This episode debuted exactly a year ago, and I could think of no better show this year to honor my all-time favorite movie, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1947) through the eyes of two women with close ties to its creation.
In this episode you will learn
- How Donna Reed’s work represents the best of the Golden Age of television and movies
- Why she made sure she was “just a regular mom” with Mary and her other real-life children
- The story of how Reed’s children found a shoebox full of correspondence with American soldiers from the War in her Bel Air home 65 years later
- Why Owens thinks the movie that made her mother a household name has such enduring appeal
- Who is the oldest living cast member (hint: it’s not one of the child actors)
- What it was like to be on set with Frank Capra and to appear with Jimmy Stewart
- The ways in which It’s a Wonderful Life touched the lives of the cast and crew forever.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Blu-Ray of It’s a Wonderful Life
Blu-Ray of The Bishop’s Wife
It’s a Wonderful Life Book edited by Jeanine Basinger
Additional resources
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book by Stephen Cox.
The Essential It’s a Wonderful Life: A Scene-by-Scene Guide to the Classic Film by Michael Willian
The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography by Frank Capra
Join the Conversation
Question of the week: Which scene grabs you the most emotionally and why?
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Like Santa himself, Tim Gordon and I have made a list, checked it twice, and have found out which Christmas movies are naughty or nice. Tim, as you will remember from Episode 80, is the author of Catholic Republic: How America Will Perish Without Rome and the co-host with Dr. Taylor Marshall on their popular podcast/YouTube channel.
This is a free-wheeling dueling rants about Christmas classics and clunkers from the point of view of cinephilic Catholic dads. Say what you like, but our opinions are correct, I tell you. Well, mine are...
Movies mentioned in this episode:
Here are the movies we discuss with brio, while openly ribbing each other because, well, Advent is penitential:
Love, Actually (pornish as is-- use VidAngel!)
A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
Disney’s A Christmas Carol (Jim Carrey)
Special mention of the remake of 3:10 To Yuma, no extra charge.
And don’t worry, no Christmas movies involving Tim Allen were mentioned. Shudder. You’re welcome.
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In this episode you will learn:
- How reliable Matthew is as an historian
- Why describing the Magi a function of myth doesn’t not take away from their historicity
- How the colorful additions (Caspar? Melchior? Balthasar? Camels?) to the biblical story arose
- The multiple meanings of “the East” for the Jewish people
- How the arrival and worship of the Magi set the Incarnation onto an international setting
- How to see the accretions of the Magi part of the story with Santa Claus and the original story of St. Nicholas
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men by Dwight Longenecker
- More Christianity by Dwight Longenecker
- Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen
- The Day Christ Was Born by Jim Bishop
Question of the week
In what way am I a lost foreigner trying to find the Lord Jesus in my life?
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Before we get too rah-rah about the “springtime for Christianity” and “the new evangelization,” we need to pay attention to the truth of things. On the ground. Right now. It’s grim. Each year, six times as many Catholics leave the Church as enter it.” By the age of 24, those that leave are already gone and invariably don’t come back. The reasons vary.
Dr. Taylor Marshall, founder of the New Saint Thomas Institute, has not only crunched the numbers but devised a practical solution to this ecclesial bleed out. It’s called Catholic Life Prep. Parents and their teen-aged kids now have a one-stop-shop resource that hits the problem of CFL (collegiate faith loss) head on and provides a massive counter-response of faith, reason, and evangelical passion. Do NOT miss this one.
In this episode you will learn:
- The leading cause of young people losing the Faith
- The historical context for the bleed-out
- Why parents should not blame themselves (unless they shirked their duty to hand on the Faith)
- The role of both natural law and Scripture to answer objections to the Catholic worldview
- Why fathers are indispensable to the process of passing on the truths and the example of the Faith
- What kinds of intellectual tools professors use to destroy students’ Christian faith and how to counter them
Resources recommended in this episode:
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Mike Sweeney played major league baseball for 16 seasons at the top level of performance, with a career batting average of .297,with 215 homeruns, and 909 RBIs. He’s a five-time All-Star; he was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame; he has won the Hutch Award for being a total gentleman and persevering fighter in the game. In 2002, he hit .340 for the second-highest batting average in the American League and the second-highest in club history only to George Brett's .390 in 1980.
By any standards, a phenomenal ball player.
But Mike is also a fervent Catholic who, as this interview shows well, is not afraid to be vulnerable and to tell the truth about his own weaknesses. His father Mike, Sr. (whom he calls “my hero”) is a huge ongoing influence. It shows.
In this interview, we talk about the brutal statistics of retired professional athletes: the rates of bankruptcy, suicide, divorce, PTSD, along with higher rates of drug and alcohol use. Men who “have it all” often discover the hard way how life is once the big checks, the wild stadium applause, the constant ego stroking are all over after you retire.
It makes the athlete ask, “who am I, really?” To often, the answer is either “I have no idea,” or “without my uniform, my fans, and my riches, I am nothing.” This is where Mike’s shining example comes in.
In this episode you will learn:
- The indispensable role of the father—for good or for ill—in a boy’s life and formation
- How an episode of violence (in this case, a bench-clearing brawl instigated by Sweeney!) led to a dramatic leap forward in his spiritual life
- Why being manly is not the opposite of being childlike
- How a major league professional can and did navigate the temptations and vicissitudes of life on the road
- How fame can be an addiction that can destroy someone, or make someone else truly humble
- Why everyday affirmation has an almost mystical power to inspire heroic courage
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Catholic Baseball Camp founded by Mike Sweeney with the support of the priests of Miles Christi
- Catholic Athletes For Christ
- Mike and Shara Sweeney Family Foundation
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Eric Metaxas fires on a lot of creative pistons. He writes like a dream, has a knack for distilling a thousand historical facts and personal details both in his fine books (see below) and on his popular nationally syndicated radio show The Eric Metaxas Show, and also has a rapier-like wit. He also spoke with amiable confidence about his now famous biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the National Prayer Breakfast a few steps away from President Obama. A strange but impressive mashup if there ever was one.
I hate him.
Okay, back to my show notes. I had interviewed Eric a few years back about his book Seven Women and the Secret of Their Greatness, and remembered vividly his considerable raconteur skills.
Then he caught my attention again with an embarrassingly glowing tweet about my Really Controversial Interview with Milo Yiannopoulos the other week. That was it. With a weakness for public praise by intelligent people, I had to hear more. Within hours, the interview you are about to enjoy was set.
We talked about the way his new book Donald Drains the Swamp fuses adult non-fiction with children’s fiction, and about the knack with which both Mr. Trump and Mr. Yiannopoulos force onlookers to drop their masks—fast.
Pound for pound, I’d say this is the most eclectic of the 103 episodes of The Patrick Coffin Show so far. Per my other Really Controversial Interview with Jordan Peterson, I went Full Metal Catholic and asked the Greek Orthodox cum Evangelical Christian Eric to finish the sentence, “I’m not Catholic, because…”
Let me guess. Hopefully, this good humored exchange of ideas about cultural restoration won’t be tagged as Controversial. But you know how people are these days.
Enjoy and share!
In this episode you will learn:
- Why non-Catholics and Catholics have much more in common than in division and why we must be willing to link arms for common cause—without watering down our respective differences
- How to live a robust, and apology-free Christian faith in a very secular context
- The top Hollywood scribe we discover during the interview as being a mutual friend
- Why “underground Christian” is an oxymoron
- How to use humor as a way to soften your audience and make them more receptive to your message
- The difference between true and false ecumenism
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Donald Drains the Swamp by Eric Metaxas
- Seven Women and the Secret of their Greatness by Eric Metaxas
- If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty by Eric Metaxas
- Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
- New Errors and Old Labels by Fulton J. Sheen
Question of the week
What does this maxim of Peter Kreeft mean to you: “Feuding brothers reconcile when a maniac is at the door.”
Comment below or on our Facebook page
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Doors to Coffin Nation are now OPEN. Hurry, enrollment ends on Monday, November 26.
LEARN MORE >> COFFIN NATION.
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This is Phil’s second appearance on the show, after talking about his book Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock. This time, the veteran journalist doubles down and broads his analysis to include the widespread corruption and complicity of the bishops with a brand new book, The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It. A daring book (the publisher explains that they didn’t particularly want to publish it) and badly needed. Heavy sigh.
As ever, it’s the uncomfortable truths that need to be told.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why the badly damaged brand and reputation of the Catholic Church is at stake and why books like this continue to be written today
- Why it’s not a sin to charitably but directly call out bad leadership in the Church
- How the bishops seem, in so many cases, not to have learned the lessons of the 2002 scandal that broke in Boston
- The role played by gross misinterpretations of the Second Vatican Council led to the current crisis
- Why concern for the Church’s reputation can never outdo concern for victims of priest predators
- The facts as to why the issue we’re dealing with is not “pedophile priests” but homosexual predator priests
Resources recommended in this episode:
- The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It by Phil Lawler
- Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock by Phil Lawler
- Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II by Kenneth Jones
- Pascendi Dominici Gregis Encyclical by Pope St. Pius X on Modernism
Coffin Nation is now OPEN. Go to www.coffinnation.com
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It’s been over a year since professional polemicist Milo Yiannopoulos more or left public life after losing three gigs in a row: his Breitbart editor position, his Simon & Schuster publishing deal (for his book Dangerous), and his plum CPAC speaker slot.
A massive plummet from the heights of internet fame (infamy?)
So what really happened? What did he say on those 2015 and 2016 podcasts that surfaced last February? More importantly, what did he mean? And does he have any regrets?
Milo, like probably 99% of the population, Catholic or otherwise, has gaps between what he professes and what he lives. St. Paul describes the phenomenon well in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Certainly, going ahead with an attempted marriage to his boyfriend puts him at odds with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
He has a new book out titled, Diabolical: How Pope Francis Has Betrayed Clerical Abuse Victims Like Me—and Why He Has To Go. Many of his followers, and obviously his enemies, want to know why someone who is Openly Gay [™] and civilly married to his boyfriend is qualified to criticize the Pope. They also want a close look at the man himself, in his own words, as distinct from the hysterical rumor mill about him.
In this episode you will learn:
- Milo’s childhood Catholic roots and the origin of the surname Yiannopoulos
- The facts about his abuse at the hands of a priest, who since committed suicide
- How he manages to reconcile his homosexual lifestyle with the Church he professes to love
- What his real opinions are regarding homosexuals
- Why he is passionate about “Making the Vatican Straight Again” (a chapter in his book)
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Dangerous by Milo Yiannopoulos
- Diabolical: How Pope Francis Has Betrayed Clerical Abuse Victims Like Me—and Why He Has To Go by Milo Yiannopoulos
- The World’s First Love by Fulton J. Sheen
Question of the week
In what ways do you make the perfect the enemy of the good?
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It’s a curious fact that a movie that is literally not about abortion would be so effective as a pro-life story. Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer has caused a media splash by portraying the media in the film as too chicken to cover the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who was ultimately convicted of multiple counts of murder.
By “media” I mean largely social media, and word of mouth. Stories roll in from across the country of theater owners playing games with show times (this happened to me in Southern California), seemingly suggesting that moviegoers not watch it, despite high viewer rating (Google users rate it at 97%) and the fact that it opened against much bigger budgeted films.
Scribe Andrew Klavan (crime writer, and screenwriter of Don’t Say a Word and True Crimes, directed by Clint Eastwood) describes how the harrowing subject matter ot translated to the big screen, and how husband-wife producer team Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney faced on uphill battle after another. And still so, in terms of fighting those forces that want this movie to die.
I can sort of see why. I just read of two moral conversions by influencers with large audiences who walked into the theater as pro-choice and walked out as pro-life. One is Florida political blogger Kathy Zhu. The other is Federalist writer Adam Mill.This is not a preachy movie, as Klavan makes clear–and as any objective viewer will conclude.
Gosnell is a rare blend of Christian premise, serious writing chops, and a CSI-like narrative of the facts as they are, able directed by Nick Searcy (who also plays Gosnell’s attorney Mike Cohan).
In this episode you will learn:
- How a movie is made, from concept to final story
- Why Gosnell, a movie not about abortion per se, yet grabs the viewer by the lapel and forces him to answer certain questions about life, death, and the law
- The level of opposition faced by the filmmakers, from the beginning
- Behind-the-scenes stories about the crafting and filming of Gosnell
- How Klavan drew upon his crime novel skills to bring this real-life trial to life
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Gosnell movie
- Don’t Say a Word movie
- True Crimes movie
- Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney
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Thank you!
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We all know about the Sixties, both the decade and the cultural ethos it generated. But do we know the players, leaders, architects, and financiers who created the Sexual Revolution that made the Sixties infamous?
Dr. Jennifer Roback-Morse, author and foundress of The Ruth Institute, has the answers. Her stemwinder of a book, The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along, tells the sordid tale, naming names and taking no prisoners.
In this interview you will learn:
- When the “Sixties” actually began
- The roots of dissent inside the Catholic Church and how it became allied with the Church’s secular enemies
- How elites like John D. Rockefeller III worked to insinuate population control ideas within the Church hierarchy
- Why divorce, contraception, and transgender ideology all tend toward the same purpose
- What parents can do to counter the bad ideas that swamp college campuses regarding sex, marriage, and faith.
Resources recommended in this episode:
The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along by Dr. Jennifer Roback-Morse
Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation & Political Control by Dr. E. Michael Jones
Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution by Tucker Carlson
Question of the week:
Why is staying married the best first start to repairing the damage done to the culture by the Sexual Revolution?
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Sign up to the waiting list for our upcoming membership program, Coffin Nation.
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On August 2, 2018, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Luis Cardinal Ladaria, announced that Pope Francis authorized a change in Art 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty.
The new phrasing declares that the death penalty can no longer be applied in any case, anywhere in the world no matter the crime. Is this a legitimate “development of doctrine” as the Pope’s supporters affirm? Are Catholics now required to give the “religious submission of mind and will” to this new viewpoint of the Roman Pontiff, which, according to Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium 25, applies even to papal teaching that is not ex cathedra? Can the new Catechism be changed again?
Associate professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College, Dr. Ed Feser, believes it can and, should, be rescinded. The teaching as now phrased seems to openly contradict, not merely amend or develop, the 2000-year-old support for the death penalty in some cases. This is one not to miss.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why, from the Bible, the Church fathers and doctors, and many saints, and sacred Tradition, the Catholic Church has traditionally supported the death penalty
- How the death penalty can lead to the repentance and redemption of the condemned
- The perils of letting vicious criminals continue their evil acts inside prison
- The strongly held opinion of Pope Francis that even life sentences are the practical equivalent of the death penalty, and therefore morally unacceptable
- How you can understand what the next steps might be in light of a worldwide effort to encourage the cardinals of the Church to revisit the Catechism reboot
Resources recommended in this episode:
- By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment by Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette
- 2004 CDF Statement on Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
- Lumen Gentium 25 (“The Dogmatic Constitution On the Church,” Second Vatican Council)
- Capital Punishment and Roman Catholic Moral Tradition by E. Christian Brugger
- Dead Man Walking, BluRay, directed by Tim Robbins
Question of the week
Why is this worth talking about considering how rarely it is implemented compared with the number of babies killed by abortion?
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Comment below or on our Facebook page
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Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe in YouTube and iTunes.
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Dr. Lee Podles is an author and researcher with over 20 years’ experience as a federal investigator. He’s neither a loopy liberal with an axe to grind nor a bitter Trad who hates everything that happened after the Council of Trent. He’s a husband and father of six who is fed up with the conspiracy of silence and the constant use of euphemisms when it comes to the priestly abuse crisis.
One of the bases for his anger is the astonishingly similar pattern of a) abuse (mostly homosexual predation), b) traumatic imprint in the victim, and that fact that c) few people believe the victim, d) bishop moves predators around (or claims “no legal duty” to disclose previous molestation of minors in the background of priests, e) either pay out enormous sums of money in settlements or double down on undermining the victim.
Not for the faint of heart, his 2008 book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church is a tour de force—a journey into dark recesses of the secretive bishops’ club in which lawyering up and refusing responsibility characterize the crisis.
Don’t miss this riveting conversation with a courageous researcher who—as an indispensable minimum—wants the Church herself to purge, repent, and renew through telling the truth.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why “clericalism” feeds the problem but does not explain it
- Why Catholic laymen need to take the lead in restoring the Church to her rightful place and mission
- That the crisis is international in scope, even if it represents only a small minority of priests
- It is not a “pedophilia” scandal but a homosexual predator one
- Signs of hope that Christ has not abandoned His Church
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Leon Podles.
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Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons has 40 years’ experience as a psychiatrist. His expertise is in the clinical benefits of forgiveness and in the interpersonal dynamics of anger. The priestly abuse crisis provides plenty of anger, and plenty of opportunity for forgiveness, where appropriate. But is the crisis about “clericalism” as some have claimed?
Fitzgibbons believes that if anyone blames clericalism participates in the cover-up since the crisis is mainly about homosexual predators destroying young lives. Euphemisms and changing the subject are not a strategy for restoration.
In this episode you will learn:
- The psychological roots of same-sex attraction
- The difference between sinful anger and the morally neutral emotion of anger
- Why forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling
- The way in which clericalism has helped give cover to the perpetrators
- Why the Catholic Church is still the unique repository of Christ’s truth
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Forgiveness Therapy: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope by Rick Fitzgibbons, MD, and Robert Enright, MD.
- Dr. Fitzgibbons websites: maritalhealing.com and www.childhealing.com
- John Jay Report, covering the facts about abuse (and allegations) by priests from 1950-2002
Question of the week
How can righteous anger be a positive agent for change in the Church today?
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Tucker Carlson is very good at what he does, which is engage guests and topics on his prime time-slotted Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight. With aplomb and wit—which is hard when your guest is an angry eedjit,as the Irish say—he gets down to brass tacks on whatever the topic is.
His brand new book is titled Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution. And he means it. His thesis: you can have egalitarianism AND oligarchy. One of the has got to go. Yet the book, like its creator, is often hilarious in its own way.
In this episode you will learn:
- Who the major players are—the “fools” of the title—and why they’re included
- Why elites and oligarchs come in all religions, or none, and all skin colors
- A brief history of how American culture shifted toward Krazy in the last few years
- How the 2016 election of Donald Trump was a sign of electoral unhappiness that got worse over decades
- How liberals sell fake science, climate change (denying contrary evidence) and why abortion is the untouchable sacrament of the Left
- Some reasons to keep a sense of humor!
Resources recommended in this episode:
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This episode with “Marcantonio Colonna” (real name Dr. Henry Sire) is a do-over, owing to poor sound quality. The upside is that got to hit topics I didn’t get to because of time constraints in the previous episode.
The pontificate of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, as Pope Francis started off full of promise as one of reform and renewal. Most were happy to learn the new Pope was from Latin America, and many thought the Church could stand some fresh air and energy.
But things have take one bad turn after another. Never has a Roman Pontiff been the source of so much confusion, weaponized ambiguity, nor been seemingly motivated by such a political modus operandi. A spate of books have come out in the last year discussing what can no longer be denied: that the current papacy has been tainted by corruption, scandal, and (to take one example) the Holy Father’s refusal to address the stunning allegations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
Space here forbids a full account of the problems Catholics around the world are now awakening to, but this interview with historian Dr. Henry Sire author is the-now worldwide publishing phenomenon, The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy, goes into greater detail, starting with Bergoglio’s handling of predator priests in his native Buenos Aires to to current problems. If you’ve been wincing as you wonder what the next confusing or vexing papal decision or directive is going to be, don’t miss this respectful conversation.
In this episode you will learn:
- How the political philosophy of Argentine dictator Juan Perón, who ruled the country intermittently in the decades after World War II, strongly influenced young Jorge Bergoglio
- Why Perónism, as a strategy for implementing an agenda, is neither conservative nor liberal: it is Machiavellian
- How Pope Francis’s defenders do not answer the evidence, but change the subject or resort to ad hominem attacks
- The ways in which a climate of fear reigns inside the walls of the Vatican
- Specific names, places, and facts that must be confronted when assessing the level of dereliction of episcopal duty
- How to stay hopeful and balanced in the meantime through intensified prayer and renewing the effort at understanding the perennial teachings of the Church
Resources recommended in this episode:
- The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy by Marcantonio Colonna (aka Henry Sire)
- Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse In the Catholic Church by Dr. Leon Podles
- Pope Francis In Context by E. Michael Jones
- Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock by Philip Lawler
- To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism by Ross Douthat
Question of the week
What is one practical thing you can do to strengthen your faith in the midst of the current turmoil in the Church?
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The pontificate of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, as Pope Francis has not exactly met the excited hopes of Catholics around the world. Most were happy to learn the Holy Father was from Latin America, and many thought the Church could stand some fresh air and energy.
But things have not turned out so rosy. Never has a Roman Pontiff been the source of so much confusion, ambiguity, and been motivated by such an obviously politicized modus operandi. A spate of books have come out in the last year discussing what can no longer be denied: that the current papacy has been tainted by corruption, scandal, and (to take one example) the refusal to address the stunning allegations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
Space here forbids a full account of the problems Catholics around the world are now awakening to, but this interview with Dr. Henry Sire (pen name Marcantonio Colonna), who wrote what is now a worldwide publishing phenomenon, The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy, goes into greater detail, starting with Bergoglio’s handling of predator priests in his native Buenos Aires. If you’ve been wincing along, wondering what the next confusing or vexing papal decision or directive is going to be, don’t miss this conversation.
In this episode you will learn:
- How the political philosophy of Argentine dictator Juan Perón, who ruled the country intermittently in the decades after World War II, strongly influenced young Jorge Bergoglio
- Why Perónism, as a strategy for implementing an agenda, is neither conservative nor liberal: it is Machiavellian
- How Pope Francis’s defenders do not answer the evidence, but change the subject or resort to ad hominem attacks
- The ways in which a climate of fear reigns inside the walls of the Vatican
- Specific names, places, and facts that must be confronted when assessing the level of dereliction of episcopal duty
- How to stay hopeful and balanced in the meantime through intensified prayer and renewing the effort at understanding the perennial teachings of the Church
Resources recommended in this episode:
- The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy by Marcantonio Colonna (aka Henry Sire)
- Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse In the Catholic Church by Dr. Leon Podles
- Pope Francis In Context by E. Michael Jones
- Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock by Philip Lawler
- To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism by Ross Douthat
Question of the week
What is one practical thing you can do to strengthen your faith in the midst of the current turmoil in the Church?
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Michael Pakaluk is a father of 15 (not a typo—you can read the fascinating backstory in the memoir The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God about his late wife Ruth, who may one day be raised to the altars, but that’s another story). I mention that he’s the father of a sprawling passel of children because it is germane to this interview and to the essay he wrote in a recent edition of First Things magazine that got my attention.
Pakaluk connects to dots that don’t seem at first to have much in common: the change of phrasing in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the death penalty and the passive or abhorrent handling of the priestly abuse scandal.
The basic connection is an inability to exercise fatherly authority when it come to imposing punishments that involve separation, vengeance, and isolation. All of which distinguish true justice from what he calls “regulatory compliance.”
Bad fatherhood leads to weak and passive men, which in turn leads to doctrinal innovations and policies that are weak and passive, and hence dangerous for the Church, not to mention the victims of homosexual predators and other criminally behaving priests and bishops. Both deficiencies have made it harder for non-Catholics to accept the truth claims of the Church, and harder for Catholics to continue to trust their leaders.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why vengeance is a virtue not a vice
- How vengeance is not opposed to Christian meekness
- How passivity in the face of evil is not a masculine trait and how this has wreaked havoc in the Church
- The reason why saying “punishment is never retributive, but only deterrent” is a grave error
- How the crisis of fatherhood in general helps explain the crisis among men who are called Father by their flock
- Why a new emphasis on chastity in preaching and teaching needs to take root
- How the weak passivity has influenced and been influenced by the theory of Hans Urs Von Balthasar of a possibly-empty hell
Resources recommended in this episode:
- The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God: The Story of Ruth Pakaluk - Convert, Mother & Pro-life Activist ed by Michael Pakaluk and Ruth Pakaluk
- Essay “Capital Punishment and the Priestly Abuse Crisis” by Michael Pakaluk, in First Things, August 22, 2018
- By Man Shall His Blood be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment by Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette
Question of the week
How has feminist ideology contributed to the crisis of masculinity in the Church and in the culture?
Join the conversation by leaving a comment below.
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This special episode is made from three sit-down interviews I did at the recent 50th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae conference in Ontario, CA. I spoke with three experts in diverse fields, all with one thing in common: the ability to clearly describe why contraception is wrong and how to communicate that truth to others.
Dr. Christopher Kaczor, PhD, is professor of philosophy at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles. He spoke to me about the child as good—a great good. Seems odd to have to say that out loud, but this is where we’re at as a society and a Church. Kaczor delivered on the moral philosophy aspect of Humanae Vitae.
Dr. George Delgado, MD, is medical director of Culture of Life Family Health Care in San Diego. He is also a Natural Family Planning Medical Consultant trained in NaProTECHNOLOGY and is board certified in family medicine as well as hospice and palliative medicine. Dr. Delgado also developed the abortion pill reversal medication. I’ve interviewed him many times on Catholic Answers Live. Our interview focused on the difference NFP makes in marriage.
Father Paul Check, former executive director of Courage International and now rector of St. John Fisher Seminary in Bridgeport, CT, spoke to me about a little-made connection: that between dissent from HV and the rise of the homosexualist movement. Where else are you going to hear this content?
In this episode you will learn:
- A simple way to explain why kids are the fruit and crown of marriage, which is true even if some couples are infertile
- How moral philosophy helps explain why contraception is wrong
- The difference between contraception and NFP (natural family planning)
- A family doctor’s perspective on the emotional and spiritual health benefits of NFP
- How the rejection of the Church’s teaching on contraception led to societal acceptance of homosexuality
- Why straight couples who contracept have no logical basis to reject “gay” “marriage”
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Life Issues, Medical Choices: Questions and Answers for Catholics by Christopher Kazcor and Janet Smith
- A Defense of Dignity: Creating Life, Destroying Life, and Protecting the Rights of Conscience by Dr. Christopher Kazcor
- Desire of the Everlasting Hills documentary movie (free to watch)
Question of the week
How can I grow in my understanding of the teaching on birth control and better share it with others?
Support this podcast here: www.patrickcoffin.media/donate.
Comment below or on our Facebook page
"Like" us on Facebook HERE
Sign up to the waiting list for our upcoming premium site Coffin Nation. You'll be the first to be notified!
Tweet to Patrick HERE
This special episode is made from three sit-down interviews I did at the recent 50th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae conference in Ontario, CA. I spoke with three experts in diverse fields, all with one thing in common: the ability to clearly describe why contraception is wrong and how to communicate that truth to others.
Dr. Christopher Kaczor, PhD, is professor of philosophy at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles. He spoke to me about the child as good—a great good. Seems odd to have to say that out loud, but this is where we’re at as a society and a Church. Kaczor delivered on the moral philosophy aspect of Humanae Vitae.
Dr. George Delgado, MD, is medical director of Culture of Life Family Health Care in San Diego. He is also a Natural Family Planning Medical Consultant trained in NaProTECHNOLOGY and is board certified in family medicine as well as hospice and palliative medicine. Dr. Delgado also developed the abortion pill reversal medication. I’ve interviewed him many times on Catholic Answers Live. Our interview focused on the difference NFP makes in marriage.
Father Paul Check, former executive director of Courage International and now rector of St. John Fisher Seminary in Bridgeport, CT, spoke to me about a little-made connection: that between dissent from HV and the rise of the homosexualist movement. Where else are you going to hear this content?
In this episode you will learn:
- A simple way to explain why kids are the fruit and crown of marriage, which is true even if some couples are infertile
- How moral philosophy helps explain why contraception is wrong
- The difference between contraception and NFP (natural family planning)
- A family doctor’s perspective on the emotional and spiritual health benefits of NFP
- How the rejection of the Church’s teaching on contraception led to societal acceptance of homosexuality
- Why straight couples who contracept have no logical basis to reject “gay” “marriage”
Resources recommended in this episode:
- Life Issues, Medical Choices: Questions and Answers for Catholics by Christopher Kazcor and Janet Smith
- A Defense of Dignity: Creating Life, Destroying Life, and Protecting the Rights of Conscience by Dr. Christopher Kazcor
- Desire of the Everlasting Hills documentary movie (free to watch)
Question of the week
How can I grow in my understanding of the teaching on birth control and better share it with others?
Support this podcast: www.patrickcoffin.media/donate
"Like" us on Facebook HERE
Sign up to the waiting list for our upcoming premium site Coffin Nation. You'll be the first to be notified!
Tweet to Patrick HERE
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The Grand Jury Report, released on August 14, destroyed any residual belief that the “long Lent of 2002” was somehow “a thing of the past.” It is devastating, and essentially concludes that the Catholic Church is a criminal syndicate that exists to protect the predators who lead it. This on the heels of the Theodore “Uncle Ted” McCarrick scandal, and the Chilean bishop scandal (badly botched by Pope Francis), the collosal problem of homosexual corruption in Nicaragua under Cardinal Maradiaga, and sundry financial malfeasance.
Catholics everywhere are disgusted, demoralized, and prone to feelings of despair.
Enter Dr. Ralph Martin with a prescription of hope. He wrote a perceptive and, I believe, prophetic, Letter to fellow troubled Catholics in the newsletter put out by Renewal Ministries, of which he is the president. What is needed—badly—is a sense of perspective and hope. Not “optimism,” not “moving forward,” and certainly not “lamenting the tragedy.”
It’s not a tragedy. It’s a series of sexual crimes and sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. Where is the Lord Jesus in all this? Ralph Martin, seminary professor, writer, and TV/Radio host, and longtime renewal leader, cuts to the quick.
In this episode you will learn:
- How to frame the scandal in its historical context
- What the scandal is really about (hint: it’s not “pedophile priests”)
- The need to double-down on prayer and fasting for the Church
- Why we need to stop “protecting the Church’s image”
- Why this crisis resembles the way God punished faithless Israel
- The main reason for hope as we survey the wreckage
Resources recommended in this episode:
Dear Troubled Catholics letter from Ralph Martin
The Fulfillment of All Desire by Ralph Martin
Crisis of Truth: The Attack on Faith, Morality and Mission in the Catholic Church by Ralph Martin
Question of the week
Has this series of scandals led you to deepen your relationship with Christ? If not, why not?
Comment below or on our Facebook page
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Don’t forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the full length podcast available in iTunes and other podcast directories, while you are there, please leave an honest review.
Support our podcast here: www.patrickcoffin.media/donate
"Like" us on Facebook HERE
Sign up to the waiting list for our upcoming premium site Coffin Nation. You'll be the first to be notified!
Tweet to Patrick HERE
Don’t forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the full length podcast available in iTunes and other podcast directories, while you are there, please leave an honest review.
Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful
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Ever wonder about the origins of scary movies and disturbing novels? E. Michael Jones, founder and editor of Culture Wars www.culturewars.com magazine and the author of over a dozen books on Catholic faith and culture, locates the horror genre in the chaotic wake of the Enlightenment.
The first horror novel is considered to be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. Most people are unaware of the severely dysfunctional, occultic, and thoroughly Enlightenment family context in which Mary Shelley was raised and into which she married (her family history and that of her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley’s read like a bad novella).
These people embraced the political and sexual revolution ignited by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Bad consequences were the result. Much of this trauma and chaos got internalized by writers and artists and the horror genre was born, beginning with Frankenstein and then extended by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why the hidden history of horror in film and fiction is tied to revolution, first, the French, then the Russian, and then the Sexual Revolution
- How artists who rationalized their own sexual misbehavior told stories that covertly revealed the cost of disobeying the dictates of conscience
- The connection between The Creature of the Black Lagoon (1854) and The Shape of Water (2017)
- The role that abandonment from the Christian, hence reasonable, view of sexual expression played in the rise of the horror films of the 70s and 80s
- The way in which many horror films are actually highly moralistic
- How Dracula is a reworked version of Christianity (hint: it’s all about the meaning of blood—shedding vs sucking)
Resources recommended in this episode:
Monsters From the Id: The Rise of Horror in Film and Fiction by E. Michael Jones
Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control by E. Michael Jones
Degenerate Moderns: Modernity as Rationalized Sexual Misbehavior by E. Michael Jones
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
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The founding fathers of America never envisioned the secularist UCLU version to which we are conditioned to accept as normative. References to the Bible, to Jesus Christ, and to God the Father abound in presidential speeches and writings at the outset of the United States of America.
