FIREBRAND DISPATCH #7
Okay Tribe, we’re loaded up with news and featured content this week. So get yourself a coffee, sit back, relax, and enjoy this edition of the Firebrand Dispatch.
There’s a new podcast episode that won’t fire you up, but it’ll bring you deep. I have a word of warning to Notre Dame, and the Catholic world. I also address a ridiculous viral homily from an Irish priest who told people that mass isn’t the place to worship. There’s a new Fathers Know Best reflection for yoU! And I’m really excited to introduce you to The Forge. It’s my new “battlefront”
A little more reading in here than in a “normal” edition of the Dispatch but stick with me.
Let’s do it!
Table of Contents
Introducing The Forge
There’s more about this, down toward the bottom. But The Forge is the new home of the Fire Branded podcast, flanked by articles and commentary “that hits”
The Firebrand Dispatch (This newsletter) isn’t going anywhere. You’ll still get roundups like this one, pointing you to my latest content, including podcasts, my articles, and occasional exclusives available only to you as my subscribers.
Podcast
Shame, Mercy, Forgiveness - Night Watch #2
I won’t lie, guys, this one is a slow mover but it’s good. Night Watch is supposed to be at a slower pace, more relaxed, more “quiet” and reflective. It won’t excite you, but it’ll bring you deeper into a topic most of us overlook in daily Catholic life.
In this episode I was talking about God’s mercy, how we misinterpret it (or re-interpret it incorrectly), and how to address shame and remorse for sins we’ve already confessed and been absolved of.
It’s technically a Stoking the Embers podcast, so you can view/listen to it there. It’s also on my YouTube Channel. Both links are below. HIGHLIGHT REEL IS BELOW
HIGHLIGHT REEL
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ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY
JUSTICE WASN’T CANCELED BY MERCY. IT WAS CRUCIFIED
Why God’s mercy does not erase justice — and how the Cross reveals the true cost of forgiveness. This is a short article, accompanied by a 2 minute segment video.
READ NOW →
NOTRE DAME’S IDENTITY CRICIS CANCELS [CATHOLIC] CULTURE
How a controversial leadership appointment — and a pattern of honors — are reshaping Catholic identity at Notre Dame.
This article doesn’t just focus on a news item. It’s my analysis of the real consequences of the loss of Catholic culture and a disfigured Catholic identity
READ NOW →
The Fathers Know Best
St. Ireaneus: Truth is Received, Not Invented DISCOVERIES
Exploring the Church’s Role in Preserving the Truth Entrusted to Her, Unchanged Through the Ages.
This is an excerpt, with links to read the whole article and my reflection
The early Church Fathers were not private thinkers offering isolated opinions. They wrote as witnesses within the life of the Church, reasoning from what had been received from the Apostles rather than from personal insight or innovation. In this installment of Fathers Know Best, St. Irenaeus of Lyons explains why the Church’s unity of belief across time and place is not accidental, but a sign of fidelity to the truth.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 10
“The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith…
Although scattered throughout the whole world, the Church carefully preserves this faith, as if occupying but one house. She believes these things as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart…
The Churches founded in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya.”
Irenaeus treats unity of belief as evidence of truth. Across languages, cultures, and geographic regions, the Church professes the same faith—not because it’s enforced, but because it is received. Truth, for him, is not something locally generated or personally refined. It is something handed on, and then lived and acted upon. It’s more deeply understood progressively but it isn’t progressed from (broken away from)
This is why heresy is more than holding an incorrect opinion. It is a rupture. To teach differently from what the Church has always believed everywhere is to step outside the shared mind of the Church. Innovation in doctrine is not development so much as isolation from the Church (the Body, and the members). It’s separation; putting the person outside of communion (excommunicatio in Latin, excommunicated in English, meaning outside of communion).
Continue reading at the link below. You' have to be logged in to CatholicFirebrand.com to access the article
Prelude to a Podcast
Here’s some inside info for you guys. I have two solid segments planned for the next podcast!
Protestants are more Catholic than they realize. In the next podcast i’m going to point out some Protestant beliefs that, while true, are actually claims from Sacred Tradition (Catholic), and are not explicit in the bible. If the prots were raging over my last couple of episodes, this segment will make their heads explode.
“Mass is not about Worship”. REALLY???? Did you guys hear about this? It was a homily from Ireland that went viral. I wrote a short commentary on it here. It includes the video,. and a correction of the priest’s catechesis.
BUT, I’ll have more to say about the video in the next episode.Communion in the hand (‘fed like animals’)
Why oneness (communion with each other, referenced by the priest in his homily) is actually very important, but why the priest mischaracterizes it
What’s going on in the Irish Church
FORGE.FM or CatholicFirebrand?
(Same thing!)
The Forge is where I write bold, hard hitting articles that compliment the Fire Branded Podcast. You can subscribe to the website for free. But should you? Here’s the lowdown.
CatholicFirebrand.com and the Firebrand Dispatch Newsletter keep you and me connected. It’s the main portal to what I’ve written, podcasted, or am working on. As a subscriber here, you get the weekly roundup, an occasional exclusive, and there’s a direct connection that social media algorithms can’t sever or interfere with. You never miss a beat!
TheForge.fm is the hub of the podcast, and commentary articles that are, essentially, the same fire and boldness as the podcast.
Here’s what you’re able to take advantage of with a subscription to The Forge (and some of these may or may not interest you—you decide)
You get at least one article emailed directly to you (not just a weekly rundown)
You’ll be able to leave comments on articles
Participate in discussion topics.
Use the Substack app instead of a web browswer.
That app is truly amazing, I highly recommend it.
And that’s a wrap! I hope I didn’t work you to death with this edition, and that you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for being a subscriber, you guys mean a lot to me, and I value our connection here.
God be with you guy!
