Full Transcript for Why Has Fr Chad Ripperger Been Silenced? | Regina UNSCRIPTED

It's going to be really interesting times down there in the south of England. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:55.360 Exactly that. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.680 Yeah, good priest, nice guy, and uh let's watch this space. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.040 But it's wonderful to have him in place. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:05.600 Sorry, I'm just doing it's freezing cold all of a sudden, isn't it, Mark, after a long hot summer? 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.079 And I'm sitting here with a blanket over my legs and uh and a failing microphone. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:12.720 But um what can we say? 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:23.040 There are some people worried about our our new transition to Regina magazine that we'll get all polished and lose the old ways, but we're here to show you that's not a lot of things. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:24.160 You need one of these. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.319 That's what I've got that sorts it out. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:27.199 You need one of them. 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:29.199 I've got it sat right there on the desk. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.759 I have got a lot of them, but none around. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:32.800 So I'm gonna do my best. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.000 I'm gonna start I'm gonna sit here and hold this up. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.879 Um Father Rippager. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.720 So another word or ripger. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:55.439 Um Father Rippager, a big name in America and also over here, increasingly, especially amongst perhaps the traditional, traditionally minded uh Catholics. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:00.560 Um, many people have got his books, have listened to his homilies, his talks. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:08.240 He used to be lesser known, but has exploded everywhere, especially following interviews with it's not Sean. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:10.399 Tucker Carlson and Sean Ryan. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:10.959 Was it Sean? 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:12.480 Sean Ryan, that's it, yeah, yeah. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:13.759 That's a really big one, isn't it? 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:15.199 Yeah, that's a huge one. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:16.399 Yeah, and Tucker Carlson. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:35.839 And he is um an exorcist, and so he speaks a lot about spiritual warfare, and has recently been asked to step back by his bishop, which is not unheard of and is perfectly within his rights to request that of a priest. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:44.079 Um, but it's blown up into a bit of a storm with I think John Henry Weston on Lifesite News saying this is problematic. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.600 Why is he suppressing this traditional priest? 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:48.959 And lots of talk. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:57.600 Uh basically, Mark, lots and lots of noise following that has been going on online, and you know all about it because you've been following that. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:59.199 So fill us. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:05.040 Well, I'd I I'm sort of loath to to to s jump into the breach though, as well. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:11.759 And you had some very interesting perspective on it that you know I thought was relevant, very pertinent. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:28.240 But to so to give a brief outline, I would say that the issue, as far as I can see it, is it's not so much that he's been asked to step back, he's been asked to step back from publicly speaking about his ministry, but and to focus on his community. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:36.560 And you kind of think in any other situation, that would be just de rigueur, it would just be normal course of, you know, it wouldn't be a problem. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:47.759 But because he's got this massive high profile, it's immediately read to be a slap down on traditional, more traditional sort of priests. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:58.800 Um, and I suppose the reason that it's big news is because of, you know, other celebrity priests like Father James Martin. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:23.120 The the contrast and the obvious hypocrisy, you know, where you've got someone like James Martin who is the first to jump on anything like um, you know, Fiducia Supperkans and have photo opportunities and have everything lined up so that he can make a big deal out of it, yeah, and to push an agenda which is in direct contradiction with scripture, tradition, and the magisterium. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:33.840 And yet he seems to be welcomed by you know Cardinal um Wilton Gregory, by Cardinal Supich, by Cardinal Tobin. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:37.600 You know, he's got high-ranking supporters, he's boasted about this online. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:09:03.919 Um, and so it seems like here we've got another situation where we've got orthodoxy being pushed down and suppressed, you know, Rippage's famous for being orthodox, and and you've got like, you know, problematic, if you like, or confusing um narratives being supported and promoted and lauded. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:09.679 And you know, for Catholics who are trying to be faithful, that's obviously a worry. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.679 It's obviously confusing, isn't it? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.600 You can understand why, can't you? 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:20.000 Even if it's not, even if there's nothing in it, you can see why the optics are the way that they are. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.240 Yeah, yeah, I can see it. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.200 I'm just a bit of the view, just tur turn it off. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:30.000 What are you doing? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:38.720 Paying it to like demanding answers from a bishop about what he chooses to do with a priest under his jurisdiction. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:44.480 I I I just think we're in a funny place where we feel we're owed, we want to know the answer. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:45.759 Who do we think we are? 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.000 Yeah, seems unjust, seems unfair. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:53.759 Look at Father James Martin being elevated and championed and given a public role. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:00.000 But at the same time, I

