💍 David Fischer was three years into seminary when a friend rolled down a car window and said, "Hey, Laura." She leaned into David's side of the car instead, and he literally lost his breath. Twenty-three years and nine kids later (number ten is due in February), David works with filmmakers at Angel Studios, where guild members vote on which films get made.

On The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison talks with David about what seminary taught him about insecurity and identity, and about the marriage ministry he and Laura built for 200 couples. He also explains why the secret to a good marriage is losing yourself. This one's for you if God has ever rewritten your plans halfway through.


Guest Bio
David Fisher works with filmmakers at Angel Studios, negotiating contracts and bringing independent films into the studio's ecosystem. A former NET Ministries missionary and college seminarian at St. John Vianney, he studied Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas and began his career as an attorney. He and his wife, Laura, lead Fidelity, a marriage ministry at their parish. They live outside St. Paul, Minnesota, with their nine children.

Chapter Markers

00:00 College Seminary vs. Minor Seminary: "Like Being a D1 Athlete"

02:00 Playing Priest at Seven (and Never Letting His Brother Preach)

03:15 The Girl Who Crossed the Street

06:30 "Listen to Your Heart": Advice From His Spiritual Director

07:45 23 Years, Nine Kids, and Baby #10 on the Way

09:30 Destructive Boys and "Varsity Babysitter" Girls

10:45 Why Minnesota? Relationships Over Everything

13:00 Angel Studios and Life in the Delta Sky Club

15:00 Horse-Drawn Carriages and White Wigs: The Young Washington Premiere

16:30 How the Angel Guild Votes on Which Films Get Made

19:00 What Seminary Taught Him About Insecurity and Identity

22:30 Father Figures: Mark Berchem, Gordy DeMarais, and Ed & Leslie Gross

24:30 Fidelity and Foundations: A Marriage Ministry for 200 Couples

27:00 JCPenney's "Doghouse" Ad and the ThighMaster Mistake

28:30 A Royal Blue JCPenney Shirt and Life on the Rock With Jeff Cavins

31:00 Broadway Mom, Theater Kid, and Singing With His Brothers

33:30 Advice for Young Husbands: The Law of the Gift

37:00 Praying for Angel Studios and Independent Filmmakers

🤝 What if the most countercultural thing a Catholic can do right now is stay friends with people he or she disagrees with? Jonathan Lewis leads The Communion Project, a brand-new initiative from the Paulist Fathers (the first Catholic men's religious order founded in America) that names toxic polarization for what it is: a sin. He sits down with Liv Harrison in Napa to talk about why difference isn't the enemy, and why an unlikely friendship between Tim Busch and Fr. James Martin had people writing in like they'd finally caught their breath.

We also get into the Thanksgiving-table test, why "it's okay" is not the same as "I forgive you," and what swipe culture is doing to how we treat each other. This one's for you if you've ever muted the family group chat, and for anyone who wants to find their way back to each other in The LIVing Room.

Guest Bio:

Jonathan Lewis leads The Communion Project, a new initiative founded by the Paulist Fathers to address toxic polarization in the Catholic Church. He previously spent about five years as a director of religious education for two parishes. He is currently building out The Communion Project's podcast, resources, and a first-ever invite-only retreat for Catholic media leaders. He lives just outside Washington, D.C., with his wife and their three young children.

In This Episode

00:00 First Time in Napa + What Is The Communion Project?

01:00 The Paulist Fathers: America's First Catholic Men's Order

02:00 Fr. Isaac Hecker, Hecker Flour, and America's OG Seeker

03:00 Rebranding "Toxic Polarization" (Because Nobody Wants to Talk About It)

05:00 Polarization Is a Sin, but Difference Isn't

06:00 Tim Busch, Fr. James Martin, and Friendships Nobody Expected

08:00 The Oxygen-Mask Response (and the Pushback)

09:00 The 10-Year Dream: Your Trump-Voting Uncle at Thanksgiving

11:00 Check What Comes In: Truffle Fries, Fox, CNN, and a Media Fast

13:00 Capitol Hill Mass: Both Parties in the Same Pews

14:00 Jonathan's Family: 10 Years Married, Three Kids

16:00 Why "It's Okay" Isn't Enough: Teaching Kids "I Forgive You"

17:00 Accountability, Real Apologies, and PR Apologies

20:00 Dr. Becky's Good Inside and The Anxious Generation

22:00 Swipe Culture, Ghosting, and How Tech Forms Us

24:00 Inside the Invite-Only Catholic Media Retreat

26:00 Mary, Mother of Communion, and Meeting Mary as a New Dad

28:00 A Vatican II Prayer and Galatians 5 on a Wedding Band

30:00 How We Can Pray for Jonathan

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🎬 Sr. Nancy, a Daughter of St. Paul and Hollywood film reviewer, once watched Harrison Ford walk into a room of journalists and head straight for the sisters. When she told him her whole community prays for him, he bowed his head and said it meant more than she knew. In this episode, she and Liv Harrison talk about red carpets, religious life, and how a teenager who prayed "as long as it's not religious life" ended up entering the convent right out of high school.
They cover George Clooney's altar-boy Latin, a camera operator with a bottle of holy water on a dark set, and how to examine your conscience about your online life. This one's for you if you've ever told God, "Anything but that."

Guest Bio:
Sr. Nancy Usselmann is a Daughter of St. Paul and director of the Pauline Media Studies center in Los Angeles, where she reviews film and TV from a faith perspective. She previously served as CFO of her province and holds a master's in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a doctorate in ministry from The Catholic University of America. She teaches Media Mindfulness nationwide and helped form Catholics in Entertainment, a Hollywood community for faith-filled creatives.

In This Episode
00:00 Harrison Ford Heads Straight for the Nuns
01:00 Classic Movies, Elvis, and Ginger Rogers
03:00 Growing Up Catholic in the "Rome of the West"
06:00 Meeting the Daughters of St. Paul
08:00 The Prayer Card: "As Long As It's Not a Nun"
11:00 From the Convent to CFO During the 2008 Crash
12:00 Theology, Pop Culture, and Media Mindfulness
17:00 Blessed James Alberione and Nuns Driving Cars in 1915
22:00 Red Carpet Stories: Harrison Ford and George Clooney
28:00 Seeing Movies With Sacramental Eyes
34:00 Holy Water on a Dark Set: Faith in Hollywood
39:00 An Examination of Conscience for Your Online Life

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🎧 Fr. Dave Pivonka, president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, walked 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago as a thank-you for his priesthood — and almost didn't become a priest at all, since school was never his thing. In this episode, he and Liv Harrison talk pilgrimage, purpose, and what he's watching happen to a generation raised on screens.

They cover why he kept campus open (and free) for incoming students during COVID, the difference between loneliness and isolation, and why he thinks AI is quietly teaching kids to need it instead of each other. This one's for you if you've ever wondered whether a rough start disqualifies you from where you're headed. The LIVing Room is here for that question, too

Guest Bio:
Fr. Dave Pivonka is a Franciscan University of Steubenville alumnus and has served as the university's president since 2019. He was ordained a priest and worked at Franciscan from 1995 to 2008 before returning to lead the university, and he holds a doctorate; he is also the author of Hiking the Camino, a book on his 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, which is being republished this September. Fr. Dave grew up in Durango, in southwest Colorado.

In This Episode
00:00 Her Son's Calling to the Camino
01:00 What Is the Camino, Actually?
03:00 Life on the Trail: Albergues, Bunk Beds, and Shared Meals
06:00 The Pilgrim's Shell and the Deeper Question of the Walk
08:00 Why He Wrote Hiking the Camino
10:00 Presence, Screens, and Missing the Person in Front of You
12:00 Was Fr. Dave Always Headed for the Priesthood?
14:00 Growing Up in Colorado (and a Grudge Against Texans)
15:00 Becoming President of Franciscan University in 2019
16:00 The COVID Semester: Keeping Students on Campus
18:00 What Fr. Dave Loves About This Generation
20:00 Letting 18-Year-Olds Make Mistakes
22:00 Is AI a Tool or a Crutch?
23:00 Loneliness vs. Isolation
25:00 The Story That Sums It Up: Passing the Class, Alone
27:00 Resurrection Parties and Building Real Community
29:00 Texas Banter (Comic Relief)
30:00 He Never Wanted to Be a University President
32:00 Blessed Stanley Rother: Failure, Then Sainthood
33:00 Closing Ask: Pray for Discernment

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🎙️ Kate Sell has spent 25 years as the "backroom person" behind Catholic dioceses, religious orders, universities, and authors — helping organizations like the Augustine Institute and the Eucharistic Congress figure out who they are and get their message out. In this episode, she traces her whole story: converting to Catholicism at 22 after a black cassette tape titled The Conversion of Scott Hahn, getting her marriage blessed by John Paul II on her honeymoon, and building a career almost by accident — one phone call, one unpaid bill, and one act of obedience at a time.

Kate and Liv also get into raising five kids (including two sons now in seminary) while fielding real pushback from other faithful Catholics for working and traveling too much, the saints she leans on to stay grounded (St. Thérèse, St. Zélie, St. Edith Stein), and her philosophy on free will, fear, and preparing kids for the real world instead of shielding them from it. This one's for you if you've ever wondered how a career, a conversion, and a big Catholic family actually fit together.

Guest Bio:

Kate Sell is a Catholic public relations and communications strategist who has spent 25 years working behind the scenes with dioceses, parishes, religious orders, universities, apostolates, and authors across the Church. Her work has included public relations for the Augustine Institute and media support for the Eucharistic Congress, alongside strategic planning and leadership transitions for Catholic organizations nationwide. A convert to Catholicism married since 1999, she and her husband live in the mountains north of Atlanta and have five children — including two sons currently studying for the priesthood, a daughter in college, a son serving as a missionary, and a youngest with special needs.

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🙏 He walked into his boss's office at a top Chicago investment firm to resign and got cut off seven words in with, "Are you quitting right now?"

The LIVing Room welcomes the co-founder of Hallow, the Catholic prayer app that beat six national Super Bowl campaigns to the #1 spot in the entire App Store. Liv Harrison talks with him about the year he went without a paycheck, the Mark Wahlberg ad that changed everything, and why he still insists "nobody needs an app to pray." This one's for you if you've ever wondered whether walking away from a "sure thing" was worth it.

Guest Bio:

Alessandro DiSanto is a co-founder of Hallow, the Catholic prayer and meditation app that became the first faith-based app in history to reach #1 across the entire App Store. He began his career on Wall Street before working as a private equity investor, before leaving finance entirely to help build Hallow with his friends. He and his co-founding team have since led the app through a Mark Wahlberg–fronted Super Bowl campaign and continued growth across 150+ countries. He lives with his wife, Sam, and their three young sons.

In This Episode:

00:00 Conference Fame and Life as "The Guy" Behind Hallow

01:00 Humility, Marriage, and Three Boys Under Four

03:00 Being a "Professional Catholic" and Conference Survival Hacks

05:00 From Wall Street Investor to Founding a Prayer App

07:00 The Late-Night Friend Group That Became Hallow

08:00 "Have Good Breakups": The Ex-Girlfriend's Sister Story

10:00 A Half-Day Retreat and the "Light Switch" Prayer Moment

12:40 Quitting Day: "Are You Quitting Right Now?"

15:00 A Year With No Income — Eggo Waffles and Ramen

18:00 Launch, First Hires, COVID, and 700% Growth

20:00 The Super Bowl Ad Nobody Thought Would Work

21:30 Mark Wahlberg, Jesus, and Beating Temu to #2

22:30 Colbert, Jonathan Roumie, and Hitting #1

23:30 The Risk of Celebrity Partners — Chris Pratt to Gwen Stefani

27:00 "A Heart for the One, Not the 99" and Saints in Seven Days

30:00 Moving People From the App Back to the Altar

32:00 St. Thomas Aquinas, "Everything Is Straw," and St. Joseph's Silent Service

✍️ Eliza signed a book deal with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint — and it started with a Lilly Pulitzer blog about Demi Lovato in eighth grade. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison sits down with Catholic writer and content creator Eliza to trace the unlikely path from middle school recess "therapy sessions" to one of the most honest Catholic voices on the internet.
They get into just war theory and the Iran conflict, the dignity of people sleeping on the streets of downtown Charleston, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter and what it means to "stand up and be counted" when no one is with you, and how Eliza handles it when she posts too fast and gets it wrong. This one's for the woman who knows she has something to say but keeps waiting for permission.

Guest Bio:
Eliza is a Catholic writer and content creator based in Charleston, South Carolina, known for her Instagram platform Eliza Writes Things, where she covers faith, human dignity, and Catholic social teaching with a distinctly unfiltered voice. She built her audience from scratch beginning in 2020 while studying English and creative writing, later serving a year on mission in the Diocese of Charleston, and currently works in marketing. She has recently signed a book contract with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint. Eliza also leads small group ministry for middle and high school girls at her parish.

In This Episode:
00:00 The Charm Necklace That Preaches a Homily
01:45 Hart Hagerty, Charleston, and Walmart Knockoffs
02:45 Eliza's 8th-Grade Lilly Pulitzer Blog (It's Still Live)
04:00 How Eliza Writes Things Actually Started in 2020
05:30 The Holy Spirit, a Resume Line, and Her First Marketing Job
07:20 "Your Dreams Are Gonna Come True" — The Penguin Book Deal
08:45 The Non-People Pleaser Who Built a Following for It
09:50 Her Mom, Her Grandmother, and the League of Women Voters
10:40 Fourth-Grade Recess Therapy and the Tree Sign
12:00 Human Dignity as Her North Star — JP II, Sacred Heart, and Both/Ands
15:00 What Issues Keep Her Up at Night in 2026
16:30 Just War Theory and Why Iran Doesn't Clear the Bar
17:45 The Poor Aren't an Abstraction — Life on the Streets of Downtown Charleston
20:45 Mary Magdalene and Why She's the Saint for Suffering
23:00 Two White Women in Charleston — Addressing the Elephant in the Room
24:30 Blessed Franz Jägerstätter: The One Man Who Voted No
32:00 "It's Enough Just to Stand Up and Be Counted"
33:30 When You Post Too Fast and Have to Take It Down
39:30 What Accountability Actually Looks Like for Catholic Influencers
41:00 Why She's Excited About Gen Z Catholic Creators
44:30 How to Raise Kids Who Stand Up for Something
47:30 Book Jail, Book Mansion, and How to Pray for Eliza Right Now

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🤍 She was a federal law clerk in Vegas, a managing editor of Law Review, and a prosecutor — and she drove home one morning drenched in spit-up thinking, who am I? Nell O'Leary spent decades performing her way through life until a daughter's mysterious illness, the collapse of a ministry, and a silent retreat stripped everything away and left her with one answer: beloved.

In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison and Nell cover the identity crisis hiding inside early motherhood, what it actually feels like to enter silence when you have the gift of gab, how Nell's marriage deepened when she finally understood her husband's prayer life — and the Catholic mommy wars nobody wants to admit are real. If you've ever felt like you are what you accomplish, this one is for you.

Guest Bio:

Nell O'Leary is a Catholic writer, speaker, and ministry consultant based in St. Paul, Minnesota. A former federal law clerk and prosecutor, she went on to spend nearly a decade in women's ministry before transitioning to freelance consulting, writing, and speaking for Catholic organizations. She contributed to or edited over 50 books, wrote the prayers for Ascension's 2026 planner, and is currently finishing her first solo book with a mainstream publisher. Nell and her husband Anthony have five children.

In This Episode

00:00 Welcome — Nell and Liv in the Living Room

01:30 What Nell's life looks like online (and why it works)

02:15 18-year-old Nell: poetry, horses, and zero plan

03:45 How a love of show jumping led to law school

04:30 Ave Maria Law School and meeting her husband

05:45 The Vegas clerk era — dry cleaning and federal judges

06:30 Liv's origin story: kindergarten teacher to podcaster

07:45 The identity crash of early motherhood

09:30 Dropping her husband at a big law firm, covered in spit-up

11:00 "You are not what you do" — the Nazareth years

12:15 The thread connecting law, ministry, and storytelling

13:30 Nell's Substack and a first book she can almost announce

14:30 Learning when things are for the internet — and when they're not

15:15 "Who are you at 43?" — the identity question

16:00 What "I'm his beloved" actually cost her to believe

17:30 When her daughter got sick and she stepped away from everything

18:30 The 30-week Ignatian retreat — what it is and how it works

20:30 The first third: accepting that she was worth God's time

21:30 The middle third: imaginative prayer she didn't expect

22:15 The last third: real silence, and finding God in it

23:30 "Just turn your face" — what silence looks like now

25:30 Turning toward God all day long, not just in a prayer room

27:00 Nell's love story: two attorneys, law school, Nebraska

28:30 Her husband — ex-seminarian, former hermit, most patient man

30:00 How the retreat finally helped her understand her husband's prayer life

32:00 The strongest years of their marriage — and the hardest

33:30 Sending your spouse on silent retreat (even with five kids)

35:30 The evolution of arguments across 17 years of marriage

37:00 Choosing your family's life over your individual preferences

39:00 Female friendship: the good, the painful, the evaporated besties

41:30 Realistic expectations as a love language

43:00 Catholic mommy wars: beeswax candles, home births, and judgment

45:30 "Is your baby alive? Great." — on not policing other women

47:15 How can we pray for Nell?

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