Paula Scanlan, Mystery Swimmer in What is a Woman? Speaks Out on the LOOPcast

CV NEWS FEED // “If women don’t deserve protection in society, then what does that mean [for] us as a society? If we can’t acknowledge that women are different and women deserve respect, then that’s not a society that anyone really needs to live in.”

These were the words of Paula Scanlan, the former Penn swimmer and teammate of Lia Thomas, who was featured anonymously in Matt Walsh’s hit 2022 documentary, What is a Woman?

On an exclusive LOOPcast interview with CatholicVote’s Tom Pogasic, Scanlan recounts her experiences of being forced to compete against and share a locker room with male Lia Thomas and what led her to go public with her story and speak out in favor of protecting womens’ sports.

“This is not ‘anti-trans,’” she says. “This is not anti-this thing or the other thing. This is pro-women.”

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Tom Pogasic: Welcome back to The LOOPcast, where we talk faith, culture, and politics from a Catholic perspective. 

We are becoming the swimming podcast. We have our second swimmer on the program. Her name is Paula Scanlan. You might recognize her silhouette. It was on the What is a Woman? documentary. She has now decided to come out publicly and has taken the time to sit down and talk with me today.

Paula, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Paula Scanlan: Thank you for having me.

Tom: Really, the moment where we knew, “We got to get her on the LOOPcast,” was when we saw your interview with Matt Walsh when you came out publicly. It was excellent. 

One thing that you dropped there was that you were Catholic—not only Catholic, you said “devout Catholic.” As soon as I saw that, that piqued my interest.

I think we were talking [about it] a little bit earlier. Did you mean even to let that slip, or was that something you intentionally [wanted to say]? 

Paula: [It was] definitely not something I had planned. I know that in the What is a Woman? documentary Matt didn’t even bring in the fact that he’s Catholic. I know Matt is Catholic, obviously.

I never really intended to bring it in, but this came over me. It came up, and Matt really did change his entire facial expression. You guys obviously can really tell [it] from the video.

I know that definitely meant a lot to Matt for me to bring that up. That was kind of like the turning point of the interview in my mind, where I was like, “Okay, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

I’m really glad that it did come up, and again, it was not planned.

Tom: It’s kind of hard to miss with Matt. He has that huge PX (Chi Rho) right here in his forearm.

One thing that I really admired about that interview was, yes, you said you were Catholic, but you also brought up a lot of science. You brought up a lot of logic. It didn’t seem to be a fallback answer for you. It was a part of it, of course, but you really were logical. 

Also, for people who don’t know, you got your engineering degree in computer science from Penn, of all places. I think I really admired how intelligent your answers were, but also that you weren’t afraid to talk about your faith. 

Has that always been something you’ve kind of focused on: trying to give science-based answers but also not shying away from your faith?

Paula: My dad actually worked in physics. Throughout my life, we’ve always, as a family, worked on the balance between science and our faith. And so obviously, there is a huge conversation going on of: “if you’re Christian, you’re anti-science.” 

In Genesis, there’s a lot of supernatural stuff which people bring up, [saying], “This is contradictory to evolution,” or whatever it might be. But my entire life, without even realizing it, I’ve just worked on balancing scientific fact and scientific study with my faith.

I don’t think I even really realized that until a lot later on. I didn’t think about it too much throughout college. It just turns out that because I came from a Catholic background and also a scientific background, I just kind of found a way to blend those two things together and just really formulate my ideas without leaning on one too hard.

Tom: I’d like to get back to the beginning of your story. I also notice your entire family went to Penn. Your brother did. Your parents did. And you were obviously an excellent swimmer. 

Was that always in your mind? Like, “Okay, Penn’s the place. I’m going to go where my family went.” Was that a goal of yours as a young kid?

Paula: Not so much a goal. It was more that I had a high-performing academic family, so I needed to go to a school that was within the caliber of my parents’ pedigree and background. 

But for me, my brother was always a lot smarter. I’m dyslexic, so I really struggled in school at the beginning, and I wasn’t even sure if going to a top school was going to be a possibility when I was a kid.

That’s kind of where swimming came in. It was really like the rock that I had. My brother went off to college when I was in sixth grade, and that’s really when I started swimming a lot and focusing on doing that.

That’s when I started to realize that maybe I could do it at a Division I level or in college in some way, shape, or form.

As I got older and realized I had good enough grades, it was definitely going to be a possibility that I could go to the same school as my parents and my brother.

Tom: That adds up to overcoming obstacles and working extremely hard to be able to not only swim, but swim at a Division I level while pursuing an engineering degree. 

My brother is an engineer. He told me how hard everything was. I completely believe him. When you were swimming, how did that interact with your course load, and why did you keep up on that discipline knowing there’s not much of a future for female swimmers? Why did you choose that hard path?

Paula: I think that the reason is swimming, [like] any sport, keeps you grounded. I took some time off from the swim team in sophomore year, and my grades actually didn’t even get that much better. I thought that taking a little bit of time away from that, because I was just really too busy, was going to help, but it didn’t end up being beneficial. You need the balance.

I think swimming, in a way, is a blessing in that you got to have an opportunity to step away from your work—which for me was solving really hard math problems and other engineering things—just to take a step away from your desk, from your computer to get that answer.

Swimming is that opportunity to have like a two-hour break for you to stop thinking about it. When you come back, you’re then able to solve that problem in a way you wouldn’t have if you just sat there the full two hours.

Tom: The word to use, there, grounded, really comes to play here.

You got an announcement from a member of the men’s swimming team, and of course, I’m referring to Lia Thomas. Knowing that swimming was this rock for you, this grounding, was that really hard to reconcile—something that defied your logic and a lot of people’s logic?

Can you just tell me how the announcement went and how did it all happen?

Paula: This announcement was in the Fall of 2019. I was actually a sophomore, and we were just told that we had a team meeting, and the men’s team went first.

I don’t know precisely what happened in that meeting, but I asked a member of the men’s team, and he told me that, well, Thomas, at the time, announced that they would be leaving the men’s team.

And then the men went to the locker room. Then the women had a team meeting. And this was very strange because we never had separate team meetings. We’re a combined program. We do everything that we do with the men’s team.

Separation of the team meetings was so unusual. We go and do this, and you know, our coach is there; his name is Mike, and he just says, “This is Will’s meeting.”

And then we’re just told, “I’m transgender, and I’m going to be transitioning to the women’s team. I’ve already been on hormones for a few months now.” 

That was it. It was a very, very brief meeting. And at that point, everyone was kind of confused or in shock.

There wasn’t really anything else said about that ever again. Actually, we never even had another formal team meeting about it.

Tom: Interesting. What was the initial—you said there was shock, obviously, but when you were talking to other girls on the team, what were your personal conversations like?

Paula: I lived with one of the captains, and I think they were just asking, “How are we going to make this person comfortable?”

I’m a loving and accepting person, so I said, “Of course. I’m going to do everything I can to help this individual feel comfortable.” I still in my heart knew that maybe it wasn’t the right thing, but I never really knew how to express that to my teammates at the time.

I would just only really talk to people outside of the team. The day after we found out, I had dinner with some of my friends who weren’t swimmers, and it was all I was talking about. They were like, “Well, it’s a year away at least. I don’t care.” 

Everyone just had to listen to me talk about it because I just didn’t know how to handle it.

Tom: What specifically bothered you about it? You said you didn’t know how to handle it. Even if you did not know how to express it at the time, after some reflection, what bothered you? Was it the invading women’s spaces? Was it the competition element of it, the unfairness?

Paula: Pre-transition, you don’t know how fast or slow someone’s going to be once they’d gone on these experimental hormones. There’s no scientific study to say you’re going to slow down 10% or whatever it might be. 

