Most Catholic men do not understand what happened to them at baptism. That ignorance is costing them their faith, their families, and their fire.

In this episode of The Manly Catholic, Fr. Dom delivers a direct and uncompromising reflection on the Baptism of the Lord and why baptism is not a symbolic ritual, but the most powerful moment of your life. This is not theology for the classroom. This is theology for the battlefield.

Drawing from Sacred Scripture, the Church’s teaching, and lived experience, this episode exposes how men have reduced baptism to a checkbox event instead of a daily reality that should shape how they pray, fight sin, lead their homes, and engage the world.

You will hear why Jesus submitted Himself to baptism despite being sinless, how baptism destroys original sin, adopts you as a son of God, and opens the gates of heaven through the sacraments. You will also hear a hard challenge to reject the passive, Protestantized thinking that delays baptism and strips it of urgency and power.

This episode confronts the loss of missionary zeal, the failure of fathers to take spiritual responsibility, and the modern lie that baptism is optional or merely symbolic. It calls Catholic men to reclaim baptism as a source of strength, identity, and daily conversion.

If you are tired of lukewarm faith, tired of excuses, and tired of seeing Catholic men live beneath their calling, this episode is for you.

3 Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “Baptism is the most important and powerful gift that God gives us.”
2. “Jesus Christ is not a pacifist or a weak man. He is complete and utter power. And that is love.”
3. “We completely underestimate the power of baptism, and we are living far below what God has given us.”

1 Key Takeaway for Men

Begin praying with your baptism every day. Start with this: “Thank you, God, for the gift of my baptism.” Let that identity shape how you fight sin, lead your family, and live your faith. This is not optional. This is who you are.

What if The Lord of the Rings was never just a story?

What if Tolkien was encoding a spiritual map for men living in the modern war for the soul?

In this episode of The Manly Catholic, James Caldwell speaks with author and philosopher Paul List, co-author of Mount Doom: The Prophecy of Tolkien Revealed, to expose what Tolkien was really writing about: original sin, virtue and vice, artificial intelligence, and so much more.

Paul reveals how Tolkien’s mythology is a Catholic psychological map of the human soul. Hobbits as habits. The Ring as addiction. Sauron as AI. Middle-earth as the mind. Vice as Orcs. Virtue as the Fellowship. Faith and reason as elves and men.

Temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice as the cardinal virtues sent on a mission to destroy the Ring.

This conversation connects Tolkien to Aquinas, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and how prophetic his beloved stories really are for the modern man.

James also issues a direct challenge to men:

Stop living passively. Clean up your habits. Reject pornography. Reject the virtual world. Build competence. Build virtue. Cultivate discipline. Become dangerous in holiness.

This is not entertainment.

This is formation.

And neutrality is no longer an option.

Push play if you're done being comfortable and ready to become dangerous for Christ.

• Book: Mount Doom: The Prophecy of Tolkien Revealed – Paul List
• Website: readmountdoom.com
• Documentary: The Great Indoctrination (Pelican Plus)
• Coffee Sponsor: Mystic Monk Coffee

🧱 3 Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “Real men are competent. Real men cultivate discipline, virtue, and mastery over themselves.”

1. “Tolkien’s work is fundamentally Catholic. It’s about the fall, original sin, the fear of death, and the machine.”

1. “This mythology is here now to combat AI and transhumanism and to save young men’s souls from the internal fire.”

Eliminate one vice today and replace it with one discipline.
Cut one destructive habit (pornography, digital addiction, laziness, impurity, gluttony, passivity).

Replace it with prayer, physical training, fasting, Scripture, silence, or structured work.

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What happens when Christianity loses authority? Chaos follows. Families fracture. Men drift. Truth becomes negotiable.

In Part Two of this conversation with Father Peter Damian, the discussion moves from personal history into the heart of the crisis facing the modern Church and the modern man.

Father Peter continues unpacking his journey from Orthodoxy into the Catholic Church, but the focus sharpens on ecclesial authority, obedience, and why Christ intentionally established a visible Church with a living teaching office. This is not about preference. It is about survival.

Drawing from Sacred Scripture, Church history, and lived pastoral experience, Fr. Peter explains why Christianity without a final authority inevitably fractures. He dismantles the illusion of unity without submission, exposes the danger of theological individualism, and shows why men who refuse authority always end up submitting to something else, whether the state, culture, or their own disordered passions.

The conversation turns practical and confrontational. Fr. Peter speaks directly to Catholic men about obedience, not as weakness, but as strength. Pride masquerades as independence, but humility is the foundation of authentic masculinity. A man who cannot submit to God-given authority cannot lead his family, protect his home, or remain steady under pressure.

James presses the issue further and issues a direct challenge to men who live in half-commitments. You cannot defend the Church while standing outside her walls. You cannot claim Christ while rejecting His Bride. You cannot rebuild a Catholic culture while refusing Catholic discipline.

This episode rejects the comfortable lie that faith can be customized. It cannot. The Gospel demands total allegiance. Christ demands obedience. The Church demands fidelity.

This is a call to decision.

1. “Unity without authority is an illusion. It cannot last.”
2. “A man who rejects obedience will always end up enslaved to something else.”
3. “Christ did not leave us a feeling. He left us a Church.”

Stop negotiating with the faith. Choose obedience. Submit your intellect and your will fully to Christ and His Church. Cut off the habits, media, and influences that train you to resist authority. A disciplined soul is a free soul.

Please prayerfully consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page
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to help grow the show and reach as many men as possible.

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As always, please pray for us. We are men who strive daily to be holy, to become saints, and we cannot do that without the help of the Holy Ghost.

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What happens when a man grows up under brutal communism, religious persecution, and fear and then discovers that true freedom cannot exist without truth?

In this episode of The Manly Catholic, James sits down with Father Peter Damian, a Catholic priest, son of a Eastern Orthodox pastor, and convert who lived firsthand under the weight of communist ideology in Romania. This is not theory. This is lived experience.

Father Peter shares what life was really like behind the Iron Curtain, where neighbors spied on neighbors, faith was suppressed, and fear ruled daily life. He explains why freedom, once lost, is never something to be taken lightly and why modern men are dangerously naive about what happens when truth collapses.

The conversation turns direct and uncompromising as Father Peter walks through his intellectual conversion from Orthodoxy to Catholicism. He explains why Christ did not leave us a loose federation of opinions but a Church with authority. From Matthew 16 to the Church Fathers, from the papacy to the failures of decentralized Christianity, this episode exposes why unity without authority is impossible and why the early Church always pointed to Peter as the visible head meant to preserve order and truth.

This episode dismantles the lie that freedom means doing whatever you want. Father Peter shows how that lie devastated societies in the East and is now hollowing out the West. Without faith, morality collapses. Without morality, society decays. This is not speculation. It is history repeating itself.

Father Peter also shares his powerful vocational story, including the role Our Lady of Medjugorje played in his conversion and call to the priesthood.

This episode is a direct challenge to Catholic men. Stop living as spectators. Stop outsourcing truth. Stop confusing comfort with freedom. If you want a virtuous society, you must first become a virtuous man rooted in Christ and His Church.

This is Part One of the conversation. The foundation is laid.

The fight continues.

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1. “Without faith, morality collapses. And without morality, society becomes a disaster.”

2. “Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want. It is the ability to do what is right.”

3. “The Church is meant to be a symphony. But a symphony without a choir master becomes chaos.”

Stop treating freedom as comfort. Start treating it as responsibility. Submit your intellect and your will to Christ and His Church. A man who rejects authority will never lead his family or defend the faith.

Please prayerfully consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page to help grow the show and reach as many men as possible. Thank you for your prayers and support.

As always, please pray for us. We are men who strive daily to be holy, to become saints, and we cannot do that without the help of the Holy Ghost.

Check out our website and sign up for our newsletter!

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What happens when a man finally stops running from God?

In this episode of The Manly Catholic, we sit down with Father Dominic and newly ordained transitional deacon Logan McGahan to discuss something the Church desperately needs more of: real vocations, real obedience, and real surrender to Jesus Christ.

This is not a polished or sanitized vocation story. It is raw. It is honest. And it will confront you.

Deacon Logan shares his journey from a childhood call to the priesthood, through denial, drugs, alcohol, fear, and distraction, all the way to a decisive moment of prayer where God demanded an answer. Not a vague “maybe someday.” A yes or a no.

You will hear what happens when a man stops negotiating with God and finally submits. Peace follows. Not comfort. Not ease. Peace.

We also unpack what the transitional diaconate actually is, why priestly formation matters, and how the Church is intentionally forming men who love Jesus, love the sacraments, and are willing to give their lives for souls. This conversation pulls back the curtain on seminary life, discernment, spiritual fatherhood, and the cost of obedience.

This episode challenges Catholic men directly. God is still calling. The problem is not a lack of vocations. The problem is men refusing to listen, refusing to sacrifice, and refusing to trust that God’s plan is better than their own.

If you are a father, this episode matters. If you are raising sons, this episode matters. If you are a man who knows God has been calling you to more and you have been running, this episode is for you.

God does not call perfect men. He calls willing men.

Push play. Listen closely. And ask yourself the hard question:

What is God asking of you that you are still refusing to give?

3 Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “When I finally said yes, immense peace rushed over me. I knew this was what God wanted.”

2. “God kept calling, and I kept running.”

3. “The people don’t want you. They want to see Jesus.”

Key Takeaway for Men

Stop running. Get silent. Go before Jesus in prayer or adoration this week and ask Him plainly what He wants from your life. Then obey. Peace does not come from control. It comes from surrender.

The world says Christmas is over. The Church says it has just begun.

In this homily from Fr. Dom, we step into the Octave of Christmas and confront what this season actually demands of men. This is not a victory lap. This is formation. The Church keeps Christmas alive because families are under attack, fathers are distracted, and men are being pulled away from the center where God must reign.

This episode places you back in front of the manger and refuses to let you look away. The Nativity is not decoration. It is a revelation. God in the flesh lies at the center of the Holy Family, and everything else takes its proper place around Him. That order matters. When God is not in the center, families fracture. When He is, grace flows.

We reflect on the shepherds who dropped everything and ran to Bethlehem in haste. No hesitation. No excuses. Simple men with simple faith who abandoned worldly concerns to worship God. Their childlike faith stands in direct opposition to the pride, arrogance, and self-sufficiency that blinds so many men today.

This episode also confronts hard realities. The massacre of the Holy Innocents exposes the hatred of evil for life itself. Satan targets children and families because that is where the future is formed. That is why the Church places the Holy Family front and center during the Octave of Christmas. This is spiritual warfare, and the family is the frontline.

You will hear again the powerful story of a blind woman who truly saw Christ in the manger. Her faith exposes a painful truth: many who claim sight are blind, while those who trust see clearly. The manger reveals Christ born to die, the wood of the crib pointing directly to the wood of the Cross, and ultimately to the Eucharist, where Christ feeds His people.

This episode challenges men directly. Fathers are called to be righteous like Saint Joseph. Husbands are called to love sacrificially. Families are called to pray together daily. No exceptions. No excuses. The domestic church rises or falls on whether men will lead with humility, obedience, and faith.

The Holy Family is not meant to discourage you. It is meant to call you higher.

Push play. Kneel before the manger. Then go build a family where God reigns at the center.

3 Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “These little hands and feet will be pierced for our transgressions.”

2. “They dropped everything and went in haste. That is a good example for us.”

3. “Satan wants to destroy the family. That is his number one target.”

Key Takeaway for Men

Put God back at the center of your home today. Pray with your wife. Pray with your children. Lead your domestic church with simple, obedient faith. If a family does not pray together, it will not stand.

Christmas is not soft. It is not sentimental. It is a declaration of war.

In this homily from Fr. Dom, he confronts the manger and exposes what most men have been taught to ignore. The Incarnation is not a cozy scene meant for nostalgia. It is God entering enemy territory. It is Christ coming to do battle for your soul.

Too many men walk past the manger without stopping. We have seen it too many times. We have grown numb. But the Church places the manger front and center for a reason. If you truly see it, it should cut you to the heart and force a response.

In this episode, Fr. Dom shares a true story from his first Christmas as a priest. A blind woman approaches the manger, searching not with her eyes, but with her hands. When she finds the Infant Jesus, she understands what many men miss entirely: those tiny hands and feet were born to be pierced. Born for sacrifice. Born for war.

That moment exposes a hard truth. Faith is not passive. Seeing Christ demands action.

We walk straight from the wood of the manger to the wood of the Cross, and then to the altar. The same Christ who lay in the hay now gives you His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. That reality changes everything, or it should.

This episode forces a question that every Catholic man must answer honestly:

Has Christmas actually changed you?

If the Incarnation does not move you to conversion, you are missing the point. If the manger does not stir you to fight sin, lead your family, and reject the lies of the world, then you are standing still while darkness advances.

Jesus did not come to make you comfortable. He came to claim you. He came to fill you with courage, peace, and resolve. And then He sends you back into the world carrying His light.

Christmas is merry because Christ has already entered the fight and won. But you still have a role to play.

This episode is not meant to be admired. It is meant to be lived.

Push play. Let the manger break your heart. Then take Christ into battle.

Referenced in This Episode

• The Nativity and the manger
• The Cross
• The Eucharist
• The Holy Family
• The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “Blessed are these little hands and feet that will be pierced for our transgressions.”

2. “She was blind, but she could see. I could see, but I was the blind one.”

3. “That infant in the manger may look weak, but that is a warrior.”

Key Takeaway for Men

Stop treating Christmas like a memory and start treating it like a mission. Kneel before the manger or the Eucharist today and give Christ permission to change you. Then lead. Fight sin. Bring light into your home. If Christmas does not lead to conversion, it has been wasted.

The world wants Christmas without Christ.

Noise without silence.

Consumption without conversion.

In this episode of The Manly Catholic, James is joined by Fr. Dom for a direct, unapologetic conversation on Advent, Christmas, and why Catholic men must reclaim the liturgical calendar from a culture that hijacks it every year.

Advent was never meant to be sentimental. It was penitential. It demanded prayer, fasting, discipline, and preparation. Historically, it was forty days for a reason. In this episode, Fr. Dominic breaks down what Advent actually is, why it was shortened, and how consumerism has stripped Catholic men of spiritual readiness.

The discussion moves straight to the battlefield. The manger is not a decoration. It is a sermon. The wood of the trough points to the wood of the Cross. The swaddling clothes point to the tomb. The shepherds reveal the power of simple faith. Christmas is not comfort. It is confrontation.

St. Joseph is held up as the model Catholic man.

Silent.

Obedient.

Strong.

Disciplined.

A guardian who moves when God commands and protects his family without hesitation. This episode makes it clear: families collapse when men abdicate leadership, and cultures rot when fathers refuse to lead.

This is not nostalgia. This is formation.

Men are challenged to reject the secular calendar, slow down, embrace prayer and fasting, and intentionally lead their homes through Advent and Christmas the way the Church intended. Satan thrives on distraction, disorder, and passivity. The antidote is disciplined, obedient, sacrificial masculinity.

If you are tired of shallow faith, distracted homes, and soft leadership, this episode is your call to act.

Reclaim Advent. Strip your life down. Reject consumerism. Commit to prayer, fasting, and discipline. Lead your household intentionally through the liturgical calendar, not the secular one.

• Mystic Monk Coffee
• Harmel Academy of the Trades
• St. Joseph as the model of masculine leadership
• St. Francis of Assisi and the first Nativity
• The Advent wreath and the liturgical calendar
• Early Church teaching on Advent and Christmas

1. “Christmas doesn’t start until Christmas Day. If you miss Advent, you miss the grace God wants to give you once a year.”

2. “Satan does not want you to remember who you are, where you come from, or the traditions that keep families strong.”

3. “If men lived disciplined virtue like St. Joseph, the culture would collapse overnight and rebuild itself rightly.”

Create order through discipline. Choose one concrete act of Advent penance or fasting and lead your home in it without negotiation. Masculine leadership begins with obedience to God.

