The Catholic Woman Podcast

After nearly five years, hundreds of hours of recording, and conversations with guests like Abby Johnson and Venus Morris Griffin, this is the final episode of The Catholic Woman Podcast.

Marie shares why she is setting down something she loves like a child, what a conversation with Claire Swinarski taught her about knowing when to let go, and where this work is going next. 

If you have ever been asked to hand God something you are holding tightly, this one is for you.

In this episode:
- Why Marie is ending The Catholic Woman Podcast and what discernment looked like
- How to know when God is asking you to let go of something good
- The Jesus and the teddy bear image and trusting God with what you love
- Balancing a creative calling with family as your first vocation
- The real cost of podcasting and YouTube for small creators
- How The Catholic Woman started, from The Chic Catholic blog to the podcast
- Moving to Substack for written Catholic interviews and reflections on living a more present life

Thank you for every listen, every share, and every message about how an episode changed your week or brought you closer to the faith. 

The conversation isn't over. Join Marie on Substack for written interviews and reflections you can read in five to ten minutes.

Where to find Marie now:
Substack: https://substack.com/@realmariehanson
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecatholicwomanpodcast
Sunday emails: https://marie-hanson.kit.com/e9eed806a9

Thank you for the BEST 5 years. This has been Marie Hanson with The Catholic Woman Podcast. Love you all!

Oprah gave away cars. I'm giving you my honest list of the Catholic small businesses, books, podcasts, and services I actually use and love, just in time for Black Friday and Christmas gifting! 

Nothing in this episode is sponsored, so every recommendation here is simply something I believe in. Before we get to the fun stuff, though, we start with giving, because this season should begin with generosity.

In this episode:
- How Catholics are called to give of their time, talent, and treasure, even when money is tight
- How Mission Way Moving provides free emergency moves for domestic violence survivors and how you can sponsor a move this Giving Tuesday
- Catholic Christmas gift ideas for women, moms, and godchildren from small, ethical Catholic businesses
- Rosary bracelets for busy moms who struggle to pray a full rosary in one sitting
- Non-toxic perfume, cologne, and candles for women who get headaches from fragrance
- Clean Catholic fiction and memoirs that are fully in line with Church teaching
- Catholic personal finance advice that respects Church teaching on generous and responsible parenthood

GIVE THIS SEASON
Mission Way Moving: Free moves for people in crisis, including domestic violence survivors. The average move costs $2,000. Donate, give monthly, start a Giving Tuesday peer-to-peer team, or request a chapter in your area.
missionwaymoving.org

MARIE'S FAVORITE THINGS
Product-based businesses:
- Chews Life (rosary bracelets): https://chewslife.com/
- Salt and Light by Sammy (non-toxic perfume, cologne, candles): https://saltandlightbysami.com/CATHOLICWOMAN | Code CATHOLICWOMAN for 10% off
- Abundantly Yours (personalized chewable rosaries, embroidered sweatshirts, cup cozies): https://abundantlyyours.org/MARIE 
- Contemporary Saints (modest Catholic clothing): https://contemporarysaints.com/
- West Coast Catholic (home decor and lifestyle products): https://westcoastcatholic.co/| Code MARIE10
- Black Cassock Coffee (supports seminary education): https://blackcassockcoffee.com/CWP
- The Other Side of Perfect by Venus Morris Griffin: https://amzn.to/4hk1vag 
- The Light series by Jacqueline Brown: https://amzn.to/4za5vQI 
Service-based businesses and favorites to follow:
- Greater Love Weddings (Texas Catholic wedding planning): https://greaterloveweddings.com/
- The Style Activator by Lori Peterson: https://thestyleactivator.com/home-page/
- Made Good by Flo, the Catholic Nutritionist (book and program): https://amzn.to/3TkatLA 
- Four Loves Photo Film (Catholic wedding photography and videography): https://fourlovesphotofilm.com/
- The Uncatechized Catholic on Instagram: @uncatechizedcatholic
- Wallet Win (Catholic money and debt freedom): https://shop.walletwin.com/THECATHOLICWOMAN 
- Voices of Conversion podcast with Addy Christensen: www.youtube.com/@VoicesOfConversion

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR
Helena House Therapy: Virtual Catholic integrated therapy that holds faith and clinical excellence together, with a specialty in perinatal mental health. Now serving CO, MO, MI, PA, MD, VA, NC, and WA. Your first consultation is free. https://helenahouse.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1

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Suzanne Bracci prayed for a sign. She was a school counselor who sensed God pulling her somewhere new, and she told him plainly that it would have to be unmistakable because she was not going to move on her own. A few weeks later she opened a door at work and found a man pointing a rifle at her.
She still did not leave for six more months. And years before that, her body had already tried to tell her the same thing, when chest pain and a family history of heart disease sent her to the hospital and every test came back clean. In this episode Suzanne shares what it cost her to ignore both, and the practical, faith rooted tools she now teaches Catholic women who cannot hear much of anything over the noise of their own lives.

