This is a place for the pursuit of Truth.

My name is Rachael. This corner of the internet is me having a bit of fun.

I’m a lifelong Roman Catholic who doesn’t believe “traditional” and “charismatic” are mutually exclusive descriptions in the Church, a wife to an amazing husband and mother of two small children, executive director of Magdala Ministries, and author of a book called Love in Recovery on the female experience of recovery from pornography addiction and sexual compulsion. I have my BA and MA in Theology from Ave Maria University, and I tend to use to them to question the ways Catholicism is spoken about and represented in the modern world, or to speak about areas of the faith I perceive to be neglected.

I’m a fan of criticism (but only the constructive and charitable variety), healthy disagreement, and lively debate. Hence the name “The Contrarian”—I think there’s a lot worth contradicting, and not for its own sake, but for the sake of knowing the Truth—and being set free.

I know Truth has a Name, and I fell in love with Him some years ago—but I don’t know Him even remotely close to as well as I desire, and I’m guessing maybe you don’t either. Knowing Him—knowing Truth—takes time, thought, dialogue, ideation, encounter, prayer, and yes, perhaps even writing. It takes multiple people, generations of people, diving ever deeper into the revelation of Himself that He’s bestowed so generously on us. The Truth may be unchanging, but it’s also unending—so this is a journey, friends. Pack some snacks. And if my kind of fun is your kind of fun…hit subscribe.

A few rules of engagement:

• Abandon assholery, all ye who enter here: as I've said, charitable disagreement and critique are welcome, but being vitriolic is not. If you are the latter to me or someone else in the comments, I will unapologetically block you.

• For the sake of my own boundaries, I automatically paywall posts that are 6 months or older.

• If you are looking for resources from the nonprofit I work for, Magdala, or have questions about our work, please go to our website to reach out.

What’s coming to your inbox:

Some things that draw my attention (so you may hear about them a lot) are:

—the effects of technology and social media on the human person, as well as the Church at large

—motherhood and work

—femininity and the role of women in the Church

—sexuality, sexual brokenness, purity culture, and healing

—general narratives that I think are worth challenging

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Be part of a community of people who share your interests.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.