Divine Intervention

iHeartPodcasts

Divine Intervention is the untold story of a ragtag band of radical nuns in combat boots, wild-haired priests and their madcap friends who swiftly became accomplished cat-burglars in a hellbent effort to sabotage the Vietnam war. Many went to jail, some betrayed their friends, others fell in love. Across 10 episodes, host Brendan Patrick Hughes uncovers their audacious illegal acts – scaling walls, picking locks, destroying draft cards, harboring a draft fugitive in a church sanctuary, and trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover. 

  • 58 minutes 7 seconds
    Chapter 5: The Red Double Doors on Park Street

    Anne and Paul face terrifying legal consequences. Father Patrick quickly ascends to a daunting new role and suddenly meets Marianne Woodward, a divorcée with two kids living on welfare in Dorchester. She has just escaped a difficult first marriage in Texas, and neither of them are prepared for what they feel when they meet.

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    8 April 2025, 7:00 am
  • 48 minutes 36 seconds
    Chapter 4: The East Coast Conspiracy to Save Lives

    Anne Walsh commits her first illegal act in the Bronx, stealing draft files and claiming responsibility. Patrick is stationed after ordination at the Paulist Center in downtown Boston, and immediately sets about turning it upside down. An ambitious raid in Philadelphia draws in a young Cookie Ridolfi.

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    1 April 2025, 7:00 am
  • 53 minutes 31 seconds
    Chapter 3: The Nun in Combat Boots

    Anne Walsh is the combat booted nun who masterminds the Paul Couming sanctuary. Like Father Patrick, she started out as a good Catholic conformist. But when her convent's father confessor begins breaking the law to sabotage the draft, a whole new life of crime opens up for her.

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    25 March 2025, 7:00 am
  • 59 minutes 47 seconds
    Chapter 2: The Drunken Banjo Player

    Father Patrick is the wild-haired radical priest who plans to harbor Paul Couming, but how did he get this way? A very unusual pope, attending seminary during the tumult of the 1960’s, and being a born party animal may have something to do with it.

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    18 March 2025, 7:00 am
  • 39 minutes 5 seconds
    Chapter 1: An Explosive Cauldron

    It's 1971 and Paul Couming is a member of the underground Catholic resistance to the Vietnam war. Two years ago, he sent his draft card back to the government, refusing to take part in the bloodshed. Now, as he faces trial, a harebrained scheme emerges to give him political sanctuary in a downtown Boston Catholic Church, the first of its kind in 400 years.

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    11 March 2025, 7:00 am
  • 2 minutes 17 seconds
    Introducing: Divine Intervention

    Divine intervention is a 10-part audio documentary about radical nuns in combat boots and wild-haired priests on a hellbent mission to sabotage a war. Tune in weekly starting March 11.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    4 March 2025, 8:00 am
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