California Bishop's Shocking Move after ICE Raids: Removes Sunday Mass Obligation

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. The LOOPcast, of course, is brought to you by The Loop, every American Catholic's favorite morning newsletter. I would just like to make a brief statement about the range that we have in this show. Someone said they will listen to this live while preparing their homeschooling classroom for the next year, and someone also said they'll be listening to it while playing the video game Helldivers 2, which can any other show claim?

That both are happening at the same time. And I have no idea what that means. I actually do. No, this is the best part, is because I actually do know what it is, and it's hilarious because people are saying, oh, it's military propaganda. It is a parody. It's kind of like, I forget the movie it was based upon, but yes, it's almost like over-the-top propaganda, and they're like, ha-ha, look how satirical this is. And everyone's like, oh, wait, actually, this is awesome, and I love it.

And then they're like, ah, no. We were supposed to make you not like it, but you love it. Anyway, this show's the best. What will we be covering today? So, some pretty unprecedented action going on in California from the bishop. They dispensed the Sunday mass obligation for fear of ICE raids, and so we have the decree itself from the bishop. We have more context on the raids that maybe sparked this, and then I actually told my producer to go be a liberal for about a half hour and provide me for the opposite perspective because we want to test metal and metal here.

I think that just makes everything better. That will be going on. We have a new bishop appointed in Washington. Of course, liberals were quick to claim him. That may not be as clear of a picture, but we're going to go through that as well. I discovered that...

The American economy is propped up upon poisoning its citizens and then healing them at great cost, and if that stops, we're in big trouble. So, healthcare is the number one employer in about 39 states now. A really shocking New York Times article revealed that to me. We have good news. We have Twilight Zone. We have some good resources for Catholic as well. This is going to be a great show. I'm super fired up.

But yeah, welcome to LOOPcast. We do it live, 11 a.m. Eastern Time, Monday, Wednesday, Friday on YouTube if you want to join it live, but thank you to everyone listening afterwards. Big help if you guys could just leave us a review, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. That really helps out a ton. Appreciate all the help.

Josh, how are you feeling this Friday? Good, but I'll weigh in on this. Someone asked what the hosts think about video games. I have to say, my dad was in the military, or reserves, so he'd go for two weeks to California every summer to drill with the Navy.

He came home with a Nintendo, this was like 1986, and my brother and sister were just elated, and they just played it all the time, and they kept like, come on, come on, play with this, and I'm like, I did not want to. I played a little bit, like a few minutes here and there, but I mostly just thought it was a waste of time, never got into video games, I would rather... Sort my baseball cards, or watch CNN. Josh, quick rebuttal.

Yeah, I wasn't psycho in the late 80s. Quick rebuttal, your video game was literally a ball moving across the screen very slowly called Pong. You're thinking the early 80s. No, no, no, no. Super Nintendo, you had Legend of Zelda, you had Mario Brothers, you know, that kind of stuff. The only game I actually liked playing was Tecmo Bowl. I love that. Tecmo Bowl is cool. Yeah, I think that... I just think it's largely a waste of time. That's my opinion. I will say the community element of it.

So, my parents are smart. They're like, you can play video games, but you have to play with your brothers. And so, we had some all-out brawls over very fun games. Actually, if we get back together, we will still play together sometimes. But the whole online element of it is kind of tough for me. If you can play it against someone's competition in person, it's fine. I'm all for it. I have kids now, so I don't really play. I see my wife likes to make fun of me for this.

You would just watch CNN and sort your baseball card and say, you know, being a news nerd, maybe it paid off, honey. No, but Josh, think about it. You could have been a Twitch streamer, Josh, and you'd probably be making at least 10 times what you're making right now. I have not.

Dude, new Lubecast content idea, Josh playing video games would be insane. That would go nuts. Don't they do that daily where Michael Knowles is playing Fortnite or something? Come on. I've never even heard of these games. My kids like that Minecraft or whatever it's called. I've never gotten into that.

Oh, that minecraft. We're building all these things. We're doing all these things. We're building them. Can't you clean your darn room? Come on. Oh, what are you, Jordan Peterson? Come on, dog. Oh, man. Okay. Now, we actually have to cover the news here, right? I mean, that's kind of what the show is. All right, let's get into it, okay? San Bernardino Bishop dispenses Sunday obligation over ICE fears. This is a report on a CatholicVote. So, two incidents that inspired the dispensation.

We actually went back and looked into it, and then we'll get into the actual text from the document itself. So, both occurred on June 20th, 2025. There was a groundskeeper arrested at Our Lady of Lorses? Lourdes. Sorry, my typo. Oh, okay. Lourdes Parish? I know it's not ChatGPT. New Our Lady, Monica dropped.

Church spokesman John Andrews confirmed it was a longtime parishioner employed on parish grounds for landscaping who was detained by ICE. The man was doing yard work when the arrest happened on church property, specifically on the grounds on a parking lot, but not an active mass or inside the church building. There was no one else present. Mass was not in session. According to CalMatters, the detainee was sent to a Texas detention facility for due process, according to the National Catholic Register.

Strange one, St. Adelaide Parish in Highland, California. ICE agents chased several men into the church parking lot at St. Adelaide Parish before detaining them, not inside the church building or during mass, according to RNS, Religious News Service. There is no indication that this occurred during a service or inside of the church. The detentions happened outdoors in the parking area. No evidence suggests any arrests were made inside the sanctuary. According to the Independent, according to John Andrews, the diocese spokesperson, neither the parish nor the diocese has any information about them.

The men detained, their whereabouts, or whether or not they were arrested. The men did not appear to be parishioners or parish staff. ICE did not enter any of the church buildings, they explained. It was more akin to a traffic stop where the suspect had pulled into the lot and officers made the arrest there. This is according to CalMatters. So, on Tuesday, Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino issued a dispensation. From Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation, citing, quote, a genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions among parishioners.

In this letter to the faithful, Bishop Rojas cited Canon 87, which allows diocesan bishops and exempt parishioners from universal norms, quote, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good. Well, there's no doubt there. They have the power. So, all members of the faithful and diocese of San Bernardino who, due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions, are unable to attend Sunday Mass or Masses on holy days of obligation. Our dispense from this obligation. So, that is what happened. This is where we are.

Josh, how do you feel about all this? So, if I understand it correctly, ICE never entered inside a church sanctuary. ICE never interrupted any religious service. It never went inside. It was just in the parking lot. So, to me, it seems that this action Of saying you're no longer obligated to go to mass if you're fearful of these ICE raids seems wildly disproportionate to the facts on the ground and the circumstances.

To me, the response to this would be, hey, let's make sure, just to say, hey, ICE, just make sure you don't come inside the church building or whatever. And even then, Like, I understand that that's the, a lot of business, like, we don't want ice raids in the middle of mass. I mean, obviously, any police raid in the middle of mass is entirely disruptive, and it should be avoided at all costs, but I have to say something, like, if you had someone like a mass murderer, it was, had no question about his legal status, and you saw him in mass, or some terrorist, like, Yeah, I mean, you don't want to disrupt the religious service, but you go in there, you'd probably get them, or you wait till afterwards to make sure you could grab them up, because you're respectful to the people that are there.

But the fact of the matter is, it didn't disrupt a religious service. So, to me, it seems like very disproportionate. And again, I just, you know... I have lots more, I guess, questions than I do answers based on what he's doing.

Erika? I mean, I agree with Josh. It does just seem disproportionate to go out and make this very public statement, which... Which has attracted the eager attention of all the jackals, right? I mean, the mainstream media is all over this. They are like, look, the Trump administration's actions when it comes to immigration and deportations are preventing people from going to church. Our religious liberty is under attack. I mean, this was literally what Gavin Newsom tweeted out in response to this. He tweets out Rich Raho, quote tweeting him, and says, Our big Catholic, self-proclaimed Catholic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, becoming suddenly the defender of religious liberty, and it just seems that the bishop's action here played into that so well, and really, I don't want Newsom here capitalizing on people's ignorance and fear and people's trust in their bishops, right?

There still are people. Who hear the bishop say something like this, and they're like, oh my gosh, Trump must be arresting people in parishes, and just playing into that when the facts on the ground suggest a very different reality. There isn't even a record that I could find in the last two days combing every liberal and mainstream, I guess, media outlet. I have not even found one account of any police even waiting outside masses for people to come out. It is not even happening.

So, for Newsom to get out there and be like, look, this is happening, it is that stoking fear. It is a kind of like stochastic terrorism going on that also is of the same ilk that is resulting in all these attacks on ICE agents. It is the same thing. They want less enforcement, so they are stoking fears to try to drum up negative support against it. That is why Father James Martin responded to this. by saying, it is a dramatic sign that not even Catholic churches are considered safe places any longer.

Where are the voices for religious freedom now? See, again, everything is an opportunity to advance his cause and undermine what he calls the conservatives. Like, ah, where's the advocates for religious freedom now? How is it against my religious freedom if ICE pulls over somebody who drives into a church parking lot? Are you exempt from, oh, you can't arrest me because I pulled into a church parking lot?

But yet, he's silent as Biden was actually crushing my religious freedom. I mean, it's an absolute joke, but everything is political for Father James Martin. Unfortunately, some of these bishops are more than willing to play into this and allow Gavin Newsom and the left-wing media to pummel us, and it's like, are you out of your mind? Like, why dispensation from mass? Now, he says it only involves the affected faithful.

But then again, I, so in other words, presumably, the idea is if you are here illegally, you know, I'm not going to obligate you to go to mass anymore. Right, or if you look like, you know, even though, let's say you're foreign-born, but you have naturalized status, but you look like you're, you know, Mexican or whatever, you're very brown, and you might be worried, I'm also, you know, you might be affected, right? So, you don't go. And then maybe a liberal woman who's like, I'm scared of a Gestapo, and I'm just not going to go.

I mean, give me a break, guys. Why are we exempting them all from going to Mass? Now, again, the question should be that we should be asking of the bishops. If you have lots of people in your parish who have entered the country illegally, why is it the most compassionate thing to just simply say, come, come here and do everything and stay? Why isn't it to realize that people, if you have large people, large number of people in your parish that are here illegally, what is going on?

These people are likely exploited. Right. This is the point I keep making about it. We had that ICE raid on the chicken farm in Nebraska, and they had wall-to-wall hundreds of people that were illegally. So, ICE captured them all and took them out, and a lot of lefties are like, that's so terrible. That's so terrible, these poor people. But listen, if you are working in this country illegally, You can't say, wait a minute, the conditions at this factory are terrible. You are living in the shadows.

You're being exploited. It's not good for them. Or, wait a minute, I'm 12 years old, right? We need Catholic bishops who are in favor of the rights of workers, and it's not helping anybody to say, let's just say yes to everyone who's here illegally, because you're allowing rich fat cats to exploit these migrants. That's not good for anybody. Right. The image is coming out of California this morning as well, from the raid on the marijuana farm, the cannabis farm there. And again, Governor Gavin Newsom, he posts it on Twitter, and these are disturbing videos, right?

You have the video, and then you see the tear gas going, and you see what you would assume are illegal immigrants who were working in the fields in the hot sun, running from the tear gas, and you see a small girl being helped. And Governor Gavin Newsom is like, oh my gosh, look, they're going after children. You're like, why was the eight-year-old girl picking cannabis in the sun in the first place? And it turns out, they got out of that raid, they saved 10 minor children from that farm, eight of whom were unaccompanied and being forced to work in that field.

Eight out of 10. They just saved eight of Biden's children. There are 250,000, however many, missing children, and all Governor Newsom is like, oh my gosh, just let the little girl go back to picking her cannabis. Yeah, let her be exploited. Let children under the age of 10 be exploited by rich fat cats.

This is the thing where the media, left-wing politicians, and unfortunately, some people in even our own church think that ICE are the criminals, ICE are the problem. No, they are liberators. Like, this is not good for children to be exploited like this. Yeah. I'm sorry. No, no, no. I mean, I agree with all you guys on all this. I just have a few things I want to add, and I'm not going to beat a dead horse on this. This sets a horrible precedent.

I will. As a Catholic. The COVID dispensation has done nothing but bleed people from actually receiving the sacrament. People have not returned. In many cases, this is backed up statistically all over the place. There are people right now in Africa traveling hours. To go to mass under threat of literally being killed by Boko Haram, and those bishops are not dispensing there. I mean, the point is that, and I'm not going to beat this, but as a Catholic, it really needs to be legitimate.

Now, I just think it sets a really bad precedent. Number two, I see in all of this. Oh, and there goes Tom. He's back. Nope. No sound, Tom. No sound. He's muted. What a beautiful thing. I'm going to get back on my little hobby horse and beat it. No, just kidding. I have something coming today that will fix this, by the way. So, for people getting on me about that, I'm also frustrated. Okay. I see this as a big-time cooperation problem because, as you said, if you're a pastor and you knew that you had a lot of people that were here illegally living in fear in your congregation, there's a couple problems here.

California, and even politicians going to Washington, In the rhetoric that they're using against ICE agents here, not cooperating with the federal government. I looked up the arrests in June by ICE in California. I think they had about 300. 115 of those detainments, people were child traffickers, pedophiles, rapists. Like, these are all just out in society. And we're what? How much farther from when Trump came into office? That's a shocking amount of people that are here illegally that have done insane things that the government of California is protecting.

They're not working with ICE to be able to apprehend these people. And they're just free in society. That's a huge miscarriage of justice. Secondly, if you knew that these people were happening, we have. Beneficial measures to actually relocate you, repatriate you back to your home country with the CBP One app. Now, wouldn't it be great? I'm not saying you have to, but it's like, hey, let's start getting you through the proper channels to become a citizen in the country. Wouldn't that be best for everyone here?

Understanding the incredible task that the federal government has to do to apprehend rapists, pedophiles, traffickers that are not going to turn themselves in, and they're not going to go use the CBP One app. So, that is why I wanted Rosie to go, like, what is the other side take here from, say, the bishops or liberal people who are saying that they are not getting due process, they are not this and that, because in my mind, like, we just saw in Alvarado, there was an ambush shootout with ICE agents.

They lured them in, and they shot them. One got shot in the neck. There is a reason why these people have to cover their faces, because they do not want their families to get killed. By cartel networks that don't have any accountability to the public.

So, I just think this is a huge cooperation issue for the common good of just about everyone, and if we can't live in a country with laws, I mean, we're just going to continue to see the worst kind of evil perpetuated upon people. I'm not saying everyone's like that, and so it'd be nice to get people, as Trump has signaled to, and I'm not actually a huge fan of, but there are people who have been here for 15 years, 20 years.

Let's get the work permit thing back in order. Let's try to solve in the middle. But actually, everyone, including the illegal population, including churches, need to cooperate with the federal government to get the worst kind of gangbangers, pedophiles, rapists out of our country identified. It is unfortunate to me that we have states that are unwilling to cooperate to this end, and this is what is causing the problem. It is not the government causing the problem. It is the fact that we have these kind of people in the country with no desire to actually solve this problem.

I just want to take an opportunity to, since we are talking about it, to talk about it. You know, Catholic teaching and immigration. I really want to echo this argument from a French conservative by the name of Pascal Emmanuel Gobry. He is one of my favorites to follow. He said, just a regular reminder that all the biblical passages about welcoming the stranger relate to extending hospitality to travelers.

Who, by definition, depart on their merry way? It has nothing to do with immigration policy. Witness the many times in the Bible where Israel fights invaders with God's blessings and at God's express urging. Witness the many times in the Bible where God scolds Israel for allowing strangers to live in Israel, and that this corrupts the people because it brings foreign practices such as polytheism and idol worship. Not that anybody making this argument is intellectually honest or actually interested in understanding God's will through the Bible.

Of course not. But he goes, hospitality was a huge deal in the ancient world, because travel was long and arduous and dangerous, and you had to camp out in the middle of nature, and you were very likely to get robbed or killed. It was a huge thing in the ancient culture.

In every ancient culture we know of, it's simply absurd to suggest that anyone in the Bible could have written or understood those passages to mean you have to allow large numbers of random strangers to settle in your country indefinitely if they feel like it.

And in fact, the Bible on numerous occasions discusses this very possibility, and every single time, God himself says, yeah, this is very bad. Don't do it. The Bible, of course, has a very famous story of welcoming a stranger, and that is the story of Lot and Sodom.

That story has nothing to do with immigration, by the way. They only claim to be passing travelers, and everything has to do with hospitality. Modern readers are often shocked by one aspect of the story, which is that Lot offers the hostile mob his daughters.

But in the ancient story, the honorable person doing over-the-top absurd things in the honor of the law of hospitality is a trope. He goes on and on. You read the Bible, you are not going to get this widespread, like, let us allow hundreds of thousands, millions of people from other countries just to completely come into your own country.

I am sorry. It is just not, it is an abuse. It is abuse of sacred scripture. Yeah, I also don't think it's super helpful to even bring, because we're trying to address a problem here. Anyway. I agree with you in the fact that these are...

Baloney arguments that are used to weaponize the Bible against us to try to prevent us from having common-sense border enforcement, but I do think we have to push back at it, and I commend Pascoe for doing this. Okay. Quickly, I'd like to pose this to both you and Erika, Josh. I told Rosie to be a lid for half an hour.

I really want to understand what are the major complaints by, say, the bishops or people that are left leaning on these ICE raids, immigration enforcement by the president, okay? So, the first of the major complaints is many of the people deported or detained do not have a criminal record. This is straight from the Diocese of Knoxville. Doing the math on the numbers presented by the ICE release, perhaps as many as 100 of those detained, well undocumented, apparently had no previous criminal issues.

This brings into question whether the enforcement activity was principally targeted at those who should have no place in our communities because of their own illegal activity. Basically, due process argument. What would you say to that? Well, again, the policy for the first five months or so of this administration is to go for the worst first. They are trying to track down those people who are violent criminals. I mean, I always like to say, if you come into our country illegally, you're still a criminal, but I get the idea that someone who comes into this country and then commits assault, rape, or murder, those are the scoundrels that are the first.

The worst first, go after the worst first. However, Like in Boston, when they do an ice raid to track this guy who's a murderer, and then while they're there, they check, you know, the other four guys that are in the apartment, and they find out, oh, you're also here illegally. But we don't have any record of you committing a violent crime, so just stay? Uh-uh. Sorry. There's a penalty now if you are in the country illegally, and you know this other guy you're with is a violent criminal.

Sorry, you don't get a stay in this country free card. We're pulling you too. So, the worst first, but they're not going to not take these other people that are along with them. So, they do that. And then, the next phase was going into these places like the Tyson's Chicken Farm or whatever it was in Nebraska, where pretty obvious, it looks like most of the people that are working here are here illegally. So, you do a rate on it and double-check the status, and oh, gosh, turns out like 80-some percent are here illegally.

They didn't commit any crime, but it was still a bad thing. The idea here is people didn't realize this. Allowing fat cats to have import tons of workers illegally and pay them or reward them is undercutting the wages of native-born Americans. This was going to be my good news thing. I'll just say it right now. The fact of the matter is We've had, since Donald Trump raised his right hand and was sworn in as president on January 20th, we've seen Americans, people born in America with citizenship, two million of them have found jobs in just these last six months.

That's great news. Now, the fat cats aren't happy because they, half a million, Most illegals in this country have lost their jobs. They've left the workforce. Some of them have just deported. By the way, do people know this? Do you know how many people have self-deported in the last six months? Yeah, this came out this week. It's almost a million people. Almost a million. Wow. Some of them have just left. Some have used the CPB1 app and have gotten $1,000 to go back home.

Because the idea is, if you get deported, like the people in that area, you're going to be deported. Yeah. That chicken farm or factory in Nebraska, if you get deported and they forcibly send you back home, you lose. By law, it is not even a Trump thing. By U.S. law, you lose your ability to apply for citizenship because, hey, sorry, you broke the law. So, this is what the Trump administration is telling people. If you want that chance to eventually become a U.S.

citizen, get out of here, self-deport back home, and then apply. Then you have a chance, and so the fact is, if you use the CPB1 app and self-deport, we'll give you a thousand bucks, and you won't lose your ability. You can still apply later, but if you get deported, eh, sorry.

Okay, I think we're all on the same page. The second is on human dignity is what keeps coming up, and I really actually think it's important to address these sign by sign because these are kind of the language, the buzzwords used everywhere, and then it just kind of shuts down any type of debate, okay? So, we went and found it. Gaudium et spes 27.

Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on the body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself, whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, as well as disgraceful working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit rather than as free and responsible persons. All these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.

They poison human society and they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the creator. And so, according to a lot of these people, the raids, quote, undermine basic human dignity and family unity. Erika?

Do you have anything to say back to Gaudium et Spes? Well, that is what Erika said earlier. Yeah. You need to reiterate. I do have. Let me reiterate. So, the Gaudium et Spes document here, you have to understand as well the historical context that the bishops were addressing as well. In the 1960s, when this was written during the Second Vatican Council, we were coming off the bloodbath of the 20th century when deportations were happening in cattle cars, not to take people from where they had come illegally, but from...

Their homelands and deporting them to Siberia, to Auschwitz, to Dachau, right? That's the deportations, right? We're looking at the death march in North Korea during the conflict there. We're looking at the forced marches in Vietnam. That's deportation. You can't equivocate that with what is happening when a country has experienced an invasion, which is what happened under Biden by any definition of invasion. Whether people came here carried forcibly by cartels and human trafficking, whether they came here to seek a better life, whether they came here to just exploit the generosity of the United States.

The volume of people who came mean that something has to be done, because it was a grave injustice to all of these other things listed. There is slavery going on because of this crisis. Prostitution, the selling of women and children, disgraceful working condition where men are treated as mere tools for profit. That is the... That is open borders. That was the status quo. I mean, I feel like it actually... That's what I'm saying. It answers itself. We have to turn the shame table around.