What we cover:
- Why chronic stress shows up as chest pain, headaches, heart palpitations, and exhaustion long before it shows up as burnout
- How saying yes to good things, one at a time, is what actually put her in a hospital bed
- What happened the night she prayed for a sign, and why she still took six months to act on it
- How to tell the difference between environmental stress you cannot control and the stress you are generating in your own mind
- Why rest is holy, and how to stop treating self care as something you have to earn first
- How to build a stress purse, a written toolkit of physical, mental, social, and spiritual strategies you can reach for in the moment
- A guided diaphragmatic breathing technique you can do in the car or between meetings
- How thought reframing turns a spiraling thought into a prayer instead of a headache
- Why self pity keeps you stuck, and what she did every morning to walk back into that building

Connect with Suzanne Bracci:
Website: https://suzannebracci.com
Book: Hope for Struggling Catholics: A Path to Spiritual and Personal Renewal (available on Amazon) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHJC3683?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzannebracci.speaker.author/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuzanneBracci.Faith.Hope.Love/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SuzanneBracci

The Catholic Woman Podcast:
Substack: https://substack.com/@realmariehanson
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecatholicwomanpodcast

Thank you to our sponsors:
- Helena House Therapy, a virtual Catholic integrated therapy practice specializing in perinatal mental health. Currently serving CO, MO, MI, PA, MD, VA, NC, and WA. Your first consultation is free. https://helenahouse.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1
- Black Cassock Coffee, Catholic owned and veteran owned, roasted to order, and every bag supports Catholic education. https://blackcassockcoffee.com/CWP
- Mission Way Moving provides free relocation services to individuals and families in crisis. This is not a paid placement. https://missionwaymoving.org

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Claire Swinarski's Catholic podcast was working. Big guests, real income, four years in. Then she felt God asking her to walk away from all of it, and she said yes without knowing what came next.

This conversation is about how to discern when God is closing a door you love, why setting something down is not the same as failing, and what she found on the other side.

Get the free episode recap library at https://catholicwoman.co/episode-recaps

In this episode:
- What Saint John Paul II meant when he called for a new feminism in Evangelium Vitae
- Why so many Catholic women flinch at the word feminist and whether they should
- How the Catholic view of women differs from the evangelical teaching on women's roles
- What Claire says is genuinely evil about secular feminism and what she refuses to give up
- How she wrote the Fiat Girls book series about Saint Therese, Saint Rose of Lima, and Mother Teresa as nine year old girls
- What Pope Leo XIV teaches about artificial intelligence in Magnifica Humanitas and how Catholic writers should think about AI
- How to know when God is asking you to set down something successful and fruitful
- Why she walked away from a profitable Catholic podcast at its peak instead of building a Catholic media empire

Connect with Claire Swinarski:
Website: https://claireswinarski.com
Substack: Letters from a Catholic Feminist
Instagram: @claireswinarski
Preorder The Fiat Girls: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/fiat-girls

The Catholic Woman Podcast:
Show notifications: https://catholicwoman.co/newsletter
Substack: https://substack.com/@thecatholicwoman
Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/share/g/1GeKDTt7WA/
Website: https://catholicwoman.co
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecatholicwomanpodcast
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheCatholicWomanPodcast

Thank you to our sponsors:
- The Heavenly Post, a monthly Catholic mail subscription with a devotional letter, art print, prayer card, and more, built around the liturgical calendar. Use code TCW15 for 15% off all gift subscriptions at https://theheavenlypost.com
- Black Cassock Coffee, Catholic owned and veteran owned, roasted to order, and every bag supports Catholic education. https://blackcassockcoffee.com/CWP
- Helena House Therapy, a virtual Catholic integrated therapy practice specializing in perinatal mental health. First consultation is free. https://helenahouse.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1

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Venus Morris Griffin was the family in the front pew every Sunday. Then one phone call from a woman blackmailing her husband unraveled the life she thought she had, and she found herself a single mother of six children in a two-bedroom home, over a hundred thousand dollars in debt, with her husband facing a 45-year prison sentence. 
This is the story of how she rebuilt through faith, forgiveness, and the discipline of doing one right thing every single day.

In this episode:
- How Venus Morris Griffin discovered her husband's addiction and betrayal through a stranger's phone call
- Rebuilding as a single Catholic mother of six children after her husband's 45-year prison sentence
- How growing up with a parent's addiction shaped Venus's approach to marriage and motherhood
- The three daily habits that held her family together: morning runs, daily Mass, and a nightly gratitude practice at the dinner table
- Finding compassion and forgiveness for the woman connected to her husband's betrayal
- Starting a scholarship nonprofit for children of incarcerated parents
- Why her memoir, “The Other Side of Perfect,” went viral through Humans of New York, with all proceeds going to charity

If this conversation gave you hope today, please subscribe to the show and share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear it.

Connect with Venus Morris Griffin:
- Book (preorder, out September 22): The Other Side of Perfect: A True Story of Love, Lies, and Learning to Forgive — https://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Perfect-Learning-Forgive/dp/1637634773
- Instagram: @venusmorrisgriffin — https://www.instagram.com/venusmorrisgriffin
- Website: https://www.venusmorrisgriffin.com

The Catholic Woman Podcast:
- Website: https://catholicwoman.co
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheCatholicWomanPodcast
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecatholicwomanpodcast 
- Facebook Community: https://facebook.com/share/g/1GeKDTt7WA/

Thank you to our sponsors:
- Little House — Catholic home goods for the domestic church, including the Sacred Heart Loaf Pan and children's prayer pouches. Use code CatholicWoman10 for 10% off at https://littlehouse.family
- Black Cassock Coffee — Catholic-owned, veteran-owned coffee, roasted to order, supporting Catholic education. Use code CWP at https://blackcassockcoffee.com/CWP
- The Heavenly Post — A monthly devotional mail subscription with art, prayer cards, and a playlist built around the liturgical calendar. Use code TCW15 for 15% off at https://theheavenlypost.com

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