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@JustinRoyHarvey @EricRSammons @CrisisMag What is the common denominator? Weak men. They have been propagandized for decades now by critical theories and most don't even realize it.

@EricRSammons @CrisisMag I hate to admit it, but the age-old accusation that many Catholics are fifth columnists has been thoroughly vindicated lately. On one side, bishops working to advance white genocide. One the other side, trads volunteering as propagandists for Iran and China.

To claim we can’t know if this conflict satisfies the criteria of a just war is an insidious error. We can know if the Iran War is just or unjust, simply by applying Catholic teaching to the public facts. Spoiler: It's unjust. My latest for @CrisisMag: crisismagazine.com/opinion/why-i-…

"Call no man father." If I had a dollar for every time someone quoted Matthew 23:9 at me, I could fund a new cathedral. But here's the thing. Let's actually read the passage. The whole passage. Matthew 23:8-10. Jesus says three things in a row: "Do not be called Rabbi, for you have one Teacher." "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." "Neither be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ." Three prohibitions. One Teacher. One Father. One Instructor. So if "call no man father" is a wooden, literal ban on the word, then "call no man teacher" and "call no man instructor" must be equally literal. Which means every Protestant who has ever said "Pastor Smith" has a problem. Pastor comes from the Latin word for shepherd, but the principle is the same. Every Protestant who has ever called someone "Doctor" has a bigger problem. Doctor is literally the Latin word for teacher. Every Sunday school teacher. Every professor at every seminary. Every Bible study leader who has ever been addressed as "teacher." All violating Matthew 23:8. By the same literal reading. But nobody actually believes this. Nobody. Because Jesus is clearly condemning pride and spiritual authoritarianism among the Pharisees. He is warning against men who exalt themselves into the place of God. He is not banning common relational titles. The context makes this obvious. But don't take my word for it. Take Paul's. 1 Corinthians 4:15. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel." Paul calls himself their father. Spiritual father. And he does it without a hint of apology or qualification. Was Paul violating Jesus' command? Was the inspired apostle sinning in an inspired letter? There's more. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 7:2, addresses the Sanhedrin: "Brothers and fathers, hear me." The apostle John writes in 1 John 2:13: "I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning." Paul again in Romans 4:16 calls Abraham "the father of us all." Fathers, fathers, fathers. All over the New Testament. Used by apostles. Used by saints. Used by men who walked with Jesus or were taught by those who did. The early Christians understood this perfectly. Clement of Rome, writing around 96 AD, refers to spiritual fathers in the faith. Irenaeus of Lyon, writing around 180 AD, constantly references the "fathers" who handed down apostolic teaching. The entire tradition of calling bishops and elders "father" stretches back to the apostolic age itself. Nobody in the first 1,500 years of Christianity thought Matthew 23:9 prohibited calling priests "father." The interpretation that it does is remarkably recent. And it creates an impossible contradiction with the rest of Scripture. So here is the real question. If Matthew 23:9 literally forbids calling a priest "father," then Paul broke the command in his own epistle, Stephen broke it in his final sermon, and John broke it in his letter to the churches. Either the apostles repeatedly violated a clear command of Jesus in their own inspired writings, or the wooden literal reading of Matthew 23:9 is wrong. If there's a third option, I'd genuinely like to hear it.

Over the past several weeks, Carrie Prejean Boller has complained that she was removed from the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty because of her Catholic beliefs, and she has called out myself and other Catholic members of the commission for not defending her. This is absurd. Mrs. Prejean Boller was not dismissed for her religious convictions but rather for her behavior at a gathering of the Commission last month: browbeating witnesses, aggressively asserting her point of view, hijacking the meeting for her own political purposes. The Catholic position on matters of “Zionism,” to which I fully subscribe, is as follows: all forms of antisemitism are to be unequivocally condemned; the state of Israel has a right to exist; but the modern nation of Israel does not represent the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies and hence does not stand beyond criticism. If Mrs. Prejean Boller were dismissed for holding these beliefs, it is difficult to understand why I am still a member of the Commission. To paint herself as a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice or to claim that her religious liberty has been denied is simply preposterous.

"A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers. All you have to do is hold your first dying soldier in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that his life is flowing out and you can't do anything about it. Then you understand the horror of war. Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for." -General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.

@Texas_Frog_2 @Ricardo93336975 @FeserEdward Irrelevant metric. It doesn’t matter where or how but only that it has for 47 years and now they threaten allies with nuclear weapons they brag about in peace talks.

@aquinasbear @Ricardo93336975 @FeserEdward How many Americans has Iran killed on American soil?

1/7 A thread for Catholics under the delusion that strict just war criteria reflect post-Vatican II theological mushiness and quasi-pacifism. Here are some passages from Fr. John McHugh and Fr. Charles Callan, Moral Theology: A Complete Course, Volume I, a standard pre-Vatican II work. First up is a definition of “war” that exposes some currently popular sophistries. Note that by McHugh and Callan’s criteria, the current U.S. conflict with Iran definitely counts as a war. By contrast, the 47 years of tension with Iran (which involved only “passing conflicts,” “skirmishes,” “rivalry in preparedness for war,” “embargo,” “breach of diplomatic relations,” and the like) does NOT count as a war.

@FeserEdward @DaveOfVilnius It appears to be your opinion then which ignores facts both past and current that this doesn’t meet this certainty. I can argue from these ignored facts that it does.

@DaveOfVilnius It's not a matter of a priori knowledge or Cartesian certainty, but rather (as writers in the tradition understand it) the level of certainty one would have to have before, say, sentencing someone to death in a court of law.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church and prince of moral theologians, teaches that for a war to be just, it ought to be certain (and not merely arguable or even probable) that it meets the conditions of just war doctrine. (From De Quinto Praecepto Decalogi, Article II, quoted in John Eppstein, The Catholic Tradition of the Law of Nations, p. 112)

𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗖𝗢𝗠 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 CENTCOM Commander Admiral Cooper just delivered a message — not to the Iranian regime. 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. Stay inside. The regime doesn't care about you — they are launching missiles and drones 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀, using you as human shields. We have warned you repeatedly. And then this: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵. Read that again. The Commander of CENTCOM is telling 90 million Iranians that there is a signal coming — a moment when it will be safe to come out. That is not the language of a military campaign. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. The Iranian people have lived under this regime for 47 years. They've been shot in the eyes for showing their hair. Thirty-two thousand k!lled in the crackdown of January 2026 alone. The regime launches its missiles from their neighborhoods and then hides behind them. America is not at war with the Iranian people. 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗻. The signal is coming.

@BrianBy40500941 @EricRSammons @CrisisMag Agreed. It is pacifism which the Church condemns.

@aquinasbear @EricRSammons @CrisisMag There is also grave error in advancing the notion that "violence is never justified" as in any way an authentically Catholic interpretation. <--- That seems to be the modern bar that in practice makes immoral any act of self-defense.

@Texas_Frog_2 @Ricardo93336975 @FeserEdward 😂. You have drunk the propaganda. Useful idiots.

@aquinasbear @Ricardo93336975 @FeserEdward China gave them weapons to defend themselves? That's horrible! 🤡

I have studied the changes, and the biggest component of the modern Catholic Just War approach is not jus ad bellum and jus in bello, which are the traditional two arms, but now the addition of jus post bellum. It was described in some of the writings but not truly elucidated until after the horrors of WWI and WWII. We are still in a legal military action, not yet a war, according to US law. We are fighting a nation that did legally declare war on us in 1979 and has been unjust in its applications and actions for 47 years. Those speaking out the loudest against have incomplete information (as do all of us not privy to the machinations of our secular authorities), are heavily propagandized by an Islamo-Marxist media and academy, and are demanding to know how the "ends" will play out before the actions are even done. War is not a linear, neat, and tidy activity. War is hell! This is an evolving situation. We are succeeding. And civilians are being protected as much as humanly possible in a military conflict. But this appears to never be enough. It is always the United States is wrong by default and must prove itself not so every time.

@aquinasbear @EricRSammons @CrisisMag 1/2 This is a very similar case where there appear to be changes, but on closer inspection, and in the context of accepting long-held doctrine as true, the 'change' is not what most believe it to be. With DP the 'change' is preceded by caveats.

Now apply it to Iran which declared war on the United States in 1979. Be consistent. But y'all aren't. You claim you are doing this as a Catholic first but you and others like you only address Just War doctrine when it is regards to the US not another nation we are in military conflict with. In this case, it is Iran who has been at war with the US since 1979. None of their actions have been just.

@McClarey2 @CrisisMag That's not how Just War Theory works.

@BrianBy40500941 @EricRSammons @CrisisMag The irony is not lost on me if those who claim this is Unjust recognize that the "changes" to the DP are a problem.

@EricRSammons @CrisisMag One question is which 'just war' are we talking about? Aquinas had 3 precepts, which are clearly met. Over the years, more & more criteria were added with the most significant additions to come only in the 1990s. Like capital punishment, are we redefining long-held doctrine?

Got some bad news, really hoping for a miracle. Please storm Heaven with your prayers, especially with the intercession of St Jude and St Joseph.

In your charity please pray for my mother's health this week, my health, and for my job security. Please pray I get the referrals I need, urgently.

@AlonzoVele59208 Thank you! 🙏

@aquinasbear I sent something hope it helps.

Hi y'all I have a disability medical exam on Monday in downtown Phoenix & need help covering an Uber. It's going to be approximately $90 round trip. If you can help at all, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. 🙏🧸 linktr.ee/aquinasbear

@Endures2theEnd @CSLCHSnMore @infidel_cracka @gjmount Bless you. I will include you and yours in my Rosaries this week. 🧸

@aquinasbear @CSLCHSnMore @infidel_cracka @gjmount That's great Bear. I prayed for you to be granted as much as you needed 🙏

It is true. By the 1961 Geneva Convention, when they took our embassy, they declared war on the United States. All of their subsequent actions for the last 47 years have confirmed this. We absolutely should be there. We have allies in the region, and they are the largest single sponsor of ME terrorism in the world. They were also aligned first with the Soviet Union (our one-time greatest adversary on the world stage) and now are aligned with the CCP (our current greatest adversary on the world stage). You can bleat on about "war for oil," but I don't see you saying the same concerning China and their support of the IRGC, Khomenei, and Jihadi Islam. Do you know they supplied the bulk of their anti-aircraft and missile technology? There are countless reasons for this military action. And it will be done before the time limit necessary under the War Powers Act for it to be declared a war. I will also state this emphatically. You, Fesser, and others are so obsessed with Just War, but only about the United States. Not once have you ever applied this doctrine to an enemy we are at war with. Iran is a vile, evil dictatorship with a history of unjust violence towards the US, Israel, and other nations they have taken over with their proxy terrorist groups (Hamas, anyone!), not to mention their own oppressed citizens. They have perpetrated countless violations of Just War Doctrine since 1979. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't allow yourself to be swayed by leftist Marxist propaganda. The only ones opposed to this are those it suits and those who want to see the US fall from within. It is very Catholic to love and support your nation.

@aquinasbear @Ricardo93336975 @FeserEdward That's not even true. They never declared war on us, and the US military shouldn't be over there in the first place. There is no reasonable justification for this war.

@Endures2theEnd @CSLCHSnMore @infidel_cracka @gjmount Hi Jon, I got the last bit this morning, so I'm good to go. Thank you for thinking of me and offering to help. It means a lot. 😊🙏

@aquinasbear @CSLCHSnMore @infidel_cracka @gjmount How much do you still need for the ride?

@SisterShamrocks Thank you! I really appreciate it. 😊

@aquinasbear Just sent you something for your Uber Monday Bear and reposting.