Totally. The Catholic left likes to assume... You are in favor of ICE raids, therefore, you're the exploiters, and you're the bad people. No. ICE just did, as Erika said, they went onto that marijuana farm, and they found out that all these workers were being exploited, and they had children that were even unaccompanied, unaccompanied miners working in the fields. Why don't they have any parents? Why don't we know who their parents are? Why are they working on a pot farm in 100-degree weather?

How is that good? Why do you support this, Gavin Newsom? Does this fall under the category of the selling of women and children, as well as disgraceful working conditions for men and women, when they're treated as mere tools for profit, rather than free and responsible persons? That's exactly what's said in Gaudium et Spes. Nice try, Librosi. And I think, like, I want to address, a couple people in the chat brought up the point that there are there instances where ICE overshoots, where they, well, literally, where they...

Well, no, it's just perfect. Nothing's perfect, right, but the point is that... This is not a case of, oh, you're in favor of deporting people who are here illegally. Oh, you're the just Gestapo. Like, what an insult to people who actually suffered under the Gestapo, who were actually in the cattle cars.

Or for our boys getting shot at. Like, these patriots that are just trying to enforce the law, taking on an incredible responsibility on behalf of the American citizen republic. Risking their lives, risking their families. I don't think you can be said enough how angry this makes me. I've got to try it. Red-blooded American, a lot of men and women taking the time to really protect their country and are just getting demonized by actual politicians that are supposed to be responsible for Americans taking the side of the cartel, people who are not even citizens.

It's like, this is America first. 1.0. I have to say, there are some people I've talked to that are like, gosh, I'm kind of worried the media is going to exploit this, the Catholic left is going to exploit this, they're going to make the ICE be Gestapo, and they're going to say all this stuff, and all the suburbanite women are going to get scared, and all the public opinion is going to turn around, and it's going to fall, and pretty soon the Trump administration is going to say, oops, this is getting politically unpopular.

And I got to tell you something. I 100% disagree with this assessment. I actually do not think that's going to happen. I think the American people on this, they have pretty tough skin, and I think they're, in fact, very open to this. This was Donald Trump's signature issue.

He talked about this all the time. There is no mistake. No one can say, I didn't expect Donald Trump to do this when I voted for him. We all knew it. This is what he's doing. This is what he's planning on doing. So, the left, the James Martins of the world, Christopher Hales of the world, they are... They're begging for this opportunity to try to exploit it, and they say, oh my gosh, this is so terrible. They want to invoke Christianity, and to try to guilt us, and it's like, you, no.

Turn that shame table around. It is an act of Goodwill to end the exploitation of workers, to prevent young women and children from being pushed hundreds of miles away from their home, to be sexually exploited on the trip through the Darien Gap, this is an injustice that we're ending.

And we're on the right side of history on this one. Need a Josh TikTok, turn that shame table around, edit, please. If anyone is a talented editor, I would love to see that. Thank you. That's one of your best quotes. Second one, I want to address this quickly because we actually, we got a lot to get to today. So, congratulations to Father Thomas Hennon. He's now a bishop, Bishop of Baker, Oregon. The appointment has caused some controversy online, kind of a similar situation of people hopping on maybe a little bit too quickly trying to claim.

I think we have in the show notes, new gay bishop drops, was the exact text here. Here we have Rich Raho. Pope Leo is appointed Father Thomas Hennon, 47, as the Bishop of Baker, Oregon. Hennon was the VG of Davenport and Rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral. In 2023, the Bishop-elect was responsible for working with then-Bishop Zincula on ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. Of course... This was quickly blasted everywhere. Oh, my gosh. We have a new LGBTQ-friendly bishop. This is so awesome. Both sides are actually jumping on this.

I'm not going to get into the full thing, but even Bishop Strickland quickly jumped on this, on the opposite, saying that there's a doctrinal smokescreen. It's a hallmark of the Lavender Mafia. People got all riled up about this pretty quickly. We know some stuff about this new bishop, Erika. What was the LGBTQ ministry that he was a part of? Yeah, so definitely was not outreach. He was actually someone who brought to Iowa Courage, which is Courage International, is a long-standing ministry for men and women who experience same-sex attraction, who want to find support for living, get it?

Official Orthodox Church teaching on chastity. Uh-oh, do I see a quote from Cardinal Robert Serra on their website? Oh, you do. In fact, Cardinal Robert Serra is also a massive supporter of Courage International. He said, quote, these men and women testify to the power of grace, the nobility, and resilience of the human heart. So, Courage International, actually based right here in Connecticut.

I had the pleasure of meeting Father Markey, who was the head of it for a long time. I know several of the people who work there. It is an absolutely rock-solid ministry. There's also Encourage, which is for family members of same-sex attracted Catholics who also need support. This is exactly the sort of ministry to LGBTQ plus Catholics, which this group doesn't even call them that, Rich, just a fact check for you. It's same-sex attraction.

And, yeah, this was a case of overreaction to the headlines that had been crafted. Yeah, I mean, I really like Bishop Strickland. I think he's done a lot of great things for the church, but I just, you know, in this case, I wish he would have just held his powder a little bit on this one and got some more of the facts, because the National Catholic Reporter blasted out information in such a way that it made people think, oh, this guy was a total lib, he was totally pro-Rainbow, and in fact, His work with Courage is commendable, because Courage is a wonderful organization, as Erika said, and so I just, you know, I do recognize so much good that Bishop Strickland has done for the church, but, you know, I just hope that he would use this as this little thing, like, you got to kind of get your finger in the mousetrap on this one.

Use this as an opportunity. To just discern a little bit and realize, and all of us, actually, everyone, all Catholics should use this as a moment to realize, you know something, you don't want to just immediately, social media empowers everyone to make a really quick response, but, you know, I've learned in my 20 years here at CatholicVote, like, sometimes it just makes sense to hold off. Like, for example, the thing that that bishop out of San Bernardino, that thing was announced.

Actually, two days ago, right before we were about to go on air, and I just said, you know, hold on a second. Embargo. Let's not jump on this just yet. Let's find out what really happened. Let's get the facts, see what's going on. Thank you, Josh. I don't want to make a fool of myself. No, I don't want to pop off. I just want to make sure that in this age of instant opinion that can be shared across millions of people in an instant.

You've just got to try to, you know, prudence. I'm so grateful. So grateful for the show, and for Josh, of course, but it does just like, yeah, that's one thing that really frustrates me about Twitter in general. It's so easy to repost. It is. It's easy to repost. It's easy to get it out, and it honestly turns people into, like the medium changes people into people that they're not. Like, I know people in real life that I see on Twitter. I'm sure people even think about me, you know?

It's hard. You see someone on social media, you're like, wow, that's crazy. I can't believe they would say it like that, and then you talk to them in real life, like, oh, they actually, like, weren't. Anyway, I have three thoughts on this quickly because we've got to move on. One.

Another quality control issue in the church, right? We have legitimate heretics running around as priests, a.k.a. Father James Martin. That makes this whole conversation inflamed. If we had more unity on message in terms of how to minister, because my third point here is that everyone belongs. Like, everyone belongs in the church. Jesus did not just come for a specific group of people. He came for everyone.

