Then Something Happened

I’m a convert to the faith. I’d spent the last thirty-plus years sharing the faith with non-Catholics, but then something happened.

For whatever reason, I’d never joined the Knights of Columbus until we moved to the Archdiocese of St. Louis about eight years ago. I suppose I’d never joined because I’d never been asked before. When a deacon in our parish asked me to join, I eagerly embraced the idea.

I went through the first two degrees lickety-split. Then it was time for the third degree. No one told me what to expect until I was at the council hall for the degree ceremony. I was told that we were going to be drilled on our knowledge of the faith. I was terrified. I was afraid that I’d be embarrassed by everyone receiving the degree. These were the famed servants of the Church the Knights of Columbus, after all!

I was embarrassed, all right. I was embarrassed for the other fifty-plus men receiving the third degree. There was only one other man besides myself who could answer any of the questions at all. What puzzled me the most was that none of them seemed the least bit embarrassed that they couldn’t answer the questions they’d been asked publicly. 

When everything was done and it was time for beer-n-nuts, I wandered around the room and listened to conversations, occasionally asking questions for clarity. It seems the men thought they were being asked advanced catechism questions. You know, things like how many sacraments there are, and naming the mysteries of the rosary.

My evangelistic apostolate has been devoted to evangelizing non-Catholics for thirty years, but this experience convinced me that I was sharing the Catholic faith with the wrong people. Consequently, I soon turned the focus of the Joe Sixpack—The Every Catholic Guy apostolate to cradle Catholics.

In the beginning, I was somewhat discouraged. No matter how charitably I suggested to Catholics that they might want to consider a little deeper study of the faith when they’d demonstrated a degree of ignorance in some basic topics, they always—100% of the time—indignantly responded one of two ways. They’d either say, “I’ll have you know that I went through eight years of Catholic school,” or “I’ve been a Catholic all my life.” Of course, neither response demonstrates anything… except arrogance.

One day I was speaking to Michael Voris of Church Militant on the phone. I mentioned that I believed that at least 95% of Catholics neither know nor understand the faith. He told me that I was being entirely too charitable. A couple of weeks later, I was interviewing Terry Barber of the Terry & Jesse Radio Show for my The Cantankerous Catholic podcast. I mentioned my conversation with Voris, and Barber responded that he agreed that I was being too charitable.

Why am I telling you this? Well, this is my very first article for Catholic365, and I want to introduce myself and what you can expect from me in every single article that I write. I’m going to write mostly articles that will convey Catholic truth. In case you’re wondering what qualifies me to do that, I’m a consecrated member of the Marian Catechist Apostolate, under the direction of my friend Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Believe me, becoming a consecrated member of the Marian Catechist Apostolate ain’t no cakewalk! Talk about being proficient in the catechism, my fellow members and I practically had to walk through hell in gasoline pajamas in order to get there!

Here are some of the things that I’ll be covering:

• Proof for the existence of God
• All twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed, and all that they imply
• Proof for the existence of purgatory
• Proof that Jesus established the Catholic Church
• All seven sacraments
• Proof of the reality of the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist
• All of the Ten Commandments, and all that they imply
• And much, much more

When most Catholics think about articles or courses on catechesis, their very first thought is, “Bor-r-r-ring!” Well, I’ve been doing this for a long time. God has graciously used the natural talents that He gave me to make hundreds of converts and reverts in one-on-one and small group venues. That doesn’t happen by being boring. I can pretty much guarantee you that my articles aren’t going to cause you to yawn.

If you like what I write, you may want to consider taking things to the next level. I host a weekly free webinar series called Sharing the Catholic Faith. Without exception, attendees tell me that these webinars are like attending a college course. That’s sad, actually, because everything I teach (with the exception of a brief explanation of the heresies of fundamental option and situation ethics) is nothing more than what all Catholic children had to know seventy years ago in order to graduate the eighth grade. 

In these webinars you’ll be able to ask me questions in real time. All you have to do is reach out to me and tell me to add your name and email to my list. If you ask me do that, two things will happen. First, you’ll begin to receive thumbnail lessons to a course in your inbox every three days. You’ll also begin to receive weekly invitations to the webinars so you can register. Can’t make the webinar’s chosen date and time? No problem! The webinars are recorded for those who register so you can view them at your convenience. Of course, you can’t ask a recording questions, so it’s always better to be there for the live event.

I don’t stop at just teaching the faith. The one thing that I love almost as much as the Catholic Church is the United States of America. I’m a patriot to my core. I’m a gold star dad. I served in the United States Army. My father was a highly decorated war hero in Korea. To the best of my knowledge and belief, every able bodied man in my family has either served in the military, public service, or both all the way back to the Revolutionary War. We’re descendants of General Hugh Mercer, a close friend and confidant of George Washington who died at the Battle of Princeton. So I suppose you could say patriotism is in my DNA. Consequently, you can also expect articles from me about this great nation, politics, and anything in the news that effects Catholics—all from a genuine Catholic perspective.

The final thing that I want to mention to you that I do is that I’m the host of a podcast called The Cantankerous Catholic. It’s not like any other Catholic podcast that you’ve listened to before. You won’t hear any Kumbaya namby-pamby platitudes, so-called Spirit of Vatican II baloney, or political correctness. The subjects covered by my show and the interviews are in-your-face and done with attitude. So if you just want your Catholic faith to make you feel good all over, don’t bother listening to The Cantankerous Catholic.

My podcast audience certainly consists of all ages and at least two of the thirty-seven genders recognized in this country, but my primary demographic for Sixpack Warriors (what I call my listeners) is 61% Catholic men between the ages of 18-34. Why do I attract that demographic? Well, there are two reasons.

The first reason I attract mostly Catholic men is because The Cantankerous Catholic is one of the few places where they can go to feel accepted as men—the masculine type, not the sissy type. Between the radical feminist element that’s infiltrated the Church and the Lavender Mafia in the hierarchy and priesthood, Catholic men have been made to feel unwelcome unless they cow-tow to the powers that be and emasculate themselves. I won’t allow nor stand for that!

The second reason that my listeners are mostly young Catholic men is Jesus Himself. Over the last sixty years, the Christian world has remade Jesus in their preferred image. They’ve taken Jesus the Incarnate Word of God and attempted to turn Him into Jesus the Warm Fuzzy. They’ve portrayed Him as all warm, gooey, and sissified. That’s not the Jesus of the gospels, and Catholic men have intuited that!

Jesus never was warm and fuzzy. He loves and loved everyone while walking among the people, but true love is always truthful. Truth is abrasive and offensive by its very nature for people who don’t want the truth. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, the warm and fuzzy crowd can’t handle the truth. Jesus publicly called men liars, hypocrites, and white painted sepulchers full of dead men’s bones. He drove people from the temple with a whip. That doesn’t sound too warm and fuzzy to me, but it does sound rather manly. If Jesus were walking the earth today, enemies of the Church (from both within and without) would call Him a toxic male. So Catholic men listen to The Cantankerous Catholic because they can associate with that Jesus.

Now you know who I am and what I’ll be doing for you. And make no mistake: everything that I do is for you. I don’t earn a dime from this apostolate. Every penny of revenue generated goes right back into the things I do for you. You have my word that I’ll always work for you and that I’ll be available to you.