Queer Catholic Book Club

We conclude the Inferno with Cantos 32-34 where you will come to learn why the phrase “cold as hell” is appropriate. Here in the 9th Circle Dante and Virgil encounter souls frozen in ice, incestuous cannibalism, and ultimately Lucifer. This concludes season 1. We are excited to be back and better than ever in season 2 with Purgatory :) Spoiler alert - Dante and Virgil escape like bats out of Hell. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

As we exit the 8th Circle, Dante and Virgil meet alchemists, giants, and perhaps the most treacherous, relatives with expectations. This episode was recorded over zoom, please excuse any hiccups in sound quality. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

A pit of snakes meet us in Canto 25 where liars morph form with the reptiles around them. Without personal accountability, bodily autonomy is lost. Next we meet the burning souls whose arrogance and ambition keep them from grace. Then in the most gruesome scene yet, the divided bodies of the souls who divided peoples on Earth.We will be back the week after Christmas! Merry Christmas!!!! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

Deeper in the 8th Circle we meet diviners, liars, and hypocrites. These are the people who block the free will of others and their selves. You would have to be a fool to enter for here is where the anti-fools live. All claims at control and entitlement will receive their due consequence! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

We are in (the penultimate) Circle 8! This is Fraud, or the Las Vegas strip of Hell. You’ll have to watch more than your pockets, you need to guard your soul. Evil priests, bad popes, and of course, pimps are ready to take you for a ride. Buckle up and get on Geryon’s back. Stay honest if you can! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

Back in the 7th Circle of Hell our Pilgrim finds himself in the rave lands of the underworld. Who goes to raves in Hell? Sodomites sizing each other up for glory. Don’t let preconceived notions fool you - the erotic isn’t the damned here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

In the 7th Circle of Hell we join our Pilgrim in the forest of the suicides. Here we meet souls condemned to live as bleeding trees. To lose glory in life is a tragedy but to take one’s life over glory lost is a sin.CW: This episode contains discussions of self-harm. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

This week we cover Circle 6 where we learn about the organization of Hell in the city of Dis. Here is where the heretics find that there is indeed an afterlife - much to their regret. If life indeed goes beyond the corporal then is the fixation on sex for procreation a heresy? Michael and Dexter discuss the implications of sex in the context of eternity. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

This week we cover Cantos 8-9 starting with Virgil and Dante’s travels on the River Styx. Here we meet Charon our ferryman and Filippo Argenti the local crank. Take a ride with us as we ponder the difference between our anger and God’s Justice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

We are back in Canto 5-7 of Inferno. Cleopatra, Tristan & Isolde, Semiramis and all the scandalous stories from your favorite stars of the afterlife. First we meet Minos, the connoisseur of sin who tosses souls to their appropriate circle of Hell. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

We are back in Canto 3 and 4. Our Pilgrim and Virgil step through the gates and find out that for some people - the first circle of Hell is an enviable place to be! Imagine a members only country club where only the best of the best are admitted.Note: we uploaded this episode by mistake last week as episode 1. The episodes are now up to date and in order. Thank you for your patience :) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

Lions and lynxes and she-wolves… oh my! Our pilgrim Dante awakes to find himself in a Dark Wood where a cast of creatures force his descent to Hell. Thanks for reading A Place For Us Pod! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

Going to Hell is a daunting business, even if you know that Purgatory, Paradise, and Your One True Love are waiting on the other side. So, to bolster your spirits, in this episode Dexter and Michael introduce you to our guide to the Al di Là, Dante Alighieri—poet, politician, and simp— and the chaotic world in which he lived. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Pettinger and Dexter Driscoll; two queer Catholics, introduce themselves and their podcast, A Place For Us, where God, sex, and a sense of humor meet for coffee. This season, they’ll be making a year-long pilgrimage through Dante’s Divine Comedy. But before they set off on that journey, they talk a little about themselves, about being too queer for the Catholics and too Catholic for the queers, and about why Dante might be the poet we most need now. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aplaceforuspod.substack.com/subscribe