Considering Catholicism

Host of the Considering Catholicism Podcast, unpacking the faith of the ages for curious non-Catholics in the 21st century. consideringcatholicism.com

These are legitimately impressive Feats of skill, at least the pew walking. Not sure that this is exactly how they did it in the book of Acts , but probably close, right?

@Templarpilled Real Roman bread, for real Romans!

ALL CITIZENS BE AWARE THAT THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, DAME SARAH MULLALY, WILL COME TO THE CITY. BY ORDER OF THE HOLY SEE, ALL MOCKERY OF ANGLICANS AND THEIR ORDINATIONS SHALL BE KEPT TO AN APPROPRIATE MINIMUM

@dr_duchesne So, basically he acted as a benevolent dictator. Which was the model that produced most of the highlights of civilization, those places people still visit and look around with wonder saying, “Who built this?” A thousand years from now, no one will visit our cities and ask that.

For naive conservatives who think this can be done in Western nations by being "tough on crime," let me insist: What was accomplished in El Salvador under President Bukele (he posted this video showing before and after his transformation of El Salvador x.com/MAGAVoice/stat…) demonstrates that you must become illiberal and authoritarian if you want to clean up the mess liberals have caused with integration, mass immigration and woke policies. Bukele, in order to be successful (while gaining the support of over 90% of the population), had no choice but to suspend some constitutional rights and limit due process. He had no choice but to declare a "state of emergency" multiple times, curtailing the right to legal counsel, freedom of association, and privacy in communications. His government had to conduct mass detentions of over 85,000 on the basis of "uncorroborated allegations," going against the "presumption of innocence and due process." It had to restrict ability of judges to offer alternatives like bail or house arrest and impose virtual hearings often involving hundreds of defendants at once, with little opportunity for effective defense. As liberal Western journalists (same ones responsible for unlivable American cities) have pointed out, detainees are frequently unaware of charges and lack access to legal representation. Bukele had to limit judicial autonomy, replacing "corrupt" Supreme Court individuals with loyalists, a policy he extended to lower courts. These actions, which have drastically improved living conditions for the majority, are "contrary to liberal ideals," as Western liberals say, "of an independent judiciary protecting individual rights." There have been many "human rights violations" and other actions "undermining equal protection under the law." Bukele has employed the military to "intimidate" political opponents, once threatening the legislature with armed forces to pressure lawmakers. He has used propaganda to encourage citizens to report suspected criminals, which has "fostered a climate of fear and informant culture, undermining liberal values of privacy and community." All in all, this "authoritarian" control over all branches of government and civil society has weakened the system of "checks and balances". BUT this illiberalism finally allowed El Salvador, after decades of incessant violence, to escape corruption, violence, and economic chaos ---- and secure the freedom of the majority.

Civilizational decline is a choice.

@Elons_Rabbi @DiscussingFilm

@DiscussingFilm They are going to go full Disney.

A sequel movie to the ‘LORD OF THE RINGS’ trilogy is officially in the works. Plot synopsis — 14 years after the passing of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began. Stephen Colbert is co-writing the script.

Nailed it.

Wise words

Hello Senator Thune, Let's expose what you're really doing with "reconciliation." You announced it yesterday, eleven months after the House passed the SAVE America Act. You're not trying to pass this bill. You're trying to kill it in a way you can blame on process. Here's how we know: Reconciliation requires the Senate parliamentarian to rule that provisions are "budgetary." Citizenship verification is not budgetary. Photo ID mandates are not budgetary. The parliamentarian will gut the bill. Then you'll shrug and say "we tried." We see through you. Meanwhile, you WON'T use the tools that actually work: Rule XIX limits each senator to two speeches per legislative day. Keep the Senate in continuous session, file cloture daily, and the filibuster exhausts in ~12-20 days. You dismissed it as "complicated." Because if you tried and succeeded, you'd have to actually pass the bill. Harry Reid nuked the filibuster in 2013 when he wanted results. Mitch McConnell changed Senate rules THREE times and canceled the August recess. Chuck Schumer used reconciliation within months on a 50-50 Senate. You have 53 seats. You've changed nothing, canceled nothing, and waited eleven months. Now let's talk donors: • Goldman Sachs: $150K to you - top H-1B user • Google: $75K - lobbies against E-Verify • Meta: $72.5K - Zuckerberg's FWD[.]us pushes mass immigration • Wells Fargo: $90K - banks undocumented immigrants Same corporations sponsor Punchbowl News, where you sit for "Fly Out Days" which nobody watches except Congress staffers and K Street lobbyists who pays premium bucks for legislative intelligence. Their reporter then telegraphs to the audience the SAVE Act "will ultimately fail." Corporate money flows to you AND to the outlet that frames your inaction as inevitable. We see the loop. You called grassroots anger a "paid influencer ecosystem." YOU are the paid influencer. You take the wrong side of a 80% issue because you are indistinguishable from a K Street mouthpiece, and an ineffective one to boot who won't bend the rules to get anything passed. What we want: 1. Force a real talking filibuster. 2. Stop hiding behind process. 3. Pass the SAVE America Act. YOU will become the reason that we will have our butts kicked in midterms. Not Candace Owens, not Nick Fuentes, not anyone else. You and you alone, and all because you want to make the 200 or so viewers of Punchbowl Fly Out Days happy. You're living in a K Street information bubble, addicted to the comforts and praises of lobbyists masquerading as journalists. You mistake the steak and martini dinners you get invited to as your own constituents. You are not "moderate." The SAVE America Act has 98% support among Republicans. Name one other thing that has 98% support. You are an extreme minority who prides himself on being a calm leader, when in reality you are well in the running for the most ineffective Majority leader of all time. Prove me wrong. Do the bare modicum of effort. Not symbolic. Actual effort. Cancel the recess. Get SAVE America Act passed.

This might in fact be the worst idea anyone has ever had in history

@Protestia I have no idea who this person is, but without the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist)…well, he/she/them might be a grifter, but not a Catholic grifter.

Catholic grifter Neeza Powers is upset that his priest told him he and his girlfriend aren't ready to receive the sacraments on Easter, mainly because he "misssed a couple classes of OCIA" and missed a few masses If anything, he should be barred from receiving the sacraments for shackin' up with his girlfriend, and also for being a habitual liar and lying about nearly every detail of his past and detransition.

@nickshirleyy @CAgovernor @JenSiebelNewsom

@CAgovernor @JenSiebelNewsom Will you and the rest of your staff be taking this as well?

Starting in the 2027-28 school year, California will offer a new personal finance course to high schoolers and require it for graduation beginning with the 2031 class. Every Californian should leave high school with the tools to manage money, avoid debt, and build wealth.

@romanhelmetguy @Vinceris_Tandem 🎯

The Romans would’ve just dug another strait.

@EdTheProtestant Exactly. So when you say, “We’ve decimated them,” it’s actually not that impressive.

@ConsideringCath Doesn’t it mean to reduce by a tenth?

All I ask is for everyone to stop saying “decimated” when they mean “thoroughly destroyed.” Please, look it up.

@Freyy_is 🎯I was so happy in the early 2000s with my iPod for exactly this reason. I had a Motorola Razor flip for calls, but could set it aside and use my iPod for no distractions.

dear apple, the iPod needs to come back. not for nostalgia. for the parents who want their kids to love music and audiobooks without a browser, social media, and the whole internet attached to it

I tested this hypothesis on full screen and am happy to report that I'm now 77% less stressed 🙂

@BishopBarron Your Excellency, thank you for this. My soul is grieved. But I wish more of your brothers in the hierarchy perceived the status quo as “an ideological secularism that is rotting the soul of the West.” Instead, too many seek to “accompany” it over the cliff.

It was with real sadness that I learned that the monks of the Abbey of La Trappe in Normandy are considering closing down their operation. As the name suggests, this monastery is the mother house of the Trappist Order, a reform of the Cistercian movement and a particularly intense form of Benedictine life, famous for its austerity and silence. I came to know of La Trappe through Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, whom I read with great passion when I was a young man. La Trappe shaped Merton, who in turn opened so much of the spiritual life to me. Founded over nine hundred years ago, La Trappe has survived the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and the world wars of the twentieth century. That this venerable monastery cannot find enough vocations to keep it alive is, in my judgment, a sign of the spiritual disaster that has befallen Europe in the last hundred years: an ideological secularism that is rotting the soul of the West. Let's redouble our prayers that the monks of La Trappe might find a way to preserve their great Abbey. It is needed especially now.

@unimatrix325 @SandyofCthulhu That what my scutum/shield is for: bash through the pointy ends range, then step inside it. And my maniple flanks the phalanx because they’re tryin to turn while waving around these long poles.

@ConsideringCath @SandyofCthulhu The pointy end can move back and forth in the reach by 1m easily

Spears are the best melee weapon ever invented, and we inherited them from earlier hominids (probably Homo erectus). With a spear, a human can take on a lion with a pretty good chance of success. The Masai tribe used to require its youth to kill a lion with a spear as a rite of manhood. Every kid. Spears in some version dominated every battlefield. Yes the Romans used gladius & shield, but they also carried spears (pila). Yes knights carried swords, but at Agincourt, the dismounted English knights used their lances as spears against the French chivalry. Even when firearms came out, spears were used. Up till near the end of the 17th century, pikes were used to protect musketeers from cavalry. The pikes were only discarded when bayonets were invented - allowing every musket to be its own spear. We still use bayonets today of course, but the vastly superior weapons of our age make it mostly superfluous. But the spear is the weapon that put us on top of the food chain, and that won almost every battle fought up till the 19th century. Lindybeige (the guy in the video) did the actual experiment. He had a bunch of guys who had never used spears before battle a bunch of guys who were somewhat familiar with swords. The spears win and win and win.