Pints With Aquinas - Raising Kids Catholic + Q&A w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Hallow Catholic Prayer App: http://hallow.com/mattfradd Exodus 90: https://exodus90.com/matt New Website Just Dropped: https://pintswithaquinas.com 📗  Fr. Pine's Brand New Book on Prudence! (get it and you're cool): https://amzn.to/3ylrUOJ Join for a short reflection on raising kids Catholic from someone with zero experience of it, followed by the opportunity for all kinds of questions.

Hello and welcome to Pines to the Quinus. My name is Father Gregory Pine and I'm a Dominican friar of the province of St. Joseph and I am back here in Freberg. First off, a word of apology. I think when I scheduled this live stream, I had just come back to Europe and I thought that I had changed my time settings on my computer. It appears that I hadn't. So I set it for 3 p.m. European time instead of setting it for 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. So my sincere apologies for that. For those of you who joined at 3 p.m.

and were disappointed or maybe relieved that you had gotten back an hour of your life, I apologize, regardless of whether you were elated or depressed. But I'm back here in Freiburg as of a couple days ago, and I think that my time settings are now basically good. So we should be cool going forward. At least he says that with a modicum of confidence.

Fearful of the fact that he may indeed have more problems. So I haven't been in Freiburg for a while. I don't know if you care about points with the Aquinas videos or the ones that I do, but you may have noticed changing backgrounds. I re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re was full with all kinds of good things. So we did some God's Blending events. So we had a God's Blending pilgrimage. We did 12 days on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which was awesome. And yeah, I talked about that with Matt in the most recent episode that we did at the end of July, so I won't go into it further. We also did a God's Blending episode on it called the Camino in Review, which I enjoyed, which is no indication of whether or not you will enjoy it, but I enjoyed it. I just want you to know that.

And then, um, uh, we had three God's planning retreats in the United States. So we had one for young adults, one for all comers, and then one for, uh, men, a men's wilderness retreat and they all went, they went well, they're sweet. We had a good squad at each retreat. The last retreat being the most recent is the one that I'm thinking about the men's wilderness retreat. We're at Camp Cotilea Chasatanga for young men and women like college days, men and women who are looking for a summer camp, like counselor,

mentor experience, I would highly recommend the camp. It's run by the Truffant family, uh, who are just an excellent family. And they have cultivated just like a really wonderful space in Brevard, North Carolina and they're very adept at leading you into the wild, into the wilderness, albeit in somewhat tame ways, so that you can experience the beauty of God's creation, which has a really profound healing effect. And the men who were on that trip really enjoyed it. We want a high country hike and then like a gorge hike and then a waterfall hike.

And we prayed and hung out, drank beer, smoked cigars. And it was awesome. It was really sweet. By the end of it, I felt like I was going to die. I was so tired. So what do you do when you feel like you're going to die because you're so tired? You take a transatlantic flight.

Exactly. So yeah, the next day I went and came back to Freiburg and here I am. So we're really doing it. Other things that took place over the summer include going out to Steubenville to visit with Matt, going to Nashville to visit the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia there. And then I was just with my family a bit and then with my community in Washington. And oh yeah, and then I was in Berlin for a month, which was wild, because I was studying German, which is cool. At first, I thought that language was brutal.

I've come to appreciate that language in a pretty profound way. But at this point, you are growing weary of my autobiographical details. So I'm going to get to the subject matter. All right. So for this particular live stream, we're talking about raising your kids Catholic or keeping your kids, keeping your kids Catholic. I don't know why I'm laughing at that. Rain it in, Father Gregory. Maybe I'm laughing at it because at the end of the day, it's God's work.

Whereas instruments we seek to do our best, but we place it all in his hands. With that being said, there are better and worse ways to be an instrument of God. So yeah, we there are better and worse ways to be an instrument of God. So yeah, we can be better or worse when it comes to our disposition or our reception of God's grace. And so we want to do what we can to cooperate with that grace or to consent to that grace as God gives it to us.

So I arranged this talk in the most silly way that I could imagine to do so. So you've probably heard that we have a soul, you have heard that, and that we have a rational soul. Now, other living things also have a soul because a soul is what makes us or what makes a thing to be alive. The word for soul in Latin is anima, and it's the soul which animates. Okay, so we would say like plants have souls and animals have souls and human beings have souls. The lower form we call a vegetative soul and then a sensory soul and then a rational soul. So I've chosen to organize these comments along the lines of the three most basic powers of the soul Which basic powers we share in some way with plants and animals albeit in their human expression. They have a more kind of

dignified character because they're called up or they're incorporated into a Human life. All right. So those three powers of the soul. I don't know why I'm laughing father Gregory This is a serious matter. Take it seriously. Okay So those three powers of the soul, I don't know why I'm laughing, Father Gregory, this is a serious matter, take it seriously, okay. So those three powers are generation, growth, and nourishment, okay? So I'm gonna think about how parents raise their kids Catholic in terms of how they generate, in terms of how they grow,

and in terms of how they nourish their kids in the faith. I'm using these words analogically, okay? But there's a way in which they can be used analogically. And so I thought that we could do just that. Boom. All right. So, you know, in the ordinary course, when a plant or an animal or human being is generated,

we're talking about, well, like in the human experience, we're talking about sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, which begets new life. Okay. So when it comes to bringing about faith in your children We're talking about a work of love Okay, so you parents right are instruments Which in coordination with god, right or in being associated with god and his work can actually cultivate the life of faith

Hope and charity in your children And the way that you do is by loving them, right? By loving them as Catholics and loving them as Catholics. So love has a way of producing a response. Some have observed that if you want someone to love you, the best way to elicit love from another human being is to show them that they are lovable, which is fascinating. Okay? It's actually St. Thomas Aquinas who makes this observation in his John commentary. Alright, so our Lord Jesus Christ came to draw us by bonds of fellowship into a

relationship of friendship or a relationship of love with Him. And so to do that, He shows us love, right. And so to do that, He shows us love, right? And in showing us love, He shows us that we are lovable, and that actually elicits from us a response. So in showing us love, He gives us grace, right? He reveals to us who He is, He imparts to us the grace of His divine life, and that actually cultivates, or it actually calls forth from us a response of love. Now we're thinking about, you know, parents and their children. We're thinking about the work, not just of beginning human life in the basic sense, but of beginning divine life. We're talking

about cultivating sanctity in your children's lives. And so often the way that you want to do that is by modeling it to them in a way that's manifesting and communicating the very thing which you seek to stir up in their hearts. So you want to serve them, right? You want to sacrifice for them. That doesn't mean that you are like a victim soul for your children's every whim. It also doesn't mean that you're a doormat. It also doesn't mean that you don't.

Yeah, I've got like a triple negative in there. It also nevermind. Uh, you are going to, you know, introduce discipline in the home. You're going to have rules. You're going to make your children to abide by them, but it's all situated within the context of service and of sacrifice. And in the midst of that, right, you're going to, you know, delight in your children because at the end of the day, when you love somebody, it's almost

effortless, mind you, do you have to continually invest in that love? Yes. Okay. But we want to be loved because we are found delightful. We don't want to be loved as the chore or as the charity case of another. We want to see in their eyes that we are wonderful because that helps us to step into that reality. It helps us to assume the mantle of one wonderful in God.

So you know when you delight your children and affirm your children you're going to tell them that they're beautiful, tell them that they're strong, tell them that they're of good character and that they tell forth a kind of integrity. And sometimes you're going to overshoot the mark. It doesn't mean you lie to your kids and tell them things that aren't true. Uh, but it's going to mean that you, um, yeah, you love them in a certain sense beyond their capacity. Not that you love what your children could become, but you see in your

children a certain potential and you love them because they're lovable. And I think here, GK Chesterton's comments about the seaside resort that, um, had fallen into ruin. And he said, it will be renewed or it will be restored when somebody loves it. Right. Not when somebody has like a kind of urban development plan for it. It will be restored when someone loves it, because when you love it, then you invest and when you invest and good things come about.

All right. So that's the first visa V generation. So we beget sanctity in the lives of our children. I don't have children, but you parents have children, by love. And next, the next basic power of the soul, which is found in animals, in plants, and in us human beings, albeit in a higher way, is growth. So we have a power to grow to our full capacity. And I want to associate growth here with trust. Okay. Growth.

I want to associate with trust. Why? Well, because your children are going to grow and there are different approaches to parenting. Obviously you have helicopter parents, right? Um, you have lighthouse parents, a term that I was recently introduced to by a sweet couple here in Switzerland who live in Geneva, go, uh, Robbie and Emily.

Um, uh, so on the one hand, helicopter parents hover, but introduced to by a sweet couple here in Switzerland who live in Geneva. Go, Robbie and Emily. So on the one hand, helicopter parents hover, lighthouse parents check in occasionally, I think father Mike Schmitz has coined the term Zamboni parents who go before their children and smooth the way for them. Okay. Now different approaches. There are merits to each. He says somewhat patronizingly and condescendingly.

But I think ultimately your children need to live their own lives and they're going to have to make their own mistakes and you can't protect your children from the mistakes, but they will inevitably make. And if you try to curate an experience, you know, like an experience of life for your children, you will rob them from a lot of the drama, which will make them heroic in virtue and will make them rich in grace. All right. So you're going to have to trust your children because you can't protect them.

You can protect them from some things. Okay. Yeah, and that's prudent and it's good to have house rules, like we have said. But you have to trust them in many things. And so you can kind of participate in God's provision for them. So God trusts us with our freedom, which is fascinating. God trusts us enough to permit us even to reject Him. Now, such is the mercy of God that He permits us to wander to the very edge

of the earth, only to pull us back by a twitch upon the thread, right? So God's mercy is ponderous and it weighs upon us at every moment of our life in a sweet, sweet way. But God ultimately disposes all things strongly and sweetly within the is ponderous and it weighs upon us at every moment of our life in a sweet, sweet way. But God ultimately disposes all things strongly and sweetly within the context of His providence. And so He's orchestrating things so that they return to Him. But ultimately, contingent things happen contingently and necessary things happen necessarily. And in our case, we who are free human beings, we operate freely.

And so you have to engender in your children a confidence in their own free agency. And you do that by trust. And in the process, you're going to suffer the effects of their freedom. You're going to suffer the effects of their liberty. Because it will be you often who has to deal with consequences or pick up the pieces. Now, you're going to try to make them do the same, but at the end of the day, you're going to feel it acutely. But that's also part of your growth as a parent,

which is fascinating because now we have a little like rebound reflex and you're like, cool, I'm growing now too, right? It's not just a one-way street. You're learning from the experience, not accidentally, but essentially it's baked in, it's meant to be. So yeah, here, like by way of example, if I'm a teacher, and let's say I'm teaching in a grade school, and let's say that a parent calls in to complain about me for whatever reason, maybe the child earned a poor grade on a test and the parent is not pleased, that teacher will often complain to the principal for whatever reason. Now, the principal can do any number of things, but oftentimes the principal just starts a series of apologies. But that kind of like throws me under the bus because the principal hasn't checked in

with me concerning the student, concerning the way I made myself available for extra help, concerning the way in which... There are so many things that could be taken into consideration. What I want is a principal who's me, what I want as a principal, who's going to back me, who's going to say, listen, I trust my teacher. And so I'm not going to deal with this situation apart from his counsel. So I'm going to check in with him and we will get to you. We'll get back to you together.

You know, so like somebody who ends the triangulation shows his trust and then, you know, brings it to you and says something like, all right, I know you're a good teacher, I trust you habitually. This complaint was tendered. Just give me the explanation., all right, I know you're a good teacher. I trust you habitually. This complaint was tendered. Just give me the explanation. If you want, I can go back to the teacher. We can go back to the teacher, or excuse me,

I can go back to the parent. We can go back to the parent together, whatever it is, right? But here we are. I'm here for you. So too, you know, with parents, you kind of have to like trust your children beyond what they seem to merit in the way of trust because you're going to ratchet it down just by instinct, because you're gonna wanna save them from the brink.

I was one time visiting with my sister and her husband and their kids, and the little girls were standing on step stools and throwing sticky things on the ceiling and then scraping them off with spatulas, but they were craning over all kinds of breakable stuff in the process, and I was just looking at it happen, thinking, sweet Christmas, let it end.

But mom and dad were like, yeah, I mean, go for it. They're going to learn. They're also going to have to wash the ceiling when they're done. Because I think that, you know, you give your children scope for exploration, scope for growth, and they come into an appreciation of their agency. And their agency is now invested with purpose, rather than being something so terribly circumscribed that they don't really think about it as theirs.

It's just a matter of like, well, I'll do what I can, and maybe I'll transgress, and we'll see what mom and dad notices. Okay, third and finally, and here we're wrapping up the final of these three most basic powers of the soul is the power of self nourishment. So I think about this, you know, when it comes to raising your children in the faith, you have to feed

them, okay? You have to give them sustenance. That means bodily sustenance for sure, like food on the table is the proverbial expression for making sufficient provision for one's family, but also spiritual sustenance, right? You need to give them God because you're capable of giving them God because you have been made for such a purpose. You can give your kids God. All right? And you communicate validity when you say of the faith and the things of the faith like, I possess these, right? I have laid hold of these because they matter because I love them because my whole life depends upon them. And then when you communicate

that to your children, you say, it's Saturday, you know, it's the first Saturday of the month, we're going to confession. The children are like, you're like, no, no, we're going. So don't cry because our lives depend upon it. Apart from which this doesn't make sense. Okay. So you don't do it because you're trying to set an example so much as you do it because you love it.

And that love radiates through your relationships with your family members and they pick up on it. They see, okay, this is informed by faith, by hope, by charity, and it's something that animates mom and dad. It's something that gives them life. And I want to partake of the same. And now maybe some of your children will wander away from the practice of the faith at times in their lives, but fear not. Because it's not like you were just doing it so that they would stick around. You're doing it because it's God we're talking about here. It's something that matters. And as a result, there's no time wasted there. And you can continue to return to that fount of grace as you plead for your children who have gone astray. And God, who

is faithful in small things, will prove himself faithful in big ones. So yeah, by, by attending religious services, right? By making a good confession, praying devoutly at mass, by actually making time for prayer, like when a kid sees his father or mother praying, right? No one else is there. No one's looking, right? You just carved out some time to sit in your quote unquote prayer lairs. My dad calls it right to be with the Lord. That's huge.

That communicates something of the validity of the faith. All right? All of those things say something about what is and what isn't. So this means mass as a family, confession as a family. This means prayer as a family. That was a big thing for my family, was the daily rosary. I railed against it until a ripe old age, but I am supremely grateful that it was insisted upon.

And I think that my brothers, my brother and sisters will tell you that we are currently practicing the faith in large part because our parents validated the faith, practiced the faith, believed and loved the faith. So yeah, I would say when it comes to parents, you lead from the front, you do these things because God is worthy and you seek to grow in the conviction thereof, right? You do them for yourself, and then there's a kind of overflow effect whereby you do it for them. And then, you know, finally on this point, pray for your children. My dad prays for me every day, and he has this incredible list of intentions that have spared me any number of trials and sorrows. And I'm, yeah, I am who I am, in large part

because of the prayers of my father and mother. So do that too. Okay, I have spoken for longer than I ordinarily speak at the beginning of a video, and I am conscious of that, and I think it is time for me to start answering questions. So I'm gonna fly through some, and then maybe tarry over others. Did I just use that as an opportunity

to inject the word tarry into this live stream? Oh, yeah. Will I wait 14 days to recount the story to a friend so that I can use fortnight? Oh, yeah. All right, here we go Oh Don't know what that means There's no unity I'm Greek uh-huh uh-huh

Two people having a discussion about ecclesial communions slash churches. So that's awesome. Oh, okay, Greek Orthodox, that's going on. Sweet. All right. Nice. Hallelujah is checking in. Who is the crown princess of all Catholic live streams?

So cheers to you. All right. Uh-huh. Okay. All right. Uh huh. Okay. Boom. Uh huh. Maybe I should skip down to when this actually starts. All right guys, so this was a conversation hosted before, yeah, when I mis-scheduled it for six hours ago.

Uh, man, Jesus is Lord. He's just killing it. All right, here we go. Hallelujah. Announces the fact that we are back and other people announce the same. Ryan Markey has been a while. It's good to see you. Father pine. You told Matt Fradd that you kept your name upon entering religious life.

Matt then said Alfred the great your name upon entering religious life. Matt then said, Alfred the Great would have been a good choice. Do you realize that if you had taken Matt's advice, you would be Father Alpine, hiking through the mountains? So, that's... Ha ha ha ha. Wow.

Dead. I don't need to go further in this live stream. This live stream has been just a huge success. So, thanks to all of you for having tuned in. This is Pine's... I'm just kidding. Okay, here we go all of you for having tuned in. This is Pond. I'm just kidding. Okay, here we go. I forgive you, Father Pond.

Thank you. Yes, here we go. Colin Smith, my apologies for cruising through those questions. I hope that I didn't skip anything super important. If I have, please include it in the chat later. All right. Father Pond, I don't understand how the idea

of substantial form can mesh with modern science. Why does water cease to be a substance when in the body? Father Pond, I don't understand how the idea of substantial form can mesh with modern science. Why does water cease to be a substance when in the body? Nothing changes about water as such. It's a great question that I am not equipped to answer in a reasonable and actually like interesting fashion, but Karin Oberg, who teaches astrochemistry at Harvard has given a series of lectures for the Thomistic Institute on the Aquinas 101 Faith in Science series. And I know for a fact that previously she had given a lecture about water for the Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Conference.

So I would refer you there. Thomistic Institute, Oberg, O-B-E-R-G, water. Boom. My only question is how long does it take for new postulants to get permission to be on YouTube asking for a friend, myself? I want to see Susan on a God's Planning episode. Awesome. Cool. So, I don't know who Susan is, but maybe she's going to be on a God's Planning episode in the future. You just send the deets to godsplanning at OPEast.org and it depends on the congregation.

So if she's in a monastery, like if she's a nun, then probably never. But if she's a third order sister, an apostolic sister, then maybe at some point in the ill-defined future. But we can hope for that together. Father Pond, do you think that Mary died before she was assumed into heaven? Why or why not? I mean, I do, it's a zone of free theological speculation that tends to be the tradition in the West.

My basic idea is in solidarity with Christ. So what our Lord merits, condignly, our Lady merits, congruently. So there's a kind of fittingness that she passed through the mysteries through which he passed. Now mind you, she passed through the mystery of his passion with him, but there's a kind of fittingness that she would pass through the mystery of his passion in her person. So that that would precede the assumption makes theological sense to me.

And I thought about this also apropos of whether Our Lady was baptized. So she doesn't have original sin. She's full of grace, virtue, gifts of the Holy Spirit. She is an adopted daughter of God par excellence. But I think there's a fittingness to her being baptized insofar as Our Lord was baptized. All right, baptized with the baptism of John, but still used it to institute the baptism of Christ. And so, yeah, Our Lady would have gotten a character, right, which is a mark which makes her to participate in the priesthood of Christ in

peculiar fashion. So might something have been added there, perhaps, right? But yeah, I think about it in terms of that. Nine p.m. in Germany and Father Pius is a drop some ice. terms of that. 9 p.m. in Germany and Father Pani is a drop some ice. Suwansana. Oh nice. Okay got it, got it. So he joined the central province and I don't know what the rules are but I would say you can wait a solid six years before that pans out. Plays out, plays out. Yep, pans out. Never mind. So Evan Marist says,, my understanding is that we are not bound to believe in Marian apparitions like we are other teachings. How do we square that with parishes named after specific apparitions? Or are we bound? So good question.

The way in which Marian apparitions are different is that the mode of revelation communicated in Marian apparitions is different from the mode of revelation which is communicated in the sacred scriptures up until the death of the last apostle. So we say that public revelation ends at that point with the death of the last apostle, but that private revelation might continue. So Marian apparitions would have a similar status, right, with like the revelation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Margaret Mary Alacoque. So, we have scriptural foundations for identifying with the heart of our Lord, but the way in which it's revealed to St. Catherine of Siena in the dialogue, or St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, for instance,

is a peculiar way of formulating the Church's tradition, and so, you know, a private revelation, but one from which we benefit. So when we say not bound, we just say, like, we're recognizing that the revelation proffered here, which the Church has said is of supernatural origin in the case of approved apparitions, is of a lower tier, and does not substantially alter or add to public revelation. Rather, we think about it as a kind of specification or determination of the same. It's a way of elaborating upon the tradition, or as a way of making the Gospel known to a particular time and place and people for their sanctification. So, like, Lords, Fatima, for instance. Just because they're married in apparition doesn't mean you need to set them aside.

But, like, with the cult of the saints, for instance, you don't need to be friends with every single saint. And there are plenty of parishes named after plenty of different saints. It doesn't mean that you need to be their friends. But that they are in heaven is infallible. Right? That's a kind of decree which is part and parcel of the canonization process. So they're in heaven, but yeah, whether you choose to pray to him or her, not that big of a deal. I would say that we can interpolate in and amongst those different data points to craft something of a coherent theory about the importance of Marian apparitions. Kevin O'Connor says we're back. Boom, boom. Chicken to Bristol. It's

been too long, my friend. Hi, Father Pont. Recently I noticed that I now am of the age, that there are now ordained priests that are younger than me. Any thoughts on being a good spiritual child to someone who is younger than you? Not profound thoughts. I would say, look, when you think about what a priest was ordained for, and then you look to him for those things. So, a priest was ordained to validly celebrate the sacraments. He was ordained to preach with a modicum of competency. He was ordained to give Christian instruction. So you look to him for that. But it just might be the case that he is less wise and less prudent than you are.

It's not to say that age necessarily translates to wisdom and prudence. But I would say that you seek to cultivate a certain deference in the things which pertain to his state. St. Thomas describes four modes of preaching in a question in the treatise on baptism. The first is something like apologetic preaching basically. He said this pertains to all. So you have that in you by virtue of your baptism. And then the next would be like catechetical preaching.

He says this pertains to the minister. So there's something that comes with ordination, right, which enlightens and fortifies an individual for that task. Then there's moral preaching, which he says pertains to godparents. And then there's holy preaching, which he says pertains to bishops. And then the Dominicans would see themselves as participating that same by virtue of their charism. So yeah, look to him for certain goods for which he was ordained. But don't worry if you find that, I don't know, it's not always great. Hey, nice to see everyone.

Father Pine, what is a good guide for women's modesty? I don't know, I've never read a guide for women's modesty. But I know that there is a book that my sister read which she liked a lot by a woman whose name I think is Wendy Shalit, called A Return to Modesty. You might check that out. Anthony Ozoke says, Father Pond, do you have a favorite chapel at the Catholic University

of America? If so, which one? Great question. Do I? Probably Caldwell, although it's blazing hot in the summer. I like that. I like St. Michael's Chapel in the Bush School of Business. So those two, although I've celebrated Masses at the Law School Chapel quite a bit, and

I like that space even though it's totally bizarre, but that's just me being sentimental. Okay. Father Pond, what are my obligations as a parent during Sunday Mass? I've heard if the church ain't crying, it's dying. This seems oversimplified to me. I do try and discipline a church with charity. Yep, I would say discipline at church. From a preacher's perspective, it's super helpful. And then from the people in the pew perspective who don't have children, you know, there's some people who can be savage and super judgmental.

That is not to be encouraged. But then I think people have a moderate expectation of peace at church, okay? And, you know, I don't think the cry rooms are necessarily bad places. I think the cry rooms should be holy spaces where you can be devout. So it's not just like you're in a cry room, so like start breaking crayons and eating wax. I do think it means that you try to pray there, but with a kind of buffer, which sets you as a parent at ease, so that way you're not as anxious about your crying children, but also sets the congregation at ease since they're, yeah, maybe better disposed to pray. So my general thoughts are, one, good to discipline.

Two, if you have a cry room, not bad to use it. Three, a cry room should be a holy place so you don't feel like you're in the zoo. So there should be some kind of rules for the cry room, which are instilled by the pastor, right? Or by the, like the kind of like the parish more broadly. Those are my thoughts. All right. Michael Pollock says, Father Greg, what does the action of baptism really mean? Do we really need to be baptized with water in order to enter into communion

with God? That is the ordinary course, right? So extra ecclesiam nullus salus, all right? And then one enters the communion of the church by ordinary means in sacramental communion through baptism. All right? And baptism is the gate of the sacraments. So by the character imparted by baptism, one is empowered to receive the other sacraments, right? By virtue of that participation in the priesthood of Christ.

So, if you are conscious of the fact that the sacraments are the appointed means, whereby God gives divine life and incorporates His sons and daughters into the life of the Church, then you're responsible for availing yourself of those means. Now, might there be elements of grace and salvation outside the bounds of the visible church? Yes, says Lumen Gentium. Yes, says the Church's tradition. But those elements of grace and salvation have a kind of dynamism or tendency towards the fullness of Catholic communion through sacramental baptism. Calamus says, Father Bind, if God is beyond anything created, how can we have the beatific

vision as something finite and created? It isn't. So this is why St. Thomas expends incredible energy explaining that the beatific vision is actually that whereby God weds himself to the mind. So there is no medium. Just God gives himself to the mind and there is a lumen gloria, a light of glory, whereby the mind is strengthened to enter into possession of that vision. So same time as we'll say in the ordinary course, when you know something, it goes from being outside you to being inside you. Whereas with the beatific vision, we go from being outside it to inside it.

