The Tammy Peterson Podcast

Chronic suffering and faith in God collide in a way that most of us hope we never have to face, but today's guest has lived inside that collision for five years and come out the other side with a hope I found genuinely convicting. My guest today is Sydney Anne Bennett, a writer, disability advocate, and speaker who became disabled almost overnight two weeks after her honeymoon and was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. She lives with daily seizures, chronic pain, and mobility loss, and she has built a community of over 300000 people by being honest about what it actually looks like to keep believing when your body will not cooperate and your prayers do not get answered the way you hoped. In this conversation we talk about what it means to lament honestly before God, how she learned to receive help from her husband Colton without feeling like a burden, and what she has learned about motherhood while raising her daughters Hadassah and Felicity from a wheelchair. I would love to know what stood out most to you, so leave a comment below and let me know, and if this conversation encourages you, please subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Sydney's story starts just after her wedding, when what began as unexplained pain escalated within weeks into paralysis, seizures, hallucinations, and loss of speech, with doctors telling her at one point that she was likely dying from a degenerating brain condition they could not identify. It took about a month before she finally received her diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder, a condition where the brain sends faulty signals to the body, causing symptoms that can shift drastically from day to day. Her husband was deployed just three months later, which meant she faced that first year of disability largely on her own, learning to use a wheelchair and manage seizures while still trying to finish school.
We spend a lot of this conversation talking honestly about what faith through chronic illness really looks like, not the version with a tidy resolution, but the version where you keep showing up to God in weakness, day after day, without knowing when or if healing will come. Sydney shares how a mentor taught her that raw, honest lament, the kind we see throughout the Psalms, is not a lack of faith but an act of it, and how that reframing changed the way she prays. We also talk about the difference between the theological answers to suffering she grew up with as a pastor's daughter and the much harder work of actually trusting God in suffering when she is living it herself. She is candid about ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety, about a current flare in her symptoms eight months postpartum, and about learning to respond to fear more quickly instead of spiraling into it. Toward the end we talk about marriage, motherhood, and what it has meant for her to graciously receive her husband's help, and to redefine what being a good mother looks like from a wheelchair, raising her two young daughters with honesty, humor, and hope in Jesus.
Find more from Sydney: the.annegirl (@the.annegirl) • Instagram photos and videos: https://www.instagram.com/the.annegirl/?hl=en the.annegirl - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the.annegirl/videos Sydney Anne Bennett: http://www.sydneyannebennett.com Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

Freedom without purpose can quietly turn into its own kind of suffering, and that is exactly what I sat down to talk through in this episode. I am joined by Anne Francis, a former government economist who spent three years studying philosophy and theology in Rome before becoming a high school philosophy teacher and author of a philosophy textbook written for teenagers. We talk through what true freedom actually requires, why chasing whatever we want often leaves us more restless rather than more free, and how purpose and fulfillment are tied together in a way most of us were never taught. Anne draws on Aristotle to explain the real relationship between freedom and duty, and why doing something out of love changes everything about how free we actually feel. If you have ever felt like freedom was supposed to make you happier and it has not, this conversation will give you language for why. I would love to hear what stood out to you, so leave a comment and let me know your own definition of freedom before you watched this.
Anne spent nineteen years working as an economist in the Canadian government before she walked away from a stable and well paying career to study philosophy and theology in Rome for three years. She had no plan for what would come next, only a sense that something else was calling her. That leap eventually led her to teaching philosophy at a Catholic high school in Toronto, where she has spent the past decade helping teenagers wrestle with the biggest questions of their lives. A few years ago she wrote her own philosophy textbook because one simply did not exist for students her age, and that book became the starting point for our conversation.
We spend a good part of this episode on the meaning of freedom, and how easily we confuse doing whatever we want with actually being free. Anne walks through Aristotle's understanding of freedom and duty, and how purpose and fulfillment are inseparable from one another even though our culture tends to treat them as optional extras. We talk about why freedom without direction so often leaves people feeling more lost rather than more alive, and how love, not obligation, is what ultimately makes duty feel like freedom instead of a burden.
From there we move into some of the deeper waters of our conversation, including relativism, the difference between tolerance and simply saying everyone has their own truth, and why Anne believes that confusion is one of the most dangerous ideas being absorbed by teenagers today. We also talk honestly about suffering, about a friend of mine walking through cancer, about my own experience being told I had a year left to live, and about why euthanasia is not the answer our culture often makes it out to be. Anne brings her philosophy training and her Catholic faith into these conversations in a way that never feels heavy handed, and I think you will find, like I did, that these ideas about freedom, purpose, and fulfillment have a way of meeting you exactly where you are.
