Catholics I Like To Write About

As a Catholic or someone interested in Catholic things, what type of Catholics do you like to listen to in a podcast, watch in a youtube video or read in an article or book to gain deeper insight into the truth, beauty and goodness of  Catholicism? The answers will vary depending on what  speaks to your soul personally and what you feel uplifts you in your faith journey.

For me personally I like writings and such not that not only display solidly orthodox official Catholic teaching but displays it in a creative unique way that strikes something in me that I find worth remembering and thinking about and might draw me closer to loving God and neighbor more. Never underestimate how wit, art and creativity play a part in sharing Christ’s word in the human heart and soul. It was this piece of writing that led me to return to being Catholic after wandering away hanging out with some of Jesus’s other sheep.

But mere true Catholic teaching is not enough. Pope Francis explains this in his answer to dubium submitted to him by some cardinals in what amounts to his explanation of Pastoral Charity.

I like to read, watch or listen to individuals or groups that display this attitude in their media output. I’ll even see them in person if there in town. Kristin and I recently went to see Dawn Eden Goldstein talk about her book about the sponsor of Alcoholic Anonymous founder Bill Wilson (no relation) Father Ed.

As an experienced journalist, he should have known that even intelligent readers can find it difficult to grasp an unfamiliar concept when it is presented to them. Within the space of a brief article, he had not only introduced the idea of dum-dum thinking but also tried to apply it to the great St. Thomas. Of course that would elicit confusion among budding heresy hunters—especially when he threw in the part about how Aquinas, after a supernatural experience, likened his Summa Theologiae to chaff.

I also like to write and quote these types of people as I take a deep dive and shine a spotlight  on their writing, youtube videos or podcasts. Kreeft, Dawn and Deacon Steven D. Greydanus are on my list of people I want to write at length about perhaps one day. Deacon Steve is mostly known for his insightful movie reviews given from a Catholic perspective at Decent Films – SDG Reviews.

I would call the article The Decent Writing of Deacon Steven Greydanus. He graciously let me share his insightful non-movie writing on my website.

And I like a variety of individuals who come at the faith from different perspectives or angles and put a different emphasis on various topics and subjects.

This quote from OnePeterFive expresses for me the reason I love to quote other Catholics. Were a diverse bunch of baptized children of God who like to write about the faith. We can learn something from one another if we listen.

 We have Masses said for our deceased grandmas and uncles and other loved ones because we don’t want to take anything for granted — because we can’t know where they are on the purgatorial path, and there’s nothing better we can do for them than to direct some supernatural oomph their way. The same goes for Janis. All we know is that she’s dead, and that heaven is what she was destined for — what she was created for. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she immediately recognized Love incarnate at the moment of her death; that she knelt, bowed her head, and uttered her definitive Fiat; that she’s heaven bound now, and could use a celestial lift. Why I Had a Mass Offered for Janis Joplin| National Catholic 

This quote about the BCCT  also exemplifies the other types of Catholics I sometimes write about which are those who are  opposed to the type of Catholicism displayed  and expressed by the Vatican 2 generation who loves Pope Francis. I overall don’t recommend their websites as they spew a lot of nasty negative unsavory output. I call them the  Catholic Rigorous Vortex . I however have gone out of my way to  comb through their websites and find those writings that apply to the Pope Francis Pastoral Charity Principle. Sometimes finding good wonderful material worth sharing from their sites is like trying to find a lost grey rock on a beach as the tide is coming in. Church Militant is one such example of trying very hard while exhausting your brain to find positivity in a sea of negativity. But it can be done if you apply the Whatever Biblical Principle  

Whatever is true,
Whatever is noble,
Whatever is right,
Whatever is pure,
Whatever is lovely,
Whatever is admirable—
Anything that is excellent or praiseworthy
—Write about such things
so others can think about such things.
Philippians 4:8-New International Version (modified).

Church Militant’s Better Doppelganger AUGUST 17, 2020

Catholics under 40 are well aware: The Church has a personnel problem. We’re dorks. It’s precisely why regular people don’t take us seriously. We need to recapture our cool to spread the Faith to the world at large.

Think about it. What happens when an entire generation of quarterbacks, soldiers, prom kings and social media influencers is told Christianity is about reading books and being generally constipated and boring? A mass exodus ensues. And for no reason, mind you.

While sanctity is a must, Christians also need to be genuine, which goes hand in hand with being fun and interesting.

I’m not advocating ditching holiness and virtue to be cool. What I’m saying is put down the theology books once in a while and learn to recreate like normal people. For the sake of all that’s good and holy, pick up an issue of Sports Illustrated. Perhaps — gasp — play some video games. Maybe, God forbid, lift a weight (something heavier than the Summa Theologiae). Joseph Enders  Make Catholicism Cool Again (churchmilitant.com)

It’s ironic that that article appeared on their website. CM even took their mean streak and used it to defend the legitimacy of the Pope.

