Whiplash with Maxwell Kuzma

In this episode of Whiplash, Max is joined by Bill, co-host of the film podcast Morally Offensive, for a deep dive into Wake Up Dead Man. Framed as a gothic murder mystery, the film becomes a lens for examining Catholic power, clerical authority, and the uneasy overlap between faith, control, and grifting. Together, Max and Bill explore how the movie stages competing visions of priesthood, why hero worship remains so seductive, and what gets lost when institutional preservation takes priority over people.

Building on Max’s written review of the film, this conversation moves beyond the question of “good” versus “bad” priests to interrogate the systems that elevate some figures while quietly absorbing harm. The episode also unpacks the cost of belonging—especially for queer people and others taught to endure spiritual violence for the sake of staying inside the Cxhurch—and asks what real discernment looks like when faith itself has been shaped by power.

Guest Links - Bill is a co-host of Morally Offensive, a weekly film podcast examining movies condemned or deemed “morally offensive” by the Catholic Legion of Decency and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

🎙️ Listen to Morally Offensive: www.morallyoffensive.com📱 Follow on Instagram, TikTok, & Threads

Thomas Aquinas is very popular on the Catholic internet—especially in high-control spaces where his work is treated as the final word on hierarchy, gender, sexuality, and social order. In this episode of Whiplash, we take a deep dive into how Aquinas’s theology was shaped by aristocratic privilege, scholastic gatekeeping, and a rigid hierarchical imagination—and how those same frameworks continue to be weaponized today. We trace the lines from medieval metaphysics to modern theobro culture, from natural law to racial hierarchy, and from “order” to the policing of bodies, desires, and belonging.

Masculinity operates within a complex web of power, fear, and purity culture. In high-control Catholic spaces, rigid ideals of manhood are enforced not just through behavior, but through moral systems that label certain bodies, desires, and identities as “acceptable” or “threatening.” These structures protect themselves by policing men and women alike, privileging conformity while punishing deviation. Fear—of queerness, softness, vulnerability, or loss of control—becomes the mechanism that maintains these hierarchies, leaving many men trapped in brittle, performative identities while simultaneously erasing or marginalizing queer and trans people who do not fit the sanctioned narrative.

We also examine the broader consequences of these dynamics, including the ways communities are remembered—or erased—through the lens of power, what Willow Sipling calls the “violence of the archive.” The conversation becomes a call for integrity, curiosity, and imagination: to resist replicating harmful structures, to embrace accountability, and to build communities where belonging, embodiment, and moral life aren’t rationed by fear or hierarchy. This episode explores the human cost of rigid masculinity while pointing toward the possibilities of creating spaces rooted in solidarity, reflection, and care.

Learn more about our work on substack: https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/

In this episode of Whiplash, we sit down with Nancy Sylvester, IHM, whose life spans the reforms of Vatican II, decades of Catholic social justice leadership, and a profound commitment to contemplative practice. Nancy shares how contemplative prayer can ground us amid uncertainty, help us navigate conflict with greater clarity, and sustain the long work of transforming our communities and our world.

Drawing from her years in religious life and national leadership, Nancy offers a vision of contemplation as a practical tool for personal and social renewal. To learn more about her work and explore her books, visit www.iccdinstitute.org. Join us as we reflect on how rest, reflection, and action can strengthen your inner life and empower meaningful change.

Queer and trans people are often told that our lives have no place in the Christian past—that we’re modern disruptions, not part of the story. But when you look closely at the Middle Ages, that certainty falls apart. The archive is full of gender-expansive figures, boundary-crossing saints, and stories that refuse the neat binaries people try to impose on them today. The trouble isn’t that queer and trans resonances don’t exist—it’s that for too long, many have been invested in ignoring them.

This week’s episode digs into that forgotten richness. Emma talks with scholars Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt about how medieval hagiography preserves lives and narratives that complicate every tidy claim about “traditional” gender. Their work doesn’t force modern categories onto medieval subjects; it simply lets these stories be as strange, porous, and imaginative as they always were. The result is a conversation about reclaiming history—not rewriting it, but finally recognizing the echoes of queer and trans experience that have always been there.
Find their book here: https://www.routledge.com/Trans-and-Genderqueer-Subjects-in-Medieval-Hagiography/Spencer-Hall-Gutt/p/book/9789048559190

Today we break down why crusader armor, Jerusalem cross tattoos, and medieval edits are suddenly everywhere. Emma and I dig into how this aesthetic blends fantasy, Catholic symbols, and far-right vibes into a hypermasculine myth—and why it’s so appealing to young men right now.

For more background and de-radicalization insight, don’t miss our companion essay, “Breaking the Crusader Spell,” here: https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/p/breaking-the-crusader-spell-catholic

Matt Fradd’s decision to bring Pints with Aquinas to The Daily Wire is a major shift within conservative Catholic media in recent years. In this episode, we break down why this move matters, how it reshapes the landscape of Catholic commentary online, and what it reveals about the tightening relationship between right-wing political media and religious influencers. We look at how Fradd’s huge audience, mostly young men, will now be funneled into a network built on outrage cycles.

We also discuss why this shift doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Vulnerable young men — already wrestling with fear, confusion, isolation, and rigid expectations around masculinity — are being offered a pipeline that promises confidence, clarity, and belonging, but at the cost of empathy and critical thinking. When conservative Catholic creators merge their platforms with political media machines, the result is a powerful echo chamber that amplifies misogyny, anti-LGBTQ extremism, and authoritarian worldviews. This episode unpacks the mechanics behind that pipeline, the risks it poses, and what it means for the future of Catholic digital culture.

Read our essays unpacking topics like these and more on Substack: https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

In this episode of Whiplash, Max and Emma keep the Halloween spirit alive by sharing their favorite costumes, movie memories, and stories from Halloweens past—while reflecting on the deeper meaning of this season for queer and trans Catholics. As the veil thins and the world turns toward remembrance, they explore how Halloween has long been a space of liberation for queer people: a night to step into authenticity, to play with identity, and to honor those who came before.

Together, they turn toward the queer and trans ancestors whose courage, creativity, and love shaped the freedoms we have today. From medieval mystics to modern activists, these are the saints and storytellers who built a lineage of joy and resistance within and beyond the Church. Join Max and Emma as they reflect on what queer ancestry means to them personally—and how remembering our ancestors can help us imagine more inclusive, embodied, and hopeful queer futures.

Queer Catholic history isn’t a closed book—it’s still being written in every act of courage, faith, and community. For more than fifty years, DignityUSA has been at the heart of that story, standing as one of the earliest and most enduring organizations advocating for LGBTQ+ Catholics.

In this episode, Emma sits down with Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA, to reflect on the organization’s legacy, the ongoing struggle for full inclusion in the Church, and the sacred, often slow work of building dignity from the ground up.

As we continue celebrating LGBTQ History Month, we’re turning toward the power of art—how it allows queer people of faith to see ourselves reflected in the sacred. This week, Max speaks with Libby, a young artist and one of the youngest attendees at the recent LGBTQ pilgrimage in Rome. Building on our earlier conversation with Dani from @andhersaints, this episode explores how art becomes a form of advocacy and prayer—a way for queer people to claim space within traditions that have often excluded us.

Libby’s work draws deeply from Byzantine iconography and the long tradition of sacred art, while also experimenting with digital media to reimagine religious symbolism through a queer lens. In conversation, she and Max reflect on how creativity can open new doors in the Church—how art becomes a language of faith, reclamation, and hope. You can see some of Libby’s work on Instagram at @kibbyer, including a moving comic about why she’s both queer and Catholic.