I’m excited to announce that I have created an online tool for keeping track of the value of multiple cryptocurrencies in one place:

coinvalue.io

The concept is simple: enter a list of addresses for any one of five cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, and Peercoin – and coinvalue.io will determine each address’ balance (after determining if the address is valid), and then calculate the total value of all the addresses in the list. It is a simple way to keep track of your crypto-investments.

Here are some screenshots:

coinvalue.io Main Screen:

coinvalue.io Results Page:

(alas, not my personal addresses)

Another shot of coinvalue.io Results Page:

I hope people enjoy using this little tool. If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the tool, let me know!

The post Announcing coinvalue.io! appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

This is a great political ad (something I never thought I’d say in any context), and I’m a bit surprised it is from the official Ted Cruz campaign. Note that it is only understood if you’ve seen the cult classic Office Space.

The post It Feels Good to be a Clinton appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I was on the Daily Decrypt again this past Tuesday, talking about Bitcoin Sidechains and their relationship to altcoins. The conversation was based on my article Unchained: Altcoins as Free Market Bitcoin Sidechains.

Enjoy!

The post Daily Decrypt appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I was smiling, but only because I didn’t know the Reds were about to lose 101 games.

Since I was a young boy, I’ve been a dedicated Cincinnati Reds fan. Unfortunately, I wasn’t old enough to witness first-hand the Big Red Machine, and my first years of truly rooting for them came in the early 80’s when they were one of the worst teams in baseball. Since then they have had 1 World Championship (1990) and a few playoff appearances (along with the dual embarrassments of Marge Schott and Pete Rose). But it appears that they will again be one of the worst teams in baseball this year, and frankly, I don’t want to back a loser.

Thus, I have decided that today is a perfect day to switch allegiances and root for new teams this year, one in the National League and one in the American League. And I’m going to back winners! No more rooting for teams that only have an outside chance of winning; I’m backing the teams that have obviously sold their collective souls to win.

Without further ado, my new teams are…

National League

Go Redbirds!

American League

Yay Bronx Bombers!

And, oh yeah, I’m supporting Trump now too.

Winning!

The post Switching Allegiances appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I’ve never been one to have mystical experiences. My prayer life usually consists of me reading a spiritual text, meditating on it, and then saying some prayers. I don’t hear anything from God. I don’t experience any visions. However, one time I do believe God spoke to me in a clear way.

First, some back story. In my first 8 years of marriage, my wife and I were blessed with four children, each born about two years apart. My wife and I had wanted a big family, and these children were a source of great joy for us. About two years after our fourth child, my wife became pregnant again…right on schedule. However, after about 17 weeks, she miscarried. It was a tragic loss for us. Our doctor explained that this can just happen sometimes and doesn’t mean we will have future miscarriages. About a year later, my wife became pregnant again. Again, she miscarried in the 2nd trimester. We were heartbroken, and we began to look into potential medical reasons for the multiple miscarriages. Our doctor could find nothing. Another year passed, and my wife again became pregnant. We were nervous, but our doctor did not believe we were at a higher risk for miscarriage. About 15 weeks into the pregnancy, my wife miscarried for the third time.

After three miscarriages we feared that we would never be able to have any more children. We were very blessed with four children already, and we knew couples that were unable to conceive, so we tried to be content with what God had richly given us. But we were still young and had assumed that God would give us even more children to care for. But at this point we began to reconcile ourselves to that fact that we would not have any more kids.

4th of July Vision

About a year after the third miscarriage my family was going into downtown DC to watch the 4th of July fireworks. We arrived early to find a good place to sit, and brought with us a picnic dinner and some games. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate, and it began to rain. Heavily. We got under some umbrellas and a plastic tarp we brought with us, and decided to wait out the rain. As I sat there daydreaming, I had a “vision.” Not a vision that I saw with my eyes, and in fact it wasn’t much different than a daydream. But it was very specific, and unlike my usually mental wanderings. I saw myself holding a newborn infant, and I knew – similar to how you “know” things in your dreams that aren’t explicit – that it was my child and that it was the 4th of July the following year. It was clear to me that I would be holding a new baby – my new baby – one year from that date.

Because of our heartache and the fact that doctors could not tell us why my wife had three consecutive 2nd trimester miscarriages, I didn’t want to tell my wife about my vision. It seemed to me to be cruel to get her hopes up over what might just be a fanciful daydream. So I kept the vision to myself, even though inside I was confident that it was from God.

Hope in God

A few months later, we decided to go to another doctor who had been recommended to us by a friend. His name was Dr. Bruchalski, and he was a well-known faithful Catholic doctor who specialized in difficult pregnancies. At the beginning of our first meeting, he prayed with us. Very quickly he believed he knew what was wrong (so quickly, in fact, that I was skeptical – how could he determine the cause within a few minutes after other doctors didn’t know for years?). But we decided to follow his advice, and a few months later my wife became pregnant. To say we were nervous would be a great understatement. We didn’t know if we could handle yet another miscarriage. Early in the pregnancy, my wife was scheduled for a sonogram. The technician had troubles finding the baby’s heartbeat, and the tech told us that the baby had probably died. Even with this statement, I was confident the baby was alive. Sure enough, a few days later we had another sonogram and all was well.

A reason to hope

As we got closer to the time in the pregnancy when my wife had thrice miscarried, we prayed and trusted in God’s providence. Every week without miscarrying felt like a victory. But Dr. Bruchalski made it clear that the child would be at risk all the way up to the day of birth. So we never could completely relax. My wife was scheduled for induction. We prayed and prayed, and our hopes kept rising that we would be blessed with another child in our lives. After a long day of labor, my wife gave birth to a beautiful healthy girl. All our hopes had been realized, and so we named this precious gift, “Hope.”

The date was June 29th, less than a week before July 4th. On that national holiday, one year after my vision, I was holding my newborn daughter, just as God had shown me I would be.

The post God Gives Hope appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

Twenty-five years ago, on August 25th, 1991, an unassuming Finnish computer engineer named Linus Torvalds posted a note on an Internet message board. He informed the board that he had released a new free operating system, based on the Unix OS, and which would become known as “Linux.” No one who read that message could have guessed that twenty-five years later Linux would be the most dominant operating system on the Internet.

Free, But Valuable

Not me.

I remember my first introduction to Linux back in 1997, when the OS was barely out of the hobby stage. I had begun working at a web hosting company – before anyone really knew what a web hosting company even was. The founder of the company hired me as the first employee, and he needed me to do a whole host of things for him: customer support, system administration, software development – whatever was necessary. It was the classic start-up: I worked in his basement, helping him build up the company from scratch. At the time he hired me, my employer already had hundreds of clients on a half a dozen servers. However, it was still a shoe-string operation at that point (it would grow in a few years to over a thousand servers hosting hundreds of thousands of sites). When I first started, he introduced me to Linux, and open-source software in general. Before this job I only had experience working on Microsoft platforms. I asked him why he chose Linux over Microsoft Windows, the dominant operating system of the time (Apple was then just ending their dismal Steve Jobs sabbatical). The simple answer, “I can’t afford Windows, and Linux is free.” A sound business decision, to be sure.

Because of Linux, our customers were able to have a website for only $40/month (very cheap at the time) plus the $35/year to the monopoly Network Solutions for registering their domain. If we had to use Windows, the cost of the licensing as well as the added technical support needed (Linux was much easier to maintain, even then) would have put the cost to the customers in the hundreds of dollars a month range. In other words, not worth it to people who didn’t even know if a website would be a worthwhile thing to have. Because of this, I would argue that had Torvalds not created Linux when he did, there is a good change the Internet revolution would not have occurred as quickly as it did. For if websites required hundreds of dollars each month to maintain, they would only be available to corporations and the rich. But because of Linux, anyone could get a website up and running cheaply and easily – something we take for granted now, but this was revolutionary at the time.

First They Laugh At You, Then They Embrace You

Yet we had detractors. Over and over I heard that Linux, as a free, open-source product, wasn’t suitable for business. Some of the things I heard:

“No respectable corporation would base their business on a free product.”

“It’s not backed by a company, so we can’t depend on it.”

“If everyone can see the code, it can’t be secure.”

Yet while the “professional” class was scoffing, I saw young startups again and again eating their lunch by basing their business on this “unproven” software. Eventually, the scoffers became believers. Linux is now the operating system underlying many of the major websites of today, such as Facebook, Google, and Wikipedia. And its reach is even deeper than just websites: the mobile operating system Android is based on the Linux kernel, so Torvald’s creation is now running on millions of personal devices around the world.

The Power of the Market

Linux Torvalds – Master of the Internet.

The story of Linux is a beautiful one, full of innovation and the power of creativity. There was no controlling authority directing its development; after all, Torvalds had no intention of creating such a behemoth – he just wanted to develop a better operating system in his spare time. Further, Linux has been able to overcome its doubters and enemies simply because it works. The market – in the form of thousands of entrepreneurs like my employer back in the 90s – selected Linux, not because someone told them to, or they were mandated to select it, but because it was the best solution for their needs. In response, other companies such as Microsoft had to adapt to keep up with Linux, not the other way around.

Linux is a wonderful innovation that shows the power of human creativity and the free market when left to their own devices.

Happy Birthday, Linux! And thank you, Linus Torvalds for having a great hobby.

The post An Ode to Linux on Its 25th Birthday appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I’m pleased to announce that a collection of my articles on Catholic life, evangelization, and the current state of the Church has been published! Titled Be Watchful: Resist the Adversary, Firm in Your Faith, this book contains eighteen articles I have written over the past two years. You can purchase it on my site (autographed!), or at Amazon.

To give you a taste of the collection, here is the introduction to the book:

Introduction – Be Watchful

Ever since I became Catholic in 1993 I’ve been actively involved in the Church, mostly through evangelization work at the individual, parish, and diocesan levels. I’ve met thousands of Catholics and worked with hundreds of priests, even a few bishops. Much has changed in the Church in those twenty years, some for the better, some for the worse. But one constant has remained: the Church has been in crisis.

Sober reflection on the state of the Church should render this statement uncontroversial, but for most interested parties it is a highly debatable claim. It’s difficult to judge our contemporary situation as dispassionately as we judge times past, for we don’t know how to weigh the importance of current events by any unbiased standard. For example, faithful Catholics might critique a long-dead pope without qualms, while those same faithful Catholics will find it exceedingly uncomfortable to censure a living pontiff.

However, the numbers speak volumes: the modern Catholic Church has been hemorrhaging members for decades, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Church in the United States (see my article “How Great We Aren’t: The Catholic Church in America Today”). Many factors have led to our current situation, but one thing that isn’t helping us escape the crisis is our inability to be self-critical.

