Avoiding Babylon

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

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/fan_mail/new] Something feels different lately: the same news cycle, the same platforms, but a heavier sense of pressure, anger, and exhaustion. We start with a last-minute scramble when Rob can’t make it, and Mike Pantile jumps in on short notice, then we get right into what’s behind the growing fatigue. From immigration anxiety to online outrage addiction, we talk about why so many people feel like the temperature is rising and nobody can agree on what’s real anymore. We dig into the Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf case as a brutal example of how one event can produce two completely different moral stories depending on what your feed serves you. We react to viral clips, talk through the gap between courtroom reality and social media narratives, and ask what happens when algorithms reward the most divisive voices. The bigger issue isn’t just politics, it’s a crisis of trust, a crisis of community, and a culture trained to treat rage as a lifestyle. From there we zoom out to Belfast unrest and the temptation toward decentralized “solutions” when institutions won’t act. We wrestle with the Catholic and Christian perspective on borders, responsibility, and the weaponization of empathy, plus what it looks like to build real resilience without giving in to despair. We land on a practical question many families are asking: do we retreat from the city and rebuild local life, or is that giving up? If this conversation hits home, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find it. Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/abbateanthony?locale.x=en_US] Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON [https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON] and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order! Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1] https://www.avoidingbabylon.com [https://www.avoidingbabylon.com/] Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com [https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/] Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com [https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com/] Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe] RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss]

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

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/fan_mail/new] For 146 years, pope after pope warns Catholics about a secret society and almost nobody listens. So Leo XIII does something different: he frames the whole problem as a war between two cities, the City of God and the City of Man, and then names the modern structure he thinks finally gives the “city of man” real organization. That document is Humanum Genus, and we dig into what Leo actually argues, why he goes theological instead of just issuing another ban, and how his critique of naturalism and religious indifferentism maps onto the modern secular state. We also slow down and do the unglamorous work: what is real history in Freemasonry’s development from medieval guilds to Enlightenment-era speculative lodges, and what is just romantic myth. We talk higher-degree esoteric influences, why the “all religions are equal” claim is not neutral, and why Leo ties these ideas to education, public life, and the replacement of Christian civilization with a functionally atheist public order. Joshua Charles joins us to connect Humanum Genus to Monsignor George Dillon’s The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, a book Leo XIII endorsed and helped circulate. We unpack Charles’s “sola natura” summary, the Catholic claim that grace perfects nature, and why a society trained to violate conscience becomes easier to steer. Then, because we’re us, the conversation spills into current events, media narratives, and a late-show pivot through the Carmelo Anthony verdict and JD Vance explaining his conversion to Catholicism. Subscribe for the rest of the encyclical series, share this with a friend who thinks “religion is private,” and leave a review if you want more deep dives like this. Where do you see the City of Man pressing hardest right now? Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/abbateanthony?locale.x=en_US] Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON [https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON] and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order! Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1] https://www.avoidingbabylon.com [https://www.avoidingbabylon.com/] Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com [https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/] Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com [https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com/] Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe] RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss]

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

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/fan_mail/new] A few viral clips and one Vatican appointment raise a bigger question than most Catholic media wants to touch: when Church communications tries to sound modern, does it end up teaching something else entirely? We dig into the resurfaced audio around a former EWTN executive tapped for a Vatican communications role, including her comments on supersessionism, Catholic-Jewish relations, and the claim that “all Jews should become Christians… is wrong.” For us, that line isn’t a hot take, it’s a doctrinal fault line, because Catholic theology can’t treat salvation, evangelization, and conversion as optional without changing the faith into something unrecognizable. We also unpack the Phylos Project and the broader ecosystem of “dialogue” branding, Israel trips, and Catholic influencer pipelines that can nudge people toward a softer, more therapeutic version of Catholicism. The issue isn’t polite conversation or basic respect, it’s what gets quietly edited out: the uniqueness of Christ, the purpose of the Church, and the danger of confusing goodwill with agreement. We talk through why this messaging lands especially hard with the EWTN crowd, and why media-savvy appointments can calm headlines while pushing big changes underneath. Then the conversation pivots to Washington, DC, where Monsignor Stephen Rossetti is removed from his exorcist role after warning that some UFO or UAP encounters may be demonic deception. We read his response, play what he actually said, and sort speculation from doctrine while asking why the backlash got so loud that the story spilled beyond Catholic news into mainstream outlets. Subscribe, share this with a friend who follows Catholic current events, and leave a five-star review so more people can find the show. Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/abbateanthony?locale.x=en_US] Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON [https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON] and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order! Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1] https://www.avoidingbabylon.com [https://www.avoidingbabylon.com/] Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com [https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/] Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com [https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com/] Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe] RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss]

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

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/fan_mail/new] Europe is declaring the Catholic faith “obsolete,” the Papal States are gone, and the Pope is effectively boxed into Rome. That’s the moment Leo XIII steps into, and instead of answering with another list of condemnations, he reaches back to a 13th-century friar and bets the future on Catholic intellectual formation. We walk through the history behind Aeterni Patris and why Leo thinks the real crisis of the modern world is a crisis of philosophy that spills out of universities into law, media, family life, and public morality. We break down the four big currents shaping that era and, honestly, still shaping ours: Kantian subjectivism, Hegelian historicism, positivism, and materialism. Each one chips away at the idea that truth is knowable and stable, and we talk about what happens when seminaries and Catholic education absorb those habits instead of resisting them. From Perugia’s Thomist experiment to Leo’s push for the Leonine edition and a worldwide revival of Thomism, you’ll hear why St. Thomas Aquinas becomes the Church’s chosen model for thinking clearly about God, the human person, liberty, authority, and the moral order. Then we make the jump to today: AI, advertising, “slop” content, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when powerful technology grows faster than moral reasoning. If you’ve been looking for a Catholic take on modern philosophy, Thomism, and AI ethics, this conversation is built for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big ideas, and leave a review with the one modern assumption you think needs to be challenged first. Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/abbateanthony?locale.x=en_US] Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON [https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON] and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order! Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1] https://www.avoidingbabylon.com [https://www.avoidingbabylon.com/] Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com [https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/] Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com [https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com/] Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe] RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss]

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

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/fan_mail/new] The modern world keeps telling you the problem is politics, policy, or personality. We argue it’s deeper: bad philosophy becomes bad theology, then bad culture, and eventually a society that can’t even explain what truth, freedom, or the human person are. That’s why we go back to 1879 and Pope Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris, written when the Church is politically cornered, mocked by the academies, and squeezed by hostile states across Europe.  We walk through the real intellectual enemies Leo sees rising behind the scenes: Kantian subjectivism that cuts reason off from reality, Hegelian historicism that turns doctrine into something that “evolves,” positivism that treats only lab results as knowledge, and materialism that reduces mind and soul to chemistry. Then we track Leo’s response: recover the Catholic intellectual tradition with St. Thomas Aquinas at the center, rebuild seminaries and universities, and use philosophy as a bridge to faith rather than a replacement for it.  From there we bring Leo’s warnings forward into the AI era. We talk about media saturation, the coming ad-driven “slop” economy, and why technology without moral formation doesn’t stay neutral for long. We also ask the uncomfortable question nobody wants to face: will pornography and artificial intimacy become the profit engine that pushes AI into every corner of life?  If you want a grounded Catholic take on faith and reason, Thomism, modernism, Catholic education, and AI ethics, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of modern life do you think is most shaped by bad philosophy? Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/abbateanthony?locale.x=en_US] Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON [https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON] and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout! Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order! Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1] https://www.avoidingbabylon.com [https://www.avoidingbabylon.com/] Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com [https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/] Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com [https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com/] Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe] RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss [https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss]