Bishop Michael and Andy tackle a listener's question, inspired by a mother and daughter torn apart by politics, about how to stay close to people whose politics differ from yours. They land on why seeing past labels and choosing relationship over being right matters more than winning the argument.

Episode Highlights:

00:39 — Andy asks Bishop Michael if he's ever crushed a homily, only to find out later it fell completely flat

03:11 — Preaching to a congregation that spans newborns to 90 year olds, every political persuasion, and every kind of pain walking in the door

04:59 — The old seminary rule about crying babies, and why a silent congregation is the real warning sign

07:32 — This week's listener question: how do you stay friends with someone whose politics differ from yours, sparked by a mother and daughter who lost their relationship over it

09:45 — The studies on political division: how many Americans have lost a relationship over politics, and why people overestimate how far apart they really are

12:42 — Andy's case that most people agree on the same ten things and only disagree on how to get there, until you sit through an HOA meeting

15:51 — Choosing to love people unconditionally instead of basing it on whether they agree with you

17:48 — Why Andy thinks having friends who disagree with you, à la Lincoln's Team of Rivals, makes for a richer life and better decisions

23:20 — Practical advice for the mother and daughter: starting from “we're both made in God's image” and setting a loving boundary around political talk

27:55 — Andy on the time Bishop Michael chose unity over taking sides, and what it taught him about leadership

About Your Hosts:

Bishop Michael is a longtime friend and mentor to Andy, with more than three decades of shared history between them. A bishop known for his straightforward, often funny take on faith, he brings decades of pastoral experience, from teaching religious studies to serving as a first responder to his own community, to every conversation on the show.

Andy is a businessman, husband, and father who co-hosts This Should Be Good, bringing the questions real people are actually asking into conversation with Bishop Michael. Equal parts curious and irreverent, he keeps the conversation grounded in the everyday realities of work, parenting, and trying to keep up.

Connect & Resources:

Have a question or a topic you'd like covered? Submit it here: thisshouldbegood.show, your question could become a full episode.

Bishop Michael and Andy break down the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, trace the word “friar” back to its Latin roots, and land on which vow is hardest to actually live and why real selflessness has almost nothing to do with money.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 — Andy makes his case for honorary Franciscan status, from a company called “Fran Holdings” to a dog named Franny

02:07 — The real meaning of “fraternity,” and how diocesan priests differ from religious orders like the Franciscans, Jesuits, and Benedictines

07:21 — What “ordained” actually means, and who takes vows without becoming a priest

08:01 — Crossing from Franciscan life into diocesan responsibility as a bishop

08:42 — The three vows poverty, chastity, and obedience and why chastity means more than “no sex”

12:32 — The bishop turns the question around: which vow would be hardest to live, and which would make you most selfless?

17:27 — Why obedience is the hardest vow to keep in a culture built on “my will, my way”

19:00 — Rethinking generosity: why writing a check isn’t the same as giving your time

28:00 — The case for martyrdom as the ultimate selflessness and an answer to the atheist’s challenge

33:40 — The daily practice of selflessness: “get out of yourself,” and why we’re meanest to the people we love most

About Your Hosts:

Bishop Michael is a longtime friend and mentor to Andy, with more than three decades of shared history between them. A bishop known for his straightforward, often funny take on faith, he brings decades of pastoral experience, from teaching religious studies to serving as a first responder to his own community, to every conversation on the show.

Andy is a businessman, husband, and father who co-hosts This Should Be Good, bringing the questions real people are actually asking into conversation with Bishop Michael. Equal parts curious and irreverent, he keeps the conversation grounded in the everyday realities of work, parenting, and trying to keep up.

Connect & Resources:

Have a question or a topic you'd like covered? Submit it here: thisshouldbegood.show, your question could become a full episode.

Andy and Bishop Michael tackle a listener's question about comparison culture and social media: why do we measure our lives against everyone else's, and what actually helps? Along the way, the Bishop gets honest about whether the life he chose ever leaves him envious of the one most people get to live, and the two land on gratitude as the real antidote to comparison.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 — Introducing today's topic: comparison culture and envy

01:11 — What Bishop Michael says he still misses, and what he doesn't

05:24 — Is social media the cause of comparison culture, or just fuel?

