Practicing Catholic Medicine

Episode 17 is with me, your host Catie Senour, PA-C and former DII collegiate athlete. I’m sharing a podcast version of my Substack series Are We Sacrificing Our Kids on the Elite Youth Sports Altar?

I originally published this three-part series, The Gamble, The Risk, and The Reward? in June 2026 during Pope Leo XIV’s monthly intention for sport. As I discuss in this episode and in the series, I love sports. I was a two-time State participant for track and an NCAA DII scholarship athlete and captain. I still play sports and my kids play sports. At their best, the benefits of sports are endless. They unify, strengthen, and build confidence.

And yet… After nearly a decade of caring for kids with sports injuries in clinic, I was curious if the rise in early sport specialization, elite club sports, and year-round training was a fluke related to my little sample size of patients or if this was a nationwide trend. And if this all really was as rampant as it seemed, is it worth it?

I talk about:

• The pros and cons of the hyper-elite youth sports movement, and explore if these high-level youth athletic clubs actually lead to collegiate and professional careers
• The literature and data surrounding risk for injury, abuse, burnout, and long-term outcome in elite youth sports
• The potential pitfalls and benefits of an all-consuming youth sports culture on our Catholic faith

To read the original trio of articles, or to explore articles referenced in this post as well as abuse prevention resources:

• Part I: The Gamble
• Part II: The Risk
• Part III: The Reward?

For more on Practicing Catholic Medicine:   

• Check out our website, www.PracticingCatholicMedicine.com, where you can read blog posts, find links to past episodes, and contact me for any questions or interview nominations, including yourself!
• Instagram: @PracticingCatholicMedicine
• YouTube: @PracticingCatholicMedicine
• Substack: www.substack.com/@catiesenour

As always, the views expressed by my guests and myself are not those of our employers, and this podcast is not meant to intended to replace medical advice from a licensed provider. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical concerns.

We are BACK!

I’m so excited to share a new episode with you all.

This episode is a conversation I had with oncologist and author Robert Collins, MD, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center where he specializes in blood cancers and is the director of the Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy Program and the Combined Adult and Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program. Dr. Collins is also a recipient of the institution’s Watson Award, which is the institution's highest honor in clinical medicine.

We discuss his new book, You Visited Me: Grace and Healing in the Modern Medical Center , available from Ignatius Press. I read this book in less than a day, and it’s incredible. Each chapter provided so many things to ponder and pray through, and I felt emboldened to go out and serve well in my career. You can purchase the book here.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Dr. Collins’ journey from agnosticism to Catholicism and the impact friendship with his patients
• Miracles and changes of hearts he has witnessed over his many years of practice
• Emotional resiliency, especially a high-stakes field like oncology
• The experience of writing a book and advice for any aspiring authors

For more on Practicing Catholic Medicine:

• Check out our website, where you can read blog posts, find links to past episodes, and contact me forany questions or interview nominations, including yourself
•  Instagram: @PracticingCatholicMedicine
• My Substack, where I write on the intersection of Catholicism and medicine, and I will be posting the podcast here as well
• Our new YouTube channel, where you can now listen and watch the podcast

As always, the views expressed by my guests and myself are not those of our employers, and this podcast is not meant to intended to replace medical advice from a licensed provider. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical concerns.

Enjoy!

Welcome back, everyone!

Episode 15 is with Dr. Robyn Jennings, a family medicine physician who serves with Mission Doctors Association, a Catholic organization that provides medical care for the poor and training for local healthcare professionals.

While we’ve talked medical missions on this podcast before, this episode brings the fresh perspective of long-term medical missions with a family- and Dr. Jennings was preparing to leave for another mission when we talked!

We talk about:

 We reference:

We reference the books Old Pioneers

Follow us on Instagram @practicingcatholicmedicine

I am seeking new guests! If you have anyone you’d like to nominate, please go to our website and click the nominate tab.

The views expressed by my guests and myself are not necessarily those of our employers, and this podcast is not meant to intended to replace medical advice from a licensed provider. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical concerns.

St. Gianna, Pray for Us!

Episode 14 is with Lisa Gormley (LLC), MA, LPC. Lisa provides beautiful insights into what it’s like on the other side of the counseling session, to be the counselor. She has some excellent thoughts on what it means to honor your healthcare license while practicing ethically and as an authentic Catholic.

We chat about:

- Complicity and scrupulosity versus being present to another and approaching with a listening ear first

- Motherhood and mental health in pregnancy and post-partum period

- Integrating therapy and Catholicism

- The “pray it away” culture and its damaging implications

We reference/check out:

- Lisa’s public Instagram profile @TheCatholicTherapist, and www.thecatholictherapist.org

- Lisa’s Instagram group @catholiccliniciansnetworking- join for a community of healthcare professionals!

