Avoiding Babylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The night starts with chaos—copyright worries, a broken chair, and a mood hanging by a thread—and then shifts into something a lot more meaningful: a 10-day pilgrimage to Italy designed for depth, safety, and affordability. We walk through the route that blends history and holiness—Rome, Pompeii, Capri, Naples, Loreto, Lanciano, Assisi, Orvieto—and explain why we’re keeping it to one bus and targeting around four thousand dollars: intimacy over hype, substance over markup, and a chance for travelers who’ve hesitated to finally say yes.From there, we step straight into the week’s storm around TPUSA and the conservative media world. What happens when movements turn into personality cults, when symbols become props, and when emotion is the product? We unpack how factional tribes—Candace, Tucker, Fuentes, BAP—monetize outrage and keep us scrolling, while core Christian realities like sin, penance, and the interior life get sidelined. The result is a culture war that looks spiritual but rarely calls for conversion. Our push is simple: trade spectacle for repentance, and public drama for real prayer and virtue.We also tackle the pressure inside the Church: the fatigue of constant scandal, the unnatural posture of permanent suspicion toward the hierarchy, and the ache for true spiritual fatherhood. We’re not calling for theatrics or caricatures of masculinity; we’re asking for priests and bishops whose presence is steady, fatherly, and ordered to the salvation of souls. Finally, we confront the hot-button debates—Zionism, media narratives, and what can be questioned—arguing for honest inquiry without sensationalism and a theological lens that prioritizes human dignity, history, and clarity.If you’re ready for a conversation that ditches performative outrage and aims at real renewal—plus a concrete way to encounter the sacred in Italy—hit play. And if this resonated, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Knives Out 3: A murder in a neo‑gothic church, a boxer who traded the ring for a collar, and a monsignor whose thunder hides a storm—this story had us leaning in from skepticism to surprise. What starts like a stylish whodunit unfolds into a thoughtful meditation on guilt, grace, and the strange mercy of suffering. We dig into why the narrative needed Catholicism—not just the aesthetics of stained glass and cassocks, but the hard edges of confession, penance, and redemptive love.We share where the film won us over: Father Jud’s steady humility, the way ritual is presented as a living story, and a pivotal conversation that reframes doubt without smugness. Monsignor Wicks emerges as a cautionary tale of zeal unmoored from charity, while the detective’s barbs slowly reveal an old wound masquerading as certainty. Along the way we spot smart details—a well-placed theological book, a deliberate use of architecture—that signal someone behind the scenes knows the difference between costume and conviction.Expect a candid take on content concerns, an honest compare to “faith” films that preach but don’t persuade, and a deeper look at the film’s central symbols, including an “Eve’s apple” motif that turns into a stark contrast between grasping and surrender. Whether you’re Catholic, curious, or just here for a sharp mystery with moral weight, this conversation aims to help you see the clues behind the clues—and maybe why repentance doesn’t shrink a life but sets it free.If this resonates, follow the show, share with a friend who loves smart cinema, and leave a review with your take on the film’s portrayal of faith. We read every word.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A cold open with tech chaos turned into one of our most honest conversations about how a fringe thesis became a full‑scale cultural confrontation. We chart the path from announcing The Case for Patriarchy in 2019, to fiery debates that shocked polite company, to a 90‑minute documentary that platforms loved visually but refused to touch because the ideas cut against the grain.We dig into where the argument lands: authority in the home and church, why “mutual submission” scrambles roles, and how that confusion seeps into liturgy, music, and parish life. Ephesians 5 isn’t a relic; it’s a blueprint. We talk about the early Church disciplining male lust, why Christian marriage is uniquely monogamous and indissoluble, and why the modern crisis now centers on courage—men saying no when it matters, and women choosing holiness aligned with a husband’s headship or a consecrated vocation. The goal isn’t online chest‑thumping; it’s ordered love, clear duty, and beauty that elevates the soul.We also take a hard look at the red‑pill economy. Yes, it names real wounds, but too often it slides into cynicism, limited hangouts, and content that monetizes vice. We offer a different path for Zoomers and millennials drowning in black‑pill threads: build strength, cultivate virtue, join real brotherhoods, and pursue a hopeful, realistic approach to marriage. Not every past mistake is disqualifying; lead well and many women will follow. At the parish level, fix the music, preach the hard texts, and stop outsourcing leadership to committees that smother clarity.If you’ve felt the cultural shift around feminism and patriarchy but wanted substance, story, and stakes, this film is our best case—shot beautifully, paced to hold your attention, and blunt where it needs to be. Watch the premiere for $1.99 at 10 a.m. CST on candaceowens.com, then tell us what we got right, what we missed, and where you want us to take this next. If the conversation moves you, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find it.