The Future of Church with Cathie Caimano (podcast)
Envisioning A New Model for Ministry
In this week’s episode, I sit down with Cathie Caimano, an Episcopal priest, writer, runner, and creator of Free Range Priest, Trexo: A Gym for Your Soul, and the newly launched Substack Seminary — a twelve-month journey helping spiritual leaders rediscover their calling in a changing world.
Cathie’s story spans twenty-five years of ministry: the joy of walking with people through births, deaths, baptisms, and communion… and the exhaustion of trying to hold aging congregations, shrinking budgets, and endless administrative tasks together. Over time, she began listening for another way — a way of being a priest that didn’t require fitting into a structure that no longer fit the world.
We talk about what it means to serve without the usual walls around you, how technology can become a tool for genuine spiritual presence, and why clergy today need clarity of identity just as much as they need community. We explore the growing instability of institutional church life, the loneliness many pastors feel, and the possibility of creating new, more human forms of ministry rooted in collaboration, connection, and trust.
I love Cathie’s honesty, energy, and her imagination. She isn’t abandoning the church — she’s expanding it. Making room for people whose callings no longer fit the old containers. Making room for grace, creativity, and a more grounded way of guiding souls.
This conversation felt both practical and deeply hopeful — a glimpse of what the future of faith might look like when we allow it to evolve.
🎧 Listen to the episode here:
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After our conversation, I myself was inspired to join Substack Seminary. Below you can find more information on that program as well as the other things Cathie is working on:
