037: From Battlefield to Altar: Father Thomas Marble’s Journey of Healing, Faith, and Radical Hospitality
Release Date: 05/20/2025
Your Radical Truth podcast
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Mandatory celibacy has shaped the Roman Catholic Church for nearly a millennium, yet questions continue to surface about its origins, purpose, and long-term impact on clergy, leadership, and the faithful. Why did the Church require priestly celibacy? Was it theological, political, or institutional? And what might the future hold for reform? In this episode of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O’Connor sits down with Catholic feminist writer, theologian, and independent Catholic deacon Debra Maria Flint to examine one of the most debated disciplines in Church history. Drawing from her...
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In this episode of Your Radical Truth, Deacon Margaret Mary O’Connor sits down with Father Anne for a deep and unflinching conversation about incarnation, conscience, women’s ordination, and why authentic Christian faith must lead to justice rather than harm. Father Anne shares how witnessing the cruelty, deception, and systemic injustice normalized under the Donald Trump administration compelled her to write her book, The Shepherd Within: Following God’s Incarnational Initiative to Fullness of Life Beyond Institutional Control. What she observed was not simply political dysfunction, but...
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What if women held real authority in the early Church and history was later rewritten to erase it. In this powerful episode of Your Radical Truth, host Deacon Margaret Mary O’Connor sits down with award winning journalist and author Nancy Fitzgerald to uncover the suppressed history of Saint Brigid of Kildare, a fifth century Christian leader recognized in early sources as a bishop. This conversation challenges the long standing claim that women never held ordained leadership in Christianity and reveals what was lost as Church authority became centralized. Nancy draws from years of...
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What if the calling inside you never went away because it was never meant to? For French Irish spiritual director Soline Humbert, the answer has always been no. At just 19 years old, she felt a clear, undeniable call to priesthood in the Catholic Church. The problem? She had been taught that only men could be called. No internet. No mentors. No permission. Just a voice that would not be silenced. In this episode of Your Radical Truth, Soline shares the fifty-year journey of living with a vocation the Church refuses to recognize. This is a story of courage that outlasts rejection, faith that...
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What happens when the very laws meant to protect children instead give predators a license to abuse? In this episode of Your Radical Truth Podcast, host Margaret Mary O’Connor speaks with survivor, advocate, and bestselling author Donna Simmons, whose life story exposes the devastating reality of child marriage in the United States. Donna reveals how systemic failures, generational trauma, and outdated laws continue to silence survivors and perpetuate abuse. At just 16, she was forced into marriage—a betrayal legitimized by the system itself. Rather than remain silent, Donna transformed...
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The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, revealing a system that treats childbirth as an illness rather than a natural process. Reverend Brighid Danielle Curby Hegdale, ordained in the Reformed Anamkara Celtic Church and a longtime doula, joins host Margaret Mary O’Connor on Your Radical Truth Podcast to uncover the truth about midwifery, doulas, and the need for genuine consent in maternal care. Reverend Hegdale shares her personal story of birth trauma, her decades of experience supporting women and families, and her journey into priesthood. This...
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What happens when life ends suddenly, without warning or time to say goodbye? Few people have confronted that mystery as closely as Father Nathan G. Castle, O.P., a Dominican priest with an extraordinary ministry. For more than three decades, Father Nathan has been called in dreams to help souls who died traumatically or abruptly. Over 600 individuals who passed through accidents, violence, or sudden events have appeared to him seeking peace, healing, and a way forward. With prayer partners beside him, Father Nathan guides these souls through what he calls Interrupted Death Experiences™. His...
info_outlineOnly a small fraction of military veterans become priests, and fewer still find their calling in an independent Catholic tradition like the Celtic Christian Church. In this inspiring episode of Your Radical Truth, host Margaret Mary O’Connor welcomes Father Thomas Marble, a combat medic turned priest, healer, and author.
Father Thomas shares how a life of constant relocation, 22 years in the military, and a deep yearning for spiritual truth led him to Celtic Christianity. He opens up about his experiences in Bosnia, his training in psychiatric nursing and chaplaincy, and how divine guidance pointed him toward a more inclusive, healing-centered form of faith.
Discover how his novel The Mission blends fantasy with Celtic wisdom, why radical hospitality is central to his ministry, and how his current studies in herbalism are helping him prepare for a new chapter of holistic healing.
Tune in for a moving conversation about service, sacred calling, women priests, and the power of spiritual authenticity.
Learn more at www.YourRadicalTruth.com/037-Father-Thomas-Marble