Skip to content
Sign in
Artwork for Avoiding Babylon
Religion & SpiritualityChristianityEducationComedy

Avoiding Babylon

Avoiding Babylon Crew

Avoiding Babylon was started during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During these difficult and dark days, when most of us were isolated from family, friends, our parishes, and even the Sacraments themselves, this channel was started as a statement of standing against the tyrannical mandates that many of us were living under. Since those early days, this channel has morphed into an amazing community of friends…no…more than friends…Christian brothers and sisters…who have grown in joy and charity. 


As we see it, our job here at Avoiding Babylon is to remind ourselves and those who enjoy the channel that being Catholic is a joyful and exciting experience. We seek true Catholic fraternity and eutrapelia with other Catholics who, like us, are doing their best to live out their vocation with the help of God’s Grace.  Above all, we try to bring humor and joy to the craziness of this fallen world, for as Hillaire Belloc has famously said:


“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,

There’s always laughter and good red wine.

At least I’ve always found it so.

Benedicamus Domino!”

Play
Open in
  • 40 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 1 hr 10 min
  • English

Support the show

Goes straight to the publisher. podnod takes nothing.

Episodes 40

NewestOldestLongest
All20Unplayed20In progress0Played0
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • August 12 · 1 hr 5 min

    E. Michael Jones Predicted This | Cooper on Tucker

    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 neighborhood isn’t just a place to sleep. It’s a memory machine, a network of elders, a parish rhythm, and a shared story that tells your kids who they are. When that breaks, everything else gets easier to break too. We start with a clip-driven conversation that spirals into a bigger question: how do narratives and propaganda reshape what a nation believes it is? Using the Darryl Cooper conversation as a jumping-off point, we talk about “myth” not as fantasy, but as the framing stories that decide what you’re allowed to say, what you’re allowed to defend, and what you’re trained to fear. From there we connect identity to faith, especially the Catholic instinct to see ourselves in a long historical line of saints, martyrs, and Christendom. Then we get concrete about urban planning and social engineering. We discuss how suburbanization and mid-century “renewal” projects, including the Robert Moses era in New York, fractured ethnic Catholic neighborhoods and dispersed parish communities into isolated households. Once people are cut off from community, mass media and institutional pressure work far better. We also wrestle with the internet as a double-edged sword: it can reveal truth and help believers find each other, but it can also turn Christianity into content instead of lived community. We close by talking about fear and preparedness: why “collapse” may look less like a movie and more like financial leverage, digital currency, and normalized control. Along the way we touch on civil conflict, division, martyrdom, and a listener question on millennials going no contact with parents, including the difference between boundaries and unnecessary rupture. If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • August 5 · 2 hr 8 min

    Build Catholic Culture or Lose Your Sons

    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! Something feels off for a lot of men right now: more content than ever, more arguments than ever, and somehow less real community. We get into that discomfort head-on with Jason Craig, co-founder of Fraternus and editor behind Sword and Spade, and we talk about the missing ingredient most Catholic masculinity conversations avoid: actual brotherhood, in real places, with real responsibility. We unpack what Fraternus is and why it starts with forming men before trying to “fix the youth.” Jason lays out a clear framework for men’s formation, rites of passage, and why fatherhood requires other men around you. Then we go practical: living historically, building for future generations, and turning the household back into a productive unit instead of a consumption machine. Whether you have acreage, a small yard, or a tight urban lot, the question stays the same: what are you building with your family that your children can see, touch, and eventually carry forward? From there, we zoom out to American Catholic culture, localism, and the threats that quietly hollow out towns and parishes. We talk private equity, zoning battles, and why “defense” starts with cultivation, showing up, and refusing to abandon your ground. We also take listener questions on awkward converts who need formation, discernment about relocating for the Latin Mass, and how Catholic men should think about healing and hope in hard personal struggles. If this conversation challenges you, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review, then tell us: what is one concrete thing you can build locally in the next 30 days? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • August 3 · 51 min

    The Last Crusade: What They Don't Want You to Know About the Spanish Civil War

    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 500-foot granite cross rises north of Madrid, and underneath it lies a story most of us were never taught to see straight. The Spanish Civil War is usually packaged as a clash between fascist generals and a democratic republic, with Hemingway and Orwell standing in for the whole moral picture. Today I walk through historian Warren Carroll’s counterclaim from The Last Crusade: that the core conflict is faith against revolution, and that once you follow the evidence, the familiar narrative starts to invert. We trace the five-year runway to 1936: church burnings, anti-Catholic laws, and the Popular Front’s own revolutionary promises, followed by a country slipping into open political violence. Then we hit the moment that makes “normal politics” feel impossible: the murder of opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo by state security forces. From there the focus shifts to Navarre’s Carlists and the religious framing that turns a rising into what Carroll calls a crusade, complete with confession, Communion, hymns, and the Sacred Heart. The hardest section is the one Carroll says the modern world prefers to minimize: the systematic persecution of the Catholic Church in Republican zones, the disappearance of public Mass, and the martyr stories, including Barbastro. We also look at the siege of the Alcazar of Toledo and why symbolic promises can outweigh tactical advantage, then follow Carroll’s documentation of Soviet influence, the NKVD presence, and Spain’s gold shipped to the Soviet Union. Finally, I deal directly with Nationalist abuses and Carroll’s argument about judging a war’s original cause versus the sins committed within it. If you care about Spanish Civil War history, Catholic persecution in Spain, Franco-era memory, or how propaganda shapes what becomes “common knowledge,” this one will stick with you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who thinks they already know this war, and leave a review with the question you can’t stop turning over. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • August 2 · 1 hr 5 min

    The Battle over Fulton Sheen's Beatification

    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 saint’s cause gets cleared for the finish line, then suddenly stalls for years. What happened, who pushed back, and why did it revolve around something as physical as Fulton Sheen’s remains? We walk through the full timeline with Dr. Peter Howard, who has spent decades studying Sheen’s life, writings, and prophetic edge, and who helped rally a grassroots movement to push for clarity and progress. We talk about the New York vs Peoria clash, the court case led by Sheen’s niece, and the quiet urgency of moving a body once the courts ruled. Then we get into the official “caution” explanation that kept coming up: the looming New York attorney general report on clergy abuse handling. Howard shares why he believes Rome never had a theological or canonical problem with Sheen’s cause, and how institutional fear and American church politics combined into an indefinite postponement that left the faithful confused and frustrated. From there the conversation opens up into the bigger questions people bring to Sheen: his “anti-church” warning, his apocalyptic language as an “unveiling,” and the sense that our era is accelerating into spiritual conflict. We connect Sheen’s insights to Marian themes, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima, and we wrestle with modern pressures like propaganda, ideological capture, gender ideology, and the rush toward AI and transhumanism. It’s a Catholic Church conversation that stays anchored in history, theology, and the practical need for hope. We also share details for the Fulton Sheen beatification conference and pilgrimage, built to help Catholics understand why Sheen matters now and how “America’s saint” could shape a uniquely Catholic culture in the United States. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves Fulton Sheen, and leave a review. What part of the Sheen story still feels unanswered to you? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 29 · 1 hr 14 min

    "Endless Scrolling": Pope Leo's Blunt Warning to Catholics

    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! Joy is not hiding at the bottom of your feed, and Pope Leo says it out loud. We start with his short, direct warning about endless scrolling, pornography culture, promiscuity, superficial relationships, and obsession with image, then pull on the thread that really matters: what happens to Catholic life when attention is constantly fractured and faith turns into something we only argue about instead of something we actually live. From there we go straight at a problem a lot of serious Catholics feel but rarely name clearly: American Catholicism can end up as intellectual Catholicism shaped by Protestant convert habits and argument-first catechesis. We’re grateful for solid apologetics, but we also ask why videos of Holy Week in Spain go viral while many American parishes struggle to sustain processions, festivals, and the ordinary customs that used to form families and neighborhoods. We talk about what broke the chain, including liturgical disruption, catechesis failures, the collapse of local community, suburban dislocation, online life replacing in-person life, and the lingering trust crisis around clergy. Then we get practical. “Uniquely American Catholic culture” does not mean copying European aesthetics or doing something cringe on purpose. We explore small, repeatable, parish-level traditions like a yearly rosary walk, a local pilgrimage, seasonal devotions, and family practices that become culture over time. We also share a surprising read of The Odyssey as an allegory for disorder, the suitors, and the return that puts the house in order, plus why that storyline hits so hard in the middle of a Church crisis. If this conversation lit a fire or hit a nerve, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people who care about Catholic life can find us. What’s one concrete tradition you’d start in your parish this year? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 22 · 1 hr 21 min