think we can become a bit a little bit part of the problem. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.720 Um, and I I I don't know the circumstances. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:19.360 I don't really demand to know the circumstances and the answers, but I do know that Father Ripiger was um, you know, as an exorcist, was it's really hard to kind of articulate this. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:20.399 I was struggling with you earlier. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:39.200 It's kind of like he's bringing to the public foreground and into the public attention something that is is very dangerous, and um is also perhaps shouldn't be made public in the way that it has been. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:44.080 And you can see why the enemy would want to get in and disturb that. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:11:04.720 I think he's I think it's very delicate ground because we were talking about Bishop Barron, and in a way, there's like Bishop Barron has been able to continue his public ministry undisturbed, but he's really just talking about the the faith, reasonable faith, looking at his Catholicism series, doing his homilies. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.200 He's not focused on the spiritual warfare quite so much. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:18.799 Um, but but Father Ripinger is, and so I'm not surprised that he has been told to step back from public ministry and focus more on his community. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.360 And I don't know that that's necessarily a bad thing. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:33.120 I'm a bit wary, Mark, of public exorcists talking about driving out demons and the stories of what the demons said to them, and for a number of reasons. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:40.879 One, I think it can leave people overly focused and neurotic almost about the demonic. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:57.360 Um, and I know Father Ipiger famously says, you know, it doesn't mean there's a demon under every stone, but it it can leave us all of these things in the public arena, I think can draw our attention away from the things that really matter, which is really our private sphere. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.559 Your family matters to you, my family matters to me. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:13.759 What's done and unseen by others is of the most importance in your life, just like in a church, the the the secret, the quiet, the hidden away, the tabernacle, the veiled is the most holy and the most precious. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:24.799 As soon as we start taking that that private sphere, that quiet sphere, that sacredness, and like ripping the veil off. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.480 Uh, I I said to you the image of a woman in a tank top. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:35.200 I often think we veil our lower abdomen, our tummy region because it's holy, not because it's embarrassing. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:50.799 And to me, it's there's something I can't quite articulate, but I sense that perhaps it would it's a wise thing to maybe not be quite so vocal about this ministry. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:57.519 Having said that, I don't know the reasons, and maybe there's all sorts of terrible and wrong reasons to do with suppressing Orthodox priests. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.399 But those are my thoughts on it. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.519 I and I think that's really important. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:17.919 I think what you said is really important, and you know that you know, from my personal experience, it's something that I take very seriously and would rather just I think it's important that we, you know, respect it. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:25.200 And I don't really understand how these things, you know, how these things work. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:32.879 Like you said, oh, there's not a demon under every every stone, and but kind of there is as well at the same time. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:51.519 Like what you're talking about, and what Father Rippager talks about is uh an angelic intelligence, so a supra intelligence that is completely focused on bringing about our downfall, and you you know, is like tricking us into hell, basically. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:14:06.480 And we know that you know, we know as Catholics, and and it's important that we share with our audience as well, that if you are in a state of grace, if you're close to Christ, then then these entities have got no influence over you. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:16.000 Um, they can tempt you, but you know, generally speaking, um, if you're in the right place, you you they've got no pat no real power over you. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:23.440 But you know, at the same time, if you open a door to that, and part of that door is fascination, isn't it? 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:36.879 You know, that part of that is becoming overly interested in in that sort of thing, which is something that I you know, I just think I don't, you know, I just don't want to know really. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:45.039 I you know, I want to just stay as close to Christ as I can and avoid anything like that, avoid their attention, really. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:49.600 And then this feeds back, I suppose, into the you know, the history of the St. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:58.399 Michael the Archangel prayer, you know, that that there's one version of the prayer that we say regularly, and there's another version of the prayer. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:04.720 I don't know if you know this, the exorcist version that you're not supposed to say unless you're unless you're an exorcist. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:05.360 Did you know that? 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:06.559 Have you ever heard that before? 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:07.840 No, oh, I didn't know that. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:17.360 Yeah, so you know, like this other version, it's meant to be, you know, so powerful that it actually attracts the attention of the demons, you know. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.639 So you need to be in the right place in order to use that prayer properly. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:41.840 So, so like my point being that we know that this is a thing, we experience demonic um influence in in if we're

aware of it spiritually in our lives, you can recognize um where it's a problem, and we can recognize it in society. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:16:04.080 You know, interestingly, like 50 years ago, Bishop Fort and Sheen reflecting on the the demonic, the Gerhardine demonic, you know, sort of pointed out exactly what the problem would be um with our culture, and you know, part of that is fascination with sort of nakedness, nudity. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:05.840 Well, we'll see that in spades. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:15.840 Um the and the and the the breakdown in unity, which is fascinating because you really see that in the church at the moment, yeah. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.279 That we are legion, yeah, exactly. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:31.360 Yeah, so um there seems to be a real spirit of attacking the church and the unity of the church at the moment that a lot of people seem susceptible to. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:48.399 Um, and I think we have to be very like you and I have to be very careful to if we're gonna criticize things, as we I think we've just demonstrated in this topic, what we're doing is saying, look, we don't we're not gonna say, oh, this is a scandal because we don't know enough to say it is a scandal. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:17:08.319 What we don't, you know, my point really is that if the archdiocese or if the diocese, I can't remember it was an archdiocese, goal Christophishop, but if he'd been a little bit more astute, he might have recognised the fact that this needed some careful um media screening or some and and perhaps dealt with it a little bit more sympathetically. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:19.519 But I think your point is an excellent one that we don't know what's gone on here, and until we do, we we sort of got to pray for everyone involved, pray for the bishop, um, pray for Father Ripiger. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:28.079 Who you know, the I think the statement from the Diocese says is a priest in good standing, uh, someone that the bishop really appreciates his ministry. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.599 So who knows what kind of conversation has gone on there? 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.799 It could be a really positive conversation for both of them. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:35.920 Yeah, exactly. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.119 We we just don't know, and I'm in agreement with you. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:52.559 Um, I remember a friend of mine saying years ago that uh her grandmother, so this would have been quite some years ago, was absolutely shocked by do you remember that Nike advert? 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:53.599 No, the shore advert. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:01.440 There was a woman tennis player, and there's a tick on her back, and then it showed her back with a sweat-free tick to show that the deodorant works. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:02.799 I mean, that was it. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.799 And her grandmother's mother was outraged and said, This is pornography. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:09.920 And she kind of laughed, you know, like, oh, don't be so old-fashioned. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:13.440 But she said, if we're accepting this, what will we go on to accept? 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:28.400 And I think it's so true because something like a woman in a tennis dress is not gonna shock us because of how much there is now that we see that we it's like we've lowered the bar, isn't we? 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:29.599 Yeah, exactly, exactly. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:30.720 We've lowered the bar. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:39.839 And I do, I do think I'm I'm quite I'm very frightened of like rightly disposed, I would say, of the spiritual. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.480 Everything is the spirit spiritual warfare isn't one thing over there, and then everything else is over here. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:48.480 Our whole lives, our whole existence is we are at war. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:49.440 You know, we are at war. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:50.319 And what is the war? 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:57.519 The war is ultimately not with the annoying lib liberals or the it's a battle between good and evil. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:05.039 And we have to stay close to Christ and we have to stay under the mantle of our lady and and and keep our children safe. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:09.519 But I'm very aware that that is raging around us. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:22.319 Um, and I worry that with casual programmes about exorcisms and talking about it and being on big podcasts, that it becomes like we just talking about the devil, you know, we've almost swung the other way. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:28.160 Baudelaire said the greatest trick the devil ever played was but uh getting people to believe he didn't exist. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:35.119 The opposite might be the greatest trick is putting the devil everywhere so that it becomes passe. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:46.720 Oh, we're all chatting about the devil and demons, and forgetting that actually this is very, very careful ground that we should be approaching is great humility. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.480 Um, so yeah, I'm just I'm wary. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:51.359 Like you are. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:52.240 That's very wise. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.319 Yeah, I think that's a very wise approach. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:20:01.279 I like I do worry about some of the things that Father Rippager, you know, some of like a lot of it makes a lot of sense to me. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:08.240 I'd love to sit down, I'd love to have Father Ripper or you know, I mean, we've had Father uh Michael McCormick on, haven't we? 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:19.599 He's an exorcist, but he was very careful about you know what he spoke about and did it in a way that you know was obviously trying to encourage Catholics. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:37.519 Um, and I'd love to have someone on that we could go through some of the more, you know, sort of difficult elements of what exactly this is about and what it actually means for our society, because as you say, it you know, it uh it is uh you how do you

react to it? 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:39.599 Do you see demons everywhere? 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:48.640 You know, like one of the things that Father Ribbager says is that Harry Potter will lead our children to um you know embrace witchcraft or something like that. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:21:23.839 And I, you know, I struggle with stuff like that because I think like there's any well, I don't yeah, but like what story then is is you know, like you could say the same with Lord of the Rings, it's got a wizard in it, or you know, you could say the same about Narnia, or and they're explicitly Christian books, you know, so uh it's difficult, but that but the at the same time there's no doubt in my mind that there is a demonic influence, and like so this is the Fulton, this is the Fulton Sheen um thing that I've I've put up on uh X. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:35.039 So he says uh the first one is the obsession with nudity, the degradation of human sexuality, the commodification of the body, and the progressive abandonment of modesty. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:39.119 What was once regarded as intimate and sacred becomes something to be consumed. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.400 I mean, only fans. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.559 I mean, it's so prevalent, isn't it? 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:44.960 It's going on all you know, all the time. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:51.759 Well, and literally, and literally, well, yes, but also literally human beings for sale. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.519 You know, yeah, you've got the nudity and you've got the selling of sex, I suppose, but you've also got the literal selling of human persons. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.799 Who are becoming a commodity through surrogacy and right, exactly. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.720 Yeah, really important point there. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:18.160 Uh, number two is violence and destruction, not simply physical aggression, but a culture increasingly fascinated by hatred, confrontation, humiliation, and the destruction of others. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:21.759 Violence becomes entertainment, cruelty becomes spectacle. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:25.279 We see this in art, TV, even news coverage today. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:32.559 That, like, you know, even that there was that tragic story this week of a priest who died when the crucifix fell on his head. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:40.480 I don't know if you know if you'd heard that story, but it seemed like everyone was just sharing the footage, left, right, and centre, you know? 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:45.039 And uh like it was quite shocking footage because he died, the poor man died. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:50.480 And you know, when you just think, is that really sensible to be sharing that? 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.319 Um, this is what worries me. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:23:09.599 You know, I'm not a big social media person, partly through my own incompetence in terms of uh how it works, but also I'm worried about it, Mark, because the the few times I do sort of open up

X or Instagram R account and just sort of catch up on what's going on. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:10.799 Yeah, there's lots of lovely stuff. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:30.960 There's lots of lovely stuff showing beautiful Catholic things and clips and people, but the then it it'll throw up something, and you think, oh, I've I've lived my whole life, I've got to nearly 50, and I've never seen a person falling off a balcony or or or been run over by a bus or a car driving into a crowd. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.319 And I don't want to. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:40.880 And I don't want to, and you suddenly feel at you're not at peace, you're not at ease, you feel God loves them, you're praying for these people, you're worried about them. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.240 And you might say, Well, we need to know the truth about what's going on. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:45.839 But there's all that's always gone on. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:54.559 There will always be these terrible things, but it's just violence, it's a violence to to just put this constantly 24-7 before us. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:24:03.519 And for us to see abuse and rape and torture and killings in movies, in fiction, in real life, it's just it's horrendous. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:05.599 And it does something to the human person. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:12.880 I think it it changes us um if we're not careful and if we don't if we don't watch out. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.039 Well, and I think you're absolutely right. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:17.680 We become desensitized as well, don't we? 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:27.759 And I think there's no argument, you couldn't construct an argument that says that we haven't seen an increase in violence, gratuity. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:42.640 You know, it's almost like every new thing that comes out has to be more violent, has to have more swearing in it, has to be more gratuitous, um, because otherwise it doesn't register on the the, you know, interest radar sort of thing. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:44.720 And like, where does it all end? 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.640 I just have got no idea. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:59.039 You can't say that society, despite the fact that we haven't had a war, and perhaps that might be part of it, do you think that we haven't experienced the reality of that sort of violence? 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:04.000 And so, like, we're trying to experience it in a third party sort of way. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.759 I wouldn't want to use that as a reason to advocate for a war. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:13.119 We're quite all right, thanks very much, especially if it's defending what the rotten culture we've got now. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.319 But that's another question. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.519 Uh, yeah, absolutely. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.960 Yeah, it's just it's just in massive increase in violence, nudity, commodification. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.759 And this is your third point, which I think is brilliant. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:42.160 Well, and then you can see that it kind of captured me a little bit because I wrote a bit more about it, but um, you know, what Fort and Sheen says is the fragmentation of identity is the third um and most striking sign where he says the the Geresine demon demoniac answers Christ's questions, what is your name? 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:45.200 With the words, my name is Legion, for we are many. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:51.599 Sheen saw here a profound image of the divided self, a person whose interior unity has been shattered. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:26:00.799 We're created to possess an interior unity in which our reason, will, emotions, desires, body and soul are integrated and ordered towards God. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:02.960 Sin disrupts that unity. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:12.400 We become divided against ourselves, knowing what is good, but desiring what is harmful, pursuing happiness through things that ultimately leave us dissatisfied. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.599 You see that in like the trans issue, don't you? 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:18.319 It's a really good example of that, isn't it? 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:18.720 St. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:26.880 Paul describes something similar in Romans 7:19, for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:35.359 What makes Sheen's analysis so fascinating here is his understanding of the diabolical as fundamentally destructive of unity. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:37.440 What like I think that's so important. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:39.440 We mustn't underestimate that. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:27:06.720 Within the human person, within families, within society, and even within the church, consider the extraordinary fragmentation of contemporary Western culture, our confusion about the human person, um, our disintegrating relationships, marriage, like the death of marriage in our culture, and our increasingly bitter divisions, the polarized nature of our societies. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.279 Sheen was not suggesting that everyone experiencing these difficulties was possessed. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:12.319 Of course he wasn't. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:21.119 He was identifying something far more important, the spiritual logic of evil, which seeks to separate what God has joined together. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:26.880 Perhaps the most revealing question is not whether Sheen's observations describe our society. 00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:30.160 It's obvious and chilling how clearly they do. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.720 But how we came, and this is the point that really you're making, like with the entertainment. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:40.319 How did we come to regard so many of these symptoms as some kind of sign of progress? 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:54.559 Yeah, I think that's that that summed it up in that fragmentation and what God has put together, let no man put asunder, which of course we hear in the uh uniting of a man to a woman in in marriage. 00:27:54.880

--> 00:28:01.599 And divorce is a huge example of that, and the and then the degradation of the family and all that follows. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.599 And it's like this hierarchy, isn't it? 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:44.720 Divorce man from God, man from woman, children from adults, and then within yourself, male and female, divorce soul from body, and um that's that's so true, um, and such a reminder that we need to remember unity is so important, and not I don't mean that kind of diversity, equality, inclusion, you know, there is no boundaries, there's no borders, not that sort of thing, but all one in Christ that we keep saying over and over is we have national identities and cultures and that diversity, but it can be held that tension can be held together only in Christ. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.640 If you get rid of Christ, there is nothing unifying holding it together. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:54.480 And so some political attempt to create unity arbitrarily doesn't work. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:56.400 Um, but it's brilliant, yeah. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:57.279 Very, very true. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:05.359 Well, and I think if you wanted evidence of like the demonic as a reality, these are sort of some of the best ways of thinking about it, really. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:20.960 It's not in you know, scary stories of demons climbing up the wall or anything like that, but you know, you can imagine that that it makes a lot of sense that if the devil wants to destroy humanity, this is the way that he's gonna do it, and it's you know, it's scriptural as well, isn't it? 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:44.400 Um so I think that's sort of the wisest thing we can do is sort of watch to the ways that um these anti-Catholic, anti-Christian ideas that we see in scripture and in church teaching throughout history are seeping into our society and into our relationships, even the culture of the church. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:59.920 Well, that's one thing I wrote about for the Herald years ago about this idea that if we see like devil horns, like Halloween at the moment, and we're seeing lots of the witch witch broomsticks and the pump scary faces and everything, and none of that's very nice. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:25.359 But if we see that as that's all evil and I'll stay away from it, we're missing the fact that there's there's great evil in ways that are much more subtle, much less clear, and much perhaps arguably much more dangerous because of that subtlety, because it's not it doesn't smack you in the face, it's that whisper, the the whisper of the enemy, the little niggles into those doubts, and those are the things. 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:26.720 And and we can't do it alone. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:27.440 That's the other thing. 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.839 We can't counter this alone. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:47.440 We can be watchful, we can use our intellect, and we can have that baptized, but um, we have to seek God's grace because ultimately it's a supernatural battle, and we are created for a supernatural end, and we can't reach a supernatural end with nature alone. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.640 We need God's grace, we need supernatural intervention. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:55.599 And you ask how we could get here, you ended that quote with how do we get here? 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:59.599 And I think it's that old um, you know, the boiling frog. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:12.400 It's not like we just were everything was rosy and we were skipping along, making daisy chains, and then boom, you know, this someone shoved a load of endless pornography in our faces and we were horrified. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:14.640 It's a drip, drip, drip, slows. 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.319 Let's tell let's push the boundary. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.119 Okay, stop. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:22.720 Push the boundary, stop until we don't even know, we don't even notice anymore. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:38.720 Or at least we should and we try to, but um, it's easy to well fascinating then that we've got this situation in our culture at the moment um where we've got young people are rejecting almost that, that they're recognising it on their own. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:41.279 And that for me is the emargo day. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:32:04.240 You know, that is that we are born with an innate sense of good and evil, that's natural law, that we recognize um that we're drawn towards the good, the true, and the beautiful, and that that sort of um influence that pulls us towards those fleshy temptations, if you like, nudity, pornography, things like that, especially, are inherently fallen. 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:08.720 You know, they're an overindulgence, like eating too much cake, isn't it? 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:11.359 You know, yeah, because we love cake and then we feel sick. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:22.799 Yeah, and then and so you you know, it's learning to that these things are good, that our appetites are good when they're ordered towards, you know, the best possible thing, towards God. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:26.480 And we've got some sense of that, you know, it's fascinating, isn't it? 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:30.000 We we all have because we're human, we we you know, and that's the thing. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:35.920 We have that basic um recognition that we should do good and avoid evil. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.799 The problem comes with is recognizing what that is. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:52.880 So we might pursue something, like you say, that seems like a good, um, it's that it's like a apparently a good, but actually it's not, and it really is going to destroy us. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:57.599 But our instinct to seek the good is still a good is true. 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:00.319 That's still a uh, you know, the right instinct. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:02.799 And that's why I think young people are starting. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:10.799 And and the problem is because we are we're sold these lies, you know, we're

sold these lies where they are presented to us as goods. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:13.599 It's you know, God love young people. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:17.039 To some extent, you think they don't stand much of a chance. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:28.160 They're born into a world where they go into schools from a young age, where they're presented with books and they're taught messages and things are drummed into them, and they're just little sponges and they're just learning this. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:35.759 And they grow up thinking, well, this is good, this is good, it's good to tolerate everything, it's good to so I'm trying to I'm trying to seek the good. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:37.680 This is what the good looks like. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:56.000 But they've been lied to about what that good is, and the only way they're finding that out, as you say, is they are pursuing that apparent good, finding that it's coming up short, it's they're still empty, they're um fat pigs or over-indulged pigs. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:33:58.640 All right, come on now. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:01.200 No, I'm just thinking back to cake. 00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:11.519 Sorry, no, no, I'm thinking back to your cake, your cake, you know, you what I mean is you overeat, you over-indulge, you over-sex, you over-everything, thinking I've been told this is the way, you know, many hate yourself. 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:17.360 And then you hate yourself, and you think I'm just a fat slob who's just having a load of dirty old sex. 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:22.639 Oh, I'm no good for nothing, so I'll go back to being a fat slob, and it becomes this cycle, like I'm not worth anything. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:28.480 Because I'm not worth anything, I will pursue these empty pleasures because that's all I'm good for. 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:30.880 And that cycle has to be interrupted. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:33.679 And God's always trying to interrupt. 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:49.599 And sometimes that's where suffering, I think, can be so valuable, is because when you it's sometimes only when you fall on your knees, you know, you're you're you've hit the bottom, you know, rung of the ladder, and you then have nowhere to go, and God can pick you up again. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:35:03.119 You know, it's the proverbial um boy in the pigmuck um who goes away with his inheritance from his father's house, and and then of course his father runs to him, he's like, Yeah, you're home, let's fatten the calf and celebrate. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:07.280 And he's thinking, oh, but I'm just a loser who's just lost, spent everything and been horrible. 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:09.920 And his dad's like, Yeah, but you're home. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:10.719 That's the main thing. 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:11.519 He came home. 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:13.119 So, and that's the message. 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:14.480 You can always come home. 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:27.519 That no matter how much of a fat slob, no matter how much of a fat cake eating slob you are, no matter how much porn you watch, no matter what you've done, you can go home. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.559 Catherine explains scripture. 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:34.239 You can always go home. 00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:36.400 Your dad's waiting for you, and he loves you. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:37.599 He loves you so much. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:38.800 You gotta go though. 00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:39.440 Get home. 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:40.880 Yeah, that's it. 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:46.239 And and I suppose like people get trapped in that place where they think, Oh, I'm so bad, I can't go home. 00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:48.320 I can't run to my father's arms. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:52.239 And that's the message of scripture is that you always can. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.199 You can always go to you know, go to confession, go to mass. 00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:57.039 Jesus is there waiting for you. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:00.880 Okay, well, that's half an hour, but we've got we've got so much other stuff to talk about. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:01.760 I know you've got to go. 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:06.559 Um, so speak as much or as little as you want on the French riots. 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:09.280 Uh, L'UREAD Français. 00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:11.519 Yeah, the French do what they do best. 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:16.079 We chatted to um Father Robert McTeague, who we both love. 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:24.880 And like it's funny, we both came off of that interview going, Oh, he's brilliant, he's so clever, and he's so witty and funny as well. 00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:28.239 And so, and we spoke to him a little bit about it, didn't we? 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:32.079 Because he made some really interesting and important points. 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:59.920 And uh what really struck me about that conversation was how clearly he sees the fact that we've stopped speaking into the culture, which is one of the things that we we're always, you know, talking about, me and you, is that, and you know, to to go back to a constant theme throughout our all of our work together, um, it's the fact that the bishops, we need bishops. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:25.840 I think he even said it at one point, until the bishops stand up, you know, it's no good saying um that we can do it on our own, or like until the people who are in a position to lead and teach us start doing that, start taking responsibility for that, and standing up and talking into the culture, um, then we're left on the internet saying, Well, how do we deal with this? 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.039 How do we deal with this? 00:37:27.280 --> 00:38:01.840 And what you're seeing in France, you know, Father McTeague and I agree, is pointing out is you're seeing years and years and years of of the cumulative effects of us not doing that, of us not preaching the gospel, of us not bringing the life-changing truth of our faith to the culture, and just saying, oh, well, you know, let's play

nice with secularism, let's play nice with Islam, let's play nice with these poisonous ideologies that um really at their root are about are, you know, anti-life, they're anti-Christian. 00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:23.199 Yeah, I've just been reading Benedict again for some research I was doing, and he speaks so well about this false peace, you know, this this pursuit of nice and this dictatorship of relativism, and this this idea that if we all just go along to get along and not disturb the peace, it's not real peace, it's actually degrading to the human. 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:28.239 It's it it denies the dignity, it denies what's good if we compromise too much. 00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:30.480 So he's great, Father McTague. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:32.079 He's he has this phrase, doesn't he? 00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:34.000 The the the people who should know better club. 00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:40.800 I like all his little innuendos and phrases that that avoid his little euphemisms. 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:45.280 Um I'm gonna move on and ask you about I've got a list here of things you sent. 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:48.000 If my eyes are up to it, you don't have to do all of them, no. 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:51.920 Just let's let's let's make this a quick um what do they call it? 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:54.239 A kind of a run through. 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:54.960 A fire. 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:56.239 I don't know, what is it? 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:57.599 Fire through. 00:38:57.760 --> 00:38:58.880 What word am I thinking of? 00:38:59.039 --> 00:38:59.280 I don't know. 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:02.000 You know, a run through, a quick fire, quick fire, got there. 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:03.199 Look, very slowly. 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:04.960 Um Cardinal Kuvacad. 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:07.760 Tell me about Cardinal Kuvacad, great name, right? 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:23.599 So this is a guy, this guy is unbelievably said that um that the CC meeting in 1998 was um is magisterial, right uh as now part of the magisterium, which is just complete nonsense. 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:50.159 And my point really about this is that what we're seeing is people who are who have been put into these positions of authority, you know, the where they've got a great deal of um dignity in and they don't seem to recognise how responsible, you know, that the the weight of responsibility that's on their shoulders, and they seem to lack Christian humility. 00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:52.239 And so they're prepared to speak out. 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:58.000 It seems to me that this is a case of sacrificing your integrity on the altar of your ambition. 00:39:58.159 --> 00:40:00.239 That's what this guy seems to be doing here. 00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:22.320 He's so desperate to get on that he's saying something he thinks will ring, you know, it'll ring along with the massively bloated uh Francis Bergoglio uh cardinal that we've got in place at the moment because Pope Francis spent, you know, though all

those years promoting cardinals, 19 cardinals in his first uh 12 months. 00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:24.719 You know, interestingly, Leo hasn't done any of that. 00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:28.639 He hasn't put any cardinals in in his first 12 months. 00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:31.920 Um, and we're still waiting for him to appoint cardinals. 00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:36.320 So you've got this guy who's in there, and it, you know, why is he saying this stuff? 00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:44.000 Is he you know, he's either an idiot or he's trying to curry favour with the the people that he sees as being in power? 00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:48.559 Well, I'm afraid these are the people that we've got to speak out against, and it's not my opinion. 00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:56.000 That's I mean, that is a matter of fact that what he said there is an error, and you know, why is he saying it? 00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:58.239 Someone should give him a slap on the wrist. 00:40:58.559 --> 00:41:00.719 Do you think anyone's listening to him? 00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:11.920 Well, if they are, I think they're probably doing that behind his back, you know, or rolling their eyes into the back of their heads, probably. 00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:19.679 Um, Greg, your your favourite, one of your old favourites, Mark Grett at the Irish Synodal Assembly. 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:35.840 So, so he has uh posted this address to the Irish Synodal Um Assembly, um, which is a big bloated mess that's not really done very much, you know, and is not going to really achieve anything, but it has spent a lot of the church's money, a lot of our money. 00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:40.320 Um, and actually, I was pleasantly surprised, Catherine, if I'm honest. 00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:44.079 There wasn't anything horrendously awful in it. 00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:49.679 There was a lot of talk about mission and empowering the church for mission. 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:58.800 So he was uh trying to encourage the Irish Church to uh rediscover that missionary impetus that it had for so many years. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:01.280 And I think that's all extremely valuable. 00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:30.880 There was one section in it, and I put this on X where I'd clicked out the section where he talks about um sort of the law of gradualism, and John Paul II had this brilliant way of explaining the fact that there isn't a gradualness of the law, but so this is about us being drawn into the gospel, and you know, we like we always talk about Jesus drawing us into, you know, when Jesus goes out and meets the sinners, he brings them back. 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:34.719 He does something, he doesn't just go right there, go, you're all right where you are, mate. 00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:40.079 Don't worry about it, and you know, then goes back off to his buddies, the apostles. 00:42:40.239 --> 00:42:44.960 You know, he he's trying to draw you in and call you to repentance. 00:42:45.119 --> 00:43:53.360 And there's this there's this attitude now that we see very much in the Morris Letitsia, you know, like in the famous footnote, chapter eight, and all this sort of thing, that you know, oh, we need to, and this is what it's addressing, it's talking about young people, um, and this is in Greck's speech, he's talking about young people basically having a different perception of family life and suggesting that even when they're in a situation that isn't um in that isn't a regular situation in as far as the church is concerned, so what he's talking about is sex outside marriage, living together, and stuff like that, um, that that you know, like there is a there's grace working there somewhere, and I just feel like this is completely the wrong approach because as soon as you start saying that uh oh well the rules don't really matter, and so that is the gradualness of the law that was condemned up until this point, and this is the guy in charge of the synod on synodality, who's in charge of the Vatican synod, whatever it is, it's not a dicastri, it's uh something else, secretariat, I think. 00:43:53.599 --> 00:43:56.079 And um, you know, like what is he doing? 00:43:56.159 --> 00:44:05.440 He doesn't seem to it's not like the cardinals of old, you know, it's not like when a cardinal used to get up there, it's the same as this Kulkovab guy, really. 00:44:05.519 --> 00:44:08.079 Like, have you done any theology, mate? 00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:11.199 You know, like, or are you just making it up off the top of your head? 00:44:11.360 --> 00:44:27.920 Because when you were consecrated a bishop, you were consecrated a bishop to teach the apostolic faith that has been handed to you, and you have a duty to hand on to the faithful, to feed, you know, the sheep, not to make up your own version of it, not to come up with some new stuff. 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:38.400 And if it was if I was Cardinal Grec, oh, he's done a lovely job sliding in there and getting the red hat, you know, behind Archbishop Shaklun's back. 00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:39.440 How did he do that? 00:44:39.599 --> 00:44:57.519 Because he wrote the Maltese guidelines and was immediately given a red hat because he did what Pope Francis wanted him to do, which was to, you know, back him up on this very dubious point that theologians all over the world had written to the Vatican and said, hang on a minute, this looks a lot like heresy to us, boys. 00:44:57.760 --> 00:44:59.679 So, you know, I this is the thing. 00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:13.199 It's like I can look at that speech and say, okay, it's not a disaster, but like there are these little hidden things in there that really are worrying, as we, you know, and I think it net we need to call it out. 00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:16.880 Where's you know, we could we just why are we pretending this is okay? 00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:20.400 Yeah, when it's not, folks, it's not okay. 00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.280 Okay, I'm gonna leave it there, Mark. 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:27.119 I think we've covered quite quite a lot of good ground. 00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:28.559 25 minutes, yeah. 00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:29.840 That's there's always a lot more. 00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:32.400 No, bored? 00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:34.400 Make sure you comment below. 00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:35.599 We don't want to bore them. 00:45:35.920 --> 00:45:37.119 Tell us your attention level. 00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:38.079 Are you still here? 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:40.719 Um don't forget our poke cast. 00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:48.639 We're just starting out, we're finding our feet a little bit, we're doing the history of the popes, um, all 267 of them, right up to Leo the 14th. 00:45:48.880 --> 00:45:50.400 And we're gonna find our rhythm. 00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:51.679 So, so stick with us. 00:45:51.840 --> 00:45:54.320 It's very early days, we've really just begun. 00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:58.960 Uh, so if you haven't caught that, that will be on our channel, our usual YouTube channel. 00:45:59.119 --> 00:46:10.079 But of course, everywhere else, it will be on our new website, reginaunscripted.org, and also on Spotify, somewhere else, I think, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts, it will be there too in audio version. 00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:14.320 So if you prefer to listen to us and not look at us, that's fine. 00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:15.920 You can do that if you want. 00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:17.039 No, I do. 00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:17.519 Yeah. 00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.840 Um, that's made easier for you by being on the podcast. 00:46:22.239 --> 00:46:23.840 So we're getting there, we're getting there. 00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:26.880 Um, it was really great to sit down and chat with you today, Mark. 00:46:26.960 --> 00:46:28.400 I feel like we don't do that often enough. 00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:30.239 So hopefully we'll be back soon. 00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:31.840 There's always more news to discuss. 00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:33.840 But until then, uh thanks. 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:35.920 Thanks to you, and thanks to all of you for watching. 00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:36.960 God bless.