Lies and Falsehoods in Catholic News Media

Lies and Falsehoods in Catholic Media

[00:00:00] Welcome everybody. Welcome to this subscriber exclusive episode of the Catholic Experience. I am the man himself, the Catholic Adventurer. Thank you very much for supporting my apostolate, for subscribing, for your clicks and your likes and everything. Thank you so much. Today I’m going to talk to you about a news article and we’re going to talk about the con game of media and Catholic media, news media, and the like.

[00:00:32] Doing that today. This is recorded Sunday, thank you Jesus, March 3rd in the year of our Lord, 2024. So let’s get right down into it. There’s no announcements or anything like that. I don’t want to bore you. So, let’s get into it. From Catholic News Agency, we’re talking about Church Militant to shut down following 500, 000 defamation lawsuit brought by Priest.

[00:00:57] This has been a long time coming, if you ask [00:01:00] me. I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Church Militant has been kind of a hotbed of sensationalism and questionable reporting, questionable in terms of credibility and honesty. In my opinion. Now, a little history for you. I discovered Church Militant way back when they were, even I think before they were realcatholictv.

[00:01:28] com. So it was just St. Michael’s Media, or St. Michael Media. And Michael Voris had a little, he had a little show that I think he was airing on Public Access. Local public access at the time and he was pointing it off to Catholic media agencies, I guess throughout the country So that’s going way back might have been 2008 And I thought he was fantastic But there was a blip on my radar now at [00:02:00] the time.

[00:02:00] He wasn’t talking about He wasn’t reporting about on bishops and scandal and this and that he was just talking about the Catholic faith You know, people have been denied the authentic Catholic faith, this and that and this. And I think, I still think, some of that is true. I still think some of that is true.

[00:02:19] I grew up with a very rich faith experience. And I’m very fortunate. I give thanks to God. Because, you might have heard me say this in past episodes, I didn’t have any concept of Catholic craziness until well into the 90s. Growing up, the Mass was very tight. It was a Novus Ordo Mass, but it was very tight.

[00:02:39] It was super reverent. It was just a really rich experience. There were still nuns in Catholic school, at least in mine, and even in a neighboring Catholic school. It wasn’t all nuns, but there were a third to half of the staff were nuns. And so on. The priests were very involved in the formation of the [00:03:00] children priests sometimes visited families, just, you know, surprise visits just to see how people are doing.

[00:03:07] I had a very rich faith experience. Going into the 90s, I felt the faith experience was less and less rich. Into the 2000s, and with the emergence of church militant, or rather, St. Michael’s Media and Michael Voris, Even less rich the faith experience. So what Michael Voris was saying, I agreed with, I continue to agree with.

[00:03:31] I don’t think people are being denied the authentic faith, but they, I don’t even think they’re being denied anything. That word deny is really kind of a tricky one for me. I think they are, I think people are going without

[00:03:48] I think people are going without a lot of richness in their faith life, in the faith experience. To say that they’re being denied it means it’s being taken away because people don’t want them to have it. You know, the church doesn’t want them to [00:04:00] have this. They’re denying them. I wouldn’t go that far.

[00:04:02] It’s a nuanced distinction, but it’s an important one. If we’re interested in truth. Nuanced distinctions that change the whole meaning are important. They shouldn’t be overlooked. And I want you to keep that in mind as we progress through this subscriber exclusive episode, okay? So I thought Michael Voris was doing a great thing.

[00:04:27] But there was some rigidity in some of his language, some of his thoughts, some of his theology, that I thought, Mmm, I don’t know. I’m not sure about that. And it was a little hard to put my finger on it. Because I was so starstruck by the things he was saying that I thought were very good.

[00:04:48] But there were some things on my radar that I thought, something doesn’t ring, capital T, true with some of this. This was before I believe it was before he was doing the [00:05:00] Vortex and Real Catholic TV, which later became Church Militant.

[00:05:06] As time went on, here comes the vortex. Hello, this is Michael, or, I think it was , well, the vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. And a lot of that was lies and falsehoods about the Catholic faith.

[00:05:19] Which, Half the time,, I’m like, eh, I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s a lie or a falsehood. I’m not so sure the way you’re framing that is accurate. Or worse, I’m not so sure the way that you’re framing that is honest.

[00:05:36] So I stopped watching The Vortex. To me, at the time, I called it Catholic intellectual pornography. I continue to believe that’s really what it is

[00:05:48] I am just not a fan of their work. If you ask me, as I said at the top of this show, I really thought they should have gone under a long time ago. I’m very surprised, but [00:06:00] it ultimately happened, and Church Militant is going to be shutting down by the end of April.

[00:06:06] So what I’m going to do here is I’m going to talk about, just briefly, talk about the article as a way of setting up what I really want to talk to you about today, the con game of Catholic media, or some in Catholic media. It’s also a con game that happens in secular media, but it’s more disgusting when it happens in, in Catholic media.

[00:06:29] I’m going to discuss that in four points, going to elaborate a little bit as I enumerate these four points. And then I’m going to explain how it falls afoul of truth, capital T truth. The, I guess the pursuit of truth, speaking truth, representing and upholding truth in its integrity.

[00:06:51] Because when truth lose, when a truth , is taken out of its integrity, it becomes a lie. He refused [00:07:00] to listen to what I was saying. Well, did he refuse or did he just not hear what you were saying? Because calling it a refusal, then, makes that statement a lie. The truth now loses integrity.

[00:07:12] It’s not whole. It’s not complete. It doesn’t exist in a state that’s in accord with its intrinsic nature. It loses its integrity. If you’re not familiar with this language that I’m using, go back and listen to the public podcasts that I have in my catalog for the Catholic experience. One is called I think it’s called, What is Truth?

[00:07:30] And the other is called Balance and Truth. That’ll be a good primer for you. Okay. Let’s get into this article. Catholic News Agency, written by Daniel Payne. Could you imagine having a name like Payne? You would have to join the military and become an officer just so that you can work your way up the ranks to become Major.

[00:07:52] And then your name would be Major Payne, like that movie in the 90s. Can you imagine? Even [00:08:00] after you leave the military, you can still insist that people call you Major when they refer to you. Yeah, I was talking to Major. Major who? Major Payne. Hey, who’s that over there? Oh that, that’s Major Payne.

[00:08:12] I think I’m going to have my name legally changed to Payne. And maybe I’ll have my first name legally changed to Major. Then people will absolutely, it won’t even be a choice. They’ll have to refer to me as Major Payne. Ah, that’s brilliant. That’s brilliant. I’m going to write that down in my notebook.

[00:08:32] Cool. Lawyer, change name to Major Payne. Okay. Written by Major Payne, Catholic News Agency, Church Militant to shut down following 500, 000 defamation lawsuit brought by Priest. Frankly, I’m surprised it was only 500, 000. Half a million dollars, I’m surprised it was that little. And I’m also surprised that, see for, look, I don’t know Church Militant’s operation, but I feel like half a million dollars is not enough to [00:09:00] tank, even though church militant or St.

[00:09:02] Michael media is a reasonably small company. I’m still surprised that a half million dollar payout. Is going to tank the company. They must have been hurting financially in ways that we’re not aware of, or at least in ways I’m not aware of. Okay. Church Militant, the controversial media outlet that has for years maintained a reputation for combative and antagonistic coverage of Catholic figures and issues, will cease operations next month following a half million dollar lawsuit defamation judgment against it.

[00:09:34] I’ll fast forward a little bit. The media outlet had run an article in 2019 titled, New Hampshire Vicar Changes Dogma Into Heresy. How do you like that title? New Hampshire Vicar Changes Dogma Into Heresy. Now that’s a pretty big deal, folks. You would think that if a New Hampshire Vicar actually changed dogma into heresy, that there would have been an apostolic visitation, there would have been a canonical [00:10:00] process.

[00:10:01] And he would have been either forced to, repent of his heresy or removed from the priesthood and even excommunicated. You would think that would happen if that headline were true. New Hampshire vicar changes dogma into heresy. Folks, there really is no Catholic underground. There, there kind of is.

[00:10:21] The church But one of the characteristics of the, I’ll say it again, the institutional church, or the human institution of the church, is that it’s a business. Where you have business, you have politics. Okay, we all know that, right? There’s politics in the church. But I’ll tell you, the church is the church.

[00:10:40] And if there’s a vicar somewhere changing dogma into heresy, the church is going to act on that. Rest assured, the church is going to act on that. But, no such action, or no action at all, happened here, makes you wonder how truthful this headline is. New Hampshire Vicar [00:11:00] Changes Dogma into Heresy, one in which, this again is the article, one in which, The author, canonist Mark Balastrieri, it looks like, claimed to have talked to a number of anonymous sources who allegedly made negative comments about Father Dallaire.

[00:11:18] I might be mispronouncing that. Father Dallaire, both personally and professionally, the law firm said. Folks, once you hear anonymous sources, that should send up some red flags. Sometimes an anonymous source is legit, but these days, look, there’s a lot of money in news reporting. A lot of money.

[00:11:40] It’s hard earned. It’s hard earned. You really have to get those clicks. You really have to hold on to those eyeballs. You really have to get return visits. It’s hard earned, but there’s a lot of money in news reporting.

[00:11:53] So there’s a lot of incentive to be dishonest in reporting the news, especially because number one, there’s a lot of money and number two, it’s hard [00:12:00] earned. So sometimes you have figures in news media playing stupid games to keep people coming back. One of the games they play is they make you afraid.

[00:12:10] Even a weather report. If you watch weather, if you watch TV news, even in a weather report, they use fear tactics. It’s going to be raining an awful lot this weekend. More on that at 11. You know what rain is? It’s weather. Weather’s been going on for billions of years. We could be in for a cold spell.

[00:12:29] More of that after these messages. That’s the weather. They even try to terrify you just to watch the weather. And of course, whatever, whether it’s the weather, or the top stories of the day, when they start it, when they start it off with the hook of fear, you’re definitely going to watch. Because you’re going to think, if I know what’s going on, I’ll be prepared to defend myself against it.

[00:12:56] Anyway, this priest brought a [00:13:00] lawsuit against Church Milton, and I think personally against Michael Voris. Who, and Michael Voris is still in the middle of this lawsuit, but I guess Church Militant agreed to settle. So it’s curtains, lights out, fade to black for Church Militant. Michael Voris, jury is still out.

[00:13:16] So I don’t want to rag too much on Church Militant because as I said, when you talk about a brand in this case, you’re talking about a person. I think Michael Voris is suffering from something. He’s dealing with something. And I think he’s been dealing with it for a long time, and my prayers go out to him, and I think you should pray for him, too.

[00:13:37] Whether or not you’re a fan of his, whether or not you agree with you know, the integrity of his work, the quality or value of his work, you should pray for him. He’s still a human being. He still has dignity. No one deserves to have their dignity stepped on or effectively negated, and we should pray for him.

[00:13:55] And that’s all I’ll say about that.

[00:13:58] Now, I want to talk to you about four [00:14:00] points. Four, tactics that we see throughout Catholic media. Well, I shouldn’t say throughout, because that implies it’s all over Catholic media, and it’s not. There are some good Catholic media brands out there. There are even a couple of independent Catholic media brands out there.

[00:14:19] I’m one of them. CatholicAdventure. com is one of them. Yes, thank you very much. But there are some good ones and there are some bad ones. The bad ones employ these four tactics I’m going to talk to you about. And you should be familiar with them because we see them all over, we see them employed all over secular media.

[00:14:39] So these shouldn’t be news to you.

[00:14:41] So, we’re going to enumerate, or I’m going to enumerate these four points these four cons in the con game of really news media, but it includes Catholic media, and really it’s Catholic media that I’m targeting right now, because in secular news you expect it. In Catholic [00:15:00] news, it’s pathetic.

[00:15:02] So let’s get to number one. Oh, and I’m also going to try to explain why these four tactics offend or assault, capital T, truth. Not a truth, not a fact, but truth itself, okay? Here we go. Number one, sensationalism. Using sensationalist headlines and language to attract readers or viewers. It leads to misinformation or a skewed perspective on the issues being covered.

[00:15:31] I call it playing fast and loose with the truth, and it offends the living hell out of me, and that’s the truth. Sensationalism. So, this is a tempting tactic to use, as I said, there’s a lot of money in media, but it’s hard earned. So it’s very tempting to use sensationalist tactics. You know who’s notorious for this?

[00:15:51] They’ve been doing this for years. TheBlaze. com or BlazeTV, I think they recently changed their name, not recently, but a couple of years ago. [00:16:00] But they were notorious for it. The most unbelievable clickbait you’ve ever seen. You know, a dog gets lost for a day, and it’s you know, terror descends on a poor family in Michigan.

[00:16:15] And then you read the story, and it’s like their dog ran away for a day. But then it came back safe and sound and healthy.

[00:16:21] But you said, I’m being kind of flippant, but you get the point. Sensationalist headlines, first, they’re clickbait, so they kind of, they offend the truth. Because it manipulates the viewer or the reader to click on that story. To spend or really waste their time reading a story that isn’t The story is not what they came to read.

[00:16:44] Okay. Sensationalism. Using sensationalist headlines and language to attract readers. It leads to misinformation or a skewed perspective on the issues being covered. Another reason this is an assault on truth [00:17:00] is because, well, I’ll use the example that I used earlier. Teacher refuses to listen to a student’s argument in favor of gender theory.

[00:17:08] Refuses. Well, what does that say about the teacher, right? It paints the teacher to look like a monster. He refused to listen to this poor child explain their opinion about gender theory. Whatever the opinion may be, whatever the opinion of the teacher may be, it’s irrelevant because the headline is sensationalized and already, once a reader or viewer clicks or tunes in or clicks play, whatever, to look at that story, They have already decided this teacher is a monster.

[00:17:43] Or, they may have decided this teacher is a hero. And the fact is, neither one of those things may be true. Neither a hero nor a monster. This is all over Catholic media. Well, again, let me not say all over. You see this a lot in [00:18:00] independent Catholic media. You know, Pope again flirts with heresy. Really? And the thing that really, I’m just going to say it because this is just for subscribers, and really I would probably say this publicly anyway, the thing that really pisses me off about this is these are people who should know what heresy is.

[00:18:21] And they should know that this doesn’t fall within the boundaries of heresy, whatever it is that they’re reporting on. They love using words like heresy and heterodoxy, when really what they’re reporting on is something they just don’t agree with. That may, and usually, is not even heresy. I say usually, but in every case where I’ve seen that, they’re never reporting on something that’s actual heresy.

[00:18:45] But the word heresy is found in the headline. Number two, bias. Having a point of view is one thing, let me just say this if you haven’t been able to tell, I’m reading this from, it’s, it is a script, but it’s something that I wrote, so it came from my head, but let me just say [00:19:00] it from my head. Bias. It’s basically, having a point of view is one thing, everybody has a point of view.

[00:19:05] On the left, on the right, if you’re human and have a functioning mind, you have a point of view. Okay. We all have a point of view, but bias is another thing entirely, because bias jettisons balance. You’ve listened to me apply this in this episode. You’ve, you’ve heard it throughout my podcasting, but you’ve heard it in this episode.

[00:19:31] I have a point of view. I’m politically conservative. I’m an Orthodox Catholic. Call that conservative if you want. I don’t really like that word. I’m an Orthodox Catholic. But I give consideration to other points of view, even if I disagree with them, even if I think they’re stupid, I will at least give them consideration, even respect.

[00:19:52] Oftentimes, not all the time, but oftentimes, right? I’ll try to reflect both sides [00:20:00] of an opinion of an idea because everyone has a point of view. But a bias jettisons balance. A bias refuses to entertain what might be not just good or true, because sometimes in another side of an argument there is a truth there.

[00:20:20] Bias ignores it. It’s an absence of balance. That’s one thing. The other thing, let’s take abortion for instance. I have a point of view, obviously I’m pro life. But. I don’t allow my bias to get in the way of how I communicate. When I’m talking to pro choice people or when I’m talking about pro choice issues, I’m very clear that the pro choice lobby or pro choice people are wrong, and some of them know that they’re wrong and they don’t care, and some of them don’t understand that they’re wrong.

[00:20:55] I’m very clear about that. I’m very clear when I say things [00:21:00] like, a lot of people, not most, But a lot of people in the pro, on the pro choice side of the argument, they think they’re doing something good. They think they’re looking out for others. They think they have people’s, the best interests of persons, particularly women, in mind.

[00:21:21] If we can if we can free ourselves from our biases, And try to understand other points of view, other sides of the argument. For instance, I’m pro choice, I’m sorry, I’m pro life. Pro choice is another side of the argument. And then there’s another side of the argument that’s, maybe they don’t like abortion, but they think it should be a right.

[00:21:45] Or, another side is I don’t like abortion. I think in most cases it shouldn’t be a right, but I think it should be allowed in some cases. That’s another side of the argument that is also wrong, but the point is, if we can’t free [00:22:00] ourselves from our biases, then we can’t do the work of evangelizing, of correcting others, of perhaps even making our own understanding of our own ideas stronger.

[00:22:14] By considering other points of view, entertaining other arguments, that doesn’t, you know, entertaining someone else’s argument or indulging someone else’s argument or point of view, doesn’t mean you’re betraying your own, doesn’t mean that. It means that if you’re in error, maybe you’ll change your mind about something.

[00:22:34] I don’t mean about Catholic doctrine. Catholic doctrine is never in error. I’m talking about other things. So if you’re in error, maybe you’ll change your mind, or maybe by entertaining or indulging other points of view, it allows you to see your own point of view more clearly and empowers you to defend it more strongly, more effectively.

[00:22:58] Bias. Having a point of view [00:23:00] is not a bias. Bias jettisons balance. And without a balanced position, we don’t serve the truth. I want to say that again for effect. Without a balanced position, we don’t serve the truth. Again, being balanced doesn’t mean centrism. As I explained on that podcast, Balance and Truth.

[00:23:21] If you haven’t listened to it, go back and look for it and give it a listen. Balance is not centrism, but balance does mean faithfulness to the truth of the big picture. So bias, it’s another, and then you have folks like CNN, and even Fox, a lot of them. They have a, they don’t just have a point of view, which is obvious.

[00:23:44] It’s obvious CNN is liberal, MSNBC is liberal, that’s obvious. It’s obvious Fox News is conservative, that’s obvious. Okay, you have a point of view. I don’t care. Fine. Good. Good for you. I’d probably call you an idiot if you didn’t have a point of view. Because there’s something wrong [00:24:00] with you if you have a, if you don’t have a point of view.

[00:24:02] There’s something wrong with your brain. I get it. But you shouldn’t report news that way. You shouldn’t report news in a way that’s bias. Number three. Clicks over credibility. Folks, reporting hastily Before analyzing all of the facts, or before gathering all of the facts, or checking the veracity of the details, that’s prioritizing clicks over credibility, or prioritizing clicks over truth.

[00:24:32] It’s wanting to get, oh boy, oh my goodness, have I seen this, and seen this, and seen it in Catholic media. Wanting to hastily be the first to get the report out there in front of people’s eyeballs. Because then you’re going to get most of the money in advertising revenue and visitorship and whatnot.

[00:24:50] They don’t check their facts. It happens a lot. I’ll tell you too. In independent Catholic media, it happens more often, than it happens in secular media. [00:25:00] Which is pathetic. It happens more often in independent media, where it’s more about clicks than credibility. And, because in Catholic media, they’re not actually reporting breaking news.

[00:25:14] You know, if there’s an Look, there are things that we see in Catholic media that I knew about days before it hit Catholic media. Sometimes a week or more before it hit Catholic media. Because in Catholic media, you’re not really reporting breaking news. You’re reporting news stories. See what I’m saying?

[00:25:32] Something that we hear from the Pope today in Catholic news, the opening paragraph might say last week at a papal audience, the Holy Father said, that’s a bad example, because usually on his papal, on his public audiences, Catholic news is pretty on the ball, but you get what I’m saying. In Catholic news, they’re not reporting breaking news.

[00:25:54] They don’t have to be the first to report on every, you know, newsworthy [00:26:00] story. In the world of Catholic news, it’s a little bit different, right? They have to, they want to be the first to report on, I don’t know, I guess sensationalist stories. Sensationalized stories. And independent, and in independent Catholic media, they’re very bad about checking their facts.

[00:26:17] Very bad. They’re very bad about copyediting. And I don’t just mean, you know, copyediting a piece for technical errors. I don’t know, completeness of the substance or the content. I’m talking about copy editing to the extent that we look at the copy and say, Does the copy tell the story truthfully?

[00:26:40] Does the copy tell this story accurately? That’s very hard to find in independent Catholic media. If you look at the independent outfits, some of them aren’t terrible about it, but some of them I’m talking about the independent ones. Some of them are really bad about [00:27:00] it. And because these are independent brands, because they’re not reporting on breaking news, for the most part, there’s no one checking on them.

[00:27:09] Church Militant falls a little outside of that model, because Church Militant was reporting on people. They’re reporting on people and actual events. And in most Catholic, independent Catholic media, they mention people and events, but really they’re talking about situations. That’s kind of how I interpret it.

[00:27:29] They’re talking about situations. And they can distort a situation any way they like, and they can edit it to tell whatever story they like, and it’s wrong, and it’s unethical, and it’s immoral, but they’ll never be held to account for it. But when you start telling falsities about real people Quoting or referencing or citing anonymous sources, well, now you’re going to get into some trouble.

[00:27:56] Because that’s just illegal. In some cases it’s [00:28:00] illegal. In other cases, it’s not illegal, but it could still get you nailed in a civil court, in a civil trial. You see what I’m saying?

