New Age and Catholicism Part 3
Kelly, Michael and I discuss how pride in the Catholic life is not completely unlike the satanism of the New Age. We discuss the supreme importance of humility in the crisis in the Church. What is the connection between New Age and the heresy of good works? Control.
New Age “Catholics” Part 2
In today's podcast, Kelly Nieto discusses her conversion from New Age to Catholicism. The featured image on the blog is a picture I took of Indian "dreamcatchers" placed by the Amazon Synod folks into the Church of Santa Maria Transpontina in Rome last month. Notice the diabolical-looking garment next to the basket.
The Steeling of Adversity in a Church Crisis
The 2016 New York Times Bestselling book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging was recently discussed by the author Sebastian Junger on a podcast by another host. Neither the host nor his guest, Yunger, have a Christian worldview, but they both said something very profound to Catholic men out there "who have ears to hear." Junger described on the podcast (and in his book) that when the Nazis bombed London in the early 1940s, the British banded together in fire brigades to put out the fires; they slept shoulder-to-shoulder in the tube; they found meaning and camaraderie in pulling the living and the dead out of the rubble amidst 30,000 deaths. Most of my readers who know WWII history already know this. But Junger then added that after the war there was “enormous nostalgia for the blitz.” Why? Because according to [...]
The Eastern Catholic Churches and St. Josaphat
Today's podcast is a private and elongated re-do of a public sermon I gave today at a TLM parish in Texas. I speak about the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Orthodox and the martyrdom of St. Josaphat who died for the unity between the two. See map of Catholic Churches on blog below:
Glad Trad 11: Terry Barber on Evangelization
On today's podcast, Terry Barber talks about how he has brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to literally millions of people. (We also have some interesting debates in the second half of the recording.)
40 “Smaller” Heresies of Modernism
Many Catholics studying the current crisis in the Church have become numb to the definition of Pope Saint Pius X that modernism is "the synthesis of all heresies." Some may think "synthesis of all heresies" is an amorphous problem of general doctrinal malaise. Others might classify it as a paranoid papal prophesy that never really materialized for the good-willed but jumpy Pope. But what has been astonishing to me lately is that I keep seeing that I learned everything, yes, quite literally everything, while growing up in Catholic grade school, high school and even seminary—wrong. I don't mean just liturgical issues. I mean the seemingly-smaller issues of Catholic doctrine are all turning out to be the exact opposite of what I was taught for over 30 years of my education: # Modernist 'Catholicism' Apostolic Catholicism 1 We don’t know when Jesus was [...]
RomeCast 21: Is Pachamama in the Old Testament?
On today's podcast, I discuss my trip to Rome just outside the Amazon Synod. Andromeda discusses her work for the University of California, Berkeley in the Near East department's URUK Research Team. We discuss the fertility demonesses of Mesopotamia and South America that may or may not have shown up at the Amazon Synod.
Transpontina: Why Would God Let This Happen?
Most Catholics know that the Vatican placed in the Roman Church Santa Maria Transpontina (St. Mary's Across the River) a display of indigenous costumes for the "Amazon Synod" this month (October 2019.) This transformed the beautiful and ancient Church of Our Lady into a kitschy display jungle items and pagan rituals. The first problem with this is a violation of the First Commandment. The second problem with this is that it is racist: A white liberal hierarchy imposed paganism on indigenous peoples of Brazil. I know this to be a political (or diabolical) move because the native people of Brazil do not promote such rituals in their Catholic Churches. (As I have said on podcasts, I speak Portuguese and I have been on mission to Brazil three times, including the Amazon once.) So, I spent the last week in Rome [...]
Talk on Our Lady and Being Pro-Life
Today's podcast is a talk I gave to Californian young adults one evening outdoors on Our Lady (and being pro-life in tbe 21st century.)
How Ascetical Theology Brought Christ to the World
I have been haunted for two and a half years by this "Fr. Z" blog post that shows how American Catholics fasted for lent in the 19th century: DIOCESE OF NEWARK. (1873) REGULATIONS FOR LENT: Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, will fall on the twenty-sixth day of February. 1. Every day during Lent except Sunday, is a day of fast on one meal, which should no be taken before mid-day, with the allowance of a moderate collation in the evening. 2. The precept of fasting implies also that of abstinence from the use of flesh meat, but by dispensation, the use of flesh meat is allowed in this Diocese at every meal on Sunday, and at the principal meal on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, of Lent except Holy Thursday. [But not Wednesday and Friday and Saturday] 3. There [...]