The Home Front

Show Notes:

* Morale, Leadership, and Pastoral Priorities: Highlights from the 2025 National Study of Catholic Priests

Some reports on the report:

Younger American priests more conservative, traditional, survey shows (Catholic World News)

U.S. priests report high confidence in Pope Leo XIV, less trust in bishops (Catholic News Agency)

Study sheds light on generational divide among US priests (The Pillar)

* Leila wrote about Fr. Carter’s letter to Latin Mass parishioners here, and why I think it puts Bishop Martin of Charlotte in a better light — didn’t think that was possible, to be honest:

* Turns out we did talk about Pope Francis’s deception about the bishops’ survey, back in July.

* Beauty Will Save the Neighborhood — a podcast I did on this subject. An article I wrote about it.

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Jay Jones’s texts.

Is violence “across the board” in politics today? And what about that Cato Institute study? Bruce Gilley

Conservatives Urge The Cato Institute To Withdraw Its Deeply Flawed Political Violence Study

Some left-wing violence the legacy media wants you to forget.

Man arrested outside cathedral found to have explosives

Pope Francis: “There is no such thing as a just war.” Not helpful, as the alternative to reasoning through this problem is… not reasoning through and going with whatever that is.

Exploring Just-War Principles: Phil’s in-depth seminar on classical Catholic thought on the morality of warfare, and how it could be applied to contemporary conflicts.

Cardinal Parolin on October 7, Gaza: Human beings are not collateral damage

Israel in Gaza: a just cause, an unjust campaign by Phil Lawler

Israel forces threaten Catholic community in Gaza (CWNews): The Israeli defense ministry announced on October 1 that troops would move into Gaza City, having ordered residents to leave. “Those who remain will be considered terrorists and terror supporters,” the defense ministry warned.

Catholic and Orthodox Church workers in Gaza have vowed that they will not leave the city, explaining that they are dedicated to the care of elderly, disabled, and sick people living in their church compounds, who are unable to leave.

Lawler Family Book Club book (we discuss one book every two months — next week I will try to post the previous books we’ve read, and upcoming ones): The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Revolution of the Saints by Michael Walzer (affiliate link)

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Show Notes:

Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, on the Keep Hope Alive Award

Pope Leo’s comments on Cardinal Cupich’s intention to award Sen. Dick Durbin

The Pope’s statement on the Durbin award: wrong, and irrelevant; if Pope Leo is quoted here accurately (and I have no reason to think otherwise), it’s a terribly disappointing statement for several reasons; Durbin’s decision to decline the Chicago award has the ‘look and feel’ of a negotiated solution; Pope Leo describes American immigration policy as “inhuman.” Well…

Dick Durbin says he was ‘overwhelmed’ by pope’s support (Politico)

Phil Lawler on the Durbin award: The Cupich assault on episcopal unity

Cupich needs fraternal correction by Phil Lawler

Maybe it’s a coincidence that the Archdiocese of Chicago was forced to cancel a meeting of the board of the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI), right after a board member indicated that he would raise an objection to the plan to honor Senator Richard Durbin

The Faithful Departed by Phil Lawler (affiliate link)

How the Government Built the American Dream House by Joseph Lawler, New Atlantis, Number 81, Summer 2025

“Across the United States, it is functionally illegal to build housing like what you find on Elfreth’s Alley, Philadelphia, one of the most photographed residential areas in the country, famous for its gorgeous row houses in the middle of the city. At the same time, the federal government subsidizes the construction of McMansions in greenfield locations miles from the nearest town center.”

“This system is a deliberate creation of the government, going back many decades. It is not a product simply of demand meeting supply at agreed-upon prices. Ostensibly, it is meant to promote homeownership. But in reality, it does not. Instead, it encourages mass financial speculation on housing, urban sprawl, and widespread resistance to new construction.”

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Show Notes:

JD Vance’s Sharp-Elbowed Theology by Tony Badran, The Tablet — I don’t know what he’s saying, and neither do you

Charlie Kirk DM’d me before he was murdered. Here’s what he said by Van Jones, CNN — what’s missing in this statement is any call to the Left to stand down.

Paprocki ‘shocked’ by Durbin’s Chicago award (The Pillar)

Archbishop Cordileone supports Paprocki

Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich

The Scandalous Case of Cardinal Cupich and Senator Durbin, by Jayd Hendricks - Catholic World Report. Hendricks, who studied in a seminary where Cupich was the rector, and later worked on the staff of the US bishops’ conference, has some interesting background on the cardinal’s rise through the ecclesiastical ranks.

John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons (affiliate link). Sermon 22, The Gospel a Trust Committed to Us

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

The Cypresses Believe in God (affiliate link), by José Maria Gironella (A novel about the onset of the Spanish Civil War.)

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Show Notes:

Leila on Pam Bondi’s error

Actually, Tim Walz [and Pam Bondi! —Ed.], the First Amendment Does Protect Misinformation and “Hate Speech,” by David Inserra and Jennifer Huddleston

Law & Liberty: Freedom of expression in the university: excellent essay by John O. McGinnis

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Ida Friederike Görres: A Forgotten Catholic Rediscovered by Jennifer S. Bryson

Show Notes:

Part One:

* President Trump on Truth Social, about the Covid shots: “…I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as “BRILLIANT” as many say it was. If not, we all want to know about it, and why??? Thank you for your attention to this very important matter! President DJT”

* Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. invokes compulsory vaccination as a principle to justify the verdict regarding sterilization laws in the landmark case, Buck v. Bell, 1926, quoted in this excellent article analyzing vaccine mandates by Roman Bystrianyk. He also looks into the Jacobson case that forms the basis of today’s mandates.

* The full announcement of Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Surgeon General of Florida, announcing his department’s determination to eliminate vaccine mandates in that state entirely.

* My post with resources on the questions about vaccine safety and resources including about moral issues:

Part Two:

Perspectives on organ donation— all from the New York Times:

• The Times reports on the federal investigation that uncovered abuses in organ procurement. Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up (New York Times, June 2025)

• Then the Times adds its own report, underlining the problem. A Push for More Organ Transplants Is Putting Donors at Risk (New York Times, July 2025)

• No doubt in response, three cardiologists write an op-ed in the Times, arguing that the solution is to accept an even broader definition of “death” so that more organs can be harvested! Donor Organs Are Too Rare. We Need a New Definition of Death (New York Times, July 2025)

• Actually doctors have advanced a new definition of “death”— to be used alongside the spurious diagnosis of “brain death.” Removing organs after a proclamation of “circulatory death” was recognized quickly as “kind of a creepy thing to be doing.” But it’s still being done. When Does Life Stop? A New Way of Harvesting Organs Divides Doctors (New York Times, November 2023)

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Show Notes:

Fr. James Martin SJ puts his spin on the meeting with Pope Leo:

Notable quotes:

The message I received from him, loud and clear, was that he wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced, which was one of openness and welcome. So, it was very much a hopeful message of continuity.

So while LGBTQ issues are on his radar, other things may be more pressing for the time being. And even when addressing LGBTQ issues, he may not move as fast as some might like.

“Diogenes” (Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ, RIP): Just the facts, ma’am — “To speak of a gay Catholic is a contradiction in terms, like calling someone a pro-abortion Catholic.”

Pontifex Minimus: Fr. Mankowski’s review of Fr. Martin’s book, Building a Bridge in First Things

Tames in Clerical Life by Fr. Mankowski

Professor Robert George challenges Martin to say he accepts the Church’s teaching.

Phil: Charitable take on Professor George’s view: “Still, I think a case can be made that, whatever Fr. Martin is doing, he is not exactly lying.

Though George also wrote this glowing report: Fr. James Martin, Friendship and Dialogue, and the Truth about Human Sexuality, which to Leila is “a bridge too far,” to reference Fr. Mankowski’s assessment, especially when he leans on those of us who still have questions (simply by reading Fr. Martin’s statement) with this:

If Fr. Martin is lying, which I resolutely do not believe he is, then he, of course, is answerable for that to God. But please note that by the same token, anyone who falsely accuses him of lying is also answerable to God.

{We offer these links as an extension of our mild disagreement in the podcast, to recover the discussion as it transpired at the time. As we say, we respect Prof. George’s efforts to reconcile rather than divide, when possible.}

Ex-CDC vaccine chief Dr. Demetre Daskalakis: "I only see harm coming... Based on what I'm seeing... they’re really moving in an ideologic [sic] direction where they want to see the undoing of vaccination."

Secrets inside the Westman Family: Has Mary Westman Been Wrongly Vilified? by Andrew Ngo

No One Is Talking About The Direct Pipeline From Divorced Parents To School Shooters by Beverly Willett

Guardian article: Book burning, Latin prayers – and a lot of kids: inside the American ‘trad family’ movement: The movement towards simple, Christian living can be a yearning for order in a chaotic age. It’s also alarmingly retrograde by J. Oliver Conroy

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Show Notes:

Prohibition detached our will to protect the common good but it also stole our orchard economy: How the government almost killed the apple

Russell Kirk on the Errors of Ideology by Bradley J. Birzer

Link fixed: In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (affiliate link)

“In 2023, the "Old Country Store" celebrated Pride by unveiling rainbow-colored rocking chairs. Cracker Barrel sponsored the Nashville Pride Parade in 2024.”

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Show Notes:

Exploring Just-War Principles: An in-depth discussion of classical Catholic thought on the morality of warfare, and how it could be applied to contemporary conflicts.

Is Phil good at predicting things? A Just-War Perspective on the War in Ukraine: An address given by Phil Lawler three years ago.

Do you love our podcast and look forward to it? Don’t miss an episode!

Gay man explains embryo selection process

Lesbian talks about her “embryogate” — I can’t say I understand what’s going on in this account (there’s this and much more but I’ll spare you), but I know it’s a — how shall I put this — scatological meteorologic event and it is to be prevented in the future at all costs, as is Gay Man’s.

Meet the man suing to end no-fault divorce — The Federalist

Paul Jernberg, composer

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Show Notes:

My Hero, Kim Davis by Leila Marie Lawler

Will the Supreme Court revisit its ruling on same-sex marriage? SCOTUSblog

Kim Davis: Political Prisoner? Culture-War Martyr? Kim Davis: Shipwreck of Religious Liberty by Rod Dreher

Kentucky clerk case driving wedge into conservative Christian camp Daily American

Film: The Well Digger’s Daughter One beautiful aspect of this film is the refined delicacy with which the transgression of the daughter is handled. The theme is how to handle the matter of the out-of-wedlock child; the treatment is anything but vulgar. Parents have to decide for themselves, but I consider it suitable for mature teens’ viewing. A Thought on Teen Pregnancy by Leila Marie Lawler

Our civilization’s death wish by Phil Lawler

Film: True Confessions

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