The Catholic Experience

The Silence of the Shepherds

[00:00:00] Welcome to this Twitter spaces session, especially those of you catching me on demand for you. This is just showing up in a podcast catalog or something. This is the Catholic adventurer. It is July 30th in the year of our Lord, 2024. And I cannot believe the summer is half over. Lord have mercy, where does the time go?

[00:00:26] Today I wanted to say a few words. I'm going to tell you the title of this Twitter space is Where is the church? After the last supper. Insult. Where is the church? I'm going to get into why I'm talking about that as I fade that music out. Yes sir. Yes sir. So I don't actually have a lot to say. I do have a few words that I wanted to say that are very important and should be said.

[00:00:52] And folks can take what they want from it. They can take it or they can leave it, but this needs to be said.

[00:01:04] For the, if you're living under a rock or if you are living in Iraq, you may not know, but you might on Friday, the opening ceremony of the Olympics had a drag performance that was a mockery. of The Last Supper. It wasn't about The Last Supper, it was based on The Last Supper. [00:01:30] And Catholics have been expressing due and appropriate outrage over this.

[00:01:38] Bishop Robert Barron has emerged as a leader, in my opinion, uh, in terms of, um, voicing that outrage, why it's insulting. He has taken a stand against the fake apology issued by the people at the Olympics, who are basically saying, sorry, not sorry. The performance was this and this and this. It was based on Dionysus, yada, yada.

[00:02:04] And if you felt insulted by it, well, I'm sorry that you felt insulted by it. Not, not I'm sorry that we insulted you. Not I'm sorry that we weren't mindful that this might insult Christians. We're just sorry if you decided to feel insulted by it. I'm not buying it and Bishop Baron wasn't buying it either.

[00:02:24] If you're not listening to my podcast, you might want to listen to the latest episode. Um, I think just one, I think I only did one episode on that. And I also did an after show about it that was really, really smoking hot, but that's only available to paid members of my locals community. If you feel like paying five bucks.

[00:02:42] To support your favorite Catholic podcaster, go to catholicexperience. locals. com. You'll find the after show there. It was really very good. I would even say just, you know, become a paid subscriber for one month, you know, and just to get that after show. Cause I thought it was really good anyway. [00:03:00] So where are we now?

[00:03:01] Now it's been a few days and here's, here's my perspective. The first thing that stands out to me right away is there has been no response by the Vatican. Nothing. Zero, not a word, not a peep. From the Vatican, we hear things like, maybe the Our Father should be reworded. We hear things like, maybe the traditional Latin Mass is being abused, which, in some cases, it is.

[00:03:29] That's, that's, that's not crazy. In some cases, it is. My personal opinion is, that should be dealt with by local ordinaries, not by the Vatican, but that's my personal opinion. My point is, We hear a lot of squawking from the Vatican, and that's not a negative thing. I don't mean to be casting a shadow over it.

[00:03:47] We hear a lot of squawking from the Vatican, yet that same Vatican has said nothing about what happened Friday at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. We have heard from some bishops, uh, not just in North in, not just in the United States, but from other places. We had some flimsy Pissant response by the French bishops.

[00:04:10] Okay. Well, at least they said something Really they said nothing, but okay fine Uh, I think a couple of other european bishops One or two from south america a few from from the united states of america So there isn't no response from quote unquote the church. There isn't [00:04:30] no response But in some You I don't know how I can phrase this.

[00:04:37] In some sectors of the church, there is a deafening silence. First, the Vatican. But also, there are a lot of priests on Twitter, I follow many of them, and very, very few of them have anything to say about this. Okay, fine. I'm not saying priests or bishops or even the Vatican need to jump on everything, right?

[00:05:00] I'm not saying they need to react to everything. That causes a reaction in the faithful. I'm not saying that. I am also not saying that when there's something that needs to, you know, be responded to, everybody needs to respond. I'm not saying that either, but I am very shocked at the, at the collective lack of response to what happened on Friday.

[00:05:24] Let me back up for a second and say this first. Welcome to, uh, looks like Martin who's joined me in the space. Uh, he actually, Martin joined me in one of my other spaces, so thank you for joining me again, Martin. So let me back up for a second. I realize that anyone with any zeal for anything can sometimes be reactionary.

[00:05:48] No matter what your zeal is, or is for, or is the result of. Very zealous atheists, for instance, [00:06:00] Will react to any criticism of atheism, no matter how charitable, no matter how kind, how reasonable, it does not matter. Not all atheists are like that. I'm talking about the particularly zealous ones, the zealots.

