Your Radical Truth podcast

What would make you leave your home and take your family on a dangerous journey, knowing you might still be turned away when you reached the border?

That question opens my conversation with Mary Fontana, author of Strangers in the Province of Joy: Practicing Radical Hospitality on the U.S.–Mexican Border. Mary has spent more than 20 years involved with Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, where migrants and refugees are welcomed as guests.

We talk about the families behind the immigration headlines, the risks they face on their journeys, and the ways U.S. actions and policies have shaped migration. Mary also takes us inside Annunciation House. Its volunteers do more than provide food and a place to sleep. They live alongside their guests, share meals, learn their names, and build a community together.

I was especially moved by how Annunciation House began. Its founders moved into a house near the border before they knew exactly how they would serve. They listened to their neighbors, recognized a need, and opened their doors.

Mary's stories ask us to consider both the courage it takes to seek safety and what it means to welcome someone when they arrive. I hope you'll join us for this conversation on Your Radical Truth.

Listen to episode 060: https://yourradicaltruth.com/060-Mary-Fontana

Learn more about Mary: https://maryfontana.com

What if the peace you have spent years searching for has been closer than you realized?

In this episode of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes Paldrom Catharine Collins, author of Girl in a Box: Seeking Enlightenment as a Tibetan Buddhist Nun.

Raised in the Southern Baptist tradition, Paldrom left Christianity as a young woman and began searching for enlightenment. Her journey led her to Tibetan Buddhism, where she spent five years immersed in monastic life, meditation, and intensive retreat practices.

Paldrom believed spiritual discipline might free her from suffering. Instead, her experience became a deeply human journey filled with insight, physical challenges, difficult questions, and the courage to reconsider a path that once seemed to offer every answer.

During this honest conversation, Paldrom shares what she learned about meditation, spiritual authority, belonging, and finding meaning beyond rigid religious structures.

• Why Paldrom left Christianity and entered Tibetan Buddhist monastic life
• What daily life and intensive meditation practice were really like
• How physical practices helped her manage a wandering mind
• The meaning behind the meditation box featured in her memoir
• How spiritual communities can offer both support and limitations
• Why she ultimately decided to leave monastic life
• What her experience taught her about questioning spiritual authority
• Why having thoughts during meditation does not mean you are failing
• How Buddhist practice and contemplative Christianity can intersect
• Why spiritual peace may be found in ordinary, everyday life

Paldrom's story is a powerful reminder that questioning a spiritual path does not mean the journey has failed. Sometimes growth requires the courage to examine what we believe, trust our own experience, and recognize when it is time to take a different direction.

Listen to Episode 059:

https://www.YourRadicalTruth.com/059-Paldrom

Why are women still fighting for equal leadership within some of the largest Christian denominations?

In Episode 058 of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes Father Anne back for a candid and provocative conversation about women's ordination, biblical interpretation, religious authority, politics, and the traditions that continue to influence the role of women within Christianity.

Father Anne was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2021 through a reform movement. Because the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the ordination of women, she was excommunicated. Today, she continues her work for ordination justice while pursuing her desire to serve as a parish priest in the Roman Catholic Church.

While the Catholic Church is central to the discussion, Margaret Mary and Father Anne make it clear that questions about women and religious leadership extend far beyond Catholicism. The episode looks at debates within the Southern Baptist Convention and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, including ongoing disagreements about whether women should serve as pastors and participate equally in Church leadership.

At the heart of the conversation is a fundamental question: If God calls a woman to ministry, who has the authority to tell her that call is not valid? Father Anne makes an important distinction. No one has an automatic right to become a priest, but everyone should have the right to discern whether they have been called.

The conversation also examines the experience of prominent Bible teacher Beth Moore, who left the Southern Baptist Convention following years of tension. Margaret Mary discusses Moore's advocacy for victims of sexual abuse and her criticism of evangelical support for Donald Trump.

Moore's experience opens a larger conversation about what can happen when women within religious communities challenge powerful institutions, question established authority, and speak publicly about abuse, gender inequality, and political alliances.

Father Anne takes the conversation directly into the relationship between conservative Christianity and the Republican Party in the United States. She shares her perspective on how religion and politics have become deeply intertwined, particularly around traditional ideas about masculinity, gender roles, authority, and power.

The discussion challenges listeners to consider how religious beliefs about gender can extend beyond the walls of churches and influence politics, institutions, and society.

Another fascinating part of the episode examines the way Christians have been taught to imagine God. Margaret Mary and Father Anne explore feminine imagery for God found throughout Scripture and Christian history, including descriptions associated with motherhood, childbirth, nurturing, and protection.

Father Anne points out that Scripture actually offers an extraordinary range of images for God, including fire, wind, living water, shepherd, gardener, mother, and father. Rather than limiting God to a single gender or image, these metaphors may offer believers a much broader understanding of the divine.

