Pints With Aquinas - Q&A Livestream + A BIG Announcement!

Episode Date: December 31, 2021

Join our NEW Community on LOCALS: https://mattfradd.locals.com/ 🍻 Support Pints Directly (THANK YOU!): https://www.patreon.com/mattfradd 🙏 Hallow: http://Hallow.com/mattfradd

Hey, Matt Fradd here, welcome to Pints with Aquinas. If this show has been a blessing to you, please consider supporting us directly at pints with aquinas.com slash give or at patreon.com slash Matt Fradd. Any dollar amount would be a blessing to us. Thank you so much for considering. impromptu Q&A live stream. We have got people from Somebody said this is Matteo. He says sadly Italy I don't know why it's sadly but good to have you here people from New York and Houston and Illinois and the UK and Canada and Germany Europe some just said Europe fair enough, Croatia Glory to Jesus Christ Harrisburg, not far from me. Montana, capturing Christianity. What's up, Cameron Batuzi from Texas, the greatest country on earth, he says.

We have people from Georgia and California. This is insane. Insane, British Columbia. Lovely to have you. My name is Matt Fradd. This is Pints with Aquinas. A few days back, I released a video on the

Transgenderism article that came out from the New York magazine it generated quite a stir I'm actually surprised I haven't been banned yet so if you haven't watched that be sure to go check that out because we'll see how long I last on YouTube after After teaching and speaking secular heresy as it were after teaching and speaking secular heresy as it were. Good news is we are now creating and have created a locals community which is a free speech platform. This will just go to show you how free speech the platform is.

We started by Dave Rubin and a few other fellows but I had a chat last Monday with a couple of the guys who are at the top of locals and I shared with them this post that I did on transgenderism. I'm like, what about this one? Just trying to see what I can get away with. And like, yeah, that's awesome.

Good for you. Super vulnerable, very honest, well done. So it's just nice to be part of a community that isn't gonna ban you. So I'm on Rumble, I'm on locals. Now please don't get the wrong idea. I'm not leaving YouTube. I'm not leaving Patreon.

If you're on Patreon, stay on Patreon. But I've had people say to me, I just don't get the wrong idea. I'm not leaving YouTube. I'm not leaving Patreon. If you're on Patreon, stay on Patreon. But I've had people say to me, I just don't wanna be on Patreon. So people are starting support to support on Locals and things like that. So I'm on Locals, I'm on Rumble, I'm on YouTube, I'm on all of the things for that rainy day when YouTube decides that I shall be excommunicated.

Anyway, great to have you. I hope you had a bloody fantastic Christmas. I had a lovely Christmas. I think it may have been the greatest Christmas of my life. My sister from Australia was visiting with her boyfriend, hopefully soon to be fiance. Yeah, we hung out. We watched all of the Christmas movies. The greatest Christmas movie is without a doubt, no not Die Hard, although that is a great one, It's a Wonderful Life. You cannot, I think that may be one of the top three movies ever made. It's a Wonderful Life. What is your favorite Christmas movie? Let me know below. So today I just wanted to hang out, chill, kick it old school, do camera swaps like that.

What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? Because Catholic Jamie isn't here. He's taken some some Christmas time off because apparently he needed a vacation. What's that about? He also needs to be paid every month, which is ridiculous, but whatever. I hope you had a great one. I had a great one. Let me just have a little swig of the old San Pellegrino here. I've got a big announcement to make in this here video or if it's not big it's sufficiently medium so stick around for that as well. Man okay good let's do it. I've got like four espressos in me, I've got like the tip of a cigar in me, and I am ready to rock. How annoyed would y'all be if I just sang

this entire podcast? Today we're gonna take questions, Leo Tang says, will a good Protestant but not a Catholic, how annoyed would you be? I mean, I'd probably last what, five seconds? All right, I'll stop doing that. We have a ton of questions and we are gonna take questions from our patrons first

before we move on to YouTube. So stick around, we'll see how many we can get to. Because we have a plethora of questions, we'll see how many are sufficiently sufficient, at least as far as answers go. But just to give you a heads up, we've got questions on, we have Protestants asking about purgatory and the papacy, we have questions about should I call my child by her preferred pronoun, we have questions, all sorts of questions, questions about technology, questions about baptizing

infants, questions about tips for new convert, we have tons of stuff to get through. So get a drink depending on where you are it's probably too early for a bruskie but it is the Christmas holiday so you know you do what you want to do. Take a seat and let's get into it. All right let's see here. Leo Tang asks, will a good Protestant but not a Catholic be saved? I'm not sure what that question means. Do you mean will a good Protestant be saved? Well, okay. Can you tell I haven't read these ahead of time? So the Catholic Church teaches that those who are outside of the visible bounds of the Catholic Church can indeed be saved.

So the question is what do we mean by a good Protestant? Well, the way one way you're not saved, one way you would be damned is if you knew what God wanted of you and you rejected it, you willingly rejected it. So a good Protestant is going to have to have to be somebody who loves Jesus Christ and wants to be obedient to Jesus Christ and isn't one who knows that Christ established the Catholic Church and he has to be a part of it. Because if a Protestant knows that and refuses, then he cannot be saved. Just like a Catholic who rejects what God wants of him willingly cannot be saved but certainly you know 1st Timothy 2 for God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth we have to distinguish between what we

might say ignorance which is willful that is culpable and what we might call invincible ignorance the difference, are you responsible for the ignorance you have in not becoming Catholic? Maybe you are, maybe you're not. Okay, let's see here. All right, David Gardner, thanks for being a patron, David, you beautiful little rascal, says, what advice would you give to my wife and I

as we feel called to minister to authentic cast Catholic masculinity and femininity, but we are in a rural area Additionally we are in our 20s and everyone in our parish around us averages 40s so older So we're concerned that might have make it difficult. All right Let me say a word about Catholic masculinity and femininity. Much could be said, but I was just been thinking recently that it seems to me that like what sort of epitomizes or typifies masculinity is being a gift, an active giver, you might say. What seems to typify femininity is this active receptivity.

And I can think about this in a couple of ways. Like, if you're old enough to have seen the TV show Friends, unfortunately my parents let me watch it. There was an episode where Chandler Bing was going to propose to Monica but he couldn't so Monica got down on her knee and proposed to him. I don't like that at all. I don't like that at all. It's the man who's meant to initiate the gift I mean you look at the sexual act and it's sort of I think is illustrative of what men and women How we ought to embrace our masculinity and femininity in the sexual act the man Rises to the occasion gives of himself the woman right? Not in a passive way, it isn't

active receptivity, but she receives the gift. And you think about that in proposing, like it's weird when a woman proposes to a man, and I'd actually not have a great deal of respect for a man if a woman proposed to him like that because he didn't have the strength to initiate it. Also, I think, and by the way, this isn't Catholic teaching, you understand, this is just my little pet grievances. I also think that I remember when my wife lived in Texas and I lived in Australia, I would want to be with her, man. I missed her so much, you know, but whenever I would kind of think about her, I might think about holding her, right? Like hugging her, embracing her. My wife, we since talked about this, you know, when she would think about me, she would think

about being held by me, you know, receiving my embrace. I think it would be unnatural for me to spend most of my time thinking about my wife hugging me, right? Well, like if only I could be in her arms. Like, no, here we are again with the man initiating the strength and the gift and the woman willingly receiving it. So anyway, those are a few thoughts on masculinity and femininity. As far as how you can engage in that sort of ministry in your hometown, I don't know your hometown. Certainly online has made it possible for us to do all sorts of good work. So you might consider starting a podcast since every other human being has a podcast.

