Latest / The Manly Catholic: Training Soldiers for Christ / Ep 223- Why Catholic Men Must Step Into the Breach and Avoid Being Adam
Transcript
- speaker-0: Welcome to The Manly Catholic. In this podcast, we will inspire, challenge, and equip all men to become the men they were created to be. Join us as we journey together to become the best versions of ourselves and strive to change our communities one man at a time. Hello again and welcome to the Manly Catholic. Again, my name is James Caldwell, and with me again I have Father Dominic. And as I mentioned In our first episode, today we wanted to start diving into the Apostolic Exhortation by Bishop Olmsted titled Into the Preach. and this was pretty well known, especially in the Catholic world. I know the Knights of Columbus made a tremendous video series that I'll actually have a link in the show notes for you guys that you can check out. I highly recommend it was really well done. But yeah, so today just Looking at this document that Bishop Olmsted wrote and he delivered specifically to the diocese, the men of the Diocese of Phoenix, but obviously it applies to Catholic men everywhere. If we just start from the title, Into the Breach, there's just so much meaning and depth behind it that we could really dive into deeper, but we won't touch on it too much. But fun fact, Father Dahmen wanted to relay to our audience. So into the breach was actually originally, you know, like military language, which I'll Talk about in a second, but it kind of became famous from Shakespeare from his play Henry the Fift. He talks about it's a famous speech by King, and he said, Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead. So it's a little morbid, but it kind of gets the touches on the military language that we're gonna dive into a little bit deeper. And even just the word breach, for those who don't know, breach is simply a gap. or a hole, especially in defenses or barriers. And, you know, he you can just look deeper into the document. And his first kind of subtitle is called A Call to Battle. And his biggest kind of overseeing arch is that there's a breach in the defenses of manhood and especially of the Catholic Church. And he's basically calling men to step into that breach because if there is a gap in your defenses Who do you think can get in? Our household men of our parishes. We are the first line of defense you can think of it as. And one thing he touches on as well is that one man cannot do this alone. I mean, if you talk about a big battle going on and you have one man that tries to step into the breach, I mean he's just gonna get annihilated. So he needs to have brothers, brothers in arms, brotherhood to help build him up. You know, men sharpen men can sharpen each other. to make them stronger, to make them bolder, to I don't know, to solidify them and to help them grow in their faith grow in virtue. So in the in even just the first paragraph he talks about men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you. The battle that is wounding our children and families. The battle that is distorting the dignity of both women and men. This battle is often hidden, but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual, but is progressively killing the remaining Christian ethos or character in our society and culture and even in our home homes. So Father Dom, I'm gonna give this over to you now. I know you talked a lot about, that breach and I mentioned earlier how Satan kinda enters in the garden. speaker-1: I you touched on so many good points. And breaking open that that quote that you shared from from Shakespeare, you said. From Shakespeare. you know, in into the breach. And it's it's a call for for identification of of some things, if you will. First, some of you may be asking yourself, and this was a question I asked myself when I started reading this. into the breach, this exhortation. When I was in seminary, we we started a a group of seminarian guys called Into the Breach men's leadership team. And this is what we did. We we we dove into this apostolic exhortation and we unpacked it and what it what is it what does it look like in each one of our lives and why are we reading this? And we're studying to be priests and how will we apply this to priests? And why did the bishop write this anyway? It's like what what is the breach? What is what is the issue? What is the problem at hand? Why do men need to read this? Why do men need to throw themselves in the breach? And I think a lot of men don't even know that there is a breach. I think a lot of men don't even know what what authentic true masculinity is. And and I don't, but I know that there's a problem out there in the world. And I believe that if if men can just become on fire for God, right? St. Augustine, you know, a man after God's own heart. Like he talks about a heart being on fire and and through that and in that we can find God and it it really will set men free. So looking at this into the breach, right? Just the beginning of it. The word breach, and then the title of the first first section of this apostolic exhortation, a call to battle, it really should peak in a man's interest. This is this is a clarion call to fight, but to to fight what? What's caused this breach? Well, we can say that evil has. Well what what kind of evil are we talking about? What well look at your own lives. You know, the the guys I'm talking the guys who are listening to this right now, or even James and myself, it's like, well, what's causing me to be less of a man? What's causing me to be tempted to to sin? What's causing me to hold me down? What's what's giving me despair? What's causing me a hopelessness? What's what's causing me to To not want to enter fully into my vocation of of marriage or the singlehood or discerning what God is calling me to in vocation. What's eating away at that? Well, I think we can see