In this episode of Literary Lines, GiGi Meier sits down with Bill Hulseman—former Catholic educator, seminary student, and middle school principal—whose journey through unimaginable loss birthed the exquisite essay collection Six to Carry the Casket and One to Say the Mass. After a year that claimed his mother, sister, and father, Bill stepped away from education to grieve, write, and ultimately craft a new life centered on ritual, queer spirituality, and the quiet magic of ordinary moments.

What began as a weekly newsletter evolved into a book that dances between hilarity and heartbreak, exploring everything from how advice columnist Dan Savage unexpectedly reshaped his life to why weddings (and funerals, and even film screenings) deserve to be reimagined as radical acts of connection. Bill opens up about shedding the guilt of self-prioritization, the freedom in releasing perfectionism, and his next project: rethinking social rituals in a disconnected world.

For anyone who’s faced loss, questioned their path, or longed to find the sacred in the mundane, this conversation is a balm—and an invitation to carry your own grief (and joy) with equal tenderness.

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