So why shouldn't you have one? He also might ask if the Lord is calling you out of your hometown to move to Steubenville. No, I don't know. Maybe not, maybe not. All right, let's see here. Christina Sierra, thank you for being a patron, says, I've long been attracted to the idea of getting a dumb phone and was happy to see you talk about this What are some ways you'd recommend to keep up with family members or friends who live in another country? I myself being a student abroad in the absence of a smartphone So I'm not gonna lie right giving up my smartphone was was and continues to be difficult because

the world has moved on and when you cease to the world has moved on and when you cease to engage in the technology with which it moves on, you sort of become an outsider in some sense. And so it's been difficult. So I know my parents are pretty, you know, I wouldn't say upset, but I think they're a little frustrated that they can't get a hold of me like they used to. So I've just begun emailing them. Remember when emails were like letters? You would write a letter in an email. Now we kind of use email like we text kind of thing. And well, I actually write to them that way.

And I try to make a conscious effort to do that. My wife has a smartphone. And so occasionally like on Christmas, we FaceTime them and things like that. So, you know, again, the thing I kept coming back to was this line, what level of inconvenience am I willing to embrace to live a more peaceful life? So that's that's what I thought just give me a second here. Would you give me a second? Just just give just give me one second. Just you talk amongst yourself

Selves while I light my cigar up which has gone out much to my chagrin Oh, come on on, there we go. I mean how is that for entertaining YouTube? This is what you're here for. You know it, you know it. Alright let's see Man, we got a bunch of chats in the chat rooms. Matt, someone says on YouTube, William Swenson. There is a pints with Aquinas Facebook group. What is it? I don't, it's probably a group run by listeners of the show.

A dose of theosis, also known as the Derek on YouTube says, should I start a food truck called live loaf love and it's all types of meatloaf. Immediately, immediately you should, whether it fails or not, it's clearly God's call upon your life and you would be wrong to reject it. Okay, Connor Gibson says, two of my biggest hurdles in converting to Catholicism are the concepts of papal infallibility as well as purgatory. How Australian did I just say the word purgatory? Purgatory. Purgatory?

Are there any books or other resources you'd recommend to help justify both of those doctrines for me? Yes, there are. I've done episodes on purgatory. If you go to pineswithaquinas.com and type in Purgatory into the search bar, you'll find all episodes I've done trying to explain it. Same thing with Papal Infallibility. You can go to pineswithaquinas.com and in the search bar type that in. As far as two books, I would recommend Pope Peter by Joe Hechemeyer, who we've had on the show before and who will be coming on again soon. That is at shop.catholic.com. You can probably also get it on Amazon. As far as purgatory, I would recommend a book by a

Protestant, since you are a Protestant, I presume. Jerry Wals is his name. Now, certainly I disagree with much of what Jerry Wals has said and I haven't read this book myself, but his book is called Purgatory, The Logic of Total Transformation. so I would recommend those two books. Okay we have an anonymous question here and first of all I want to thank you anonymous for asking such an intimate question and I want to apologize in advance for this perhaps being unhelpful I suspect it will be given the gravity of the question. Let's see here. Is it okay to use gender neutral pronouns for my daughter? I've heard a lot about this.

Asked a priest trying to pass out if it would be an act of love from a mother or a denial of our God. Please don't answer politics or quickly. Unfortunately, I might have to answer quickly only because of my lack of familiarity with the depths of this topic, but I'll give it a shot. I think that a transgender man is as real as gay marriage. I don't think it exists and I don't think we should use the terms. A transgender man or transgender woman don't exist. There are men who think they're a women and there are women who think that they are men and then there

is a society who's willing to go along with these sorts of delusions which no doubt cause a great deal of pain for that individual. I expressed this in my video the other day I cannot imagine what it would be like to feel like I was a woman trapped in a man's body that That must be bloody awful. And I'm deeply sorry for anybody who feels that sort of, what do you say, fracture within themselves. And I'm not pretending it's easy, and certainly we should treat people who feel this way with tremendous love and Gentleness just like our loving God treats us with tremendous love and gentleness for those sins We engage in those delusions. We choose to engage in and things like that

So without having given this a great deal of thought I would say this and you let me know what you think in the comment Section, I'm sure you will your YouTube that's what you do I would never call a man a woman or she if this man believed himself to be a woman because that seems to me to be a lie and I think lying is always wrong now if a man decided he was a woman and of course that doesn't make him such, but if he decided he was and said, I'd like you to call me Jenny, say, I'd have less trouble with that because people can change their name and people do change their name. And in so doing, I don't think I'm making a claim about their identity.

If somebody said to me, suppose you have a man, thinks he is a woman and says call me Jenny even though my name is Bob say, I would and if I was in relationship with this person I would want to first make it clear that I don't think that they're woman and I love them and would love to journey with them so can't lie. However if you'd like me to call you a different name such as as Jenny, that's something I think I'd be okay doing. So long as they knew that I didn't believe that they're thinking themselves to be a woman, made it so.

And there we are. There's the second strike on YouTube. It's been a pleasure knowing you. But honestly, I mean, we've got to speak real about these things. I don't like it. Even you see this in conservative commentators, they'll say on YouTube who are very popular, they'll say that a transgender man, that's not a thing. Just like gay marriage is not a thing, right? Just like a married bachelor isn't a thing. We have to be careful with our language because language conveys concepts.

And when you use terms to refer to things that don't exist, you at best confuse people and at worst lead them into serious error, I think. There's an excellent book though that I'd recommend. Thank you Christopher Belcher for recommending it. And that would be Dr. Ryan Anderson's book. It's called When Harry Became Sally. It was banned on Amazon because they are clearly proponents of reasonable disagreement and free speech and open-mindedness that was sarcasm but yeah check out Ryan Anderson's work and and may God bless you anonymous for your question and I apologize if that was in any way quick as you say political as you say or just unhelpful

say, political as you say or just unhelpful. Let's see, let's go to YouTube. See the questions filing in. Well I gotta read this one because it's so friendly and you know you don't get a lot of friendly comments on YouTube but Tess's art says Matt you're a gift to this world. Wow man thank you so much it's so kind of you. Okay well let's just we'll just go to YouTube to read your nice comments and then we'll go back here. Okay Dan Kinsley who studies here at Franciscan, nice to see you here, Dan, says, Matt, are you working on any new books? Also, do you think you will ever do more fictional writing under your own name?

Or would you reserve it for group projects like Sibling Horror or pseudonyms? Hope you and your family are well. So for those not familiar, my sister and I write little horror stories which we release as a podcast. It's called Sibling Horror. We pay somebody else to read them because there's nothing terrifying about my Australian accent. So you can go check out Sibling Horror if you're interested. I do like writing fiction a great deal. I'm currently working on a story which I suppose

will be released on Sib sibling horror within the coming months. Yeah, I don't know. I think I'll continue to write fiction. Do you remember when you were a kid and you would write things or draw things or engage in activities that you weren't great at, but you were free? You were a child and it didn't matter if you were great or brilliant or the best and you just did it? That's why I like writing writing fiction like I'm okay not being great at it, but trying and it gives me great life So that that's one of the reasons I continue to write it As far as a book I have this idea for a book and I've reached out to tan and Tan said they're okay. I said I want to do it anonymously.

So actually I won't tell you what I'm going to do with the book, but I think they're going to let me write it anonymously. But it has something to do with the doctors of the church and prayer. But you know, writing, I don't know, it takes a lot of work for me. So no, to answer your question, I'm not working a great deal on writing these days. Let's see. Why don't we pop over to the YouTubes and see what people are saying there. Hannah Kim, lovely to see you here, she says I'm on the journey home, I presume

by that you mean to Catholicism. Any resource book recommendations for my husband a Protestant pastor who has hang-ups with the papacy? The best overall book I would recommend to folks is Trent Trent Horn's book. It's not a scholarly book, but it is the most encompassing of these sorts of issues and it's called Why Wear Catholic. That's on Audible. You can check that out. Why We're Catholic. He also has another book on Catholicism. I think I have it here, do I? Yes. The Case for Catholicism by Trent Horn. I'd recommend that. And I also already recommended Pope Peter by Joe Hechmeyer. Those would be a couple of books I would recommend

Hey guys, hey while you're here Why not click that thumbs up button and click that Bell button and that way YouTube will be forced to let you know Whenever I'm on here And that would be nice of you. Thank you so much Let's see Let's see. Absurd Scandal, what an interesting name, says, Is being proud of oneself always intrinsically sinful or against humility or are there instances when it's not a sin to enjoy it? What do you think? Well, I think so long as what we're proud of we give

gratitude and thanks to Almighty God for, then it's okay. You know, like I could imagine somebody growing in a particular virtue and or ceasing to engage in a particular vice and thinking I'm really happy that this is happening and I'm really glad that I'm putting in the hard work that this is being brought about. But I think it always has to be in relation to thanksgiving to God. Without him we're nothing. So Lord I thank you that your grace has enabled me to grow in this virtue. I think that's the sort of language I would say is the best way to go. We have a question here from Logan who says, Matt we homeschool our children and my seven-year-old is a great reader. What books do you recommend we buy him to read?

I want him to read great books, not just Paw Patrol. Yeah, so I think in order to get ready for the great books, one has to read the good books first. So there are good books that pave the way for great books. I'm thinking of things like Brother Grimm, fairy tales. I'm thinking of things like Treasure Island by... what's that Scottish poet's name? Golly, it's escaping me. But I think good books. So The Hobbit is a great... wasn't a great book, but it's a good book.

Lord of the Rings. I think these sorts of things, before we have them reading other more difficult texts, is the way to go. Alright. Jeffrey and Miranda, who are patrons and therefore very attractive human beings say, as a noteworthy Catholic, am I? I guess so, has that had an impact on participating in serving your parish or participating in parish life? For example, if they started a Bible study, would you feel a greater responsibility to attend or less so that you don't steal the spotlight?

Jeffrey and Miranda, thank you. You only have to be around me for more than 10 minutes to get over whatever it is you think I am. I'm quite boring and when I go to my local parish here, St. Peter's in Steubenville, everybody's fully aware of that. So I don't consider myself a noteworthy Catholic and I don't think anybody here considers me that either. If they do, it's only because they just met me and as I say they usually get over it pretty quickly once they encounter me so No, I don't I don't hesitate to join things within town because of that at all Jared says hey Matt Have you thought about doing an episode where all you talk about is what's going well for the church, good news and signs of hope.

It's often easy for us to see what's going wrong, but it can be nice to hear what's actually going right. That's an excellent idea for an episode. I think there is a lot of good happening in the church. I see many people wanting, what do you say, Not Christianity light, wanting Christianity hardcore, if you want. I think Exodus 90 is a great example of that. I think there are good apostolates in the church doing good work. Hallow is a great example of a group doing excellent work in the church, and it's online. I get it. But if you are watching me today and you have not downloaded the Hallow app and you have a smartphone, I really encourage you to do it. These fellas are raising a ton of money to make the greatest app that exists.

I'm so proud of them and I'm proud of other Catholics who are doing excellent work, like Exodus 90, Focus I think are doing good work. You know, there's a lot of people investing a lot of time, energy and money to produce things that are helpful to people. But since Halo sponsored me, I should probably talk about them. Halo.com slash Matt Fradd.

Click the link in the description below and sign up. So the fellow who started it was into Buddhism and New Age spirituality, and he would download kind of New Age apps, right? Like that aren't explicitly New Age. Maybe like calm maybe like headspace And he thought to himself why doesn't the Catholic version of this exist? And so he created it It's a hundred percent Catholic and it's better than headspace and calm. I'm just gonna say it I think it's better than both of those things and I cannot believe How much energy and and and and discipline went into the creation of this if you don't know what I'm talking about

Go to your app store, whether you're Android, iOS, type in Halo, H-A-L-L-O-W, and download it. They've got a bunch of free stuff, you don't have to sign up to their app, but if you wanna get a month for free, go to halo.com slash matfrad, halo.com slash matfrad. They have sleep stories where people like Father Mike Schmitz read Bible stories,

they have examinations of conscience, they have Lectio Divina. It's really great, man. It's seriously great. And it's just one of those things that, I don't know, like telling a loved one, hey, come to church with me. Okay, that can be difficult if they're estranged from the church in some sense, but telling them, hey, listen to Pints with Aquinas, or hey, download the Hello app, and if you want more peace in your life. I'm so glad that things like that exist and I think it's having a tremendous impact, one that's going to bear fruit for years to come. But yes, I think

it's a good idea to do an episode like that. Also, kudos to me for slipping in an advert to a question. Did you see that? You know, I'm very proud of myself, but I'm thankful to God really, mostly, for allowing me to read that advert with just the seamlessness. It's just incredible. Okay enough of that. Beth Wright who is a patron and therefore a beautiful human and no doubt delightfully pretty says what would be your number one tip for new converts? Just relax in the beauty and the tradition of the church. Just enjoy the beauty of the liturgy. Find yourself, I think, a good traditional liturgy and just soak it all in. I think don't rush around from one devotion to the next. Find a

devotion, perhaps, that really speaks to you, like the Holy Rosary or the Jesus Prayer or something like that, and just sort of invest time in it. Just be patient with yourself, because Catholicism has 2,000 years of history that you could dive into, whether that be her devotions or her liturgies or her writings. So just go easy on yourself and just enjoy. That's what I'd say. So there you are. Let's go over to the YouTubes and see what people

are saying. Wow, man, tons of questions. We have a super chat. Thank you so much much have you seen the movie silence it was encouraging the discouraging kept me up all night you're the story guy would love your thoughts silence I'm sure I've seen this and now I'm I'm wondering what it is there's there's a couple that I always get mixed up. Oh, this is the one where Christians are in, or the leaders of Christians, are encouraged to apostatize in order to save their flock, is that right? I didn't watch the whole thing, I really need to. But just in case anyone's aware, I'm against apostatizing for any reason. I think that's an intrinsic evil. Let's see here. Carolyn Kimberley says,