    Rome Has Spoken: The Pope Who Fought Capitalism AND Communism | Rerum Novarum Part 1

    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 pope under siege, with no army and no worldly leverage, writes a letter that rattles the rising powers of modern life. Rerum Novarum is Pope Leo XIII’s answer to an age that demanded a choice between two harsh gods: the factory that grinds families down for profit, or the revolution that promises paradise through blood and the abolition of ownership. We read it as a direct challenge to both, and as the clearest Catholic statement on money, work, and human dignity in centuries. We start with the world Leo is writing into: the industrial revolution’s wealth built on long shifts, child labor, dangerous factories, and slums where disease spreads fast and families break under pressure. That misery helps explain why Marxism sounds so seductive to the worker, yet Leo insists the socialist “cure” trades one master for another. Then we turn the spotlight where many modern conservatives don’t expect it: Leo’s warnings about unchecked competition, inhuman treatment of labor, and the shocking claim that even a mutually agreed wage can still be unjust. From there, we lay out the Catholic third way that doesn’t fit neatly on today’s political spectrum: private property as a natural right, property as stewardship with obligations, the dignity of labor, the just wage and family wage, unions and associations, and a limited state guided by the moral law. We also connect it to a very current question: if AI disrupts work at scale, what happens when a culture built on career as identity runs out of jobs to worship? Subscribe for the second part, share this with a friend who’s stuck in the capitalism vs socialism trap, and leave a review with the one line from Rerum Novarum you think every worker and employer needs to hear. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 17 · 1 hr

    The Catholic Case for a Young Earth | Christian Bergsma

    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 older we make “creation,” the easier it gets to picture God as distant, hands-off, and only occasionally involved. That’s the nerve we keep pressing with our guest Christian as we dig into why Genesis isn’t just a timeline question, but a question about revelation, providence, and what God wants us to know about him through the way he creates. We walk through the Catholic case that the Church Fathers and scholastic theologians aren’t optional background reading on creation, but central witnesses to how Christians historically understood Scripture. From there we tackle the modern pressure points: why “trust the science” often turns into a one-way authority claim, why debates about evolution and old earth assumptions reshape theology downstream, and why the burden of proof matters when scientific models rely on interpretation and starting premises. Then we get concrete. We talk dinosaurs and the controversy around soft tissue and hemoglobin claims, what uniformitarian geology assumes, and why radiometric dating ends up carrying so much weight in the modern story. We also connect creation to the Fall by asking what millions of years of suffering and predation before Adam would mean for original sin and nature’s relationship to humanity. Finally, we pivot to Graham Hancock, global flood memory, ancient structures across cultures, and the Sphinx weathering question, highlighting where alternative history is strongest and where it gets methodologically sloppy. If you enjoy thoughtful Catholic apologetics, Genesis interpretation, creation theology, and honest friction with mainstream narratives, hit subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the show. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 15 · 33 min

    Shia LaBeouf's Stalker Thinks He's a Clone of Her Dead Husband - And She Found Him!

    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 state is on fire, we’re cooked from the sun, and somehow that turns into a conversation about stalking, marriage, and what the Catholic internet does to your brain. We’re joined by Alexander Poe, a recent Protestant-to-Catholic convert who started making short Catholic apologetics videos just to explain the faith to people around him, then watched it grow into interviews, bigger topics, and real pushback. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t have anyone in your day-to-day life to talk Catholicism with, you’ll recognize why this online world pulls people in so fast. We also react to a viral Shia LaBeouf clip that looks one way on first watch, then flips when the backstory appears. The deeper context points to a woman making intense claims about clones, stolen DNA, and harassment, and it becomes a case study in how social media framing can distort reality in seconds. It’s funny, unsettling, and way more revealing than a simple celebrity moment. Then we get to the part that stays with you: a Peter Kreeft clip from Matt Fradd’s show, recorded shortly after Kreeft’s wife dies. His marriage advice is blunt and deeply Catholic: if you only love the body, don’t get married, because real love has to survive age, sickness, wrinkles, and suffering. From there we talk practical marriage and parenting realities, including what changes when the first baby arrives, how husbands and wives can lose connection if everything becomes child-centered, and why fatherhood often “clicks” when your kid recognizes you and lights up when you walk in the door. Subscribe for more candid Catholic commentary, share this with a friend who needs a serious take on marriage, and leave a review if you want more conversations like this. What’s one lesson you learned the hard way about marriage, conversion, or the internet? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 13 · 1 hr 5 min

