Brian Holdsworth

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com This video is a follow up to last week’s video in which I put the shoe on the other foot and tried to be honest about stupid things we Catholics say to Protestants and after having paid those dues, I hope it’s now fair to describe stupid things that Protestants say to Catholics. And much of this comes from my own personal experience which is the thing I want to emphasize here. I’m no scholar and so I’m not trying to say, here are the fatal flaws in Protestant theology. But I am trying to say why I’ve been unconvinced by certain arguments and tactics that I’ve encountered. I hope it’s clear that I’m not claiming to identify what all Protestants believe, because that kind of unanimity doesn’t exist in Protestantism. Instead, I’m describing things that are commonly said to Catholics by different kinds of Protestants. If it doesn’t apply to you, then you should have no need to be defensive about it because I’m obviously not describing you. And if you want a more comprehensive treatment of why I chose to become Catholic instead of remain Protestant, check out this video: https://youtu.be/HkqPjxp2Ltw Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com The idea for this video came from my own experience in protestant churches before I became Catholic as well as from interactions I’ve had since becoming Catholic, especially on my YouTube channel in which I encounter a lot of the same remarks and arguments from protestants about Catholics over and over, and instead of responding to them each time, I thought it would be more useful to be able to direct them to a video that catalogues them and responds to them. So that gave me the idea to make a video called “Stupid things that Protestants say to Catholics”, but I thought, to be fair, I should try to put the shoe on the other foot first and consider what kinds of things we Catholics say to Protestants that could be described in the same way. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com 00:00 - Intro 01:49 - Criteria 02:07 - Educational & Edifying 03:26 - Wary of Celebrity 04:28 - Production Quality 05:11 - Holiness 07:09 - Recommendations A friend of mine recently asked me what a YouTuber like myself likes to watch on YouTube. And this is something that is worth getting advice on and thinking more strategically about than what simply happens to show up on your feed and tickle your curiosity. Because media is pervasive in our lives and there are pitfalls everywhere, including in Catholic media. When you listen to someone, you’re giving them permission to propose that their thoughts become your thoughts. And in the case of media production, that isn’t a dialogue on an equal footing. You’re at a disadvantage a lot of the time because your mind has been pacified by the algorithm and the effects of entertainment and so we’re extremely susceptible to suggestion, especially by those with a, scripted, manicured, and well produced message. And So, you should be judicious about who you give this permission to. Instead of telling you what my favourite Catholic channels are, I’d rather share with you the channels I’m happy to recommend and it isn’t just based on my preferences or my tastes. I’ve tried to come up with some criteria that help us evaluate which publishers we should be giving our attention to. @ThomisticInstitute @PintsWithAquinas @TheCounselofTrent @HarpaDeiMusic @gabiafterhours @emwilss @HowToBeChristian @RebeccaGorzynska @BishopBarron @AscensionPresents @StPaulCenter @KeithNester Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com It’s often claimed that the Church is full of fake and hypocritical Christians. A common refrain from non-Christians is that they like Jesus, but not his followers. There’s even a popular quote that I believe is misattributed to Gandhi which goes something like, “I like your Christ, but not your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” And even if Ghandi never said that, the popularity of this quote suggests that it resonates with a lot of people. And as a somebody that is part of the Church, believes in the Christian creed, and adopts the identity of a follower of Jesus, I can concede that there is a lot of truth to that sentiment – the Church does have that problem. But so does every walk of life. Nobody lives up to the moral standard that they profess, or at least internalize, and the reason we know this is because everyone has experienced guilt and shame. And I’m not talking about the kind of shame that comes from somebody else expressing disapproval of your moral conduct. That more often just produces the effect of anger and resentment, as opposed to shame. I’m talking about the kind of shame that appears as a result of the conviction of our own conscience – because we’ve done something that falls beneath the expectations and moral standards we set for ourselves – and we’ve all experienced this. We all have memories, that when they rehearse themselves in our minds, we sort of recoil from them in shame and embarrassment because it is our OWN conscience that disapproves of our behaviour. We all have things we wish we could take back. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com I recently read this tongue-in-cheek essay by C.S. Lewis and thought it would be a great reflection for your Christmas viewing. With his unrivaled wit and charity, Lewis assaults the strange habit of modern X-mas traditions in which we buy cards and gifts for people we don't like or want to buy for, exhaust our appetites through gluttony, and weary our stamina with "the rush", which he concludes, nobody would be willing to do to celebrate a religious feast in honor of a God they don't believe in - for that would be lunacy. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com There have always been prophets of doom who seem to be eager to interpret anything they can as a sign that the end of civilization is just around the corner – but as our Global civilization, because that’s what we are now, faces some unprecedented adversities, like a global pandemic, serious economic hardship, and now an escalating war involving Russia that could spin out of control in any number of directions that could have apocalyptic implications; I imagine there are more than a few people asking sincere questions about what the decline if not the collapse of civilization looks like – and are we facing that now? Like, what would be the warning signs or symptoms of a civilization that is facing its own annihilation? And to help answer this question, we have a vivid historical example in the fall of Rome and what’s important to understand about that event is that Rome wasn’t conquered or destroyed by some superior rival and then replaced. The fall of Rome is widely recognized as the end of civilization for that period but if a greater civilization had attacked Rome and taken its place, it wouldn’t have meant the end of civilization, just the end of that particular regime to be replaced by another. But it did actually mean the end of civilization for a time, which is to say that Rome’s end didn’t come from an external threat but because of its own internal deterioration and decomposition. It collapsed under the weight of its own success, prosperity, decadence, and the kinds of trivial and foolish preoccupations that distract us when we get too comfortable. So that’s an important thing to understand when we consider this question – civilization can survive the passing of one regime to another, but it can’t survive its own decomposition – which is to say, that is the greatest threat facing civilization. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com When I was a newly minted Christian and a young adult, what seemed most obvious to me about my prayer life was the preference for an organic, improvised style of personal prayer at the expense of something formal and scripted. This meant a conversational style rather than reciting prayers from memory. I took this sentiment so seriously that I would adapt prayers that I knew I should be praying, like the Our Father, into a language that was more idiosyncratic to the way I speak. What was ironic about this is that in doing so, I was conceding a recognition that there are prayers that I ought to be saying because we are taught to, from Jesus himself, as well as Church tradition, but then I somehow missed the part where either scripture or Tradition tell us that unscripted and unrehearsed prayer should be prioritized at the expense of scripted and rehearsed prayers. Because it doesn’t teach that – which makes me wonder why I was so heavily influenced by this sentiment – and I’m willing to bet that many of you watching this video are as well. I also found that the longer I did this, the more I was running out of creative ways to make my prayers spontaneous and authentic. I inevitably found myself saying the same things every day to the point where I had created my own scripted and rehearsed regimen of prayer and if anything, the pressure to be creative and spontaneous became a discouragement to pray at all. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com I read this week that the US Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments about affirmative action or race-based selection in colleges and universities and let me say from the outset, that as a Canadian, I don’t have a full grasp of the legal history on this, but I did think it would be worth considering some of the moral and logical principles that inform this debate. And since this is controversial, I think it best to start where we all agree – which is that racism is wrong. I don’t think I need to explain why it’s wrong, we all just know that it is and should be able to agree with that. We should also be able to agree that to discriminate against someone because of their skin color or “ethnic appearance” is a very explicit form of racism – and is therefore, wrong. Now if this was 10 or 15 years ago, this would have needed no explanation, but because we have become a little intellectually mystified about what racism is, I get the sense that I need to spend some more time on this point – just a bit. It’s wrong because you can’t make judgements about people based on skin color. Skin color, and other accidental physical traits, don’t tell you anything about a person’s character or ability. But if you intend on discriminating based on skin color, it can only be because you think that skin color actually reflects a defining difference between certain people, rather than an inconsequential physical variation. And as soon as you concede that, then you’ve allowed for the potential to compare people based on this supposed fundamental difference, and as soon as you allow for those comparisons, you’ve allowed for some to be judged superior to others – based on skin color, rather than character, ability, or suitability. And that is the defining . feature . of racism. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com In this interview, we discuss the increasingly alarming things emerging from the "Synod on Synodality". We discuss the way activists are using this synod to advance and agenda that is conflict with the Church's teachings and timeless tradition and how faithful Catholics should respond. Find more about Philip Lawler here: https://www.catholicculture.org/about/leadership/bio_phil_lawler.cfm Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Why is it that corporations today are so enthusiastic about punctuating the work they do with moral instruction when it really has nothing to do with who they are or what the purpose of their corporate enterprise is? For example, a major telecommunications company in Canada has assigned themselves to be the champion of mental health by encouraging conversation and destigmatization in their advertising content. But honestly, if I want to grow in my understanding of mental health and the afflictions of real people, I’m not going to turn to my cell phone carrier for advice – because, why would I? Coca-Cola, who needs no introduction, elaborates on the work they do in their mission and vision – where it’s all about love, sustainability, and our shared future. This from a company that has been accused of being the worst plastics polluter in the world by Ethical Consumer. If they were honest about their mission, it would be about selling as much poisonous and nutritionally vacuous soft drinks as they can with little regard of the health implications or the environment. So given the disparity, between what corporations actually do vs how they describe themselves and their incessant habit of lecturing everyone about their moral “values” which they seem to think we should adopt – doesn’t it make you wonder why they do this, why they spend obscene amounts of advertising dollars to perch themselves on a high horse and pontificate to the rest of us? Up until very recent times, we had our best people contemplating the big moral questions for the sake of educating the rest of us on how to live well. They would study these questions, read what others have contributed, and offer their own thoughts. And while they didn’t always agree or get things right, their motives were simple. They wanted to understand our ethical needs and gain insights to share with the rest of us. They weren’t simultaneously blending it with the objective of selling cars or something like that. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com My parents’ and grandparents’ generations did something unprecedented in the history of the Church. When their ancestors attempted to transmit the traditional culture of the faith to them, and which had been handed down with great care and diligence from their ancestors, my parents generations said, no thanks, we’re going to do it our way. We’re going to invent our own Catholic culture based on the contemporary fashions of the popular culture which we are so enamored with. And if that’s a legitimate process of cultural succession - to reject your ancestors’ culture in favour of perpetually reinventing the culture to whatever might fit your personal preferences in a given moment of time, then the thing that the Catholics from my parents’ generation need to realize is that their cultural and liturgical sensibilities are just as susceptible to that process as was their parents’ generation. In other words, what goes around comes around. But what I found in those early days of my faith when we were pushing the envelope was that we weren’t going to be given that same liberty as they themselves had seized upon. If you want young people to participate in the life of the Church today, and apparently this is a lamentation that has appeared in much of the listening sessions of the synod on synodality – that there are no young people attending mass – then baby boomers need to suppress their own cultural preferences in deference to those of successive generations like millennials in the same way that they expected their ancestors to embrace their cultural revolution. If there’s an unwillingness to do that, then maybe we need to admit that that isn’t a legitimate way for culture to progress from one generation to the next. Maybe it’s a bad idea to treat your parents’ and grandparents’ culture with contempt in the hopes that you can seize the reigns and make it all about your own generation. This cultural incoherence is the reason there is a lack of young people in the Church today. They are being told they can’t have a Catholic culture that reflects their own pop culture sensibilities, like their parents’ generation were allowed to do, but also, they aren’t allowed to embrace a tradition that is truly traditional. Instead, they have to inherit the anti-traditional tradition of the 1960s and treat it with the reverence and enthusiasm that the people of that time were unwilling to treat previous traditions with. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com In times of crisis, it’s easy to sympathize with those who are willing to consider extreme solutions to account for the extreme situation that they find themselves in. And if you’re a Catholic today and you’re paying attention, you can probably admit that the situation is extreme. Which is why I don’t sympathize with Catholics and especially prelates who are carrying on as if it’s just business as usual. The sheep of the flock are suffering and confused, they are disenchanted, and they need a voice of reassurance. And in the absence of such authoritative voices, there are those with easy answers that are more than happy to lead people astray. If I had started my channel 10 years ago, I think it would have been rare to see comments that say things like, “The Vatican 2 Church is false and you are a false prophet for supporting it.” Or simply, “Sedevacantism is true.” I mean, those voices would have existed, but you’d have to search for them, whereas now, those voices have conspicuously multiplied so that on almost every video I publish, I will see a comment like that pop up. And so, to reiterate, I sympathize with people who are struggling to make sense of things. Things are not as neat and tidy as they once were for Catholics and especially those who try to defend the Catholic position through apologetics. Now we have any number of scandals to contend with from which there has been a lot of lip service from the highest authorities, but their actions are at best complacent and at worst, and there’s a lot of at worst, perpetuating, nurturing, and even encouraging the same corruption that created the scandals. And among those same sectors of the Church, we find scandalous and incoherent teachings if not explicitly heretical. Which makes those of us who are trying to reconcile our beliefs with the historic tradition and the infallibility of the Church – anxiety inducing. More recently, there was a debate published online that discussed sedevacantism that has amplified that anxiety for many people. And because there have been responses from competent apologists and thinkers like Trent Horn and Michael Lofton, I’m not going to repeat what they said, but I would encourage you to check out their efforts with the same open-mindedness that you brought to that initial debate. And if you can’t do that, then ask yourself if you’re just looking for satisfaction and justification for your anger and indignation. It might be that you just want to give yourself excuses not to be meek and humble of heart as the reading from Ephesians at last Sunday’s Latin Mass implores us to do for the sake of unity in the Church. But the thing about indignation is that it is dependant upon anger and for anger to be sustained, it will compete with reason. Righteous anger and indignation are good when needed as a response to something like war or a grave injustice, but if they are sustained for too long, you will forfeit reason. Beware of that. So come, let us reason together. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com I’ve been Catholic long enough now to have seen people come and go and whenever I’ve gotten some indication that someone I know is struggling or drifting away, I’ve often invited them to talk about it and to challenge them on what’s going on. And whenever I’ve done so with men, especially with those who have one foot out the door, they always describe their complaints as being intellectual in nature. They’ll start to deconstruct the existence of God, or the credibility of the Bible, or Church history, or whatever. And whenever I’ve heard these objections, I’ve never found them to be particularly compelling or novel and for my part, I’m usually able to find a solution that I find satisfying. And what I often find happens in these conversations is that they will end with a response that goes something like, “Ya, I guess.” or “I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” And the thing that I would like to say in conclusion to these kinds of exchanges is, “What would convince you? Because you’ve framed this as an intellectual and a rational problem that needs a rational solution and it isn’t addressed and resolved on those grounds, then there’s no longer an obligation to remain in the Church.” Because here’s the thing. There are compelling rational arguments and responses that are far superior to the objections that any of us mere mortals might raise. There will always be someone smarter out there who can respond to those objections and who have responded to those objections. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Some highlights from the video: "More and more, such pragmatic thinkers are discovering that religion and certain religious practices… just work – even if we don’t understand how. Study after study concludes that religious people are generally more happy and at peace than their non-practicing pears. Which is why psychologists like Dr. Jordan Peterson are eager to embrace the idea that even if you don’t know if God exists, it’s a good idea to act like he does – because – it works. It works for all the kinds of afflictions someone like him is responsible for helping relieve. " "Unresolved conflict and forgiveness are related to important relationships in your life. I’m not talking about the guy who cut you off in traffic or the person who was rude to you at the coffee shop, because those things are easy to forget about and move on. I’m talking about important relationships because when people who you share some intimate aspect of your life with hurt you, it can be extremely hard not to resent them and almost impossible to forget them. And this presents you with a choice. Every time you think of that person, you can indulge your anger and resentment and even thoughts of revenge – or you can choose to forgive them. If you choose the former – think about what that entails and to help illustrate this, I’m going to amplify the principle with an example that probably a lot of people can relate to. Imagine a parent who has done something that has seriously hurt you – like, I don’t know, splitting up your family by getting divorced – not uncommon right, but also extremely hurtful for everyone involved. Now imagine one parent is more to blame, like they had an affair or something. Well, you’re going to be confronted with your own emotional anger over what they did, and that’s to be expected. We should be angered by that kind of wrong behaviour. But if you nurture that anger, as a habit, so that it doesn’t recede, if you regularly feed it so that it grows in intensity and becomes something like hatred for that person, then think about what that does to you. Because that person, is going to feature significantly in your life up until that point. You will have memories of all the most important events in your life that include that person. Think about holidays, family events, formative moments in your life, graduations, weddings, the birth of your children. In order to hate that person, you will simultaneously be training yourself to hate important aspects of your own life – IOW you will be training yourself to hate, yourself by hating important parts of yourself." Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Some quotes from the video: "Marriage and the demands of love are filled with adversity and if you can’t face the adversities that come from dating, you won’t be able to level up to what’s waiting in marriage without disastrous effects." "In listening to and reading the experiences that were shared with me, there was an explicit theme that emerged in those threads – which was: 'Here’s what’s wrong with everyone I’ve dated and those I’ve refused to date.' What I didn’t see a lot of was, 'I’ve been struggling with dating and here’s all the problems that I think are related to me that I need help fixing in myself.' " "Make yourself so marriable in God’s eyes that he can’t wait to set you up with someone." "Marriage isn’t a reward – it’s a cross of self denial. It’s the bootcamp that God has designed to turn people who are naturally self-centered and egotistical into people who would lay their lives down for others – and the prerequisite for admission to that bootcamp is the right attitude." "in asking God for a spouse, you’re asking for him to entrust the soul of your spouse and your eventual children to your care and good example. And you need to be prepared for that burden. The world around you hates what you believe. At every turn there’s a trap laid for you and your children and if you’re already falling into those traps, what makes you think God can trust you to lead others away from them? You have to be innocent as doves and as wise as serpents." "Don’t add all the pressure of marriage vows to a first date because a courtship is not a marriage and it will struggle under that kind of pressure. Don’t place demands for serious commitments on someone who’s just getting to know you." Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com The power of language is underscored in two revealing passages of the Bible. The first is the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis in which we’re told that in spite of being fallen and compromised, ancient men were able to build a tower so tall that it inspired feelings of equality with God among the builders. And scripture records that the reason they were able to achieve such a lofty goal was because of their common language, which, as a consequence of their hubris, God decides to confiscate by diversifying their language which prevented them from succeeding in this way again. And the other story is in the book Acts in which the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples in the form of tongues which, in turn, imbues them with a miraculous ability to speak in a supernatural language that everyone can understand. And even in just practical measures, when you meet someone who speaks the same language as you, you’re far more likely to treat them as a potential friend than you will as a potential rival – which is the prerequisite of community and community is the prerequisite of the great things that humanity can achieve when we work together. This is the power of language and scripture clearly tells us that having a common language is an undeniable good for us when we use it for good and to the Glory of God who blesses us. So it shouldn’t be a big leap for us to understand why the Church would consecrate a common language for its common use. One, for practical reasons in that it creates cultural and fraternal unity among people who, by their participation in the Church, learn this common language. Two, because from the earliest days of God’s revelation to humanity, he ordered us to set certain things aside for sacred use, to be made holy. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca There is a lot of fanfare when someone converts into the Catholic Church, at least among Catholics, and that’s true whether you’re a pop culture celebrity, like Shia LaBeouf or not. I was in my early 20s when I became Catholic and because it was such an unusual thing for someone with my demographic qualities to do, there was never a shortage of people who wanted to talk to me or hear my story – that is as long as I didn’t say things that indicated I wasn’t the exact same kind of Catholic they were. And, honestly, that’s a good thing. We should want to hear converts’ stories and learn from their experiences, but there are also risks that come with all of that fanfare, both for the fans and for those who are treated like celebrities for their conversion, again, whether they actually are celebrities or not. This is why, from within that excitement and celebration, we need to embrace the goods that come from conversion and converts as well as be mindful of the ways that all of that celebration and fanfare can cause harm especially when we put them in positions of leadership or influence because of that celebrity factor. Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com I once had someone initiate a conversation with me by saying, “you know what’s wrong with your religion? It doesn’t incorporate any physical exercises into it like yoga.” And I suspect that this criticism is something that many people, including Christians, would find persuasive and why they might be attracted to something like Yoga or why they might want to embrace a kind of syncretism between yoga and Christianity. Jesus told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and live righteously and all the other things that you might want will be added to that priority. CS Lewis put it this way. He said “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” If you seek after God and the virtues he can instill in you by fidelity to his commandments and the infusion of His grace, then all the other goods will be more accessible to you. But if you chase after those things apart from God, they will slip through your fingers and you won’t even know why. So why isn’t physical exercise a requirement in the practice of Christianity or something that is emphasized within the teachings of Jesus or scripture? Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Dr. Jordan Peterson's remarkable intellectual aptitude for philosophical inquiry puts many academically accredited philosophers to shame. In spite of his lack of formal training, he gets very far on his own and shows a profound appreciation for the directions one could go. Many believing Christians look to him for a sophisticated and intellectually satisfying presentation of our creed without knowing how and in what ways he departs company with that tradition which has its own and robust explanation for the nature of reality, as well as God. In this conversation, Fr. Hugh and I explore the successes he has achieved in inspiring his audience to be willing to sacrifice apparent goods for a more virtuous life as well as Peterson's conception of God and how it contrasts with the doctrines of the creed and of the Church. About My Guest: Fr Hugh Mackenzie PhL, MSc, is a Catholic priest in London, England. He is a chaplain at Westminster Cathedral and St John and St Elizabeth’s Hospital. He is also finishing off a PhD in the History of the Philosophy of Science at UCL. He taught philosophy for seven years in the London seminary, and edited FAITH magazine (www.faith.org.uk) for six years. Fr Hugh's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJPh6aNAx7-L_YcRnwYZ4DA/ The paragraph extracts from St John Paul II’s 1998 Encyclical Fides et Ratio, to which Fr Hugh refers, are here: 80. In Sacred Scripture … we learn that what we experience is not absolute … God alone is the Absolute. From the Bible there emerges also a vision of man as imago Dei … his freedom and the immortality of the human spirit, the essential dependence on God of every creature … moral evil— … stems not from any material deficiency, but is a wound inflicted by the disordered exercise of human freedom … directing the human being to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, who is the perfect realization of human existence.“ 83. We face a great challenge at the end of this millennium to move from phenomenon to foundation, a step as necessary as it is urgent. We cannot stop short at experience alone; even if experience does reveal the human being's interiority and spirituality, speculative thinking must penetrate to the spiritual core and the ground from which it rises. Therefore, a philosophy which shuns metaphysics would be radically unsuited to the task of mediation in the understanding of Revelation … (my bold) If I insist so strongly on the metaphysical element, it is because I am convinced that it is the path to be taken in order to move beyond the crisis pervading large sectors of philosophy at the moment, and thus to correct certain mistaken modes of behaviour now widespread in our society. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com My hope for this video is to give us some stable ground to begin having calm discussions about liturgy and I’ll start by addressing something I hear a lot whenever it comes up in conversation. People will say, "You can’t say one form of the Latin liturgy is better than the other. They’re both equally good because they both have the presence of Jesus and that’s all that matters." And this sounds like the measured and moderate view that a person committed to dialogue and unity should have, but it’s the very thing you can’t say as a starting point to this discussion and to help you understand why, we need to be cognizant of the cost that was paid to create the new mass. Imagine for a second that you’re you, and it’s today, and you’re going to mass – I know we’re really stretching the limits of analogy here, but just go with it for a second. Let’s say you’re a faithful Catholic who relies on the mass as the source and summit of your faith to anchor your life. As much as the world introduces chaos to your life, your faith and the mass are something reliable and dependable. But all of a sudden, you show up to mass, and discover that it’s been revised. It was done without your consent or consultation and it’s completely different – almost unrecognizable and you can’t go to the old one any more. It’s been confiscated like a piece of contraband that you never should have been allowed to play with in the first place. Think about how destabilizing and traumatic that would be for most people. And as a result of that massive disruption, countless people left the Church. And not just laity, 10s of thousands of priests and religious abandoned their posts. So that’s the cost - that’s the price we paid for the liturgical changes. But sometimes we need to be willing to make sacrifices if there is some greater good. But if the best thing that we can say about the new mass, which many people seem to insist is all that needs to be said, is that it’s equally valid – well, then I’m afraid it failed to realize its goals. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/

Support the channel by visiting https://brianholdsworth.ca Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Thanks to the magic of social media, I was reminded this week of a focal point in the never-ending struggle between orthodox and modernist factions in the Church today. I had posted something about how doctrine that isn’t merely a reproduction of the sentiments of popular culture is essential to a community and culture that can resist being swallowed up and assimilated by the secular world. And someone replied by saying that they remember what the Church was like prior to the Second Vatican Council, and that they would never go back to that. Which was kind of surprising because I thought to myself, I’m not sure how this relates to what I said, but OK, let’s … let’s do this. And in their reply they pin-pointed a common point of contention that often gets raised in debates about modern Church culture which is that the pews used to be full and now they’re not – and if you’re more traditionally minded, you might think, we need to turn back from the path we’re on as it’s having clearly deleterious effects on the Church and her efficacy in proclaiming Christ to the world. But, no, this person claims. Don’t fall for that trick that’s not the way. Sure, there may have been seminaries bursting at the seems with religious vocations, and churches overflowing with attendance every Sunday, but you’d be mistaken if you thought that was an indication of the vitality of the Church. He goes on to claim that most of those people only came to Church for compromised reasons like fear of judgement or damnation. And now that we’ve changed our ways and stopped using fear as a manipulative tactic to get people to come to Church, they don’t come any more and all that remains are people who truly love God for the right reasons. Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/