It was my ministry to serve our sisters and brothers in aids care. I love our patients and they loved me 🙏🏽

What an important and beautiful series. Profoundly human stories that moved me to tears multiple times. Thank you for treating these complex stories with such care and the impact the lessons learned from this time will hopefully teach the Church and society

We are all Gods children and all Sinners, But to say Catholic and I live with someone before marriage and proud of it is wrong —gay straight lbgqt or whoever, Catholics should not be talking Sins so casually, if you say I did it and wrong and you should stop if you are and be celibate. But to thank God for love of gay partner!? Jesus sends you someone to sin with? Are you sure, Sounds like satan. Sad that someone so unrepentant head of Catholic org, what’s the point of being saying Catholic when you don’t follow it, you can be gay, but celibacy and living w family or solo is only solution—is it you want to do whatever but straight ppl can’t? Cohabitation is a sin regardless of sex, fornication / sex outside of Marriage is a sin regardless of Sex, sex in marriage not for procreation is a sin. Pride Is a sin so get over yourself and Start following our faith. safest Sex Is abstinence and that’s what Church teaches.

Catholic, LGBT persons, and historians owe a debt of gratitude to Michael O’Loughlin. This podcast captures a part of history that gets virtually no recognition and we’re all so lucky for it. If you appreciate nuance, history, catholicism, LGBT subjects or just have human empathy, this is a wonderful podcast and I highly recommend it.

More brilliant content from America Media. I love the work you do. This podcast, in particular, is moving and important.

Listened to this while in RCIA. Really beautiful and moving podcast on an important chapter in Church and American history.

Listening to this, I am reminded of what I love about our Catholic legacy but certainly not embraced by all of us. That is, the commitment and love for those who are suffering. I worked for many years in Catholic hospitals where I was privileged to be part of this ministry. I often feel discouraged with the limits of the Catholic institution…this has uplifted me…love and care of our fellow humans is the core of who we are.

It’s amazing to me how few podcasts and documentaries are out there about the AIDS epidemic in comparison the the significance and impact it has had on the world community. I believe this is due to the stigma and prejudices that are still tied to the AIDS epidemic in many people’s minds. It’s sad because these stories need to be told. Thank you for sharing these stories and perspectives.

This is incredibly moving and exceptionally well done. Be prepared for some tears.

Such a thoughtful and well done podcast that really showed the complexities how the church handled the AIDS crisis.

I cannot say enough about how great - and how important - this podcast is! Plague exceeded my every hope and expectation. It was hard to imagine how the stories would be told, but in the end Michael O'Laughling and the entire team at America did a brilliant job of it all. It was like they were stringing the most precious beads onto a string, each one building in depth, texture, color, and feeling. As someone who lived through that watching friends and acquaintances get ill and die, as someone who was away from church for a part of it, I cannot heap enough praise on how the story of the church is included. It is not gratutitously praised nor is it unthinkingly bashed, but rather the human face of many is put forth. This podcast offers listeners a baseline of what once was, and that gives off a light that perhaps will help guide the way forward. Do not miss it.

Thank your for sharing these powerful stories! I want to hear more!

Plague is a truly wonderful podcast. Mike does a lovely job of preserving and exploring complicated stories related to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and briefly delves into questions concerning LGBT Catholics today. I am grateful to America media and others who supported this podcast, and I admire Mike for being transparent in his reporting and would encourage him to continue being transparent as a gay reporter dedicated to his Catholic faith and unwilling to shy away from his God-given sexuality. If I had to offer a critique I would say that the podcast largely offered a favorable tone to the Catholic response rather than detailing the actions of those who tended to stick to the letter of the law or the responses of those who were distanced from their faith because of unhelpful responses of people in the Church. Overall, I think this podcast is wonderful, and I hope that Mike and other reporters will continue to explore and uncover stories relevant to LGBT persons and others who have been (and continue to be) marginalized in church settings.

Every episode... Beautifully narrated and written! These stories need to be heard and remembered. I cried each episode! As a Gay Catholic Man I’m proud to hear these stories of Priest and Sisters doing Gods Work. Compassions Comfort and Love.... Silences = Death Never again

Very well done! An important part of LGBQT AIDS history that is looked at with a nuance and accuracy that is not often revealed. Like all history, it's complicated.

This series is so very important. This is a history that has long been undocumented and it is a story the needs to be told. There are other voices that need to be heard in dialogue with this history but this is a great place to begin. It bring me back to my work in these days. Christ as present in each enchant. Thank you for bringing this to life

A wonderful, moving podcast. Things like this make it easier to remain a Christian in these dark times.

Congratulations on documenting this history before it’s lost. I thought your treatment of the events were nuanced and thoughtful and your interviews fascinating and beautiful.

What an amazing perspective on the AIDS crisis. I’ve seen countless documentaries and read many accounts of this time in history and as a former Catholic I appreciate this reporting on the complicated relationship between the LGBTQ community and the church.

I have gone through periods of being conflicted as a Catholic, feeling like the institution of the Church was pushing people out of the flock instead of welcoming them in. The stories in this podcast remind me why I stayed - because there are so many good people in the Church who dedicate their lives to living out Catholic values of love, social justice, dignity, and mercy. I thank Michael and America Media for sharing the darkness AND the light in this beautiful podcast.

Loved this and can’t wait for more. One of my first podcasts and it is truly insightful. Well done!

So, so good. Insightful, creative and compassionate. More please.

I listened to the first episode. As so often happens the podcast ignored truth of the Biblical view. Homosexual acts are wrong just as fornication and adultery are wrong. They are mortal sins that, if unrepented, result in eternal damnation. However God loves each one of us very much. We are precious in His eyes. No one can take that away from us. We are so much more than our sexual orientation. Individuals with real, not fad, homosexual inclinations bear a heavy cross. When they fall under the weight of that cross they are to be treated by all Catholics as Jesus treated the Samaritan woman caught in adultery. My daughter is an unwed mother. I am very grateful that she was not stripped, tarred and feathered, her hair cut off and paraded through town. Nonetheless what she did was a mortal sin. I thank God in His mercy that she had access to confession. She and her innocent child were welcomed back. It is my prayer that she will be welcomed into heaven. It is very very dangerous to suggest to a child of God facing a very strong temptation that it is ok to commit certain sins. You do this by teaching “safe sex” and encouraging the behavior with condoms, etc. The Church is clear on abortion, contraception, fornication, adultery. All these seem to be considered moral by tempted and unformed segments of society and the Church today. A priest who permits a parishioner to sin jeopardizes his own immortal soul. God is Love. After all He has done to teach us the narrow way, the least we can do is try to keep His precepts. He knows how it all turns out much better than we do.

The podcast does a good job on telling the honest story without painting people as just heroes and villains. Rather it allows the story to have many shades of gray

This podcast is excellent reporting on a topic that may not be well known. It is fair to the Church and the LGBT+ community.

Michael, we always knew you are gay but we wondered as regular America readers why you hid it. Congrats in finally coming out. There is room in the pew and we hope to see you soon in our Cathedral fighting the good fight against clericalist bishops and priests. My husband is HIV+, converted to Catholicism Easter Vigil 2016, and took the name of “Francis”. We sit in the front pew, tithe as a married couple, and refuse to genuflect to fear. Be encouraged and be not be afraid. The Church would close its doors if gays and women were kicked out of the organization....we run the place! 😇 Please tread softly on HIV labels and using divisive stereotypes that some gays use in describing the evolution of our understanding of HIV. The fact is there was no clear understanding about HIV until the late 1990s, and even now we are learning the long term consequences of HIV in the undetectable patient. The virus persists in causing injury and impacting morbidity and mortality even if the virus is undetectable. Pax

This podcast is excellent. It tells a story that brings back my experience with Aids and the church in the 80’s & 90’s with my brother Pat. A San Francisco cab drivers matter of fact, “If your brother is gay, you’ll be coming back to bury him.” The church made it almost impossible to live as a gay catholic in those days, and yet so possible to die as a catholic. Pat worked with Dignity in San Francisco. Our priest Fr. Godley sat by PAt’s bed at the end, bringing the church back to him.

Thank you for this!

Or gay. Even then it is more important than ever that we record this history and confront our collective past and present. There are so many stories that deserve to be told: from patients to pastoral caregivers. Gave me hope as a frequently-doubting and angry Catholic that there’s a place for all of us. Incredible work by James Martin and the editorial staff. Thank you for this moving and educational work!

Powerful — and only one episode into it. The Catholic Church is a big, confusing, and beautiful thing. Albeit the Church’s shortcomings on HIV/AIDS back then, and gay/trans issues now, the stories from this podcast drive me deeper into my faith and relationship with the church. I can’t wait for more!

Mike O’Loughlin offers new generations of LGBTQ+ folx, Catholics, and LGBTQ+ Catholics an honest look at this part of our shared history. The stories are raw and heartbreaking, but O’Loughlin refuses to present a one-sided story. This podcast challenges all of its listeners to dive deeply into this complex history. Overall, the episodes miraculously combine somber reflections with lighthearted anecdotes and testimonies of human love.

A hard look at a culture that is at once deeply hateful and deeply caring. A rare history that is comfortable explaining uncomfortable, and sometimes conflicting truths.