So how did we get here? Attorney Charles Limandri has some thought-provoking answers to that question. The founder of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund talked about Supreme Court decisions that have deformed the culture, from the 1957 Roth decision that redefined obscenity under the First Amendment right to free speech; to the 1963 demolition of prayer in public schools, to the Griswold v Connecticut decision that legalized the sale and advertising of contraception; on up to the 2018 Obergefel v Hodges case, which imposed gay marriage on the country.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why the founders anticipated the societal and institutional health of the country only in the context of a religious and moral people.
- How the law allowing contraception led to the 1973 Roe v Wade decision based on a made-up thing called “the right to privacy” as found in the U.S. Constitution.
- The true meaning and origin of the phrase “separation of Church and state” and how it’s used as a cudgel against Christian ideals in the public square.
- Why “freedom of religion” is a far broader and richer reality that “freedom of worship”
- Current threats to free speech in areas such as the wedding industry (and photography, and B&Bs, and bakeries) when it comes to refusing to advocate for the LGTB lobby.
- Strong motivations for continuing to support cultural sanity and common sense in the face of increasing persecution.
Resources recommended in this episode:
- After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's by Hunter Madsen and Marshall Kirk.
- Good-bye Religious Liberty? How the Attacks on Marriage Are Threatening Your Religious Freedom audio CD by Charles LiMandri.
- The Naked Communist: Exposing Communism and Restoring Freedom by W. Cleon Skousen.
- How the US Became a Secular Nation article in The Wanderer by Charles LiMandri.
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www.patrickcoffin.net/store
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Resources recommended in this episode:
- Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader ed by Janet Smith
- Why Humanae Vitae Is Still Right ed by Janet Smith
- Humanae Vitae A Generation Later by Janet Smith
- The Contraception Deception: Catholic Teaching on Birth Control by Patrick Coffin
- Sex Au Naturel by Patrick Coffin (On SALE at $8.99)
What is Humanae Vitae, you ask? It’s the 1968 papal Encyclical by Blessed Pope Paul VI (who will be canonized this fall). I can still remember walking into the Daughters of St, Paul Catholic bookstore in Toronto when I was teaching high school there. My glance fell to a book titled, Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later by someone called Janet E. Smith. It had a huge effect on me. I was already on board with the norms of the Encyclical, but this Janet Smith person broadened and deepened my appreciation of the teaching, from multiple angles of consideration.
Well, I ended up meeting her at a couple of conferences through the years, and I’m so happy to present this interview with her. She is courageous, articulate, and knows the teaching inside and out.
In this episode you will learn::
-The context in which Humanae Vitae was released and rejected.
-The level of authority with which the Encyclical is presented by the Church.
-A simple way to understand the why behind the what of the teaching.
-How soon-to-be-Saint Paul VI was vindicated as a prophet.
-How contraception paves the way for abortion.
-The moral difference between natural family planning (NFP) and contraception.
-Why NFP is good for marital longevity, happiness, and stability.
Connect with Patrick:
Tweet to Patrick: https://twitter.com/Patrick_Coffin
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https://www.patrickcoffin.media/swag
For Catholic Resources:
www.patrickcoffin.net/store
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THIS was a really fascinating conversation with the world’s best known expositor of the Theology of the Body by St. John Paul II. In his second appearance on The Patrick Coffin Show, Christopher West is in fine form connecting all manner of dots as we talk about the impact of dissent from Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical by soon-to-be-St. Paul VI, in light of West’s new ebook, Eclipse of the Body. If you use the code ECLIPSE you can get a copy free + shipping by clicking here. If you enjoy Christopher’s writing and speaking, you will love this.
After this interview you will know:
- How the “errors of Russia” in the message of Fatima have to do with the destruction of marriage and family
- The way in which the sexual revolution started with exalting the body, is now running its last lap because of debasing the body
- How the gender confusion in the world has affected the divine liturgy
- Why the transgenderism movement is an inevitable consequence of dissent from Humanae Vitae
- The deep influence of St. John Paul II in the writing and implementing of Humanae Vitae
- How profound is the connection between the small r real presence of Christ in the marital act is organically tied to the capital R of the Real Presence in the Eucharist
Resources recommended in this episode:
Eclipse of the Body: How We Lost the Meaning of Sex, Gender, marriage & the Family (and how to get it back) by Christopher West (Free + shipping if you use the code ECLIPSE).
Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by St. John Paul II, translated by Michael Waldstein.
The Contraception Deception: Catholic Teaching on Birth Control by Patrick Coffin
Question of the week:
Do I really believe that the body, and not just the soul, is a visible reflection of God’s image and likeness? If not, why not?