How Materialism limits our thinking (about demons)

 Here is (another) great conversation with Eastern Orthodox Christian artist Jonathan Pageau.  A few minutes into this video he gives a very intriguing description of - or a way of thinking of - demons or dark spirits.  Really fascinating stuff that I am still chewing on.  

Sell the Vatican to feel the poor?

There is a pretty good Anthony Quinn movie from years ago called "Shoes of the Fisherman" in which a reform-minded bishop - perhaps somewhat similar to Pope Francis, actually - gets elected pope.  To help stop a famine in China that could lead to a major war, he calls upon the world's people to give generously to provide food for the Chinese, even pledging to sell off the art and architectural treasures of the Vatican if need be.
  
Maybe people have that movie in mind when they visit the Vatican today and make comments like, "Just look at all this gold-gilded opulence; just imagine how many poor people could have been helped with all that money."  I admit that I felt some ambivalence visiting St. Peters, not because it was glorious, but because I knew that it was funded, in part, through the sale of indulgences - a corrupt practice that actually was the catalyst of the Protestant Reformation and the shattering of Western Christendom. 
    
Here is another great video from Brian Holdsworth: he heard comments like that ("Why not sell the Vatican to feed the world?") when he visited Rome, and moves beyond the surface level moralism (even sanctimony) to think through the actual implications of what that means, showing just how short-sighted this sentiment actually is.

Branch theory: A Cursory Defense

 One YouTuber I've recently run across and really profited from/enjoyed is Jonah Saller at the Mere Catholicity channel.  I believe that Mr. Saller is an Anglican layman and has lots of really thoughtful videos advocating for a "reformed catholicity".  Here he discusses the view held by many (but not all) Anglicans called "Branch theory" - the idea that the original undivided and catholic church founded by Christ has divided into (at least) three branches that can all claim to be legitimately "catholic" continuations of that original "trunk" with the same validity of ordinations and sacraments: the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Anglican branches.  While some Anglicans use "Branch Theory" to "de-church" other Protestant churches, Mr. Saller - in this an other videos - takes a more generous (and, I would argue, a more realistic) approach: other Protestant churches are clearly real parts of Christ's church that really experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ; but there are gifts of catholicity (such as Apostolic bishops) that God intends for them to have, which they currently lack. 

Why so much mental illness and gender confusion among young people?

Many of us, especially those with children, have grave concerns about the dramatic rise in mental illness, anxiety, depression, suicide and other "deaths of despair", and also gender confusion and LGBTQPIAN+ lifestyle among young adults, and even children.
This is a great discussion between Megyn Kelly and mental health professional, Dr. Nicolas Karadras.  The good doctor is willing to say exactly what the evidence points toward, even if some may be afraid to state the obvious.  It is worth your time: 

The union of Creator and Creature

 This is a truly fascinating discussion with Jonathan Pageau about the way Christ means that God has taken the Creature into his own life in eternity - outside of time.  This is worth chewing on: