Pints With Aquinas

Pints is constantly challenging me, and I feel that I have grown very much listening to this podcast. I love the long podcast length, and I am always sad when they end. I love whenever Friers are on the show. Bring back Father Gregory Pine!

Updating my review to say that the YouTube response to pope Francis’s passing was just plain tacky. The man just died and all Matt wanted to do in a self-centered live stream was continue the same tired trad cath anti-Francis rhetoric whilst pretending not to want to do that. At least he admits that he (Matt) has contributed to sewing division. Sometimes Matt just projects as a middle-aged man who is insecure in his masculinity to the point where he must adopt shallow masculine tropes like smoking cigars, hunting big game, and cosplaying as his favorite daily wire host. Do whatever you want in your free time, but the need to be filmed doing or talking about it is desperately cringe. He even admits on his John Henry Spawn interview that he’s easily influenced and just does whatever the seemingly more masculine men he looks up to do. He has previously flirted with the line between the Catholics who are for the pope and the ultra trads who think he’s an anti pope, never outright saying pope Francis isn’t the real pope but certainly regurgitating some of the rhetoric of those who do. Then he has the gall to try and play peacemaker and urge people not to side with archbishop vigano. The politics are also getting to be super cringe. I don’t fault his conservatism, that’s a fine position to hold. Nor do I think anyone should stay silent about Joe Biden’s unfitness for office. But the short video Thursday (who is probably the root of the problem and influences our easily-influenced host) and he shot about Biden’s disastrous debate is down right uncharitable, as are some of his other takes on hot button political issues. If Biden truly is a man with dementia being propped up by power hungry, immoral people, then we should certainly have some basic sympathy for his and encourage prayer for him. The basic dignity of people cannot be ignored even if you don’t agree with them or like them. We are called to more as Catholics and this show could be a tremendous blessing but is getting in its own way. Being controversial gets you click, but what does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?

Fr. Jason Charon episode correctly captures the entire Ukraine issue—and it’s so frustrating to hear Matt reveal he has no idea what Fr. Jason is talking about, and is basing his knowledge of Russian piety on 200-year-old Dostoyevsky novels.

Protestant listener here. The theological insights in the latest Christopher West episode are powerful, healing, and worth revisiting several times over. But more powerful still is two men having a truly open conversation about their pain and process. Thank you for this!!! I’ve shared it many times already.