Trads and Libs - Who Wins this Grudge Match for Real Catholicism

And, we're talking about I got duped, sorta. I got duped from fake Catholicism. I'm gonna tell you what happened just this past week. And did Pope Leo worship a false god? We're gonna talk about that at the top because it's the least interesting to me, but it's interesting and, disconcerting to a lot of folks, so I wanna get to that right away.

Did Pope Leo worship? We're gonna talk about that at the top of this episode of Fire Branded, the Catholic podcast with balls of fire. And I thank you once again for joining me. Hello to those of you Ellis. Wow. Catching me on Substack. Beautiful. And, those of you catching me at the forged.fm, aka Substack. Catching me on YouTube, Facebook, and everywhere else. Fade that music out.

Let's get right down into it. So the first thing I wanna talk about is and I have very little to say about it. There's something going around the Internet. Thanks be to Lysight News and whoever they're collaborating with. You know, it's very interesting the way Lysight News frames this.

Lysight News said in a social media post, which they loved saying things on social media and then saying something slightly different in their editorial, which is still fake news. But they said podcasters so and so claims Pope Leo worshiped a false idol, Pachamama. I'm paraphrasing, but not by much. So it's interesting that they won't say it. They'll say that somebody else is saying it so that they won't feel the repercussions of having said it and spread false news.

The basic story is this. And again, I have very little to offer on it. Okay. There's a photograph from many years ago of Pope Leo when he was a missionary priest, an Augustinian in, I don't know, the Amazon. I don't I don't remember exactly where he was. The image appears

to show him kneeling in front of the Pachamama statue with some natives surrounding him, or it shows him kneeling down, digging a hole to plant flowers. It depends on your perspective. Here's what really happened. And, again, I don't have much to offer, but here's what I know I can tell you. That's true.

If it's what I think it is, this was an Augustinian Catholic event while he was a missionary in, I think the Amazon. So first thing to note is this is not Pope Leo then father Robert Prevost. This is not father Prevost having gone out somewhere in a remote jungle in the Andes to go worship this statue. If it was Pachimama, if it

was the real statue, if they were other if they were, like, natives, they're worshiping it. I if that happened, they brought it to a Catholic event to do this. Okay? That's the first thing I can tell you that's true. Did Pope Leo join in on the fun? Did he kneel and give reverence to this false God? I don't think so. Was he kneeling there with other people who were kneeling there? It's possible. Was it really Pacha Mama there? I don't know based on what

I saw in the photograph, but what I can tell you that's true is this. It was at a Catholic event. Pope Leo and the Augustinians were the hosts. They were not guests somewhere else. They were the hosts. And the natives who had attended were guests. Whether or not let's say worst case scenario, Pope Leo trying to blend in with the crowd knelt and gave reverence to this false idol if it was Pachamama.

Worst case scenario, let's pretend that it was. What do we have there? We have a priest doing something stupid. Is it sinful? Well, I don't like the word worship in there. That's why I'm intentionally using the word reverence. It's funny. Lysight News calls it worshiping a false idol. Well, Lysight News, if that's worshiping, then you are Protestant. You can't say that you're a Catholic news. You can't say you're Catholic news anyway, but you can't

say that you're a Catholic news website if you're calling that worship. That makes you Protestant. But let's just pretend. Let's pretend you've got some sense. I'm saying reverence. Okay? Still, is that a sin? As far as I all things being equal, yes.

But does he recognize it as a real god? Almost certainly. Not even almost certainly. He certainly would not have recognized it as a real god or goddess. If he was reverencing this statue kneeling while the other people were, quote, unquote, worshiping it, is that a sin? Probably. It's some kind of a sin. It might be a grave sin. It might be a venial sin. It might be the sin of scandal.

It might be the sin of idolatry. I don't think so. In fact, I'm, like, 99% sure it would not qualify as idolatry. Stupid. Again, worst case scenario, if we're accepting the story that liesight news is telling us. Worst case scenario, is it a sin? It's at least a venial sin. Is it a grave sin? Maybe, depending on what was actually going on. Does that mean he's not going

to be a good pope? No. That doesn't that's not what that means. If he committed a sin, hopefully he has confessed it. We don't see his heart. We can't know that. If he committed a sin that day, does that define the whole of his priestly ministry? Does that define the whole of who he is as a Catholic? Forget about as a prelate. Forget about as a priest. Does that define the whole of who he is as a priest or as a Catholic? Certainly not.

So even if we accept the narrative being advanced by liesight news, oh, I'm sorry. Being advanced by a Catholic podcaster, liesight news is only telling us about that. They're not actually saying it. Okay. Then what we have there is a priest who did something stupid, which may or may not have been a venial or grave sin. Worst case scenario, it was a grave sin. Okay. Hopefully he has confessed it. And if he has not, that's between him and Jesus. There you go. There we have it.

So if you see this picture floating around and you're thinking, oh my God, Pope Leo worshiped a false idol. He might not have. In fact, my, my suspicion is he didn't. From what little I know of that event, I go back pretty far, not because I'm old, which I'm not. It's because I'm very experienced and I've been in this game for a long time. So the event, if it's what I'm thinking of, was a Catholic event. The Augustinians were

the host, and it wasn't a Catholic event and say, let's all get along. Let's pretend to be pagans. I, it was, I think it was a Catholic event on human ecology, if I remember correctly. Okay. If you see it, don't think, oh my god, pope pope Leo worshipped an idol when he was, you know, father Prevost. I don't think that's the case. And if it is the case, that tells us nothing. It tells us absolutely nothing. It's a great, big, fat, nothing burger.

So don't you worry your pretty little heads about it. What you should worry about is this. And I want you to really listen because here's what you should be worrying about. Why is LifeSite News reporting this at all? Why? LifeSite News obviously knows it's pretty serious stuff to to report this. That's why they're not reporting it. They're reporting that a podcaster reported it. So they know this is pretty serious stuff to be reporting this. Why are they reporting it?

Listen. If I had dirt on then father Prevost, do you think I would be sharing it with you? Do you really think I would be sharing it with you? Of course not. Because I'm a loyal son of the church. Whatever father Prevost did in the unless it's like something really scandalous. Even then, I wouldn't report it. Probably not unless it was necessary. But do you think I would be reporting that? No. Because I'm a loyal son of the church. Number one. Number two, I'm a fellow

Catholic. Robert Prevost is my brother. Pope Leo is my spiritual father. He's the holy father, supreme pontiff of the holy Catholic church. Do you really think I'm gonna report that? Hell no. First, to protect the the the papacy. And second, to protect a fellow sinner, Robert Prevost, if if he sinned, which I don't think he did. But if he sinned, then I'm also protecting a fellow sinner. I'm not

gonna broadcast his sin to you. For what? I'm gonna protect the church? I'm not gonna tell lies for the church. Let me make that clear. Okay? I am not going to tell lies for the church, but there's no reason to report that picture of the pope in the Andes. There's no reason to report that. None. Absolutely zero reason. So I'm going to protect the church and keep my mouth shut and keep it to myself. I'm going to protect a fellow sinner. Keep my mouth shut. Keep it to myself. I'm going

to protect the holy father and the pont and the papacy, his pontificate and the papacy the reputation of the papacy in general. And I'm just not going to report that. Let's say it's true. He really did worship an idol in the Andes, and you ask me about it. I'm going to tell you the truth. I heard that he this is not I'm making this up. I heard that he did, and that's wrong. I'm just gonna tell you the truth. I'm not gonna cover it up,

but I'm also not going to offer that information. Because for what? So here's what you really need to be asking yourselves. Why is LySight News reporting? Oh, I'm sorry. They're not reporting. They're reporting that a podcaster is reporting it. I apologize. Why is LySight News reporting that a podcaster is reporting this? Why are they so hell bent on taking down the Pope? That's my characterization of it. Why are they so hell bent on taking down the Pope?

