore the weight of trauma without losing sight of joy, community, and the liberating power of spiritua...

Just weeks after the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has elected its first-ever U.S. pope: Leo XIV. But instead of celebration, his election has ignited a firestorm across the far-right Catholic internet—from memes and AI-generated propaganda to conspiracy theories and calls for “making the Church great again.” In this episode of Whiplash , hosts Max Kuzma and Emma Cieslik trace the ris...

What if joy isn’t just a feeling, but a form of resistance—and a theological truth? In this episode of Whiplash , Max and Emma dive deep into the power of queer Catholic joy : not as a feel-good add-on, but as a sacred, embodied response to a Church and world that too often marginalize LGBTQ+ people. They share personal stories, theological reflections, and liturgical moments that celebrate what i...

When Francis stepped onto the balcony in 2013, he focused on mercy, inclusion, and care for the marginalized. He washed the feet of prisoners, met with trans people, and embraced refugees. He called for a "poor Church for the poor." And for many of us, he seemed to open a door. But behind that door? Vatican documents that fail to respect the dignity of transgender and intersex people. Th...

Alana Chen wanted to be a nun. She was 24 when she died by suicide. Her journals were filled with prayers—and with shame. She had spent years in secret conversion therapy, urged by a priest to keep it from her family. Simon Kent Fung never met Alana. But when he read about her death, something broke open. He’d also been a devout Catholic. He’d also undergone conversion therapy. Her story felt eeri...

What happens when Catholic identity gets tangled up with far-right politics? It's not just happening—it's gaining ground. In this episode, Max and Emma unravel the rise of Catholic nationalism: how it echoes and extends Christian nationalist ideology, how it’s fueled by traditionalist movements like SSPX, and how it’s amplified through conservative media outlets like EWTN and Fox News. Fro...

Today we're on a deep dive into the intersections of faith, gender, and radicalization. Emma and I explore Catholic masculinity, the rise of tradwives, and the troubling discourse around empathy as a supposed weakness—as well as chronicling our own journeys as young people growing up in fundamentalist Catholic spaces. From the resurgence of Latin Mass to the ways traditionalist gender roles are sh...

On this first episode of Whiplash with Maxwell Kuzma, Max and Emma discuss their process of deconstruction to reconstruction as queer Catholics, including the time before, during, and after deconstruction, and reflect on the ways their lives have changed (for the better!).