[00:06:13] Same thing with Protestants. I mean, there, there were a few Protestants who had, who had, uh, Friended me on, on, or followed me on Twitter or on X and I followed them because I like being friends with everybody as long as you're not crazy, especially if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. If you say Jesus Christ is Lord and you mean it, I want to be your friend.

[00:06:33] I understand we, for instance, if they're Protestants, I understand we don't agree on everything, but you know what? In this dark world, I'm just happy to find another Christian and I, I would, I would love to be your friend. But I was following, I was cross following on X some Protestants who are so, such zealots that you couldn't say anything without sparking a, a fireball reaction from them.

[00:06:59] I don't know why Protestants don't see John 6 the way Catholics see it and the way the Catholic Church or the Christian Church has seen it. had seen it for 1500 years. I don't know why Protestants don't see it that way. Ooh, the explosion of tempers. Ooh, the outrage. So when people are very zealous about something, they're going to be reactionary.

[00:07:20] I got it. I got it. But that is not what we're seeing here. I'm sure that there are some in the [00:07:30] church, in the faithful, I'm sure that there are some who are overreacting. Or, who perhaps react to everything, or overreact to everything, and this is just the next thing they're overreacting to. I get it. I've been in evangelization for 30 years.

[00:07:45] I've had my finger on the pulse of the faithful for 30 years. I know how the faithful are. I get it. There's all kinds. On the left, on the right, in the center, there's all kinds. I get it. I know what's out there. I get it. But this is not an issue that's, that's intrinsically. produces overreactive responses.

[00:08:05] This mockery of the Last Supper is worthy of a response. It is insulting. It was outrageous. And I, personally, just cannot fathom someone who truly loves the church, truly loves the Lord. And truly recognizes the Last Supper for what it is and how it's intrinsically tied to the crucifixion and the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

[00:08:33] I cannot understand having no reaction, no response. Or even a weak one, but I can at least sort of forgive a weak response. I cannot understand having no response. The ones who have come out in defense of this right away are the atheists. Which actually does surprise me. Well, it does and it doesn't. [00:09:00] I can see a horde of secularists, um, having an opinion about this that's contrary to mine.

[00:09:08] They think it's no big deal, it's just art, yada, yada, yada. I can see that. I can sort of see a contingent of them coming out openly in defense of it. I can sort of see a handful of them being atheists, but I'm seeing a lot of atheists coming out from under the woodwork Defending this they have nothing to say about anything except for this stupid.

[00:09:31] You can't prove that God exists nonsense Boy, that's original. I've only been fielding comments like that for let's see 35 35 years maybe why I've never heard that one before unoriginal So you're used to hearing that, but then coming out and defending this. Listen, I have friends. I'm, I'm friends with a lot.

[00:09:52] I mean, personally, in my personal life, I'm friends with a lot of people who are atheists. Okay. And I don't see a rational reason. Free thinking, atheists looking at this saying, you know what? Christians should not be offended by that. No. In fact, I have a very good friend in Scotland, Cal Caine. I'm friends with him also on Twitter.

[00:10:11] I've been friends with him years for years. Okay. We do a podcast together called the dialogue. We haven't done a new episode in a while, but whatever, but that's how friendly we are You know, we even podcast together. I Haven't asked him about his opinion, but I wouldn't be surprised if he says, you know, I'm not a Christian.

[00:10:29] I'm not a [00:10:30] believer I don't believe in God. I'm not offended by it But it was definitely offensive to Christians and I and I'm very upset that they did that and offended Christians I wouldn't be surprised if he said that I haven't asked him, but I wouldn't be surprised at his reaction. I do believe there's a diabolic mind behind this, that inspired this work, following the national, or was it national?

[00:10:54] Anyway, the Eucharistic Congress. I also believe there's a diabolic mind behind some puppets of the ancient enemy of man, some of his human puppets coming out in defense of this. And I think it's ridiculous and shameful, because let me tell you, if someone Openly and explicitly did something, like some performance, that intrinsically was offensive to Muslims, or Hindus, or even Buddhists, I would be offended for them.

[00:11:30] If I were asked to perform in something like that, or to produce or direct something like that, I would refuse. Not because I'm afraid of offending others. I just don't want to offend others. And so it's out of respect for others that I would refuse to do that. Because I am mindful of the effect that can have on others.

[00:11:56] And I don't want to do that to others. But the performers and [00:12:00] producers of that garbage on Friday didn't feel that way. Hello and thank you for joining me, Catholic Ellis, a very good friend and supporter of, of, of what I do. Um, thank you for joining me, uh, Ellis. So, a lot of atheists and quote unquote others have come out in defense of this.

