What does it mean to investigate the Church you still call home? And what happens when Catholic media itself becomes a tool of control?

This week on Whiplash, we continue our High-Control Catholicism series with a powerful conversation with journalist, editor, and teacher Heidi Schlumpf. Heidi reflects on her career investigating the Catholic Church from within, and what it means to report on far-right Catholic media empires as a person of faith. Together we explore the tensions of holding institutions accountable while still being rooted in the tradition — from covering figures like Matthew Kelly to chronicling the rise of conservative movements in Catholic media and politics.

We also talk about the challenge of teaching Catholic Social Teaching to a new generation, and the bridge liberal Catholics have built between the past and the present. This is a conversation about faith, power, resilience, and what it means to speak the truth even in high-control spaces.

Full show notes and a deeper written recap of this episode are available in our Substack essay, published two days after the show airs. https://maxwellkuzma.substack.com/podcast