[00:28:07] So in Catholic media, they still do clicks over credibility. It’s a bit of a different paradigm in independent Catholic media compared to secular media, but it’s the same kind of thing. They report hastily. They report the story as they want it to be interpreted. And they conceal the truth behind really deceptive rhetoric.

[00:28:28] Using soft quotes where they don’t belong. Citing indep not independent. Citing anonymous sources. Maybe there are no sources at all. As long as they say anonymous sources, who’s gonna who’s going to ask them, Wait, who are these anonymous sources? Because most readers, when they see anonymous sources, they just trust that the source is real and that the source is credible.

[00:28:50] I remember there was this there was this product being advertised all over TV. It was some kind of sponge, some kind of space age, high tech [00:29:00] sponge or mattress or something, I don’t remember. But one of the, one, in the commercial, one of, a part of the pitch was recognized by NASA. And I always wondered, how is it recognized by NASA?

[00:29:15] Who do they ask? A NASA scientist? Or a janitor who works at NASA? Did they go up to the janitor with a piece of this, whatever it was, foam or whatever, and they said to the janitor, Hey, do you recognize this? And the janitor says, Oh yeah, I threw some of that stuff out yesterday, I recognize that. Boom!

[00:29:34] Recognized by NASA. Boy, that was easy. What does that mean, recognized by NASA? And they do stuff like that in, really mostly in independent Catholic media. Not as much in secular media, but it’s there. It’s worse in independent Catholic media. And it offends the truth because it takes advantage of people’s trust in you.

[00:29:58] And it puts [00:30:00] false intentionally puts false information, puts falsehood into the intellects of rational, free thinking human beings. That’s really offensive from the perspective of God. Forget about my opinion. You are literally, intentionally putting falsehoods, putting the negation of truth, putting the antithesis of capital T Truth.

[00:30:27] You are intentionally, willfully putting that into someone’s intellect. You might as well walk into someone’s house and throw garbage everywhere, spray paint the walls, pee in their living room, poop in the kitchen. From God’s perspective, that’s what you’re doing. You’re intentionally putting falsehoods in the intellects of people.

[00:30:51] But hey, at least you got paid for it. Number four. Intentionally producing polarizing content. Contributing to a [00:31:00] divided church rather than fostering dialogue. That one kind of speaks for itself, but I will highlight the first part of that intentionally producing polarizing content. Why?

[00:31:11] Because it’s, because it serves number three, clicks over credibility. It demonstrates and expresses number two, bias. And it falls under the umbrella of number one, sensationalism, using sensationalist headlines or language to attract viewers and readers. Intentionally producing polarizing content has the effect of producing sex, and I have to say that very carefully in front of a microphone, because if I don’t say it very carefully, it sounds like I’m saying sex.

[00:31:39] You’re producing sex! In people’s lives. You’re producing sex in the Catholic experience. You’re producing sects in the lived Catholic experience. You might argue that has always existed. Yeah, to some extent, I think for 2, 000 years, that has existed. We even see it in the scriptures, right? [00:32:00] But this is different.

[00:32:02] This is different. Because This is not, I belong to Paul. I belong to Apollos. This is different. This is, I belong to Father Altman, and that’s a different church. That’s the real church. I belong to the TLM community, and that’s a different church. That’s different from, I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos.

[00:32:24] That’s different from what we would think of as tribalism in the church across 2, 000 years. It’s very different today, and there’s a lot of money to be made on it because people are naturally tribal. We like to be around people who think the way we think. I do too.

[00:32:43] So that’s natural. And because it’s natural, it can be exploited.

[00:32:48] this is what the devil does. The devil doesn’t just get, he, the devil’s not gonna get you to murder your parents. He will do that, but mostly he does not. That’s not one of his, that’s one, that’s not one of the tricks in his bag. [00:33:00] Mostly, the tricks in his bag is to exploit things that are natural to you.

[00:33:05] Natural to your nature as a human person. And natural to your nature and character as the person who you uniquely are. He exploits something that’s already natural to you because then it’s easier to get you to fold for it. So by intentionally producing content that’s divisive what these outfits are doing is playing as the devil’s puppets.

[00:33:26] Doing his work.

[00:33:27] You are sons of the devil and you do your father’s will. You can imagine Jesus saying that all over again.

