On this week’s podcast, the actress Laura Dern reads an essay about an Episcopal priest who provides a lifeline for a gay parishioner when the church fails to support him.

The priest, Rhonda Mawhood Lee, wrote “I Will Be Your Mother Figure” after one of her former congregants turned to her seeking not spiritual but friendly, even motherly, advice.

Ms. Dern recently starred in the HBO miniseries “Big Little Lies” and will appear in Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” reboot this May. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.