Do you go along with the charismatic movement? Have you been slain in the spirit? Exorcist Father Rippinger has grave questions. Well, see, charismatic is a little like other words in the church that tend to have a lot of baggage. So I want to know what it is you mean by charismatic movement Like presumably you don't mean an intimate and profound relationship with the Holy Spirit who still works among us today Bringing about healing and these sorts of prophets prophetic gifts and things because yeah, I'm all about that I'm a fan of Father

Rippenture what I've seen of him don't know what he's had to say about certain things so can't really comment on it can I? Let's see Matthew Lewis Aeterno here on Patreon, not Patreon sorry, on YouTube. I believe he's from the Philippines, so cheers. Seeing your past videos, I see that you love the song of songs. Do you have any commentaries on it that you'd recommend for someone starting to learn about it? Not really. But I'd recommend a good book by Christopher West. I believe it's called Heaven's Song. Why don't I look that up?

Heaven's Song by Christopher West? I love Christopher. And to me I think he's something of a prophet and a mystic. And I want to make sure I get the right... Heaven's Song, sexual love as it was meant to be. I believe there's a lot in that on Song of Songs so you could check that out Ryan Casey, I'm not sure if the questions written in the live stream will be accounted for but there are a few questions Oh, man, if you if you ask it again, I'll get to it Sam Mascarose says hey there Do you think the church should focus more on its efforts

on beautifying parishes? Imagine if I said no. Just imagine. Beauty in church seems to be such an evangelistic imperative. I agree with you. I think hokey and ugly churches ought to be avoided and modernist looking trash heaps ought to be avoided. I mean sometimes it's your only option but I think we should indeed cultivate beauty because we aren't machines.

We're poets and lovers and beauty is not an optional extra if we can get around to it. I think but a nest in a necessity especially in When it comes to religion, you know Thomas goats gets gates goats goats says how cool is Ben Handleman? Wish him a happy birthday, please and thank you love the show. Happy birthday Benjamin Handleman Benjamin Handleman is a very beautiful soul and I love him dearly. He's been a supporter of this channel for a long time and his advice and encouragement has always been deeply appreciated. Oh wow we've got a question on circumcision. Who's excited for a question on circumcision? Well before we get to that question I'm

gonna try to relight my cigar and I also would like to say that it's not a good sign if a cigar keeps going out so all right let's see circumcision first let's talk about mutilation. What is mutilation and is circumcision that? It seems to me that mutilation is or happens when the natural function of a person or a person's appendage, whatever that appendage may be, is somehow usurped, thwarted, destroyed. Okay, so I think that a vasectomy is mutilation because it destroys a function of the penis, of the testicles. Is circumcision that?

Does it destroy the function of the penis? No. So I wouldn't think it immoral. And I would also say nothing that our lady subjected our lord to should ever be considered immoral. So circumcision isn't immoral. Now as far as its health benefits I don't know enough about that to talk about it. So I'll let you hash that out in the comment section. How about that?

That's my take. And we're really getting into some dicey territory here. This is fun. Okay. This is fun Okay Austin Sarabia who is a patron says thoughts on Michael Lofton's coverage of keeping trads like Marshall and others accountable Think this is overall beneficial or needless self fighting against our own. Oh or needless self-fighting against our own? Oh man, I thought circumcision was a dicey question.

Okay, so I just mentioned a moment ago that charismatic has a lot of baggage. Unfortunately, I think trad does too. Like I think Catholics ought to be traditional, but trad seems to mean something else. I haven't seen a great deal of what Lofton has had to say, but I don't think that any of us who have public platforms should think we're beyond criticism.

Certainly people criticize me and I welcome it. People have made videos criticizing me and I think that that's fine. If I am going to have a public platform and then get upset or whatever, when other people say, hey, you were wrong on this point. I don't think that's good. I don't think that's good. I think we should be open to being criticized, especially if we have a public platform.

Like it's one thing if somebody says something in private and then somebody goes public, criticizing that private view. But it's another thing if somebody says something public and then someone, I think that that's just part of, part of growing, part of learning. And so I think it's good. But I think, and I've tried to do this and I don't know if I'm always successful,

but I think it's really important that we try to criticize the opinions of others with charity. I got into something of hot water recently. Somebody wrote an article criticizing me because I had begun by saying I don't think Bishop Barron's a heretic. I was referring to people saying is he a universalist. My point was he's not a universalist. So I'm willing to go along with Barron. Barron says that universalism is a heresy. I'm willing to go along with that. So when I said Barron is not a heretic, that wasn't me trying to be a smart-ass, that wasn't a backhanded compliment, that wasn't me

trying to be cheeky. I was actually trying to differentiate myself from the people who are probably watching this video and who will comment later who say he is a heretic. He's not. So but for some reason when I said that, that upset a lot of people like I was being sarcastic or like, oh good for you, you don't think a bishop's a heretic? Of course he's not a bloody heretic, you know. Well anyway, so like, good, good, criticize me. If I said things uncharitably, good, I should say them more charitably. And if I'm wrong about something, I hope people would criticize me. Okay, back to Marshall. I don't watch a lot of Marshall. Sometimes I'll watch him and I think about something, I hope people would criticize me. Okay back to Marshall. I don't watch a lot of Marshall

Sometimes I'll watch him and I think gosh, I really like what he's saying I really think I'd get along with this fellow and I I am glad that someone is addressing some of the abuses that go on The church sometimes I watch him and think he's really snarky But okay like people have different ways of expressing themselves and but okay, like people have different ways of expressing themselves and I no doubt sure I say things that rub people the wrong way or annoy them, my personality annoys them, so I think we've got to be careful like just criticizing someone's personality isn't terribly helpful. I think criticizing what they have to say is or can be. So again haven't watched much of Lofton's thoughts on Marshall

but would hope that he's criticizing him fairly, right? Like, and I, you know, here's what he said, maybe even playing some of his videos, pointing to something specific, and then interacting with that. I think that's the ticket, and with charity. So I don't know, that's what I think.

All right, let's go over to the YouTubes. Man, lots of comments guys. Thank you for being here by the way. I really appreciate it. Super chat here. Let's throw it up on the screen. This comes from mongoosmat45. If you could only have one cigar brand for the rest of your life

But you could have any from their lineup, which would you choose? Mine's anic Alec Bradley He says I think mine might be Alec Bradley also Let's see. I also had something called Southern It's on my it's out there. I forget it. So but I'm a fan of Alec Bradley, so I'd be willing to go along with that. Yeah, thanks for the super chat, man. It's really nice of you. Yeah, David says in regard to Taylor Marsh, we'll take the good, leave the rest.