Too often, today’s Catholics mirror the subjects in the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Something is amiss, we all know it deep down, but none of us wants to be the one to mention it. We’re afraid we’ll be labeled “reactionaries” or some other epithet. Or we’re afraid that our criticism will appear to be a criticism of the Holy Spirit, whom we know guides the Church (see “The Holy Spirit is Not a Control Freak”). Like it or not, in order to fix our current problems, we must first acknowledge them. This is part of the commission St. Peter gave us when he instructed, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Being watchful means recognizing when our adversary, the devil, is succeeding at keeping souls from Christ. A watchman who doesn’t cry out in a time of crisis is useless.

The articles contained in this book comprise my own attempt at this kind of alertness. They address some of the issues the Church faces today, mostly focusing on attitudes and issues I have seen firsthand that harm the Church’s ability to spread the Gospel to the whole world. My call for self-criticism doesn’t mean I don’t see good things happening in the Church today. Every day people are receiving forgiveness in Confession, souls are being baptized, and Jesus Christ is becoming sacramentally present on altars all around the world. The work of the Holy Spirit in the Church never stops, and today is no exception. But we must strive constantly to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to make His work present to the whole world and to acknowledge when we aren’t doing so.

These articles were written over the last two years for OnePeterFive (onepeterfive.com), a website dedicated to “rebuilding Catholic culture and restoring Catholic tradition.” OnePeterFive, in fact, takes its name from the passage I mentioned above. I’ve appreciated OnePeterFive’s willingness to “be watchful” and be honest about the state of the Church today. This has come with some controversy, but I’d rather have free, open discussion than have some topics considered “off-limits.” I believe there is a need for an apostolate like this today, and I hope that my own articles, originally found at OnePeterFive and now found within this book, help us all to “be watchful” and to rebuild Catholic culture and restore Catholic tradition.

The post My Latest Book: “Be Watchful” appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

Ten years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced a technology that would actually exceed his own grandiose hype. Every new product Jobs introduced he described as “life-changing” or “revolutionary,” and the iPhone was no different. But this time Jobs was correct, and probably even understated: the iPhone really did change the world. There were smartphones before the iPhone (I had a Palm Pilot!), but Apple’s entry into the smartphone industry obliterated past attempts at “smart” phones. I still remember the “oohs” and “aahs” when Jobs scrolled up the screen with his finger and the screen “bounced.” We laugh at that now, but it really was amazing to witness for the first time.

Having a powerful, Internet-connected computer in your pocket of course has changed the way we live. Sometimes I try to explain to my kids what life was like before cell phones, and before smartphones particularly. My teens who are old enough to drive are especially amazed that we were able to get anywhere without a GPS-based mapping system in our pockets. “How did you know where to go!?!” And of course, just having a phone with you at all times solves all sorts of problems (we just watched “Home Alone” and I chuckled when I realized the whole premise of the movie falls apart if cell phones were prevalent then).

But what was truly revolutionary about the iPhone – and what made it so successful – was the App Store. When I used my Palm Pilot, not only was it clunky to use, but it was limited in what it could do, for only Palm software could run on it. But Jobs opened the iPhone to everyone, and thus the iPhone had the potential to do things even a visionary like Jobs couldn’t even dream of. Case in point: digital payment systems.

Apple is trying to roll out ApplePay, with limited success, and other tech companies are also trying to make payment systems embedded in our phones. But where payments systems and smartphones can really shine is with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Dash, which are fully digital. With legacy payment systems, Apple and other companies are trying to shoehorn antiquated, card-based systems into the digital universe. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, live and breath on the internet, and so fit perfectly into the smartphone world.

Yet workable cryptocurrencies didn’t even exist when the iPhone was introduced, and so Jobs couldn’t forsee them being available on his creation back in 2007. And the relationship works both ways: if the iPhone didn’t exist, I’m not sure if Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies would have taken off. After all, Satoshi Nakamoto originally presented Bitcoin has an “electronic cash system,” but who would want to pay for things when saddled to PCs and laptops? Without the potential for using cryptos outside the walls of our larger devices, I doubt they would have caught on as they have.

Happy Birthday, iPhone! You have impacted the world far more than anyone could have guessed when you were first introduced, and I have a feeling your impact is only going to grow as you get older.

The post The Impact of the iPhone appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

The bishops of Malta have issued a document titled “Criteria for the Application of Chapter VIII of Amoris Lætitia.” For those who haven’t been paying attention, Chapter 8 of AL deals with whether divorced and remarried Catholics should be able to receive Communion – an issue that has been transformed into the most pressing issue of the day in recent years.

Dr. Ed Peters rightly calls the document a “disaster.” A few quick thoughts of my own:

• The conclusion reached by the document – that divorced and remarried Catholics can receive Communion as long as they are “at peace with God” (par. 10) – should surprise no one. This has been the end game ever since Cardinal Kasper gave his infamous address almost three years ago to the Roman Curia introducing the “Kasper Proposal.” This was not the Church listening to the Holy Spirit and going wherever He leads. It was planned from the beginning, and this was the conclusion that was to be reached, no matter the opposition.
• Like all those who have been pushing for this change, the Maltese bishops use the language of “ideal,” “discernment,” and “complex situations.” But we all know the bottom line: this transforms the Catholic policy on communion to essentially the same as that of most mainline Protestant denominations, i.e. open communion. For if feeling that one is at “peace with God” is the primary criteria for receiving Communion, what precludes anyone from receiving?
• The image on the cover of the document – Our Lord encountering the woman caught in adultery – is the height of irony, although I’m sure the Maltese bishops don’t realize it. After all, after Christ had dispersed the crowd, he told the woman, “Go and sin no more.” The bishops, in effect, are telling men and women in a similar circumstance, “Go and sin some more.”
• The priests of Malta – and anywhere such a policy is implemented – have a decision to make. Will they obey their bishops, or will they obey the Lord? I don’t envy them, and we should all pray that our priests remain faithful to the Lord’s commands, even if it means opposition to their bishops.
• The Maltese bishops speak of living in continence as an “ideal” that is “humanly impossible” for some (par. 9). Yet the bishops themselves are required to live in complete continence. This tells me one of two things: either they believe they are superior to these couples, or they themselves don’t live up to the “ideal.” So the bishops are either arrogant or immoral.

St. John Chrysostom famously said that the “road to Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” It looks like the road is about to be repaved.

The post Go and Sin Some More: The Bishops of Malta Endorse Adultery appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I’m excited to announce that my latest book, “The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did” (published by Catholic Answers Press) is now available on Amazon for pre-order!

This book explores the best way to evangelize today, based on the model of Jesus himself, plus the saints, as well as my own personal experiences from over 25 years of evangelizing.

The post Available for Pre-order! appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

My book The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did has just been released by Catholic Answers Press! In order to introduce the book, here is a brief Q&A I recently did with the publisher:

Q. Before we get into The Old Evangelization, could you give us a definition of “The New Evangelization”?

Pope St. John Paul II called for the “New Evangelization” because he recognized that we are in a new era in the Church’s history: we have millions of baptized Catholics who have not been evangelized. Instead of the necessity of traveling to a foreign country to evangelize, now we need only look next to us in the pews. This new reality presents new challenges for spreading the Gospel.

Q. Now that we’ve got that settled, what is your definition of “The Old Evangelization”?

The Old Evangelization is a return to the basic principles of evangelization which originated with Jesus himself. Too many things labeled “New Evangelization” today are neither new nor evangelization. The term has been co-opted. Popular techniques and programs are often just reruns of corporate marketing tricks or Protestant megachurch methods. The Old Evangelization focuses on the bold proclamation of the Gospel, based on the model of Jesus Christ, and primarily through one-on-one relationships.

Q. Give us an example of how you would use The Old Evangelization in practice.

Let’s say you have a close relative who has fallen away from the Church. This book will help give you practical advice–as well as encouragement–to talk to that person and help him or her back to the practice of the faith.

Q. What was your motivation behind writing this book?

I’ve been involved in Catholic evangelization for 25 years. In that time I’ve seen “evangelization” go from being practically taboo in Catholic circles to a buzzword attached to every parish program and outreach. Yet we still see a massive number of people leaving the Church. So I asked myself, “What if we don’t really understand what evangelization is?”

The most common misunderstandings I’ve seen are a result of these two traps: First, many Catholics see evangelization primarily as a job for other people–those who are professionals, or maybe for the people who run the programs at their parish. Or, second, they misunderstand what evangelization entails, figuring it can be summed up as being nice to others. Yet true Catholic evangelization–like it was practiced by Jesus and his first followers–means every Catholic boldly proclaiming the truths of our faith to those around us. I wrote The Old Evangelization to remind Catholics of that fact and to show them how to do it.

Q. You call this “A Practical Guide”….How so?

Laced throughout the book are practical examples of evangelization. First and foremost are examples from the life of Jesus himself, unpacking his encounters with people like the Samaritan woman at the well and the rich young man. The book also includes examples from the lives of the saints over the pasts two millennia. Finally, I include many examples of evangelization–both successes and failures–I’ve encountered myself over the past quarter century of evangelization work. The book draws lessons from each of these examples that equip and encourage the reader to evangelize.

Q. I notice the book has study aids at the end of each chapter – Examination, Exercise and Exploration. Was the book designed for group as well as individual study?

I’m a firm believer that evangelization itself is best done one-on-one. But learning about evangelization can be a group affair! The Old Evangelization can be read individually or as a group, with the purpose of encouraging each Catholic to go out and proclaim his or her faith without fear.

Q. What is the greatest lesson you hope people get from reading your book?

That they should not be scared to evangelize. Some are intimidated because they don’t think they know enough theology or doctrine. Others are intimidated because they fear social rejection if they talk about some of the Church’s more controversial teachings. In both cases, it is the devil who is working to keep Catholics quiet, but Our Lord wants us spreading the Faith as he did!

The post The Old Evangelization: Questions and Answers appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

Earlier this evening I was the guest on Catholic Answers Live to talk about my new book, The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did. If you missed it you can view it here:

The post Catholic Answers Live appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I have a number of upcoming radio interviews talking about Catholic evangelization and my new book, The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did:

• Thursday, May 4th, 7:45 AM EST: SonRise Morning Show
• Thursday, May 4th, 3:00 PM EST: Meet the Author
• Friday, May 5th, 8:15 AM EST: Iowa Catholic Radio
• Wednesday, May 10th, 7:45 AM EST: Morning Air
• Wednesday, May 10th, 9:30 AM EST: My Catholic Faith
• Friday, May 12th, 7:45 AM EST: Kyle Heimann Show

If you’re near a radio, check ’em out!

The post Upcoming Radio Interviews appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

Midwest Theological Forum – creators of the Didache Series of High School Catholic textbooks – has just introduced the first book in their new Sacramental Preparation series: The Sacrament of Confirmation. I was privileged to be the Editor of this book, and I think it’s a wonderful resource for parishes, schools, and parents preparing children for this important Sacrament.

This book was challenging to edit, since children can receive Confirmation as early as 2nd grade, or as late as 11th grade. We decided to focus on the 7th-9th grade levels, since these are the most common ages for children receiving Confirmation. But I think high school students wouldn’t find any issues with using it as well.

From the Preface:

Midwest Theological Forum is proud to offer The Sacrament of Confirmation, which is our first book in the Didache Sacramental Preparation Series.

This series stands alongside the Didache Complete Course Series, the Didache Semester Series, the Didache Parish Series, and the Didache Bible. It was prepared for the catechetical needs of dioceses across the country and in accordance with guidelines from the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

This book was designed with preteen and early teenage students in mind, but it may be used profitably by Catholics of all ages. My prayer is that it brings you toward a closer union with Christ and a deeper intimacy with the Holy Spirit, “in order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life” (CCC 1309).

I encourage you to read the material at the end of each chapter. These special sections will teach you how to pray and discern God’s will for you (Sealed in the Spirit). They will also strengthen your relationship with your parents, who are your first teachers in the faith (You and Your Parents), and help you grow in spiritual friendship with your sponsor (You and Your Sponsor).

Most especially, since the Holy Spirit’s “actions, his gifts, and his biddings” (CCC 1309) can be seen most clearly in the lives of the saints, each chapter highlights a particular holy person who has powerfully manifested the fruits of the Holy Spirit. As you read the stories of these heroic Christians, I invite you to pray for their intercession and open your heart to a closer friendship with each of them.

I hope you enjoy this book as you prepare—with the loving help of your sponsor, parents, catechist, parish priest, bishop, guardian angel, and patron saint—to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Rev. James Socias
Author

If your child will soon be preparing for Confirmation, or your parish/school is looking for resources to help children prepare, check out this great new textbook!

The post The Sacrament of Confirmation: New Textbook appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

I’ve started a podcast!

My plans are to put up about two episodes a week. I’ll discuss the same topics I cover in my writings: Catholicism, technology, culture, and baseball. My guess is about half the episodes will cover Catholic topics, and the rest my other areas of interest. I’m keeping each episode to 10 minutes so that they are easy to listen to (and easy to produce).

My latest episode is titled What is the Old Evangelization? – I give a definition of “Old Evangelization” and discuss how it differs from the New Evangelization we hear so much about. I’ve already done episodes on Bitcoin and the 7 Myths of Catholic Evangelization, and have plans for episodes on why people leave the Church, my favorite baseball players, and how the liturgy impacts evangelization.

You can listen to the podcast on my website, or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. Just search on “Swimming Upstream” and look for my radio-face.

Enjoy!

The post New Podcast! appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

For a further discussion of this issue, listen to my podcast “Why Are People Leaving the Catholic Church?“

The post Mass Exodus: Why Are People Leaving the Catholic Church? appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

It was 1991. I was in college, an enthusiastic Evangelical Protestant. My roommate was a just-as-enthusiastic Catholic. Inevitably this led to many theological debates, such as whether we are assured of our salvation, the meaning of baptism, and the role of Mary in our salvation. I have warm memories of that time in my life, for it was truly life-changing for me.

As I think back to those days, the background always seems cluttered by various resources from Catholic Answers. My roommate would leave pastel-colored Catholic Answers tracts lying around our dorm, as well as back issues of This Rock. At times I would pick them up out of curiosity, not realizing the impact they were having on my own spiritual pilgrimage to the Catholic Church. As I became more friendly to Catholicism, my roommate gave me a copy of Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism. Along with the cassette tape of Scott Hahn’s conversion (which I listened to while watching dinosaurs walk by the window), Keating’s book was the most influential resource in my conversion to Catholicism.

I thought of this as I read Keating’s announcement of his retirement. Keating has been phasing himself out of day-to-day operations at Catholic Answers for a while, but now he is officially gone. It marks an end of an era. 

When Keating started in the late 1970’s, Catholic apologetics was as dead as Richard Nixon’s presidency. No Catholic engaged in apologetics; the practice was considered anti-Vatican II and not in keeping with the spirit of the times. After all, isn’t apologetics just a relic of those terrible pre-Vatican II triumphalistic times? Keating didn’t see it that way. He considered apologetics a necessary part of Christ’s command to evangelize the world, and he embraced it enthusiastically. Eventually he founded Catholic Answers and made apologetics his full-time profession, and Catholic Answers a juggernaut. In so many ways, he single-handedly re-legitimized Catholic apologetics. 

It’s impossible to know the impact Keating has had on the Church, but it’s unquestionable immense. So many non-Catholics—and in particular, Protestants—have come to understand the truth of Catholicism from the work of Keating and Catholic Answers. I haven’t always agreed with Keating over the years (in particular, I think he overemphasized the impact and danger of Traditionalist movements in the Church), but I’ve never questioned the tremendous good he’s done. Without his work, I’m convinced there would be a lot fewer Catholics today. 

It was a great honor to recently have a book published by Catholic Answers, the organization that had such an impact on my own conversion, and an organization founded on the vision of Karl Keating. To me, it was giving back to an organization that gave so much to me. It’s quite possible I wouldn’t be Catholic today if Keating hadn’t decided to step out into the deep. 

Thank you, Karl Keating!

The post Thank You, Karl Keating appeared first on Swimming Upstream.

By now most Catholics have heard of the “Filial Correction” issued by a group of 62 clergy and scholars and addressed to Pope Francis. In essence, the Filial Correction argues that by his words, deeds, and omissions, Pope Francis has allowed a number of heretical opinions regarding marriage, the moral life, and the reception of the sacraments to spread in the Church. I encourage you to read the Filial Correction in its entirety.

Since the Filial Correction’s release, other signatories have been added, and my name was added on October 5. I’d like to explain here why, after much prayer and consideration, I added my name to this Filial Correction.

Souls Are at Stake

A common narrative associated with the Filial Correction is that there are two sides of the battle: those who care about individuals facing real-world difficult situations; and those who only care about doctrine, with little thought of actual people. Those in the former group are “pastoral”; those in the latter group are “doctrinaire.” These labels give a clear indication of which group is supposedly more compassionate and caring. However, it is precisely because of real individuals in real-life situations that I decided to sign the Filial Correction.

For over twenty years I’ve been involved in evangelization efforts at the parish and diocesan levels. In that time I’ve talked to hundreds of Catholics about their “real-world” situations: from divorce and remarriage to homosexuality to fallen-away children to everything else you can imagine. As one might guess based on the current state of the Church, a large portion of the Catholics I’ve encountered have a faulty understanding of Catholicism and Church teaching. Some of their errors are slight and easily corrected; other times they represent heretical beliefs—in some cases the faulty belief system amounts to, in essence, an altogether different religion. However, it is only in recent years, specifically since the election of Pope Francis, that I have seen these Catholics emboldened in their errors and hardened in their heresies.

For years, when I was discussing a “controversial” topic with a Catholic, I would argue from Scripture, Tradition, and reason for the Catholic position. I would also bolster my argument with the writings of the current Holy Father, whether that was John Paul II or Benedict XVI. However, in recent years when I outlined the Catholic position I would quickly hear, “But Pope Francis says…” followed by an erroneous understanding of Church teaching. Never did I experience the previous two pontiffs used in such a manner. These were not just theoretical or hypothetical arguments either; they were real-world Catholics justifying real-world sins by virtue of the teachings of the current Vicar of Christ.

A few examples are in order. I know a Catholic woman who attends Mass regularly and whose son has been a practicing homosexual for many years. She supports his lifestyle, claiming that he was born that way and that he is unable to live chastely. I first met her when Pope Benedict XVI was reigning as pope. She was frustrated at the Church’s position on homosexuality (she knew it was against her own position), and she longed for the Church to change. I explained to her that would not happen, and was impossible in fact. Then Pope Francis was elected, and in less than a year she was crowing that the Church was, in fact, in the process of changing its position and “accepting her son.” No matter how much I tried to convince her that the Church did not—and would not—change its teaching in this regard, and that her son’s lifestyle was harmful to him, she went to sleep each night convinced that she had been vindicated by Pope Francis.

Another example. A woman I know had a sister who was divorced and remarried (without an annulment). Her sister was a Mass-going and Communion-receiving Catholic. This had gone on for a number of years, and my friend was uncomfortable with her sister’s practice, but didn’t say anything to her about it. Then this issue catapulted to the forefront of the Church due to Pope Francis. My friend followed the stories of the Synods and then Amoris Laetitia with much interest, and she eventually concluded that her sister was doing nothing wrong, and in fact she could and should receive Communion even though she was living in what the Church had since the time of Christ considered an adulterous union.

So in the first example, a young man is living a dangerous and destructive lifestyle—one that harms him physically, emotionally, and spiritually—and his mother fully endorses that lifestyle, believing that she has the backing of the Vicar of Christ. In the second example, a couple engages in sexual union outside the bounds of matrimony, yet receives communion, thus fulfilling the words of St. Paul, “any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). Yet no one challenges or confronts them on the wayward path they are following.

Now contrast these stories with two others from my experience, both from before the time of Pope Francis. I have a friend who lived a promiscuous homosexual lifestyle for years. He was miserable, and he makes clear today that this lifestyle, no matter how much the media promotes it as natural and joyful, is destructive to the human person. About fifteen years ago he heard the message of the Church regarding homosexuality, came into contact with the apostolate Courage, and left his sinful lifestyle. He is now living chastely and is more happy and joyful than he’s ever been before. All because he was presented with the beautiful truths of the Faith regarding human sexuality.

I am also good friends with a Catholic woman who years ago married a Protestant in a Protestant ceremony (i.e., outside the Church). She attended Mass regularly, receiving Communion without any qualms. One day she heard a homily in which the priest lamented the number of Catholics who are in invalid marriages and who receive Communion. She realized that day that she was one of those Catholics. She met with the priest, who charitably but firmly told her that she needed to go to Confession and validate her marriage before she could receive Communion. She followed his advice and was reconciled to the Church. Her husband, inspired partly by the Church’s strong stance on the sanctity of marriage, eventually converted to Catholicism. Because this priest clearly articulated the Church’s teaching on marriage, a family that was at one time outside the Church is now a practicing Catholic family.

These are the people I think about when I hear calls for a softening of the Church’s teachings on human sexuality and marriage. Yes, I believe it is important for the Church to defend strongly its doctrine, but, contrary to popular belief, this defense is not at the expense of people, but instead for their happiness and salvation.

