Writing, Conviction, and What It Actually Means to Stand for Something with Eliza Monts

Writing, Conviction, and What It Actually Means to Stand for Something with Eliza Monts

✍️ Eliza signed a book deal with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint — and it started with a Lilly Pulitzer blog about Demi Lovato in eighth grade. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison sits down with Catholic writer and content creator Eliza to trace the unlikely path from middle school recess "therapy sessions" to one of the most honest Catholic voices on the internet. They get into just war theory and the Iran conflict, the dignity of people sleeping on the streets of downtown Charleston, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter and what it means to "stand up and be counted" when no one is with you, and how Eliza handles it when she posts too fast and gets it wrong. This one's for the woman who knows she has something to say but keeps waiting for permission. Guest Bio: Eliza is a Catholic writer and content creator based in Charleston, South Carolina, known for her Instagram platform Eliza Writes Things, where she covers faith, human dignity, and Catholic social teaching with a distinctly unfiltered voice. She built her audience from scratch beginning in 2020 while studying English and creative writing, later serving a year on mission in the Diocese of Charleston, and currently works in marketing. She has recently signed a book contract with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint. Eliza also leads small group ministry for middle and high school girls at her parish. In This Episode: 00:00 The Charm Necklace That Preaches a Homily 01:45 Hart Hagerty, Charleston, and Walmart Knockoffs 02:45 Eliza's 8th-Grade Lilly Pulitzer Blog (It's Still Live) 04:00 How Eliza Writes Things Actually Started in 2020 05:30 The Holy Spirit, a Resume Line, and Her First Marketing Job 07:20 "Your Dreams Are Gonna Come True" — The Penguin Book Deal 08:45 The Non-People Pleaser Who Built a Following for It 09:50 Her Mom, Her Grandmother, and the League of Women Voters 10:40 Fourth-Grade Recess Therapy and the Tree Sign 12:00 Human Dignity as Her North Star — JP II, Sacred Heart, and Both/Ands 15:00 What Issues Keep Her Up at Night in 2026 16:30 Just War Theory and Why Iran Doesn't Clear the Bar 17:45 The Poor Aren't an Abstraction — Life on the Streets of Downtown Charleston 20:45 Mary Magdalene and Why She's the Saint for Suffering 23:00 Two White Women in Charleston — Addressing the Elephant in the Room 24:30 Blessed Franz Jägerstätter: The One Man Who Voted No 32:00 "It's Enough Just to Stand Up and Be Counted" 33:30 When You Post Too Fast and Have to Take It Down 39:30 What Accountability Actually Looks Like for Catholic Influencers 41:00 Why She's Excited About Gen Z Catholic Creators 44:30 How to Raise Kids Who Stand Up for Something 47:30 Book Jail, Book Mansion, and How to Pray for Eliza Right Now ⚡ Subscribe on YouTube! ⚡ Visit Liv on the web at: https://www.thelivharrison.com/ ⚡ Follow Liv on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivharrison/ ⚡ Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more! ⚡ Subscribe to Liv's newsletter: https://bit.ly/livnewsletter #thelivingroom #livharrison #catholicshow #catholicyoutube #catholicpodcast #wherefaithfeelshuman

From Federal Prosecutor to "Just His Beloved": Nell's Identity Overhaul at 43

🤍 She was a federal law clerk in Vegas, a managing editor of Law Review, and a prosecutor — and she drove home one morning drenched in spit-up thinking, who am I? Nell O'Leary spent decades performing her way through life until a daughter's mysterious illness, the collapse of a ministry, and a silent retreat stripped everything away and left her with one answer: beloved. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison and Nell cover the identity crisis hiding inside early motherhood, what it actually feels like to enter silence when you have the gift of gab, how Nell's marriage deepened when she finally understood her husband's prayer life — and the Catholic mommy wars nobody wants to admit are real. If you've ever felt like you are what you accomplish, this one is for you. Guest Bio: Nell O'Leary is a Catholic writer, speaker, and ministry consultant based in St. Paul, Minnesota. A former federal law clerk and prosecutor, she went on to spend nearly a decade in women's ministry before transitioning to freelance consulting, writing, and speaking for Catholic organizations. She contributed to or edited over 50 books, wrote the prayers for Ascension's 2026 planner, and is currently finishing her first solo book with a mainstream publisher. Nell and her husband Anthony have five children. In This Episode 00:00  Welcome — Nell and Liv in the Living Room 01:30  What Nell's life looks like online (and why it works) 02:15  18-year-old Nell: poetry, horses, and zero plan 03:45  How a love of show jumping led to law school 04:30  Ave Maria Law School and meeting her husband 05:45  The Vegas clerk era — dry cleaning and federal judges 06:30  Liv's origin story: kindergarten teacher to podcaster 07:45  The identity crash of early motherhood 09:30  Dropping her husband at a big law firm, covered in spit-up 11:00  "You are not what you do" — the Nazareth years 12:15  The thread connecting law, ministry, and storytelling 13:30  Nell's Substack and a first book she can almost announce 14:30  Learning when things are for the internet — and when they're not 15:15  "Who are you at 43?" — the identity question 16:00  What "I'm his beloved" actually cost her to believe 17:30  When her daughter got sick and she stepped away from everything 18:30  The 30-week Ignatian retreat — what it is and how it works 20:30  The first third: accepting that she was worth God's time 21:30  The middle third: imaginative prayer she didn't expect 22:15  The last third: real silence, and finding God in it 23:30  "Just turn your face" — what silence looks like now 25:30  Turning toward God all day long, not just in a prayer room 27:00  Nell's love story: two attorneys, law school, Nebraska 28:30  Her husband — ex-seminarian, former hermit, most patient man 30:00  How the retreat finally helped her understand her husband's prayer life 32:00  The strongest years of their marriage — and the hardest 33:30  Sending your spouse on silent retreat (even with five kids) 35:30  The evolution of arguments across 17 years of marriage 37:00  Choosing your family's life over your individual preferences 39:00  Female friendship: the good, the painful, the evaporated besties 41:30  Realistic expectations as a love language 43:00  Catholic mommy wars: beeswax candles, home births, and judgment 45:30  "Is your baby alive? Great." — on not policing other women 47:15  How can we pray for Nell? ⚡ Subscribe on YouTube! ⚡ Visit Liv on the web at: https://www.thelivharrison.com/ ⚡ Follow Liv on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivharrison/ ⚡ Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more! ⚡ Subscribe to Liv's newsletter: https://bit.ly/livnewsletter #thelivingroom #livharrison #catholicshow #catholicyoutube #catholicpodcast #wherefaithfeelshuman

She Quit Youth Ministry, Went Full-Time Artist, Then Closed Up Shop - Valarie Delgado

🎨 She quit a stable youth ministry job to become a full-time Catholic artist — then, after her biggest vendor event ever, realized she never wanted to do it again. Valerie Delgado (known online as Pax Valerie) spent three years running her own Catholic shop, illustrating books, and traveling to conferences. Then she closed it all down. Not because she failed, but because she finally figured out who she actually wanted to be. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison and Valerie also dig into the pressure Catholic singles face about vocation, a doctor's wake-up call about food and heart health a month before her 30th birthday, and how Bad Bunny's Super Bowl set made her cry thinking about Hurricane Maria. This one's for you if you've ever built something good — and then had to let it go anyway. Guest Bio: Valerie Delgado is a Catholic artist, illustrator, and parish communications professional based in Houston, Texas, known online as Pax Valerie. She spent three years running her own Catholic art shop — selling prints, traveling to conferences, and building a following on social media — before closing the shop to focus on illustration and parish work. She has illustrated nearly 10 books, primarily reflective journal-style titles, working with multiple publishers. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Texas, her identity as a Puerto Rican Catholic deeply shapes both her art and her faith. In This Episode 00:00 Welcome to The LIVing Room — Liv & Val's Houston Reunion  01:00 "Are You Pax?" — The Origin of the Name Pax Valerie  02:00 Wait, Val Does Art? How a Non-Artist Discovered She Was One  03:30 A Random Summer Day, Hobby Lobby, and a Sunflower on YouTube  05:00 Painting Bible Covers, Grace Painted, and Praying Through Art  06:30 COVID, Youth Ministry Falling Apart, and a Shop Being Born  07:30 Quitting the Stable Job to Sell Art Full-Time (With No Idea What She Was Doing) 09:00 The FOCUS Conference, the Big Booth, and "I Never Want to Do This Again" 10:30 Giving Up Social Media for Lent — and Finding the Most Peace She'd Ever Felt 11:30 "I Don't Want to Be a Businesswoman. I Just Want to Doodle for God."  13:00 What She Does with Her Art Now — Etsy, Digital Downloads & Illustrating Books 15:00 The Scariest Part of Listening to God (and Trusting Him Through Anxiety)  16:30 Ministry Is Not Always Rainbows — The Church as a Hospital Full of Broken People 20:30 Being Catholic and Single: The Pressure to Have a "Capital V Vocation" 24:00 Growing Up, Not Going to College, and Feeling Like She Missed the Bus  27:30 A Doctor Said She Could Have a Heart Attack at 30. One Month Before Her Birthday.  29:00 What She Actually Did — Discipline, Blood Work, and Leaving Food at the Foot of the Cross  31:00 Spiritual Directors, Therapists, and Why Finding One Feels Like Dating  33:00 Life in Her 30s — Dog, House, Church Job, and a Dream Trip to Puerto Rico 36:00 Born in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny, and the Super Bowl Halftime Nobody Was Ready For  38:30 Hurricane Maria, Her Grandma Walking to Church Every Day, and Crying at the Power Lines  42:30 What Does Being Catholic Mean in Puerto Rico? Culture vs. Intimate Faith  44:00 How Can We Pray for You? Val's Ask + Liv's Therapist Referral ⚡ Subscribe on YouTube! ⚡ Visit Liv on the web at: https://www.thelivharrison.com/ ⚡ Follow Liv on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivharrison/ ⚡ Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more! ⚡ Subscribe to Liv's newsletter: https://bit.ly/livnewsletter #thelivingroom #livharrison #catholicshow #catholicyoutube #catholicpodcast #wherefaithfeelshuman

What Does the Catholic Church Actually Expect from Gay Catholics?

🎙️ He came out, left the Church, got a dream from God he tried to ignore, and now he works full-time for a ministry that helped bring him home. Manny Gonzalez is a Catholic campus minister turned mission development director at Eden Invitation, an apostolate for LGBT+ disciples pursuing the Lord in alignment with Church teaching. In this episode, Manny walks through his full story — the years of suppression, the combustion, the ultimatum he gave Jesus on his knees in his bedroom — and what it actually looks like to carry a cross you didn't ask for. They also dig into conversion therapy narratives, the "father wound" assumptions Catholics throw around, what the Church gets dangerously wrong about belonging, and the belong → believe → behave framework that should flip how we think about evangelization. This one's for you if you love someone navigating this — or if you've ever said something well-meaning that landed like a brick. The LIVing Room with Liv Harrison — pull up a chair. Guest Bio: Manny Gonzalez is a Catholic speaker, content creator, and mission development director at Eden Invitation, a lay apostolate for LGBT+ disciples pursuing faithful discipleship in alignment with Church teaching. He holds a master's degree in catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he also served as a campus minister for three years. Now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Manny works on community growth and mission partnerships for Eden Invitation while using his platform to share his story and speak hope to disciples navigating similar experiences. He is a self-described dramatic Hispanic man who once gave God an ultimatum on his knees — and credits what happened next as the turning point of his life. In This Episode 00:00 Technical Chaos, Pet Birds, and Getting This Thing Rolling 04:10 Manny's New Life in Minnesota (One Month In) 05:45 Six Months Unemployed After Franciscan — The Real Talk 10:30 Breaking Performance Mentality and Learning Who God Actually Is 13:00 21-Year-Old Manny vs. 27-Year-Old Manny 17:50 The Both/And: You Can Be Grateful AND Say "This Sucks" 19:00 Saints Were Messy Too — Why Grit Is the Point 22:00 Manny's Conversion Story: Growing Up Catholic, Coming Out, Leaving the Church 30:00 October 2018: The Ultimatum on His Knees 33:30 Eden Invitation — What It Is and Why Manny Joined Their Staff 36:00 "I Could Have a Girlfriend and Still Go to Hell" — Dismantling the Wrong Goal 38:30 What the Church Actually Teaches on Chastity (And What It Doesn't Mean) 40:30 Conversion Therapy, Father Wounds, and the Dumb Stuff We Say to People 43:00 Liv Gets Real About Her Own Cross — Weight, Suffering, and What "Rid Of" Actually Costs 47:00 How to Be a Better Ally Without Becoming the Savior Nobody Asked For 50:30 Belong, Believe, Behave — The Framework That Should Change Your Parish 53:30 How Can We Pray for You, Manny? 55:45 Goodbyes and "We're Definitely Road-Trip Friends" ⚡ Subscribe on YouTube! ⚡ Visit Liv on the web at: https://www.thelivharrison.com/ ⚡ Follow Liv on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivharrison/ ⚡ Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more! ⚡ Subscribe to Liv's newsletter: https://bit.ly/livnewsletter #thelivingroom #livharrison #catholicshow #catholicyoutube #catholicpodcast #wherefaithfeelshuman

