WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:07.519 News story about a recreational marijuana business that has opened in Fresno, but just 2 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:16.120 across the border from Clovis, storing the Fresno b the popular cannabis brand, 3 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.559 a popular cannabis brand which actually I don't even know that I want to like 4 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.559 say the name of the cannabis brand. I don't want to like give them 5 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:32.520 business. Anyway, A noteworthy cannabis business has opened up a flagship store in 6 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:37.320 a strip mall just off of Willow Avenue, across the street from Clovis city 7 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:47.880 limits. Now, the story goes on to talk about how basically it's right 8 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:54.560 across the street from Clovis, but Clovis still does not allow recreational marijuana storefronts. 9 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:00.159 And this was the way, this was the way a sort of California 10 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:07.439 law was set up with regard to legal marijuana sales. That basically, yes, 11 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.879 recreational marijuana was legalized in the state, but it's on a city by 12 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:23.319 city basis for allowing dispensaries, so licensed approved dispensaries storefronts to sell marijuana and 13 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:26.159 how many to allow, and that is left at the level of city government. 14 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:36.560 Clovis up to this point has not allowed storefronts for the sale of marijuana. 15 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:45.280 And I think that's good. I think the marijuana debate in California was 16 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:53.400 one basically because one side stood to make hundreds of gazillions of dollars through the 17 00:01:53.480 --> 00:02:00.640 legalization of marijuana, and they were able to pitch California law makers on, 18 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:08.520 hey, it's a source of revenue for state coffers where you don't have to 19 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:15.560 compulsorily increase taxes on people. It's a tax on a completely voluntary product that 20 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.599 nobody needs to buy, so you can tax and it will be a source 21 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:27.759 of revenue for state government and for local governments. The side opposing it had 22 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:37.080 not much beyond a sense of Christian virtue. All they could say was, 23 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.680 hey, this is bad for people. It's societally bad. It leads to 24 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.560 more dys it leads to young people getting introduced to drugs at younger and younger 25 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:50.199 ages. It's going to lead to more kids using marijuana. Here's all the 26 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:53.439 bad effects marijuana has. But because the other side had all the money, 27 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.520 they were able to produce survey after survey after survey trying to argue all the 28 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:00.919 impacts aren't that bad, It's not that bad for you long term. Here's 29 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:07.120 all the ways, it's not that bad. But now as we get more 30 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:13.039 and more research into marijuana, we're seeing that the legalization of marijuana has been 31 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:17.719 a disaster in a lot of ways. Last year, the Biden Department of 32 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:24.400 Health and Human Services formally recommended moving weed to for Schedule one classification. Okay, 33 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:35.960 However, NBC had this big report about marijuana and the increase in teenager 34 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:45.840 psychosis as a result that basically the toxicity levels of marijuana that is sold today, 35 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:47.360 I mean, the stuff that's being sold today is I guess pure and 36 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.280 more potent as far as its THHC levels then the dubes your grandpa was smoking 37 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:01.879 at woodstock. Okay. A growing number of studies are linking heavyweed use with 38 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:13.680 depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. High doses of cannabis can lead to 39 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:20.040 psychosis and even lifelong psychiatric disorders. There's more and more data about increases in 40 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:27.399 DUIs as a result of marijuana. There's more and more data about all the 41 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:33.519 different harms individually and societally that legalized recreational marijuana has and everyone sort of blew 42 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:39.480 by it. Why because one side had all the money and had not just 43 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:44.720 all the money that they stood to make, but also all the money with 44 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:50.040 which they could tempt state government and local governments, and they could peddle some 45 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:55.800 sort of blowney libertarian arguments. So well, you know, people, adults 46 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:59.360 will make their own decisions, so why not why not just let them and 47 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:09.959 then we'll just ask them for it. So regardless, this is how marijuana 48 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:15.040 got legalized. But this is the other. But this is the thing that 49 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:25.920 I find interesting. Okay, So this particular cannabis storefront that's opening in again 50 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:29.759 right near Clovis, not in Clovis city limits, in Fresno city limits. 51 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.639 I'll say the name whatever I have to do it if I'm going to do 52 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:38.879 this story, right, So it's this brand called Stizzy I think s t 53 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:47.680 iii z y. Now the Fresno B story describing it as a piece by 54 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.720 Joshua tih in the Fresno B I think that's how you pronounce his name. 55 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:00.920 Steeze or Stizzy is one of the best known vertically integrated cannabis companies, started 56 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:06.839 in Los Angeles in twenty seventeen. That is to say, by vertically integrated, 57 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:12.480 what the heck does that mean? It operates across all aspects of the 58 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:17.720 industry, offering its products, notably vapes and battery systems, both in its 59 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:27.399 own flagship stores and at other dispensaries. So it's this entity that makes marijuana 60 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:35.879 products, but it also runs its own stores. So an industry report last 61 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:43.079 year Held said that nearly fifty percent of the state's vape consumers have bought Stizzy 62 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:48.360 products, with more than ninety percent saying they do it. Again, this 63 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:58.000 belies another idiotic argument that was always being made about legalized marijuana. Oh, 64 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:02.199 this was to help you know, mom and pop businesses open a mom and 65 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:09.480 pop small business owners to open up mom and pops small business cannabis farms and 66 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:14.959 cannabis storefronts. This is about promoting local business. And then, even more 67 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.399 absurdly, to try to argue this is about helping to promote you know, 68 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:26.480 minority owned business ventures. We need equity in the marri legalized marijuana dispensary industry, 69 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:33.079 and trying to argue that any of this was about promoting small businesses and 70 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:38.759 promoting like ACTI even like you know, promoting black owned businesses and blah blah 71 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:46.800 blah blah blah blah blah. All right, again, though, how did 72 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:53.759 marijuana get legalized? Let me repeat why. It was because one side stood 73 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.879 to make hundreds of gazillions of dollars getting in on the ground floor of a 74 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:07.839 brand new, lead legal weed industry in the state of California. And you 75 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:13.680 had venture capitalists seeing this opportunity and saying, yeah, I'll pay five hundred 76 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:20.759 thousand dollars for lobbyists this year if it means or however, many gazillions of 77 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.079 dollars for lobbyists this year, if it means I can make one hundred gazillion 78 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:31.960 dollars on the back end as a result of their lobbying. They're lobbying lawmakers 79 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:39.159 to get legalized. Recreational marijuana is an investment for me to make a gazillion 80 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:48.960 dollars off of things like vertically integrated businesses that are making money hand over fist, 81 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.279 not just with their own storefronts, has a big chain of these marijuana 82 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:56.960 dispensaries, but also selling products all up and down the place. I'm sure 83 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.960 there are big businesses who run the farms who do this. Do that. 84 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:11.679 This is not like California. You take almost any liberal cause that is painted 85 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:18.000 with this, that has this all truistic facade, and you scratch it, 86 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:28.080 and what do you find? You find some person making money hand over fist. 87 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.879 You look at the transgender ideology, scratch that, you know, altruistic 88 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:35.320 sad just a little bit. And what do you find? You find doctors, 89 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:41.960 hospital systems making money hand over fist, doing expensive gender transition processes, 90 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:46.879 expensive hormonal treatments, expensive surgeries. You scratch the abortion industry a little bit. 91 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:48.120 What do you find? You find people making a lot of money doing 92 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:54.840 abortions. Weed is the same thing. That's the whole point of this. 93 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.960 That's what's driving this bus. It's what's driving this bus. And I believe 94 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:09.840 it's what's been driving the research. If I mean, I think that's obviously 95 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:16.840 been driving the research. All the research that's favorable to marijuana gets heightened, 96 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.080 gets accentuated. Why because the people who stand to make a lot of money 97 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:30.519 selling weed accentuate it, heighten it. So yeah, of course, So 98 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.879 like we have this glowing article from the Fresno b about, oh wow, 99 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:39.320 this is such an interesting integrated business. Yeah, yeah, very interesting how 100 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:46.639 all of a sudden legalized marijuana has led to the development of massive corporate entities 101 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:54.440 making money hand over fist off of people who make poor decisions. And this 102 00:10:54.519 --> 00:11:01.960 is the thing I hate about twenty first century governance in America is how state 103 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:11.000 governments and local governments are so desperate for some source of tax revenue without having 104 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:15.720 to increase taxes on people, that they're going to turn to any source they 105 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.159 can. And basically the main source they turn to is taxing people who make 106 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:28.200 really poor life decisions. That's what they've turned to. Let's legalize this terrible 107 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:35.759 decision, a lifelong weed addiction, and let's have the state make money off 108 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:41.159 of someone will incentivize people to make these poor decisions, and then we will 109 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:46.720 profit off of it. Let's incentivize people to gamble more, to give them 110 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.679 more opportunities for legal gambling, so that we can take advantage of their bad 111 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:56.039 mathematical decisions and make more money by taxing, you know, gambling earnings by 112 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:01.200 casinos. So and you see that state governments all over the place, there 113 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.519 are more and more and more and more casinos being built all over the United 114 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:07.120 States of America, all these different states legalizing gambling more and more and more 115 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.320 and more, all these different states legalizing weed more and more and more and 116 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:16.759 more I mean, one of the things that astonished me was a recent stat 117 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.360 I saw that the amount of money Americans spend on lottery tickets is more than 118 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:26.879 the amount of money they spend going to the movies, which is which really 119 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:31.519 kind of made me think, Wow, I am a pretty sheltered person, 120 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:37.679 given that I have never spent a single red scent on lottery tickets in my 121 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:43.360 life. I've just never I've never even I've never actually bought a lottery ticket. 122 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.559 But that's what these states are doing that this is modern American state governance. 123 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:58.240 Is we will get revenue, we will capitalize off of people making really 124 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:09.720 bad math or life or both decisions. So maybe we're fighting this lost cause. 125 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:13.279 But I commend the city of Clovis for saying, you know what, 126 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.879 no, we don't need pot dispensaries in the city. We just don't need 127 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:22.799 it. And I hope they also follow that up with cracking down on you 128 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.279 know, vape shops and all that stuff, because a lot of those places 129 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:30.679 are from what I've been reading, a lot of those places throughout the San 130 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:33.159 Joaquin Valley are just selling weed illegally out the back. That's the thing. 131 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:39.840 The legal weed industry has not actually demolished, which was the other grand promise. 132 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:41.320 The other grand promise will say, oh, well, we can get 133 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:48.399 the illegal weed industry, and we can. We can completely eliminate the illegal 134 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:52.039 weed industry. But just taking weed transactions and putting them out in the open. 135 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.159 Nope, there's still a six billion dollar per year illegal weed industry. 136 00:13:56.200 --> 00:14:00.320 Why because potheads often don't want to pay top dollar for weed. They would 137 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:05.679 rather pay less money, and they're willing to pay for that illegally. When 138 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:11.240 we return how much marijuana use has increased in the United States and my grand 139 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:18.200 hopes for my children. That's next on the John Girardi Show. So the 140 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:24.200 shadow producers of this radio program, this radio program, as well as Right 141 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:30.360 to Life Radio on Saturdays, are often my wife Holly and my mom, 142 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:39.720 doctor Sharon, And today Holly messaged this story to me. Daily marijuana use 143 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:46.720 outpaces daily drinking in the US. A new study says, for the first 144 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:52.120 time, the number of Americans who use marijuana just about every day has surpassed 145 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:58.080 the number who drink that often, a shift some forty years in the making. 146 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:03.639 As recreational pot use became more mainstream and legal in nearly half of US 147 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:11.399 States in twenty twenty two and estimated seventeen point seven million people reported using marijuana 148 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:18.120 daily or near daily, compared to fourteen point seven million daily or near daily 149 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.759 drinkers, according to an analysis of national survey data of people who make poor 150 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:28.960 life choices no just national survey data. In nineteen ninety two, when daily 151 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.360 pot use hit a low, point less than one million people said they used 152 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:37.919 marijuana nearly every day. Alcohol is still more widely used, but twenty twenty 153 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:41.960 two was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook daily and near 154 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:48.159 daily drinking. So the studies author Jonathan Culkins, a cannabis policy researcher at 155 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:58.039 Carnegie Mellon University Cannabis policy researcher, How do you get that job? Can? 156 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:03.279 I ask? How can I get an endow chair studying something so niche? 157 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.279 How does one find oneself in that kind of little corner? I guess 158 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:12.080 I've got an odd little corner of the universe sort of job. I've run 159 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.879 ProLife organization, I do like a daily radio show, and I do you 160 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:21.200 know, blah blah blah. Yeah, I guess how does anyone wind up 161 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:27.080 anywhere? Anyway? A good forty percent of current cannabis users are using it 162 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:32.440 daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than 163 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:37.919 typical alcohol use. Caulkins said, it's almost like cannabis has a addictive habit 164 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:41.120 forming quality. The research, based on data from the National Survey on Drug 165 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.360 Use and Health, was published Wednesday in the journal Addiction. The survey is 166 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.960 a highly regarded source of self reported estimates of tobacco, alcohol, and drug 167 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:52.440 use in the United States. From ninety two to twenty twenty two, the 168 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:57.679 per capita rate of reporting daily or near daily marijuana use increased fifteenfold. Caulkins 169 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:02.919 acknowledged in the study that people may be more willing to report marijuana use as 170 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.880 public acceptance grows, which could boost the increase. Most states now allow medical 171 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.680 or recreational marijuana, though it remains illegal at the federal level. The November 172 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:15.720 Florida voters will decide on a constitutional amendment allowing recreational cannabis, and the federal 173 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:21.160 government is moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, all of which 174 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:26.279 are terrible ideas. That's just me throwing in my opinion on this ap story. 175 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.240 Research shows that high frequency users are more likely to become addicted to marijuana, 176 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.960 said David A. Gorolic. It's a funny way of phrasing it that 177 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:40.079 if you use marijuana more frequently, you're likely to become addicted. Kind of 178 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.720 feels like a bit of a chicken and egg thing. Don't you think maybe 179 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:47.880 you become a really frequent user because you are getting addicted to it, or 180 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.799 no, you become addicted to it because you use it so often, says 181 00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:55.519 David Gorolic, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who 182 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:59.000 was not involved in the study. The number of daily users suggests that more 183 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:03.960 people are at risk for developing problematic cannabis use or addiction. Gorlic said high 184 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:10.680 frequency use also increases the risk of developing cannabis associated psychosis, a severe condition 185 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:15.359 where a person loses touch with reality. He said, So it seems like 186 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:22.160 it's basically they are a lot more what this study is telling us, there 187 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:30.759 are a lot more casual drink recreational drinkers in the United States. That is 188 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:38.720 to say, people who are not drinking on a daily basis. I probably 189 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:47.559 average one alcoholic beverage per maybe like one point five alcoholic beverages per week. 190 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:55.680 I usually have one drink, usually on Sunday, and maybe I don't know, 191 00:18:55.720 --> 00:19:00.559 if I go out to dinner if I usually when I have we usually 192 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.240 have dinner at my mom's house, and usually I have a drink while I'm 193 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:08.359 there on Sundays. And then maybe if I go out with Holly sometime I'll 194 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:14.839 get a drink too. So I'm probably averaging about one point two and maybe 195 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:18.480 and maybe I'll have one weekday where I happen to drink, just have odd 196 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.279 drink at dinner or something. So I probably am averaging about one point two 197 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:29.200 drinks per week. There's a lot more of that with alcohol than with cannabis. 198 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:36.839 Basically, so the percentage of cannabis users who are daily users is much 199 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:42.000 higher than the percentage of alcohol users who are daily alcohol drinkers. So, 200 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:45.720 of the pool of people who smoke cannabis, who use cannabis at all, 201 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:52.759 a large percentage of that group are daily habitual users. Of the whole body 202 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:57.799 of people who drink, it's a relatively small percentage of them who are daily 203 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.480 habitual users. What does this mean, Well, it probably means cannabis is 204 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:11.279 more likely addictive than alcohol is it's more likely to become a sort of crutch, 205 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:18.519 addictive, habitual thing. That's what That's what it would seem to indicate 206 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:29.720 to me. This is not good and this is why, like I am, 207 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:34.079 I feel as though Biden this is all in the context by the way 208 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:38.200 that the Biden administration is looking into the possibility of reclassifying marijuana so that it's 209 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:45.200 no longer a federally in the federal FDA Schedule of Drug regulation, to move 210 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.480 it out of its current schedule so that it's not illegal at the federal level. 211 00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:53.519 I think Biden is doing that for political reasons. I think he wants 212 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:00.680 young voters to vote for him. He wants pot heads, young, young, 213 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:08.720 younger marijuana smoking voters to go vote for him. And I do not 214 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:14.680 think this is a good idea. I reject. I realize, especially in 215 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:19.200 California, especially among libertarian people, marijuana has gained more and more and more 216 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:23.279 acceptance. Well, it's never going to gain more and more acceptance on the 217 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:29.839 old John Girardi Show, guarantee you that. And basically my and my wife's 218 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:34.039 thought on this whole thing was, you know, we're worried about our kids 219 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:37.720 and their education, and you know, we're homeschooling, and you know, 220 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:41.160 we're concerned. We want to make sure that they do well. And my 221 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.960 wife sent me that story, you know, daily pot users out pacing daily 222 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.160 drinkers, and she said, you know what, as long as these kids 223 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:55.119 can write a paragraph, read and don't smoke pot, they're probably going to 224 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.799 rule the world. And that's a comforting thought. When we return, I'm 225 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:03.119 going to cover a whole bunch of Catholic stuff next on the John Girardi Show. 226 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:11.519 All right, there's been a whole bunch of Catholic stuff happening. And 227 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:17.160 not that I'm the official Catholic commentator for Power Talk or anything like that. 228 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:22.759 It would not be great if I tried to give myself that label. That 229 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.200 would be a pretty presumptuous thing. That's the problem with the virtue of humility 230 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.519 is that as soon as you think you have it, you've pretty much lost 231 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:37.039 it. You know what I mean, I think I've done it. I'm 232 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:41.720 so humble now, Well there it goes kind of feel that way about. 233 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:45.920 Yeah, well, I'm the best Catholic commentator there is. By virtue of 234 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:49.680 me saying it, I would immediately become the worst Nonetheless, I kind of, 235 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:52.160 I guess, follow these things close. So I've got a couple of 236 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:56.319 Catholic things on the menu here that I sort of wanted to talk about, 237 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:00.400 and I'm talking about them last, I think, because I guess I wanted 238 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.960 all the hot takes about them to be sort of exhausted first. So the 239 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:11.279 one is Harrison Butker, the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, who gave 240 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:17.799 the commencement address at Benedictine College, which is a Catholic private school in Atchison, 241 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:25.640 Atchison, Kansas, so near Kansas City, which is a pretty conservative, 242 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.079 small Catholic college, Catholic liberal arts school, and it's attached to or 243 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:36.880 near a Benedictine a couple of Benedictine monasteries, so that there's a I think 244 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:41.799 there's a community of Benedictine monks and a community of Benedictine nuns. So these, 245 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:45.680 by the way, Benedictin's in case you're wondering what is this Benedictine stuff. 246 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:56.279 This means monks who follow the rule of life established by Saint Benedict of 247 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.640 Nursia, who is one of the most important figure years in the history of 248 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:12.559 Europe. Frankly and established the Benedictine style, the Benedictine monastic tradition, so 249 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:18.839 he established a sort of rule of life for monks to follow. Saint Benedict 250 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.559 himself his years are he was born in the year four eighty and died in 251 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:30.400 the year five forty seven, and his monks, their pattern of life and 252 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:41.359 living became foundational for European civilization and the monks. His monks preserved a ton 253 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.400 of what was important and beautiful from the Roman Empire by writing it all down, 254 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:49.240 by copying it by hand, and everything we have, all of the 255 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:52.640 written records we have of the ancient world, is due to the fact that 256 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:57.519 a bunch of busy little beaver Benedictine monks were sitting at desks writing it all 257 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:06.799 down and preserving record of the Roman Empire and preserving literacy and music and culture 258 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:11.599 in their monasteries, which dotted the entire landscape of Europe. Anyway, So 259 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:17.880 Benedictine College founded by Benedictin monks. It's pretty conservative Catholic school, and they 260 00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:23.079 got a pretty conservative Catholic Harrison. Butker is a fairly prominent fellow. He's 261 00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:26.559 a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's maybe if he's not the best 262 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.519 kicker in the NFL, he's top three. Certainly, it's probably him. 263 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.359 The guy who plays for the Baltimore Ravens. What's his name, Justin Long? 264 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.880 I think this is now that's I can't remember his name. I'll figure 265 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:42.200 it out anyway. So Harrison Butker, if he's not the best kicker in 266 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:51.400 the NFL, he's like one of the best. Certainly, I'd say definitely 267 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:55.200 top two or top three. Justin Tucker is the kicker for the Baltimore Ravens. 268 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:59.079 There we go. So Butcker gives this commencement address, and during the 269 00:25:59.079 --> 00:26:04.799 commencement address he talks he is basically and this is the thing to I guess 270 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:14.799 context. He's a twenty eight year old pretty conservative Roman Catholic, and everything 271 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:21.000 he said was pretty consistent with what twenty eight year old conservative Roman Catholics think. 272 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.960 He was very pro marriage. He said, you really encourage people to 273 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:30.519 get married, and thought that motherhood is the great you know, the signature, 274 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:40.160 one of the most important things for a woman's vocation. And the way 275 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:45.119 he expressed it though he wasn't like saying no woman should ever work outside the 276 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:48.839 house. But I think it's a sort of thing of you know, there's 277 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:56.519 I guess in some aspects of Catholic parlance, you've got your vocation and then 278 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:00.720 your job your vocation and maybe a good way of thinking of it is sort 279 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:06.240 of who you are. Your job is the thing you do within that context. 280 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:11.279 So my vocation that I've chosen for myself is married life. I'm a 281 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:17.680 husband, I'm a father. That is the first thing that I identify as 282 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:25.000 and that takes priority over everything else, over work. My wife's vocation is 283 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:30.839 as a mother and within as a mother and a wife, and within that 284 00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:34.880 vocation, there's a lot of ways she can express it, and different families 285 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:38.400 have different setups, and a lot of those setups are legitimate. If my 286 00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:45.880 wife wanted to work and wanted to do more outside the house, I wouldn't 287 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.400 like stomp on hers, Absolutely not, You're no way. But we would 288 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:56.640 need to figure out some way to ensure that our children were educated well and 289 00:27:56.680 --> 00:27:59.000 brought up in a good, loving home, et cetera, et cetera. 290 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:06.839 And the decisions we've made for our lives reflect our beliefs in our obligation, 291 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:15.079 our prioritizing of our fundamental vocations as father, husband, wife, mother, 292 00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:21.319 over and against other things. All right, So, Butcker gives this speech 293 00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:29.039 in which he's praising marriage, he's praising women, embracing motherhood, and this 294 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:33.440 is interpreted as Harrison Butcker hates women. Harrison Bucker thinks all women should be 295 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.480 pregnant, barefoot in the kitchen. Harrison Bucker doesn't think any woman should ever 296 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:41.119 work, which is overblowing what the guy said. Was it the most nuanced 297 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.519 speech in the world. Probably not. He's a kicker. He's a jock. 298 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.759 He's not a you know, he doesn't have a master's degree in philosophy 299 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.920 or something. He's a kicker, and he's a very nice, good decent 300 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:59.480 young guy. But of course it's a very conservative speech. He's blasting abortion, 301 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:04.039 blast all this stuff that the Catholic Church is concerned with as far as 302 00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:10.240 social issues. So the NFL issues this statement kind of condemning him. But 303 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:15.279 to their credit, the two most important guys, maybe two of the most 304 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.240 important guys in the NFL, and certainly the two most important guys on Harrison 305 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:23.200 Bucker's team, the coach in the quarterback Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, both 306 00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:26.559 the other day came out with statements saying, no, we love Harrison. 307 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.839 He's a great guy. Yeah, people disagree about stuff, but he's an 308 00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:34.440 awesome guy. He's an awesome character. He's one of the best people we 309 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:38.119 know. And you know, yeah, they totally back to their guy, 310 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:45.039 which good for them, and screw the NFL for throwing this guy under the 311 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:52.559 bus now. So I don't have much all that interesting to say about it, 312 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.160 honestly, Yeah, I thought it was a good speech. I thought 313 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:59.680 it was I thought it was fine. Was it the most perfectly worded, 314 00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:04.400 most perfectly nuanced way of expressing it? Maybe not, But on the whole, 315 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:07.920 I thought it was very good. I think the thing that is sending 316 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:12.119 people into orbit though, and I do think this is true. So he 317 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:17.759 gives this speech. Just a couple of weeks after, there was this big 318 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:26.440 AP story about the shifting dynamics of the Catholic Church in the United States that 319 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.160 basically there's been this real winnowing process that's taken place in the United States as 320 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:37.119 more and more I think what's really happening is is more and more cultural Catholics 321 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.440 so called, are just stopping going to church. There have been a number 322 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.720 of things that have happened that have resulted in a bunch of people that in 323 00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:52.240 mass attendance number attendance numbers at Catholic mass, at Catholic services have been going 324 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:57.599 down. And that's a real I know for certainly my pastor, and I 325 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:02.839 know for Bishop Brennan. That's a real source of sorrow to see. COVID 326 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:07.599 was we had a number of sort of signature events. So the horrible abuse 327 00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:14.000 scandals when they were revealed in the early two thousands and then COVID were these 328 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:19.400 sort of signature events that were sort of dropping out points, if you will, 329 00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:26.480 for large numbers of American Catholics. And what's basically happening is the church 330 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:32.279 is becoming smaller, but it's becoming more and more conservative, and maybe conservative 331 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:37.079 is too freighted with political ideology. I would say the church is becoming smaller 332 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:45.359 and much more faithful. There are a lot fewer active Catholics who would identify 333 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:52.039 as like liberal Catholics, a lot fewer. If you go to your average 334 00:31:52.720 --> 00:32:00.759 Mass on Sunday nowadays, the majority of every the vast majority of everyone there 335 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:07.240 agrees that abortion is wrong, agrees largely not perfectly, with a lot of 336 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:12.119 the teachings of the with a lot of the more controversial social issues where the 337 00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:17.839 Catholic Church has staked out its position over recent decades. And I think this 338 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:23.240 sort of shows what's going on. Here's Harrison Butker giving this speech. This 339 00:32:23.319 --> 00:32:35.599 twenty eight year old young Catholic husband and father, successful individual. I think 340 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:43.200 he is much more representative of the emerging face of American Catholicism than many of 341 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:50.319 his critics. One of the notable critiques of Harrison Butker came from the group 342 00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:57.519 of Benedictine nuns who live in Atchinson, Kansas, near the monaster near Benedictine 343 00:32:57.559 --> 00:33:01.000 College where Butcker gave this commencement addressed. So a lot of communities of nuns 344 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:07.519 were infected with a lot of sort of feminist and extremely liberal ideology in the 345 00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:14.599 sixties and seventies and eighties, and those communities of nuns are quite literally dying 346 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:22.480 off. They they're these communities of nuns who they refuse to continue wearing habits. 347 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:27.720 They refuse, They more and more and more rejected the common life of 348 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:32.319 prayer in many cases. I don't know this particular community of nuns and almost 349 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.519 started seeing their work more as social workers rather than what nuns historically were. 350 00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:42.119 They were sort of the female counterpart of nuns. Their work was praying in 351 00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:46.519 common and for more active communities, serving the poor, and living a common 352 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:52.720 life of prayer together. More and more, almost certain communities of more liberal 353 00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:55.480 nuns just sort of thought of themselves as social workers, free floating social workers. 354 00:33:58.839 --> 00:34:02.359 And you look at this community. We have nuns in Atchinson. They're 355 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:08.400 all extremely elderly, extremely liberal. They're all criticizing Butcker. But they haven't 356 00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:13.920 had a new entry. Their community is dying out. Everyone in their communities 357 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:17.199 in their seventies. They haven't had a new entrant, a new postulance, 358 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:22.079 or novices or anything into their community seemingly for years. They are literally dying 359 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:27.840 out. Meanwhile, all of the really conservative communities, most of anyway, 360 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:31.079 the growing communities of nuns in the United States, the communities of nuns that 361 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:36.320 actually wear the habit and continue the traditional Catholic practices of common prayer together and 362 00:34:37.159 --> 00:34:40.400 common service to the poor, rooted in a common prayer life, those communities 363 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:45.519 are booming. Those communities are busting at the seams. That's where all the 364 00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:49.639 growth is. That's where all the communities of nuns where the average age is 365 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:54.519 like twenty eight. Those are all the really conservative communities. That's I think 366 00:34:54.599 --> 00:35:01.280 what's significant about Butcker's speech. It is much more represent of the emerging face 367 00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:07.000 of American Catholicism than all of its critics, and I think it's what has 368 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:15.320 led to all of the critics of what Bucker said being more and more strident 369 00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:22.320 and angry because they realize their time is over. To close off the show 370 00:35:23.159 --> 00:35:29.000 when we return, the Pope gave an interview to sixty Minutes and said a 371 00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:30.719 couple of a whole bunch of different things. We'll talk about it real quick 372 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:36.840 on the next segment. This is the John Gerardy Show, so slogging through 373 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:38.920 all the Catholic news. The Pope gave a big interview to sixty Minutes in 374 00:35:38.920 --> 00:35:42.760 which he said a number of different things and let me see if I can 375 00:35:42.840 --> 00:35:47.519 kind of go through them here. He said a couple of things about immigration 376 00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:52.960 that I thought were actually kind of interesting. Basically said yeah, you need 377 00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:59.360 to be accommodating to immigrants. But at the end of it he sort of 378 00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:05.360 came around again and basically saying that you know, yeah, you the countries 379 00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:12.199 can enforce their borders, they should be welcoming to immigrants. So it's sort 380 00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:14.880 of like he has to kind of he not that he has to, he 381 00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:19.239 does sort of a firm basic reality of the kind of basic reality that I 382 00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:23.400 think American liberals refused to accept. He also very bluntly said that women will 383 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:28.639 never be ordained cannot be ordained deacons or priests in the Catholic Church, which 384 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:35.679 I thought was solid of him to basically just like say, no, this 385 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:40.760 is the divine constitution of the Church that like, basically Christ chose twelve male 386 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:46.559 apostles. The apostolate and the vocation of women is of incredible dignity and importance 387 00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:52.239 and beauty. But it's something different from the calling to the priests and the 388 00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:57.599 diaconate. So he sort of slammed the door on that, which I thought 389 00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:02.320 was good. He also one point said something about human beings are fundamentally good 390 00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:06.159 or in their fundamental nature good, which is like, yes, newsflash, 391 00:37:06.199 --> 00:37:08.840 Catholics don't believe the same thing as Calvinists. You know, for all my 392 00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:14.440 reform listeners out there, yes, we Catholics disagree with you on total depravity 393 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:19.119 doctrine. Like, yes, we think human nature is wounded by sin. 394 00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:22.400 We think human beings, yes, need a savior, Yes, cannot do 395 00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.119 any good without the assistance of grace. But we don't believe in total depravity, 396 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:31.039 So it was a lot of It was actually a kind of mixed bag, 397 00:37:31.079 --> 00:37:36.000 which is very often par for the course with Pope Francis. He talks 398 00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:38.519 very freely in interviews and then sort of lets everyone kind of pick up the 399 00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:44.400 pieces afterwards, and I often sort of wish that was not his interview style. 400 00:37:45.639 --> 00:37:47.719 But on the whole, I didn't think this interview was that bad. 401 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:52.639 He took some potshots at conservatives, which again I'm not exactly sure whom he 402 00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:55.519 means by quote conservatives, but on the whole I thought it was pretty good. 403 00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.079 That'll do it for John Jarlady Show. See you next time on Power Talk.