Squaring the Circle

Initially, many argued that there were orthodox interpretations of Amoris Laetitia and the many statements and actions of Pope Francis related to the issues surrounding divorce and remarriage. Initially I too thought that was possible. I argued at first that the media was misinterpreting his words. Then I believed he was a poor communicator. But over time I realized that the evidence is simply too overwhelming (and the Filial Correction documents much of that evidence). I no longer had a good response to “But Pope Francis says…”

Sadly, in many quarters there is no longer even an attempt to square the circle; instead, the heretical interpretations of Amoris Laetitia have become accepted and promoted as orthodox. Catholic leaders are embracing the core practice at hand—communion for those who are divorced and remarried without an annulment—because they are accepting the heretical presuppositions behind it.

For example, Cardinal Ouillet, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, explicitly called for those who are in such irregular unions to be able to receive communion. On a lower level, well-known Catholic apologist Tim Staples also promoted the idea that adultery shouldn’t preclude someone from receiving communion, arguing that sexual relations between two people not married to each other is not always a mortal sin. Note in both cases, these are not “liberal” Catholics who have previously advocated for heretical positions; they have been up to now rock-solid orthodox Catholics. Yet they believe that Pope Francis (and Amoris Laetitia) calls for a practice that is clearly contrary to Church doctrine dating to the time of Christ himself.

Can a Catholic “Correct” the Pope?

I realize that even those who agree with the content of the Filial Correction might be uncomfortable with the idea of “correcting” the pope. After all, isn’t he the Vicar of Christ? Doesn’t canon law state that “the First See is judged by no one” (Can. 1404)? I’m not going to argue this point here, as others have ably done so.

However, I do want to make one point in this regard. Often when people defend Pope Francis, they fall into the error of believing everything a pope teaches is infallible and thus cannot be disputed. Even when they acknowledge that the Church does not teach that every utterance of the pope is infallible, they still act as if they are. For example, in a recent La Stampa article, the author notes:

This false accusation railed against Pope Francis, claiming that he is teaching or prompting heresy in part of his Ordinary Magisterium is in effect a denial of the one of the essential truths behind the teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, who is granted Divine assistance which prevents him from erring in matters of faith and morals, even when teaching non-infallibly.

Note what is being said: the pope is prevented from teaching error, even when teaching non-infallibly. Yet that is a logical contradiction: if he is prevented from teaching error, he is by definition teaching infallibly; if he is teaching non-infallibly, it is by definition possible for him to err. Either he cannot teach non-infallibly (which contracts Catholic belief), or he can err. Such illogical thought has unfortunately become all-too-common in the Church today.

Devotion to the Papacy

Ultimately, I signed the Filial Correction because of my deep love and devotion to the papacy, and because of my desire for the salvation of souls. I also signed it with deep sadness and grief. My saintly father-in-law, who mercifully passed away before the pontificate of Francis, taught his children a simple rule: follow the pope. He knew, as Catholics should instinctively know, that one will be spiritually safe if he remains united to the pope. But this union is not one of blind, unthinking obedience; it is part of a devotion to the Church, her Lord, and the totality of her Tradition. As St. Paul demonstrated in the first days of the Church, love and devotion to the papacy does not preclude filial correction, because souls are at stake. It is my hope and prayer that this Filial Correction will be a step towards a papacy which gives a full-throated, robust defense of Catholicism to a world that desperately needs it.

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I’m not a big football fan. I don’t watch any of the regular season, and just a little of the playoffs. But I’m an American, so I do usually watch the Super Bowl, if not for the game, then for the commercials.

Super Bowl commercials are a cultural touchstone—they often give an accurate reflection of what’s important in our society. But sometimes they reflect, not our current culture, but what the ad-makers want our culture to be. Two ads this year in particular revealed the desires of their makers to remake culture.

The Wonder of Being Woke

The first, and most blatant, was the Coca-Cola “The Wonder of Us” commercial:

Coke is introducing a more diverse product line, and so they used that as an opportunity to push our modern religion: multiculturalism. The commercial carefully includes a whole range of races, ages, and genders. It also includes a subtle transgender reference.

Coke is clearly trying to get points for social consciousness. But unlike the touching Budweiser “Stand By You” ad, which shows a salt-of-the-earth manager helping get water to those in need, “The Wonder of Us” comes across as a ham-handed exercise in virtue-signaling. “Look how woke we are!” It’s pushy, condescending, and too earnest all at the same time. It looks like it came out of a campus diversity training workshop.

Rewriting History

The other ad trying to change culture is a bit more subtle. I’m referring to the Budweiser “Bud Knight” commercial:

In general, there’s nothing really wrong with this purposefully-stupid ad. It’s set in the Middle Ages, and shows a battle the Bud Knight is supposed to end. But what is insidious about the ad is that it includes women in the battle scene.

Of course, putting women in traditionally male roles has been a major Hollywood trope for some time now. In an effort to diminish the God-given differences between men and women, women are often depicted in physically-demanding situations that traditionally were reserved for men. So you see Black Widow, who has no super-powers and weighs about 120 lbs, overcoming large male Special-Ops warriors in hand-to-hand combat. See? There’s no difference between men and women!

The Bud Knight commercial takes it further. By including women in the medieval battle scenes, the ad-makers are rewriting history in order to push for a false equality between men and women. For of course women never fought in battles in those days—societies were actually more civilized back then, and they wouldn’t dream of putting women into battle. They knew that war was not for women, and they were also smart enough to know that men were far superior in physical fighting to women and they wanted to win. But our cultural elites wish to demolish any distinctions between men and women, and so they must purge any evidence of their inherent biological differences.