- Lisa’s podcast, Mission Mind & Heart

- The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

- The Catholic Guide to Depression by Dr. Aaron Kheriaty

- Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly

I hope you enjoy!

- Catie

** The views expressed in this podcast by myself and my guests are our own and do not represent those of our employers. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical care. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical needs. This podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. Please see your healthcare provider for any healthcare needs.**

Episode 13 is here with a fantastically fun conversation with Marissa Mullins. Marissa worked as an ER nurse for many years, and just graduated with her Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner.

I was eager to talk with Marissa because we share a mutual friend in Claire, the host of the Catholic Feminist Podcast. Marissa was on TCF several years ago (listen online here), and I knew she would be a great guest for PCM.

In this episode, we chat about:

· Marissa’s experience as a travel nurse in the ICU, and as an emergency department nurse

We reference:

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed talking with Marissa!

In Christ,

Catie

**The usual boring disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast by myself and my guests are our own and do not represent those of our employers. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical care. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical needs. This podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. **

Did you that there are non-hormonal, peer-reviewed, evidence-based, ways to prevent (and achieve) pregnancy that are all about helping women know their bodies better, can also help to achieve pregnancy, and recognized by the CDC? In episode 12, I’m talking with Louise Boychuk, a registered nurse and instructor of the Marquette method of natural family planning. 

This is NOT your grandmother’s rhythm method of old. This is a peer-reviewed, evidence-based, non-hormonal approach to avoiding (AND achieving) pregnancy. Natural Family Planning (NFP), also known as Fertility Based Awareness Methods (FABMs) in the scientific community, refers to methods that use signs from a woman’s body to determine when she is fertile (and, also importantly, when she is most likely not fertile). Methods can use a variety of different biological markers, from cervical mucous, to hormone levels in urine that can be tested at home, to body temperature, and more.

This is easily one of my favorite topics, most notably because I used to be ardently opposed to what I thought the Church taught on sex and marriage. As you’ll hear in the episode, up until my early 20s, I thought the Church was crazy when it came to its teaching on sexual ethics and not using contraception. My (wrong) understanding was that the Church just wanted women to be, as the old adage goes, “barefoot and pregnant”, forever and ever.

(FYI-To all of those who are currently in that scenario, I see you, I hear you, I get you, and I hope you’ll hang in there with me through this post and this episode.)

Enter a good friend, a lot of reading, holy priests, wonderful speakers, and a 2-year stint as a Catholic missionary. I was led on a journey that to joy at discovering the truth of how insanely awesome God’s design for sex and marriage is, and we're going to dive into that in this episode. These teachings aren’t in place because the Church thinks sex is bad, it’s because the Church knows sex is so good, and sacred, and important- it needs to be treated as such!

Here’s the TL;DR version of the Church’s teaching on sex and marriage: Sex is meant to be both unitive and procreative. Unitive meaning that it brings a man and woman closer together emotionally, physically, all the things. Procreative in that it’s open to life, so no barriers, either physical or chemical. Abstaining from sex during fertile times to avoid pregnancy for just reasons is still in line with the church’s teaching because there is no use of something to purposefully block fertility. As Louise says in our episode, “Marquette method does not equal opposed to life, it just equals good science.” 

Many providers aren’t aware of the evidence (cue my eyeroll when I read through my discharge paper work after having my baby and under the ‘Birth Control’ section, my OBGYN wrote ‘rhythm method’), the good news is that there is peer-reviewed evidence-based journal articles. As you’ll hear in the podcast, the information is slowly disseminating, and even the CDC updated their public information regarding FABMs to more accurately provide pregnancy prevention statistics. It’s our job as practitioners to get the news out there.

We chat about a lot, including:

⁃ The science behind NFP (specifically the Marquette Method)

⁃ The effectiveness of various NFP methods at avoiding pregnancy

⁃ How NFP fits in with Church teaching

⁃ Joys and challenges of being an NFP instructor

⁃ How to become a Marquette instructor (you have to be a healthcare professional, which is perfect for the listeners of this podcast!)

I also have a lot of resources that I mention that won't fit in this show notes space, so visit www.practicingcatholicmedicine.com for a lil blog post that expands on this and for links to all the things. 

Season two is underway! It has been too long. Since I last released an episode, I gave birth to a little girlie, Lucy, in December. She is seriously such a delight and is babbling and smiling away.

In this episode I talk with my friend Ann Kruse, a registered dietitian working in a long-term senior care facility. This episode was recorded last summer, long before “social distancing” was a buzzword and when we could meet up with friends any time we wanted. Enjoy a podcast NOT about COVID!