that in our culture, most especially with pornography. that's a clear indication of how toxic, our culture has become. son sons being born without without fathers, like fatherless homes. We can go on and on with this, but this is just the beginning of the breach. This this is what's, you know, causing to wall the walls to fail and the enemy to come in. And this is what the exhortation that we're kind of trying to unpack here is is providing a solution to. Like this is the breach we throw ourselves into as men together fighting. You know, not isolated, not alone. And this is this is what we this is what we do. Like men fight, and this is what Bishop Olnstead is really calling us to is to recognize That there is a need for us to enter fully into our masculinity, recognize that there is a breach, recognize that there is a call to battle, but not to do it alone, right? To step up and to create this band of brothers, if you will. And and James, you talked about, you know, this is one of the reasons why you created this podcast is the one challenge us, yes, but not to challenge us in in anger and separation, but you know, to bring unity among us. So if if if we look at it from a very scriptural or or simplistic, even even though it's not simplistic, but Biblical perspective, it's always good to go back to Genesis in its most simplest form and and we can begin to unpack okay, what what is what is the beginning of the breach look like? And it as I reflect on my masculinity and how much further I need to grow and want to grow, because that's that that will help me fall in love, you know, with deep more deeply with God and help me be a the best priest and the best shepherd and the whole the holy priest, a holy shepherd, you know, to my people. And it's the snake entering the garden. And if you read Genesis, you'll see the transition from God creating everything. And then all of a sudden the snake enters the garden. Well, it it should beg the question, how did the snake get in the garden? And Deacon Burke Sivers in his book and in some of his podcasts, especially especially his book Behold the Man, he unpacks this a little bit. And, you know, he talks about where was Adam? Where where was the man in the in the garden? Because the man was Was given the authority by God to till and to keep the garden. He was called to protect it. To protect what? Well, the the the garden in many ways, if we want to look at it from our perspective in today's day and age, is like the the garden for me as a priest is my parish, my family. The garden for for you, men, if you're married, is your wife, is your family. If you're single, it's your it's the chastity of your of your soul. Like we're all given a charge of a certain garden. So, how are the snakes getting into your garden? How are the snakes getting into my garden? See, these are these are the little breaches that we can at least begin to patch up in ourselves so that we can unite as men and then tackle the big breaches that are really causing chaos and destruction in in our society and mostly most and most especially, you know, the attack on the family. So the snake entered the garden. Where was Adam? That's the question that was asked. Well, Adam wasn't even there. The father of the garden wasn't even there. Fathers need to be so present to their families. I, as a priest, all priests. need to be present to my family and and to look and find the weak defenses in my my fortress, so to speak, my parish, and see where the snakes are coming in and and and fill that breach. So the snake entered a garden and the snake didn't even bother looking for Adam. Where is Adam? Well, he didn't care because he went after the most beautiful thing of God's creation. This the serpent went right to Eve. The serpent was allowed into the garden. Adam failed because he didn't kill and keep, he didn't protect, he didn't guard, he didn't lay down his own life, which is which was given to him by God. That's his job, right? To throw himself into the breach. But he didn't, he wasn't there. And the serpent entered the garden and the serpent went right for Eve. God's most beautiful creation. And the first thing that pops into my mind when that happens is this is that for a man, the duty of every man is the dignity of every woman. The duty of every man is the dignity of every woman. And if we don't do that, then the serpent will come right in and go right after our women, go right after Eve. And so that's that at least from introductory perspective, I think I think for myself. this is the beginning of asking ourselves the questions. Okay, in my life as a man, where is the breach? Well, it began a long, long time ago, in the garden, where Adam failed to till and keep. But that doesn't mean we're hopeless. That doesn't mean we're we don't have any hope. Right. Where where Adam failed in many respects by the power of Jesus, who is the new Adam, conquering death by the blood of his cross. He calls us to a higher standard as well, to a higher standard of masculinity. And and to fill that breach. Recognizing the garden that we find ourselves in that is beautiful tr beautiful and holy and to do what men are called to do. Right? Step out into the breach and and to fight for what's good and true and beautiful. speaker-0: So you touched on a few of extremely important concepts and points. I mean, the importance of the family, I think you touched on frequently, not only for men who are husbands and fathers, but also priests who their family is their parish. And if you look at even the second paragraph, he talks about, you know, more statistics that for since two thousand, fourteen million Catholics have left the faith. Religious education of children dropped by 24%. Infant baptism has dropped by 28%. Catholic marriages have dropped by 41%. And he follows it by saying, This is a serious breach, a gaping hole in Christ's battle lines. And