    Touch Grass: The Devil Is Using Church Drama to Keep You From Heaven

    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 Catholic internet can make you feel like you have to pick a team every five minutes and if you refuse, you’re the enemy. We’re tired of that, so we talk honestly about burnout after the SSPX blowups, the pressure to perform certainty online, and why stepping away for a weekend can reset your head and your heart. Sometimes the most “traditional” move is closing the apps and living your actual vocation. We also get into the most sobering kind of reality check: a funeral Mass where basic Eucharistic discipline and liturgical boundaries feel optional. When priests refuse to clarify Communion norms or let the liturgy turn into something improvised, families leave confused and scandalized. That experience feeds right back into the bigger SSPX and Traditional Latin Mass debate, Traditionis Custodes, and the question we keep circling: how do we acknowledge authority while still naming injustice and bad governance? Then we deliberately pivot to real life: Fourth of July on the water, fireworks, a sudden storm that changes everything, travel plans for an anniversary trip, and the very normal joys and risks of hobbies like quadding and side-by-sides. We close by reacting to the tradwife trend and the media’s caricature of marriage, work, and “fulfillment,” with a blunt reminder that meaning is usually built slowly, at home, with your spouse and kids. If this resonated, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs a break from the drama, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 8 · 1 hr 6 min

    SSPX Fallout and Catholic Infighting w/ Michael Hichborn

    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 single decision in Rome can light a fuse across the Catholic world, and that’s exactly what happens when the SSPX consecrations collide with papal warnings and a decree of excommunication. With Rob away at a family funeral, we take a hard look at why this moment is hitting so many people differently: some feel vindicated, some feel betrayed, and plenty feel stuck between the Catholic instinct to obey the Pope and the lived reality of deep Vatican confusion. We walk through the core questions without pretending they’re easy. What makes a command lawful, and why does that matter even when Church leaders scandalize the faithful? Were the consecrations strategically avoidable, and what would a transparent, public negotiation with Rome have looked like? We also unpack the practical anxiety many Catholics feel about sacramental life, especially confession and marriage faculties, and why vague language and sloppy governance can “cast doubt” even when the underlying sacramental theology is sound. From there, we zoom out to the bigger crisis: Vatican double standards, the post Vatican II revolution in Church culture, and the grim data showing widespread rejection of core Catholic beliefs. But we refuse to let outrage become the point. The deeper fight is for charity, sanity, and salvation. We talk frankly about why sedevacantism can poison the soul, why Catechism 675 helps frame the “mystery of iniquity,” and what it looks like to resist errors without jumping out of the Barque of Peter. If you’re trying to stay faithful in a time when everything feels like a battlefield, we end with a simple plan: stay awake, watch, and pray. If this helped you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who’s struggling, and leave a review so more Catholics can find it. What’s the clearest line you think Catholics should not cross right now? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • July 1 · 59 min

    SSPX Drama Continues: Sede Inc. Comes After 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 single letter from Rome can change the whole temperature of the Catholic internet, and this one hits like a brick: Pope Leo pleads with the SSPX to “please turn back,” warns of a “schismatic act,” and points to the seamless garment of Christ. We slow the conversation down and read the letters themselves, because the hot takes are cheap and the stakes are not. If you care about the Society of St Pius X, the consecration of bishops, faculties, and what “unity” actually means in the middle of a Church crisis, you need the primary sources, not the caricatures. We also address the side drama that keeps poisoning the well: critics who misframe what we say, the temptation to turn every disagreement into a bad faith accusation, and the constant pressure to jump from “there’s a crisis” straight to sedevacantism. We explain why we won’t take the “no valid pope since 1958” route, why we think that conclusion creates a bigger ecclesiology problem, and why people owe their audience clarity if they’re going to flirt with sedevacantist arguments while denying the label. Then we get practical and painfully real about liturgy. We play a Bishop Williamson clip that cuts through slogans: the Novus Ordo Mass is not automatically invalid by its text, but it can still be spiritually dangerous in how it forms people, especially children, through irreverence and confusion. We talk about why so many cradle Catholics only found their faith by discovering the Traditional Latin Mass, and why this whole conflict should break your heart instead of feeding your ego. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s caught in the crossfire, and leave a review with your take: what do you think Rome and the SSPX should do next? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 26 · 52 min

    Catholics Lose Their Minds Over the SSPX Consecrations

    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 SSPX consecrations story isn’t just about bishops and Rome. It’s a stress test for the whole traditional Catholic world, and the reaction tells you more than the headline ever could. We talk through why people who never attend an SSPX chapel can seem the most obsessed, why sedevacantists and anti-SSPX critics both use the moment to drive wedges, and why calling everyone a traitor or a grifter is a lazy substitute for thinking. We also get concrete about the substance beneath the drama. We read through a blunt list of modern errors that traditional Catholics keep naming, from relativism and situational ethics to false ecumenism, synodality, and a liturgical focus that feels more human-centered than God-centered. Then we ask the uncomfortable question: how do you reconcile claims that “it’s all in Vatican II” with the day-to-day Vatican posture on interreligious dialogue and “fraternity”? If you care about the Latin Mass, the FSSP, diocesan TLMs, or the SSPX, these tensions shape your lived Catholic experience. The second half turns toward mindset and spiritual survival. We push back on the idea that it’s a Catholic duty to “cope” if that means pretending all is well, but we also warn against scandal addiction and doomscrolling. We close with a surprising historical lens: the real clash between Lefebvre and Paul VI, and why the Church can look like it’s in its passion without having failed. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s stuck in trad infighting, and leave a review so more Catholics can find the conversation. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 24 · 1 hr 25 min

    Michael Knowles Just Betrayed Catholic Teaching on Israel

    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! “Can we please be normal?” That’s the line we start from, because the Israel conversation rarely stays normal for long. We take a careful look at Michael Knowles’ comments and the broader conservative Catholic media instinct to treat the modern State of Israel as a purely political alliance, detached from theology. We don’t buy that split. When people invoke Scripture, prophecy, covenant language, or “God’s promises,” they are already doing theology, even if they call it foreign policy. We’re joined by Catholic State (Justin) and American Reform to sort out the terms that constantly get blurred: Israel as a people, Israel as a land, and Israel as a modern nation-state. From there we dig into Romans 9–11, what Saint Paul actually means by “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” and why Catholic fulfillment theology doesn’t fit comfortably with Christian Zionism or dispensationalism. We also discuss Vatican II language that’s often cited in online debates, plus earlier Catholic sources that shape how many traditional Catholics think about covenant, promise, and continuity. The conversation turns to a newer pro-Israel Catholic advocacy effort asking the Pope to clarify whether the founding and endurance of the State of Israel should be read as a sign of providence. We explain why that question isn’t neutral, why “right to exist” can smuggle in theology, and how Catholics can reject sensationalism while still refusing a forced, two-option script. If you want a more precise, historically grounded way to think about Catholic teaching on Israel, the Holy Land, and political theology, this one will challenge you. Subscribe for more long-form Catholic conversations, share this with a friend who argues about Israel online, and leave a review with your biggest unresolved question after listening. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 19 · 2 hr 44 min

    Nancy Charles: I Escaped the LGBT Lifestyle to Live a Chaste Catholic Life

    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! She was alone, spiraling, and ready to end her life. Then a single thought cut through everything: “What if the pain doesn’t end here?” That question didn’t just stop Nancy, it started a chain of events she still can’t explain away: five days of praying the Rosary, an unmistakable push to go see a priest, and the terrifying walk into a Catholic church where she felt like she didn’t belong. We talk with Nancy about the real backstory leading up to that moment: childhood trauma, secrecy, same-sex attraction, family upheaval, and years of addiction that moved from “normal” partying to isolation, overdoses, psychiatric holds, and repeated rehab cycles. She shares how the culture’s identity scripts can feel like relief at first, whether it is coming out or experimenting with gender transition, and why that “freedom” often collapses into deeper confusion when the underlying wounds stay untouched. Then we dig into the bigger questions her story raises for anyone trying to live and speak the faith clearly today: What is identity, and is it built from desires or received from God? Why does language like “gay Catholic” create a conflict of frameworks? How do we tell the truth about confession and Communion without turning it into a pride project? Along the way we get practical about healing, shame, conscience, and why the sacraments are not a side detail but the center of recovery and conversion. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find it. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 17 · 1 hr 41 min

    Rome Has Spoken: The Most Contested Encyclical in the Modern Church | Immortale Dei

    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! You’ve probably heard the Saint Michael Prayer. The part most people miss is that its origin story is bound up with a Pope who believed the Church was facing more than bad politics, and he answered with something sharper than commentary: Immortali Dei, Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on how a nation should be ordered, what authority is, and why the state cannot pretend God is irrelevant without slowly hollowing itself out. We walk through Leo’s core framework: two real powers established by God, the spiritual authority of the Church and the temporal authority of the state. That distinction is not a call for theocracy, but it is a direct challenge to the modern “religiously neutral” state. From natural law to public education to marriage, Leo argues that law and culture always point somewhere, and when they stop pointing toward truth, they don’t become neutral, they drift toward chaos. Along the way we dig into the thesis hypothesis approach, the idea that there’s an ideal political order, and there are also prudent concessions Catholics may accept when the ideal is impossible without greater harm. That sets up the tension a lot of Catholics still feel today: Immortali Dei’s “error has no rights” versus Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae and the modern language of religious liberty. We lay out why this debate keeps splitting the Catholic world, and we test it against real life examples, including a clip of JD Vance explaining how he weighs papal criticism against his duties in civil office. If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t have the words to explain what went wrong in the modern West, Leo XIII gives you a vocabulary worth recovering. Subscribe for the next installment as we move toward Rerum Novarum, and if this helped you, share it with a friend and leave a review so more people can find the series. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 12 · 1 hr 2 min

    This can't continue... | Karmelo Anthony, Henry Nowak, and Belfast

    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! Something feels different lately: the same news cycle, the same platforms, but a heavier sense of pressure, anger, and exhaustion. We start with a last-minute scramble when Rob can’t make it, and Mike Pantile jumps in on short notice, then we get right into what’s behind the growing fatigue. From immigration anxiety to online outrage addiction, we talk about why so many people feel like the temperature is rising and nobody can agree on what’s real anymore. We dig into the Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf case as a brutal example of how one event can produce two completely different moral stories depending on what your feed serves you. We react to viral clips, talk through the gap between courtroom reality and social media narratives, and ask what happens when algorithms reward the most divisive voices. The bigger issue isn’t just politics, it’s a crisis of trust, a crisis of community, and a culture trained to treat rage as a lifestyle. From there we zoom out to Belfast unrest and the temptation toward decentralized “solutions” when institutions won’t act. We wrestle with the Catholic and Christian perspective on borders, responsibility, and the weaponization of empathy, plus what it looks like to build real resilience without giving in to despair. We land on a practical question many families are asking: do we retreat from the city and rebuild local life, or is that giving up? If this conversation hits home, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find it. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 10 · 2 hr 17 min

    Rome Has Spoken: When the Pope Declared War on Secret Societies | Humanum Genus

    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! For 146 years, pope after pope warns Catholics about a secret society and almost nobody listens. So Leo XIII does something different: he frames the whole problem as a war between two cities, the City of God and the City of Man, and then names the modern structure he thinks finally gives the “city of man” real organization. That document is Humanum Genus, and we dig into what Leo actually argues, why he goes theological instead of just issuing another ban, and how his critique of naturalism and religious indifferentism maps onto the modern secular state. We also slow down and do the unglamorous work: what is real history in Freemasonry’s development from medieval guilds to Enlightenment-era speculative lodges, and what is just romantic myth. We talk higher-degree esoteric influences, why the “all religions are equal” claim is not neutral, and why Leo ties these ideas to education, public life, and the replacement of Christian civilization with a functionally atheist public order. Joshua Charles joins us to connect Humanum Genus to Monsignor George Dillon’s The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, a book Leo XIII endorsed and helped circulate. We unpack Charles’s “sola natura” summary, the Catholic claim that grace perfects nature, and why a society trained to violate conscience becomes easier to steer. Then, because we’re us, the conversation spills into current events, media narratives, and a late-show pivot through the Carmelo Anthony verdict and JD Vance explaining his conversion to Catholicism. Subscribe for the rest of the encyclical series, share this with a friend who thinks “religion is private,” and leave a review if you want more deep dives like this. Where do you see the City of Man pressing hardest right now? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 5 · 1 hr 11 min

    Vatican Picks A Zionist As Press Secretary | McElroy Removes The Exorcist

    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 few viral clips and one Vatican appointment raise a bigger question than most Catholic media wants to touch: when Church communications tries to sound modern, does it end up teaching something else entirely? We dig into the resurfaced audio around a former EWTN executive tapped for a Vatican communications role, including her comments on supersessionism, Catholic-Jewish relations, and the claim that “all Jews should become Christians… is wrong.” For us, that line isn’t a hot take, it’s a doctrinal fault line, because Catholic theology can’t treat salvation, evangelization, and conversion as optional without changing the faith into something unrecognizable. We also unpack the Phylos Project and the broader ecosystem of “dialogue” branding, Israel trips, and Catholic influencer pipelines that can nudge people toward a softer, more therapeutic version of Catholicism. The issue isn’t polite conversation or basic respect, it’s what gets quietly edited out: the uniqueness of Christ, the purpose of the Church, and the danger of confusing goodwill with agreement. We talk through why this messaging lands especially hard with the EWTN crowd, and why media-savvy appointments can calm headlines while pushing big changes underneath. Then the conversation pivots to Washington, DC, where Monsignor Stephen Rossetti is removed from his exorcist role after warning that some UFO or UAP encounters may be demonic deception. We read his response, play what he actually said, and sort speculation from doctrine while asking why the backlash got so loud that the story spilled beyond Catholic news into mainstream outlets. Subscribe, share this with a friend who follows Catholic current events, and leave a five-star review so more people can find the show. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 3 · 1 hr 22 min

    Rome Has Spoken: The Encyclical That Brought Aquinas Back | Aeterni Patris (Apple Video Podcast Test)

    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! Europe is declaring the Catholic faith “obsolete,” the Papal States are gone, and the Pope is effectively boxed into Rome. That’s the moment Leo XIII steps into, and instead of answering with another list of condemnations, he reaches back to a 13th-century friar and bets the future on Catholic intellectual formation. We walk through the history behind Aeterni Patris and why Leo thinks the real crisis of the modern world is a crisis of philosophy that spills out of universities into law, media, family life, and public morality. We break down the four big currents shaping that era and, honestly, still shaping ours: Kantian subjectivism, Hegelian historicism, positivism, and materialism. Each one chips away at the idea that truth is knowable and stable, and we talk about what happens when seminaries and Catholic education absorb those habits instead of resisting them. From Perugia’s Thomist experiment to Leo’s push for the Leonine edition and a worldwide revival of Thomism, you’ll hear why St. Thomas Aquinas becomes the Church’s chosen model for thinking clearly about God, the human person, liberty, authority, and the moral order. Then we make the jump to today: AI, advertising, “slop” content, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when powerful technology grows faster than moral reasoning. If you’ve been looking for a Catholic take on modern philosophy, Thomism, and AI ethics, this conversation is built for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big ideas, and leave a review with the one modern assumption you think needs to be challenged first. Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
  • June 3 · 1 hr 22 min

    Rome Has Spoken: The Encyclical That Brought Aquinas Back | Aeterni Patris

    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 modern world keeps telling you the problem is politics, policy, or personality. We argue it’s deeper: bad philosophy becomes bad theology, then bad culture, and eventually a society that can’t even explain what truth, freedom, or the human person are. That’s why we go back to 1879 and Pope Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris, written when the Church is politically cornered, mocked by the academies, and squeezed by hostile states across Europe. We walk through the real intellectual enemies Leo sees rising behind the scenes: Kantian subjectivism that cuts reason off from reality, Hegelian historicism that turns doctrine into something that “evolves,” positivism that treats only lab results as knowledge, and materialism that reduces mind and soul to chemistry. Then we track Leo’s response: recover the Catholic intellectual tradition with St. Thomas Aquinas at the center, rebuild seminaries and universities, and use philosophy as a bridge to faith rather than a replacement for it. From there we bring Leo’s warnings forward into the AI era. We talk about media saturation, the coming ad-driven “slop” economy, and why technology without moral formation doesn’t stay neutral for long. We also ask the uncomfortable question nobody wants to face: will pornography and artificial intimacy become the profit engine that pushes AI into every corner of life? If you want a grounded Catholic take on faith and reason, Thomism, modernism, Catholic education, and AI ethics, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of modern life do you think is most shaped by bad philosophy? Support the show Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our 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=1 https://www.avoidingbabylon.com Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

    • Transcript
    • Chapters
Showing 21–40 of 40 episodes