New Covid Lockdowns, Demonology, Child trafficking, and the End Times…

Did the headline work? Did you fall for the click bait?  Sorry, if you are looking for a convincing argument that new lockdowns are coming, or if you are in search for some next level Demonology, you are going to be disappointed.

These topics are going to be covered, but not in the way in which many sensational bloggers, podcasters, and youtubers are currently using them to draw you in for a click.  The point of this article is not to criticize any of these subjects per se, but I posit that they are over covered and over consumed within our circles. Oftentimes, to the detriment of some of my dear friends.

Two years ago, I met Steve Skojec a social gathering.  It is the only time I have ever spoken with the man, as he soon after publicized a dispute with local clergy, sold his 1 Peter 5 brand, and then moved.  A small group of us were conversing with him about the nature of blogging about the faith in dark times.  He acknowledged that it was fairly demoralizing.  For one, there is so much scandalous news constantly coming from the Vatican.  Being in Catholic media, you have to be aware of it. Fair enough.

The other aspect he lamented about was the pressure to write articles that play to the fixations of his audience.  Someone asked Steve, “Why don’t you just write more positive articles?” To paraphrase his response: “If I publish an article about how someone has rediscovered his faith amidst all the Vatican scandals, I will get 15 clicks. If I publish an article that references an exorcism or a private revelation about the end of the world, I will get thousands of clicks.”

There you have it.

Our side has built a massive clickbait industrial complex.  Many who got their starts as teachers, who just so happened to have modest youtube channels, are now inundating their millions of subscribers with the latest update on Pope Francis, another connection between Vatican II and the Freemasons, and interviews with exorcists who share what happened during an exorcism.  Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with any one of these subjects, but many Catholics are so glued to them that they leave little time to study more important (albeit less entertaining) material about the faith.

Don’t worry, there is an antidote...
 

Fear not

What do new lockdowns and Pope Francis have in common? They are both on the minds and lips of far more conservatives than liberals.  Think about that. For all the wonky things that come out of the Vatican, it’s comforting to know that the only liberals who pay attention are the elitists who influence Pope Francis.  What about the purple hair zoomers who have been ex-Catholic for 4.2 years and the ladies who run your parish from the advisory council?  Like the liberals who once abused the “Spirit of Vatican II” to justify abuses in the 60’s, today’s liberal Catholics don’t actually read much published from the Vatican press either.

Oh sure, there will be literal bus loads of such people whom the Open Society Foundation will send to your diocese’s synods on synodality over the next few years, but authentic, liberal, church going Catholics, who never paid attention to what Benedict XVI said, still aren’t paying attention to what Francis says.

Don’t believe me? Ask parishioners at your church, who were the last few to stop masking, what their favorite Francis encyclical is and why.  Ask them what they liked about Amoris Latetia or Laudato Si.  Say something like, “Don’t you appreciate how much Pope Francis cares about the environment? What a beautiful encyclical he wrote about it… what was it called? [snap fingers here and pretend to draw a blank] Help me out here…”  You will hear crickets, I promise.

Speaking of Covid and masking, after the 5^th conservative I know brought up “NEW LOCK-DOWNS COMING SOON!” I decided to check it out on Duckduckgo.  I noticed that the only blogs or sites that were bringing it up were all conservative.  So I decided to do an NWO search (Google) instead, just to see if I was missing CNN et al. herding their sheep back into masks and their tightly locked tiny homes.  A tumbleweed rolled by.  CNN was mainly focused on yelling at us all to still care about Trump and climate change.  Seems they have their own reliable buttons to press with their target audience too.

Folks, relax. We aren’t getting another lock-down, at least not before a complete social credit score system has replaced all cash, there are cameras at every street corner with facial recognition, a few more rigged elections have reduced the Republican party to the irrelevancy of, say, the “conservative” party in Canada, and many more FEMA camps have been erected.  Calm down.  Sheesh.

In all seriousness, think about what difference it would even make if you knew that new lock-downs were nigh.  How would you do tomorrow differently?  Would you immediately take some grassroots political action to try to stop it?  Have you done any of that over the last three years, since the last Covid lockdowns?  Too little too late.  Would you rush to the confessional, get back into the habit of a daily rosary, and start blessing your kids before they go to school in the morning?  If you got yourself into those kinds of habits during Covid, and have since fallen off the wagon, now is a good time to get back on, regardless of whether there will be new lockdowns!

We shouldn’t get too worked up about possible new Covid lockdowns. We can’t stop them from happening, and if they do, we know how not to comply, just like last time. For now, the wiser modus operandi is that we all faithfully live our respective vocations to the fullest.  Sounds kind of bland, huh?

Considering the pressures and stress of simply being a man these days, there is really nothing boring about it.  Getting up every morning and committing yourself to be a faithful and hard working husband, who will navigate through the woke and demoralizing “work” culture, is difficult enough.  And if sometime over the last three years you told corporate America to take a long walk off of a short cliff, then you are probably working very hard to make a living right now.  Factor in the constant temptations to stray from our prayer lives and to take up the old bread and circuses again, and striving for sainthood on a day to day basis is a big enough challenge as it is.

We don’t have to go hardcore all the time. And we don’t have to tune in all the time to messages that tell us to get worked up and stay worked up.  You want to run for school board and do something effective to help get us out of this hand-basket we are in?  Then, by all means, stay informed about the local happenings in your area that you can influence, and then engage in grassroots efforts.  I will pray for your resiliency as you bravely look into that darkness and roll up your sleeves.

But hours of hyper-excited conservative and Catholic media? Your time will be better spent diligently and steadily building a robust Catholic culture that can hold itself together during tough days ahead. The long term ROI in that investment will be higher than the binging, I promise.
 

Back to the Basics

I had a graduate professor who dared to devote an entire course to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  He shared with us that colleagues belittled him for teaching such a “mundane” course at the graduate level.  One colleague commented: “We have to get past the basic doctrines of the Church!”. I think his critic meant to say that we should get away from training others in orthodoxy and focus on "social justice."  He wisely responded, “How can we get past the basic doctrines of the Church when people haven’t mastered the basic doctrines of the Church?”

This comes to mind when well intentioned, faithful Catholics share tons of Demonology they have recently learned from youtube.  I know of an exorcist who regularly shares what devils have told him during exorcisms.  For me, I believe I need to master more of what Jesus says in sacred scripture before I start paying attention to what demons say to modern exorcists. Protestants humble me enough with their ability to quote what Jesus said, verbatim.  There is a priority list of what I need to know.

It’s time to get back to the basics.  I’m glad exorcists know Demonology, but that’s a sword that I don’t need to try and wield.  The vocation of the layman in spiritual battle is to first know the basic formations and stratagems, and to master the standard weapons that he can handle (like the rosary).

Demonology is not a substitute for a solid prayer life, learning the basic deposit of faith, and living the moral life you are called to live.  Let me reiterate, I am not here to discount Demonology, but the average layman doesn’t need to know much of it. Maybe even any of it.  It is literally not necessary for salvation.

But it’ not just about exorcists and demonology.  Sensationalism is a phenomenon that we all take part in, and one that surrounds a variety of topics.  I know I have been guilty of it in my own articles from time to time, definitely in terms of the intensity I often exude.  Some content creators are more sensationalistic by their insistence on covering the same dark themes ad nauseum, or by their masterfully crafted thumbnail images that beg for a click. Oftentimes, we are sensationalistic as media consumers when we fixate on the same material, and choose to let it control our happiness.

No need to pick on anyone, we all have a hand in this complex that we have made. But if we don’t try to understand how this complex has been built, and acknowledge our respective parts in it, then it will be hard to ever get out of this funk.


From Sensational to Simply the Faith

A few years ago, several Catholic influencers, reporting on scandals such as the Pachamama, were instrumental in bringing many Catholics back to the faith. The utter shock, the calls to action. and the appeals these influencers made to have hope, all woke some good men up!  Then, the good men listening in started obsessing about every new scandal reported on by one website or youtube video after another.  Many were just getting depressed and angry about every new Vatican appointee, priest caught on grinder, or cherry picked story about some liturgical abuse that happened in Davenport, Iowa.  Sometimes they would get worked up over reports that were grossly speculative… “Did Pope Francis and Nancy Pelosi just give a secret handshake? Are they both Freemasons?!”

In the words of one friend, “I realized that my time would be better spent playing Uno or Chutes and Ladders with my kids, for crying out loud.” Hard to disagree. Additionally, he shared, “It was as if I had a list of things I was supposed to get angry about everyday.  It was becoming a replacement for my spiritual life.” Another gentlemen put it this way, “There are people who are making entire careers off of the wounds of Holy Mother Church. Why are we patroning that?”

Many Catholics who rediscovered their faith during Covid are still feeling out the ground they are standing on right now.  As Cardinal Ratzinger said in Introduction to Christianity, they have “taken a stand in the totality of reality” (they are practicing faith) and now they are feeling that ground they are standing upon (seeking understanding).  What a great time, then, to learn about your faith from Catechists with the hearts of teachers.

My kids are currently learning Apologetics from the former head of the Kino Institute.  He has zero Youtube subscribers, but I trust his credentials and I have heard him teach theology.  He is sound.  There is a men’s Apologetics course I have been attending for several sessions over the last few months.  It includes saying a penitential rosary with the guys, and is taught by two men who both have masters degrees in Theology.  It has been immensely satisfying to see men testify that the lessons they have learned there have already helped them defend their faith.  That’s the kind of content we all can stand to consume right now.  It’s not sensational, its just the simple faith.  Instead of leaving angry, men leave this class nourished.

If you podcasted your way back to the the faith in recent years, perhaps you left the faith because your Catholic school, your wishy-washy parish, or bad Catechesis let you down. Now that things have settled down a little, it is a good time to study the basic deposit of faith, the truths necessary for salvation, and some basic Catechesis from local teachers who just want to share the faith with you because they love you.

Maybe you are already getting that from a podcast. Good for you. Perhaps you are keeping up with Fr. Mike Schmitz's Catechism in a year class.  There is definitely good content out there, even on Youtube!

But if your playlist is more just full of hours and hours of sensational content, and the binging is leaving you unsatisfied, then perhaps you have enough time to do a Bible in a year course.  And if your parish doesn’t have one, ask your pastor for some assistance in setting one up.  I’m sure he will be thrilled to help you get it off the ground!
 

It’s going to be okay.

I was on the phone recently with one of my Catholic buddies, having our usual conversation.  We discussed the spiritual life, local Church politics, how to be better dads, and then we busted each others’ chops and laughed a bit. We both lamented about how much less men are in “called to action” mode right now.  When the sacraments were taken from us, we were on fire.  What has extinguished our flame?  And then he shared something very ordinary and yet quite profound.  He said, “Last week it felt like God finally said, ‘hey stupid, just do what you’re supposed to do.’ So I got to confession, recommitted my heart to being the spiritual leader of my family, and determined to get back to a more consistent prayer life.”

Well said.

Two years ago, I organized a men’s retreat with the mantra “Carthago Delenda Est" plastered all over it.  I put the message on hats, the program, on all of my Telegram messages, and I even signed off a couple of Gadfly articles with it.

If you missed it, the theme was an allusion to Cato the Elder (234-149 BC), who ended every speech in the Roman Senate with the message, which translates to: “Carthage must be destroyed!” Considering that the retreat was held at a time in which people were being forced to take an expirimental gene therapy, months after our sacraments were taken away, and within the same year that we all got our first taste of blatant election farce, “Carthago Delenda Est” was the right message at the time.

The meaning behind the message was real simple: We can't let the bad guys defeat us.  In that sense, I still believe that Carthage must be destroyed (or at least opposed spiritually, politically, and culturally with all we have got), but we are not currently at a juncture in which Carthago Delenda Est needs to be shouted after every speech.

If I’m proven wrong, and new lockdowns come again, then it will be time to get back into “go hard” mode.  Granted.  But until then, this is the time to be more calm, cool, and collected in our resistance.   When the call to action was as loud as it was during Covid, when the sacraments were denied to us for reasons that were BEYOND specious, and we watched our freedoms be trampled while most just masked up and played the compliant card, we were galvanized and brought closer to the faith.  Many of us leveled up and decided to “get off the bus” or “onto the spiritual battlefield”.  We decided to man up and become the Catholics we were meant to be.

It’s three years later, and now is a good time to simply exercise a more consistent and deep spiritual life, “get back on the wagon” morally if you have lapsed a bit, study and understand your faith from the basics up, and just live your personal vocation to its fullest. To win the long game, we must restore real Catholic culture, be model husbands and fathers, and show the gentiles the happiness that is found in simply living the faith and being a moral light in such a dark world.  It’s not hardcore, it’s not sensational, but it’s the most heroic thing most of us are called to do at this time.
 

God bless,

Gadfly