Why do they take every opportunity to stretch the facts to tarnish the reputation not only of the Pope, but of his pontificate, possibly of the papacy? My characterization, my opinion. That is the question you really need to be asking yourselves. That's the information I have. That's what I can offer in truth. I have nothing else to offer beyond that. I'm not hiding anything, withholding anything. What I've told you here is what I know and what I can offer. Hello to Sean Gardner.

Wow. That's so crazy. Sean Gardner. Now if you just give me a second, my friends, I'm going to queue this up. Let's talk about Bishop Athanasius Snyder and his private audience with the Pope, which I'm gonna let the Bishop, talk about it himself. First thing I wanna tell you that's really important about Bishop Athanasius Snyder, and if you deny it, you're lying. He sounds like Dracula. Can we just admit that? Can we admit that he sounds like count Dracula?

I spoke to the holy father and the holy father told me, ah, ah, ah, one, one week until I set free the traditional Latin mass. Ah, ah, ah. Can we just knock it off and admit it? I have nothing against bishop Athanasius Snyder. Although sometimes he rubs me a little bit the wrong way. So when I say he sounds like Count Dracula, it's only because he does. Now that you've been told that, you are not going to forget it. Okay.

Now you're gonna hear it everywhere. Bishop Athanasius Snyder had a private audience with Pope Leo, and, they talked about the traditional Latin mass. We're gonna roll this, and I'm gonna tell you what I think about it. And I spoke with him about the issue of the traditional Latin mass. Thank you. I encouraged him to give us the liturgical peace in the church with a a specific peaceful coexistence of both forms. It is just an issue of justice and peace. Mhmm.

I was perceiving that he was very carefully listening, and then he said to me himself that he say, I con I converse history for January where Now listen to the rest of this because it's important. At this stage, he's kinda talking about churchy stuff, and you might be inclined to tune it out. Listen. Okay?

Yeah. They will be spoken on this issue. The pope told me this in December, but, apparently, and de facto, it was not done at this time because of shortage of time. I understand there was one and a half day, and they preferred the cardinals to speak on on evangelization. This is the important part. This is the important part. I lament that they did not take the issue of the holy liturgy. I think that this should be done first.

Here's why I'm bringing this up first. He had a private audience with the Pope. I'm fine with that about the TLM. The first thing that bothers me is whoever he's speaking to. I had the private audience with the holy father. And the guy says, thank you. Thank you for what? What's your beef? Did someone take the mass away from you? Do you feel like when

you go to the Novus Ordo mass that you haven't actually gone to mass? Why would you need to thank him for that? What folks, I know some of you love the TLM, and I respect that. Okay? I truly I do. Okay? I'm your brother. I'm not down with the TLM. I'm not against it. I just don't care for myself, but that's okay that you do. But here's the thing. Can't you go to a Novus Ordo mass? Isn't worship just the same? Maybe your experience isn't the same. I respect that. I'm not

there with you. I think the Novus Ordo is as I'm not think the Novus Ordo is as much the mass as a TLM, but I don't need what the TLM uniquely offers in the smells and bells and stuff. I enjoy it, but I don't need it. I just think you need to develop in a way where you don't need that either, where all you see is the holy Eucharist and all you hear is the word of God. But you're not there. Oh, I'm not saying I'm better than you. A little

more developed for whatever reason. I'm not saying that makes me holy. But here's the thing. When you have to say thank you because someone is is advocating for the traditional at mass, that tells me that you frown on the novus ordo. And I just wanna know why. Because that's ridiculous. If he were saying this to me, I spoke with the holy father about the traditional Latin mass. Ah, ah, ah. I would say, oh, cool. What'd he say? And I'm only saying

that so that there's no dead air. Otherwise, if we were sitting sitting down having coffee, I'd be like, I spoke with the holy father dot dot dot blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'd be like this. Okay. By the way, are you paying for this coffee? Freaking Starbucks. It's like $10 per sip. Are you paying? Because that would be great. Why do you have to anyway, so that was my first issue. The next issue happens in the end, and then I'm gonna talk about the middle.

The next issue happens in the end where he says, I lament the fact that he put aside to talking about the liturgy. Ah, ah, ah, you lament that your excellency has someone taken the mass away from you. I just don't get it. I want the two masses to coexist too. I do.

Because the TLM is the mass, and the nova sordo is the mass. They are both Latin Rite liturgies, so I would love for them to coexist in peace. But who is disrupting that peace, really? Can we be honest? I think we're gonna have to go to the drama camp for this. I'm sorry. We just have to. Hopefully, this is the right drama camp. Can we be honest? Who's disrupting that peace? It's not the holy father.

It was not pope Francis. Look at the reasons for why pope Francis restricted the TLM. I don't think he should have restricted it. I didn't agree with that, but I agreed with his reasoning. I just think it shouldn't have been dealt with at the Vatican level. But that's another story. Who's really disrupting the peace between

the coexistence of the two masses? My brothers and sisters, it's traditionalists. And I respect you, and I love you, and I truly value you. But listen, traditionalists are the

ones who are disrupting the peace between the two liturgies. Because and it's not all traditionalists. It is not all traditionalists. But it's traditionalists who have turned the liturgy, the traditional the traditional at mass, into a Catholic church within the Catholic church. It's traditionalists who have used the t not all traditionalists,

who have used the TLM to carve out a subculture within the church. My brothers and sisters, in the church of the past, you would have been disciplined for that. In the church of the past, and I'm talking like early church, first couple of, centuries, in the traditional church in the old church, you would have been disciplined for that. Some diocese would have possibly excommunicated you for that if you did not correct yourself. This is not rhetoric.

This is not propaganda. It's history. I'm not saying you should be disciplined. Well, maybe, but I'm I'm not saying you should be excommunicated. What I'm saying is what we are seeing in the culture that has rooted itself in the traditional Latin mass, it is not all traditionalists.

What we are seeing there used to be a soft criminal act in the church. So who is disrupting the peace between the two liturgies? My brothers and sisters, it is not the holy father. It is the traditional Latin mass devotees, being very charitable there. Devotees. If you attend a traditional Latin mass, God bless you. At least you're attending mass. And it's a valid mass. I I

have nothing against it. But plea I was saying something to this earlier. Please do that for the right reasons. Maybe your local Novus Ordo mass, your local parish, maybe the mass is crazy, like objectively crazy. Okay? And so maybe for the preservation of your catholicity, you need the TLM because that is the non crazy alternative. God

bless you. Please run to a TLM if your local Novus Ordo mass is objectively crazy. But you don't have another local T a local Novus Ordo mass. That's not objectively crazy. I'm saying some people have valid and legitimate reasons. Some people, maybe their local Novus Ordo mass isn't crazy, but they still feel enriched by the traditional Latin mass more than the Novus Ordo. I don't see it, but who the hell am I? I'm nobody. Okay. Go to a traditional Latin mass.

But if you're going to a traditional Latin mass because you think it's the real mass and you're just keeping that keeping that a secret, like, like gnostics, you're going for the wrong reason. If you think it's the real mass, it's the superior mass. It's the better mass objectively. You're going for the wrong reason. And I

beg you to get the hell out of the traditional Latin mass cult because it, it, it is a cult that has developed around it. Okay. And I say that as a former proponent of a traditional Latin mass, I still defend it if it's challenged. I used to be a proponent of making it more and more widely available, which had happened even before Benedict the sixteenth. It was happening. It was picking up steam. I was a proponent. Okay. Now I'm telling

you it's not all traditionalists. It's not everyone who attends a TLM, but there is a cult atmosphere surrounding the TLM. And I'm begging you, if you are attending a TLM for the wrong reasons, please get the hell out and go to a Novus Ordo mass because that's going to take your Catholic identity much, much farther. That is the mass that's going to make you a saint. If you're attending the TLM for the wrong reasons, you're going to look very pious, but you are not going

to be very holy. Because attending that mass for the wrong reasons is going to have a severe negative impact on your Catholic attitude and consequently on your Catholic identity. And the Lord will not make saints out of that material. And that's all I've got to say about that. Now I have a short story I wanna tell you, but first, let me play this for you.