Episode 058 ultimately asks listeners to examine some difficult questions. Are long-held beliefs about women, leadership, and God truly rooted in the divine? Or have centuries of culture, patriarchy, politics, and institutional tradition influenced the way Christians have been taught to understand them?

This is a challenging conversation about faith, equality, vocation, political power, and what needs to change for women to participate fully in the future of the Church.

www.YourRadicalTruth.com/058-Father-Anne

Can a woman be called by God to the priesthood, even if her church says no?

In this compelling episode of Your Radical Truth, Margaret Mary O'Connor sits down with Reverend Liz Maitland, whose extraordinary 47-year journey to ordination is a story of perseverance, faith, healing, and unwavering conviction.

Raised in the Anglican Church before becoming Roman Catholic, Reverend Liz believed from a young age that God was calling her to become a priest. That calling ultimately led her to the Independent Catholic tradition, where she was ordained after decades of waiting and trusting God's direction.

Together, Deacon Margaret Mary and Reverend Liz explore the Divine Feminine, women's leadership in the early Church, biblical images of God as both father and mother, and why these conversations continue to matter today. Reverend Liz also shares her personal journey through mental health challenges, the healing she found through faith and contemplative prayer, and how her ministry now includes training assistance dogs to support emotional wellbeing.

Whether you're exploring your own faith journey, interested in the history of women in Christianity, or simply enjoy thoughtful conversations that challenge conventional thinking, this episode offers insight, hope, and plenty to reflect upon.

• Reverend Liz's 47-year journey to the priesthood • Healing through faith and contemplative prayer • The Divine Feminine and Mother God • Women in the early Church • The Independent Catholic tradition • Assistance dogs and emotional healing

Full Post https://YourRadicalTruth.com/057-Rev-Liz

Learn More About Reverend Liz

Mother's Messages Church https://mothersmessagesagape.church

Wellbeing Dogs https://wellbeingdogs.org

If you enjoy conversations that explore faith with honesty, compassion, and courage, be sure to subscribe to Your Radical Truth and share this episode with someone who is seeking a deeper perspective on Christianity.

What gives someone the strength to endure unimaginable suffering without losing hope?

In this inspiring episode of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes Australian author and retired physician Kate Clinch to explore the extraordinary life of Eileen O'Connor, Australia's second saint-in-waiting. Born with a debilitating illness that left her in constant pain, Eileen transformed her suffering into a life of compassion, co-founding Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor and dedicating herself to serving society's most vulnerable.

Kate also shares her own deeply personal journey, including a profound near-death experience and her battle with stomach cancer while writing her debut novel, Every Inch a Saint. What began as historical research became a source of strength, hope, and spiritual companionship during one of the most difficult seasons of her life.

Together, Margaret Mary and Kate explore faith, resilience, mysticism, miracles, the relationship between science and spirituality, and the enduring legacy of a woman whose courage continues to inspire more than a century after her death.

If you've ever wondered how suffering can lead to purpose, or how faith can sustain us through life's greatest challenges, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

Listen now: www.yourradicaltruth.com/056-kate-clinch

What is Opus Dei really like behind closed doors? Former member Anne-Marie Allen joins Deacon Margaret Mary O'Connor to share her powerful firsthand account of life inside one of the Catholic Church's most controversial organizations.

Anne-Marie, author of Serve! My Lost Years at the Heart of Ireland's Opus Dei, reveals how she was recruited into Opus Dei as a teenager, believing she was answering God's call. Instead, she found herself living under intense spiritual control, strict obedience, psychological manipulation, and a system that left little room for personal freedom.

In this thought-provoking episode of Your Radical Truth, Anne-Marie shares what daily life was like as an Assistant Numerary, the emotional toll of living in a high-control religious environment, and the difficult journey of leaving Opus Dei after years of conditioning.

Together, Anne-Marie and Deacon Margaret Mary explore questions many people have asked about Opus Dei, including its culture of secrecy, controversial practices, Vatican oversight, and why growing numbers of former members are now speaking publicly about their experiences.

Most importantly, this conversation examines the difference between authentic faith and systems that misuse religious authority. It offers hope for anyone recovering from religious trauma, spiritual abuse, or coercive control while encouraging greater transparency, accountability, and compassion within faith communities.

• What Opus Dei is and why it remains one of the Catholic Church's most debated organizations

• How Anne-Marie Allen was recruited into Opus Dei as a teenager

• What life was really like as an Assistant Numerary

• The psychological impact of spiritual abuse, fear, guilt, and religious manipulation

• The purpose of practices such as the cilice and corporal mortification

• Why leaving a high-control religious organization is far more difficult than simply walking away

• How Anne-Marie rebuilt her life, faith, and identity after leaving Opus Dei

• Recent Vatican reforms affecting Opus Dei and what they could mean for the future

• Why transparency, accountability, and listening to survivors are essential for healing

Whether you're interested in Opus Dei, the Catholic Church, religious trauma, spiritual abuse, church reform, faith, or survivor stories, this episode offers an honest, compassionate conversation about resilience, truth, and reclaiming one's life.