People that have same-sex attraction, people that may have lived a trans lifestyle, people that maybe lived a homosexual lifestyle, they all belong in the church. There's a place for everyone, right? And what Jesus calls us of is, it's not just that it's demanding, it's that everyone gets this call. It's not just for a select group of people. The second one, I think this is actually a huge positive. Here's my devil's advocate here, or maybe God's advocate. I don't know what we're going to say in this context.

I think it's really positive because it brings a lot of great attention to courage. Yes. I think maybe the last thing, God works in mysterious ways. Courage Ministries is fantastic, and I just think about, we've done so many episodes here, Erika, where we're talking about people that are literally going to be refugees from an insane, anti-human movement, causing them to mutilate themselves, to kill their own children, to do things that make them infertile, and someone, someone needs to speak to their soul.

That's just a transcendent, but then, of course, the life... Well, I said infertile. No, I know, but like the gay lifestyle, especially for gay men, is... Really, just the base. Oh, my gosh. So, again, just liberating them from that. Right. Suicide rates are insanely high for a homosexual lifestyle. It's an anti-human flourishing movement, but it's not the individuals that have been swept up in it that are the problem. We need to bring those people back, and so I'm actually really happy that Courage got a spotlight here.

I think that really is the path forward, and I know a lot of people personally in my life, I have a kid who came and... ...told me that they're gay, or they told me that they're trans, and they're young, 12, 13, maybe they're 18, happens after they leave the house, and I know a lot of people are really struggling, like, how do I even approach this? You know, like, I really believe my faith, and I want what's best for my child, and I'm sure they sincerely believe what they're doing is good right now.

How do we even, where do we go from here? In places like Courage, I really believe in the answer, the church is for everyone. So, I have to say, just real quick on that appointment, it would seem... Pope Leo made a pretty strong appointment, actually, in naming this man to be the new Bishop of Baker, Oregon.

Especially Oregon, guys. Oregon. Someone else said that he actually married their son and daughter-in-law during a traditional Latin mass. Using the extraordinary farm. So, I mean, if anything, this new bishop sounds pretty based. Is that what the kids are saying?

That's what the kids are saying. Do you think he plays hell divers? Yeah. Wait, what? What? Hell divers. That's a video game they're talking about today. This bishop's younger than me. Yeah. He's 47. Isn't that crazy? Wait, you're old, Josh. I didn't even know you were that old. Wow, I got a year on him, but. Oh, okay. All right. Josh, age lore dropped. I didn't know you were actually. I mean, that's the thing. It's like, as you grow up, you're like, okay, suddenly, oh gosh, that baseball player's younger than me.

Then pretty soon, it's like, everyone on the team is younger than me. Then all of a sudden, now there's United States Senators who are younger than me. Bishops are younger than me. Only about four or five. Now, yes, I've entered the realm where a bishop is younger than me.

Dang, you're old. Oh, boy. Dang, you're old. Embrace it, though. I love it. I'm an old soul. I've been an old soul since I was 12, so I'm happy with it. Yeah. All right. This is a struggle on the show. We have so much fun. We get rolling. I can't cover everything on here. I'm going to save my report on U.S. healthcare because I'm so upset about it, but we're going to save it. You need to get a good treatment, right?

We do. Right. Okay, so we're going to go to good news now. Erika, you were up first. Hold on. I've got to scroll down through the healthcare stuff. I'm excited. I'm glad we're going to give it the time it deserves. Yes, it deserves a lot. So, everyone tune in Monday, 11 a.m. Eastern to find out about healthcare and why Tom is crying at night. All right. This was so cool, guys.

Oh, here goes Josh. He doesn't want to hear my good news. Here's my good news. There's this new prison ministry concept. This is a Christian prison ministry came up with this idea for imprisoned men, and there are 16 of them in this particular prison. Can you pull up this video? Yeah. They put on a formal prom-like dance, and here are the men's daughters reuniting with them. I don't know about the video for copyright, but I mean, are you kidding me right now?

I know. So, some of these men had not seen their daughters since they were incarcerated, and you can see the kids coming up to their dads. They're dressed to the nines. They're crying. The dads are crying, and... Just the power of a connection with your dad, no matter what he's done in the past. You can see it all over their faces here, and we talk about the crisis of recidivism. I feel like more opportunities like this for men in prison, when they get out, they'll have this memory of this night with their daughters.

And this beautiful setting, being happy, being free for just that one night. And that memory alone could be enough to turn a man's life around when he does get out and gets to try again. And so, this was just... I cried. I just lost it watching this, but what an amazing ministry. And shout out to all Christians who do prison ministry, one of the great works of mercy, and this was so beautiful. Father, daughter, prom.

Yeah. Speaking of jail time. Yes, mine. Mercer. Oh, Josh. Yeah, this is good news. Oh, no, Josh, Josh, no, no, I already did this, dude. Oh, you did, right? Mackie, right? Yeah. I covered him last show. All right, whatever. My news was already covered, and you go. I got you, yeah. No jail for memes. Or was that Monday? In your defense, you might not have been on there, but I was fired up about it. Mine is good. Mine's very related to myself.

New Trump housing policy. I am, again, one of the many very frustrated that I will never be able to afford a home. I will own nothing and be happy. Many people encouraging me. People email in and encourage me. I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm working on it. So, new housing policy lets rent count towards mortgage approval. So, this is according to the U.S. Director of Federal Housing, Phil Pulte. I had not actually heard of him before, but he had a Oh, he's a big guy on Twitter.

Gives away stuff all the time. He's got a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah, he has like three million followers or whatever, but I've never seen him. He gives away money free on Twitter. You can give me some of that free money. Good point. This is great, I guess.

Lenders can now use VantageScore 4.0 credit model, which incorporates rent, utility, and telecom payments instead of the FICO 10T model, which focuses on credit cards and loans. This model removes requirements for recent credit activity or a six-month credit history. So, for example, he was saying, if someone's making a $2,000 a month rent payment and would obviously be able to make a $1,750 a month payment, then why are we not able to do this? Right. To qualify for a mortgage, right? You want to demonstrate creditworthiness.

I actually like this because, one, no new infrastructure is needed. Lenders can implement this VantageScore 4.0 without any new system, so no cost there. And then number two, I think this actually more directly aligns with what the point of creditworthiness would be, is that are you reliably able to make payments on time? And I don't actually like the model of taking out large loans, credit cards, call me Dave Ramsey, but I just don't think Just to build up your credit score, right?

I always laugh, because some of Ramsey's stuff, I think, is maybe a little bit extreme, but I just, if you hear the type of people that call in, and these are like normal, you know, you can't fake this many phone calls. There's a whole show where people call in, and like, yeah, I have $50,000 in credit card debt, and I'm myself, I'm like, how is it even possible to rack that kind of debt up? And he's like, oh, no, like 70% of Americans have some form of credit debt that they're not paying off regularly.

So, I can see why he'd say, yeah, just don't get a credit card, like if it's clearly going to be that vicious. And then, I believe, straight-up usury that occurs afterwards, where you're putting people in, like, 15% interest. It's only.

15. One of my credit cards that I pay off every month is literally 33.99%. Oh, my gosh, Josh. I think that should be against the law. As usual, yeah. But we pay that balance off every month, so I don't pay that. That interest, but to me, I'm still old school on this one. I remember when I lived in Minnesota, it couldn't be higher than 18%, and then I think it was Reagan that basically allowed it. Well, if you go to another state, it can be 21.

I think that's still horrible. I don't know why my camera keeps going on and on. It's a big credit card. Big credit card to Josh. I know. Lib Josh. Josh, you sound a little bit like a socialist trying to limit the free market from making money here as of credit cards. Josh in the back came. He was going on and on.

As soon as Lib Josh came out. Yeah, you need to plug it. I don't know what you got it plugged into. I think it's a power source thing, because I can still hear you. But, yeah, even someone saying, yeah, $2 purchase homes in their 20s, their monthly payments are less than rent was, yeah, I think it's kind of insane how it's so annoying, because if you're renting an apartment, a lot of times, like, well, just don't get a luxury pool, don't get this and that, and I'm like, there's a lot of times there's not enough options if you live in a metropolitan area for rent, that's reasonable.

Oh, my gosh, if you have children, it's like, okay, you got to rent a house now, you need to get more space, it's crazy out there. So, I just thought this was, again, this is good news, this isn't frustrating news. I love it. It's a good, small, smart. What is the most efficient step towards allowing the American dream, homeownership, hopefully, as I dream of one day?

So, we're not going to see Josh. We're going to hear Josh. Okay, there we go. We hear Josh. There he is. Guys, I got an email. I thought it would be great. To provide some resources here is a good Friday episode email too, so okay. Hey guys, I was raised Catholic, sort of, and have been in and out of the church multiple times. I finally feel ready to come back for good. Awesome. Can you recommend any programs to help? This is one area.

I feel is really missing in the church, at least in my area. I am willing to travel to see what a good program like this would look like in order to bring to my parish. I don't really want to do RCIA. Was hoping for something different. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I really enjoy your show. Renee, thank you for the email, Renee. We got thoughts. Josh, Erika, what you got? Did Renee say where she's from? I did not. I don't believe I got geolocation on Renee.

Okay. Yeah, I have a few thoughts, and then I'll let Josh go. Josh has thoughts. But I am going to go first, Josh. Go ahead. Oh, thank you. So, I think the first thing is, yeah, OCIA can be super hit or miss in terms of how much formation you are actually going to get. I would look in your area for groups like for Saudi groups, for young people, if you are in the Baltimore area, Cincinnati, here in the Connecticut, Northeast, we have Crossroads for Christ.

Find, if you are a young adult, find a young adult group. That does things like formation in the faith night. So, is there a theology on tap near you? If you live in a university or a college town, look for something like the Thomistic Institute, if they have a chapter. So, we have a chapter here at Yale. Huge shout out to the Thomistic Institute. They're so sick. I know someone that does their videography. They're the best. Yeah, yeah. So, for in-person events, I would look around for...

Groups like that. Also, if you find a parish with solid liturgy and reverent liturgy, it does not have to be TLM, but a reverent Novus Ordo, maybe they sprinkle a little Latin in there sometimes, maybe some people kneel for communion once in a while, they are likely to have some kind of formation available as well. That is it. You cannot find it in person. I hate to say this, but you have got to go online. This is something that I think we are living through a golden age in terms of.

Online resources for the church in America. So, if you go, I mean, Thomistic Institute is online. So, if you're the kind of guy or girl who wants to read, I don't know, like Peter Kreeft for fun in the evenings, or if you find yourself bringing the Catechism of the Catholic Church with you to the beach as you gaze out over the water, then look at the Thomistic Institute online for Aquinas 101. That is your sauce. If you're more of a like...

Instagram-type girl, I would go the Father Michael Schmitz route. He would be a really good option. Ascension Press has amazing formation videos with him, with the Friars, with some Sisters of Life going on. The Catholic thing. Love their daily comments that I get. Catholic is awesome. First things, not specifically Catholic, but definitely run by Catholics, if you know what I'm saying. Word on fire, Bishop Robert Barron. All of these are amazing. I'm sure the chat can come up with some more.

Word on fire is so effective that the left is losing their minds and attacking him for it. That tells you how good they are. Yeah. Whoever National Catholic Reporter doesn't like, I would just run in that direction. But I would just say to... To the point that I've harped on many times, and that Tom picked up earlier on this episode, quality control. So, the fact of the matter is, I would not, you know, buyer beware, don't just automatically assume that, oh, I'll just go to this parish's RCIA, or OCIA, whatever, I hate the future.

No, that's a bad idea. So, like, if you go to find a very reverent mass, and then you go to the priest afterwards and be like, hey, um... I want to become a Catholic. How is the RCIA program? Where is a good one I can go to that is really solid, you know, that is not going to be kumbaya stuff?

And if he says, my parish is great on this, actually, it is solid, then you know it. Or if he is like, well, I mean, if he is equivocating, that means he probably has not got around to fixing his program just yet, so you may want to keep shopping.

Because he is not going to say this is crap. Oh, someone also dropped Augustine Institute. They're also really, really good. Oh, they're great, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. It's funny, a lot of people saying OCIA. Unfortunately, I'd say it's the same with marriage prep, too, which is a little bit down the line, but marriage prep is just insane. That's the same thing. Lori and I just said, we went to like one class, and this is so terrible. I went to the priest afterwards.

Can I just do, can we just do marriage prayer with you? Yeah. You know, and we did, and that was a lot better. Yeah, on that one. It's a, I think you made the right foundational assumption, I guess. Again, a lot of this depends on where you live in the country, but where, if you seek out a reverent mass, and you see the people there are very devoted.

Um, it almost through there, then you kind of get in touch with the right things. It's much harder being in the wilderness and looking online, at least for me personally, because For me, when I moved to Indiana, it did not feel like home until we found a reverent mass with people. It is so funny. We go to church, and we have about four or five couples living an absolute parallel life to us. Two young kids. They are wrestling kids in the back.

The amount of times that we have been able to talk to our pastor or other people that are experiencing the same things that we are going through, or for the fact that they are a pastor. He's seen so many people go through the same things that we go through. That is where the rubber hits the road for me. I might just not be, I mean, speaking of, Erika's latest deep dive in AI, being demonic, was unbelievable, so good. But I look at you, Erika, and I'm like, your intellect is so impressive to me.

And I know that some people have very intellectual conversions to Catholicism. I guess I kind of did, but I feel like kind of a simple guy. Like, so much of it is... Is in-person. You know, experiencing the sacraments with people, going through the same things. That's not a bad thing, bro. That's just where I'm at. That's normative. That's good. So, I would say the big thing is... That's nature's healing kind of stuff, Tom. Touch grass, Tom. That's what we're going to call you.

Touching grass, Tom. Touch grass, Tom. Yeah, we got some groundbreaking ideas. I want to go back to trade school, but keep this job at the same time, so we'll see what content comes from that, but I swear... Trade school, Tom. Touch grass, Tom. I do this job, and I'm going through all the news, especially when it's going through the Epstein stuff. So, I'm just like, I'm just, I'm throwing it all away. I'm going to trade school. I'm going to be a plumber.

I'm never going to have to look at Epstein stuff again. I'm never going to have to debate ideas again. You'll be the plumber on the weekends, you know. That's right. I can moonlight as a plumber. We'll see how that goes. Call me Super Mario.

Twilight Zone, now. And yeah, hey, also, comment section. If people have really good things that were helpful to them, I already see people kind of popping off in the comments. And potential, you know, if we have anyone listening from someone that provides these kind of awesome resources, we got partnership opportunities. Like, there's nothing more that, because you brought up First Things, Erika. I love First Things. Their articles are so thought-provoking, and they typically tie it to something relevant. So, the idea of being here, like we talk about the news.

In order to potentially bring you deeper into your faith. At the end of the day, what's most important is a salvation soul. So, what? In the chat, Jan's offering you a job to work for her brother. No, Jan, talk to me. Jan, stop.

Talk to me, Jan. Don't take him from us. Woodworker. Yeah, no, I got a little woodworking gene in me. My great-grandfather, speaking of immigrants, I think is my great-great-grandfather immigrated from Croatia, and they all worked trades. They went to Pittsburgh, and he was a steel fitter, I think. And then my grandpa's brother. Pittsburgh is a blue-collar town, man. Exactly, and my grandpa's brother is a master carpenter, and what he is capable of is truly just jaw-dropping and shocking. You know what they said about Pittsburgh, Tom?

What? It's a drinking town with a football problem. You know what they say about Detroit? Well, they say a lot, don't they? They say a lot about Detroit, but I think, I can't remember who's attributed this quote, but it's basically like, most cities can get by on their looks. Detroit has to get by on hard work.

I love dad jokes. This is great. Keep going. I don't even know if it's a dad joke. It's just truth. Okay, Josh, your Twilight Zone is up, even though we can't see you. I know. My camera keeps going on and off, so this is fun. It's Friday.

Okay, so Slate is this left-wing magazine, and they put up this little advice column. Where it says, help, my husband wants his ex-wife as our surrogate. I can't do this. What? These two dudes, right? They're married. And he's upset that his quote-unquote husband wants the ex-wife to be the surrogate to the child that they want. We're going to quickly show the graphic. I did not need to see that. It's like Ask Abby Slate.

I have to commend pro-family activist Katie Faust, who says, okay, this guy came out, left his children's mother, inflicting physical, mental, and emotional harms of divorce on his 9 and 11-year-old to go be with another man. Now, he wants his ex-wife to help create a baby.

Who will suffer mother hunger, primal wound attachment issues, and identity struggles? Just so that, you know, these dudes can have a kid. Yeah. Did you see the, they did an anonymous write-in, did you see the name? No. Maybe not the right oven for our bun. Oh.

That is so objectifying and just erasure of the name of it. You have to laugh, but it's so insane. You have to laugh or cry. Hey, and this opportunity, I'm just going to take to shout out to Katie Faust, who is a warrior when it comes to children or adults. She's amazing. I just watched her go on a podcast. Oh, my gosh, I'll have to find it. But this podcast where the host of the podcast, it's called like Hard Conversations. And the guy is a gay man who he and his partner in Australia had children.

Two children through surrogacy using the eggs from a close relative of his partner and his sperm, and Katie was just like, so why did that matter to you? Why did it matter to you that you use a close relative to mother your children? And he's like, it doesn't. She's like, but you did it. Why did you? And she's just like, she was very respectful, but. Totally focused on the children, which is what is utterly missing from all of these conversations.

That's right, because in an era of the sexual revolution, as the Ruth Institute says, the sexual revolution demands that your sexual desire be placed as your God, and that no demands come before that. Children be damned. That's the whole attitude of the sexual revolution.

And on that note... I just want to thank, real quick... My good friend, Tom, in the chat, who said, I never looked better. I was going to say, if you did, the chat is talking trash about Josh. Thanks, Tom. Okay. Okay. Well, mine's not nearly so deep as Josh's because this little new product caught my eye this morning. We have Trump Fragrance. Trump Fragrance is here. We got to pull this up, though. Oh, man. You're quoting from the D.I.E. wear guy.

He's the worst. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't even know who that is. I just saw that he had a picture for me. Oh, I got back story, but go ahead. Okay. So, it's called Victory 4547. You can get it for men. You can get it for women.

And it's all about, this was the Trump Truth Social. It's called Victory because they're all about winning, strength, and success for men and women. Get yourself a bottle, and don't forget to get one for your loved ones, too. Enjoy, have fun, and keep winning. Go to GetTrumpFragrances.com. So, for 47, 200, yep, okay, Victory 47, 250 bucks, a bottle?

It doesn't say... The description says nothing about what it smells like. It says nothing about... Does it sparkle when it hits your skin? It doesn't say. It doesn't matter. No, incorrect. It says it blends rich, masculine notes with a refined, lasting finish. With an orange tint, I'm guessing. ChatGPT wrote that. That's what every single fragrance out there does.

But guys, Trump is just on brand. He continues. I mean, Trump is, you know, he is who he is, and he does these every once in a while. I just think it's kind of craptacular, whatever. Are you getting a Trump phone? I am not getting a Trump phone. Okay. I don't belong to that class. You brought this guy up. The Derek guy on Twitter is maybe the most annoying account out there. I think I have him muted. Yep, I have him muted.

All he does is nitpick political opponents, but claims to be kind of this objective fashion guy, and he just happens to always criticize. People that he disagrees with politically, and I think he did something about deportations, and then someone tagged ICE, and then J.D. Vance commented a meme on top of it, so they're aware that he is here illegally, or that he's potentially an illegal immigrant.

Are you serious? This is 2025. The way he came to my attention and why I don't follow him, but I look at whenever it pops up into my feed, is because he came to my attention when he did like a 15...

post thread on Ben Shapiro and how Ben Shapiro could not dress himself, and he's like frumpy, and he always has, and I just, it was so funny and true, and then as a result, Ben has actually improved. I don't want to say like cause and effect, correlation and causation, but I was like, this actually, you know, did something for Ben. But he is one of the most annoying categories of people because he himself doesn't, he doesn't post himself. He just nitpicks everyone else, and once someone did go back and find him, he does not, in my opinion.

I wouldn't say he's classically dressed. It's a living. It's a living. Some people make a living doing that. I'm going to become whatever tradesman advocates hard enough in the chat. We have someone wants me to be an electrician now. We have someone wants me a public plumber, so we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I'll document whatever happens. All right, mine is less fun, but something that I've experienced, and I'm not sure if other people have, so look. I got my beef with the free press.

They are so good at these kind of articles. This is The Death of the Public Library by Zach Bissonette. I actually encourage, I think it's behind paywall, but I'll give you a brief summary, and this article is fantastic. I want to give him credit. Basically, he goes to a public library in Florida, and he moved there. He's all excited. It's on lists as one of the most beautiful public libraries in the country, and all excited, and it is just overwhelmed with marijuana smells, homeless people.

There's people in fights. It's speakerphone in public. It's not exactly, you know, it didn't live up to, I think, the expectation of this beautiful library. And I will say for myself, my library, and I'm not going to reveal my location exactly, is unbelievable. It has to be one of the nicest libraries in the country. It's just shockingly good. But in Indianapolis, the public library is, again, classically beautiful architecture, similar to this one, but is similarly overwhelmed by homeless people, weed smells.

It's just, it's not. It's not a place that you'd want to hang out. You wouldn't want to bring kids there. Bring your children, right. And so, he did a little bit more digging on this. So, since 2012, visits to the Mandel Library at the local public library in Florida have dropped 50%, and incident reports have risen 41% since 2019. So, at the same time, though, you would think, okay, is this just because people are reading less books? And that's actually not the case.

Sales have been up across the board for books and audiobooks and... Like, Kindle-type books are more popular than ever, because the visits and checkouts have decreased as well, even in audio and Kindle versions. So, just checkouts across the board, people are using the library less. And Barnes & Noble is opening 60 new stores in 2025. So, clearly, this isn't like... The picture being painted is not that the library is dying because people aren't reading, it's because of something else. And so, he went and found two people that are probably from the two different schools of thoughts on how to treat this problem that public libraries have just become not so friendly.

So, there's one. There's this guy, Ryan Dowd, and so his essential belief, according to this interview, is that not only do homeless have every right to spend their days in libraries, but that librarians should view their needs as a critical part of the job. He believes librarians should be trained to dispense Narcan. One of his seminars is called Jerks with Homes, How to Deal with Members of the Public Who Are Being Jerks About Homeless Folks. His scripts are for addressing problematic behaviors, including examples like this.

Hey, I don't care if you urinate on the Harry Potter books. But the politicians have a no-urinating policy. Therefore, I have to ask you to stop. Okay, so that is the first school of thought. And this guy is actually influential in the space of librarians, by the way.

Second school of thought, probably more Josh Mercer. Steve Elbrecht, I think, right? First name Steve, last name Elbrecht. A former San Diego cop who has done library security training for 25 years, he advises librarians to stop apologizing for measures designed to make their library safe and appealing to everyone. Some topics he covers in the webinar include our list of challenging patrons from pets to pedophiles, issues from enforcing our code of conduct. Quote, we are losing control of facility that has always been benevolent and peaceful for the community.

In 2015, he wrote this book that the American Library Association called Library Security, Better Communication, Safer Facilities, but he said in the wake of the 2020 protests, the organization canceled the second edition of this book because it didn't want to be associated with a former cop. And the ALA did not respond to this request for comment. He said he found the episode, quote, very hurtful and has since removed his law enforcement career from his LinkedIn page and from some of his marketing materials.

And here's what he had to say. I don't want people to have some preconceived notion that I am some Hitlerian guy. Albrecht said, I just want people to have a nice time at the library. What does it say about the left that you used to be a police officer, therefore you're evil?

The left is just insane, and that's the thing. The homeless problem in these public libraries, I'm astounded at the psychoness of the left. Don't you see this as a problem? Again, that's, by the way, a related thing. There were some people saying, Trump is raising the costs on going to national parks if you're a foreigner. So, if you're flying from Paris, you want to see the national parks, you're now going to pay a lot more to visit our national parks. And someone on the MAGA right was like, hey, we should make it free.

It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You make it free, then it is homeless camps. You still need to charge something. And that is why I wonder, like, if you just literally just charge a dollar to enter into a public library, like, it would get a lot of the riffraff out.

I mean, also, I just feel like, I am not anti the human dignity of homeless people. I just would prefer that the very extensive tax money that I send to the federal and local governments every year could go towards maybe a more effective use for a place for homeless people to stay.

Why is it a debate that we have to tell people not to pee on books? Yeah. They have toilets, people. Or don't bring weapons into the library. Or marijuana. Or marijuana. Don't look at porn on the library computers.

There's nothing liberal. That's why I'm like, it just feels like, can someone psychoanalyze this a little bit more? I think the ALA had their conference and their main speaker that said that librarians were central for democracy. Like, isn't your job to give people books so they can read and provide space for everyone? Is that crazy to say? Like, can we get back to the basics on that? And your job shouldn't, I wouldn't even want to put librarians in the position of administering Narcan.

Like, the role of police is to keep the peace. Well, I do have to say, someone in the chat is saying, simply reinstitute asylums. I get it, because I saw this clip, and it was a really sad, tragic thing, where there is this homeless guy on the streets, and he was just visibly shaking like this, and the point is, oh, all you need to do is get him a home.

And it'll be fine. Of course, it was sarcastic. It's like, this person has needs. It's not just that he doesn't have a house. It's not just unhoused. This person needs actual care to be watched. But see, we felt guilty. Again, there's so much about a Western civilization, this pent-up guilt that we have, and the problem is the guilt. When we see these people, oh my gosh, this is the asylums, this is so terrible. Was there abuse? Yes. Could we make it better?

Yes. But why is it better to have them living on the street? It does not make any sense. But again, the left-wing mind, it is like a cancer in some ways. I wish that the... We're going to talk about it next episode, but the healthcare system isn't helping these people either, by the way. I can't wait. I'm going to percolate on that all weekend. Yeah, percolate on it, think on it. I have a story, too. Someone said, I'm concerned charging to enter a public library would be a barrier to low-income families that aren't homeless.

I completely agree. I just think the point is that the police should... That I pay, okay, so this is kind of what's insane about this. Hey, check out the book, and on your way out, if you didn't piss on the carpet, you can have your dollar back. Sure, but I'm a, so I pay for the library, I pay for the librarian, I pay for the cop, and I pay for all these people through my taxes. So, it's not even like, if I go, I'm not getting charged at the door, because I pay for them.

It's public good. So, they should do their jobs, and the job of the police should not be impeded by some guilt-trip liberal that wants librarians to administer an ICANN. Call the police. Please take care of the issue, and to keep the peace is part of what the police have to do, and if the answer is, well, you can't be in the library, it's obviously causing a problem, and we can talk about addressing root issues all we want, but this is kind of a simple, in a vacuum issue.

People shouldn't be in the library paying on books, and you shouldn't feel bad about telling people to leave if they're doing that. Right. This is like the shocking, how is there two sides in this? This is where I'm like, maybe Rosie needs to go be a lib a little bit more, because I'm just like, yeah, I really have a hard time wrapping my mind. I would not bring my kid to a library where people have needles out.

And isn't that the worst part, is that, like, my kid now doesn't get to do the service of the library, which is to read books and to learn. So, in general, this is just one more symptom of something else, and we've got to wrap up because we're kind of running long, but, like, where Republicans in general and conservatives in general have just allowed inner cities to be complete psychofarms, and there's an unwillingness to intervene. But, like, if you have a public library in a very, very blue, liberal, left-wing city, but the governor's Republican, it's like...

Go in there and fix it. Go in there and clean it. It might really anger the mayor and the local city council members, but the silent majority, probably, of voters will be very happy you did it. Yeah, and it would actually make great optics. And it's actually a good thing to do. Yeah, well, it's very Rooseveltian, like taking advantage of the press to make a statement, and then you get more public support at that point. Like, oh, we have a citizen.

Hey, Roosevelt. Yeah, Roosevelt. He's a master at that. Yes, I'm sure he didn't say his first name. Rooseveltian. That is how deep I am in this book, Josh, that I still need to finish and return to my public library, and I will end on that note. Great show, guys. If you want to help us out, join the Champions Club. Best way to support us, of course, leave reviews. Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I need to find our prayer today from the prayer channel.

That has been... Well, while you load it up, I want to just ask everyone that is listening to say a prayer for my mother, Margaret, who is having some surgery today. I hope everything will go well, but just make sure to offer that in your prayers today. Prayers for Margaret.

Prayers from Margaret. We have a prayer from George Washington offered today. So, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage, we humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people, the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues, and do with the spirit of wisdom those to whom your name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth.

In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, do not allow our trust in you to fail. All this we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

Father, God, Lupe, pray for us. St. Fidelis, pray for us. St. Thomas, Lord, pray for us. We will see you guys ready to rock on Monday. Go check out Erika's video if you want more LOOPcast. Are there demons in the AI? Is AI demonic? Right? Question mark? Guess I'll find out. See you guys in the next one. Peace.