[00:33:33] Sensationalism, bias, clicks over credibility, and intentionally producing polarizing content. If we’re in the service of truth, my friends, I’m just going to speak plainly. If we’re in the service of truth, we can’t serve bullshit in a bowl and con people into calling it ice cream. Because it’s not ice cream.

[00:33:54] This con game has done tremendous damage to Catholics. And it has done [00:34:00]unspeakable damage to the Catholic Church. By that I mean the human institution. And Catholics should understand that they’re being conned. As they see this stuff play out. They’re being conned. You’re being conned. And I shouldn’t say you.

[00:34:16] Catholics, there are Catholics who are lining the pockets of the con artists who are playing this game every time they click or read or watch something. That those brands produce. In closing, I’ll say this.

[00:34:32] I recently, literally just today, I put up what I call, if you’re getting the newsletter, you’ve seen me you’ve seen that I report, I reported, you’ve seen that I talk, that I told you about this. I’ve started producing audio blogs. I don’t know if that’s a thing, but it’s, if it’s not a thing, then I just coined the phrase.

[00:34:52] The term, and if it is a term, then I inadvertently stole it. But I just started producing audio blogs and what that is [00:35:00] basically. Basically they’re clips from shows. They’re clips from shows. People don’t wanna listen to an hour long show, hour and a half, whatever. They’re clips from shows. And I put up.

[00:35:11] The clip, maybe it’s a minute and a half, two to four minutes, it’s not very long. And then I put the transcript, and sometimes, as I did today, I’ll put like a little opener, a little intro, I’ll write a little intro. So between the intro and the transcript, you can read what I have to say. And, or, you can listen to it.

[00:35:31] The one that I did today is called what did I title it? Unveiling the Sacred in Everyday Life. In that audio blog, I talk about how there are things, it’s a clip from the episode that I did called God Goes Big. And in this clip, I talk about some ways where God probably went big, but because it’s common to us, we don’t recognize it.

[00:35:53] One example I gave was learning and understanding. The, [00:36:00] I guess the economy of knowledge and wisdom. That’s probably something, an example of where God went really big. You know, performed like a show stopping, you know, thing. And because it’s common to us, we don’t appreciate it. Another example I gave was family.

[00:36:17] If you want to know more about all this stuff, go to my website, CatholicAdventurer. com, you’re probably there already. Look for the audio blog titled, Unveiling the Sacred in Everyday Life. The reason I reference that is for this reason. Since we, from the moment we come out into the world from our mother’s wombs, we are on a quest for truth.

[00:36:43] Unveiling the Sacred What is that thing? What is that awful sound? Why are you putting this thing, a shirt, on my body? Wah! Wah! What is this? And then eventually the baby gets used to this thing being on its body, and the brain just turns it off. For the [00:37:00] child, it’s like it’s not even there anymore, the shirt, because the brain just turns it off.

[00:37:03] Are you? You are mommy. You are daddy. What is this? Can I put this in my mouth? From the moment we come into the world, we’re on a quest for capital T Truth. And the steps along the way to capital T Truth is God. The steps along the way to capital T Truth are lowercase t, Truths. Can I put this in my mouth?

[00:37:23] Can I stick this butter knife in that electric socket? And so forth. Because we are, have been looking for truth from the moment we came into this world, quote unquote, capital T, truth is something very common to us. Because it’s so common to us, we don’t take it as seriously as it deserves. But when truth is offended, it’s like you have slapped God in the face.

[00:37:51] It’s like you have slapped God in his face. We think of the Romans beating Jesus at [00:38:00] the at the scourging at the pillar. We do that and worse when we intentionally offend truth. I’m not being sensationalist. You can call this my opinion. I suppose it is an opinion. It is a very well informed one. But if you want to call it my opinion, that’s okay.

[00:38:18] But please hear it out and please consider it. When we offend truth, particularly when we do it on purpose, malignantly or through negligence, it’s like we have slapped God in His face, because God is truth itself. You’re literally offending His nature, assaulting His nature, when you willfully offend or assault truth.

[00:38:43] I’m not being metaphorical. I’m being very literal, my friends.

[00:38:47] So when people, whether it’s Church Militant, or LifeSite News, or any of the other ones, and there are several, when they do the things that they do because there’s money to be made, and I’m [00:39:00] sure some of the people involved in some of those brands really believe they’re doing the right thing. I don’t know how, but I’m sure that’s the case.

[00:39:07] I’m sure there can’t be all of these evil, wicked, awful people, you know, throughout Catholic media. I refuse to believe that. How it can escape them, that they’re doing, that they are doing wrong. How it escapes them, I don’t know, but I’m sure some of them are innocent, even though there’s blood on their hands, but many of them are not innocent and there’s blood on their hands.

[00:39:29] They may believe that they’re doing a wrong thing for a good reason, and that is ridiculous. You cannot do a good thing for, I’m sorry, a bad thing for a good reason. And also, and here’s the kicker, they are offending truth. They know it. At least some of them in these outfits know it. They know it.

[00:39:49] They’re offending truth and they know it. And they’re doing so with impunity and probably with a clear conscience. Because they do not understand or appreciate [00:40:00] truth and its seriousness and its dignity and its beauty. They do not understand or appreciate that every time they do what they are doing, they are literally slapping God in the face.

[00:40:12] But hey, at least they’re getting paid. They don’t understand the gravity of their offense against God here. I get it. Some of them know they’re doing wrong, but they don’t get the gravity of it. But you know what? Many of us don’t get the gravity of it either. Don’t understand the gravity of it either. And I’m talking about ordinary people, me included.

[00:40:29] We don’t understand how awful a thing it is when we do or say something that knowingly, I’m not talking about mistakes or stupid things. I’m talking about knowingly and willfully offends the truth. You, me, all of us, because we’re fallen human beings. We don’t fully grasp the seriousness of offending truth in thought, in word, in deed, in strategy like manipulation, things like this.

[00:40:59] But there’s [00:41:00] money to be made in offending the truth. And there’s even Catholics making that money. The lesson I hope that you take from this is that truth is a serious thing and it’s a beautiful thing. We should be delicate with it, but the truth is not delicate, the truth is rigid and tough. You can’t, you literally cannot break the truth.

[00:41:18] We’re so frail and flimsy and stupid we can’t break the truth. But if we don’t dance delicately with it, we’re committing a serious offense. And you know who gets hurt? Us. Us. We get hurt. In our lives, in our families, in our communities, in our parishes, whatever. Take the truth seriously and be fo hear me when I tell you, I have to do this, I have to be mindful of this every time I take to social media.

[00:41:50] Every time I take to social media, I literally have to remind myself of this. When I write something, I have to ask, is this true? Is all of this [00:42:00] true? Or is it just kind of, mostly, probably, sorta, true? If it’s only mostly, kinda, sorta, probably true, Don’t send it. This little piece here that I wrote, am I writing that because it advances the message?

[00:42:17] Or am I writing that because this is my middle finger in response to the person my middle finger in response to the person? Is it a middle finger or is it necessary? Does it advance the truth? No? Then you better get it out of there. Oh, but it feel, it would feel so good to say that. It’s such a clever burn.

[00:42:34] You better get it out of there. I have, I’m not kidding. And I, believe me, I’m not bragging. This is me telling you about a dark side of myself. This is not me bragging. I have to remind myself of this every time I take to social media. Is this the truth? Am I telling the truth? Or am I telling something that’s likely true, but I haven’t, I can’t really bet money on it.

[00:42:57] Every time I take to social media, [00:43:00] we have to learn to be delicate and dance respectfully with truth, especially if we’re dealing in truth. Communicators, news reporters, evangelists, apologists, Catholic communicators. When truth is our business, whether or not we’re getting paid for it, when truth is what we do. We have to be real re real responsible with that dance we’re doing with the truth. Real responsible.

[00:43:30] On some level we are all agents of truth. We are all called to be priests, prophets, and kings, or queens, if you’re a gal. On some level, we are all, you know, highlighting that prophets part, we are all agents of truth, and we really need to take that very seriously. Very seriously. I guess that’s about gonna do it.

[00:43:53] This has been, I hope you enjoyed this. I really do. I’ve been wanting to do something fresh and new for [00:44:00] my subscribers. There’s not very many of you. There’s three or four of you and I’m so grateful to you for your support and for your confidence in me. And, you know, I’m just a stranger trying to do the work of the gospel and you guys decided to send me five bucks a month for it.

[00:44:18] One or two of you prepaid for a year and I thank you very much for it. Thank you for your trust. and for your support of my apostolate. And I hope this episode and the a few other things that I have there that are for subscribers only, I hope you’re enjoying them. This has been a special subscriber episode of the Catholic Experience.

[00:44:33] I have been your host, the Catholic Adventurer. God bless you. God be with you all. Please say Hail Mary for me and for my wife and kids. Signing out of here. May God be with you all. Bye bye.