08:57 — The 1954 Festinger study: why we compare ourselves to the neighbor, not LeBron 14:19 — Where healthy comparison tips over into envy

16:35 — How comparison hits Andy: motivation, imposter syndrome, and “accomplishment addiction”

18:08 — Imposter syndrome, Catholic guilt, and feeling “not good enough”

22:03 — Gratitude as the real antidote to comparison

26:00 — The practical shift: turning envy into gratitude

27:01 — Closing thought: where does the comparison game end?

About Your Hosts:

Bishop Michael is a longtime friend and mentor to Andy, with more than three decades of shared history between them. A bishop known for his straightforward, often funny take on faith, he brings decades of pastoral experience, from teaching religious studies to serving as a first responder to his own community, to every conversation on the show.

Andy is a businessman, husband, and father who co-hosts This Should Be Good, bringing the questions real people are actually asking into conversation with Bishop Michael. Equal parts curious and irreverent, he keeps the conversation grounded in the everyday realities of work, parenting, and trying to keep up.

Connect & Resources: Have a question or a topic you'd like covered? Submit it here: thisshouldbegood.show, your question could become a full episode.

Bishop Michael and Andy dig into one of the biggest questions listeners have sent in: is it okay to have doubts? After a round of rapid-fire questions, the two get into what doubt really is, why the opposite of faith isn't doubt but certainty, and how even a bishop wrestles with it.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 — Introducing today's topic: doubt versus faith

00:45 — Rapid-fire: the career he'd have chosen instead of the priesthood

03:35 — Rapid-fire: his most embarrassing sing-along confession

04:10 — The phone call that led him from sportswriting to religious life

08:02 — Discernment, doubt, and the freedom to walk away

09:18 — Marriage as a covenant, not a contract

11:03 — Doubt as a function of relationship, not belief

21:30 — Why faith feels harder to talk about than almost anything else

26:08 — Owning the Church's flaws without losing faith in it

33:54 — The dark night of the soul, and what real spiritual strength looks like

About Your Hosts:

Bishop Michael is a longtime friend and mentor to Andy, with more than three decades of shared history between them. A bishop known for his straightforward, often funny take on faith, he brings decades of pastoral experience, from teaching religious studies to serving as a first responder to his own community, to every conversation on the show.

Andy is a businessman, husband, and father who co-hosts This Should Be Good, bringing the questions real people are actually asking into conversation with Bishop Michael. Equal parts curious and irreverent, he keeps the conversation grounded in the everyday realities of work, parenting, and trying to keep up.

Connect & Resources:

Have a question or a topic you'd like covered? Submit it here: thisshouldbegood.show, your question could become a full episode.

Bishop Michael and Andy have been friends for over 30 years, and they're kicking off This Should Be Good by tackling a question a lot of us are quietly asking: is it actually okay to rest? Between hustle culture, the $1.8 trillion wellness industry, and the guilt that creeps in the moment we slow down, Bishop Michael breaks down what the Sabbath was really designed for, and it's not about doing nothing.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 — Bishop Michael and Andy open with this week's real question: is rest actually allowed?

02:02 — Bishop Michael on his own Friday day off — golf, a late breakfast, and actually stepping back

03:12 — What the Sabbath was designed for, with roots tracing all the way back to creation

06:41 — Hustle culture, grind culture, and the $1.8 trillion wellness industry cashing in on our guilt

09:08 — Where self-improvement tips into narcissism, and why “balance” is a smaller target than we think

12:17 — What the saints — and our own grandparents — can teach us about pace

14:47 — Orthorexia: how even eating healthy can become its own trap

16:03 — The Sabbath as one of the Ten Commandments, and why it still holds up

19:38 — “You're not the savior”: rest as a boundary for doctors, therapists, priests, and parents

25:18 — Where to start: the one question to ask before your own Sabbath

About Your Hosts:

Bishop Michael is a longtime friend and mentor to Andy, with more than three decades of shared history between them. A bishop known for his straightforward, often funny take on faith, he brings decades of pastoral experience, from teaching religious studies to serving as a first responder to his own community, to every conversation on the show.

Andy is a businessman, husband, and father who co-hosts This Should Be Good, bringing the questions real people are actually asking into conversation with Bishop Michael. Equal parts curious and irreverent, he keeps the conversation grounded in the everyday realities of work, parenting, and trying to keep up.

Connect & Resources:

Have a question or a topic you'd like covered? Submit it here: thisshouldbegood.show, your question could become a full episode.