Avoiding Babylon

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100,000 subscribers is supposed to feel like a finish line. For us, it feels like turning on the camera, realizing the lighting is still bad, and choosing to fix it live anyway. This milestone stream is a behind-the-scenes look at how our Catholic podcast and livestream actually runs: the studio build, the sound and echo battles, why backlight matters, and how a “nice background” can still make you disappear on camera if you don’t shape the scene.

We also get real about the creator economy. Subscriber counts don’t mean what they used to, the YouTube algorithm can reward clips while long-form shows stay steady, and the X algorithm can hijack your feed if you pause on the wrong video for eight seconds. That pressure fuels the negativity cycle, especially in Catholic media, and we’re tired of it. We talk about why keeping day jobs gives us freedom to experiment, joke around, and focus on content that actually lasts.

So where do we go next? We want to keep at least one weekly deep-dive anchored in Catholic history: papal encyclicals, older councils like Trent, and even “faith in film” style episodes that start with real events like the French Revolution and the War in the Vendée. We share sponsor updates, a listener success story, and why we care more about real community than raw views.

If you like candid creator talk mixed with Catholic commentary and history, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Support the show

Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!
Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1
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Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!
A papal document tries to warn the world about artificial intelligence, but what happens when the warning itself is so ambiguous that it feels like it cannot guide anyone’s conscience? We dig into Pope Leo’s new AI text and ask the questions the average Catholic is already asking: What does “remain profoundly human” actually mean, what is “true progress,” and why does so much Church messaging sound allergic to naming sin, conversion, and the spiritual stakes of modern tech?

From there, we zoom out to the bigger picture driving the anxiety: a Church leadership culture that often aims for unity without defining unity in Christ, and “solutions” that feel more humanist than Catholic. We talk about how social media dehumanizes people through anonymity, why AI can become an oracle if we treat it like one, and how older Catholic writing often delivered clearer moral reasoning in fewer words. We also explore why many Catholics see the current moment as a hostile takeover in slow motion, not a clean break from the faith, but a steady dilution that confuses the faithful while keeping the sacraments intact.

Then the conversation gets blunt about ideology and influence: communism and apostasy in light of Pope Pius XII’s 1949 decree, the Vatican’s World Meeting of Popular Movements, and the danger of pairing local churches with activist networks that push revolution, abortion politics, and syncretistic spirituality. Along the way we touch prophecy, Jerusalem, Fatima timelines, and why end times talk keeps resurfacing when institutions look unsteady.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who is trying to think clearly about AI and the Catholic Church, and leave a review with the one line from the conversation you cannot stop thinking about.
Support the show

Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!
Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com
Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com
Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe
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Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!
Death doesn’t schedule itself, and when it arrives suddenly it can make even strong people feel numb, angry, or terrified. We sit down with Father Anthony Amato to talk about what happens on the ground when a family gets that midnight phone call and a priest gets asked to step into the shock, the hospital room, and the aftermath. Along the way, we clear up the stuff Catholics constantly misunderstand, especially last rites, anointing of the sick, confession, and why waiting until someone is unconscious can mean missing the comfort and grace people actually need.

We also dig into the spiritual and emotional side: what “cast your anxieties on Christ” looks like in real life, how Eucharistic adoration and the Blessed Sacrament can become the one place you finally stop performing and start trusting, and why abandonment to divine providence isn’t passive, it’s faith under pressure. If you’ve ever wondered whether God loves you personally, especially if you’re dealing with scrupulosity, shame, or despair, we talk through concrete ways to rebuild that trust without getting trapped in fear driven spiritual reading.

Then the conversation takes a sharp turn into the “alien” moment in modern culture. We ask the uncomfortable Catholic questions about revelation, salvation, and whether the popular “non-human intelligence” narrative is really science fiction, spiritual warfare, or a replacement religion. From there we tackle discernment around demons versus mental illness, why it can be complicated, and why the ordinary sacramental life, especially a good confession, is still the most practical place to start.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review. What topic should we tackle next: last rites misconceptions, scrupulosity, or the alien question?
Support the show

Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!
Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com
Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com
Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe
RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!
Support the show

Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!
Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com
Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com
Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe
RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!
A pope gets crowned as the hero of progress and then publishes a document telling bishops to treat modern ideas like a “fatal pestilence.” That swing sounds impossible until you walk the road with Pope Pius IX from 1846 to 1864, with riots in the streets, assassination in Rome, and the slow, methodical dismantling of the Papal States hanging over every decision.

We start with the version of Pius IX the newspapers loved: merciful, pastoral, granting amnesty, loosening restrictions, embracing railways and civic reforms. Then the revolutions of 1848 hit, the Roman Republic rises, Church property is seized, religious orders are suppressed, and the Pope is driven out of his own capital. From that point on, Italian unification and liberal nationalism don’t just threaten a border, they threaten the independence of the papacy itself and the public place of Catholicism.

With that backdrop, we dig into Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors: religious liberty, freedom of conscience, the press, state power over the Church, and the fight over who forms children through education. We also connect the arguments of “free church, free state” Catholic liberals to the long road toward Vatican I, where papal authority becomes impossible to ignore.

If this helped you make sense of modern Catholic debates through real history, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.
Support the show

Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!
Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
Merchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com
Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com
Full Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribe
RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss