Shows / Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)
Catholic conversation on the sacred, the profane, and everything in between, co-hosted by Emily and Chris Chapman and Kate and Casey Stapleton.
visitationsessions.substack.com
Episodes
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The “Encrappification” of Chocolate (And Everything Else)
The quality of chocolate sold in America is going downhill rapidly. So is the quality of refrigerators. And shoes. And clothes. And coffeepots. And just about…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Supporting Women in Crisis (part 2)
This week, we return with the second-half of our conversation with AIM Women’s Center and Mother of Mercy Maternity Home Director Rebekah Cohen Morris. We…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Reefer MADNESS
On this week’s episode, Emily is BACK from England. We discuss her time at the Symbolic World conference, Eastern & Orthodox spirituality, an upcoming…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)A Convert’s Journey
This week, the Visitation Sessions crew sits down with Rebekah Cohen Morris, executive director of AIM Women’s Center, and convert to the Catholic faith. Like…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Should Catholics Go to the Beach?
Catholic Answers recently tackled a question about whether or not Catholics can, in good conscience, take their families to the beach. This week, on Visitation…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Wendell Berry & the American Town
We discuss Wendell Berry and his writings, particularly his novel Jayber Crow. We also have an update from Kate on the upcoming Steubenville International Film…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Back to School
This week, the Visitation Sessions gang catches up on various lifestyle choices, including sending kids to a Waldorfy-Montessori-Harry Potteresque school…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)A Monk’s Life (preview)
This week, we’re dropping a BONUS episode for our full-subscribers. We’re super grateful to all of you for making the podcast and video studio possible. Next…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)How to be creative (and stay sane-ish)
How exactly does Emily wrestle words onto a page? Will Chris be constructing a cottage for her in the backyard? And how did listening to Madonna in a hot dog…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Listener Q and A
What do you do if a slice of your finger is chopped off, you’re afraid a family member will go to hell, you don’t know whether you should veil at mass, or you…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The Odyssey is Important
This week, we dive head-first into the controversy over Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, and the importance of Homer, Shakespeare, and modern interpretations of…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The Gift of the Church's No: IVF & Embryo Adoption
This week, we talk about the complicated moral quandaries posed by IVF—including the topic of embryo adoption. What does the Magisterium of the Church have to…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)America 250
Are we living in the twilight of the American empire? Was the American Revolutionary war a Just War? Is Donald Trump quint-essentially American? This week, we…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)There and back again
We’re BAAAaaack! The gang is back together again, and share stories and insights of their travels abroad. Emily & Chris return from the green pastures of…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Romancing the Chatbot
The ever-reaching tentacles of AI are EVERYWHERE these days, and Pope Leo has finally given us some insights and moral considerations in his recent Encyclical…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Monthly Q&A
How Not to Save the Planet Letters from Austria Steubenville Warming Center This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The F-word
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor All Along the Waterfront Silver, Sword, and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story by…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)What the Heck is Friction-Maxxing (and Do We Really Need to Do It)?
As the age of AI dawns, how do you hold on to your capacity to think, write, focus, empathize, and do all the things proper to human persons? According to some…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Who is "The Good Neighbor"?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com Last week, we couldn’t record our podcast because Emily had no…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Is Gambling a Sin?
Is it wrong to bet on sports? What about playing the lottery? Or all those 50/50 tickets every Catholic school in America is selling? This week, we’re parsing…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)What's So Great About Holy Week?
Why do Christians celebrate Holy Week? What is the point of it all? How have we done it in the past? How are we doing it now? And how does it shape us as…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Why Aren't There More Black Catholics in the US?
For the past two months, one of us (Chris) has been teaching a class on the history of Black Catholics in the United States. This week, we’re talking about…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Saints, Superstition, and St. Joseph
It’s Saint Joseph’s feast day, and we are celebrating this very special solemnity by taking a break from all our Lenten fasts and diving into the Scriptural…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Let's Talk About Us
We’ve had a slew of new listeners since the New Year, and that was reflected in the questions you all sent for this week’s Q&A. So, this week, we’re sharing…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Part Deux: Is Feminism the Root of All Evil?
This week we’re circling back to actually answer the questions we asked last week: Is feminism the root of all evil and can Catholics call themselves…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Is Feminism the Root of All Evil? (Part 1)
What is feminism? Is it really rotten root and branch? Can Christians call themselves feminists? What do proponents and opponents of feminism get right? What…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Dating Wins and Disasters (Bonus)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com Hey folks, we’re taking a break this week to allow the Chapmans…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Fertile & Worthy: Love, Marriage, and What Really Matters In a Spouse
This week, we’re talking about why it’s so hard for Catholics to find love, marriage, and that baby carriage, and how so much of the current conversation…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Listener Q&A: Marriage, Money, & More
How are Chris and Casey doing working from home with their wives? How do you reconnect with your spouse after a slew of babies in quick succession? How do you…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The Blind Leading the Blind: Searching for Truth Through the Fog of Social Media
Social media was supposed to bring the world closer together. It was supposed to make it easier for us to understand each other, grow in knowledge, and make…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Death, Dying, & The Moments in Between
This week, we’re talking to You Tube sensation, small town mortician, and (most importantly) Catholic dad of four, Victor Sweeney. Over the past five years…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)From the Extraordinary to the Ordinary (in Liturgy and Life)
As the Church moves from Christmas back into Ordinary Time, we’re talking about what that transition means in our own lives. We also talk about the Chapman’s…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The Gift of Memory
Christmas is three days away, and for our final podcast of 2025, we’re talking about memory: how the Church understands it, what it gives to us, how it defines…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Winter Fire: The Art of Wintering Well
It's cold and grey and the wind is a blowin' here in the Ohio Valley, so both the Stapletons and Chapmans are doing what families have always done in such…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Bonus: Should Catholics Play Video Games?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com Recently, one of Emily’s readers sent her a message, expressing…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Giving Thanks (Even When It Hurts)
Before Emily and Chris headed off to Illinois, we sat down to chat about the good, the bad, and the necessary of Thanksgiving. Kate shared stories, Casey…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Given for Gladness: The Goodness & Glory of Wine
Yes, Emily wrote another book. Yes, it’s getting obnoxious. And yes, we’re talking about it anyways. But, we’re also talking about aging and traveling and beer…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Changing the Church's Conversation About Adoption
Today, is the Feast of the Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian religious sister who came to the United States to serve the Italian poor and ended up…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)What's Wrong (& Right) with K-Pop Demon Hunters
This week, we’re chatting about the pop culture phenomenon du jour, K-Pop Demon Hunters, plus the toxic culture of pop princesses, boy band fever, and cotton…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Why Halloween Matters (And How To Reclaim It)
Today, we're talking about the Catholic origins of Halloween, how the holiday has been corrupted by Wiccans and consumerism alike, and how much darkness is…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Why "Catholic" Movies So Often Disappoint
What makes a movie Catholic? What makes a movie great? And why, so often, are movies that call themselves Catholic, not great? Those are the questions on the…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Is Nudity in Films Ever Okay (Bonus)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com We kept the conversation on Catholic movies going to ask the…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)How to Understand the Bible Better
Today, we’re talking all things Sacred Scripture, from how the Historical Critical Method of Scripture Scholarship destroyed Scripture study to how Catholic…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)All Creatures Great and Small
Kate and Casey are up in Wisconsin this week, making a documentary about a Catholic doctor who rides on horseback to serve the Amish (I think that’s how it…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Why You Need More Poetry In Your Life
Are any of us professional poets? No. Are any of us poetry professors? No. Are any of us poetry publishers? One more time, no. But who cares. Poetry is part of…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Keep Catholicism Weird: Saints, Relics, Martyrs, and More
This week, we’re talking about one of the most glorious teachings of Catholicism: the saints! We also explore the Church’s teachings on relics, how grace…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Bonus: Charlie Kirk and the Christian Response to Chaos
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com In this month’s bonus episode for full subscribers, we reflect on…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Don't Wait: Porn, the Single Person, and Why You Should Seek Help Before Marriage
What are some practical ways men (and women) can overcome the habit of using pornography? Why is doing penance for pornography use so helpful? How can grace…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Cookbooks, Catholicism, & Renaissance Fairs
The Stapletons convinced the Chapmans to go to their first ever Renaissance Fair in Pittsburgh and the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly of it all…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)The Hole in the Pro-Life Movement: A Birthmother's Story
Today, we’re talking about California, the Chapman’s adventures there, the reason Kate is sharing her story as a birth mother in her documentary The Inner Sea…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Can You Keep Your Kids Catholic?
Earlier this month, The Church Life Journal ran an article by Michael Rota and Stephen Bullivant sharing some rather grim data on Catholic parents’ ability to…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Think Local, Act Local: On Catholic Social Teaching with Marc Barnes
Marc Barnes is one of the coolest, smartest, most impressive guys we know. As one of the founders of both New Polity and the Harmonium Project, a professor at…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Influencers, Missionaries, and Martyrs
Last week, the Vatican welcomed thousands of Internet evangelists to Rome for the Jubilee for Digital Missionaries and Influencers. Why would they do this? Why…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Have No Anxiety?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com The Chapmans are back in Illinois this week, so Emily can spend…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Mass Chaos: Parenting Littles During the Liturgy
Emily and Chris are still recovering from the Worst Mass With Kids Ever, so we thought this week we would swap a few horror stories about parenting little kids…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Bus Tales, Honoring Parents, & Heat Stroke
We’re back! After a few weeks on the road, we’re catching up on everyone’s adventures, talking about what it means to honor our parents even when our parents…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Unlocked: The Manosphere and the Marital Debt
The Stapletons are rolling back into town this week and will be heading to Steuebenville on Friday to record a new episode. Until then, enjoy this fiery…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Q&A: Gentle Parenting and Disciplining Kids
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit visitationsessions.substack.com Happy (almost) Fourth of July! The Stapletons are still out on…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)Fruit Flies, Fireflies, and the Lessons of Summer
Before we all headed out of town, we got together at the fruit fly infested Visitation House to talk about summer and what it teaches us about the life of both…
Visitation Sessions (A Podcast)True Travel Nightmares (and other stories from the road)
We’re all getting ready to hit the road for vacations and/or tours, so we thought we would spend an hour analyzing our own particular form of crazy: traveling…