Now that I found the good in them, I have completed my task and can go back to probably ignoring them most of the time unless a small little gem of wisdom comes my way.

It’s easy to find all the theology, spirituality and catholic practice that others get wrong. This type of media permeates the internet with ugliness and division in the body of Christ. They will know we are Christians by how much we admonish our brethren and whip them out of the church like Jesus whipped the tax collectors out of the temple. It’s much more challenging to find the good, true and beautiful aspects of our faith that we all hold in common with those we disagree with on other important issues and teachings. Looking for something positive in someone who we frown upon also breaks us out of our tribe and bubble and helps us to see those who claim to be Catholic are our brothers and sisters by baptism in the faith. Sometimes you discover that different people write about the same sorts of things.

What Patheos and One Peter Five have in Common MAY 20, 2020
A Taste of First Peter Five and Patheos Catholic MAY 21, 2020

The silence of Saint Joseph allowed God to speak to His saint and to be heard over the noise of the carpenter’s shop, over the haggling of customers and suppliers in Nazareth, where he plied his artisanship, over the multitude of taxpayers thronging into Bethlehem at the time of the census of Caesar Augustus, and over the foreign tongues that he would hear in Egypt. Joseph, the just man, distinguished himself by his intimate rapport with the Lord whom he served, for he obeyed the Father’s command to take to his home the Blessed Virgin, the living tabernacle of the new and eternal covenant. Saint Joseph provided food, shelter, and a loving home for God the Son, and he protected the Mother of God from idle speculation and malicious gossip.
Father Thomas Kocik, When Silence Speaks Volumes: A St. Joseph’s Day Reflection (March 19, 2017) OnePeterFive

Catholicism values silence. While we have magnificent music for our liturgies, awesome homilies, prayers we say out loud at Mass or together in the recitation of the rosary and so on, we also place importance on a tradition of silence.

There is a hauntingly beautiful and ancient hymn called “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” It is derived from the “Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn” from the Litany of St. James, written in the 4th Century. It’s first verse says:

“Let all mortal flesh keep silence/ And with fear and trembling stand/ Ponder nothing earthly-minded/ For with blessing in his hand/ Christ our God to earth descendeth/ Our full homage to demand.”

The hymn advises silence in the presence of the Lord, who brings us blessings but rightfully demands that we give Him our full attention and respect when we pray. As every teacher has admonished her students, “You can’t listen while you talk!”

The Value of Silence : Musings From the Pew(APRIL 29, 2022)   Lois Kerschen Patheos Catholic

There is more to Christmas than just Christ’s birth. It serves as the beginning of an epic, and Advent is the prologue whereby we prepare for the first spellbinding chapter. Some of the lesser known Christmas carols capture this stark freshness, like the sting of the winter air on our cheeks. For me, English carols hold the deepest resonance, seeming to rise from ancient mist, and rain, and soil, and sea. It is freshness of light piercing dark for the first time, of song piercing the silence, and the sky being rent by angel trumpets and an infant’s wail. It is the town crier making his rounds: “Past 3 o’clock, and a cold frosty morning! Past 3 o’clock! Good morrow, masters, all!”
Avellina Balestri And Thy Word Broke Their Swords: The Depth of Christmas (December 19, 2016} One Peter Five.com

Avellina Balestri  And Thy Words Broke Their Swords: The Empowering Depth and Dimension of Christmas (December 25, 2020) Patheos Catholic

If your brother/sister who sees you as a heretic writes a hit piece on what a modernist piece of trash you are, write a piece on something good they have contributed to Catholic culture.  If you can find it. Why miss an opportunity to heap burning coals on their inflammatory writings? Overcome evil slander with finding something charitable about that person. But sometimes rebuke is necessary. I don’t write hit pieces on other Catholics or groups no matter how much I think their writing is the equivalent of metaphysical puke.  I might however write a strong criticism of someone if their causing a lot of mischief in the Catholic world such as Fr. James Altman.

What are people starving for, Fr. Altman? JUNE 22, 2021
Does Wanting To Throw the Pope Into The Sea Make You A More Loving Catholic? SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Satish Joseph@FrSatishJoseph: The best way for me to understand the Father James Altman phenomenon is a thought from Pope Francis in “Let Us Dream.” In it, @Pontifex refers to “the selective morality of ideology.” Father Altman’s morality is based on a far-right ideology and not on the Gospel. Hence…Fr Altman’s skewed convictions about race, women, Catholicism, vaccines, and everything else. Father Altman is not insincere about his faith and social convictions. But his morality is misplaced. Totally misplaced.