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!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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 stories we stream every night are shaping our souls more than any sermon we hear on Sunday? That’s the heartbeat of this candid conversation with Mass of the Ages director Cameron O’Hearn—a filmmaker who pulled a hit film at 1.6 million views on principle, re-edited through crisis, and kept his eye fixed on devotion over dopamine.We trace the arc from the trilogy’s explosive reception to the quiet wins that don’t trend: a free priest-training platform walking hundreds of Novus Ordo priests (and even a few bishops) through the traditional Latin low Mass step by step. Cameron opens up about the cost behind the craft—lost footage, hard edits, and choosing integrity mid-production—and why part three refused to offer a “silver bullet” in a Church moment defined by tension and testing.Then we widen the lens. Movie Crusade was born from rediscovering Pius XI and Pius XII on cinema, and their bold claim that images form the moral personality. We unpack a simple but sharp framework—good, dangerous, harmful—for evaluating films, and revisit the power of the old Hayes Code when seven million Catholics once moved Hollywood. Expect frank takes on Silence, The Passion of the Christ, and The Chosen; how on-screen portrayals of Jesus can aid or distort prayer; and why icons’ strangeness protects mystery. This isn’t culture war for its own sake—it’s a call to choose stories that teach us to love the good.We close with a look at Discover Tradition, a brisk, story-driven travel series exploring living Catholic customs, and a sustainable model that gets more beautiful work finished and seen. If you care about the Latin Mass, moral imagination, and giving your family better art, this conversation is a roadmap and a rallying cry. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves movies, and leave a review to help more people find the show.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss

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 showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************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.rss