Men, the battle is here. We run it back with our Exodus episode with Dr. Jared Staudt when we talked about St. Michael's Lent. While St. Michael's Lent has ended, a new beginning is coming on January 5th, 2026 with the main Exodus challenge. Make sure you sign up today before you miss out!

Your marching orders have arrived. 

We dive deep into the origins and spiritual power of St. Michael’s Lent, a 40-day Catholic challenge inspired by the great St. Francis of Assisi and rooted in ancient tradition. Learn why this penitential season is critical for men today, how the Exodus 90 team has structured it for modern warriors, and why discipline, order, and sacrifice are the weapons we need now more than ever.

You’ll learn the why behind each discipline and how each is crafted to bring order to your soul, sharpen your spiritual edge, and strengthen your mission as a man of God.

We discuss:

• The spiritual and psychological warfare men face today
• The demonic hatred of order and how discipline drives demons out
• The role of St. Michael the Archangel in exorcisms and daily spiritual combat
• Why rest, leisure, and celebrating the Lord’s Day are battle strategies, not indulgences
• How true fraternity unlocks spiritual breakthroughs men cannot achieve alone

Challenge Issued in this Episode:
Step into the breach. Find a fraternity. Get the app. Sign up for St. Michael’s Lent. Offer your disciplines for your family. Wake up at 2 a.m. and pray like the Desert Fathers. Let your body rest and your soul fight. The Church needs men who are ready. Are you one of them?

Three Powerful Quotes from the Episode:

1. “When you wake up in the night and everyone else is asleep, you're not breaking off from work or putting your phone down — you're just entering right into prayer.”
2. “We're not called to suffer pointlessly. Every act of self-denial must have a purpose — for God, for your wife, for your children, for your brothers.”
3. “Saint Michael didn’t negotiate with evil. He cast it out. Men today need that same fire in their hearts.”

Featured Resources & Products:

• Exodus 90 App – https://exodus90.com --> SIGN UP TODAY!
• Books by Dr. Jared Staudt:
  • How the Eucharist Can Save Civilization
  • The Primacy of God
  • Words Made Flesh

Follow Exodus 90 on all social media platforms here

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.

On the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, the Church commands us to do something radical: rejoice, not later, not when life gets easier, but now. In this episode, Fr. Dom breaks open what true Christian joy actually is and why it matters for Catholic men who are fighting daily battles in their homes, their minds, and their souls.

This is not sentimental joy. This is not shallow happiness. This is joy rooted in Jesus Christ, joy forged through hope and peace, joy that survives suffering, persecution, and the chaos of the world. Drawing from Sacred Scripture, the Catechism, and the wisdom of the saints, we walk through the Advent virtues of hope, peace, and joy and why gratitude is the weapon that crushes Satan every time.

Fr. Dom reflects on family, tradition, and memory, not for nostalgia’s sake, but to remind us what we are fighting for. Then we go deeper. Hope is not optimism. Peace is not comfort. Joy is not dependent on circumstances. These are theological realities planted in your soul at baptism and strengthened through the sacraments.

We confront the lie that joy is optional or reserved for the emotionally stable. If joy is missing, something is blocking it. That obstacle must be dragged into the light and surrendered to Christ. This episode ends with a direct challenge: give your heart back to God completely, tear down the idols that have crept in this year, and let Christ declare war on the darkness within you.

This is Advent lived like a Catholic man should live it: awake, disciplined, grateful, and ready.

3 Powerful Quotes from the Episode

1. “When we embrace deep gratitude, Satan can’t touch you. Praying in gratitude crushes Satan.”
2. “Hope is not optimism. It is a theological virtue planted in your soul at baptism.”
3. “Lord, invade my heart. Declare war on the darkness within me and bring light.”

1 Key Takeaway for Men 

Today, make a deliberate act of gratitude to God for your salvation and the sacraments. Name it out loud. Gratitude clears anxiety, weakens temptation, and restores joy. This is not optional. It is spiritual warfare.

Push play. Rejoice. Then fight like a man who knows Christ is near.

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As always, please pray for us! We are men who strive daily to be holy, to become saints and we cannot do that without the help of the Holy Ghost!

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Contact us at [email protected]