The Catholic Experience

No Sin-Nod at the Synod

[00:00:00] Welcome.

[00:00:06] Welcome one and all welcome to the Catholic experience. I am your unbelievable host, the Catholic adventure, and I thank you very much for joining me. It is Friday, October 18th in the year of our Lord. 2024. And I say, thank you, Catholic Church. Today, I'm talking a little bit about the synod on synodality.

[00:00:28] Isn't that old news? It kind of is, but there are some things. There we go. There are some things, um, that are annoying me just a little bit, just a little bit. So I wanted to just take a little while to go through some thoughts. Hello to those of you catching me on locals, especially if you're one of my paid members on my locals community, you're getting this in video form.

[00:00:52] You're welcome very much. And hello to those of you catching me around the galaxy on iTunes, Spotify and everywhere else. I'm really grateful and thankful to you for taking the time to click play on this podcast.

[00:01:10] I do want to get one thing out of the way that has nothing to do with the topic, but has everything to do with the mission of this podcast. I will not name names because I like the person and I respect their work very, very much. I think it's a, he, [00:01:30] he and I are aligned in, in several ways. So I, I really don't want to, um, ruin his reputation or insult him or anything like that.

[00:01:41] I don't want to do that to anybody, period, whether I agree with him or not. But, he, I think it's a he if I'm wrong, I'm sorry. He recently, um, wrote an article. First, I was very happy to see somebody else's writing articles on X. I think I, it sometimes feels like I'm the only one who actually writes articles on X.

[00:02:00] And I can tell you it doesn't matter because X doesn't, doesn't matter. Distribute them so you probably don't even know about it, but whatever, whatever. And this article that he wrote was the Catholic case for, uh, voting for Kamala Harris. Unbelievable. I can understand the Catholic case. Ooh, did I turn my microphone on there?

[00:02:21] Let me see. I did. I can understand the Catholic case for voting for RFK, which I think I was going to vote for him. Um, I hadn't decided completely, but man, was I liking him. I could understand the case for voting for RFK. Um, I might, before we knew everything about Bill Clinton that we know today, I might have been able to understand, um, the Catholic case for voting for Bill Clinton.

[00:02:54] Okay. Maybe I don't agree, but okay. That's not crazy. [00:03:00] Maybe just maybe the Catholic case for voting for Barack Obama. Maybe I could understand, um, the Catholic case against voting for Donald Trump. Yes. I could understand the Catholic case for voting against George W. Bush. Yes. Whether I agree or not irrelevant.

[00:03:22] I'm saying I could understand that for the life of me. I just cannot understand What it takes to spin reality into such distortion and disfigurement That you can make a catholic case for voting for kamala harris I just cannot understand that i'm not going to read the article. I'm just going to summarize it this way In my view this person spun I would say, okay, arguments, not great arguments, but okay.

[00:03:59] Arguments spun some okay. Arguments using some really bad material, truly bad material. For instance, when you listen to the things that she talks about, she's very much aligned. And this is my paraphrasing. Okay. So I hope, I don't think I'm misrepresenting the article. When you listen to the things that she says, She seems very aligned with some things that the USCCB talks about or the bishops put forward as being important, like gun [00:04:30] control, uh, climate change, and so on. My problem with that, right away, is the material is what Kamala Harris says. And I say, who gives a damn what Kamala Harris says? You have to look at what she does. What she has said consistently until she has started, until she started running for president, like, this time.

[00:04:54] What she has done as a senator, what she has done as VP, what she has done and said as a DA in California. That's the material you have to look to. Not what she's saying on the campaign trail. In fact, not what she's saying on, in, in any public space, because she is full of garbage. She is a liar. And what she puts forward is rhetoric.

[00:05:22] So it depends on who she's talking to, because it's either very, very far left. I mean, very far left or it's left of center. It pretends to be centrism, which is still cowardice. If you ask me, it pretends to be centrism, but really it's, it's, it's, it's extreme leftism, but it's hiding. Okay. Depending on who she's talking to, you're going to get one of those.

[00:05:48] But again, You have to pay attention to what she has actually done now with donald trump. You may like him You may hate him. I understand either way [00:06:00] I hate him. I understand that. I love him. I understand that i'm not really in the love category, but I understand It's not crazy Um being fanatic about loving him.

[00:06:12] That's a little crazy, but i'm not going to go there I can understand loving donald trump. I can understand hating donald trump, but I have to say You With Donald Trump, what you see is what you get. He kind of talks up a storm. I think he's terrible in front of microphone. I really do. I mean, when he's giving a speech and he's just kind of free flowing, he's actually very good because you know, when he, when he doesn't feel like he's going to be left on the hanger for every syllable, it leaves his mouth.

[00:06:39] And he's just talking to his own, you know, talking to people who, who, who like him and he can just relax and just say what's on his mind. He's actually very good. He's a little, he calls it weaving. I call it being all over the place. He still does that, but he is a little more direct, a little more clear, but in an interview, he's terrible in debate.

[00:07:03] He's terrible, but what you see and hear from Donald Trump is what you will get from Donald Trump. He's already proven that he has already proven that that's not theory. What you see in here from Kamala Harris is bullshit. That is what you're getting in the, on the camera. That is what you're getting in front, in, I'm sorry, through the microphone.

[00:07:27] That is what you will get from her [00:07:30] administration because that is what you have gotten from her career in public life, in public service. You can make a Catholic case for Kamala Harris if you want, but you are using faulty material to build that argument. Highly faulty material. And the example I gave is, you know, making a Catholic case from Kamala Harris based on that, based on what comes out of her mouth, is like making a case for buying a Big Mac and feeding it to your children because of how it looks on TV.

[00:07:59] It looks delicious. You don't see the ingredients. You don't see how many calories it has. It just looks like a delicious burger. Okay. But then you actually get it and it looks like garbage shoved in a bag. To say nothing of the ingredients. Or, if you're a calorie counter, to say nothing of the calories that it comes with.

[00:08:22] That's what it is to make a Catholic case for Kamala Harris. In my opinion. Like the, I like the guy who wrote the article. Like him very much, respect his work. Very courageous, very smart. But that article, wow.

[00:08:36] The Case for Thinking Well

[00:08:36] Why do I bring it up here? And I'm not saying I've got it all over everybody else. I'm just sharing my thoughts and my opinions.

[00:08:44] I'm not saying I'm absolutely right and everybody else is wrong and stupid. Well, a lot of people are wrong and stupid, but I'm not saying everybody is. I'm not saying he's wrong and stupid. He's very smart. But in my opinion, he is wrong. But that's my opinion. I'm not saying [00:09:00] it's objective. That's my opinion.

[00:09:02] Okay? I bring it up here. Because part of what I'm trying to put forward is a call to think clearly and with purity of mind. To have pure thinking processes. Because if you cannot think well, it becomes harder to see God. It becomes harder to even, I don't want to say be Catholic, but it becomes harder to to go deeper into the truth.

[00:09:33] I am not saying you have to be a genius to be a good Catholic. I am sure not a genius. And hello to Matt's guy who just joined me in the Twitter spaces. Did I say I was doing this on Twitter spaces? I am. I'm doing this on Twitter spaces, but it'll only be on demand on Locals first, and subsequent to that in my, , podcast catalog on iTunes and everywhere else.

[00:09:55] But for now, I'm also simulcasting to X spaces. Anyway, I'm not saying you have to be a genius to be a Catholic, to be a good Christian, to know God. Absolutely not. I'm saying you have to, what, wherever your intellect is, it has to be functioning well, okay? Whether you have a, a 100, 000 Maserati or a 500 1985 Chevy, whatever, Seville.

[00:10:26] Was that a, was Seville a Chevy? I think it was. Let's say Cavalier [00:10:30] 1985 Chevy Cavalier or 100, 000 2024 Maserati. If it's not running well, you're not going anywhere. Has nothing to do with the quality of the engine, the quality of the transmission, the engineering. Has, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what you have working well.

[00:10:54] That's what I'm talking about. If your mind is not thinking purely with good focus, with good balance, you're going to be led astray.

[00:11:08] We See Truth with the Mind

[00:11:08] I think a lot of Catholics feel like, well that, I don't have that problem. My brothers and sisters, I beg you, believe me when I tell you, most Catholics I encounter have that problem. To greater or lesser degrees, but most Catholics I encounter have that problem. I am not saying I'm immune. I'm sure I have that problem to some degree.

[00:11:34] Okay, but most Catholics have the problem of not being able to think purely, to think well. Doesn't, has nothing to do with the quality of your intellect. You can be a certified genius, or you could be just at average intelligence, or even below average intelligence, which I don't think very many people are below average intelligence, but it doesn't matter.

[00:11:53] Has nothing to do with that. It's about the effectiveness with which you use the mind that God gave [00:12:00] you. Because if you can't use your mind well, you can, my friends, you see the truth with your mind, not always and not alone, not exclusively with your senses. Your senses provide data to your mind. So it's more than just the senses.

[00:12:20] St. Augustine himself said, we see God with the mind first. And I say we see truth, we see God with the mind first because we see truth with the mind and God is the eternal truth. Okay, so that's why I bring this up. That's why I brought that up. On an episode where really I'm talking about an update, on the synodality.

[00:12:45] The CNA Article

[00:12:45] Now if you're catching video on locals, you're going to see this pop up on your screen right about now. It's pretty cool. This is an article from Catholic News Agency. I am not going to read the whole article. I'm going to read some of the bullet points, I guess, in some of these sections, I'm going to, um, read a little bit like a paragraph or two of what the author wrote, but mostly I just want to mention the bullet points and give you my thoughts on things.

[00:13:11] Okay. And if you're not catching video, don't worry. I'm just going to, I'm just going to read it to you. Just pretend, pretend you're seeing it.

[00:13:18] Okay. From Catholic News Agency, . The Catholic Church's final session of the multi year synod on synodality is in its third week. Have you adopted a [00:13:30] synod participant yet? Question mark. No, I have not. Thank you very much. Exclamation point. The story so far, October 7th, Cardinal Bow Calls for diocesan synods around the world. I am using all of my powers to resist making a Bo and Luke Duke joke.

[00:13:49] You 70s and 80s kids, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Okay, back to the story. Cardinal Bo calls for diocesan synods around the world. The head of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Charles Bo of the Archdiocese of Myanmar, and the head Said the diocesan synods are effective, are an effective means to build a vision and mission for local churches.

[00:14:17] Here's my thought on that. I actually agree with that.

[00:14:20] Value of Local Synods

[00:14:20] I think a church that listens is a well equipped church. I don't think the church should be a democracy, but I do think a church that at least listens, is a church that's better equipped to serve, to minister, to lead, to guide.

[00:14:37] I don't think that means the church has to react and respond to everything that's put, uh, that's put in front of it. You know, we want female priests that okay. Well, I hear you and that's not going to happen But now that the church hears that this is a real issue for people which I'm not saying that it is But let's just pretend Now that the church knows that that's a real issue for people, not [00:15:00] just for clerics, not just clerics saying, the people want this.

[00:15:03] Now that the church hears that the people do want it, the church knows it has to respond to this with, maybe with, with catechesis, maybe with a statement, maybe with a, I don't know, a campaign of ads or something. Now the church knows it has to respond to this. Now again, let's say it's a diocese and synod.

[00:15:22] Okay. So it's a synod in your diocese, which those have happened, by the way, I'm going to comment on that in a second, a synod in your diocese and the people through the representatives at the synod, the people express frustration with the state of the liturgy in their diocese. Every mass I go to is crazy.

[00:15:41] I mean, objectively crazy. Let's just say that's the case. Let's just say in a diocese of let's, let's just say. 50 parishes, the mass is licit, but extremely loose and silly at 45 of those 50 parishes. Now the local ordinary knows he has a problem and it needs to be addressed. He'll convene maybe a little mini council in the diocese.

[00:16:07] It'll be headed by theologians and, and liturgists and so on and so on. Well now at least the bishop knows there's a problem, okay? These are examples I'm throwing out there. So it's a good thing to listen, but I have noticed that in diocese that have had synods or something like it, [00:16:30] the data they collect is usually very good, like very, very good.

[00:16:34] Some of it's surprising, a lot of it not, but some of it is surprising. But I have noticed, I don't want to say many cases, a few, a lot, I don't want to say that. But I have noticed, at least in some cases, the diocese is well intentioned, but does not put into action anything that the people are clamoring for, things that are good.

[00:17:02] Right? I don't want to say in many dioceses, in most dioceses, I don't want to say that because I, you know, I just don't have all that information, but I can say in, I guess, three diocese where I've seen this happen, I have not seen much action. I have not seen the, uh, the, the, I guess, findings in these synods being put into action or they're planned with good intentions, but they never move anywhere.

[00:17:32] They never go anywhere. I think, you know, dioceses and synods are a good idea as long as it's clear this is not us taking a vote on what you want. This is us listening to where our people are, where our parishes are from the people's perspective, from the perspective of notable and credible agents in that local diocese, their liturgists, their pastors, I don't know, whatever, [00:18:00] their deacons, whatever.

[00:18:01] I think it's a good thing, but you have to act on the good things that come out of it. You have to act on the good things that come out of it. You cannot still be 25 years behind the rest of the world on things like communications or evangelization. You cannot be 20 to 25 years behind everyone else, especially everyone in the Protestant sects.

[00:18:31] You cannot be 25 years behind after you have heard 5 years ago, this is a problem. There has to be some movement after 5 years. And I'm sorry, putting your bishop on Facebook is not movement. Because you know what? That's 25 years ago. It's like, oh, you know what?

[00:18:49] The people think we need to be more involved in communications. Let's put the bishop on MySpace. Okay. Listen, if you really want to act, pretend that you're Protestants. I'm saying this to quote unquote the Catholic Church. If you want to know how to act on the information you get, pretend that you're Protestants.

[00:19:13] For just a little while. Not theologically, but in every other way. Because the Protestants act. They're very, very good at that. They are very, very good at that. Sometimes I wish I could be a Protestant. Except, I'd have to pretend to be ridiculous, because the Protestants act, they move, they, [00:19:30] often they move in the wrong direction, theologically, namely, but anyway, you get the point.

[00:19:34] Decentralizing Doctrinal Authority

[00:19:34] Let's move on. October 16th, Synod proposal to decentralize doctrinal authority met with major pushback. I think that's a very positive thing. Because, this is a very dumb idea, Synod Proposal to Decentralize Doctrinal Authority met with major pushback.

[00:19:53] I'll just read a little bit of this. Decentralizing doctrinal authority or deciding certain doctrinal questions at local levels rather than universally, has been seen as a pivotal step for those aiming to make dramatic changes to Catholic teaching. Dot dot dot. By the way, if you're catching this podcast on demand, you'll find a link to this article in .

[00:20:13] . In the description, and I say, you're welcome. The Greek Orthodox Church, just to name one, has already decentralized I don't think it was ever centralized, but they currently do not have a centralized doctrinal authority. Some things that are considered sinful and absolutely forbidden in the American Greek Orthodox Church are permitted in the Greek Greek Orthodox Church, and so on.

[00:20:43] Like, I think in Greece you can be divorced three times, but only three times. And I think in the American church, in the Greek Orthodox, in the Greek Orthodox church in America, I think you can be divorced but only once? Or not at all? I don't remember. And then it's different [00:21:00] again in Australia, but I don't remember what their rule is.

[00:21:03] Contraception is okay in some of the Greek Orthodox churches, and it's not okay in others. Ridiculous. Something is either true or it isn't, and the truth doesn't obey or honor borders, geographical borders, right? It's a very positive thing that this was met with so much pushback because it is such a stupid idea.

[00:21:23] And this is just the blathering of people who literally want to change the entire church for everybody globally. And this is just their foot in the door. Well, let's just change the church. Regionally. Okay, fine, let's not change the church, but let's just change doctrine, but only regionally.

[00:21:44] Give me a freaking break, man.

[00:21:46] Very positive thing that at the frightful, ugly, evil synod that everyone's so terrified about, this got major pushback. Understand, folks, the synod is not it's a, it's a work of the magisterium, but it is not magisterial. This is really a think tank. There's nothing to be afraid of.

[00:22:06] With a synod, I don't give a damn what they wanna talk about or debate. I really don't care because this is really just a think tank. So there's nothing to be afraid of, but still it's positive. It's a very positive thing that the Catholic church is still very Catholic churchy because look what just received major pushback.

[00:22:25] Decentralizing doctrinal authority. Very good news.

[00:22:28] We Can't Reform the Faith'

[00:22:28] October 16th. Dutch [00:22:30] Cardinal advocates Christ centered reform over controversial issues. In the interest of time, I'm skipping that. October 16th also. Australian Bishop. Synod on synodality cannot reinvent the Catholic faith. Amen. Let's read a little. Let me do this for the video ers.

[00:22:45] You're welcome. We cannot reinvent the Catholic faith or teach a different Catholicism in different countries. I was just saying that, right? Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney and a delegate of the Synod on Synodality tells EWTN News, should bishops conferences, " have the authority to teach a different Catholicism in different countries or to decide a different liturgy in different countries or different mass for different countries?

[00:23:14] Do they bring their local culture to questions? In the area of morals? For instance, um, Americans like to have a lot of sex, so that shouldn't be a sin. That's the kind of thing he's talking about. Do they bring their own local culture to questions in the area of morals?

[00:23:33] Fisher says in his interview with EWTN News Nightly. Exactly my point. Let's continue. Next bullet point.

[00:23:40] Female Deacons?

[00:23:40] October 15th. Cardinal from Amazon. Many of our women are true deaconesses. I posted to Twitter about this, or to X about this, this morning. Many of our women are true deaconesses.

[00:23:51] Not really talking about what the Cardinal from the Amazon said. And this may be basically what he has said, but [00:24:00] this is just my own thought. There are so many women in the church doing so many different things, except for Mass and the sacraments. They're practically deacons already. You can almost say that we already have female deacons because they do everything.

[00:24:13] Everything. They're on parish councils. They're administering holy communion. Um, obviously they're all over religious education. Uh, they're teaching in schools. Uh, they're ministering to the poor. They're going, they're visiting the sick. Uh, none of this is, is, is criticism by the way. I hope that's clear.

[00:24:33] I'm not saying this is a bad thing. What I am saying is, how much more do you want? What more do you want? You want to be called deaconess? You want to receive holy orders? I mean, how far do you want to go? You want to be the pope tomorrow, too? That's my point. I don't understand the clamoring. Because women are already serving the church.

[00:24:56] Women are already serving the gospel. Women are already serving Jesus Christ by serving His people. So what more do you want? Who gives a damn what you call yourself? Or what you are called? Who cares what you're called? Because you're not being ordained a deaconess. That's just never happening. Period. I don't think you'll ever even get like, you know, an honorary deaconess, you know, certificate or whatever they do.

[00:25:20] You know, making you a deaconess but without actual ordination. I don't even think that's going to happen. But you're definitely not getting ordained.

[00:25:26] Where are the Men?

[00:25:26] Anyway, all of this service that we're seeing from [00:25:30] women These are all great things. I'm not criticizing it a shred. Well, why am I talking about it? Because I wish like hell that we would see that level of participation from men.

[00:25:43] If only we had a married priesthood, a married clergy, there would be more men entering the seminary. No, I don't think that's true either. In fact, all of the data that I have seen that has analyzed that, some of it might be date head. At this point, I think the last time I, I did these rounds was like 2016, 2015.

[00:26:03] All the data that I've seen tells me that that is not true. And my own personal thoughts and observations, that is not true. But, if you're a man and you want to serve the gospel and you want to serve the church, but you're married and you have children, you can still do that and you don't even have to be a deacon to do it.

[00:26:18] I just wish we had more participation from men in the, in the active Catholic experience. I am tired of seeing an army of women in the opening procession at mass, and it's not because they're women. First, it's because they're Eucharistic ministers or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. And I don't care if it's an army of men who are Eucharistic ministers.

[00:26:42] I don't like Eucharistic ministers. That's another story. But it's not that I'm against the army of women for, to name one example, in the mass. It's not because they're women. It's because first, there's too many of them, regardless of what sex or gender they [00:27:00] are, there's too many of them. And second, there's no men.

[00:27:04] It's not that they're women. It's that there are no men. That is what frustrates me. I don't think we should having be having this conversation at the Synod. You know, how can we get women more involved in the church? I don't think that's the conversation we should be having. You know what conversation we should be having?

[00:27:20] How the hell can we get men more involved in the church? You want to have a conversation at the Synod? Have that conversation. Because that will be more fruitful. We already have plenty of women serving the church Worldwide This is not even an American phenomenon. This is everywhere.

[00:27:37] The Church is Serious, Glorious

[00:27:37] Just, I wanted to do just one more thing. Pope Francis and the Synod pray where first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed. All I want to say to that is this.

[00:27:50] We have to remember that this is a church of those old Christian martyrs. This is the church of the patristic age, the church fathers. This is the church of the early martyrs. This is the church of the apostles. This is the church of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church is truly a serious, serious thing. It is serious as a heart attack.

[00:28:14] What do I mean by that? I'm being a little poetic here as I say this. So I don't mean it literally. It's not theology. It's theology. But I do mean what I say. There are three [00:28:30] things that God loves the best. One is His Son Jesus. Two is the human race. And third, the Holy Catholic Church. I really believe that.

[00:28:50] The Lord Jesus did an amazing thing when He left the church, when He sent the Holy Spirit To the apostles who built the church and so on and so on but the pillar and foundation of the truth the beacon of truth and goodness the gateway to heaven God did an amazing incredible unbelievable thing When he established the Catholic Church unbelievable on absolutely unbelievable Truly truly an earth shaker The Catholic Church is a serious thing man You It is the Church of the Martyrs, and look at the stories of any one of those martyrs.

[00:29:30] Look at the stories of the Church Fathers, look at the stories of the Apostles, and you begin to build this vignette of just how serious Catholic is.

[00:29:44] I don't have the words to express what I feel when I think of that. I'll tell you a little story, and I'll do this as my closing.

[00:29:56] There was a church I went to when I was young, [00:30:00] a place that I visited when I was very young, and then I lived there for a little while. So now this place that I had visited was now my regular place to attend Mass. And no, no, it wasn't Juvenile Hall. Those of you who are really sharp are already thinking of a joke.

[00:30:18] Um, was it a Juvenile Hall, sir? Was it? The crazy house? No, it was an actual place. But anyway. In my early youth and during the, the, the couple of years that I lived there, I used to marvel at, at, at the art that was on the walls painted over the sanctuary. The art that was on the ceiling. You know, painted onto the ceiling.

[00:30:41] I forget what that's called. Anyway.

[00:30:43] Just beautiful, beautiful art of the apostles, like portraits of the apostles, portraits of, of different stages in the life of the blessed version, Mary, , portraits of the saints who, who weren't the apostles, , just, I mean, I would just stare and stare and stare and stare and stare at this art, appreciating its beauty, but also appreciating it the seriousness and tremendous beauty and dignity of the Holy Catholic faith.

[00:31:15] I, again, I don't have words to express it. I'm just not that clever. And I think that's the point of our, our art and architecture to show the dignity and beauty. [00:31:30] And that's all I can say. Dignity and beauty of the faith. Of the capital C church, which serves to elevate our sensibilities and considerations to the divine message received Lord message, received message, totally, totally received.

[00:31:51] And you have had my heart and my devotion ever since I'm talking to Jesus there in case you missed it.

[00:31:59] I think That the Pope or the Synod opened with prayer where first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed. I think the Pope is sending a message. That this is not just, I don't know, this is not just for the optics. The Pope opened the Synod with this because the church is serious. The church is no kind of joke.

[00:32:28] I don't care what anybody says about the church. And many of them will be critics who are Catholic, who are daily mass goers. I don't care what they say. The church is no kind of joke. Some of the people who think they take the church and the faith most seriously, they actually think the church is a clown for their entertainment.

[00:32:46] The Lord just hasn't given them the grace to see that with their own mind yet, or he has given them the grace and they've rejected it. But the church is no kind of joke. It is awesome. It is powerful. It is [00:33:00] beautiful. It is drop dead serious.

[00:33:03] 'Heresies' at the Synod? Nope!

[00:33:03] People are going to be afraid of what's going to come. People have been saying the church is going to teach heresy through the Synod. They have been saying it and saying it and saying it and saying it. Not only have we not seen that, but we've seen the opposite. The church holding the line. We have seen some Catholic craziness at the Synod.

[00:33:23] Of course we have, because there has been Catholic craziness in the church since 34 AD. So of course you're going to see that at the Synod. You're especially going to see it because we're paying attention to the Synod. Right? So now you're scrutinizing everything, so now everything is going to scream at you.

[00:33:42] Of course there's going to be Catholic craziness at the Synod. But what are we seeing? We're seeing the church Holding the line through its bishops and cardinals and representatives, et cetera. The church still holds the line. Never fee. Will the church teach heresy at dot, dot, dot that answer my brothers and sisters will always be no.

[00:34:05] Will the church ordain women? That answer will always be no. Don't worry. Stop worrying. Throw it out of your head already. Is Pope Francis going to change doctrine? No. That answer will always be no. The trouble there is, some people see a teaching as doctrinal when it actually isn't. If you ask 10 [00:34:30] people, is a married clergy doctrine, they're going, ask 10 people, I'll bet you a majority of them say yes, that's doctrine.

[00:34:38] I don't want to get into the weeds talking about that subject. The Pope will not teach the, the Pope may get a little stupid with his words. He's a terrible communicator, but he will not teach heresy. He will not change doctrine. The, the church, the magistarium, will never change doctrine or teach heresy.

[00:34:56] Never. That's never going to happen, so forget it. Please throw it outta your head. Have faith and don't worry. Here's the Pope opening the synod with a prayer where the first Christian martyrs were killed for Pete's sake. The Pope knows this is a serious church, and he takes it very seriously. Sometimes I wish he would just stop talking in front of a microphone or whatever.

[00:35:20] When YOU Take "Catholic" Seriously

[00:35:20] But now, my friends, do you take it seriously? Do you understand that when you decided, I don't just mean your baptism, but yes, of course. Your confirmation, yes, of course. But the day you decided, I'm going to take my faith seriously. The day you, and maybe that day happened over the course of many days or weeks, whatever, but there's a point at which you decided, I'm going to take my faith more seriously.

[00:35:45] Do you realize you went into the Marine Corps in the spiritual realm? Not even the Marine Corps. You became, you, you not only signed up for the Marine Corps, not only infantry, you signed up for force reconnaissance. [00:36:00] Are you familiar with force recon? They make Green Berets look like Boy Scouts. Hell, they make Navy SEALs look like Boy Scouts.

[00:36:07] I'm not even kidding. Do you realize the moment you decided, I'm going to be a more serious Catholic, not going to take myself very seriously, but I'm going to take Catholicism seriously. The moment you decided that you became forced recon in the United States Marine Corps in the spiritual eternal order, you didn't just join a club.

[00:36:29] You didn't just join a social club. You didn't join a political party. You didn't even join the spiritual army, you went directly into the elite, and it is more serious and more elite and more amazing and more beautiful and more powerful than even you right now realize. Me too.

[00:36:55] I will caution you, and this is my last word, I will caution you against the temptation of worshiping the Catholic Church. The temptation is there that you can love the church so much that you kind of, your devotion kind of stops there. Be careful that doesn't happen to you because it's very easy to fall into if you're not careful.

[00:37:14] But the way God designed this whole thing is that we come to Him through the church, through His Son. The church is a very important component in all this. The more you fall in love with the church, the more you fall in love with everything that [00:37:30] follows. Because the church leads you to the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing.

[00:37:32] The church leads you, maybe, to the saints. I don't know. It depends on the path that God takes you. Church leads you to the saints. Church leads you to Jesus. Church leads you to the Father. It is the lens. It is the portal. It is the gateway. So throw all these bad ideas about the church out of your mind.

[00:37:51] Read about the early church. Read the stories of the martyrs. And fall in love with the church. Maybe you're already in love with the church. Okay, fall in love with the church anew, in a fresh way. That's all I've got to say about that. Hey, listen, if you're not joining me on Locals, I really want you to join me on Locals. I'm pushing and pushing and pushing like hell for 50 members, man. 50 members. If you are listening to this right now, And you have not signed up from for my locals community, please do that.

[00:38:21] It's free There is a paid membership for five dollars, but you don't have to do that. You can just join for free Go to catholic experience dot locals dot com help me get to 50 members If I only ever have 50 members fine, I can live with that but at 50 members Um the the the I guess the chains on my account get loosened a bit I have longer i'm able to do longer live streams i'm able to You Give a memberships away, you know, paid subscriptions away.

[00:38:50] So I have, I have more rights and more, I guess, latitude once my account gets to the next level. And the next level is 50 members. [00:39:00] So please help me out. Catholic experience. locals. com. As a free member, you get early access to podcast releases. You get some exclusive content. So it's kind of fun. Um, as a paid member for five bucks a month, you get.

[00:39:14] Bonus and exclusive content just for you, including my series on St. Thomas Aquinas five ways, which I think I have one more episode of that to do yet. And then I'm going to come up with another idea for another exclusive series for just paid members. Paid membership is only 5 a month, but all I need is, I just need members.

[00:39:34] It doesn't matter if you sign up for a paid membership, which I really appreciate, or you sign up for a free membership, it still counts as getting me closer to 50. Okay. So I need 50 members, whether paid or free, it doesn't matter. I need 50 members. And I think I'm up to 43 for God's sake, please help me out.

[00:39:50] Catholic experience. locals. com. I would really, really appreciate it.

[00:39:59] Ordinarily you would put the commercial at the top of the show, but I'm so considerate of my audience. I save it for the bottom of the show so you get all the meat and potatoes up top. This has been another episode of the Catholic Spirit. I wanna thank, uh, math Sky on Twitter. He is still in the Twitter.

[00:40:18] Stop the music. He is still in the Twitter space. It's unbelievable. Usually people come in and they dodge after like five minutes. MathsGuy is still in the Twitter space. It's just [00:40:30]unbelievable to me. And the poor fella has no followers. I'm gonna follow him. So that now he can say, I have one follower, and the Catholic Adventurer was my very first follower.

[00:40:41] When he becomes very famous on Twitter, like millions and millions of followers, he is going to tell his grandkids one day, yes, I have millions of followers, and I'll still remember my first follower, Was the Catholic adventurer.

[00:40:57] Thank you, mas guy for hanging in. Thank you for hanging in. I hope you enjoyed the show. This has been the Catholic experience. Follow me on locals at, uh, the Catholic, Catholic. Follow me on locals at. Catholic experience. locals. com. There it is. If you're not already doing so follow me on Twitter at for the queen BVM.

[00:41:23] God bless you. I love you all. And God be with you. Signing out of here. Bye bye.