So just knowing how fast Will Thomas as a male swimmer was and comparing those times to women’s times in my head, I just said, “Wow, Will would be faster than the fastest Olympian on the women’s side.”

And again, I didn’t know what hormone therapy does or how much of it he would be taking anything like that. But just looking at the raw numbers, that’s where I said, “Okay. We could potentially have an Olympic champion on our women’s team if the time is exactly the same.”

Tom: I think those are pretty reasonable observations. I know other people in your team, as you said in that interview with Matt, were having similar [thoughts]. I think the reaction was, you had one teammate that went to administration kind of upset saying, “Hey, this isn’t right, I’m going to go do something about this.” And then came out of that meeting, completely different tune—scary, different tune.

You didn’t totally extrapolate on why you thought there was the change. Do you think that there was a threat leveled there? Why do you think that change was so dramatic and it happened right away?

Paula: I think it was not just the conversation that she had with the athletics department. I think it might have been related to, also, her parents just basically saying, “You know, there’s nothing you can do about this. You might as well just be supportive.”

I do understand that if there’s nothing I can do in a situation, I might as well just go on the side of being kind and caring and supporting something. I don’t blame anyone who was put in that situation at all, but that would be my read of it. Again, I was not her. I was not there. I never even went to the athletic department one on one myself.

But there were definitely a lot of people feeling helpless. And once you feel helpless, you just kind of turn to the other side.

Tom: I mean, the rest is history, right? And we had a long interview with Riley, who competed at the same building, and of course, it became this big national story.

I’m really curious because you went on What is a Woman? Of course, it was this cultural, shocking documentary. How did they reach out to you? How did you get in touch to even go on the documentary? What was that like?

Paula: I was a member of College Republicans, and this is actually the first time I’m publicly admitting that. There was a member of College Republicans that kind of had not been very active that was a writer for Daily Wire who went to Penn the same year as me. 

As soon as this started breaking, I messaged one of the girls who was president of the club, and I said, “Does anyone have his contact? I just want to talk to him about this. I just want to see if Daily Wire is doing stuff. I know that they had been a big leader and just talking about transgenderism as an issue.

I reached out and got in contact, and he immediately had a million requests for me. He was like, “You can call on the Candace Owens show next week in the middle of my season.”

I was like, “Okay, I can’t do that. I don’t think I can be public, but I’m happy to give you some quotes.” I just wanted to help. 

Then he just said, “Matt Walsh, if you know who that is, has a super secret project he wants you to be part of.”

I said, “I’m not sure what that is.” I thought he was writing a book. 

I’m sitting in class, and I get an email from Matt Walsh himself. I’m literally sitting in class, and Matt Walsh emails me, and he’s like, “Hey, this is my producer. We’re actually making a movie. Can you be part of it? We can fly you out any time.”

I’m sitting there, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh. What?”

And they’re like, “You can be anonymous. You can be in it yourself.”

I actually did really want to be in it—like my real face. But my parents said—again, we thought the documentary was going to come out while I was still a student, as it was originally supposed to come out in May.

I just didn’t know the exact date, and I thought it might be too risky. I said, “I’m just going to go for the anonymous, but we can do it.” I couldn’t fly out until after my season was over. And that happened to be spring break.

I had finished my swimming season like literally five days before, and I flew out to do it in a day—and then I came back.

It was a really crazy experience, and it was just so strange how that all worked out. I happened to want to get in contact with this guy who happened to know that Matt was up to something secretive. It was just a crazy experience.

Tom: Nothing happens by accident. I know with documentaries, sometimes the edits people receive can be different than their experience of going in. Were you satisfied with your final edit? Did you do a lot more recording that didn’t make it in?

Paula: I actually got interviewed for 30 to 40 minutes. I think it was just to give them the optionality of what they wanted to put in. Again, the actual [final cut] is only about a minute. A lot definitely did not go in. But again, I don’t think more should have gone in because the scrambled voice is not the most pleasant thing to be listening to.

I think they did pick a good part. Obviously, there are things I said that might have been a little bit more controversial, but I think they really focused on the “us being silenced” thing. One of my biggest problems in this entire situation is how the university silenced all of us and how they really made us fearful for voicing our opinion and voicing the truth.

Tom: One thing I always wondered too—so you went in with, obviously, the scrambled voice. Were there any attempts to dox you or figure out who that was, and it got back to you?

Paula: Yes. If you actually go watch the documentary—my side profile view—and if you turn the brightness up on your screen, you can tell that it’s my face, even if you don’t know me. And there is a Twitter thread where they went through the roster (pictures of all the girls—a team) and somebody was like, “I am no scientist, but 100% it’s this girl.”

And also, this was something that was really interesting to me is—from my side profile, apparently, it’s very obvious that I’m Asian; my mother is a Taiwanese immigrant, so I’m half Asian. There were a bunch of people saying, like saying, “Lia, go kill your Asian teammate.” Or “Your Asian teammate doesn’t like you.” There was a lot of anti-Asian stuff coming into it.

Prior to any of this, I didn’t think my side profile looked that Asian. That was actually something I found very interesting—that they were using this as a race issue, which I don’t think is fair. That was something I found online also, which was a little bit hurtful, too.

Tom: I think it further goes to the fear. Like you said, your parents were concerned. 

Was it—so was it a concern for your safety? Was it a concern for your future employment? Was it a concern with your scholarship? What was that threat for you to—if you would have gone on publicly, what do you think could have happened?

Paula: Definitely, the job is the primary one. So again, right out of college, you go with your first job; you need to just make sure you do everything by the books. Especially for my mother, being an immigrant and being part of the Asian community, it’s very important for your kids not just to go to a good school but to have a good job: to make sure the education that they paid so much money for is being put to good use.

It was definitely that. Also, just in general, with future employers, you don’t know who is going to be reading you and what their political opinions might be about it. And I don’t think that this is a controversial issue. I think speaking about this should be known as “this is a women’s rights issue,” but people don’t always see it that way.

You just have to be afraid of, you know, who might do something the wrong way.

Tom: Obviously, I’m talking to you right now. You came out public, of course. Was there a final straw moment for you when you said, “Enough. I have to go public. I need to support people like Riley Gaines.” Or was it a combination of a lot of small things?

Paula: I knew I wanted to at some point. The exact timing of it—that was not necessarily planned. 

So it started after Riley was attacked, I was like, “Okay, now they’re violent. This is really scary.” But I really started just thinking about it when I couldn’t sleep at night, thinking about all the young women and girls.

I would take a lot of this to prayer—nightly prayer. I would just say, “God, please help me cope with this,” “Help me stop thinking about this so much,” or “help me come to a solution that was just,” and eventually, I just kept on saying, “God, please lead me in the right way.”

And it did eventually come to [the point where] I needed to talk about it publicly, but I didn’t know what that was going to look like. I did think about, “Do I want to do something on my own? Do I want to try to go with a big media company?” I did reach out to my contact at The Daily Wire, this kid who went to Penn, and I just said, “I’m thinking about this. What would you guys be open to?”

They obviously said they wanted to do a sit-down interview with Matt. They also helped me fill out my personal statement; it’s on their YouTube. That was something I wrote myself because I wanted to have an opportunity to write something myself that wasn’t [an interview], and everything seemed agreeable.

But weirdly enough, I didn’t know what they had planned for the one-year anniversary of What is a Woman? The timing of when I really came out with it—I texted the guy at the beginning of May—was really the exact timeline of when they were doing this anniversary stuff. I didn’t know about any of it.

Again, the timing worked out really, really well. Also, this week is the anniversary of passing Title IX. I get to help be a part of all that stuff. The beginning of May, June, was the perfect time to come out with this.

Tom: I have a couple of questions here. You keep mentioning prayer. You mentioned “Catholic.” Of course, I’m Catholic, this is a Catholic program. 

One of the most frustrating elements of this entire thing is when people who aren’t Catholic—when people aren’t Christian—accuse you of being “not Christ-like” or not being welcoming to people different than you, yada yada.

What is your answer to people that say, “Hey, what you’re doing right now is not Christ-like; you’re not acting Christian?”

Paula: That’s something that was so challenging at the beginning. I took a lot of this to prayer, saying, “No, God. Am I wrong for feeling this way?” I really did feel wrong. I felt, “I can’t feel hate.” I think the part that’s coming to the “Christ-like” is who [is] my anger aimed at?

I think individuals that are angry at transgender people for existing, or “I’m angry that Lia took my spot,” or “I’m angry that this happened at [sic] that individual,” that I understand could come off as un-Christ-like. 

For me, that’s not where my anger is—or any of my feelings. I think that’s something, as Catholics, we need to work towards, understanding that, obviously, a feeling of anger is not a feeling we want to have and a feeling that God wants us to have either. If you do have that feeling of anger, dig deeper and wonder where that’s aimed at.

That’s where I say that I’m not angry at Lia, and I want that to be very clear. I’ve made that clear in every instance. I’ve never suggested that we should eradicate transgender individuals. 

I think there are people that deeply struggle with something: to think that your body is wrong. The idea that your body is wrong is really harmful and a really hard situation to be in. And I understand why someone might be in that position, but it doesn’t mean that altering your body and taking all these hormones you’re not supposed to take is right.

That’s certainly something to work on. Also, I know that it’s very easy as a person to be upset, but as a Catholic, you need to understand that the anger towards those people is not what we’re trying to push. I think if more people saw it that way—that, really, we do love them—We can be upset with the situation and the people that allowed an unjust situation to occur.

It’s kind of a long answer, but that is something I’m working on too.

Tom: That’s such a beautiful reflection because that actually is a very Catholic way of looking at the situation.

Of course, the individual itself needs love. I think that gets lost, I think with a lot of the (especially online) discourse about it. Because, it’s so easy to shoot off tweets that don’t have the right context, don’t have the right nuance, and maybe can come across the wrong way.

But I think you identified correctly that there is something unjust: the concept of justice here keeps coming back up, and there’s something unjust about the situation where a biological male swimmer can come to the female division with Olympic times basically beating out women Olympians. That’s not right. That’s unjust. You mentioned you are angry, and there is something called “righteous anger.”

Where do you think that the anger should actually lie? Who are the people that need to be held responsible? What situation do we need to fix here? Where should the anger be directed? 

Paula: I think the primary group is the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletics Association]. FINA (World Aquatics), the governing body for swimming, came out and put in new policies. It said if you don’t transition before the age of 12, you’re not allowed to compete in the women’s category.

At this time, someone like Lia Thomas and other transgender individuals in the sport of swimming, diving, and water polo—there might be a few other smaller sports in there—you can’t compete on the world championship team. You can’t compete in the Olympics. That’s a big win. 

This says nothing about NCAA, and this says nothing about college-level swimming. I think the NCAA needs to really reexamine its policy. I did examine it very deeply during the year to read it. 

They did not do a lot of scientific research. The policy is really outdated. It was written many, many, many years before there were transgender athletes in the sports. And again, there are no long-term studies on a lot of these things. I think they need to actually really sit down with proper scientists. There are plenty of scientists in the field that are willing to consult on this. They’re just not willing to hear their opinion. 

That’s something they should work on. I’m not angry at any individual person. I just think the institution of the NCAA failed us. I can’t blame an individual for that. It’s a group of people who are responsible, and I don’t know precisely who all of them are. But that’s who we should really look to, and I want to make sure they make changes because that’s the group that needs to do this.

Tom: And, so, we can definitely attribute the championships—that is an NCAA failure. But if you go beyond that, we start looking at high school athletics; we started looking at middle school athletics. We’re talking all over the country—places where biological men are now in locker rooms with women. I think that makes a lot of parents nervous.

In terms of fairness for scholarships, there are a lot of reasons as to why we need a more coherent policy at a national level. 

What would you say beyond the NCAA? How can we restore integrity and fairness to sports across the country for all women, girls, and boys?

Paula: Currently, because the [Biden] administration is not interested in taking up this issue, a lot of these changes need to be made at the state level. There’s the Protect Women—Protect Women and Girls Act. 

There are other state women’s sports acts going on that are being passed at state levels. I think for right now, I would say we need to have policies like that to exist in every single state.

Texas just passed one. Governor Abbott did a great job with that. Girls and women are going to be protected in the state of Texas. But just because you grow up in California, you’re not going to be awarded those same rights. 

Something we need to work on is getting out to these states that are more liberal and finding a way to talk to the policymakers [there], because there are a lot of liberal-leaning individuals that do believe that this is wrong.

Now it’s up to us to target those people and make them commit to making these changes that they do actually already believe in. It’s going to be very challenging, but it has to be done in order for women and girls in all 50 states to be protected.

Tom: I think a big part of that equation is having people like you, having people like Riley, come out very publicly in support for advocacy, to actually pass legislation, put politicians’ feet to the fire, and to protect women and girls. 

One thing that really stuck out to me from my interview with Riley is that she said she received a lot of messages when she first came out, because she came out really when it was truly controversial. She put a lot at stake. She was receiving a lot of hate. She said, “At first it was nice when people would contact me individually, other athletes, and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you’re doing this. I’m really proud of you. I wish that I could do the same.’” But she said eventually, it actually really frustrated her that people were unwilling to express things they were expressing to her in private, in public. 

Obviously, you’ve taken up this mantle, which is amazing. You’ve put a lot at stake. You’ve received a lot of hate yourself.

What advice would you give to someone that’s maybe sending those messages in private but still feels uncomfortable to come out publicly in support of protecting women and girls?

Paula: I think you have to take a risk. I think the biggest thing for me is that I knew that this was going to be a risk—coming out—but just trusting in God and trusting in the world that I’m going to come out okay in the end. 

I think some of it is, a lot of people fear the unknown, and that’s totally acceptable to feel that way. 

Just trusting that if you do the right thing, the right path will follow from that. 

I understand all of these people that are quiet, and it’s a little bit frustrating, and I got some of my teammates [who] have actually reached out to me and said that “I want to be there right there with you, but X, Y, and Z thing.”

I don’t blame them for any of that. I was right there, you know, six weeks ago. I think just trusting—and it’s so hard to do that, and it’s so much easier said than done. But knowing that if you do the right thing, the right thing will follow for you.

Tom: That’s really beautiful. You’re out now. You are somewhat figuring out your plans. Now that you’ve come out publicly and announced, what are the next steps to continue the fight for women and girls? Where do you see your advocacy going in the future? What is your future direction there?

Paula: I’m going to be going to Washington, D.C., later this week, and we’re going to do a little bit of press conferences and talking with some policymakers. This week is the Anniversary of Title IX. I think something I want to work on is just getting out to politicians in more liberal areas and just making it clear that this is not “anti-trans,” this is not anti-this thing or the other thing. This is pro-women.

If women don’t deserve protection in society, then what does that mean [for] us as a society? If we can’t acknowledge that women are different and women deserve respect, then that’s not a society that anyone really needs to live in. Literally, women birth people. They have kids. You need women in society to be productive in order to thrive.

I’m definitely getting out there. In terms of specifics, I’m not entirely sure what’s going to look… what it’s going to look like. I’m working with a bunch of different organizations and just getting our stories out there and encouraging other women and young girls to feel comfortable doing the same.