We discuss:

o The wide scope of practice for a registered dietician

o Ann’s experience working in a long-term senior care facility

o The relationship between food and faith.

o Newlywed life

We reference:

o A Love-Letter Life By Jeremy and Audrey Roloff

o One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulweiler

o Ann’s website, A Dietician's ANNalysis, where she talks about all things dietetics and nutrition

o This article, which talks about emotionally healthy ways to process emotions during this pandemic

As always, the views expressed by my guests and myself are not necessarily those of our employers, and this podcast is not meant to intended to replace medical advice from a licensed provider. Please see your healthcare provider for any medical concerns.

Stay healthy and God bless!

  Episode 10 is officially here! I chat with Andrea Polito, a registered nurse in pediatric oncology AND a consecrated virgin. This episode also marks the end of Season 1! Practicing Catholic Medicine will be taking a short break as I gather more interviews and continue to make the podcast even better! I will let you all know when the next season starts.

Before I met Andrea, I had no idea what it meant to be a lay consecrated virgin. She explains the rich history of the vocation and her call to it. This episode is perfect for anyone in those “discerning” stages- whether it’s discerning a job, a vocation, or a big move. I especially loved Andrea’s advice on looking for Christ, and remember that He moves in the ordinary, seemingly mundane parts of life! You can read an article written about Andrea's vocation here.

Andrea is a nurse in pediatric oncology, a field with high-highs and low-lows. I especially wanted to share this episode in May because six years ago this month by cousin’s young daughter Kayleen passed away from childhood leukemia after a long, hard-fought battle. If you’re looking to support children and families with childhood cancer, I cannot recommend enough her legacy foundation, which you can read more about here. Another wonderful organization that I was blessed to volunteer with is Camp Wapiyapi, a summer camp in Colorado that is FREE for children with pediatric cancer AND their siblings! 

Andrea and I chat about:

- Her passion for the field of child cancer care

- Resiliency in an emotionally straining field

- Her vocation as a consecrated virgin, including what it means to be a consecrated virgin and how she discerned this call (she was definitely not expecting it!)

We reference:

- The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene

- The Ball and the Cross, by GK Chesterton

Enjoy!

-Catie

* A reminder that the views expressed in this podcast are our own and do not reflect the views of our employers, and that this podcast is not meant to replace medical care. Please see your medical provider for any medical concerns. *

 Episode 9 is with Hannah Wilson, a physician assistant (PA) working in outpatient general pediatrics.

This was actually the first interview I recorded for the podcast, way back in the summer of 2018. Hannah is a good friend of mine and fellow PA who is from my husband’s hometown. I saw Hannah grow as a PA, from just starting out to now being over a year in as a very competent provider. Our interview focuses primarily on life in the first year of work in healthcare, but I think it’s a great episode for everyone regardless of where they are at in their career. 

We talk about:

- How to overcome the doubt in your abilities as a provider in that first year, including how to draw strength and how to continue learning as much as possible to best serve patients

- The role of PAs and the scope of their practice

- Advice for new grads applying for jobs, including what to look for in a practice

We reference:

- He Leadeth Me, By Walter Ciszek

- The Silence of St. Thomas, by Josef Pieper

- A River Runs Through It,  by Norman MaClean

Enjoy!

- Catie

* A reminder that the views expressed in this podcast are our own and do not reflect the views of our employers, and that this podcast is not meant to replace medical care. Please see your medical provider for any medical concerns. *

 This month’s episode is with Dr. Claire Uebbing, an attending physician working in Global Health medicine. 

Claire has an impressive CV. She received her medical training at Indiana University School of Medicine.  After graduation, she went on to complete an emergency medicine residency in Detroit, Michigan. Claire then furthered her training with a global health fellowship and a Master’s degree in public health at Colombia University, while at the same time serving as an attending physician in emergency medicine in New York. During her fellowship and the years that have followed, Claire has worked abroad in many countries, including Uganda, Mozambique, Cambodia, Panama, Kenya, and her current position is in Papa New Guinea. Claire brings a wealth of experience and the unique perspective of medicine worldwide.

We chat about:

⁃ What global medicine is (hint: it’s not a mission trip!)

⁃ What drew her into global health medicine as a full-time career

⁃ Her experiences as an emergency medicine resident in Detroit, and the ways socioeconomic status affect our patients

⁃ The worldwide church

⁃ Lessons from working abroad on the US healthcare system

We reference:

⁃ Project C.U.R.E

⁃ The Good Earth series by Pearl Buck

Enjoy!

-Catie

* A reminder that the views expressed in this podcast are our own and do not reflect the views of our employers, and that this podcast is not meant to replace medical care. Please see your medical provider for any medical concerns. *