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!What if the hardest part of grief isn’t the loss itself, but how the living watch you handle it? We dive straight into a thorny question: is there a “right” time to remarry after a spouse dies, especially when children are still grieving and the internet is watching? We don’t hand out rules; we wrestle with the difference between what’s allowed, what’s wise, and what’s respectful when private sorrow meets public platforms.That candor opens into a bigger reflection on how people instinctively talk to their dead and what that says about prayer, memory, and the communion of saints. We explore why Marian devotion feels so natural, how a mother uniquely suffers with her children, and why many Catholics bristled at a recent Vatican document discouraging titles like Co-Redemptrix. The theology is one thing; the message it sends to the faithful is another. We try to hold both—truth and tenderness—without dumbing anything down.To ground today’s heat, we turn to Genesis. Younger over older, betrayal and reunion, Judah and Joseph—those messy family stories echo through salvation history, from Adam and Christ to Eve and Mary. We connect those patterns to modern culture wars, fear-based politics, and the outrage economy. Why did a tame interview spark a wildfire? What happens when panic and censorship drive people into echo chambers? Meanwhile, real pressures—debt, housing, wages, family breakdown—grind on in the background. Our aim is clarity: honor grief without spectacle, love Mary without apology, value nation without idolatry, and keep your eyes on what actually shapes lives.If this conversation challenged you or gave you language for something you’ve felt, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find the show. Your take: does public grief need public rules?Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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!Two timelines. Dozens of videos. One uncomfortable pattern: our feeds are training us to fight. We set out to play a simple game—“Whose feed is it?”—and ended up mapping how algorithms steer attention toward outrage, race-bait clips, and culture-war content designed to keep you scrolling and seething.We start with a candid look at intra-Catholic debates and why public commentary on big moves—like media personalities joining major platforms—should be fair game. Then a body-cam video from a church stops the jokes cold: a man tries to breach a tabernacle while a lone officer hesitates. We talk through drugs vs. possession, the importance of proper procedures, and how policy-driven optics can put both citizens and officers at risk. It’s not anti-police to say training and backup save lives; it’s pro-reality.From there, we follow the week’s algorithmic arc: EBT panic, fraud clips, and the budget math no one wants to discuss. We break down how inflation acts as a stealth tax, why debt service is swallowing policy space, and how little truly changes across administrations once you look past the branding. Meanwhile, social video continues to spotlight bad behavior because it pays—and the more people rage-share, the more these moments define whole groups. That’s not good reporting; it’s content engineering.To lighten the mood (a bit), we explore the strange and hilarious corners of Zoomer meme culture—white Monster energy, Agartha lore—and how even these jokes become identity markers the platforms can sort and sell. The throughline: feeds shape frames, frames shape feelings, and feelings drive choices in the real world. The fix isn’t to hide; it’s to raise your standards above the algorithm’s incentives. Curate what you consume, interrogate what’s missing, and talk openly about institutions and influencers without losing your grip on charity or truth.If you care about media literacy, Catholic commentary with a backbone, and untangling policy from performance, this one’s for you. Listen, share with a friend, and tell us: what’s the strangest pattern your feed has been pushing lately? Subscribe, leave a review, and send us your best (or worst) algorithm finds—we’ll feature our favorites next time.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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 Catholic podcast just got bought—and the tremor is bigger than one show. We open the hood on what happens when a platform promises reach and relief: fewer invoices, more producers, cleaner schedules. But where do the lines get drawn? We walk through how “creative control” often becomes control by omission—careful guest lists, avoided flashpoints, and a steady grooming of the audience to stop asking first-order questions about war, influence, and the faith’s public voice.From there we zoom out. The theological backdrop matters: how Catholics understand Israel and Judaism after the council, how charity rejects collective guilt yet still permits clear speech about power, and why a Church that prioritizes spiritual works must be brave in naming realities that polite media won’t touch. We examine the reflex to label uncomfortable analysis as bigotry, the role of diaspora identity in American politics, and the way postwar narratives have shaped what Catholics think they’re allowed to say. None of this calls for cruelty. It calls for courage with charity—and the humility to let Scripture and Tradition set the boundaries, not sponsors.We also map the media incentives that steer conversations long before a script is written: who is invited onto stages and into studios, which conferences open doors, and why some voices never get the mic. That quiet sorting process creates a curated Catholicism—safe for brands, soothing to coalitions, but thin on the truths that actually convert hearts. If evangelization online is going to mean anything, it has to look like full-contact honesty: welcoming hard guests, testing arguments in public, and letting the hierarchy of truths lead. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who cares about Catholic media, and leave a review telling us one topic you think should never be off-limits.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

Fr. Mawdsley, a Catholic priest and expert on liturgy and metaphysical theology, dives into the clash between tradition and modern globalist pressures. He explores how social media fuels outrage, altering our perceptions and interactions. The discussion expands to immigration, highlighting the importance of cultural sovereignty and community integration. Fr. Mawdsley also addresses the Church's response to contemporary issues, advocating for a return to traditional worship and moral clarity amidst chaotic cultural shifts.

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 fake video goes viral, a holiday explodes across timelines, and suddenly everyone’s arguing about culture, borders, and the Church. We dig into how AI hoaxes and algorithmic rage bait are reshaping the conversation around faith and public life, and why the loudest narratives keep winning—even when they’re empty. From the latest deepfakes attributed to church leaders to the Vatican’s two-year TLM extensions, we unpack mixed signals, real consequences, and the deeper question: what holds a community together when trust is thin?We share how these online storms feed real exhaustion, then look squarely at leadership and language. When violence targets Christians, “it’s just social conflict” won’t do; words matter when souls and lives are at stake. We explore the line between preaching principles and prescribing policy, why unity requires honest clarity, and how ecumenism can serve truth without dissolving identity. Along the way, we examine the pipeline that turns AI slop into viral fuel, the role of click farms with no stake in the Church, and the spiritual hazard of living inside an outrage machine.Finally, we turn inward: a new generation of orthodox seminarians, old power networks, and how healthy parishes can coexist with conflicted leadership. The path forward isn’t flashy: curate your inputs, guard your attention, build local trust, support clear teaching, and pray for courage. If you’re tired of noise but hungry for substance, this conversation keeps the focus on first things—truth, charity, and the hard work of real unity.If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a rating with one takeaway you want more of next time. Your feedback shapes what we tackle next.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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 shaky ad read and some friendly ribbing give way to a rare, candid conversion story: a Reformed pastor worn thin by 2020, family burdens, and Sunday dread begins asking God for an exit ramp he can’t yet name. An old friend—now Catholic—offers a simple challenge: read the Catechism to learn the Church from the Church. So he does, pencil in hand. Circles for “yes,” rectangles for “I need more,” triangles for “no way.” Then daily Mass. Then Latin Mass. What surprises him first is the familiarity—the lectionary, the reverence, the shape of worship echoing his Lutheran childhood. What changes him next is Scripture: Hebrews 12 reframes worship as a present communion with the saints; Isaiah 22 and Matthew 16 connect the key and the office in a typology he already loves to preach.Meanwhile, life doesn’t pause. His wife grieves, becomes a guardian overnight, and shoulders state paperwork while he strains to shepherd a congregation on an empty tank. One prayer breaks through the fog: Mary, be a mother to my wife while she’s losing hers. Grace answers. The exit ramp appears on a Florida trip when his wife says, Maybe this is it. He resigns gently, stays through year‑end, and answers one summer’s worth of honest questions—including a sermon on Mary’s perpetual virginity built from the Reformers themselves. In January, they slip out of town to worship quietly. Friends notice and ask. There’s no recruiting, just real answers. The Holy Spirit moves: four couples and their children, plus two reverts, begin OCIA and enter the Church. Seventeen souls. More ripples follow—his oldest starts OCIA in another city.We also talk about the temptations after conversion: platform, hot takes, “professional Catholic” life. He chooses stillness over speed, daily Mass over instant punditry, Our Lady and the saints over arguments for their own sake. He’s drafting a practical guide to help Catholics “speak Protestant,” especially on typology and authority, but only with spiritual direction and doctrinal checks. If you’ve ever wondered how Scripture, suffering, and friendship might converge to redirect a life—and a community—this story will meet you there.If this moved you, share it with someone discerning, subscribe for more thoughtful conversations, and leave a review with the one moment that surprised you most.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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 microphone squeal, a sarcastic wine ad, and then the floor drops out. We go from laughs to the fault lines running through Catholic life right now: a made-for-camera stunt at an ICE facility framed as “Eucharist denied,” diocesan letters pushing Latin Mass communities to fold into “reverent” alternatives, and families who built their lives around stable liturgy wondering where to go this Sunday. We don’t dress it up—trust breaks when sacraments and headlines get blended for optics.We walk through Knoxville’s announcement, the signals from Rome’s DDW, and what the first week’s numbers look like when a thriving TLM map gets redrawn. Behind every statistic is a home sale, a homeschool co-op, and a seven-year-old who just lost the friends he prays with. We press the claim that liturgy forms people: habits at the altar shape what your conscience tolerates on Monday. That doesn’t deny validity; it insists that culture matters and that “reverent Novus Ordo” promises feel thin when the same authorities hint they’ll remove kneelers if challenged.Cardinal Robert Sarah’s voice serves as a compass: encourage those who actually practice the faith. We contrast that fatherly posture with an impulse to homogenize—whether in worship or in how leaders talk about identity and assimilation. The throughline is consistent: distinct forms, memories, and practices keep people rooted. Erase them and you get a bland surface where convictions evaporate. We wrestle with obedience, courage, and prudence without pretending there’s a single neat answer. Endure what purifies; resist where your duty to your family demands it. And stop popesplaining people’s pain—compassion is not disloyalty.Along the way we share bright threads: a young seeker finding the Latin Mass, a Protestant pastor-turned-Catholic who brought seventeen souls with him, and a reminder that different voices in the Church play different roles. If worship shapes belief, then the task is simple and hard: guard the forms that train hearts to love God, name the costs honestly, and build communities that don’t fold when the memo arrives. If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more displaced Catholics can find a lifeline.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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!Warning: Some F-Bombs were dropped in this sectionStart with a careful read of the room: families are stretched thin, culture is noisy, and the heart still aches for God. We sat down and opened a fresh Church document on charity and the poor, then asked a hard question—why does the guidance we hear so often miss the pain points we face each week? Caring for the poor is essential; the Beatitudes aren’t optional. But parents are also navigating social media modesty battles, identity confusion, and a five-hour Sunday just to reach the sacraments. Where is the pastoral help that speaks to those fires?We dig into the difference between moral teaching and prudential policy, especially around immigration. Compassion matters, and human dignity isn’t up for debate. Yet the on-the-ground strain—parish distance, stretched budgets, cultural fragmentation—rarely earns direct acknowledgment. We argue for a both/and: real charity and a realistic defense of community life, parish stability, and the spiritual formation of children. That requires leaders who will name the demons of our moment—pornography, contempt, factionalism, and despair—along with the corporal needs we already know by heart.Along the way, we wrestle with our own tone. Social media rewards scorn, but the Gospel commands love of the person in front of us—even when we disagree. We talk about reverence for the Eucharist, when not to receive, and how to keep Sundays from souring into resentment for teens. Underneath it all is a plea for shepherds to meet spiritual hunger with supernatural hope: clear teaching, reachable sacraments, and courage that transcends politics.If this resonates—if you’ve felt unseen while trying to hold your family together in a loud age—press play. Then tell us what help you most need from your parish and your leaders. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s on the same road, and leave a review so more families can find the conversation.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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!Forget the safe take. We go straight at the knot that ties American power, Israeli policy, media gatekeeping, and the Catholic conscience—and why so many big voices choose silence when the stakes are highest. The conversation contrasts a clean non‑intervention case with a thornier identity lens and then brings in the missing third rail: theology. That’s where the ground shifts—Scripture’s patterns of elder and younger brothers, covenant faithfulness and rupture, and the Church’s self-understanding after Christ illuminate why this debate won’t stay “just politics.”We talk candidly about incentives in conservative media, the “I don’t care about Israel” cop‑out, and how American funding and weapons erase neutrality. Clips from Dave and Nick frame the battle lines; our take argues that morals don’t disappear because a topic risks your job. We press on papal rhetoric and immigration, not to harden hearts, but to ask whether sweeping statements replace prudence and ignore those of us who serve immigrants and the poor up close. Compassion needs order; pastoral care needs the parish and the Eucharist, not only headlines and hashtags.There’s a cultural spine here too: how post‑WWII trauma shaped public life and even Church tone; how the old TV gatekeepers collapsed; how suburbs, highways, and the melting‑pot myth atomized communities that once anchored faith and duty. If America is only ideas, no one belongs anywhere. If America is people and places, stewardship demands honesty about borders, aid, and the costs we export and import. Through it all, we call for courage without hatred—love of enemy, willingness to suffer, and the resolve to tell the whole truth even when it burns.If this conversation challenged you—or gave you language for what you’ve felt—share the episode, leave a review, and hit follow. Your support helps honest talk outpace strategic silence.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880

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 calendar date can feel like a footnote—until you realize it’s a battle cry. October 7 isn’t just ink on the liturgical page; it’s the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, born from the battle of Lepanto, when a divided Europe found the courage to row into the wind. We sat down with historian and translator Ryan Grant to unpack how a six-year Dominican papacy, a “nobody” commander, and a sea full of galleys redirected history—and why the story still reads like a map for our moment.We start with Pope Pius V: a reformer forged by Trent who promulgated the Roman Missal, backed real clerical renewal with St Charles Borromeo, and refused to flatter power. Against a backdrop of French gamesmanship, Protestant pressure, and Spain’s global overreach, he formed the Holy League and handed command to Don John of Austria, an illegitimate son with legitimate nerve. Ryan breaks down the fight the way it actually happened: tercios turning decks into battlefields, matchlocks hissing through smoke, Venetian galleasses doing less than legend says, and Ali Pasha betting the center at the wrong time. When El Sultana fell and the standard changed hands, morale cracked and the tide turned.But does Lepanto “matter” if the Ottomans rebuilt a fleet in six months? We tackle the revisionism head-on. Strategy and psychology shifted: no amphibious assault on Italy, no march on Rome, a Mediterranean suddenly contested. Bells rang in hostile lands, and the Church enshrined the memory as Our Lady of Victory—later Our Lady of the Rosary—cementing a devotion that would shape lay prayer for centuries. We explore the rosary’s Dominican roots without forcing a neat origin story and get practical about devotion: pray on the commute, love Mary first, learn a saint well enough to ask for help often.Most of all, we take the human lesson home. Don John didn’t wait for the perfect hierarchy; he went. If you’re looking for permission to begin—prayer, study, service, leadership—consider this your signal. Learn the feast. Know the history. Pick up your beads and move. If this conversation gives you something to chew on, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find thoughtful, faith-filled history that speaks to right now.Support the showGoFundMe for Catholic couple in need: https://gofund.me/314382e0dCheck out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off!Want the best potato chips in the world? Head over to fatthins.com and use code AB10 for 10% off!********************************************************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🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6029316625530880