it talks about in First Peter five, eight through fourteen. I actually read that verse and I have it here. It says, Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. Seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. So I don't know about you guys, but if a roaring lion was prowling about in the world, literally looking for someone to devour, I'd be a little bit terrified. And I think one problem that our culture has is that we have lost the idea of the supernatural. obviously with the tremendous advances in science and so much good has come from these advances in science, which is awesome. But at the same time, I feel like our culture has become almost reliant on science. Like, if sci science will figure it out, science will give us the answer. But science can't give us answers to everything. I think that's the concept of scientism where basically science is you know the answer to all. But This actually comes from the catechism. It says this dramatic situation of the whole world, which is in the power of the evil one, makes man's life a battle. The whole of man's history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself. And aided by God's grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity. And that actually comes from paragraph four nine in the catechism. But, anyways, and all this all this is what I'm trying to say is that this is hard. This truly is a battle. And we are in a fight every single day. And even if we choose to ignore it, it does not make the problem go away. Satan has clearly penetrated the breach into our families. And I think that is probably been his most effective weapon is going after the family life. Because if he can destroy the family, he can destroy how children are being raised. And that obviously affects generation after generation after generation. And then honestly, men, we've kind of just said, All right, Satan, someone else will take care of it, or the teachers will raise my children. But more so than that, The children they learn first from you, from your wife, from their siblings. And if we are not taking the bull by the horns and saying, I'm gonna be responsible for how my children be introduced to the faith, then someone can come along and train them to run away from the Catholic Church. And as we as you can see from those numbers that I quoted, that they are doing a good job at doing that. And so I mean going back to the marriage part I said forty one percent Catholic marriages have dropped since the year two thousand. that's a growing trend even in our culture at large. I read a statistic it said in two thousand eight point two Americans were married per one thousand people and that's even gone down to six point nine per one thousand people and that's just in America today. And then sixteen percent of Americans associate themselves with the no religious affiliation and that actually has increased to 26%. That was as early as 2018. And 24% of people proclaimed themselves Catholic in the year 2007. That's actually dropped down to 20%. So I mean I can name statistics all day long. but it it kind of is just reinforcing the idea that men have kind of let down their guard. And especially as men And Father Domino can talk about this too. Growing up, we most men can relate to, you know, sport, terminology, athletics, military language, things like that. but men, I I don't know for you, Father Dom, but I, you know, grew up playing basketball and and football and hockey and things like that. But I hated being on the sidelines. You know, I always wanted to be in on the action. I wanted to help my team win and I always wanted to feel like I contributed in some small way versus just sitting on the sidelines and let them else do the work. But it seems to be that in our society, men have gladly kind of taken the seat on the bench and said, you know, there are people out there, they're doing a good job. we see, you know, men they're and we see priests up there, they're doing a good job preaching, or, you know, we see the knights of Columbus and we kinda hurry out 'cause we don't want them to grab us and ask us to join. they're doing their job, but I feel like a lot of us have have failed to ask, what are we doing every day? What are we doing that is helping our children grow in the faith? That is helping our brothers in arms, our priests, how when's the last time you even asked your home priest to over for dinner just to say, thank you? I really appreciate what you're doing and I know it's hard. we have to remember that. we we've talked about, we're grow trying to grow a brotherhood here and we cannot do this alone. I think that's that's pretty obvious, especially if you go back to First Peter when he talks about a roaring lion. I mean, I can't take down a a roaring lion by myself. I don't know how you guys can do that. But no, it it takes an army of men. It truly does. And if we think of I think if we think of ourselves in the midst of a battle day in and day out, we're more willing to to maybe reach out to a brother that we see as struggling or a friend that we see is struggling. we see a man who has eight kids and do we think they don't need any help? just talking to them and just getting together with them and saying, Hey, what are your struggles? What can we help with? and then kind of just go from there and and build community that way. So Father Dom, I'll kind of give this over to you. I know you want to touch on a few things, especially about the sideline analogy I was making with with men we've kind of let other people do our job versus kind of just diving in and saying, No, I'm gonna contribute, I'm gonna step it up, I'm gonna make sure I am helping my team in any way possible. And of course our ultimate example of that, of actually stepping in and and doing something about would be Jesus Christ. speaker-1: Did you really touch on some very powerful points? And