Find more from Anne:
Hawthorn School for Girls: https://hawthornschool.com/
The Basics of Philosophy – Paulist Press: https://www.paulistpress.com/Products/5800-3/the-basics-of-philosophy.aspx
The Basics of Philosophy – Novalis: https://en.novalis.ca/products/the-basics-of-philosophy?_pos=1&_psq=the+basics+of+ph&_psid=cdf582acf&_ss=e
Connect with me:
My Website: http://tammympeterson.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson
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The Kamloops mass grave controversy is back in the headlines, and this time the update is even more shocking than the first. I sat down again with Frances Widdowson, the professor who was wrongfully dismissed from Mount Royal University for questioning the official narrative around the Kamloops residential school claims, and what she shared this time left me speechless. One year after our first conversation, Frances updates us on her ongoing legal battle for reinstatement, the excavation that still has not happened despite millions of dollars in public funding, and a shocking new development where she was handcuffed and removed from a university campus simply for trying to have a conversation with students. Frances has spent years researching Indigenous policy in Canada and is currently working on a documentary series exposing the institutional failures behind the Kamloops case. She is one of the few academics willing to ask hard questions in a climate where asking questions can cost you your career, and her courage and conviction are something every one of us can learn from. If you have ever wondered what it costs to stand for truth, or if you needed a reminder that faith and conviction can carry you through even the hardest battles, this conversation is for you. Listen in, and let me know in the comments what stood out to you most.
Frances and I first talked about the Kamloops residential school controversy about a year ago, and I wanted to have her back on to give us an honest update on where things actually stand. Frances is a professor who was let go from Mount Royal University after she started asking questions about the ground penetrating radar findings at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, and she has spent the time since fighting through the courts for her reinstatement while continuing to dig into the facts of this case. In this conversation we talk about the twelve point one million dollars that was given to the Kamloops band for excavations back in 2021, and the fact that no excavation has happened to this day. We talk about what ground penetrating radar can and cannot actually tell you, and why so many people jumped to conclusions before any physical evidence was found. Frances also shares what happened to her at the University of Lethbridge, where she was declared a safety risk and removed from campus in handcuffs simply for trying to meet with students for a conversation. We talk about her documentary work with Simon Hergott, the new film called Grave Error that she is working on to document the institutional failures across universities, media, and government that allowed this story to spread unchecked. We also get into her broader research on what she calls the Aboriginal industry, the lawyers and consultants she says are profiting from unresolved claims while real needs in Aboriginal communities go unmet. Frances speaks candidly about the personal cost of standing by her convictions, from losing her job to being physically removed from a university she was invited to. This is a conversation about truth, courage, and what it means to keep showing up even when the cost is high. If academic freedom, the Kamloops residential school story, or the search for honest answers in the reconciliation conversation matter to you, this episode is worth your time.
Find more from Frances:
https://youtu.be/PE6OEpz0xyQ
https://fundrazr.com/52XKmf?ref=ab_63AIcaxpJgN63AIcaxpJgN
Connect with me:
My website: https://tammympeterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
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How do you go about finding your purpose when life feels like a series of decisions made without a clear direction. That is the question I explored with Dr. Peter Howard, a theologian with a doctorate from the Angelicum in Rome and the mind behind the Fulton Sheen Institute, who has spent thirty years building his entire life around a single retreat that changed everything for him. Peter shares the remarkable story of Fulton Sheen tearing up a life changing opportunity because his spiritual director told him God had something else in mind, and what that moment teaches us about trusting God even when the path forward looks uncertain. We also get into how he and his wife Chantal are raising seven kids to seek their own calling instead of rushing into the wrong one, why he believes we are living through what Sheen called the final battle of an era, and the daily discipline that has held his family together through their hardest seasons. If you have ever felt lost about what you are meant to do with your life, I think this conversation will give you a lot to sit with. I would love to hear what stands out to you in the comments, and if this episode speaks to you, please subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear it.
Peter earned his doctorate in theology at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and has spent the last three decades of his life devoted to the legacy of the soon to be beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is married to Chantal Howard, who I spoke with in a previous episode, and together they are raising seven children while homeschooling and running a household built around discernment and faith. This conversation is really about finding your purpose, and Peter brings both a theologian's depth and a father's practical wisdom to that question. He tells the story of Fulton Sheen as a young seminarian holding a life changing scholarship letter in his hand, and how one conversation with his spiritual director asking him to trust God completely changed the trajectory of his entire life.
We talk about discerning your calling not as a single dramatic moment but as an ongoing posture of trust, and Peter shares how he and Chantal have tried to raise their own kids to genuinely seek God's will for their life rather than default into whatever path looks safest or most expected, including their daughter's decision to take a gap year to figure out her own direction. We also get into some bigger cultural territory, including why Peter believes artificial intelligence represents a kind of counterfeit to what it means to be made in the image of God, and how that ties into what Fulton Sheen called the final battle of an era. Peter opens up about the daily holy hour of prayer that has anchored his marriage and family through genuinely hard seasons, describing it as one discipline that has made the biggest difference in living with purpose day to day. Whether you are in a season of feeling completely lost or just want to hear the story behind Fulton Sheen's own path to the priesthood, I think this conversation offers real clarity on knowing God's will for your life.
Find more from Peter:
Website: https://fultonsheeninstitute.com/
Catholic Finishing School: https://catholicfinishingschool.com/
Show Me Your Scars (the book): https://fultonsheenmovement.com/show-me-your-scars
Beatification Pilgrimage: https://fultonsheenmovement.com/pilgrimage-register
America's Saint Conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/
Mass Tickets: https://www.celebratesheen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fulton.sheen.movement
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fultonsheeninstitute
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fultonsheenmovement
Connect with me:
My website: https://tammympeterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

How do you suffer well when the pain never seems to end. That is the question I sat with in this conversation with Chantal Howard, founder of a Catholic finishing school for young women and author of Show Me Your Scars, a book built on Fulton Sheen's theology of suffering. Chantal has spent years forming young women in identity and character, and she has walked through her own deep seasons of suffering too, from a hard chapter with her daughter to twenty four years of a marriage she calls both painful and victorious. We talk about what Fulton Sheen taught her about turning wounds into scars, why suffering might be the very thing that opens our hearts to love others well, and how I found my own peace in the middle of a health scare that changed how I see everything. If you have ever wondered whether your suffering has a purpose, I think this conversation will meet you right where you are. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and if this one speaks to you, please subscribe and share it with someone who needs it today.
Chantal is a mother of seven, an entrepreneur, and the founder of a Catholic finishing school that helps young women between the ages of fourteen and nineteen discover who they are through the lens of their faith. Her husband Peter has spent more than twenty years championing the life and legacy of Fulton Sheen, and that work is reaching a beautiful milestone with his upcoming beatification. Chantal's new book, released as a tandem series, Show Me Your Scars and The Fellowship of the Scars, gathers twenty testimonies from people who have walked through real suffering, including her own, and found that suffering and grace are not opposites but companions.
In this conversation we get into the purpose of suffering from a Catholic perspective, and why Fulton Sheen believed that suffering, offered well, becomes our way to happiness rather than something to simply survive. Chantal shares how her own marriage, now twenty four years in, has been both one of her greatest sources of pain and one of her proudest testimonies of grace, and how she and her husband learned to see their hardest seasons as scars rather than open wounds. We also talk about a devastating loss her family walked through when her daughter was pregnant, and how they found their footing again through prayer and community.
I share my own story of receiving a frightening health prognosis and how watching my son's love for me in that moment changed the way I saw my whole life. Chantal and I talk honestly about finding peace in pain, about what it looks like to build a genuine prayer life in the middle of busyness and distraction, and about raising daughters who know their worth in a culture that constantly tells them otherwise. We also touch on her Catholic finishing school, her work forming women of all ages through a related program, and the upcoming beatification conference where survivors and witnesses of Fulton Sheen's influence will gather to share how his teaching helped them heal through suffering. If you are in a season where the suffering does not seem to be ending, I hope this conversation reminds you that you are not alone in it, and that there is real purpose waiting on the other side.
Find more from Chantal:
Personal Website: https://chantal-howard.com/
Catholic Finishing School: https://catholicfinishingschool.com/
Show Me Your Scars (the book): https://fultonsheenmovement.com/show-me-your-scars
Beatification Pilgrimage: https://fultonsheenmovement.com/pilgrimage-register
America's Saint Conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/
Mass Tickets: https://www.celebratesheen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fulton.sheen.movement
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fultonsheeninstitute
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fultonsheenmovement
Connect with me:
My website: https://tammympeterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tammypetersonpodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tammy1peterson