Let me queue this up. Before I go to that short story oh, there's me. There's my face over at theforge.fm. If you don't know, you ought to know the forge.fm. It's Catholic commentary at the point of impact. Catholic commentary that hits, baby, and that's the real deal. I'm not even lying. I posted this as a moment of truth. The moment of truth is a short podcast. It's basically a monologue, two minutes, five minutes, eight minutes.

And this one I posted in response to something that I saw that was just ridiculous. Okay? I'm gonna play this for you now. There's no visual. It's a monologue, so I'm just gonna play the audio. Okay? It's basically this. Who should form future priests? Should women form future priests? Don't we already have enough of that? This is a moment of truth. I'm TJ Haynes at the Forge.

Recently, the Vatican released a preliminary report as part of the ongoing synod on synodality, and it caught my attention for all the wrong reasons. The report suggests that women's views and assessments should be given, quote, do wait in the formation of future priests. Now before anyone jumps to conclusions, let me be clear. This is not ordaining women. It's only a recommendation that women play a role in the evaluation of seminarians.

On paper, this might sound innocuous, maybe even inclusive. But when I really stop to think about it, I can't shake the feeling that it's misguided. The priesthood is a masculine vocation. And as much as we try to pretend otherwise, men should be formed by men. The idea that women should have a role in assessing seminarians just doesn't sit right with me.

Look, women are important in the formation of men, but the time for women to be involved in the formation of men ends when those boys become teenagers. Once they hit that point, the formation of men, particularly of priests, falls to the responsibility and competency of other men. Men form men. Seminarians shouldn't feel like they're being evaluated by their mothers. That's not how men are formed.

It's how men are held back. It's not just a difference of opinion. It's about the nature of what priestly formation is supposed to be. We're already bending too much to secular expectations. Secular society pushes for inclusivity in every single space, and now it's creeping into the formation of priests, or at least that's the proposal.

And I find that very problematic. There's no data in this report to show that we're addressing a known problem, and so the solution is have women get more involved in the assessment or the involvement of the formation of these seminarians. There's no data that shows that there's a problem that this is solving, but we do have a real problem in the church, the shortage of vocations. That's the real problem. Rather than focusing on how to recruit more men into the priesthood, this proposal directs energy toward reshaping the formation process.

Ridiculous. These young men are swimming in this throughout their formative years and all the way through high school, and it continues through college if they're going to secular or even Catholic universities. Can they really get no break from all of it once they go into the seminary? I just don't see how involving women in the formation process solves anything. The true problem here isn't about how we form priests.

It's about how we get more of them. Let's spend our focus and attention on that. Listen. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the forge. For the rest of you, check me out at theforge.fm. Catholic commentary that hits. I'm TJ Haynes. Wow. That was a weird abrupt end. There was no, like, closing music. It was a weird abrupt end. I'm gonna have to talk to the producer about that. You gotta, you gotta have a nice soft landing after that. So this was based on

a news report that I saw at the time. You know, I haven't been on the air for a little while because I was sick, but, so that was like two weeks ago when I did that one. Check me out by the way at the forge.fm once again. So I don't know. This is

a Synod thing. And as you know, there are things crazy that come out of the Synod. Some things are not, and some things are. This is a crazy thing that's coming out of the Synod. I suspect the holy father and the c and the DDF will look at this and chuckle.

I don't think they're going to give it the time of day, but who who knows? The fact is some diocese are already doing this where they have women involved in the formation of seminarians. I don't know if they have, like, approval committees or something, but I know a priest personally, who said in his diocese, they were already doing that. They no longer do, but they had been. He he was in seminary at the time and a very good priest, by the way, I have to say.

The reason why this troubles me apart from the fact that it's stupid, number one, women can't form men. The opportunity for women to form men happens between mothers and their sons when their sons are young. Once those young boys grow to be about 12, that window has closed. And now it's up to men to turn those young boys into men. That's just how God made this. Okay?

That's just how God made this. Women can't make men. It's just not in their wheelhouse. Men make men. Young men, even men in seminary, need forging, formation, mentorship, guidance, correction by other men. It's just how God made the male gender, the masculine gender. Women don't need that. Women become women pretty much by nature. Nature handles that. Men need formation, mentoring, guidance. Men need fostering into malehood. Males need fostering into manhood.

So that's my first problem with that. I don't think seminarians need to be mothered into the priesthood. To be very frank, we have too much of that already. We don't need women mothering men into the priesthood. I don't think that's helpful. I don't think it's fruitful. In fact, I think it's detrimental. Okay. My third problem, and then I'm going to move on. My third problem with this. As

I keep saying, I've been in this game a very long time in evangelization, real, for those who don't know me, evangelization, not behind a keyboard, but with people amongst the people. I've had a

lot of experiences with female evangelizers, some of them with theology degrees, some of them not. Many of them, even the ones without degrees, knew their stuff pretty well. And I have known women, these women and others to be the most critical of very good priests, very, very good priests, deeply spiritual, holy men, priests who know the truth and are very good at preaching it in a way that's bold without being repellent. So the the ones I have known who are most critical of such priests are women. Why?

Because women, this is my opinion. Okay. It's just my opinion. Women seem to expect men to behave more like girls. Just my opinion. So when a man is acting particularly masculine, he speaks the truth. However, pastorally he says it, he says what's what's true. Sometimes he's a little bit more rigid or firm when it's necessary, but he's very balanced.

Well, that's a little too fatherly or again, it's my opinion. It's a little too mannish. You need to tone that down. Okay. So a good priest to you is a priest who's very effeminate question mark.

This has been my, and the, and this is my opinion from experience with women that I like admire, respect, so on. The most critical, the by, by far the most critical of priests who are actually very, very, very good, very balanced, very holy, very pastoral. And they are the most critical of such priests. Not because they're holy,

not because they're balanced, but because they tell the truth, because they act like fathers, not like butlers, because they act like men, not like mothers. They act like fathers, not like mothers. I don't think this is going anywhere. I really hope that it doesn't. I would like to think that those at the at the DDF and whatever that, that dykastri is that manages priestly formation and stuff like that. I forget the name.

I would like to think that the Vatican, let's just say the Vatican will look at this already knows that it's silly that we've already had enough of this, enough of this crap and says, that's nice. I'll take it into consideration. Thank you. Don't let the door hit you on the way. I would like to think that's what's going to happen. I suspect that it will, but that's exactly what will happen. But it

goes to show you something that we really shouldn't forget. The church is usually ten or more years behind the people of God. Pope Francis. Well, again, I don't agree with the restrictions on the TLM, but it is what it is. Pope Francis restricted the TLM easily ten years after it was already a problem, not the mass itself, but how some people were were using it. That's at least ten years behind schedule. And if the church at the local level had responded sooner, I don't think

the Vatican would have needed to step in. If the church at the parish level had responded sooner to evangelize and catechize their own people, the Vatican wouldn't have had to step in. Synodal nonsense of women approving priests or whatever they're doing for with seminarians. This again is the Ecclesial church being ten or twenty years behind the experience of the people of God. But they're now starting to get it. The Ecclesial church is now starting to see

what Catholic lay people have known since the eighties. The Ecclesial church now sees that pretty clear. I can tell you, I can tell you this. The Ecclesial church at the diocesan level definitely sees it a thousand percent. And I don't just mean in my own diocese. I've worked with several diocese. The Ecclesial church at the diocesan level sees it. What we have all seen since the eighties, you have to understand like local bishops were formed through the eighties. So they have perspective.

But usually the church is at least a decade behind everybody else. The church at the diocesan level sees what you see. It takes time to address and to correct things, but the church sees it. Now we need the church at the Vatican level to start seeing it too. And I think that is happening. Is the Vatican, whether it's a dicastery or the holy father himself, is the Vatican going to do what you think needs to be done? Maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe so. Maybe it'll be a it'll be a mix of both.

But have patience. Okay? Have patience. Because the holy the the church doesn't need you to correct it. There are things that are going wrong in the church. Church doesn't need you to correct it. The church has the holy spirit. The church has Jesus Christ. The church has Saint Michael the Archangel. The church has Saint Joseph. Be patient and just go with the flow. Focus and concentrate on growing in holiness. That is what Jesus put in front of you. He didn't put the church

in front of you. He put the church above you. And me too. Right? He put the church above us, not in front of us, to correct, to fix, to manipulate, to steer. He's got it. The Holy Spirit's got it. The blessed mother has got it. Don't worry about that. You just focus on growing in holiness. Live a good life, saturated in the gospel, not just in knowledge of it, but living it out. Believe me, if you do

that, that's already hard work. Just look at me. I'm proof. I'm living proof. That's already hard work. Just focus on that. You want to save the world? You want to save the church? Start by becoming saints. That's hard enough. That's going to take up all your time. Okay. The third thing I wanted to tell you about, I don't think I'm gonna have time to tell you about because I started a little bit late. This is running a little bit longer already, but I think

I'm gonna make that an after show. So what I, the third thing I wanna tell you about is this. I had a run-in with somebody on social media called brother somebody. I don't like dropping names unless I have to. In this case, I don't have to, so I'm not going to. Brother somebody is affiliated with a website called catholicism.org. Catholicism.org is the group behind it is not in good standing with their own Bishop. Some of them have personally been issued corrections.

And I don't want to say disciplinary acts, but the Vatican acted strongly against them. Let's put it that way. Okay. It's not a group that is allowed to call itself Catholic. Its website is catholicism.org, but they're allowed to be calling it that. Okay. I had a run-in with somebody from this group that for a few hours, I thought this person is a real religious brother. Maybe they are a real religious brother, but they're fractured or fragmented. I don't know. Splintered. I don't know. But for

a few hours, this person had me going. At a point I hit a red flag and I said, wait a second. That is crazy. And that's when I did my checking. That's when I, you know, did some like background checking of my own. And I thought, oh, that's why your theology is bad. So I'm gonna talk about that in an after show. But the point that I raise the reason why I raise that point is this.

I've said this before, and I wanna say it again. There's a lot of bad theology out there. Very, very bad theology out there. Some of it is so convincing that for a few hours, it even fooled me. I did a show called tips for spotting bad theology. I think it was three tips for spotting bad theology. I forget, but something like that. It's at the forge.fm it's on YouTube. It's on everywhere you find podcasts. Just look for the, for fire branded search for that episode.

If you're not on YouTube, you'll find me there at Catholic Fire Brand. Do a search for my videos. You'll find it. Tips for Spawning Bad Theology. Tips for Spawning Bad Theology.

Give that a listen or a watch if you're on YouTube because no matter what you what no matter what your experience in theo with theology is, that episode is going to help you to spot bad theology when you hear it. One of the tips that I laid down in that episode is why this guy became a red flag. Okay. Casting a shadow over the magisterium. Once I saw that, was like, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, wait a second.

Let me see what this guy's all about. So even I needed my some of my own wisdom in that episode. Okay. Tips for spotting bad theology. And, I'm gonna talk about that whole story in an after show. Okay. So a lot of stuff going on there.

And now people catching this on demand are going to wonder why did he do that? Why did he do that? Oh, you, this is why you have to catch the live shows. A lot of stuff going on there. And the, the thing that I want you to focus on is this, the lesson I want you to focus on is this Being a real Catholic living real Catholicism

is not about the form of the practice of your faith. It's about what's inside of you. That's where the real business is. That's where God is acting. And what you have inside of you is what comes out of you. If what comes out of you is the form of holiness, I gotta tell you, you're not going to impress Jesus at judgment. I wish it could be that easy. Think of it this way. When you face Jesus at judgment, the door will be shut to make any other adjust adjustments. Right? There's no more.

I'm sorry. There's no more, let me just say one more mass, go to one more confession. Let me just try and con my way through the gates of heaven. There's none of that. When you face Jesus at judgment, you will present to him who you are at the moment that you died. Right? Piety is important, but piety is something the Holy Spirit draws out of us. We can't make that happen. Believe it or not, Jesus will not look at your piety. He will look at your efforts.

He's not gonna look at your piety because you don't do piety. The Holy Spirit does that in you. So that doesn't count. He's going to look at you and ask how holy are you right now? I know you've committed sin. I'm not dumb, but how holy are you? We'll go over the sins and stuff. But how holy are you?

How holy you are my friends is not about the form of piety or the form of holiness. It's about who you are inside the battle you, you encounter within yourself to be a better man, a better woman. And who you are inside where God is working, that determines who you are outside in the world. The holier you are on the inside, the more that God has stirred you, moved you, built you, formed you, challenged you, and broken you down so that he can build you back up again. That all happens on the inside.

Then we see what do you do with that on the outside? That is what makes you holy. That is what makes you holy. And that's what Jesus is going to ask you about. Not how many rosaries, he said. Of course, the rosary has merit. Of course. But you can do a rosary that has no merit at all. He's not gonna ask which form of the mass you like. He's going to ask, after you received me in holy communion, did you let that light come out of you in the way you lived your life?

So being a real Catholic is not about the vocabulary. It's not about the theology, assuming you're following everything the church teaches, which you don't need to know any theology to do that. It's about, do you live a life that would impress Jesus Christ? Do you live a life that would make God happy to watch it play out? Do you live a life that breaks the heart of God, that breaks the heart of Jesus in your actions or in the things that you fail to do. That's what it is to

be a real Catholic. It's not about the vocabulary. Not about the theology. Remember that because there's a lot of bad theology. There's a lot of bad signaling, a lot of bad messaging that's out there. But if you focus on what the church teaches and just put that into practice, I'm telling you, you're going to be fine. You're to

be absolutely fine. You don't really have to reach that far. You don't, in fact, you don't have to reach at all because the business is what happens interiorly. And when the interior is straight and set and firm, and that, and that happens through pain and challenge, it happens through trust and devotion. It happens through prayer, obviously through sacraments.

Once that is set and firm and solid, what happens outside of yourself that you do or refrain from doing that you change, that you affect whatever, that's just going to happen as God intended. Have a good interior life. Make the Catholic life real on the inside, and it will be real when it comes out of you. Don't worry about the exteriors. Don't worry about the forms. Worry about the substance. And that substance will come to life quite organically.

Folks, this after show that I'm gonna do later or maybe tomorrow is going to be available to paid members at the Forge. It's one of the member benefits at the Forge. Membership is $5 a month, or you can prepay for a year. When you pay for a membership first, you should all subscribe. But when you pay for a membership, you get an expanded set of content.

Like, you get longer articles, extra articles. You become part of my inner circle. You get the after shows and stuff like that. Okay? So you're not really buying a product. You're just supporting my work. You're just supporting my work. You're not buying a product. But my response to your supporting my work is I give you an enhanced experience at theforge.fm. And I do really great work at theforge.fm, if I do say so myself.

I really hope you check it out. Okay? My brothers and sisters, it has been my honor to serve you today in this podcast, and I hope I really hope I served you well. You mean so much to me. You're gonna save the world, man. I'm serious. You're gonna save the world. You're gonna save the world. You're all gonna be holier than I could ever dream of being, and that's gonna make me so happy. TJ Haines signing out of here. God bless you, and god be with you all. Bye bye.