we talked about you know that this this battle that that we're called to, and I just don't want to be overtly aggressive or or machoistic here. that this is this is a battle that that ki is is molded to men. I mean, Christ is here with us. We talk about being into the breach, you know. Christ is already in the breach. He wants us to participate because he knows that this will help fulfill our masculinity, right? We're we're we're called we're called to fight. We're called to not be on the sidelines. James made these references to sports, and I played a lot of sports growing up as well, too. And I hated be on the sidelines, and I hated being cut, and I hated being picked last for whatever it was, dodgeball in elementary school. And The thing about this battle that God calls us to, and using this sports analogy, is that nobody's cut. Nobody gets cut. Jesus wants all of us men to participate. And so I think what's what's really coming to my mind, especially guided by the Holy Spirit as we continue this conversation in this podcast, is that God wants, and you touched upon this, James, too. You talked about army. Like God wants this army. And he wants this battle to be a battle of of joy, which is almost contradictory to, you know, the the the battles that have waged across the planet or movies that we watch with about war. But this this battle is of of a of a spiritual nature. And the the reason why we need to unite as men and the reason why this podcast, I think, has come into existence is is that we want to I think the Holy Spirit wants us to unite. And and what does that look like? Does it it it Does it mean it in person? I I think so too. Does it mean it, through the internet podcasts, whatever? Yeah, absolutely. at your church, yes. In your family, yes. I think men showing forth Jesus Christ is the most powerful weapon that a man can wield in this battle. And so we do that with with prayer, really. I think everything that that that's being boiled down to right now is that. Number one, okay, masculinity is not passive, but masculinity is not toxic. There's there's a big difference. Masculinity not being passive means that you see that there is a problem, you see the breach, and you do something about it. You do something about it with your other friends. And you realize that Christ is already there in the breach and he's beckoning you in to join this battle, which which will fulfill us again, based on whatever vocation that you find yourself in. And so I just I don't know, I just kind of want guys who are listening this to to remember is don't don't don't lose hope. Jesus will meet you where you're at and he will begin he will begin to form you into a soldier of Christ and I guarantee that that your life will change. I've seen it. I've seen it in myself. I've seen it in James I've seen it with so many other men in the Christian world. When they bring Christ into their lives, it's almost like everything begins to change. But it changes it changes for the better. But we can't we can't do this alone. especially with COVID ra raging across this this world or most especially this country, we see a lot of this isolation and I hear it in spiritual direction, I hear it in confession, I hear it in, someone just talking to me after mass. It's like this isolation is killing us and and that's what Satan does. He's the one who scatters. And so this call of into the breach really most poignantly is all right, men. You who you listening, James and myself right here, my fellow priests who who whom I'm I'm attached with here at the Diocese's my friends. How can we unite and and and how can we bring about, you know, authentic, good, holy masculinity, not a masculinity that's that's toxic. And the thing is, Jesus is in the breach and he's beckoning us to come and join him. And I think that's where the real adventure begins. speaker-0: And I think that's the big thing that we always need to remember is that there is always hope and we we always have hope in Jesus Christ. Yes, we are engaging in battle each and every day, but who I mean, who do we have on our team? We have the saints, we have Jesus Christ who literally became man to save us from our sins. We have Mary, we have Saint Joseph, Saint Pope John Paul the Great. go on and on, all these incredible men and women through the ages who we have on our side. They are on the field with us, they are fighting with us, they are praying for us. And how often are we actually asking them for help? How often are we actually asking them to pray for us or give them our struggles and say, Hey, I'm struggling with this? Can you pray for me? We ask each other every single day, like, hey, mom, can you pray for me? I'm struggling with this. Why aren't we asking these? These Hall of Famers basically in the in the holy world to to pray for us. So that's really what I want to leave you guys with as we wrap up this episode is kind of I want to actually quote Bishop Olmsted when he talks about the purpose of this exhortation. And he says, I offer this exhortation as an encouragement, a challenge and a calling forth to mission for every willing man. he says in the diocese of Phoenix, but for everyone. Priests and deacons, husbands, fathers and sons, grandfathers and widowers, young men in preparation for your vocation. That is each and every man. And he goes in to talk about more how we have clear guidance from the Holy Scriptures, the magisterium of the church, and the example of the saints. So Father Dom is going to leave us with a challenge here in a second, but I just want to encourage you all. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's a grind day in, day out. But we always have hope and we can always be encouraged 'cause our hope is always in Jesus Christ. speaker-1: James, I like how you talked about that sports analogy. That's still going through my mind right now. And I think about the the the times that times a lot of my life dedicated to baseball. And all through high school and college, and you know, beginning in developing technique, I would always look to the pros. I I would look to Ken Griffey Jr. I mean, beautiful swing, beautiful swing. And I I I I would watch that. I would watch every move that he would make because I wanted to hit like him, because I wanted to be the best baseball player I I could be. And you talked about the Saints. And what what's what's coming to mind right now, and I like this whole idea like after the podcast, if we can stick with this like Father Dom's challenge or something. And and I the Saints keep coming to mind. So my challenge for for myself as well and and James, you know. Actually, James challenged me when he s pretty much started this podcast in many ways. He said, Yeah, you're gonna be part of it. He challenged me. He challenged me. I'm a busy man as a priest, but this is this is this is essential and this is necessary and and we really want to help other men. And so he challenged me. I stepped up and here I am. And so I'm gonna challenge you. And we have this whole idea of of the sports analogy, role models, and now we have the saints. So I want to challenge you men who are listening. Find a saint. Find a saint that appeals to you. There are so many out there. Find one that you you recognize with. Find one that maybe shares the same talents and charisms that you have as well. Learn about that saint. Learn about the history of that saint. And you'll be blown away to find out how how normal these saints are and how abnormal because they became on fire with the Holy Spirit. But that took work. So I challenge you, find that saint, wrestle with that saint, and and adopt adopt him or even her as a spiritual as a spiritual help in your life. You know, one of one of the things that I still I still do as as a priest, I was I was in the martial arts for for a while, and and becoming a priest and being ordained and I I I'll be able to carve out sometime, not a lot, but I I still dive into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. And one of one of the things that our our coach or sensei or however you want to say it says is that drillers make killers. Drillers make killers. So I want I just want to drill into your mind right now, find that saint and and learn about it. It's going to take time, but you got to do it. You have to do it. The saint will help you. It'll be a role model, like though those sports figures or whatever whatever role model you use in your life to help you better something in your life. So, so find that saint, unpack it. And and just use it as inter intercessory power as well. Ask for intercessory prayers from the saint and adopt those charisms and talents that identify with you to help in in your spiritual journey to deepen your relationship with Christ and other fellow brothers in arms. I wanted to ask James what his his saint is and and what mine is. Well, I'm I'm talking, I don't have to ask myself, but I'm gonna tell you my my saint that that saved my soul when I'm in heaven after a couple thousand years in purgatory. I'm gonna come up to the saint and I'm gonna thank him and we're gonna have a great conversation. Maybe we'll crack a cold beer. I don't know. Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. And if any of you are interested in a really solid guy, most most especially founded in the Eucharist, a real leader, a true leader, a shepherd's heart, unpack him. He he was I'm not gonna get into too much depth, but you know, he was he was martyred around year ninety eight, one hundred and ten AD, and he was a bishop. And he really changed my life because he talked about how beautiful the Eucharist is and how necessary it is to deepen a relationship with Christ with the Eucharist. And and so Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, he's he's my saint. I can't wait to meet him. James, who's your saint? speaker-0: So my saint was Saint Pope John Paul the Great, and big reason why I picked him was I was reading his five loves and in it, I mean there's a lot of things that I could relate to him about. I mean, he he loved the outdoors. He tried to go skiing as much as he can. And I married into a skiing family, so I had to learn while I was out in Colorado. So It's actually right around when I was learning. I actually read this book and I kinda could relate there. But just his his witness, I'm actually right now reading his the biography by George Weigel, Witness to Hope. And just such an intelligent man and he came out with so many teachings that the church is still using nowadays. I mean, he literally changed probably the the the church in a lot of ways. came out with the Luminous Mysteries and The Rosary. just so many incredible things. So he was someone that really spoke to me and I think really his outdoor background. He loved nature. That's a big thing how he connected with God and with he's really interested in educating young people as well. But anyways, I can go on and on about him. But yeah, that's my patron saint. It was Saint Pope John Paul the Great. And before we keep rambling on us, we're gonna wrap up. In the next episode, we are gonna continue our discussion on Into the Breach. We're talking about the three contacts that Bishop Olmsted goes into and also answer and address the three questions that he mentions. So until next time, we are signing out from the Manly Catholic. Thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of The Manly Catholic. If you have not already done so, please hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcast. to make sure you don't miss a single episode. It will also help grow the show and reach as many men as possible. We truly think this podcast can change families and help men to change the world. Thank you again so much for tuning in and God bless you.