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!What happens when a culture starts bending truth to fit its desires? We follow that question across surprising terrain—Freud’s hidden motives, Wagner’s spell over European imagination, Bauhaus boxes that flatten the human spirit, and the concrete politics of highways and housing projects that shattered parish life. Along the way, we challenge the idea that ideas are neutral. People make theories, and those people have desires, wounds, and wagers hidden in their work.We dig into how music can catechize a nation, how architecture preaches a theology, and how postwar social engineering rebranded thick ethnic worlds into a thin “white” identity. The conversation pulls no punches on race as an ideology of management, not heritage, and on why religious belonging often explains American life better than color lines. From the “triple melting pot” to the claims of universal design, we map the choices that made cities brittle and suburbs bland—and why families paid the price.Then we pivot to power, vice, and freedom. Sexual liberation sells itself as emancipation while functioning as a lever of control, especially in a world wired for instant indulgence. The counterweight is old and bracing: you are only as free as you are free from your vices. Finally, we climb to the keystone: Logos. John’s audacious claim—Logos is God—offers a language sturdy enough to speak across civilizations. If America moves into a fourth era as Protestant hegemony recedes and new blocs rise, the live question is simple and seismic: will appetite or Logos set the terms?Hear the case, question the links, and decide which story you’re living. If this conversation stretches your thinking, share it with a friend, hit follow, and leave a review telling us what challenged you most.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Tired of surface-level hot takes during Advent? We press pause on the news cycle and dive into Scripture’s living architecture—how David, Solomon, Isaiah, and John converge to reveal a Kingdom that isn’t just future hope but present reality. We walk through the liturgical calendar’s wisdom, the shock of John’s “hour,” and the way Cana’s stone jars unlock Exodus, Numbers, and a new creation pattern. Along the way we confront a popular error: the idea that Christ hasn’t yet established His Kingdom. If the Gospel announces “the Kingdom is at hand,” then the Church is not a holding pattern—it’s the King’s reign made visible in Word, sacrament, and a Eucharistic temple.We explore Marian typology without sentimentality: Jeremiah’s hidden ark, the overshadowing glory cloud, and why reverence for Mary clarifies, rather than distracts from, the Incarnation. We trace the branch from Jesse through Nazareth, the bread of the presence through David to the Eucharist, and Nathaniel’s fig tree across the prophets. Typology isn’t trivia; it’s how Scripture trains our eyes to see Christ fulfilling every promise. And because grace aims at real life, we talk about family prayer, small rituals that carry children through hard years, and the demanding joy of fatherhood as priestly leadership—authority as sacrifice, not dominance.If you’ve felt disoriented by church conflicts or exhausted by constant outrage, Advent offers a better way: return to the story, receive the King, and let the calendar shape your days. Come hear how heaven “colonizes” earth through the Church, why obedience grows from grace, and how the Kingdom breaks into ordinary homes through beauty, memory, and the sacraments. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find thoughtful, faith-filled conversations that spark real devotion.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The spark was simple: a high-profile pro-life voice spoke out about pornography, and Catholic Twitter went nuclear. We don’t argue over whether porn is destructive; we press into who should say what, to whom, and where. That means asking hard questions about authority, modesty, and the difference between true statements and fitting speakers. Are we applauding truth in the wrong forum, or have we forgotten that the messenger and the setting matter to souls?We unpack why so many younger Catholic men bristle at women publicly addressing men about porn. It’s not approval of sin; it’s a plea for order. Men need men—fathers, priests, brothers—to confront them with clarity and show a path out: confession, accountability, and practical steps that come with real spiritual fatherhood. Women, meanwhile, have urgent work guiding women away from romance-porn, vanity, and the economy of digital attention that warps the heart. Parallel lanes, different duties, shared end: holiness.Along the way, we examine the deeper currents—decades of male abdication in the home and parish, the “girlboss” aesthetic baptized as Christian influence, and a social media environment that rewards heat more than wisdom. We revisit Adam and Eve, mutual submission, and the Church’s recent history, including the collapse in Catholic education and the failure of leaders to speak with a clear voice. The throughline: if we want renewal, we must restore ordered authority and the modesty of knowing our place and our audience.Listen for a candid, sometimes uncomfortable conversation that aims at healing, not scoring points. If you’re a man looking for real help, or a woman seeking the right lane to build others up, you’ll find practical clarity here. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Then tell us: who should speak to men about porn—and why?Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!What if Paul’s fiercest argument isn’t a detour but the key that ties Israel’s story together? We took a five-hour deep dive into Romans 9–11 and came up for air convinced that Paul’s mission to the Gentiles is how God keeps his promise to Israel—by finding the lost among the nations and rebuilding a family on the cornerstone of Christ.We start by tracing the pattern of the younger overtaking the older—Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—and how that pattern prepares Exodus, where God names Israel his firstborn and hints that the nations are the younger sibling. From the Davidic high point to the split of north and south, we follow exile, pride, and the prophets to Jonah, whose “sign” is death and rising, not fish tales. That sign lands with force when the temple falls forty years after the crucifixion. Then we connect Peter’s confession and the keys to Isaiah’s royal steward, showing how the church stands as the Davidic household made new in Christ.Along the way we tackle a thorny subject: Zion read carnally versus Zion fulfilled in the Messiah. We challenge the habit of projecting sacred promises onto secular power, and we warn how pride—religious or political—blinds otherwise devout people to what God is doing. Paul’s hard words—“not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”—become a lifeline when institutions shake and headlines stoke fear. Instead of checklist prophecy, we argue for humble vigilance: Scripture reads us before we read it, and fulfillment is clearest in hindsight.If you crave a canonical reading that makes Romans 9–11 come alive, that connects Genesis to Peter’s keys, and that invites a humbler, braver faith, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Bible typology, and leave a review to tell us where you agree, where you think we stretched, and what you want us to unpack next.