Show Notes:

{Our apologies for the quality or lack thereof of Leila’s audio. We’ll try to do better next time! Thanks for sticking with us!}

Finland’s president is a bit overconfident about not needing US military help — and immediately contradicts himself!

President Trump’s full speech at Davos — in Leila’s opinion, even the seeming digressions off topic have meaning, and the whole thing will go down in history as a watershed

Emmanuel Macron wants massive Chinese investment

NATO General Secretary declares Trump correct on the need for a strategic reset

New York Times: Top Catholic Clerics Denounce U.S. Foreign Policy (archived here)

Broglio: US troops could refuse Greenland orders (The archbishop’s statement is more nuanced than the headline, but concerning nonetheless for reasons we discuss.)

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This week, Phil and I are really just talking about larger social issues creating a serious divide in our country, so we don’t have any particular show notes.

Here is the tweet Leila read: Rob Henderson on X: 95% of children in 1960 were raised by two married parents regardless of social class…

For on-the-ground reporting: Andy Ngo is a good source.

Megyn Kelly has lots of information on events in Minneapolis and their effect on the public on her site, including a story about women reacting on social media and losing their minds.

Black Lives Matter Activists Executed A Shocking $83 Billion Shakedown Of American Corporations

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A Consistory to Revitalize the College of Cardinals by Fr. Daniel Gallagher (The Catholic Thing)

Charlotte priests submit Dubia to Vatican over liturgical changes (The Pillar)

Is our society normalizing dark things while our bishops polish their managerial skills? Nicole Shanahan: Burning Man; Mike Cernovich: Ayahuasca trips. What does the Church teach?

Here is a more optimistic take.

Phil Lawler:

Pros and cons on the politics of the Venezuela action: Rich Lowry and Megyn Kelly

And what about the Just War aspect? Phil:

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (affiliate link) and the whimsical movie based on the book (highly enjoyable, not without mild adolescent themes, in keeping with the “coming of age” aspect).

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Nick Shirley’s report on MN daycare fraud.

Minnesota’s Massive Somali Fraud Scandal Is a Warning to Every State, Including Maine by Ben Midgley, Republican candidate for governor (not an endorsement; we don’t know anything about him)

Andy Ngo addressing claims that the legacy media already reported on the MN fraud

Washington State AG Warns Citizen Journalists To Stop Investigating Somali Daycares Or Face Potential Hate Crime Charges ~ Zerohedge

Legislators move to protect fraudsters

Peachy Keenan: “You had to send your baby to a real daycare to pay a Somali to open a fake one.”

The New York Times moves in to neutralize Nick Shirley (I said this article was unlocked but I’m not sure about that now.)

There was even a Strange New Respect award! Tom Bethell

The Bishop’s Wife

Seven housewifely [and mostly universal] New Year’s resolutions that will actually change things from The School for Housewives

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Eclipse of the boomers by Christopher Caldwell

Bottle feeding: an unexamined societal factor

Jacob Savage: The Lost Generation, Compact Magazine

Black Lives Matter Activists Executed A Shocking $83 Billion Shakedown Of American Corporations

Helen Andrews

Merry Christmas! See you in two weeks!

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Controversial “ICE was here” nativity display in Massachusetts to remain until priest speaks to archbishop - CBSNews

ICE acting director, Boston Archdiocese demand ‘ICE was here’ Nativity be removed from Massachusetts church: Todd Lyons says display adds to dangerous narrative as archdiocese calls for removal - Fox News

Why it’s wrong to deprive the community of religious displays: Beauty will save the neighborhood by Leila M. Lawler

It’s Historically And Theologically Ridiculous To Compare The Holy Family To Illegal Immigrants by Maisey Jefferson

Marriage is an exclusive union requiring ‘tender care,’ Vatican says

I’m finding it difficult to get the English translation of the document “ ‘Una Caro’ (One Flesh): In Praise of Monogamy. Doctrinal Note on the Value of Marriage as an Exclusive Union and Mutual Belonging.” (Obviously you can get your browser to translate it, but must remember that is not official.) I read it on the Inside the Vatican site, but awkwardly, as it is spread over three “letters” that are not linked together. This is the final post there. You can see how thinly the topic of procreation and children is treated.

Catechism of the Council of Trent: Marriage

For my critique of Amoris Laetitia, see the appendix to my book God Has No Grandchildren: A Guided Reading of Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical “Casti Connubii” (On Chaste Marriage), 2nd Edition, by Leila M. Lawler. This book makes a great Christmas gift, by the way!

Is Vatican ‘satisfied’ with China’s contempt for diplomatic accord?

Our Lady of Guadalupe: the stories behind the story

Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy by Joseph Julian and Monique Gonzalez (Affiliate link)

The Like Mother, Like Daughter Library Project

Go here for the Lawler Family Book Club list from the past year.

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Pope visits famous Istanbul mosque but does not pause to pray

In Unitate Fidei: Apostolic Letter on the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea by Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo speaks out on the situation in Germany

Neglected highlights of Pope Leo’s first voyage by Phil Lawler

FDA Memo Links COVID Vaccines to Child Deaths in Internal Review ~ X thread

One of the children likely to have been one of the 10 cited by the FDA ~ Maryanne Demasi

Early on, the media, in collusion with Pfizer, covered up the truth, that covid poses no threat to children.

My post with many resources so you can find your own information:

The Lawler Family Book Club list for 2025, as promised (some time ago, sorry)!

Our family (seven grown children, five with families of their own) has a book club in which we nominate books, vote on them, and choose our collective reading for the year, one book every two months. We meet by Zoom for about an hour or two and it is really fun! We started in February and did have one in-person meeting during our family reunion in Maine; the grandkids had a book club meeting as well! They mostly discussed Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes this past year.

I think Phil and I at least briefly touched on our thoughts about the books so far in the podcast episode after the respective meetings.

Here is the list:

February: Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

April: Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin

June: The Fathers by Allen Tate

August: The Children of Men by PD Janes

October: The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky

December: The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark.

*These are affiliate links; a small amount comes to us when you buy anything through our link at no cost to you. Thank you!

Feel free to propose good books for us to consider!

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Show Notes:

Bishops vote to ban gender transition treatments at Catholic hospitals - Aleteia

Bishop Joseph Strickland interjects at US Conference of Catholic Bishops - Catholic Herald — his subsequent statement can be found here.

Catholic Vote quotes the Catechism on immigration

More: Catholic Vote has provided a response to the bishops’ statement on immigration, emphasizing the nation’s duty to protect its own citizens: Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience: The Receipts

EXCLUSIVE: I have obtained a copy of the Diocesan Synod Leaders’ meeting schedule for this year, not posted on their website as far as I can tell. Note that this is how the “synodal path” will be distributed to the dioceses and from thence to the parishes, by means of these meetings:

And what is Porticus, featured on this schedule? AI process content, hard to get a handle on, with one extremely rich sponsor, the Brenninkmeijer family of entrepreneurs, the philanthropic arm of which’s only substantive goals, if you can call them that, seem to be climate change and social action, and DEI.

Refugee Revenue: US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ $455 million in grant awards

Lepanto Institute on the latest Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) scandal: BOMBSHELL: US Catholic Bishops Give $1 Million to Marxist Movement

Lepanto research reports (see specific reports on CCHD awards)

Bait and Switch by Diogenes (Catholic Culture, from 2007)

The time is now for reform of the CCHD by Phil Lawler (from 2010)

CCHD lost $11.4M in 2023

Is it Time to Abolish the USCCB? by Leila Marie Lawler

Pope Leo supports the US bishops’ immigration position as stated in this video

Pew Report — 12th grade girls less likely than boys to say they want to marry

Phil’s novel! Ghost Runner makes a great Christmas gift!

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A British WWII veteran speaks his mind, but the BBC doesn’t want to listen; neither do many others

A veteran’s haunting question: Was his sacrifice worth it? by Phil Lawler

Katy Faust | How Obergefell Commodified Children — a must listen!

Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to same-sex marriage decision — The Federalist

The Obergefell ruling rode rough-shod over religions and dozens of state constitutions on the bases of a moral — not legal — opinion. — The Federalist

The Three Necessary Societies by Russell Hittinger

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What is a good age to have a baby? by Leila Marie Lawler — embedded link re: progesterone treatment in IVF

The Facebook post, “40 is not the onset of menopause” — up to 300 likes/loves and 146 testimonials and comments

Leila on how silencing works — this strategy applies to all sorts of issues:

For a long time, many of good will wanted to extend a charitable interpretation of whatever seems disturbing in Fr. Martin’s work, especially when it comes to rejecting Church teaching (and normal morality) on something as important as homosexuality.

Their relentless overlooking of his intent is in part due to the success of LGBT+ activists in creating an identity to substitute for mental illness and perversion, and thus effecting a handy self-silencing culture among opponents.

Fr. Martin is good at this. He has maneuvered many Catholics into thinking they have to approve him in order to avoid being thought “mean” (a term he often uses for bigoted and hateful).

Why now? The Vatican’s odd ‘clarification’ of Marian piety by Phil Lawler

The Vatican and the trolls — Or: Is Cardinal Fernandez spending too much time online? by Phil Lawler

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