Yeah, I would hope people would do that with me too. I'm sure I've said stuff I disagree with. So it's also a sort of platform that lends itself to less than careful speech. So if I write an essay, then I've had time to think it over. I've had time for the thing to be edited. And I think you can sort of go after it a little more than you might in just like a casual conversation

with somebody, you know what I'm saying? So, yeah. Man. Matt, how can you tell the difference between surrendering to God or being indifferent? Because I think surrendering to God is an active acceptance of what befalls you. When we talk about God's will, we talk about his perfect will and his permissive will that is to say Well God never wills for you to sin but he permits it and

He permits it even for your good So I think for example if my YouTube account gets taken down Well, how do I accept God's will there? Because I get a lot of comments from people saying how grateful they are for it and how it's helped them tremendously when they hear my guests on the show and things like that. Well I think part of the acceptance wouldn't be just a roll over. I think it would be to write to YouTube to sort of, you know, plead my case as it were. But then if they choose to remove it entirely to say thank you Jesus, plead my case as it were, but then if they choose to remove it entirely

to say, thank you Jesus, I praise you, I glorify you, what a lovely thing that you have allowed for my salvation. Notice how that's not indifference, because it's something I'm actively choosing. I don't think we should just be sort of like submitting to whatever happens in life, but interacting with God in the sense of thanking him for it. Got a question here. Have I ever read the Imitation of Christ by Thomas the Campus? Yes. I would highly recommend that everybody read that book. My understanding is it's the second best-selling book in Christianity after

the Bible. In Christianity I should say the second best Christian book. So, most best-selling Christian book. So I would really recommend people check that out. Oh, here we go. We have a question from Ava Blair. Ava Blair, thank you for your super chat. You're very lovely. She says, do you have any thoughts on St. Paul's outreach and Covenant communities? My understanding was that St. Paul's outreach, isn't that a group of people who stand on the streets, hand out pamphlets and miraculous medals and things like that? I mean if that's what it is and I'm not misunderstanding I'd say I'm all about it. There's a lot of freedom within Catholicism and we have to be careful

not to demand our type of Catholicism on everybody else. I mean, there are certain things that are fundamental. Like if you're a Catholic who thinks the Trinity is false, you're a heretic. But if you're a Catholic who prefers to pray, say, the Divine Mercy Chant to the Rosary, you're a Catholic. Like, we've got to stop picking fights on non-essential things. So speaking about fights, that's what I would say. Okay, so Catholic Goober, great name by the way,

Catholic Goober, fancy that, says, I'm interested in early church fathers, any reading recommendations? Yeah, I would recommend checking out Jimmy Akin's book, The Fathers Know Best. It's a great book. It's a great introduction to the early church fathers. Check that out. That's from Catholic answers.

All right, let's see here. We got a question from Clint Collins. What's up, Clint? Great name, Clint. You don't meet a lot of Clint's in Australia. Clint, Clint, Clint. He says, in all your work with porn and helping people quit it, have you ever had experience with or reached the 12 steps? A friend of mine mentioned using them for porn and sex addiction. Yeah, I'm a big fan of the 12 steps. I'm a big fan of sexaholics anonymous. Now obviously groups are going to differ and some may be more or less helpful but think about just what the 12 steps imply. It means showing up with a group of people

admitting what you've done that's wrong, all striving to be free of something and supporting each other in your brokenness. It's a beautiful thing and it actually kind of came out of Catholicism in some sense. Does that mean that every group that's being hosted and led is going to be in keeping with everything the church teaches? No, but I think in general I am a big fan of the 12 steps. Before we get to more questions, I want to make my big announcement. Can I do that? Who's excited? Who's excited for my... Okay, so it's a moderately sized announcement let me just have a smoke of this. Starting now I'm gonna be starting a new podcast and the podcast name is morning coffee isn't that simple so basically I show up to my office, I pour myself an espresso and I do a live stream. And it's just a very casual chat. I don't have all the fancy cameras and lights on. It's a lot more, I guess I'd say a lot more vulnerable because it's a small group of people.

Today we looked at the catechism, a couple of verses and I just chat with you. In order to get access to this morning coffee podcast, you have to be either a supporter on Patreon or Locals. This is what keeps the lights on folks. I have two full-time people who I have to pay. I have a marketing team who I pay. I have new cameras and equipment I need to buy. We're beginning these round table discussions,

which we're hoping to be hosting in a different room. So we're kind of making a different studio. And this is why I'm giving extra content to kind of, quite frankly, to maintain patrons and local supporters in order to keep this running. So if you like Pines with Aquinas and wanna support us on Patreon or locals, for any dollar amount, in addition to

whatever else you get, we're going to start this podcast called Morning Coffee. Now, ideally I'd like to do it every day, but knowing Matt Fradd as I do, I'm not going to commit to that. I'm going to commit to at least once a week, but it's likely to be multiple times a week. So to access to that all you're gonna do is go patreon.com slash Matt Fradd or Click the locals link which is at the top of the description of this page in the description and it'll be fun The idea is we just get together for a cup of coffee and we just have a candid conversation with each other So yeah, thank you for all of your support guys because it really keeps this thing going and Yeah, there's there's more things coming this year that I'm really next year, which I'm really pumped about but

All right, let me give us a little Pop it this thing We have a question here from Billy who says William Lane Craig gives good advice on where to start. I don't know. Aquino de Mello, obviously. Or maybe you're referring to somebody else. I apologize. Okay, so somebody here says,

"'Hey mods, can I repeat my questions in chat?' I'm not spamming, just plugging the same question in. Well, yeah, I don't, if you have the question, I'll see it. Oh, here we are. All I want to say is this. Thank you for helping me connect with my Catholic roots when my parents failed in my religious upbringing. Yeah, let's let's all go easy on our parents.

I'm not denying that they failed in your religious upbringing, but I just want to say that being a parent's bloody tough and raising them in a godless secular society is even tougher so Our parents like we are going to fail our kids in some capacity And I think it's important that we also ask God tell me tell me about Remind me of the good my parents have done. I think I thank them for it, you know me the good my parents have done and then go thank them for it you know. We got this really really cool comment here that I want to read. This just blessed my heart so much.

It comes from Evan who's a patron. He said I just want to extend my thanks to you and your team. God's working through you has certainly had an impact in my life. I can only imagine the backlash and persecution you often face in your pursuit of tackling these deeply fundamental issues. It's for that reason I wish to encourage you with some real world feedback, real life fruits of the talents you are sowing for God. Your work quite literally saved my life. Like many of the people your ministry seeks to address. I found myself a complete slave to this world and then I came upon a video of yours by accident and it instilled a radical passion for me to change, to become disciplined, to rid me of my doubt in the Father, and to ultimately grind my

way to freedom. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Your pragmatic, humorous, and sincere approach make you relatable on a number of levels. Keep fighting the good fight. That's so kind of you, and I pray the Lord will bless you with the spirit of perseverance. Oh, glory to God. That's so kind of you and I pray the law will bless you with the spirit of perseverance All glory to God Evan. It's I'm honored to get that and I thank you very much for your kind words Let's see here

Gabby says hope you had a Merry Christmas. I really appreciate everything you do. That's nice of you. Thank you Let's see. Let's go back over to the old patreon's Did didn't did didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it did in it a sin. Do you agree with St. Alphonsus Liguori that there is no veniality in sexual sins? So I think that impure thoughts become sinful when we choose to engage in them. And I think there is a real distinction between thoughts that come to us, that arouse us, that float about in our subconscious, memories from behaviors we engaged in, perhaps, in our youth or that we just recently engaged in. And then a decision to say, I'm going to think about these things, I'm going to masturbate,

I know it's wrong, but I'm going to do it. You know, there is a real distinction there. I've had times where thoughts will come back to me and it feels like maybe they were in my head for like a minute or something and I was just sort of maybe when I'm asleep or I wake up and I'm half in a day's. I don't think we should be overly scrupulous about these things so long as we're not choosing to engage them because to be overly scrupulous seems to be to make seems to make them worse. Like if you say to yourself, if I said to you right now,

I want you to imagine a zebra. In fact, no, let me change that phrasing. Don't imagine a zebra with purple instead of black stripes. Don't imagine a zebra with purple stripes. You understand what I'm saying? Instead of the black, I want you to not imagine one with purple stripes. And if you are, stop it. Stop doing it. If you are, you really have to stop it. Okay, it's an exercise in futility and it seems like you might make yourself mad by engaging in that

sort of thing. Well, sexual thoughts are, they stick like tar in some sense, far more than zebras with purple stripes. So I think when they occur to just give them to our lady, you know, and you've got to be careful here because what's difficult about issuing advice over YouTube is I don't know your state of spiritual maturity or your natural maturity or what's happened in your past, so it's difficult to give specific things. But for me personally, there came a time where I just had to say, you know, that act of impurity I engaged in with this person back when I was say 20. Mary, I give it to you and I pray for this person. I ask you to pray for them too.

I think if we are to use memories that come back to us as opportunities for intercessory prayer, we're not refute, don't think it, we're not kind of falling into that trap of don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it, that which just again, I think isn't that helpful. We are lovers, we're lovers, we're, we're, we're givers, we're meant to give of our strength. And so rather than to repress the thought to use it for for good is Something i'd recommend doing Do a little little little little little why am I singing that?

I'm sorry. Happy Manatee on the YouTubes says, part one, you know, this is going to be good. Keeping in mind the theology of the body, do you think it incorrect to think that we could use our bodies for prayer? When my friend died, I asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to use my tears as prayer for her soul. I think that's glorious. Part two. Pray that the beasts of my heart, beats of my heart and breath and lungs, I think that's glorious. I mean it's lovely being a Catholic or being orthodox because you use your body to pray. I think even as Protestants you use your body to pray. Protestants sometimes look skeptically upon all the kneeling and bowing and genuflecting and things like this but even I imagine in a Protestant

service or around a you know you see this on the movies I suppose Protestants do this when someone says let's say a word of prayer well what what do people do do they do they not alter their body at all? Do they keep it identical to what just happened before the person said, let's say a word of prayer? No, I think they usually like kind of, they might bow their head, they might open their hands. Like we are incarnate creatures.

And so using our bodies to pray is something in a sense we can't get away from. Like whenever you've prayed, you've prayed in and with your body. So there's that. There's been times where the Lord has led me to like deep tears, deep weeping, and I offered that, that pain for a particular individual. So I think that's glorious. I really think that's beautiful. There's also been times that I've used my heartbeat to pray the Jesus prayer. I'll sit down and I'll just I'll I'll be silent enough that I'll feel my pulse. And I'll say like Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful

Y'all are gonna be singing that song for the rest of the day Maximilian MK girl says what is your favorite music a music composer? You know I'm just into lo-fi these days I like the lo-fi hip-hop. Lo-fi girl, I'm a big fan of her. I used to be big into metal as a teenager, Metallica for example. Modest Masurkski, I think I said his last name wrong there, but he's a Russian composer I enjoy. I like listening to Gregorian chant, nothing terribly special. I'm a big fan of Augie March, who's an Australian band, Augie March, A-U-G-I-E March. You might check that out.

Yo Matt says, super chat, thanks for the super chat. Oh wow, that's in pounds, that's like a hundred bucks American, dude thanks. He says, yo Matt, how might I explain how clapping in mass is a bad thing to my parents? They think that God would like it if we appreciate the work of singers. So Pope Benedict has spoken about this, he says, whenever the congregation bursts into applause, it ceased to become what it is and it's become a performance and mass isn't a performance Seeing it the liturgy isn't a performance and when we clap we make it that and that's why we shouldn't clap

Jonathan says what happened to sips with Aquinas and cam and Matt react are you hoping people forget about these Channels well cam and Matt react so Cameron Batuzzi And I decided we would start like a reaction channel but I just didn't have the time to keep it up so I stopped it. As far as Sips with Aquinas we started a clips channel about a year or several months ago where I had thought I would put all my clips and part of the reason for that was that I thought that they would do much better on a separate channel because people would know what they were getting. That wasn't the case and so because I want these clips to go to the most amount of people possible

We brought them back over to pints with a quietness You know, these are things that you know We have to gauge and and review and we did all that and so that's why we did it But am I hoping you'll forget about it? I don't know. I mean, I don't really care whether you forget about it or not. Oh, there's a book here. Have you read The Road? Have I read The Road?

Yes, I've read The Road, but I'm forgetting the name of that excellent American author. He may be the greatest American author alive today right now. Golly, who wrote the book? American author. He may be the greatest American author alive today right now. Golly, who wrote the book? I'm gonna get it even though I know everyone's thinking about it. Well have I read it? Yeah, The Road. Yeah, Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy is an absolutely brilliant author. When I finished the road, I was sitting in a hotel room, I think in Chicago, and I wept. I just put the book down and I wept. It moved me so deeply. If you haven't read Cormac McCarthy, that's a book I would recommend. If you just want to get into

another book, I would highly recommend that. I recommend that not comp you know I think it's not comrade Kormak McCaffey yes indeedy yes indeedly doodly hey next week well actually at the end of this week we're going to be putting out a video called the best of pints of the coinus from 2021 we've scoured the videos and have come up with the most watched portions of pints of the coin us from 2021. We've scoured the videos and have come up with the most watched portions of our videos throughout the year. So I hope you watch that, I hope you'll enjoy it. Thank you so much for all of your support and your love

and even your criticism. I'm just so grateful to have this ability to get on here and chat with y'all. Thank you so much. And I hope you have a beautiful new year. And for those who are just joining the live chat, that big announcement was we're starting a brand new podcast called Morning Coffee.

And it's very casual, very laid back. And it's literally as I take the first sip of my morning coffee, we just chat about different things. And it's a smaller audience, which means it's a lot more personal. And it's only available by becoming a patron or by a Locals supporter. And it's only available by becoming a patron or by a locals

supporter. So locals is a free speech platform that's not going to ban me for saying things like men are men and women are women and women can't become men and etc. I've actually had a very in-depth conversation with the heads at locals and they are determined to keep it a free speech platform. So that's where I'm going to be hosting those chats on Patreon and on locals. I would love it if you supported our work because that enables us to do all this work. It enables me to pay the people that rely on an income. I don't have any massive donors. It's not like I'm taking money from some group. I'm not a, I'm not actually a, uh, what do you say? A nonprofit.

So it's kind of cool because it means I don't have one person who gets to call the shots. I think sometimes in apostolates that the tail ends up wagging the dog. You've got a big donor who's giving a lot of money and then they say I need you to speak about this or I was unhappy when you spoke about that. I've actually seen that in my own work with different companies. What's nice about locals and Patreon is you have a bunch of people giving us a relatively small amount. I'm not downplaying the amount people give. It's a sacrifice. But even if you could afford

five bucks a month or seven bucks a month or 10 bucks a month or more, that really does go to help me pay my people, keep the lights on, we have new cameras we wanna create, and as I say, we're creating a new studio out there so we can do these round table discussions in couches. So we need more mics and things like that. It's just been beautiful to do, I'm so grateful to do it. And if you're there today and you're like, Matt, I can't afford that, that's totally okay.

That's, you know, the people who can afford it make it possible for me to do these things so that you can watch it for free. And so don't feel bad about that. Just if you would, whether you give or don't give financially, offer a prayer for me. I said, I've said it before, I am an abyss of weakness, who is just as likely as you are, because of my cowardice and my arrogance, to abandon the God of my salvation. And by His grace, I'll never do that. And I pray that this will be a channel in which we can charrably discuss ideas and discuss topics that are often out of keeping

with what secular dogma dictates. But I enjoy doing it and I don't want to stop doing it unless the good Lord would want me to stop. So thank you. Um, and, oh, we have another super chat. See, I can't go as long as you send me super chats. I'd feel, I'd feel too bad. The saintly revolt.

That is a wonderful, um, emoji there. Not emoji. What do you say? Profile pic. The saintly revolt says, hey Matt, what's your opinion on John Doyle and the growing online young men's politically conservative movement,

which is majority Catholic, I can confirm online communities in this space have actually resulted in conversions. I have no idea who John Doyle is. What does that make me? I don't know, a dad? Let me see, I'm gonna type it in. Let's have a look at him. John Doyle is. What does that make me? I don't know, a dad? Let me see, I'm gonna type it in. Let's have a look at him.

John Doyle Catholic, I just presume I'll find it. I'm sorry, I don't know who he is. So I have no opinion one way or the other. Sorry, I can't be more helpful, especially since you were so kind to give us a super chat. Thank you very much. especially since you were so kind to give us a super chat. Thank you very much. Man.

I do think though that conservative commentators do in a, oh, here we go, here we go. Ryan Casey, cause you had a comment before. If we were to swap from Patreon to locals, are there tiers to locals like Patreon? So first of all, no need to switch because I'm not getting off Patreon. I'm going to continue to post there continually. So there's no need to do that.

But some people have written to me and they said, I want to be on a free speech platform and I don't want to give any money to Patreon. So that's why. Are there tiers? I think there's two tiers. There's like seven bucks a month and then 25, but it's not the same as Patreon. Quite honestly, if everybody jumped off Patreon and went to locals, I'd be screwed and wouldn't be able to afford my people because

I have people who are very generously giving things like 20 bucks a month, 50 bucks a month on Patreon, and I'm able to send physical gifts in return and do other things that I can't do. But if you want to, you're more than welcome, obviously. But I hope that answers your question. Thank you, Camby, for your super sticker. Man. No, but I do think, you know, back to the question of, you know, conservative things.

See, I don't have a lot of respect for the conservative people that I meet, because I tend to think like conservatives, I don't even know what that word means anymore Sometimes it seems to me and I'm not a political commentator. So forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn You're welcome to correct me It seems like conservatives conserve what liberals and leftists were pushing ten years ago So you see people like Donald Trump basically saying things like he's okay with transgenderism. You have conservative

commentators who seem to embrace and talk lightly about sins of sodomy. You know, you tend to have conservative Christians identifying with the Republican Party, I think, in an unhealthy way. I think we should take our marching orders from the church, not from any political party. But I do think that the pushback against the leftist insanity that's obsessed with racism, however they're defining it these days, who are obsessed with transgenderism, the only pushback you see are from people who are considered conservative. And so in that sense, I think their sanity, whether that be Jordan Peterson, he's a ridiculous one that we call Joe Rogan a conservative.

I mean, the man isn't conservative in many respects, but at least he seems to have the courage to push back against some of the BS that the leftist establishment is pushing on us. So I do think that that wakes up a lot of folks, you know, someone who might be fully embedded in the leftist agenda says after seeing say Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson They're like, yeah, you're right. That's insane and

They might not be down with all the church's teaching on this side of the other But it can it can be sort of a nice way for them to transition if you want To Christianity. I don't know. Oh Here we go, I don't know. Oh, here we go. I don't know what this means. But let's read it because he's a super chat. The sanity revolt. John literally says the same stuff about modern console. Oh, cool.

Wow. There you go. Okay. Heck off. Call me. All right. Well, thanks for bringing him up to me. I'll check him out.

Apparently people think I have need to have him on my show. Andre asks if I drink rum. Not a big rum drinker. Rum's big in Australia, but I don't really like it. It's a bit too sweet for me. I think it isn't it like sugar cane instead of corn and other barley and things like that. So I don't really like it. It's big in Australia.

Let's see, we have a super chat from JW. I'll be accepted into the church this Easter, thanks to you and others. Thank you. That's really, I'm so glad. I'm a general music teacher looking to move my wife and child out of California. Any opportunities in Steubenville?

Yeah, I would say come and visit. I'd be happy to meet with you if you want. I can't promise that there are any opportunities, but I think it's probably a good idea. Well, you do what you want, how about that? But I think it's a good idea, especially if you're raising a family, to look into these certain areas.

certain areas. Joshua says, no question but I just wanted to let you know that I am a former Methodist youth director now in the RCA thanks to you in your video with oh glory to Jesus Christ with Shane Page thanks for your work. You guys are gonna make me cry in a super masculine way. Would love to see your thoughts on John Doyle's videos, the real link between Satanism and leftism, and the very real link. Well look, okay, now clearly I've got to see

this bloody Jonathan Doyle fellow. So if anybody knows him, send him this video of me just being like, oh, who he is, you know? Maybe he'll get a kick out of that. you know maybe he'll get a kick out of that. Enrique says greetings from Brazil. Hey I need to let you know this Enrique I have a book called The Porn Myth which somebody translated into Portuguese and is being sold in Brazil. I think they were from Brazil so you might want to check that out if you want if you're interested. Let's see an experience with Opus day. That's huge in Brazil. Yeah, big fan big fan of Opus day

Don't want us to say except I love it. Oh Look at this beautiful human, can I can I just say this before we read it? Let me just say this I Think one of the most beautiful things in the world is vulnerability. I think one of the most ugliest things in the world is posturing. I think this is why people love Jordan Peterson because you get the sense that when he talks, he's being deeply vulnerable. It takes tremendous courage and power to be vulnerable.

And this looks like it's going to be, I haven't read it yet, but it looks like it's going to be, I haven't read it yet, but it looks like it's going to be a vulnerable thing. So I just want to bless you for that if that is the case. I have been really a corrupt person in my past and a really promiscuous one. To this point, I have a feeling I can't feel love for a woman, just attraction. How can I know I'm in love? Well, first of all, God bless you for being vulnerable. I don't know if you're Catholic or not, but if you are I would beg you as a fellow sinner and brother in the Lord to not walk but to run to the sacrament of confession and to accuse yourself manly before the priest.

Well, what is love? Aristotle and Aquinas would say that to love is to will the good of the other for their sake Now that's a very specific definition. What do I mean to will the good of the other? Well, it means to want their good What do I mean when I say not for this not for my sake but for their sake? Well, one could imagine a situation which somebody wanted the good of another for their sake. Suppose I wanted, or suppose a man wanted his wife to exercise, not for her good, he just wanted to use her as an object and thinks he'd have better chances of that if she were, say, in shape.

Well, that doesn't seem very loving because it isn't. So to love is to want what's good for the other for their sake. So I love my wife. I often don't show it. I can be stubborn and passive aggressive and selfish and self-centered. But I do love her. I want her good. I want her to be a virtuous woman. I want her to be a good mother to my children. And I want her to get to heaven. And so that sometimes means disagreeing with her when she's wrong and correcting her. It also means my wife's quite sick and she's spoken about this in videos,

which is the only reason I feel comfortable addressing the topic. I let her, she sleeps a great deal. She's quite ill with different diseases and needs a lot of rest. Nothing, I don't want people to get the impression she's dying or anything. She's not, but she's been on, she's been on the brink of death a few times. But so how do I love her? How do I be patient with her? How do I anticipate her needs? You know, so I think that's what I'd say. It's when you want what's best for the other. Now if you've been involved in promiscuous relationships, you're going to find that your desire for a woman is going to be tainted, I think, with sinful desires, but I wouldn't necessarily let that put you off. I would

pray to purify those things, you know, do what you can to be free of pornography and these sorts of things, which are tremendously evil. You can check out my free course, strive21.com, strive21.com, that might be a blessing to you, strive21.com. But you know, bless you for being so lovely and honest there. Man, we got another, we got another comment

from a super chat Do you have any thoughts about st. Thomas's just war theory and how it could be applied to American? into in Intervention of you of Ukraine and Taiwan. I'm so sorry that you've spent money to ask a question that I can't answer sufficiently I Don't I don't well, I don't have any thoughts on that specifically, but I have commented on the past that I think America's dropping of the A-bomb was immoral and tremendously wicked on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. So I think it's really important that Catholics not take their cue from their patriotism but from the church.

And certainly I agree with Thomas Aquinas' just war theory. You know, again, I don't mean to offend Americans by saying that, but I think it's very, very tempting. Especially when you live in a kind of anti-American society, right, it would seem that the leftists wanna do away with free speech, they wanna do away with the right to bear arms. And so you then naturally see any criticism as a leftist criticism, but I think we have to be more discerning than that and recognize that that's not the case,

always the case, you know. What do you think, says the Catholic Banana Duck, which is the best name that I've seen today, about the Anglican Ordinarian in the church? I love the Ordinarians. Please bring Bishop Lopes. Okay, I would love to do that. If you know him, put him in touch with me. Because I think that as, if the crackdown on the Latin mass continues, I think what you're going to see is the ordinariates and the extraordinary forms of the liturgy exploding. Because we live in a fluid society in which people long for tradition in order to be grounded. And if these crackdowns on the Latin Mass lead to an attack and a throwing out of tradition, well then you're going to see these other things exploding because what we want is

to be traditional. Sorry. So I'm a fan, I've been to the ordinary at mass a few times and it's just delightful delightful delightful delightful All right, man, I gotta go soon, is that all right you guys are terrific and I'm so grateful but We have over 500 people here right now. I'm so grateful but I really need to go. Okay, so stop sending super chats please. Stop being so generous. Stop it now. Okay, Merry Christmas Matt. Thank you, Carlos. What does St. Thomas say about the obligation to do good, never do evil? But should we always do every good we can instead of going out for dinner, we could use that money for charity instead.

Okay so obviously we have to always avoid evil and we are called to do good, but we aren't called to do every conceivable good because we're finite creatures with responsibilities. If I was to give all of my money to the poor every time I wanted to go out on a date, my marriage would suffer and I'd therefore in a sense be doing an evil by neglecting the person entrusted to me. And this is where prudence comes into play. Prudence is a cardinal virtue which enables us to act in accord with right reason. And the reason this is a difficult question is because it's not always clear what we ought to do but we have to do good anyway like should I

become a teacher well that's good should I become an evangelist well that's good should I become a doctor well that's good you know should I become a plumber well that's good we can't do every good if there is a good that if we neglect it, we do evil by a sin of omission, those sins that we very infrequently think to accuse ourselves of, then that's an evil. Like if I don't attend to my children I if I neglect them In a sense, I'm not doing anything wrong like what am I doing? I didn't do anything wrong It's like yeah But your failure to do what you ought to do due to your duty is the wrong that you've done in not doing as it were So that's maybe the beginning of an answer

Okay guys you got to stop paying me because because otherwise I'm going to have to be here forever answering your questions. Greetings from Washington State and Merry Christmas. I've been watching your content for over 10 years. Do you lean towards creationism or Cartesian evolution? I would suspect that that's a false dilemma, but I'd want to know exactly what you meant by creationism and Cartesian evolution which is obviously a relatively new word. I would recommend going to pineswithaquinas.com and typing in evolution

into the search bar and you can see an interview I did with Nikonor Ostriako who is a very brilliant Dominican priest and chemist. He has his doctorate in that, PhD in that. You might be interested in that. I try to refrain from speaking in depth about things I don't know much about, and I don't know much about most things, so I don't tend to tilt in depth about most things. I do know that the Church permits one to accept evolution, and I do know that the church permits one to accept evolution and I do know that we shouldn't demand that people not do what the church says that they can do. So how's that for an answer?

Daniel C says, hi Matt can you do some prayers in your coffee podcast, Lectio Divina, Rosary, Spiritual Exercises. Did you read Meister Eckhart's sermon? No to the last question, but yes to the first few. In these morning coffee podcasts that we've been doing, again, you only get access to that on Patreon or supporting me on locals. Link is in the description below. Today we read through the catechism.

You know, the other day we went through the first psalm and saw what Thomas Aquinas has to say. So yeah, there will absolutely be elements of prayer in those things, but you know, Mario tells me just to take his money. Hey guys, I like you. I hope you have a lovely new year and God bless you and Merry Christmas. Cheers. See ya. Bye. Do us a Christmas. Cheers, see ya, bye. Do us a favor, click thumbs up, click subscribe.

We wanna make YouTube, make you, we wanna make YouTube make you listen to us so that we can continue to pump our secular heresy into your eyeballs and eardrums. Sound good? Good. Cheers. secular heresy into your eyeballs and eardrums. Sound good? Good. Cheers.