Tom: We have a very Catholic audience here. Hopefully, we’re reaching some new people I really love so far. You know what you’ve had to say as to your Catholic faith intersecting with this, but also using reason and logic. 

What would you say to someone who have people in their lives that maybe are a little naive or ignorant, and they just, maybe, have kind of believed some things that they’ve seen online or whatever and still think, “Well, you know, we should just be nice to them,” or whatever.

How do you approach that conversation with charity but also with truth?

Paula: Obviously, you want to be nice to people. There are a lot of people throwing hate out there and calling names; always strive away from doing that, but focus your language on making change. 

Like, if you’re going to approach your politician, don’t name-call them and say, “You’re this thing or that thing.” Just go in there kindly, and just speak your heart.

I think that’s the biggest thing for me personally. I always worry about doing interviews and whatever, but what I do before I do the interview is I always make sure I think about the young girls and the young women that I’m speaking for.

I think that always just kind of takes me down to a level where I’m not angry. I’m not going to be just super emotional or super vocal, just really trying to just lovingly explain why I believe what I believe. They can always decide to not pass policies based on what you say, but if you speak lovingly and calmly and explain your stance, at the very least, they’ll listen. Whether they’ll do something with that, I don’t know.

But just getting heard is the first step.

Tom: I’ve always heard it’s like, “planting the seeds.” You’re responsible for what you put forth, but after that, you kind of just leave it up to God in some ways. You’ve obviously gone through a lot of ups and downs, a lot of stress, and a lot of sleepless nights, like you said. 

Do you have any patron saints that you were praying to through this? Any particular devotions as a Catholic that kind of helped get you through some of those tough times?

Paula: Mother Mary, of course. My confirmation saint is actually Bridget, so definitely her. My confirmation sponsor got me her little icon of her. I definitely hold that with me. I know that there are a lot of other saints last time protecting me, but those have been, like, the main two. And I’m sure, you know, each Catholic has their own connection to each saint.

And there has been a lot of protection. I know, like, Mother Mary is here for us women. She is the best woman. I know that she has all of us in her heart.

Tom: Absolutely. I have my little [medal] that’s Saint Thomas Aquinas. I don’t know if anyone’s picked that one up—so little farther away.

Paula, if we want to help you out, for people listening to this, maybe for the first time, if they’ve been listening for a while: what’s the best way to support you and your mission in your work?

Paula: Right now, I don’t have any main organizations, but I’ve been working with ICONS, and it’s a women’s advocacy group. Definitely check out some of their stuff. Obviously, you can follow me; I might be doing more things on my own.

Tom: Can I shamelessly plug you on Twitter?  I’m a recent follower. I saw you’ve actually interacted with a few CatholicVote things in terms of what we did with the Dodgers. Go follow her on Twitter @PaulaYScanlan. I’ll leave her link in the show notes. We’d love to keep the numbers up there.

Paula: That’s where I do a lot of my—I did a tweet about the Dodgers. They did lose 15-0; I’m not sure if you saw that. I saw that at, like, one in the morning. 

Tom: I’m going to continue to say nothing happens by accident. The worst home loss: 15-0. The worst home loss since the 1800s, late 1800s, I think, for the Dodgers. There’s this kind of example of doing the right thing, standing up to blasphemy, even if it’s, like, uncomfortable to some people, or whatever.

God’s good, you know; God continues to reward people for following their conscience, doing the right thing, and really just trying to be faithful in that way. And so that’s just been, kind of, a cool example to reach out to a broader audience, like, “We see this as wrong, we want to do something about it.” So many people have joined. 

Thank you so much for doing this interview. You’re an inspiration to many.

Paula: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been great. Hopefully, we’ll keep in touch and continue to help inform other Catholics who might be lost or confused on this. I think our messaging is to really stay true to our faith, but also to stay true to the truth.

Tom: Absolutely. Thank you, Paula.

Paula: Thank you.