Building a Catholic Media Company and Going to Therapy in His 40s, This Is Edmundo Reyes

🎙️ He got on a bus at 17 with no faith, no plan, and honestly — hoping to meet a girl. He got off it a completely different person. That one weekend in Monterrey set the next three decades in motion: a career switch from economics to communications, a conviction that the Church deserved better storytelling, and the founding of Digital Continent — the creative powerhouse behind some of Catholic media's most recognizable productions, including Seeking Beauty on EWTN. But building something great on the outside doesn't mean everything is okay on the inside. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison sits down with Edmundo Reyes for the conversation behind the résumé — the 14 months that quietly took everything apart and put it back together differently. Therapy for the first time at 48. This one is for anyone who has been building, serving, and showing up — and suspects there's still something God is trying to get to underneath all of it. Guest Bio: Edmundo Reyes is the founder and creative director of Digital Continent, a Catholic media and production collective that partners with organizations and individuals to bring mission-driven content to life. His work spans high-profile Catholic media productions, most notably Seeking Beauty, a series currently airing on EWTN that he counts among Digital Continent's proudest achievements. He and his wife Melanie live in Michigan where they have grown a beautiful family over the last 24 years. In This Episode 00:00 Cold open: the retreat, the therapy, the spiritual director  01:30 Welcome, marriage jokes, and how Liv keeps getting Edmundo's story wrong  05:30 Meet Melanie's husband — and the man behind Digital Continent  07:00 Not an agency — a collective of dreamers and builders  09:30 Liv calls him a creative architect — and he nearly cries  12:00 Why great creative work looks effortless — and what that actually costs  13:30 Your team is not a contract — they're brothers and sisters in Christ  16:30 Growing up Catholic in Mexico — faith as a subject, not a relationship  18:30 17 years old, friendless, and talked into a retreat he didn't want to go to  19:30 Arms crossed in the back row — his first encounter with charismatic Catholics  21:30 The retreat leaders wrote him off as a lost cause — then God showed up  23:00 "What if this is actually true?" — the leap of faith that changed everything  24:30 From economics to communications — why the Church needed better storytellers  27:00 God's dodgeball team — and raising his hand to be picked  30:00 He said yes before he knew what he was good at — and that's how he found out  31:30 How is your prayer life different now? — the question that opens everything  32:30 Walking 46 miles on Holy Week because his ego takes two hours to quiet down  34:30 He used to see himself as St. Francis. Now he sees Pontius Pilate.  36:00 The Jesuit spiritual director who stopped him mid-sentence  37:30 Two things he finally learned: the depth of his sin and the depth of God's love  40:30 Gen X, Mexican, male — and finally in therapy at 48 42:30 The JP2 Institute healing work — and crying in a reflection he didn't expect  44:00 Healing shows you the wounds. Therapy explains why you kept reopening them.  46:00 How can we pray for you? — closing a chapter of healing, entering one of giving  47:30 Hurt people hurt people — but healed people heal people  48:00 Seeking Beauty on EWTN — where to find it and why you should watch it #livharrison#catholicshow #catholicyoutube #catholicpodcast #thelivingroom