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Power rarely moves quietly, and our tour through the English Reformation proves it. We start with a young, athletic Henry VIII whose dynastic panic collided with fragile Tudor legitimacy and recent civil war. From Wolsey’s velvet control to Cromwell’s hard-edged dissolution of the monasteries, the story isn’t a popular uprising against Rome—it’s a top-down refit of a living church under the pressure of succession, money, and law.Zooming out, Europe hums with end-times energy: printing stokes polemics, the sack of Rome shatters illusions, and theological debates double as statecraft. We revisit Mary I without the propaganda haze—her measured governance, her duty to crush rebellion, and the way her reign got rewritten by enemies. Then Elizabeth I tightens the bolts: supremacy oaths, recusancy fines, and an intelligence apparatus that turns conscience into evidence. The result is a church that keeps the silhouette of altars while changing the crown above them.Underground Catholicism adapts with nerve and nuance. Jesuit missions like Edmund Campion’s draw hard lines, house chapels encode the Mass into Byrd’s music, and priest holes become the country’s hidden cathedrals. We unpack the Gunpowder Plot as either interception or invention and track how it cements “Catholic equals treason” in the English mind. From Laudian “beauty of holiness” to the civil war backlash, from Jacobite hopes to the Quebec Act and Wellington’s push for emancipation, we follow the long arc that shaped modern Britain—and its American echo in how nations sacralize power. Subscribe, share this episode with a history-loving friend, and tell us: which Tudor moment most changed your view of the Reformation?Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A flooded basement, a dead furnace, and three kids shivering through a New York winter. We start with a human story and a fundraiser that turned into a lesson in Christian charity—how a community can change a family’s life overnight. Then we pivot into one of the most charged theological conversations of the moment: Scott Hahn’s interview with Gavin Ashenden and the fault lines it exposed.We unpack why Hahn refused to let the conversation stall at labels, and instead zeroed in on a deeper danger: bicovenantalism. Is it anti-Semitic to critique Zionism? Hahn says no—and shows why conflating political critique with hatred is lazy and misleading. Walking through Romans 9–11, he offers a vivid image: remaining within the Old Covenant without Christ is like living in a mansion on fire. That line reframes everything. We explore how Catholic liturgy—altar, priest, sacrifice—fulfills biblical worship, while post-70 AD rabbinic Judaism marks a real discontinuity from temple-centered Israel. Along the way, Augustine and Aquinas remind us why the preservation of the Jewish people is providential and prophetic, pointing toward a future conversion near the eschaton.The conversation broadens with clips of Benjamin Netanyahu invoking “Jews against Rome” and calling the United States the “new Rome.” We connect that to the Church Fathers on the “restrainer,” the unraveling of Christendom, and how propaganda pressures Catholics to fall silent. The challenge is clear: resist panic labels, reject hatred, speak truth, and stay rooted in doctrine. We close with a heartfelt letter from a 27-year-old father discerning Catholicism while priced out of housing and ignored by leadership. It’s a sobering snapshot of the moment—and a call for the Church to engage young men with honesty and hope.If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations that don’t dodge the hard questions, and leave a review with your takeaways. Your voice helps others find these talks.Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The ground beneath Catholic life is moving: a diocese weighs merger, a flagship university faces succession questions, and a younger right is quietly mastering the mechanics of power. We open with Steubenville’s crossroads and the outsized influence of charismatic figures like Scott Hahn—how donor gravity, faculty recruitment, and reputation hinge on personalities, and what happens when those anchors age out. That sparks a bigger question we can’t dodge: can Catholic institutions renew themselves without a clear plan for leadership and community stability?From there we zoom out to the media and political ecosystem. Critics warn about Groypers infiltrating DC, but miss what makes the movement resilient: a culture of praxis that turns talking points into step‑by‑step action. We unpack the generational clash as older voices lean on moral alarm while younger Catholics ask for mentorship, not gatekeeping. The real divide forming isn’t over liturgy; it’s over whether we keep outsourcing our hopes to a spent conservative order or build policy around Catholic social teaching—curbing usury, strengthening families, and defending place over “just move.”We don’t sanitize hard topics or excuse reckless behavior. We insist on charity as a boundary, reject dehumanization, and argue that serious strategy beats viral outrage. If the old guard wants relevance, it must confront the debt, housing, and wage realities that make Gen Z cynical. If the young right wants durability, it must build institutions and habits that outlast personalities. Between these paths lies a rare chance to renew Catholic witness in public life.Subscribe for future episodes, share this one with a friend who cares about the Church’s future, and leave a review with your take: is the next Catholic fault line already here?Support the showTake advantage of great Catholic red wines by heading over to https://recusantcellars.com/ and using code "BASED" for 10% off at checkout!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon