Why Do Progressive Catholics Hate Converts?

[00:00:00] Foreign progressive Catholics have always had a suspicion and distrust of Catholic converts. But that's become full blown hatred as converts work to dismantle the effort. The failed project of progressive Catholics to remake the church in their own image. That's what we're talking about today on Crisis Point Home. Eric Simmons, your host, editor in chief of Crisis magazine. Before we get started, as always, smash that like button like progressive Catholics are trying to smash converts. Also, subscribe to the channel. Other people know about it. We really appreciate when you do that. Subscribe to our email newsletter. Just go to crisismagazine.com put in your email address and we'll send you our news articles once a day, usually two each day. You can also follow us on social media Risismag, where we post our articles there as well. [00:01:02] Okay. And also before I get started, I just remind people who are in the live chat who are watching this live on Tuesday afternoon. [00:01:09] Please make your comments, your questions and we'll try to address I'll try to address a few of those at the end of the program. [00:01:19] So the main thing I want to talk about today is why do progressive Catholics seem to hate converts? [00:01:26] I've noticed this for a while now. Of course, I'm a convert, so maybe I'm oversensitive to it. Now. I have been Catholic for 32 years, more than 32 years now. So although I'm a convert, I've been Catholic longer than a lot of Catholics who are out there on social media and things like that. Not a lot of progressive Catholics, because most progressive Catholics, I think their average age is probably about 72, 73. [00:01:49] But I've noticed that they often have a very dismissive attitude towards Catholic converts, kind of running them down, that they don't really understand Catholicism. They're not. A lot of times they will insinuate that they're really still Protestant or whatever the case may be. They were. [00:02:08] And I think it's an interesting thing. A couple examples. The first one is I've noticed that J.D. vance, who is a Catholic convert, he came in the church about six years ago, 2019. [00:02:21] He has really triggered the progressive Catholics. They are just going crazy about him. They just can't stand him. And I've noticed every time they criticize him, they have to mention that he's a convert. And it's a way to denigrate him, a way to say, no, he's not really Catholic. What he's saying isn't really Catholic. What's really Catholic is what I'm saying, because I'm a cradle Catholic or I've been converted a lot longer than him, I notice. One person I noticed soon is Gloria Purvis, the race baiting Catholic who used to be an ewtn. Although she is a convert, she converted when she was very young. She only calls JD Vance a recent convert. That's literally what she calls him now. A recent convert recently said, talking about J.D. vance. [00:03:08] And it's a way to demean him. He doesn't really understand Catholicism like I do. And a lot of progressive Catholics do this. And this is a trend. And one of the biggest examples of this is coming out soon. There's a new book coming out called Catholic Fundamentalism in America by Father mark A. Massa, S.J. and if you know S.J. is if you see S.J. after that name, you know that book's going to be a hot mess. And sure enough, this one is I got a copy of this. It's not actually published yet. It's from Oxford University Press. So this very prestigious publisher and his book Catholic Fundamentalism in America and the description of it. And by the way, Father Massa is a professor of theology and director of the Boise center for Religion, American Public Life at Boston College. Boston College is a hotbed of Jesuit craziness in liberal progressive Catholicism. And he is a professor of theology there. And his this book, the description is the term fundamentalism has its roots in specific forms of American Protestantism that arose around the turn of the 20th century in reaction to liberalizing and modernizing trends within the church. In this book, Mark Massa, they don't want to say Father, I guess. Mark Massa argues that analogously reactive militant and sectarian fundamentalist movement emerged within American Catholicism in the decades following World War II for a similarly complex mix of theological and cultural reasons. [00:04:47] In Catholic Fundamentalism in America, Massa gives the first account of the Catholic form of the anti modernist impulse. Why I find this very interesting, and I will admit this is why I find this very interesting. He gives seven case studies in this book of Catholic fundamentalists. These terrible people who are this anti modernist impulse who are against progress, progressivism. They're not really Catholic. They're fundamentalists. And one of the chapters is devoted one of these case studies is devoted to me, yours truly. In Crisis magazine he has an entire chapter and it's called the chapter is called Let me get it here. Like I said, it's not out yet, but a friend of mine says sent me a review copy of it on the dangers of swimming, the Tiber Crisis magazine and the Pre Millennial embrace of Catholicism. Note that title on the dangers of swimming the Tiber. [00:05:46] Basically, he doesn't like converts. He definitely doesn't like this convert. And he's going to let you know about him. [00:05:53] The chapter is interesting and I'll go through some of it here. [00:05:58] But what's interesting about it is, you know, he really wants to make sure he demeans me as a convert that I'm not really fully Catholic. In fact, he says Crisis magazine isn't really a Catholic magazine. It comes across very un Catholic. And he has a great line there where he says, salmons may indeed have swum the Tiber, but he did so in a Protestant wetsuit that left him untouched by Catholic holy water. I'll admit I love that line. I love that line. Salmons may indeed have swum the Tiber, but he did so in a Protestant wetsuit that left him untouched by Catholic holy water. [00:06:35] So basically saying, is this convert. I guess didn't. Doesn't really qualify as a full Catholic in Father Massa's mind. [00:06:42] And he goes through and he talks about Crisis magazine and about me a lot, and like I said, a whole chapter in some of his criticisms. I mean, he has a very kind of hoity toity look down his nose at me type of attitude. I mean, after he's a Jesuit, he's professor of theology. Who am I? [00:07:04] He says Samuels was named editor in chief of the magazine in December 2020 and has led in a decidedly different direction than previous editors. Yes and no, with a difference of editorial strategies. Samuels was received in the Church in 1993, and he holds an MA in Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. So unlike previous editors, he was not trained in academic theology or philosophy, which I think is funny. First of all, you just said I had an MA in theology. I'm not claiming I'm an academic theologian. I'm not, but I'm not. I mean, I am a dummy, but I'm not that much of a dummy. I mean, I literally have a graduate degree in theology, but obviously Father Massa does not count. A degree from Franciscan University student, but probably has a academic degree, a full degree. Again, it's just funny because, like, somehow, you know, me being not trained in academic theology or philosophy doesn't allow me to be editor of Crisis magazine. That's kind of weird. [00:07:58] But he goes through and he basically says, sam and says those who don't share Samus's apocalyptic worldview or foreshortened historical perspective. [00:08:07] Is that mostly articles published in the magazine seem somehow decidedly un Catholic. And they seem un Catholic because they lack the kind of theological grounding that undergirds Catholic identity. So again, I'm not smart enough. I'm clearly not smart enough for Father Massa, which is fine. [00:08:28] But then he goes, basically. He basically says, I'm still Protestant. I'm still living out the Protestant, you know, a Protestant mindset, a Protestant fundamentalist mindset. And what's interesting is, is that like he says, for example, there's also a consistent argument in Sammons postings at Crisis that seems to presume that Catholic doctrine rests on unchanging and propositional deposit of faith, almost exactly analogous to all Protestant fundamentalists understand the King James Bible. So there's his problem. [00:09:00] This is why I'm not really Catholic, because I'm not nuanced. [00:09:04] I'm not willing to be flexible enough. I guess I actually believe there's an unchanging deposit of faith. And because of that, I'm still a fundamentalist. I'm just like those dumb Protestant fundamentalists who stick to their King James Bibles because I think there's an unchanging deposit of faith. And then he goes on to say that in an almost eerily analogous way, Samus discusses Catholic doctrine as though it were static and unchangeable and decidedly not marked by development and evolution. [00:09:37] Interesting term there, sometimes radical development, as Cardinal Newman famously argued over a century ago. There has been a development of doctrine within the Catholic tradition over the course of many centuries. [00:09:48] And both Newman's famous phrase and his understanding of doctrinal history that it witnessed to most decidedly one at the Second Vatican Council. Now, there's a lot of problems with this. So first of all, he says that Catholic doctrine is not unchanging and static. Sometimes it's marked by development and evolution, sometimes radical development. And he calls on Cardinal Newman to support his view on this. Now, I just want to say he acts like I don't know who Cardinal Newman is. I don't embrace him. I literally, right now, when I look this way, I'm looking at a photo of Cardinal Newman. It's up on my wall right outside of the camera. I have it right up in my office because I love Cardinal Newman. In fact, reading Essay on Development of Christian Doctrine was a major factor in me understanding the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. [00:10:40] Likewise, when I look over this way, I see a whole shelf full of books either by or about John Henry Newman, of which I've read. I let me just look. Yeah, I think I've read every Single one of them, including, of course, essay on development, Catholic doctrine. Now I know I'm a dummy. I mean, Father Massa, please help me. You know, I understand I'm slow, I'm not as smart as you. I'm not professor of theology at Boston College. [00:11:07] Yet at the same time, I do have some knowledge of Cardinal Newman. I have a deep devotion to Cardinal Newman. I pray to him literally every single day. He's included at the end of my rosary. I asked for his intercession. I have a, like I said, a picture of him on the wall. [00:11:21] Not all his books. He's written a lot more. But I have a lot of books by him or about him that I've read. [00:11:28] The problem here is, is that Father Massa, as brilliant as he is according to himself, I guess he does not understand what development of doctrine means. That's the real issue he is taking when he says that doctrine has gone through a development, evolution, sometimes radical development. That alone shows that he doesn't understand what development means because development is not evolution. That's not the word that Cardinal Newman used. Remember, Carl Newman lived during the time when Darwinism was coming out. He did not use the term evolution. There's a difference between evolution and development. [00:12:06] Evolution as it's commonly understood. I understand there's micro, macro evolution stuff, but it's commonly understood, typically means a change from one species to another. [00:12:16] You go from a chimp to a man, you go from a fish to a, I don't know, lizard or whatever. [00:12:23] That is decidedly not what development of doctrine, as Cardinal Newman posits it, means. [00:12:31] When you're talking about development of doctrine, what you're talking about is a deeper understanding of Christian doctrine. Not a change, not a radical development. Because we know what radical development means. It means something goes from X to not X. [00:12:47] Development can never do that. That's what evolution does in the science understanding. It's not really scientific, but anyway is like it goes from monkey to not monkey. [00:12:58] Doctrine never can do that. It cannot change to something, is not. It always stays the same. Our understanding of it deepens, though. The classic example, of course, is the doctrine of the Trinity. [00:13:10] The early Church understood that the Father was God, the Son was God, the Holy Spirit was God. They also understood there's only one God. However, in the first centuries, they did not have a philosophical way of understanding that. They just simply accepted that as true. They understood that there was some type of tension there in the human mind. How can there be three persons that claim to be that not claim, but we believe are God, yet we still only believe in one God. And then, of course, in the 4th century Council of Nicaea, Saint Athanasius, a lot of other great saints and fathers and councils came up with the, you know, the philosophical understanding that of you have persons, you have nature, and they. And that's our doctrine of the Holy Trinity. [00:13:57] That was a development of Christian doctrine. [00:14:00] It didn't change the belief of Christians, but it helped us understand what we believe better. But to Father Massa, he talks about, like, as if I'm a fundamentalist because I think the deposit of faith is unchanging. I do think it's unchanging. Catholics do believe it's unchanging. Catholics have always believed it's unchanging until last week. [00:14:24] Our understanding of it can develop, and therefore, you could say the word change, but it does not change what the deposit of faith is. If abortion was immoral last week, it's immoral today. If. If contraception was immoral last week, it's immoral today. If the Blessed Virgin Mary was believed to be immaculately conceived last week, she's still immaculately conceived. You cannot change those teachings. [00:14:49] And so call me a fundamentalist all you want, because really all fundamentalists is. That's just a term used usually in derision. Now, I will say I've used the term Catholic fundamentalist at times to try to describe. I mean, I'm talking about, like, Trent Horn. He has used that term as well. I get that there might be some people, you might feel that it's a difficult term, though, because it's usually used as a term of derision. Scott Hahn was called a Catholic fundamentalist in a book that came out a couple years ago. So I actually, I'm very happy to be in his company. [00:15:21] So. But. But Father Mass, in this book, Catholic Fundamentalism in America, where he's railing on me, particularly specifically the fact that I, you know, on the dangers of swimming the Tiber that I converted. But I really hold on to this. This Protestant fundamentalist understanding. And it's mostly because I'm not willing to update my beliefs to the late. Update my beliefs to the latest beliefs of the fashionable Catholics. [00:15:49] So I do still believe, for example, that the church is the one true church. Okay. There is a hilarious part in this chapter where he's going off on crisis, going off on me, where he. He gets caught in his own. In his own, like, kind of web here, because he says that. I'm saying that, like, basically people need to become Catholic. And he says that I have a. What is it that he calls it a come outer ism that come out of Babylon into the Catholic Church attitude. Come out of her and flee from the wrath is to come was the famous call in the Book of Revelation. And Salmon seems eager to heed that call and advises readers to do the same. Well, yeah, I do. Come out of her and flee the wrath that is to come. If it was true in the Book of Revelation, why isn't it true today? Why wouldn't we still say flee out of the sin and heresy and problems in the world and into the cat, the bosom of the Catholic Church? That's exactly what I still say. So, yeah, do heed that call. But in the Catholic imagination, according to Father Massa, there is nothing to come out into. Protestant Christians, especially Protestant fundamentalist Christians, assert that the true church is the invisible church whose members are known to God alone. [00:17:06] Institutional affiliation for such fundamentalist believers is then a second or question, because no single historical body of believers can claim that title. He's right about that. But Catholic Christianity. [00:17:17] But Catholic Christianity has always asserted that the true church on earth subsists in the Roman Catholic Church is made up of those who are union with the Bishop of Rome. [00:17:26] What's funny about this? [00:17:29] I just got this Jesuit priest to say that the Catholic Church is the one true church and you have to be united to Rome. I mean that I thought the whole point of ecumenism is we're not supposed to say that anymore. So score one for me. I was able to get a boomer Jesuit priest to admit that the Catholic Church is the one true church. So, you know, there's that. But Father Massa realizes that he just stepped into that because then he quickly wants to back away from it. He says many other believers who are not Catholic are certainly true Christians, and their ecclesial bodies share in the life of grace unleashed by Christ's death and resurrection. But in terms of institutional identity, there's only one true church of Christ, the Holy and Apostolic Church of Rome. A Catholic not in communion with the bishop Baron is a contradiction in terms. And believers who have come out of the church in communion with the Pope may be many things. They are just not Catholic Christians. It is difficult, then, to discern how Samons understands himself as a Catholic. I mean, first of all, it's just, like, so insulting. I've literally spent my entire public life saying, you have to stay in communion with Rome. I have gotten hit by flack from the city of Acantis for years now because I'm like, you have to Remain in communion with Rome. That has been a thing I have said over and over and over again. Yet somehow Father Massa thinks. I'm not saying that. [00:18:51] Oh, we got a comment here real quick. I'll throw up there. Maybe not. Okay, I'll talk. Okay. Yeah. Humphrey Teravir says Jesuits have always been destructive in the Roman Catholic Church through their progressive ideas. Look, for example, at the South America liberation theology, Europe, where they are known for Modernism. Exactly. I mean, the Jesuits, let's be honest. [00:19:08] I mean, I do think you should come out of the Jesuit Church, whatever that is. So. But the point is here is that I have never, ever even suggested that you should leave communion with Rome. They should come out of the Catholic Church. My whole point is everybody should become Catholic. My book, Deadly Indifference, right up here next to my bobblehead, was about the fact everybody needs to join the Catholic Church. [00:19:33] So Father Massa just is upset that I'm calling out certain aspects of the Catholic Church that are not being faithful to the deposit of faith. He doesn't like how I use the term faithful Catholics. He says that's like a term I'm using to say the real Catholics. Well, okay, if you don't think maybe it's because you don't you realize you're not being faithful. [00:19:54] So anyway, I could go on. It's. It's like how many pages is in the book? Is it. It's like, I think it's about 30. [00:20:01] Yeah, about 30 pages in the book about me and about Crisis magazine. How about we're fundamentalists and ultimately all comes down to I'm a convert and he believes I'm still Protestant. Why? Because I don't accept the progressive view of the Catholic faith. [00:20:20] And I'm not going to believe it. I'm not going to accept it. I do believe in development of doctrine. I believe we have to be united to the Bishop of Rome, who is Pope Francis. [00:20:29] But it doesn't mean that I think we can just radically change and evolve what we believe. Why do I not think that? Because the Catholic Church has never taught that and it still does not teach that. [00:20:41] So ultimately, this is a real reason why Catholics are not. I'm sorry, progressive Catholics do not like converts because to be honest, we're unapologetic about being Catholic. We're very proud to be Catholic. And here's the other thing. Progressive Catholics have a deep jealousy when they see Catholic converts because they make none. [00:21:06] Progressive Catholics are non reproductive in so many ways. They typically use birth control to non priests. They use birth Control or they're gay. So they don't actually produce any new people physically. But then they also are contraceptive spiritually because their teachings do not produce new life. [00:21:29] Yet when you look at your orthodox, your dynamic parishes, your traditional parishes, they're the ones bringing in the converts. They're the ones who are bringing people and to faith in Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. And the progressive Catholics know that, and they know their time is, is running out. I say boomer Catholics. I know some people who are in the age of the baby boom. They don't like that because they get offended by that. You really should realize that's a boomer characteristics getting offended by a term. [00:21:55] Boomer Catholics isn't just an age, it's an attitude. Now, most of the boomer Catholics, the reason for the name is because most of them are in that generation. But there can be even boomer Catholics in my age and younger. [00:22:06] And the fact is they don't produce new fruit, they don't produce new life. And so eventually they will die off. I know it's easy to look at how dire things are in the church today. I do it, I do it myself. But the reality is, in 2050, all the boomer Catholics are gone and they'll have no influence on the church. The only people left will be people who still believe. And that's going to make the church a lot more powerful. Might be a lot smaller, don't get me wrong, might be a lot smaller, but it's going to be more powerful. And so these jealous, envious boomer Catholics who don't like the idea that, you know, don't like converts, they don't trust converts because we actually embrace the faith and we're unapologetic about it. And we do think that the Catholic Church teaches the truth and has always taught the truth. And those teachings are unchanging. [00:22:54] They just can't stand that it really does trigger them. [00:22:57] Okay, enough of that. Let me go on to the next subject I'm going to talk about today, which is very different. No more pennies. [00:23:07] Donald Trump has announced that they're not going to produce what he said. He has ordered the US treasury to stop minting new pennies. Why? Because it costs $0.02 to make every penny. [00:23:18] And so it's a waste. And here's the thing. I get why he does this, but I brought this up. I bring this up not because I care that much about pennies. I do think it's unfortunate not having pennies around, but I think it's more unfortunate because how expensive everything is that a penny is basically worthless. One penny by itself can't get you anything. [00:23:38] And that's because of our inflationary monetary policy. And this is something Donald Trump does not understand. And frankly, almost no politician except for may Ron Paul and his son and one or two others understand. [00:23:49] The reason that pennies cost 2 cents isn't because technology has gotten worse. Think about it for a minute. [00:23:57] Everything in a technologically advancing society like ours, everything should become cheaper to make. And pennies are the same as anything else. But the reason it's more expensive is because of inflation, because we're printing so much money. And so what we need to really do is we need to get off this fiat standard of constantly printing money and get onto a bitcoin standard, gold standard, be okay, but be better than what we have now. But we really need a non inflationary monetary system. And so this, these pennies not being produced anymore is just a sign. And I bring this up also because I'm finishing up my, my next book, which is going to be called Moral Money the Case for Bitcoin where I talk a lot about this, about the monetary system we have, the fiat, and why it's deeply immoral. I really think it's a moral issue. I don't think it's just an economic issue or just an issue of like, you know, being, becoming rich or investment or something like that. It's a moral issue. And so this, them stopping the US treasury not minting any pennies anymore is a sign of that. The problem we have. [00:25:07] Okay, so the next thing I want to talk about. [00:25:11] A priest flies on eagle's wings. [00:25:15] We all know the great Catholic hymn on Eagles Wings that is sung probably every single week at some boomer parishes. But one priest in Philadelphia before the super bowl took this a little bit too literally. Now those who are listening, not watching, won't really be able to see this, but those who are watching can, can see what I'm talking about here. [00:25:47] So what we had here was a, the procession at a mass, I assume in the Philadelphia area last Sunday. Super Bowl. Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles were in the Super Bowl. They won the Super Bowl. So I'm guy, I bet this guy's happy. What we see though, when it first starts is an almost empty church, Catholic church. We see altar girls coming, processing out, leading the way. And then we see a priest in green vestments. But the green vestments having now have a logo of the Philadelphia Eagles and I think a number. Let me put that up one more time real quick. [00:26:20] Yeah, so here we go. It's got a number three, Father Joe, or whatever his name is, and eagles. And so basically what it's saying is like, you know, and not only that, but the priest is waving his arms like an eagle. I think that's like the way they do it for the eagles. [00:26:37] Now, I said it on X, I'll say it here, and I'm just going to be blunt. Any priest who does this is so narcissistic that he is either gay or emotionally immature. The emotional maturity of a 12 year old, that's just, I'm sorry, but that's just a fact. No mature adult man would do this, would process out of Mass as a priest flapping his arms like an eagle with an eagle's vestments on. It shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of the Catholic Mass and the Catholic priesthood. [00:27:16] Here's the problem as I see it and I've seen it in many places, the formation of our priest is still lacking. [00:27:28] Seminaries in like the 80s and 90s were awful and they were often like a gay wonderland. [00:27:35] That's not the case anymore in most places, thank God. It's not like it was back in the 80s and 90s. I mean, I had a good friend who had seminary in the 90s. He left very quickly because he realized what a, you know, gay wonderland it was. And he had, he was a straight man and he was like, I can't, I can't handle this. [00:27:52] I don't think that's the case anymore. I think they're better. But I think their formation of priests, particularly when it comes to the liturgy, is very lacking. Because I've seen good priests, good priests in the sense that they're faithful, they want to serve the church, serve the Lord, serve Jesus, they're orthodox in their belief, but they still celebrate Mass in a very casual, in a casual way that's really not solemn, not in keeping with what the Mass is being. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary represented on the altar. [00:28:23] The truth is a priest should disappear in celebrating the Mass, but because I think primarily because of the no longer celebrating ad orientum, meaning facing the altar rather than facing the people. [00:28:40] It's become so much of a performance. We've all talked about this before. I know, but ultimately this priest who's celebrating, you know, has his eagles jersey. It's just an extreme example of what a lot of priests, I'm sorry, suffer from. When a priest celebrates Mass, he should essentially have his head down most of the time. Like when he processes out. This is something I really appreciate. You'll see many traditional Catholic priests will do this and some other good priests will this too. When they process out, they're not looking around, they're not smiling, they're not glad handing people waving. They have their head down. Not like down like this, like looking at their, at, at their navel, but just kind of their eyes down a little bit. Why? Because they want to remind people it's not about them. [00:29:24] They're not here to during Mass. They're not here to shake your hand, to smile at you, to give you a wink, like hey, how about those Eagles? Hey I made the Bengals to win this week or anything like that. They're there because they represent Jesus Christ at the sacrifice on Calvary. That's not to say priests shouldn't have a personality. They shouldn't be relatable. They shouldn't be able to joke and laugh and have a good time. They just don't do it at Mass. [00:29:47] This seems to be Catholicism 101. I mean, maybe I'm a Catholic fundamentalist, but so be it. But this is something I think Catholic priests and I see even relatively well formed Catholic priests still fall into this error that during Mass they should be engaging with the people somehow. They should not be. They're there to offer up the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the altar, not to. It's not their time to shake hands and be funny and you know, yuck it up with everybody. It's not a place to be relevant. I hope this priest, his bishop has severely punished him in some way, restricted him maybe from celebrating mass, done something because he clearly, if you get to the point where you're doing that we know what his masses are like, then they're never going to be reverently celebrated. They're never going to be being people. Jesus. And look at it. The church was empty and there's almost nobody in the church. That's not a coincidence. [00:30:44] That is a direct result of priests like him not selling the bra. The Mass with the dignity and respect that it deserves. So hopefully that priest will fly on his eagle's wings right out of the, the parish and into maybe some deeper like formation, maybe some psychological counseling, I don't know, something but, but not where he's leading people in the faith. [00:31:09] Okay, next topic. [00:31:12] The USAID and the Catholic Church in America. Well, we talked a little bit about the cuts that started last week with usaid, but boy is this riled some feathers in the Catholic Church, which is interesting. Why should the Catholic Church care so much that a government Mostly foreign aid program is being cut. [00:31:33] Hmm, I wonder why. [00:31:36] Maybe it's because the Catholic Church in America is being supported by that aid program. [00:31:44] What we found is USAID gives millions, billions of dollars over the years to various Catholic charities and Catholic organizations. [00:31:52] And the fact is, is that it's a multi billion dollar industry supported by the government. A great example, probably the biggest example, is Catholic Relief Services. [00:32:04] This is a massive Catholic charitable organization, at least that's what it's called. But what we found is, is that they're mostly funded by the United States federal government. [00:32:15] And in fact, they have themselves said it's an existential crisis right now, getting their funding cut for CRS and they're having to lay off lots of people. [00:32:25] You know what that tells me? That tells me it's not a charity. A charity by definition isn't an organization that is funded by money taken from people from the point. By the point of a gun. Yes, that's what taxes are. I realize nobody actually points a gun at you, but don't pay your taxes for a few years and see what happens. Eventually, if you do nothing about it, men with guns will show up at your house and they will throw you into a cage. [00:32:52] So Catholic Relief Services is being supported by taking money from some people by force and giving it to them. [00:33:02] Now you could say, well, it's a charitable. It helps so many people. Yes, perhaps it does. It also helps the people who run it. [00:33:10] The president, the CEO of Catholic Relief Services, makes over $600,000 a year. The six vice presidents under him, I don't know why he needs six vice presidents, but the six vice presidents under him make on average about $280,000 a year. [00:33:27] Now I am not one of these people who thinks that people should not be paid. Like if, for example, if you're working in private industry, I don't care how much you get paid. If you can justify it by the numbers, by the sales and everything like that. I don't care if you make a million dollars a year when it comes to charity, though I don't even mind people who run a charity making a decent wage for where they live. Like I understand if you live in Washington D.C. [00:33:52] you need to make more than if you live in Dubuque, Iowa. Although I would say, do you have to be in Washington D.C. why can't you be in a small or maybe a Midwest town like a St. Louis, which you'll have a lot of people, you a big employee base, but you won't have as expensive a cost. Why can't you move there? Why can't you move to Kansas City, to Omaha? [00:34:16] Why do you have to be in Washington, D.C. one of the most expensive places to live in this country. [00:34:21] But I'm sorry, being paid over $600,000 a year to run a charity. I'm not giving to it. I know that. I'm not giving a dime to a charity like that. [00:34:31] I'm giving money to charities that have people who run things leanly. So most of the money can go to the actual people they're trying to help. Not to pay for the administration, for the bureaucracy. [00:34:43] I mean, think about this. They're paying, what is it, 1.2, almost $3 million a year for seven people to work there. [00:34:52] I'm sorry, 2 million. I said 3. Almost $2 million a year. No, wait a minute. Yeah, almost $2 million a year. They're being. They're paying just for seven people who work there. I'm sorry, but I just think that's outlandish. [00:35:06] I don't think that can be justified, especially when most of your money is coming from the federal government. So what's happening is Sean Callahan, I think his name is the president of CRS is making over $600,000 to live high on the hog with my money that was taken from me, my taxes and your money. [00:35:25] So I'm sorry, but cry me a river that you're having problems. Now, I understand there will be actual poor people that will be hurt by this, but the reality is that we need to have some pain before we. So we can make this so we can actually help the poor in a better way than we do now. Because truly the way we do it now does not work. And so I personally think that the. If they shut down usaid, which they're trying to do, I think it's going to have a radical. It's going to have a radical impact on the Catholic Church in America. [00:35:58] We're going to see a lot of changes that are going to just have to happen. And I think that's going to be very painful. Don't get me wrong, it's going to be very painful. But I think ultimately it's going to be good. It's going to be a good thing. I personally think the Catholic Church should just stop taking all government money for a while. I'm not saying that Catholic Church can never take government money, but it needs to be a robust, strong, confident church in order to do that, where it can't be bossed around. [00:36:24] If, if it's a church that's very confident who it is, that it can proclaim the gospel no matter what. Sure, maybe it could take some money here and there from the government because it's not going to be bound by that. It's not going to change its mission to conform to the people who are giving it the money. [00:36:39] But the way the church is now, it's just too weak. It's too weak in practice. And so I'm sorry, it just can't take government money now. So I think there's going to be a radical change in the Catholic Church in America because of the fact that, that we're not going to get government funding. Hopefully this will go through. I mean, there's always a possibility that the judges and stuff will make it so it can't happen, but we'll see. [00:37:02] Finally, our white pill of the week. I like to always have some good news about what's going on in the world or in the church. And this is I saw this article by a top NASA scientist, tells the story of his conversion to Catholicism. [00:37:14] So Jonathan Luneen, I apologize if I mispronounce your name, is the chief scientist at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab lab in Pasadena. So the Chief Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, this guy is literally a rocket scientist. I mean, he literally is a rocket scientist. [00:37:33] And he told the story. He convert, he's a convert to Catholicism. He was Jew. He was Jewish, then a Methodist, and now he's Catholic. He's finally come into the fullness of the faith. And so he, he did it basically through, I mean, he's always been an astronomer and a lot of it happened through his interaction with the Vatican Observatory group. A lot of people I've talked about, I think I've talked about here before, but the Vatican Observatory is awesome. They're basically, it's been around since Leo the 13th, I think, founded it. This is not some Vatican 2 thing. It's been around for over 100 years. And basically they're in astronomy that the Vatican funds and runs because we love the sciences. I, I think, you know, if you've watched this podcast long, very long, I love, you know, astronomy a lot of the sciences when properly done. And I think this Jonathan Luneen is a great example. He talked about how his. Here's a quote from him. [00:38:23] However close science might seem to get to Thomistic, Thomistic philosophy and however far it might get, science can never be used to prove or disprove the existence of God. So basically he's trying to show there is A separation and what work, what science can do. Science can only show the material world. It can say nothing about the spiritual world. And God is spiritual. [00:38:44] And so we have to realize what tools we're using. We use philosophical tools, theological tools to prove the existence of God and to talk about who God is and what he's done. We use scientific tools to talk about his creation. And that's what this Jonathan, Dr. Lenine is doing. And so it's beautiful see a intelligent scientist speak out and talk about his Catholic faith. Because here's the thing. A lot of people think that most scientists are atheistic, Hate, hate, are not theist, things like that. That's simply not true. What it is is the media, which is atheistic. They promote the scientists that are atheistic. So like every dumb person's idea of a smart person, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, he is promoted as this great scientist who he represents all scientists when he says the dumbest things, I mean, honestly, he is the dumb person's example of a smart person is Neil DeGrasse Tyson because he is just an idiot when it comes to philosophy and theology. He might be very smart in certain aspects of science. I'm not saying he's not, but he's a complete idiot when it comes to philosophy. He just said the other day, like you notice that like athletes will thank God after they win, but they won't blame God after they lose. As if that's some kind of argument against the existence of God. But of course, athletes thank God even after they lose if they believe in God. Because we thank God for everything, our wins and our losses. [00:40:07] But what happens is people like Neil DeGrasse Tyson get amplified by the media. And so people have this idea that all scientists, like modern scientists, they're all anti Catholic, anti theist. It's just simply not true. A lot of scientists, modern scientists are very, they're believers, they're theists because they see how the world works and they see their orderly nature to it. [00:40:29] And that helps tell them that there is an order in the universe which tells them there has to be somebody who ordered it, which of course is God. So God bless you, Dr. Jonathan Luneen, and thank you for sharing your faith. That's our white pill of the week. [00:40:43] Okay, finally, let's go ahead and go to our live chat and see what people have been saying. [00:40:49] I I take my glasses to read this. Sorry. [00:40:52] Utbo says answer is easy. Progressives abhor dogma. Most converts notwithstanding Mary in the church, convert because they believe the dogma. That's actually a very good point that progressives, they try to diminish and demean dogma all the time. Converts. We became Catholic because of the dogma. [00:41:11] Oh, K. Bear, congratulations. That's great. Congratulations. Eric, I assume, about being the subject of a chapter in a book on Catholic fundamentalism. Thank you. I'll be honest. I was pretty excited about it. When my friend sent this to me and told me about it. I was like, this is great. I mean, this is, like, just. It means that I must be doing something right, and Crisis must be doing something right. If somebody thought they needed to write a whole chapter attacking me. A boomer. A boomer. Jesuit priest. [00:41:35] TP Says I want to get a Protestant wetsuit, too. Yeah. [00:41:39] You know, the funny thing is, okay, here's my ecumenical. My actual ecumenical views. A lot of Protestants, like evangelical Protestants, even fundamentalists, they're very good people. They love Jesus very much. They often are ignorant about what the Church, The Catholic Church teaches, and so they come to some bad conclusions. They don't really have a good grounding in Catholic theology, but they love Jesus. And so if that's my wetsuit, the idea that I'm going to continue to love Jesus and cling to. Yes, cling to the faith, then, yeah, let's all get a Protestant wetsuit. Wetsuit. [00:42:16] T.K. o'Rourke says, I heard Dr. Scahan say Jesuits, God's strangest creatures. Yeah. And like I said, there was a whole book written about Dr. Scott Hahn being a. A Jesuit. I'm sorry, Being a fundamentalist. So there's that. Okay. Kim says, I'm a cradle Catholic, but I don't believe Pope Francis is a good man, A worse pope. I understand. I understand. I know Pope Francis just said some stuff today, wrote a letter talking about J.D. vance. And here's the thing about the Catholic faith. We don't have to. We do not worship the Pope. We do not even have to like the Pope. We just have to stay in communion with the Pope. That's ultimately what we have to do. People think being a community, the Pope means you agree with everything he says or that you have to like him or whatever. The fact is. No, what we have to do is we have to love the office of the papacy, respect it and cling to it, be in communion with the papacy, being communion with the Pope, but we don't have to agree with every single thing he says. And that's just. That's. That's Basic Catholic Theology 101. And the truth is these Jesuit priests who are. Who are trotting out that we have to be 100. Whatever Pope Francis says. They weren't saying that under Pope Benedict. They weren't saying that under John Paul ii. So, you know, you don't really need to listen to them. Okay, I think I'll wrap it up there. I appreciate everybody tuning in. And from this Catholic fundamentalist to you, all you Catholic fundamentalists out there listening, God bless.