[00:12:22] Fine, you'd almost expect that, except I'm very surprised the volume of, for instance, atheists and others. Who shouldn't care a lick about this one way or the other, except maybe they should care that it's offensive to Christians, even if they are not offended by it. I'm surprised that atheists that don't care a lick about anything happen to care about this.

[00:12:43] And I want to say also, a lot of people are saying that this is based on a Dutch work of art, a piece of art. I don't remember the guy's name, but it was a Dutch artist and the work of art is, I think it's the Feast of Dionysus. People are now saying that's really what it was about. Oh, no, it wasn't. Oh, no, it wasn't.

[00:13:08] Because the centerpiece at the table in Friday's performance, first, she had her hands in the shape of a heart. To me, it looked like Jesus elevating the chalice. Whether that was intentional or not, don't know. I'm not a mind reader. But my first split second reaction was it looks like [00:13:30] she's elevating a chalice.

[00:13:31] It looks like it's a similar pose. Why would you, why would you be doing a heart symbol over your heart for a scene like that, except to evoke a form that's familiar to Western Christians and probably, I guess, to all Christians, really, and then She was wearing like a crown or something that resembled a halo with rays around her head.

[00:13:53] And you're telling me that's the Feast of Dionysus? I'm sorry, I am not in the market for bullshit. So you'd better find another customer. Cause I ain't buying it.

[00:14:06] And then reporting. Friendly reporting on the event. Identified it as a play off of The Last Supper. Friendly reporting, like the very next day. I think someone reporting even for the Olympics so identified it. Don't quote me on that because I don't remember exactly what the source was. Let me see. I think I have it right here.

[00:14:28] Let me just, yeah, it's not, they're not as affiliated with the Olympics, but it's a secular outfit. The very next day also, uh, will be found is a familiar scene reenacted by drag Queens, including famous Nikki doll surrounding Barbara Butch. At her turntables, Barbara Butch was the centerpiece. She is a DJ, apparently.

[00:14:49] A recreation of The Last Supper. Another famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. So don't you now tell me this is based on a Dutch painting of the [00:15:00] Feast of Dionysus? No, but let's say I even grant that. And in a second, I'm going to get to where the church is, uh, which is really the thing that I wanted to share, but I wanted to set this foundation.

[00:15:12] Let's grant that, that it's really the d the the, the painting of, uh, the feast of D Isis. Let's grant that, that everyone defending this, they're all correct. You mean to tell me not a single soul before, during, or following the performance. Thought for a moment. This might be offensive to Christians 'cause it looks an awful lot like the last supper plus the crown that looks like a halo around her head.

[00:15:34] We need to really rethink this one. Or after the event, you think someone might've said, you know what? This was not intended to be a play on the last supper, but I can see that it looks like that. I see that now. I should have seen that before. It was not my intent. And I'm very sorry that my lack of attentiveness caused, you know, quote unquote, emotional harm.

[00:15:59] I don't like that term, but that's the term the liberals would use, right? I'm sorry that, that my lack of attentiveness And perhaps even momentary inconsideration caused emotional distress to anybody, especially Christians who, who, you know, see the Last Supper as yada, yada, yada, yada. That would have been more appropriate.

[00:16:19] We didn't even get that. So you mean to tell me nobody saw that this might be offensive and after the fact, nobody thought, you know what, I can understand why that might look, look offensive. Let me issue a real apology. [00:16:30] No, there was nothing to apologize for. Because what they did is what they intended the reaction it got was the reaction intended And so no defense or follow through or clarification is necessary So even if we grant the defenders of this outrage Every single argument and every point of argumentation that they make even we grant them I'm, sorry.

[00:16:55] The olympics is still not in the clear. They still have blood on their hands Now getting getting to the point I'm shocked I'm shocked that there is no response from the Vatican. And I don't just mean the Holy Father, I mean anyone representing the Catholic Church from the Vatican. The Vatican, which opines on everything from whether or not, you know, we should have, and lead us not into temptation in the Holy Father, to whether or not people should be allowed to attend, or people should be allowed to have a traditional Latin Mass without prior approval from the Vatican, which, let's be honest, that's a little extreme.

[00:17:34] Opines on everything but says nothing about this. I'm sorry that to me. That is shocking and Those of you who know my work, you know where I stand on my loyalty to the Holy Father defending the Holy Father You know where I stand. And when the Holy Father is not clear, I'm the first to say, Sorry, Holy Father, that's, that, the way you said that is really confusing, or whatever.

[00:17:56] You know where I stand on this. I don't attack the Pope. I'm a loyal son of [00:18:00] the Church, as I always say, and I'm loyal and faithful to the Holy Father. So I approach this from a balanced perspective, a balanced attitude, and I am saying that it is shocking that we have had no reaction. Now, let me read a post on X that I responded to, if I can find it without event.

[00:18:18] Oh, hell.

[00:18:22] That phone call is just gonna have to wait. Getting a phone call from someone who I told, don't call me for an hour, cause I'm gonna be in the middle of something. Called me anyway. Just bear with me, folks. I did have this set aside to read to you and then now it's disappeared, which that's why I said hopefully I can find it without a vent.

[00:18:41] I knew something was going to go wrong. Here it is. I'm not going to say who wrote this. It's a priest. It's a priest. I did respond to it, so if you do your investigative work, you may discover who wrote this. But I don't want to say who wrote it because I don't want to make it easy. And I don't want to do anything that might provoke a fight or an argument or people harassing the guy because that's, that's not what this is about.

[00:19:02] Okay. Let me read to you what he wrote. This is a priest and he puts this in quotes. Why isn't father as mad as we are? And then he answers that, uh, rhetorical question, or I guess it's a hypothetical question. Why isn't father as mad as we are? I don't know. He says, maybe I'm here to remind you all to be calm or to calm down.

[00:19:23] Jesus just sat there and gave his cheek to those who plucked his beard. So, [00:19:30] who are you to get enraged about people mocking him? Now I'm going to read you what I wrote in response. And this Spaces session is not because of this exchange. I was going to do this anyway. Because of stuff like this. Here's my response.

[00:19:48] First of all, I'm ignoring the fact that we don't actually see an account of people plucking his beard, I don't think. I think that comes from the prophets, but whatever. I get where you're coming from, Father, and there is definitely value to what you're presenting, and I, and I believe that, folks. There's value to, to being calm, to being balanced.

[00:20:05] There's definitely value to what you're presenting, but at the same time, I think it does the faithful a disservice to leave them fee, to leave them to feel rightly and justly insulted by the All by themselves, unaccompanied by the church. Let me take a break from my comment to add to that. That is exactly my problem.

[00:20:24] Is that the church, quote unquote the church, depends on what we mean by when we're talking about the church, right? Is it the Pope? Is it a particular priest? Is it all of the priests? Is it all the bishops? That depends on the individual, okay? What does the church represent for you, right? I feel is letting us all stand there looking like fools by ourselves, defending the sacrament, defending the event, the Last Supper, and defending why the Last Supper is meaningful and significant in Christian history, in Western history, and in our [00:21:00] lives.

[00:21:00] And we are standing there like idiots, defending it by ourselves, with the exception of a few priests and bishops who have come out to also defend it, namely, most substantially, Bishop Barron. But until there's a response from the Vatican, and from a larger selection, or a larger sampling of priests throughout the Church, we will continue to look like fools.

[00:21:28] But we are not foolish for taking a stand on something that matters. That is not foolish. That is normal. That is natural. Dare I say, it is holy. Continuing with my response to the priest's comment. And by the way, folks, if you don't know, I raised my voice when I'm excited and passionate about something, do not confuse it for anger or rage, because my anger and rage takes an entirely different form.

[00:21:55] Okay. You may not be aware of that, especially if you're not very familiar with my work, but when I'm excited about something positively or negatively, when I'm excited about something, I raised my voice when I'm passionate about something positively or negatively. I raised my voice. So don't interpret this as anger, please.

[00:22:11] And please do not interpret it as he's angry at that priest. I am not. What the priest said is, is sensible, but I think it's errant. Continuing with my response. Even if the church deems the reaction of the faithful to be unbalanced or over the top, I feel it is good pastorship [00:22:30] to at least meet the faithful where they are and help them to establish balance.

[00:22:34] Pause. My problem with the Vatican saying nothing is that it is piss poor pastorship. Let's say the Holy Father thinks, eh, to me it looks like the Feast of Dionysus and I think the people of the church are overreacting. Okay, fine, Holy Father, I disagree, but fine. At least come out and address them where they are.

[00:22:58] Accompany them where they are. See them where they are and lead them to where you think they ought to be. Calm. Balance. Diffusion. Something, but you cannot say nothing. Back to the priest's comment. I don't know, maybe I'm here to remind you all to calm down. Okay, but you cannot do that in a tweet. You have to do that with action, with accompaniment.

[00:23:25] You want to get the faithful to calm down? Fine. I think, I think they're, they're duly spun up over this, but if you think they should be, be calmed down, fine. Then do that. But be there with them and lead them to where you, as pastor, think they should be. You're not going to do that by shouting down at them from the top of an ivory tower.

[00:23:51] I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it's wrong. It's wrong, and you know why I know it's wrong? This is where my authority comes from, my friends. [00:24:00] I have been doing this for 30 years. 30 years! Accompanying the faithful. That doesn't make me a saint. That doesn't make me the king. It makes me experienced. So I know very well that the way to get people to where they ought to be, either objectively, from the perspective of doctrine and revelation, or subjectively, where I think they need to be.

[00:24:24] Which may be good, or may be erroneous, but it's where I think they need to be, right? The way to do that is first you go to where they are. First, you subject yourself to what they are experiencing, to what they are suffering, to what they are living in. And then you lead them to where they need to be. But you can't just say it.

[00:24:42] And I'm not addressing this priest. I'm addressing the church. You can't just say it in a post and you cannot just say it with silence. Well, if the people see that I'm not reacting, maybe they'll stop reacting. Wrong, wrong. Do you know what you're going to do? Pastors, priests, bishops, Holy Father, do you know what your silence and inaction is going to do?

[00:25:02] You are going to subject the flock to the wolves in sheep's clothing. To the Catholic commentators who are going to use this as fodder, as bait, as temptation to lure the sheep further to the margins of extremism. That's what your silence is going to do. Back to my response. Even if the church deems the reactions of the faithful to be unbalanced or over the top.

[00:25:29] [00:25:30] I feel it's good pastorship to at least meet them where they are and help them to establish balance. Balance, my friends, is very, very important. There is no truth without balance. I want to make that clear. Continuing. I think an attitude that projects indifference and makes the faithful feel like the stupid ones for being insulted is not helpful.

[00:25:51] There is extremism all over the church, mostly, and this is true, well it's everything I say is true, but there's extremism all over the church, mostly because the church does not accompany the people in what they are experiencing, feeling, and living in. Folks, radical traditionalism is not caused by someone's personal impetus.

[00:26:14] It's caused by a lack and failure of leadership. When, and that's just one extreme. The other extreme is radical liberalism or leftism in the church. That is because people have not been pastored to be balanced, to be orthodox, to be oriented toward truth, not opinions, not feelings, extremism in the church.

[00:26:40] And this is true throughout history. Well, let me, let me, let me stop short of saying that. Because that one would need to be thought through. So let me just say this. Extremism in the church, at least today, is the result of a failure of leadership. Because the church, in many ways, not absolutely, but in many [00:27:00] ways, the church has its collective head in the clouds.

[00:27:03] And the church will react today to what it thinks is a four alarm fire That was actually started 20 years ago. And 20 years later the church is like, Eh, how about that? There's a fire. Head in the clouds. Head in the clouds. And you know what? In the age of social media, Wait, look, over 30 years, I had to be with people to check the pulse of the faithful.

[00:27:31] Now, I still prefer to do that. Because I'm a people kind of guy. But now, you can check the pulse of the faithful just by perusing the social media. It's easy now to see where the church is. By the church, in that case, I'm talking about the members of the mystical body. You can see where the church is without even leaving your desk.

[00:27:52] There's no excuse to have your head in the clouds anymore.

[00:27:58] I think an attitude that projects indifference and makes the faithful feel like the stupid ones for being insulted by this is not helpful. There is extremism all over the church, mostly because the church does not accompany the people in what they are experiencing, feeling, and living in. The faithful, and folks, I can talk for hours about that one sentence, not from the perspective of my opinions, but from the perspective of my experience over 30 years in evangelization.

[00:28:29] I can talk for [00:28:30] hours about that one sentence, but I digress. The faithful have been made largely to go it alone for too long. I'm not saying, and this is true, I am not saying every priest and bishop should express outrage prompted by the faithful. In other words, I, this is breaking away from the comment, I am not saying that because the faithful are outraged, the church necessarily should be outraged.

[00:28:55] I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that the faithful should prompt the agents of the church. But I'm saying the agents of the church should respond and address this issue. What the faithful are feeling and expressing, whether the church, whatever the church is for you, whether the church is right in their assessment or wrong in their assessment, the people are experiencing what they're experiencing.

[00:29:16] And that is true, even if they're errant, they are experiencing what they're experiencing and they need a pastor. You can't just sit there in silence with the hope that the faithful will figure it out. You know how they'll figure it out? Someone else will step in to pastor them. It might be agent X or agent Y or agent Z independent Catholic commentator, independent Catholic communicator.

[00:29:46] It might be one of them. It might be local city of a contest parish X. Which nearly snagged me about 20 years ago, or so. Might have been 25. Can't remember. Anyway, [00:30:00] nearly even snagged me. Or it might be local radical traditionalist contingent Y, or local radical traditional contingent Z. Some other pastor will step in because nature abhors a vacuum, even in the church.

[00:30:21] And you cannot sit idly by. As a spectator, the faithful have been made largely to go it alone for too long. I'm not saying that every priest and bishop should express outrage prompted by the faithful. I'm saying the faithful should be, uh, I'm saying the faithful shouldn't be left to be insulted all alone.

[00:30:44] The leaders need to lead. Jesus was not indifferent. So, let me stop for a second. So, uh, The priest, uh, mentions, um, that Jesus sat there as they plucked his beard. He mentions, um, Jesus sat there and plucked his beard. So, and therefore, who are we to get enraged about people mocking him? I understand, again, the need for calm, but can we also recognize That there are lines that should not be crossed, and that Jesus responded to those lines being crossed, namely, when he overturned the tables in the temple.

[00:31:20] Not only did he overturn tables, he took the time to form a whip and swung it around. He didn't just pull one down off the wall, he took the time to form a whip [00:31:30] and swung it around as he overturned those tables. Because some lines should not be crossed. Jesus was not a hippie. He was not a pacifist. He was a prince of peace, but he was not a hippie or a pacifist.

[00:31:46] In all four Gospels, you will see moments where Jesus recognized a line that was crossed and reacted, or rather responded. He didn't just sit there and say, okay, here's my other cheek. The faithful have been made largely to go alone for too long. I'm not saying every priest and bishop should express outrage, yada, yada, yada, fast forward.

[00:32:06] The leaders need to lead. Jesus was not indifferent when lines were crossed. Again, as I said, I, I make a reference to the purification of the temple in the gospels. I understand the need, this is back again to the comment, I understand the need for calm and balance, but for the church to leave the faithful on their own is just.

[00:32:29] Wrong. The pastors of the church can't be spectators. And then I end in a nice little closing. I make clear to the priest that I'm not saying this should apply personally to him, but that I'm speaking generally. I say, thank you God. God bless you. Thanks for your service to the church. And that's that.

[00:32:48] Where is the church? Where is the church? What we are seeing following Friday's assault and mockery of the Last [00:33:00] Supper. is emblematic of what the people are experiencing all the time these days. And still the church is silent, but now the church is silent, even in such an obvious case where the church really should speak up.

[00:33:14] And again, some in the church are speaking up, but many, many, many are not. I'm not saying they need to be yelling and screaming and shouting. I'm not saying what their response should be. That's for them to decide. That's for them to determine. Based on who they are. Not everyone is going to be a Catholic adventurer.

[00:33:39] Right? Not everyone is going to be like me. Their reaction will be different. Not everyone is going to be Bishop Baron. Their reaction will be different. Or their response, rather. I want to make a very important distinction between reaction and response. Because a reaction is just that. It's reactive. And that could be running away.

[00:33:56] Silence, technically, is a reaction. Willful silence. A response pushes back against the oppression. I want to make that clear. So I'm not saying everyone's response should be the same. Should be like mine, and so on. Silence. But I believe there should be much, much more response than what we're seeing. Where is the Church?

[00:34:20] Where is the Church? Let me make something clear at the bottom of this, uh, Spaces session. I [00:34:30] remain loyal to the Church, loyal to the Holy Father, and I will continue to defend Him. This is not an anti Pope Francis rant by any means. But I'm looking at this objectively and logically, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm a little hurt.

[00:34:46] And just a little offended by the silence coming out of the Vatican, including that of the Holy Father. And that's just true. Anyone using this as fodder against the Pope, you are wrong, and you might as well be on the side of the people who are saying, Hey, what's the big deal? This is just based on a painting of the, the feast of Dionysus.

[00:35:09] You are taking their side by using this as fodder against the Holy Father, which, by the way, I have seen as well. I've seen that as well. Faithful Catholics from both sides of the political aisle, on the right and on the left, Taking the absolute wrong position on this issue, some defending what happened on Friday, which I cannot believe.

[00:35:31] Even America Magazine has not defended what went on on Friday. But some in the church are, and then some in the church are on the other side. Well, the Pope is a communist, so of course they're going to feel free to do this, because the Pope is a communist. He's a heretic. He's an anti Pope. This and that.

[00:35:47] You, my friends, are on the side of fake Dionysus. You are on fake Dionysus's side to say such horrible things. [00:36:00] So do not make of this what it is not. This is balanced and due criticism of what I think is an errant attitude of silence coming from the Vatican. Not just the Holy Father, but anyone else in the Vatican who can officially At least in the side of the world, and in the side of the faithful, officially speak in the name of the church.

[00:36:24] It doesn't have to be the Pope, but it has to be someone from the Vatican. Even if it's three paragraphs in a statement, a written statement, something. But I'm sorry, nothing is wrong.

[00:36:42] I'm gonna make one closing statement here. I posted to Twitter Kind of like as a, an introduction, I guess, to this Twitter space. Are the faithful left to stand alone in defiance of secular social aggression? And I present that question to you. Are we being left to stand alone in as we defy secular, social, and other aggression?

[00:37:10] That answer would have to be, no, we're not alone. Jesus Christ goes before us. The Holy Virgin stands beside us, and the saints are behind us. I refer to that as air support. We're not alone. [00:37:30] But unfortunately, not, and I always say, not absolutely, but in many ways, I feel like the church fails to accompany us.

[00:37:40] Not because the church thinks everybody else is crazy, Oh, those poor faithful people, they're such nu I don't think that, I just think that the church, in some ways, has its head in the clouds, is oblivious to what the faithful are living, are experiencing, are feeling, and I don't mean, um, based on their perception, but based on the truth, based on reality.

[00:38:04] For, for instance, it is real. That evangelizers take the brunt of the force against the church, of people who oppose the church. We take a lot of, of that, that force right on the chin. Because we're the ones out there doing the work. In the dirt, in the fields. So when there are people saying priests molest children, priests molest children, priests molest children, we're the ones who have to respond to that, or we choose not to respond to it.

[00:38:33] If, if, for instance, if someone said it to me just last night, if, if responding to it is going to be fruitless, and you recognize that because the person saying it is a nutjob, Then don't respond, but sometimes we have to respond, especially if they're saying it in the hearing of others, because now others are scandalized by that stupid comment, so now we have to respond, if not to change the mind of the person who said it, to at least edify and strengthen the faith of those who heard it.

[00:38:58] And you know who doesn't have [00:39:00] to do that? Priests. Bishops. Cardinals. You know who's doing most of that, 90 percent of that? Evangelizers, people like me. And people like you. You may not be quote unquote, I say quote unquote a lot, you may not be evangelizers, but you may do the work of evangelization in things that you do on on social media or things that you talk about with your friends and neighbors.

[00:39:27] I don't just mean like, you know, official evangelizers, we do most of that work. And we take most of the hits, the people with a gripe against the church, whether it's real or not, we take most of those hits, we take them first and we take the brunt of them. The people who are critical of church teaching and doctrine, we're the ones out there in the world doing the work.

[00:39:49] We take most of those hits. And I'll tell you, from my perspective, being in evangelization for 30 years in various contexts, I can tell you, not only is the church slow to support, the church is sometimes the obstacle. And everyone who's done work in evangelization right now is nodding their heads. Yep, that's right.

[00:40:13] The church is sometimes the obstacle. It's rare that the church is an ally. I don't know why that is. I really couldn't tell you why that is. The point I'm making is this. I know, as many of you know, we are not really in this [00:40:30] alone, but in a lot of ways we're in this unaccompanied. We're made to look like the idiots when we voice church teaching.

[00:40:41] I don't mean you're going to go to hell if yada yada yada. I mean when you voice church teaching in a way that's balanced, true and correct, faithful to the teaching, but also charitable, right? So that the truth is receivable. And even when we do that, right, we're the ones putting in the work to make that clear to others.

[00:41:06] We're the ones having to argue with others, and then what do we see when we look to our ally, or who our ally should be, the church? We see people in the church, priests sometimes, bishops or cardinals sometimes, appearing to say the opposite of what we just presented to this person, and now we have to correct quote unquote, the church We have to correct the church to these people before we can give those people the truth.

[00:41:37] Or we have to correct their interpretation. And sometimes we do have to correct someone in the church. Some wayward or errant cardinal somewhere in Europe. You know, sometimes we have to say, we have to explain why that cardinal is incorrect. And why this church teaching is correct. Sometimes the church is an obstacle.

[00:41:55] And often times the church just fails to lend support. But we're not in it alone, we're not in [00:42:00] it alone. Jesus goes before us, the saints are behind us, and the Holy Virgin stands right there with us. She was at the foot of the cross, and she stands shoulder to shoulder with us. At the end of the day, Jesus Christ is going in front of us, so we have nothing to fear.

[00:42:17] But I will say this in closing. To anyone who's in the church, listening to this, a priest, a deacon. A bishop, doubt it, but you never know. You never know who the Holy Spirit puts in front of something you put out, right? I will say this, the sheep, in many, many ways, are lacking a shepherd. I understand that sounds like extremist nonsense.

[00:42:42] I agree. It does sound like extremist nonsense. Because you do hear that from extremists, who take it way too far, and make it way too absolute a statement. I agree. But I am not an extremist. I am not an extremist. I'm very balanced, very orthodox, very faithful to the church and her mission. And I am telling you, the sheep in many ways, the flock in many ways, are without shepherds.

[00:43:10] Because the church, agents in the church, too predictably fail to act, fail to speak, fail to respond. for listening. The church too frequently makes the rest of us look like idiots fools imbeciles and what are we doing? We're giving voice to what Holy [00:43:30] Mother Church teaches. We're giving voice to revelation.

[00:43:33] We're giving voice to GOs to the gospels, not just with our words, but with our actions. I understand not everybody is doing that, but many of us are. I understand some people are using the gospel as a hammer to hit people over the head with. I understand that I'm, I duke it out with them all the time. But most of us don't do that.

[00:43:50] Most of us are really trying to be good evangelizers for the sake of others, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of God, who desires these people that we're trying to help, that we're trying to help to win over, right? And too often, the church is not in our corner. Too often the church is somewhere in the stands.

[00:44:12] And sometimes, the church, apparently, or actually, sometimes the church is in the corner of our opponent. And I'm sorry, that's just wrong. And in the digital age, you have no excuse to have your heads, your collective head, so far up in the clouds. No excuse. You can see what the members of the church, lowercase c church, you can see what the church is experiencing, is thinking, is feeling, is going through, is living in, you can see that without leaving your desk.

[00:44:42] It's all over social media. Yes, there are nut jobs on social media. Many of them are daily, not many, but a good bit of them are daily mass goers. I get it. I get it. But most of them are not crazies. Most of them are balanced, rational. And what they are thinking, [00:45:00] feeling, perceiving, experiencing, living is real, is real.

[00:45:07] And where is the church to stand in solidarity with them, to help, to assist, to guide, to lead? Where is the church? I can tell you, and this is 30 years of experience talking, in many, many, many, many, many, many ways, the church is absent, sleeping on the job. Not the capital C church, but I mean agents within the church, local pastors, priests, uh, heads of secretariats, sometimes Cardinals, sometimes bishops and so on.

[00:45:38] That's what I mean by the church. Okay. Oftentimes the church is sleeping on the job and you may think the flock will figure it out. I'm here to tell you, they don't, they don't figure it out. Someone else just steps in to do the leading for you. And they lead them to extremism on the left or on the right.

[00:45:59] They lead them to what they call greener pastures, but really it's dead grass, spray painted green. All, all, all, listen. I'm going to be very old school as I say this, and I'm again addressing agents in the church. All of these pains in your ass, you have made them. Do you know how you've made all of these pains in the ass?

[00:46:24] The independent Catholic commentators who are extremists on the left or extremists on the [00:46:30] right or produce, you know, some rag that they call Catholic or extremists within the pews because now it's arriving at the pews, right? Which I said 20 years ago was going to happen and now you're seeing it. All these pains in the collective, let me just say, all the pains in the neck of the church, the church caused them.

[00:46:51] By failing to lead the people when the people needed leaders. By playing, by the, and I'm gonna get even more real with you, by playing politics, by prioritizing politics, how will this look in the secular world, by prioritizing politics, by being politicians first and pastors second or third, you have created these pains in the ass.

[00:47:13] And now they're coming back to bite you where it hurts, and it's not in your ass. I'll tell you that. If you do not leave the people, someone else will, and it's going to be someone who's leading them to perdition. My dear fathers, that blood might be on your hands. You have the choice now to act, or to continue to worry about balancing your books.

[00:47:35] And that's 30 years of experience talking. I'm not a keyboard warrior. My feet are planted on the ground. My hands are in the soil. Let me get out of here. We are not alone. And I'll say also, boy, someone just came into the space just as I'm about to leave. I will say also in closing, let me just say this one last thing.

[00:47:56] Oh, the person just left. Remember that we are not alone. [00:48:00] And to the extent that we are made to feel like we're doing it by ourselves, maybe that's God's will. Maybe that's God's will, because maybe, as I always say, maybe on an individual basis, individually, not just as a, as a family in the church, but maybe individually, God is making each of us feel like we're in it alone because that is the fire that forges the particular saint he wants to make going forward.

[00:48:28] So I say, man up, keep a stiff, straight back, grow a thicker skin, and just press forward. God wills it. And it is how saints are made. This has been a surprise Twitter space and surprisingly way too long. I am the Catholic adventurer. If you're not already doing so, because maybe you're getting this from my podcast catalog or somewhere else, maybe you are hearing this a hundred years later, and you are someone from the dicastery for the causes for saints.

[00:48:58] Follow me on X at for the queen BVM. Follow me on Facebook, if you wish, at Catholic Adventure, or God bless you, God be with you all. Bye bye.