Yeah, not looking to have to mess with ubintu. Alternatively, I have downloaded Bitcoin Core on my new Mac but receiving the error message "Bitcoin Core can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software. This software needs to be updated. Contact the developer for more information."
Not sure why this error occurs with the latest software.
You can try one thing, get the source code from the official repository of bitcoin core and install all it's dependencies.
Once the whole setup is done, compile it from scratch and then use the CLI or GUI based on your preference.
Process is a little lengthy but you will learn a lot of things in the process.
Official repo : https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/