Visit www.YourRadicalTruth.com/055-Anne-Marie-Allen for more.

Excommunicated for Saying Yes to God: Father Anne, the Twelve Apostles, and the Future of Women's Leadership in the Church

What happens when a woman believes God has called her to the priesthood, but the Church says no?

In this thought-provoking episode of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes Father Anne, a Roman Catholic woman priest who chose to follow what she believed was God's call, despite knowing it would lead to excommunication.

Together, they explore one of the most controversial issues in Christianity: the exclusion of women from ordained ministry. Father Anne examines the Church's longstanding argument that Jesus chose only twelve male apostles and offers a historical, biblical, and theological perspective that challenges many commonly held assumptions.

The conversation delves into the role of Mary Magdalene, the women who followed Jesus throughout his ministry, and the often-overlooked contributions women made in the earliest Christian communities. Father Anne also discusses how cultural attitudes toward women shaped Church teaching over the centuries and why she believes the conversation about ordination justice is far from over.

This episode is not simply about who stands at the altar. It is about equality, conscience, leadership, and the future of a Church that continues to wrestle with questions of authority and inclusion.

Whether you agree with Father Anne's position or not, this conversation will challenge you to think deeply about faith, tradition, and what it means to answer God's call.

Learn more: https://yourradicaltruth.com/054-father-anne/

What if the adventures that nearly killed you were actually preparing you for your life's true purpose?

In this fascinating episode, John Graham shares his remarkable journey from adrenaline-fueled adventurer to global peacebuilder. As a teenager, he shipped out on a freighter, hitchhiked through the Algerian Revolution, helped make the first ascent of Denali's dangerous North Wall, and reported from war zones around the world. His quest for excitement eventually led him to serve as a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Libya, Vietnam, and at the United Nations.

But it was during the Vietnam War that John experienced a profound awakening that forced him to confront the emptiness behind a life spent chasing danger. That turning point set him on a new path—one focused on service, justice, and helping others create meaningful change.

John discusses the lessons he learned from surviving life-threatening situations, the search for purpose, his role in international peace efforts, and the inspiration behind the Giraffe Heroes Project, which honors people who courageously "stick their necks out" to make the world a better place.

This powerful conversation explores courage, transformation, purpose, and the enduring impact of choosing service over self-interest. Full post: https://www.yourradicaltruth.com/053-John-Graham

What if the question the Catholic Church has been asking about women's ordination is the wrong question entirely?

In this powerful episode of Your Radical Truth, host Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes back Father Anne for a deeply thought-provoking conversation about ordination justice, hidden church history, women's roles in early Christianity, and the future of the Catholic Church.

Together, they explore the growing movement surrounding women in ministry, the historical evidence of women deacons, apostles, and leaders in the early church, and why so much of this history has remained hidden for centuries. Father Anne shares insights from her Ordination Justice Initiative and discusses why the conversation is about far more than women's ordination. It is about justice, equality, power, and the spiritual health of the church itself.

The discussion also addresses patriarchy within church structures, the long-term impact of the sexual abuse crisis, the role of biblical scholarship, Pope John Paul II's influence on church doctrine, and why younger generations are increasingly questioning traditional narratives.

This candid and heartfelt conversation challenges listeners to think critically, ask deeper questions, and explore the broader truth surrounding vocation, leadership, and inclusion within the Catholic Church.

Topics Discussed Include:

• Women priests and women deacons in early church history
• Mary Magdalene, Junia, Phoebe, and women leaders in scripture
• The meaning of ordination justice
• Hidden church history and biblical scholarship
• Patriarchy and power within the institutional church
• Sexual abuse scandals and systemic accountability
• Young Catholics questioning traditional teachings
• The future of women in church leadership

More about Your Radical Truth: https://yourradicaltruth.com/podcast/

What if the story you've been told about the Church is only part of the truth?

In this episode of Your Radical Truth, Margaret Mary O'Connor welcomes back Father Anne for a conversation that goes far beyond surface-level discussion. This is the beginning of an ongoing monthly series where real issues are explored without filtering or softening the message.

The focus of this episode centers on women in the Catholic Church, what has been taught, what has been omitted, and what is now being questioned.

Father Anne speaks directly to the issue of ordination, not as a "women's issue," but as a matter of justice. When women are excluded from full participation, it doesn't just impact women. It shapes the entire structure of the Church and influences how authority, dignity, and voice are defined.

The conversation also takes a closer look at Mary Magdalene, a figure long misunderstood and often diminished. As the first witness to the resurrection, her role was foundational, yet history has not always reflected that truth accurately.

This episode challenges long-standing narratives and invites listeners to take a deeper look at what they've accepted without question. It explores the connection between religious hierarchy, power structures, and the broader impact on society.

There is no attempt here to make this comfortable. The goal is clarity.

If you've ever questioned what you've been taught, or sensed there was more beneath the surface, this conversation will give you plenty to consider.

Listen now: YourRadicalTruth.com/051-Father-Anne