26 Years of Trans Catholic Ministry - Sister Luisa Derouen

Fr. Mike Schmitz Encourages Scrupulosity in Gay Catholics

What kind of God is being presented to LGBTQ Catholics? In this episode, Max and Emma respond to Fr. Mike Schmitz and Kim Zember's recent EWTN video "Can You Be Gay and Catholic?" and argue that beneath the conversation lies a troubling image of God—one that encourages self-doubt, scrupulosity, and fear rather than dignity, relationship, and freedom. From purity culture and evangelical testimony narratives to same-sex weddings and Catholic teaching, they explore how theology shapes people's lives and ask a simple question: if the Gospel is good news, why does this message feel so bad?

A New Thing: Pride, Transness, and Liberation

This Pride Month, Max explores what Pride means through the lens of transgender identity, liberation, and faith. Beginning with the history of Stonewall and the central role that transgender and gender-nonconforming people played in the Gay Liberation movement, this episode examines why Pride remains both a celebration and a protest. Drawing on scripture, queer history, and contemporary reflections on trans life, Max argues that trans people are not merely part of the story of Pride—they help reveal a deeper truth about human freedom, transformation, and possibility. In a world that often fears change, transness offers a powerful reminder that, as the prophet Isaiah writes, God is always "doing a new thing." Sign up for Max's newsletter: https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/

If You Didn’t Read the Pope’s Encyclical, Here’s What You Missed

In this episode, I break down Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, offering both a clear overview of its main themes and a deeper reflection on what it means theologically and politically. The document engages artificial intelligence, modern warfare, labor, and global inequality through the lens of Catholic Social Doctrine, including striking moments like its critique of “just war” theory and its acknowledgment of the Church’s historical role in slavery. But beyond summary, I also explore what it feels like to read a text that is at once significant and limited—especially from the perspective of liberation theology and my own experience as a transgender Catholic formed at the margins of the Church. This episode asks what it means when institutional theology begins to name realities that marginalized communities have long been living and thinking through, and why that tension between excitement and frustration might actually be the most important part. Check out more of my work at: https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/

Queer Theology 101 with Dr Ish Ruiz

Today I’m joined by Dr. Ish Ruiz for a conversation about queer theology—what it means to “queer” theology itself, and how that moves us beyond questions of simple inclusion into deeper questions about scripture, doctrine, tradition, and power. We explore what shifts when theology is approached from the margins rather than assumed centers, and how queer theology opens up more liberatory and expansive ways of understanding God and the Church. Dr. Ish Ruiz is an assistant professor of Latinx and Queer Decolonial Theology at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. His work sits at the intersections of queer theology, Catholicism, Latinx theology, sexual ethics, liberation, and ecclesiology, shaped by both academic scholarship and years of ministry alongside LGBTQ Catholics. In this conversation, we also discuss his theological vision for the Church, his two recent books—LGBTQ+ Educators in Catholic Schools: Embracing Inclusivity, Synodality, and Justice and Cornerstones: Sacred Stories of LGBTQ+ Employees in Catholic Institutions—and the pastoral importance of remembering the inherent dignity and belovedness of LGBTQ people. To learn more about Dr. Ish Ruiz and his work, visit his website here: https://www.ishruiz.com/ [https://www.ishruiz.com/]

The Search for Aliveness with Leah Raidt

Leah Raidt joins me for a deeply personal conversation about Catholicism, embodiment, gender, spirituality, and the search for aliveness within religious practice. Leah serves to uplift and advance LGBTQ+ artists and narratives toward collective liberation through meditation, facilitation, filmmaking, poetry, performance, producing, and presence. Together, we explore what happens when spirituality moves beyond performance and certainty and becomes something rooted in mystery, discernment, and relationship. Throughout the episode, we reflect on growing up in Catholic culture, the pressure to suppress intuition in favor of rigid expectations, and the tension between inherited religion and lived experience. Leah shares how Catholicism became a kind of friction that sharpened their discernment, while I speak about navigating faith as a transgender Catholic trying to reconcile what I was taught spiritually with what I knew in my body. This conversation explores paradox, embodiment, and the possibility of a spirituality that reconnects people to themselves rather than teaching them to disappear. Links to find out more about Leah Raidt: https://linktr.ee/lraidt