So it's more something that you step into than something that enters into you. Matt Meyer says, should same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt? Complicated question, gut reaction is no. Um, but yeah, my sister and her husband foster and there's so many, you know, children in the foster system. I feel like that's part of the pro-life. She is often repeating the fact that that's part of like the pro-life

message, which just really hasn't gained traction that you're not only responsible for children in the womb, but also children out of the womb. And there's so many kids in the system who are just not loved and taken care of. And then you ask the question, wouldn't it be better for the children to the womb, but also children out of the womb. And there's so many kids in the system who are just not loved and taken care of. And then you ask the question, wouldn't it be better for the children to have parents by whom that child is loved? And my gut instinct is still to say no, which sounds super harsh and judgmental, but here we are.

I'm shooting from my hip. I think the reason for which is that it could cause additional confusions which compound the confusions which the child has already made to suffer by virtue of you know displacement or having been given up for adoption. So yeah but I'll think about that more. So good question. No panope. No panope. There you go. Father Pond, do you think the world needs more good priests or husbands at the moment? I'm trying to discern where I could be most useful, thanks. That's incredible. So, Pier Giorgio Farsati made a similar act of discernment

and he decided that he ought to become a mining engineer because he could do more good in the mines. I have a kind of, yeah, well, what should I say? A proclivity for encouraging the priesthood, the holy priesthood. Because I think that a priest has a peculiar capacity to make holy. You know, so the word sacerdos in Latin just means the giver of the holy, sacerdons. And it's peculiar of the priest that he makes God near, that he makes God present, that he puts God in your

tongue in sacramental fashion. Now, you know, those who adopt other states of life can live holy lives. And Lumen Gentium repeats the fact that the Christian faithful of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of Christian charity. Right? But especially in the context of the religious life, you have better means for the attainment to that fullness. Namely, the evangelical councils, the vow that is made in religious life to observe a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. And I think that that for me, because it's objectively higher, has great…yeah, it's just very attractive.

Now, that objectively higher needs to be subjectively appropriated. And whether it's higher for you is another question, not to say like relativism, but is to say that God gives particular graces and virtues. He cultivates them and stirs them up within your heart and they suit you to particular modes of life. So it might be the case that there's a tendency of grace and virtue at work in your life towards marriage because that's the ordinary course. I don't think you need to discern marriage. I think you just need to like fall in love. Maybe right and get married and then have a family. It doesn't need to be discerned in the abstract.

I think you discern particular relationships and whether you want to start a family with this individual. Whereas if you find that your relationships are constantly coming to a strange and kind of frustrating end because you seem to have the impression that there's something else out there for you Which would be ultimately more sanctifying or fulfilling or however you describe it, right? Then I think that merits further consideration and then I think that it's worth looking into religious life and priesthood But I have said a lot of things about vocation and if you just search, you know, like Gregory pine vocation theology on

YouTube you'll find quite a few. All right. Hello father question from an ex Catholic who apostatized at 22 years old. What do you think of making your kids going to mass every morning, Monday through Friday, in addition to Sunday? I didn't like it. Haha. Hey man, honest question. You're on this live stream. Cheers to you. Um, so I, my experience as a kid growing up is that we weren't made to go to mass

except on like special occasions. If there was something immediately afterwards that our parents were taking Cheers to you. So my experience as a kid growing up is that we weren't made to go to Mass except on like special occasions if there was something immediately afterwards that our parents were taking us to and if that was on the way. And they actually kind of made going to Mass cool. So more the carrot than the goad.

My parents' parish, Mass was changed at 6.45 a.m., from seven to 6.45 a.m. on weekdays in Lent so that working folks who might have a longer commute. I grew up in between Philadelphia and New York City would be able to attend whereas formerly they might not have and it was like a special thing that you know I would go to mass sometimes on weekdays with my mom and then she would take me to a quick breakfast afterwards and it would often write me a note so That I could be late to first period which is awesome my transgressive mom

So yeah, like mass usually came with yeah It's like nice time with your mom or nice time with your dad and then like a little bite of food afterwards My dad is a big McDonald's man So we'd go to like adoration at this church in Holland and then go to McDonald's shortly thereafter. There's always a great experience, especially when you can have two McGriddles back to back. So I am not for mandatory weekday mass attendance for children as a point of principle. Might it fit into a family's plan of life? Perhaps, you know, but my kind of gut instinct is to say, I mean, like if I were a father, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that.

If I were a father of biological children, I should say. All right. Brendan Thompson says, Father Pond, I always hear that God wants to give us the deepest desires of our heart, and for me, one of those is marriage. How should I handle having the fear of being called to a different vocation? Don't worry about it. Just date and get married. And if you find that your relationships aren't going well, and it's not because of deep-seated problems when it comes to family of origin or communication or financial arrangements or whatever it might be, it's just like it's not clicking and it's not, again, it's not like you have relationship OCD or blah, blah, blah, and that's just as you keep getting

drawn to something else, something more, something different, then that's worth inquiry. But otherwise, just date and then get married. You don't have to torture yourself. All right, here we go. Matt Myers, this is problematic. Yeah, I think that was about same-sex couples adopting kids. Thoughts on video games? Yeah, so I've read, yeah. I'm kinda hard on video games,

but I think it's in part because of, I keep talking about my parents today, so I guess that's what we're just gonna keep doing. I asked for a video game system like every every year of my life up until a certain age and my parents never got it for me because they were pretty much convinced that it would turn me into a couch potato or a gamer vegetable or whatever you say. Um, take the appropriate words and insert here and I'm supremely grateful for that. And what does that mean?

Does that mean that I never played anything like a video game? No, I played plenty of computer games, but it was the type of thing where I couldn't just retreat from the family life or I couldn't retreat from reality and just play video games for tens of minutes or hundreds of minutes without oversight or without like a kind of like ongoing invitation to reenter the family circle. And I'm super appreciative for that because I think it just kind of, yeah, it forced me to confront the fact that life is kind of confusing and sometimes troubling, and that you got to bring your problems to your parents and that you got to come up with decent

enough hobbies. And even when you stink at sports or other recreational activities, that doesn't mean that you just get real good at something that's inside of a box, says the man who is live streaming on the internet right now. So yes, my thoughts on video games aren't especially well developed, but I'm worried about the violence, you know, like content wise, I'm worried about the violence. I'm worried about the sensuality and stuff like that. But I'm also just worried about what it does to a human brain in terms of like

constant stimulation and in terms of like the way it just undermines a contemplative life. And I made a video about music and movies in the course of that video, by the way. I realized that I never specified that what I was talking about was general avoidance, like on a prudential basis. So like you can listen to music and watch movies. I was specifically thinking about modern music, like mass produced, consumerist modern music. And I was thinking about kind of like cheap movies, like the kind of straight made for TV type things.

And I mean, like made for Netflix movies is kind of complicating this narrative, but the kind of schlocky stuff that they just like, you know, people make fun of Hallmark movies because it's like they produce one a day, especially when you get towards Christmas season. I'm worried about that. Like I love movies, right? Especially movies from some of my favorite directors

like Wes Anderson or the Coen brothers or Christopher Nolan or Terrence Malick or Denis Villeneuve. I've done a bunch of podcasts on Gansplitting with other brothers about that. But when it comes to these modern modes of media whether it be music or movies or video games I really am just basically worried about what it does to your interior life and how it makes it harder and harder to

cultivate an interior life. Other people are gonna have other things to say about that happy to have those conversations. Ba-boom. Alright. Father Greg, holy days of obligation, what makes it a sin to miss them, excluding Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday? So it's just like they're kind of like bonus Sundays. Think about them that way. So there are six holy days of obligation in the United States. Sometimes you are, the obligation is dispensed from because they come close to a Sunday or they're assimilated to a Sunday. But they are Mary, Mother of God, which falls on January 1st. Let's see if I can come up with all these. Can I come up with all these? Feast of the Assumption. So the Feast of the

Assumption is 40 days after Easter. The Feast of the Assumption is August 15th. All Saints, which is November 1st. The Immaculate Conception was December 8th and then Christmas, which is the 25th. So Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation. You don't have to go to Mass on Ash Wednesday. A lot of people like to because you get something in addition to the Eucharist, which is everything by the way. And then Christmas is, Easter is on Sunday, so we don't call it a Holy Day of Obligation

because it's already a Sunday. And you're already obliged. So why add further obligation to obligation? All right, Father Pined, what is the more probable opinion regarding the relative number of the elect to the reprobate? It seems many saints and doctors, including St. Thomas, lead towards a more pessimistic view. Yeah, I tend to be with St. Augustine and St. Thomas on this, which is troubling, but I just don't think that 20th century optimism is just born out by the facts, or that it's merited by a certain tendency among theologians in the last however many years. I think that that's more the Church learning from modernity than it is the church testifying to modernity.

I could be wrong, but there you have it. Father Gregor, I hope you can raise a kid like your dad raised you. Cheers to you, JPG. My dad is a boss. He is a holy man. And yet I am still not a mod on God's planning. That's awesome. You're a champion.

Hallelujah. You impress me more and more with every passing live stream. Father Pine, I've been trying to discern whether or not I should join a monastic community for some time, but I always fear making the wrong choice. I'm sure I know what you mean. Advice. Yeah, it's interesting. Some people will tell you just do it, right? Just do it. You'll find out in the aftermath whether or not it was the right choice. My sense is your disquietude, right? Your anxiety is a kind of indication.

And so I think it's fine to stay outside because oftentimes when you enter a religious community and you leave, you don't enter another one. So I'm not for rushing that entry. And I don't think that it's cowardly or that it's, what, temerary, so that it's stupid to do that. Okay? So, I would say continue to invest in a life of prayer, sacrament, friendship, penance, study, service to the material poor, and wait on the Lord to grow in you the life of grace and virtue and in the process to kind of refine or distill your spiritual temperament such that you incline more to what you are made for.

And then make visits. Make real concrete visits. Take real concrete steps. Go on vocation weekends, pray with the community during holy seasons, et cetera, and then see what comes of it. Father Pion, it has been a while, I hope you are very well. I'm learning Italian from my visit to Rome.

Any recommendations when I'm in Rome? That's awesome, hey. So I would say to get in touch with Dominican friars, so email godsblending at OPEast.org and I can put you in touch with a Dominican friar and set you up with some cool Dominican holy sites. So there are a few Dominican churches in Rome, the most ancient of which is Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill. And there's a room there, St. Dominic's cell where he's thought to have slept when he visited the convent. And then there is also the Angelicum, which is a Pontifical University, which is beautiful and awesome and worthy of a visit.

It's just not too far from the Colosseum. And then there's San Clemente, which is inhabited by, run by the Irish Dominicans, which is a very ancient church, which has a lowest layer, which is first century and next layer, which is fourth century and then a further layer, which I want to say is like 11th century that might be made up. So it's a really cool and below the first, like the house church, it's actually a Mithraeum. So like a pagan cultic space of worship.

Fascinating. So yeah, I'd recommend those things. I mean, you're going to see all kinds of things, but those are some things that you can see and more besides. So yeah, email me. We can follow up. Great to see you again, by the way. Father Gregor, I have two kids, 11 and 5. My wife so far is not interested in having them baptized. I very much would want this advice. Yeah, so the teaching of the church is that you can't baptize a child against the wishes of its parents.

The church doesn't actually specify if the parents are divided on the issue, but I think that, yeah, I don't know. So here I think there's a kind of natural headship to a man in a relationship, and this gets us into all kinds of difficult questions about gender complementarity and what it means. And these are things which are often talked about on the internet sometimes in constructive ways sometimes unless construct less constructive ways But that's true of anything. I've tried to muddle around in the question And I don't know that I've done it entirely satisfactorily but I made a video called headship of Adam headship of Christ or headship of Christ headship of Adam and

Then like wives be subordinate to your husband's another video I think the thumbnail for that says like why if your husband is not your God or something like that. But I do still think that there is a kind of natural authority that a man exercises in the context of marriage. So I think that it's not like you have 51% of the vote and she has 49% of the vote because it's not democracy, right? It's something else. And it's related to the way in which Christ exercises headship in the church. So there's a peculiar way in which grace flows through the consent of the man, which is meant to be patterned off the

way in which grace flows through the headship of Christ. And so my instinct is to say that your wish, your desire in this particular instance, should carry a certain authority. It doesn't mean that it can be like wielded coercively, but that it should carry a certain authority. I don't know exactly how that cashes out. And I realize that's vague, but I would say pray fast on the particular issue, approach your wife, express your conviction with some frequency, and then ask her if there are,

you know, like any particular obstacles to that which need to be addressed and if there are ways in which the same could be done. But I would say that, yeah, be confident in the fact that you can exercise a certain authority when it comes to your headship in the relationship and then this particular issue since it concerns the most valuable of things, which is to say eternal life. Okey-doke. Matt and other guests. Hello, Michael Matthews. Matt and other guests have discussed the state of Catholic schooling and its lack of Catholic teaching. As a parent of four entering elementary students, how do we assess a Catholic school on these merits? I don't know. So there

are a variety of factors that you can assess. And I would say that it'd be good to get in touch with somebody who is competent in these matters. Um, the Seton homeschool seems like a good place where you could find people who are knowledgeable and who have good resources. Um, but you're going to want to look at who they hire. Okay. Um, I'm sure with modern modes of social media, you'll be able to see whether those people like rainbow wash their pictures and the month of

June and stuff like that, but also like, you know be able to see whether those people like Rainbow wash their pictures in the month of June and stuff like that. But also like, you know, is it a school run by religious sisters? Is that a vibrant community of religious sisters? Do they wear their habits? All right. These are all indicative signs. Um, and then maybe see like what kind of educational background the folks who teach religion is.

Um, are they coming from places like Benedictine, Franciscan, Christendom, or are they coming from places like not those? Um as not to cast particular aspersions. You're also going to want to look at the textbooks that they use. All right. You're going to want to look at how they schedule their day. Like is mass something that occurs in the context of their life? Is it something that happens like once a semester? Is it something that happens once a month or is it something that happens once a week? Is confession readily available? Like does the school have a chaplain? Are the children encouraged? Because if there's like a certain seriousness about the sacramental life, that's usually a good indication of doctrinal orthodoxy. Yeah, you can look at a bunch of other things, but I would say

get in touch with somebody who's real competent and ask them what signs of vitality you should look for and then look for. Um, nice. Okay. I'm catching up. Uh, what do you think of modern animation and cartoons? How can one navigate legit entertainment to avoid some modern secular stuff such as SSA and trans stuff? So I don't know much about modern animation or cartoons. I think the only cartoons that I've seen in the past, however long, are like Frozen and Frozen 2 and then the Wes Anderson movies done with time stop animation. So Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr. Fox. That's not true. I've seen more Disney movies, although I'm done with Disney for reasons that don't merit explanation. So my general sense is if a particular company comes out and takes a corporate stance that says we're going to try to make your children super sympathetic to this,

then you got a problem. And I think it's worth staying away from when it comes to films. For me, I go director by director. I know this isn't like a kid's thing, but I go director by director because I find the directors have interesting things to think and then interesting things to show. And I'm interested in following those. And I mentioned those directors, some of those directors early. But yeah, I don't think that you do wrong by going classic, right? Turning back the clock and seeing something with staying power. I mentioned Professor Karin Oberg at the beginning of this episode, and she's one who feels very passionately about the excellence of older films.

And again, apropos of the contemplative comment, the way in which films are edited, the way that they're kind of chopped so that they're lightning fast. Um, and that they unfold at a rate faster than a human can assimilate is also troubling, right? And I think that, you know, like older films tend to be slower and it's not bad for us to be accustomed to a slower pace, because I think it helps us to live our own lives at a more human speed. Sorry, if that's not terribly helpful. That's what I got.

Is there any video games you like to play? No. Six years. Cheers. I don't remember what that refers. Oh yeah, Siouan. God bless. Brian Smith. Hello Father, I know you just did a vid on confession in general, but any advice specifically for an adult convert for first confession? Most videos reading material I can find is for children. Yeah, so get a good examination of conscience. You go there. You say, bless me Father for I have sinned. This is my first confession. I'm an adult convert.

I've made an examination of conscience, but I would appreciate any help that you're willing to proffer. And then go through that good examination of conscience, apropos of the Ten Commandments, the seven deadly sins, maybe think a little bit about the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and then just list things. And I would say just be simple and kind of brutal. The thing, the number of times. The number of times doesn't have to be a specific number of times. You can say weekly or habitually or often, but just move through the material and don't psychoanalyze yourself or don't give justifications or rationalizations. Just be kind of clinical about it.

And then the priest may furnish you with additional advice about how to deepen your contrition or finish as it were the confession if there are things that to him seem to be left out. And then I'll give you some counsel, I'll give you a penance and then memorize an act of contrition. I always encourage to memorize an act of contrition. I always encourage you to memorize an act of contrition. Recite that, receive absolution, leave, say your penance. Further questions if you want to follow up, godsplaining.op.us.org. Casey Monroe, in your recent video about the resurrection of the body, you focused on what

happens once resurrected, but I'm confused about the church's teachings on burial versus cremation. Why not scatter relics? Yeah, that's a huge question. Nice. PS. Great looking picture there. You've got some people just sitting at the dock, just living their best lives. So, resurrection. Yeah. So, okay, let's just take them one by one.

Burial versus cremation. The Church should not permit cremation up until the 20th century. And I think there are good reasons for that. Because I think the cremation up until the 20th century. And I think there are good reasons for that because I think the cremation process is disrespectful to the body, right? When you burn a body at a super high temperature, then grind the bone so that it can fit in as compact a container as possible. I just think that's disrespectful. The church has made a concession for it insofar as there are certain locales in which it's

difficult to obtain a full body burial because of the water table and things like that, or other environmental factors. But I think it's clearly expressed as a concession. And the reason for which the Church has traditionally insisted upon that is that there is a certain integrity to the body and that even in death we look forward to its resurrection. So that's to the first. Why not scatter? Because it seems to violate this sense of integrity. So even if cremated, you know, ashes shouldn't be scattered because it's

as if to say that like, whatever, you know, you return to the earth. Now mind you, do you return to the earth in the process of decomposition? You know, in the ordinary course? Yeah. I mean, Carthusians aren't even buried often enough in caskets. They're just kind of sewn up and just dropped in the ground But they're done, you know, like when you are committed to the to the earth, right? So with the right of accommodation in the right of committal it's done with an eye towards what lies in the end Now I would say that relics you have kind of competing principles You have the integrity principle on the one hand But then you have like the veneration and intercession principle that at work on the one hand, but then you have like the veneration and intercession principle

at work on the other. So it's good to marvel in the fact that God is wonderful and is saints and that his grace and virtues are such that they can transfigure not only a soul, but a body as well. Now by extension, by analogy, sure, but that grace while the material, virtue while the material, has even a kind of corporeal effect. So powerful is it, poignant I think people say in English sometimes. And so relics are taken to be venerated as a recognition of the fact

that God is wonderful and is saints. But they're also used as a reminder in the way that like a family heirloom or like a lock of hair from somebody who had gone before you is used as a reminder so that you can pray for that person in the case of the saint, not as necessary there in heaven, but that you can invoke the intercession of the person. So cultivate a relationship, a kind of ongoing friendship with the individual that endureth

unto ages of ages. So I think you're right to acknowledge the fact that there are some competing principles here but it's a matter of, you know, organizing those principles in a way which best comports with the glory of God and the salvation of souls because it's the salvation of souls which represents the highest law. But that's a great question. All right, part one. Hello, Father. This must be a misunderstanding, but I think I heard that our relationship to God is real,

but God's to us is only for our understanding. This was from studying trinitarian theology Is there a part two? I don't see a part two. I'm not gonna get through all these questions. Sorry squad So that is what you heard is a version of the truth so we talked about the doctrine of mixed relation and A relation in its bare bones kind of sense is a being towards. So a substance is a thing, for lack of a better description. Oh, he's yawning.

A substance is a thing, and then an accident is something that inheres in a thing. And relation is just one of those accidents. So a relation has these two components. What St. Thomas identifies as in-essay and odd-essay. So in-essay means the in-hearing part, and then odd-essay means the relating part, the kind of directing, as it were, towards another. Now when we talk about God, God doesn't have any accidents. So God is not composed, it doesn't have parts, and as a result of which, we would affirm

the fact that He is utterly simple in his perfection. So we can't say of God that he acquires a relation in the process of creation. So creation as a kind of relation of dependence is real in us, but logical in God. Okay? So it doesn't obtain in the real order in the Godhead because that would somehow change God. Now, does that mean that God doesn't care about us? No. Because God exercises His divine causality vis-à-vis all of creation, and as a result of which God is present to all of creation by essence, presence, and power. And then He's present in

the lives of the just by grace. So that doesn't militate against our having a personal relationship with God or God being present to us in a way that's intimate and sublime. So fear not. Hey, good evening Father, love from Ireland. Love it. I know I'll speak to my priest at some point when it comes closer to the day, but just out of curiosity. That's apropos the confession question. Again, great question. Ryan Pinto, hey Father Pine. Hey, beautiful mountains back there. Let's go. I really want to study Thomas Aquinas, however when I try to read something of his

it's something difficult to understand. Where do you think I could start? Great question. I would say start with his commentaries on the Creed, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, which are collected in the Sophia Institute Press volume called The Three Greatest Prayers. So Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary.

Also, all of St. Thomas's works are available for free, often enough in translated versions, on the website of the Aquinas Institute, which is in the midst of translating all of his works in English. So you can look that up. I don't remember exactly what the website is. It's like Aquinas.cc or something.

Boom. All right, any children books you recommend? Any good parenting books? I don't know about parenting books. As for children's books, there's a great author Boom. All right. Any children books you recommend? Any good parenting books? I don't know about parenting books. As for children's books, there's a great author named Gracie Jagla who has published quite a few books for children, beautiful Catholic books, well and excellently illustrated, so I'd recommend them hardly.

Cheers to you. Buona serata, Padre. Buona serata. Michael Powelix says, High Father Pine, why is it we believe, but we don't believe? Buona serata Padre. Buona serata. Michael Powelick says, High Father Pine, why is it we believe public revelation ceases to exist after the final Apostle's death? Great question.

I don't actually know. Yeah, I don't actually know. But it has to do something with proximity to our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's this sense that our Lord reveals everything, but the implications are yet unfolding. But His revelation of everything is something that takes place kind of at the fountainhead, so at the summit of salvation history, which is to say in the incarnate life of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that the apostles occupy a kind of privileged place when it comes to the perception of that revelation, and so the door remains open until such time as they

pass from this life. So it's something about the communication of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Apostles as the primary instruments for the subsequent revelation. But there's a Dominican friar at the Angelicum named Father Alan Piper, who is actually writing his thesis right now, his dissertation on the question of Thomas's theology of the Apostles. So he would be a great one to address that question too. So boom to that. All right, Aroma Caput Mundi says, Father, are we supposed to evangelize the Jew like we do with other religions? Yes. The language that the Church uses in its Good Friday Liturgy is a little bit

different insofar as we are like incorporated into the one covenant. So as to avoid a certain appearance or sound of supersessionism. But yes, everyone should be Catholic. That is my firm conviction. Wesley Corway says, a bit of a niche question, but is it okay to make video edits where you make a person say silly or absurd stuff that's not vulgar for fun? Is that okay or sinful? I would say with the person's consent, probably fine. If it's just to mock someone, specifically someone who cannot defend himself from your mockery, I would say that's probably problematic.

And I think it's also, you know, like the way that this is done with politicians now and again, it's done to incite a certain spirit of, what, insurrection is the one that people have been using recently, but that's a super hot topic. But it's done to incite a kind of disrespect or a kind of scorn or disdain for the person in the office, which I think like, you know, some people stink of their job,

which is fine, but I don't think that we need to heap coals on their heads. Maybe that's naive, who knows? All right. Boom. Okay. I got through some questions, not all questions, but some questions. If you haven't yet, please do like this particular live stream so that those who come across it in future minutes, hours, days will be encouraged to watch it and hopefully benefit there from. And if you haven't yet, please do subscribe to pints with Aquinas and get updates via email on everything that happens

You know in the month of September and following And then if you haven't yet do check out God's planning So I mentioned it at a few points But it's a podcast of which I contribute with for the Dominican friars sweet episodes about sweet things you can say oh Quran on all kinds of interesting conversations about films and Oh, Quran on all kinds of interesting conversations about films and literature and just kind of Catholic questions of various or miscellaneous type assortment. So hope you enjoy that.

And then I wrote a book. The book is called Prudence. Choose confidently, live boldly. And yeah, people are reading it. I think some people are enjoying it. Other people are like, bruv, you're so you. And I'm like, not false. So do check that out.

Prudence, choose confidently, live boldly, available at OSV's bookstore or at Amazon. So you can do what feels right. All right, cheers to you. Please pray for me, I'll pray for you. And I'll catch you next time. I'm Pines with Aquinas.