Pushing Change

Are these two commercials the end of Western civilization? Obviously not. But they are examples of how media can remake culture and push it in a specific direction. If we are concerned about the direction of our current culture, we would do well to understand all the ways being employed to change it.

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My conversion to Catholicism was the most important moment of my life, leading me into the Church Christ founded. But this conversion when I was 21 years old was actually my second religious conversion. The first happened five years previously. Although I consider the conversion to Catholicism as more significant, if not for my first conversion, that second conversion would never have happened. Looking back at the first conversion, I see how God worked in me and prepared me for that second conversion.

Churchgoing, But Not Religious

I grew up in a family of regular churchgoers. We attended our local Methodist church dutifully each and every week. Missing church services on Sunday morning was unthinkable. Even to this day it’s inconceivable for me to do anything other than attend church on Sunday mornings.

But being regular churchgoers didn’t mean we were particularly religious. We prayed before dinner, but other than that, we didn’t discuss religious topics at home, nor did we partake in any other religious activities. Belonging to the local church was more of a social duty than anything else in our family. It was an outward sign of respectability, not really an inward religious conviction. I gave little thought to Christianity outside of Sunday services. (However, years later my parents became much more religious and convicted in their beliefs).

This type of upbringing didn’t really prepare me for the temptations of high school. Although I was a “good kid” growing up—never getting in trouble at school or doing anything to disappoint my parents—I didn’t have any strong convictions to help me resist various worldly temptations as I got into my teen years. So it’s probably not surprising that at the beginning of my sophomore year of high school I fell in with the “wrong crowd.” I started going to parties that included alcohol, and eventually joined the drinking. I wasn’t completely comfortable with this lifestyle, but I didn’t see myself stopping it either. The path my actions were leading me down was not a good one.

Sticking Around

Around this time I also started attending my Methodist church’s youth group. This might seem contradictory: why did you start attending youth group at the same time you were falling in with the wrong crowd? The best answer is that teenagers are full of contradictions. I didn’t start attending youth group due to some inner conviction, but instead it was just something to do, and my sister had started going, so why not? Of course, looking back I see grace at work. Interestingly, years later my youth minister told me he thought “there is no way Eric will stick around” when I first started going to meetings. It must have been clear to him I had little interest in following Christ at that point in my life.

In April of my sophomore year, my youth group went on a retreat at a Christian college in Indiana. I went along, primarily because a girl I was interested in was going. On our first night there, my roommate at the retreat asked me if I wanted to smoke weed with him. I had never smoked weed, but I can’t say I wasn’t interested. Fortunately I was afraid we’d be caught so I turned him down.

As the retreat progressed I became more interested in the talks and skits. Growing up I had always taken sermons seriously, often making resolutions during them. However, upon leaving church I quickly forgot those resolutions. Hearing a crash-course of sermons over a few days, however, meant the word of God dug deeper into my soul. I began to feel more and more convicted as the retreat progressed.

Life-Altering Conversion

The closing talk of a retreat like this is a special one. The retreat leaders go all-out to get the kids to make a commitment to Christ. I don’t really remember the details of what was said, nor do I remember anything about the speaker. I do, however, remember the auditorium and where I was sitting. I even remember where the girl I was interested in was sitting (one row in front of me, a few seats to the right). What I most remember, however, is that at the end of the talk, the speaker asked anyone to come forward “who wants to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.” I also remember that the song Friends by Michael W. Smith was playing, which was the go-to emotional song of that time. The retreat leaders were leaving nothing to chance.

When I saw people go forward, I began to consider going forward myself. I’ll admit that part of my reason was that I thought it might impress the girl I liked, who was serious about her faith (never underestimate the power of a girl to a teenage boy). Almost without realizing it, I found myself standing up and walking to the front. I knelt down, and someone placed his hands on my head and began praying. I felt convicted, for the first time, that I wanted to serve Christ completely for the rest of my life. I made a promise in that moment to give my life to God. And looking back over thirty years later, I can say that I’ve tried to keep that promise ever since then. Of course I’ve fallen at times, but that promise made in an Indiana college auditorium to the tune of a Michael W. Smith song has stuck with me to this day.

Eternally Grateful

For Catholics reading this, there might be some uneasiness with my story. After all, this wasn’t a sacramental moment; in fact, it all sounds pretty emotional. Didn’t you go forward to impress a girl? Weren’t the leaders manipulating your emotions? Lots of people make promises in the heat of an event, and many (perhaps most) of them forget that promise pretty quickly afterwards.

All this is true. However, I know with certainty that this moment was grace-filled for me. I know that my life changed in that moment: I went from living for myself to striving to live for Christ. The conviction that began that April night in Indiana eventually led me five years later to become Catholic. I had made a promise to follow Christ no matter where it led. Of course, at the time I had no idea that Catholicism would be a part of that. But when a few short years later I was presented with the truths of the Catholic Faith, I realized that in order to keep that initial promise, I would have to enter into Christ’s Church. And so I did.

I realize that emotions (and hormones) were likely involved that night in Indiana. But that doesn’t mean God’s grace wasn’t also involved. And for that, I’m eternally grateful to God and to all those who held that retreat over thirty years ago. God works in mysterious ways, and on that night, he worked in me.

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