The John-Henry Westen Show - Marxist INFILTRATION？ Bobby Angel Exclusive Interview

00:00:00.000 The narrative we're given now, everywhere, is power.

00:00:04.300 It's about oppressors and the oppressed.

00:00:07.420 And there's a moral right we should do in toppling those who oppress.

00:00:22.280 Hello, my friends.

00:00:23.580 Welcome to the John Henry Weston Show.

00:00:25.080 I've got a guest for you who's very interesting, actually.

00:00:27.700 He's known quite well to probably many of you.

00:00:30.780 He is with his wife running the Jackie and Bobby show, which is by Ascension Press, a

00:00:35.820 beautiful podcast where they speak of things, marriage and family.

00:00:39.780 He's got five little kids of his own, 10 down to one and a half.

00:00:43.580 And he's got a new book out on the postmodern predicament.

00:00:50.020 One of the chapters in there is entitled Everything is Marxist.

00:00:54.040 We're going to find out more about Bobby Angel right now.

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00:01:30.800 Bobby Angel, welcome to the program.

00:01:32.260 Hey, John Henry.

00:01:33.020 Thank you so much for having me.

00:01:34.000 So let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:01:36.200 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

00:01:41.600 Amen.

00:01:42.200 So, Bobby, I think you will be known to a good portion of our viewers, but some not so much.

00:01:49.360 Why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself?

00:01:51.220 Sure.

00:01:51.440 My name is Bobby Angel.

00:01:52.340 I'm a husband and father, an author and speaker.

00:01:55.280 I taught at an all-boys Catholic high school for about 10 years.

00:01:58.840 My journey in the faith has been all over as a cradle Catholic, kind of a revert or coming 0.86

00:02:04.480 awake to my faith late in high school.

00:02:06.920 Considered the priesthood for a while, ran away from God.

00:02:10.160 Eventually, he got me.

00:02:11.740 But after three years of formation, we really felt the call to marriage and re-met a friend.

00:02:17.180 And we, it just, it clicked.

00:02:19.080 It's like when you know, when you know.

00:02:20.960 And we've been married now for 11 years.

00:02:23.640 And my wife, Jackie, and I have been blessed to be doing ministry together for virtually

00:02:28.960 the entire time in traveling and speaking together.

00:02:32.240 And we got connected with Ascension Press over the years.

00:02:35.140 And we've been doing a lot of content for them on YouTube.

00:02:37.200 And I love writing.

00:02:39.340 And so, I've been blessed to have a number of books across many different topics.

00:02:44.320 My wife and I do a lot of talks on theology of the body and chastity and marriage.

00:02:49.020 But because of my stint in the seminary, I was really gifted with this full vision of philosophy.

00:03:00.820 Like, why is it important?

00:03:02.040 Why should we care?

00:03:03.180 And how does it fit within the Catholic tradition?

00:03:05.960 And I just, in teaching at the All Boys High School, I mostly taught theology.

00:03:10.240 But in my last couple of years, I was blessed to teach seniors.

00:03:14.040 And at the time, the curriculum was philosophy.

00:03:16.760 And so, trying to teach outgoing 17, 18-year-olds why philosophy matters was a delightful challenge.

00:03:23.720 Most of it was, is this on the test?

00:03:26.460 Or, you know, they're chomping at the bit to graduate and move on.

00:03:30.400 And so, but I really enjoyed that challenge of why should we care?

00:03:38.480 And if I can make it care to a 17, 18-year-old, it was a great kind of fire that put me through.

00:03:46.280 Like, if I can explain it to this level, hopefully I can explain it to a wider audience.

00:03:50.340 And that's what I hope to do with this latest book, The Postmodern Predicament, to explain,

00:03:55.000 okay, how did we get here and what do we do about it?

00:03:57.900 Beautiful.

00:03:58.220 Before we get to that, which we're going to get to, tell me a little bit about your conversion story.

00:04:03.420 Because a lot of people go through that.

00:04:05.280 What brought you back?

00:04:06.480 Because not everybody, but a lot of people go through that wandering teenage, 20-something.

00:04:12.600 What caught your attention to come back?

00:04:15.160 Encounter.

00:04:16.200 You know, we hear a lot about that word nowadays, but it matters. 0.96

00:04:20.300 You know, I went through the motions growing up.

00:04:22.820 My parents were, made sure every Sunday was Mass.

00:04:25.680 And the parish we went to, the most exciting thing going on was bingo.

00:04:29.560 So I thought Catholicism was a nice moral code, a nice way to live.

00:04:35.620 And so I never, like, I dabbled with atheistic thought, but I never really left the church.

00:04:40.540 It just, I was kind of a zombie.

00:04:42.300 It was a thing to check the box on.

00:04:44.720 But it was really my experience of a neighboring parish had a, had a dynamic high school youth ministry program.

00:04:54.100 And I think I was 17 and experiencing adoration for the first time.

00:04:57.760 I was like, I have no idea what this is.

00:05:00.080 What am I supposed to do?

00:05:01.140 And I remember thinking, like, either we're crazy, like we're kneeling before a piece of bread, or that's really Jesus.

00:05:10.900 Like, there is no in-between.

00:05:12.360 It's not, well, it's Jesus, it's Jesus for you or not for me. 0.98

00:05:15.080 It was either we are crazy as Catholics, and we are a little bit, but good crazy. 0.95

00:05:20.740 But either we're crazy and this is dangerous, or it's really him. 0.93

00:05:24.280 And that wasn't like an on-the-spot conversion, but it was definitely kind of, I needed to take this seriously.

00:05:30.920 And it was through when I was 18, so I just graduated high school, about to start my undergrad at the University of Florida.

00:05:38.100 I went on a Steubenville conference trip to their main campus in Ohio, and I got rocked.

00:05:45.020 Like, I could point to you the exact spot in the field house arena where the Saturday night adoration brought me to tears.

00:05:53.000 And, like, it was just that encounter and being slowly, again, people sowing the seeds, teachers and priests and my parents over the years.

00:06:00.260 But then sometimes we just can't control when is God going to just break through?

00:06:06.920 And when am I going to allow him to break through?

00:06:10.020 And for some people, that's very late in life.

00:06:11.840 For some people, like, I have a great affection for blessed, soon-to-be Saint Carlo Acutis and, like, his deep faith as a young boy.

00:06:21.260 You know, for anyone listening, it's tough sometimes when we see our loved ones leave the church or are in a period of wandering.

00:06:29.320 But no one is ever too far gone, and we don't know the great plan.

00:06:33.000 And, again, God respects our freedom for us to let down our walls.

00:06:38.200 Like, we can't control that moment of conversion, but I haven't.

00:06:41.080 Nothing's been the same ever since in the best possible way.

00:06:43.720 Beautiful. And I thank you for the admonition to parents whose children are just so many in that situation that that's super encouraging.

00:06:53.840 Interesting. So let's get back to your philosophy thing.

00:06:56.900 So this is really something for most people, because for older folks, it's the difference between JP II and Benedict, the philosopher and the theologian.

00:07:04.860 But I think for young people, because classical education is almost a thing of the past, I hate to say that, but by and large it is, even for Catholics,

00:07:12.560 they're missing what philosophy even is, let alone interest in it.

00:07:17.300 And the question is, what for? Give us your best.

00:07:21.360 You know, we all have a philosophy, whether we admit it or not, because it really is that set of beliefs of what do I inherently, what is my default stance towards?

00:07:31.120 What does it mean to be a human person? And what is the good life? And what do I mean by truth?

00:07:35.780 So even if we haven't really articulated a set of ideas for ourselves, we've absorbed very much what the culture has given us.

00:07:44.280 And that too, realizing, you know, the ancients and the medievals, they saw the world in a very different way.

00:07:52.920 We have been handed this very materialistic and nihilistic set of glasses to see the world through.

00:08:01.100 And if you want to believe in religion or spirituality, that's quaint, that's nice, but that's not really real.

00:08:06.480 That's just kind of the default mode we're given.

00:08:08.880 And to realize, actually, the ancients and the medievals were much more dialed into there is a spiritual reality all around us.

00:08:19.380 And it is worth chewing on the fact that, you know, if we assume and hold true that we are made in the image and likeness of God,

00:08:27.200 then we are good, then creation is good, then we are not accidents, and the body matters.

00:08:32.180 And you cannot compartmentalize these things, which is often why the medieval time period is skipped over.

00:08:41.660 If you take a philosophy course in undergraduate, I found it was the sequence usually goes Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and then nothing happened until the Enlightenment.

00:08:54.000 And it just was the Dark Ages is the pejorative term.

00:08:58.380 The evil Catholic Church was keeping people from being educated. 1.00

00:09:02.160 And when you actually start reading, like, what happened?

00:09:05.480 It's the philosophy, really, the Catholic Church kept philosophy alive.

00:09:08.460 The Catholic Church kept education and the monks that were transcribing the works of Aristotle and the ancients.

00:09:15.440 It's as Europe had fallen into, out of the unity under the Roman Empire, into these chaotic warring tribes.

00:09:23.340 It's the Catholic Church that actually held society together.

00:09:27.240 Like, why do we have universities?

00:09:28.960 Why do we have hospitals?

00:09:30.720 That is a fruit of the medieval time period that saw the human person through this Judeo-Christian lens that we are worth educating.

00:09:38.260 We are worth taking care of.

00:09:39.920 So we're not just going to leave the dead by the river.

00:09:42.480 We're not going to leave the dead by the street side.

00:09:44.400 We're actually going to create these buildings called hospitals and take care of people. 0.51

00:09:48.580 And we're actually going to create these things called universities and educate people.

00:09:53.580 So, and when you see the flowering, too, of art and architecture, it's because the philosophy was the human person has infinite dignity because we're creating the image and likeness of God.

00:10:07.620 And so that affects the wider, again, how do I operate through life?

00:10:11.720 And now if you live, just to wrap this point up, if you, we now live in this time where it's kind of inverted, we're no different than the animals.

00:10:19.840 We're just matter and material.

00:10:22.340 If you want to believe in a soul, it's fine.

00:10:24.000 But, you know, or, you know, you kind of go, you hear too, like, we are the scourge of the earth. 0.99

00:10:30.260 Humans are a cancer.

00:10:31.100 So you've had this extreme devaluing of the human person.

00:10:35.760 And so, and a loss of this greater purpose and mission for our lives.

00:10:42.000 So it's no wonder that our art and architecture suffers.

00:10:45.680 It's no wonder why, how we even, like, the ability to look at another human person as someone of dignity and worth, if they're not useful.

00:10:53.880 We have this utilitarian lens, too, of you're only valuable if you're useful.

00:10:58.720 Well, what does that say about the unborn?

00:11:00.460 What does it say about the elderly or the sick or if you're injured?

00:11:05.480 You know, so this is the inheritance worth reclaiming and navigating.

00:11:10.520 Like, we can't wind the clock back, but we can reclaim different elements, especially within the Catholic tradition that has given us so much to make a way forward.

00:11:21.560 That's great. So, I mean, this is funny because I think a lot of people will wonder, it's a set of beliefs that the ancients had or the medievals had.

00:11:30.300 And we don't have that anymore.

00:11:31.660 We just have facts now because we know we know better because we're educated and we know what's going on in the world.

00:11:38.100 We don't have to have this sort of set of mystical belief things.

00:11:42.900 We just know the facts and that's it.

00:11:45.620 We're operating out of science and out of a perspective that's just plain true and right and we don't need these beliefs anymore.

00:11:55.620 We just got the facts.

00:11:56.620 Do you come across that and how do you counter that?

00:11:58.720 I come across, yeah, either just this kind of stubborn historical arrogance.

00:12:03.240 Like, just because we're here in 2025 means we know everything and we have nothing to learn from the people before us.

00:12:09.920 Like, and I mean, Lewis and Chesterton called out those attitudes for sure.

00:12:16.040 Like, actually, they probably saw reality better than we do.

00:12:19.640 We have now less, a goldfish has a greater attention span than we do.

00:12:24.720 When they see the world as infused by a divine beauty and a spiritual reality, perhaps, and Peter Kreeft is one of my favorite authors and philosophers, and he just has that childlike wonder.

00:12:38.860 We can pursue knowledge, but recognize I don't know everything and have a posture of humility towards it all.

00:12:46.260 What I find a lot too, especially amongst, you know, my generation and younger, just kind of the spirit of meh.

00:12:52.260 Like, who cares?

00:12:52.920 And almost this, like, your truth is great, you know, my truth, which is, it makes my eye twitch when you hear that language, because it's either true or it's not true.

00:13:04.280 But that too is just how that has been so watered down.

00:13:09.420 I just want what's convenient.

00:13:11.320 I just want what's comfortable.

00:13:13.180 And we're in this age of amazing technological advances and convenience.

00:13:18.940 But there's always unintended consequences.

00:13:21.420 There's always side effects.

00:13:22.920 And the fragmentation is very much also in line with this postmodern thought of we're all just these little individual cells.

00:13:32.020 And the great narrative, like, there is no grand narrative to society as such.

00:13:37.820 It's just we all have our own little stories, our own little narratives, our own little, we are our own centers of our own universes.

00:13:44.280 So you talk about, like, the shared values of a culture, the shared values of a country, those rapidly diminished because now my ego is king.

00:13:53.520 One of the things you said is very, I think, central to what we're experiencing, the predicament, you might say, that we're in right now.

00:14:01.640 And that is the area of use.

00:14:04.620 I know John Paul II spent first part of one of his great works on this issue of use.

00:14:09.780 The whole, like, first chapter is all on use and what it means and everything else.

00:14:13.580 But there's a very great truth to that in this respect.

00:14:17.240 The problem of pornography and of basically ogling the other person for the sexual gratification you can get from just ogling the other person.

00:14:29.380 And that's sort of rampant.

00:14:32.700 And I think base understanding today, oh, that's totally fine.

00:14:37.920 What's wrong with that from a philosophical point of view of the image of man?

00:14:43.140 Well, again, it depends on your philosophy.

00:14:44.860 So what is your starting point?

00:14:46.460 And this is why philosophy matters.

00:14:48.080 Ideas have consequences.

00:14:49.780 What is your idea of the human person?

00:14:51.420 If all we are is matter, then consent is the only thing.

00:14:58.060 And you see now that universities, that is the only benchmark they have.

00:15:02.160 They cannot say in a code of ethics, don't treat people like objects, because that is somehow seen as moralizing.

00:15:09.140 When 20 years ago, that could be said just as basic etiquette and have people have dignity, treat them with respect.

00:15:15.780 But now it's the only thing we got going for us is consent.

00:15:19.580 And the Christian understanding comes at it as if you are made in the image and likeness of God, then you have inherent dignity, inestimable worth. 0.85

00:15:33.380 No one should be treated like an object, even if they consent to it.

00:15:36.680 And getting to work and teach at an all-boys school, there was a lot of these conversations, because we live in such a pornified world.

00:15:45.420 We're all the walking wounded.

00:15:47.480 We've all been exposed.

00:15:48.920 And it's so easy for habits and addictions to develop around this stuff, and how it warps us.

00:15:54.740 Like, I'm trained to only see people as objects.

00:15:56.900 And with Christ, there can be incredible healing and restoration, but it's a long and exacting work.

00:16:04.560 The Catechism even says that when it comes to developing self-control and mastery.

00:16:09.180 But John Paul II, and it took me three times reading Love and Responsibility before I got it.

00:16:14.440 The first two times, I had no idea.

00:16:16.200 Like, because he's a...

00:16:17.620 Some philosophers are easier to read than others.

00:16:20.320 Yeah.

00:16:21.980 John Paul's not all that easy.

00:16:23.700 John Paul is tough, but he is a lover at heart.

00:16:26.600 He is a romantic.

00:16:27.900 He is not just about staying in an ivory tower.

00:16:30.860 He wants us to be fully alive.

00:16:33.100 And he draws so much upon Christ's words of, if you look...

00:16:37.320 It's not just about behavior.

00:16:38.660 It's about the heart.

00:16:40.360 It's not just like, well, did you commit adultery or not?

00:16:43.140 It's if you even look at a person with lust.

00:16:45.820 You've committed adultery because you have used them.

00:16:48.640 You have diminished their dignity.

00:16:50.900 And it is an incredible, like, goal to set.

00:16:57.260 Because it's not just, well, I didn't do anything wrong.

00:16:59.120 It's like, well...

00:17:00.420 It's like, listen.

00:17:01.060 Like, what was going on in your heart?

00:17:02.860 Because that is what is going to inform your actions.

00:17:05.820 And even if it doesn't hurt anyone, it's hurting you.

00:17:10.940 It's absolutely hurting you and hurting your relationships and your life and your capacity to love.

00:17:16.260 So, this is why the philosophy matters.

00:17:20.860 So, even if we don't call it as such, what is the underlying assumption we have about the human person?

00:17:26.100 Are we just a tool?

00:17:28.340 Are we just an animal?

00:17:29.920 Are we in the way of creation and the planet?

00:17:33.840 Or do we have a real dignity that it's not just about living under a bunch of rules and regulations?

00:17:43.900 It's about a life in abundance.

00:17:45.420 Pope Pius XI said men must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ.

00:17:53.620 And he urged that the faithful give public honor to Christ the King so that individuals and states would submit once more to the rule of their Savior.

00:18:01.800 And that is why LifeSite News is raising up the image of Christ the King across the United States.

00:18:08.060 And you can help us reach millions more.

00:18:11.420 Please pledge your support today for these billboards at lifefunder.com slash Christisking.

00:18:18.740 One of the practical tips, if you will, because a lot of people will struggle with this.

00:18:22.480 It wasn't only John Paul II who said, even if you look at a woman with lust, you commit adultery.

00:18:26.840 It was from our Lord.

00:18:28.580 And those are challenging words.

00:18:30.560 And so practically speaking, one of the, I heard once, actually it was a former porn star who started a ministry to get people out of it and to talk to men specifically.

00:18:41.660 And she said, basically she made the comparison between the young men's or whatever doing that.

00:18:51.140 Imagine if it was your mother or your daughter.

00:18:53.820 And that mind shift, I think really helps to get people to switch their vision from one of use to one of the dignity of the person.

00:19:07.640 Because that person comes, because of the family relation, comes with a dignity that they can recognize right away.

00:19:14.340 So I think that's helped a lot of people.

00:19:16.180 But also, you know, you're in this situation where you are raising your own children into such a world.

00:19:24.640 What are you going to do to defend your children?

00:19:28.200 How are you going to work with your wife to bring your children up so that they aren't, you know, infested and infected so much by all of this?

00:19:38.160 Yeah. And we can't give a, we don't have.

00:19:40.320 So there's always got to be personal inventory of how am I doing?

00:19:43.600 How am I doing in chastity?

00:19:45.200 And do I have the right accountability and the right safeguards up?

00:19:51.040 And especially as a father, am I protecting my house?

00:19:54.100 And also, so on the one hand, monitoring what content comes in.

00:20:02.480 A lot of this also is sometimes it's a cousin, it's a friend, it's someone on the bus that just shoves it in your kid's face.

00:20:11.320 So it's just being aware of sometimes it's out of our control, but to have the age-appropriate conversations and to say, listen, hey, like we don't let our kids go on YouTube alone, like unless we're there navigating it for them.

00:20:25.580 You know, we're monitoring what they're watching while also educating them that, hey, here's what's going on in the world.

00:20:34.340 Like here's what some people choose to do.

00:20:35.780 So like having had hard conversations with our older kids about what abortion is.

00:20:41.880 And there's a really great book, Good Pictures, Bad Pictures, which gets into the fact that, hey, listen, not everything on the Internet is great.

00:20:48.800 And also, you know, sin just festers in the dark.

00:20:53.300 And that fear of my parents are going to be mad at me.

00:20:58.700 Wanting to foster the open channel of communication, like, hey, if you see anything, you come and tell us.

00:21:03.480 Like, we're not going to be mad at you.

00:21:04.580 Like, a lot of kids shove it down because I'm afraid of my parents' reaction.

00:21:09.860 And so I think that's also been really key in some of the other parents I've met is that we be the experts.

00:21:17.240 Hey, you come and tell us.

00:21:19.060 We're not going to be mad at you.

00:21:19.780 But also, if they ask questions, you give them answers in age-appropriate ways.

00:21:24.780 But just to be like, oh, okay, I can go to mom and dad.

00:21:26.720 I don't need to, like, because if we clam up, if our own insecurities around the goodness of the body and sex, like, if we freeze up and we react in a, like, a transmitting way of shame, or just don't ask that, it's, well, then they're picking up.

00:21:45.500 Well, I can't go to mom or I can't go to dad about this.

00:21:48.480 So that's what I mean.

00:21:49.240 Like, we can't give what we don't have.

00:21:50.500 So in our own integration, our own view towards sex and the body, where have I, where am I struggling?

00:21:58.440 Or where have I been given a vision of shame around this?

00:22:05.180 And again, God can do so much.

00:22:06.420 Again, the bar of what Jesus asks us to do and how to live is high, but the grace is high.

00:22:13.380 So it's not just like, I've got to figure it out on my own.

00:22:15.220 I've got to read enough books or listen to enough podcasts.

00:22:18.440 It's the head and the heart.

00:22:20.120 My grace is sufficient for you, says our Lord.

00:22:22.400 Yeah, indeed.

00:22:23.720 With God, all things are possible, not by our own strength, for sure.

00:22:27.080 One of the things that crops up in that discussion is particularly around our Lord's words.

00:22:31.480 And as John Paul II said, if you look at a woman with lust, the key feature in there is you can't say,

00:22:38.300 oh, that was ugly.

00:22:39.660 I have to turn away because then you lie to yourself and that's not going to work. 0.55

00:22:41.780 He's not ugly, but it's inappropriate.

00:22:43.380 And it does harm you and the other person.

00:22:46.880 And I think key in dealing with it is you're confronted with it often by that comes to you now.

00:22:52.700 You don't have to go looking for it.

00:22:53.960 But to be able to recognize, okay, here it is.

00:22:58.840 I'm turning away on purpose.

00:23:00.440 So it used to be called custody of the eyes.

00:23:02.720 That's not talked about anymore nowadays.

00:23:04.460 It's a very useful function because it actually helps you disconnect from the immediate temptation.

00:23:12.460 And in a way you can say affliction because it's a very powerful thing.

00:23:16.780 It's no one saying that it's not.

00:23:18.200 Being able to recognize, okay, you didn't cause that.

00:23:22.120 It came to you or whatever.

00:23:24.760 You're confronted with the decision next, whether to look again or to ogle or whatever,

00:23:30.700 or to turn away.

00:23:32.640 People take different approaches after that to sort of try and think of something else.

00:23:37.160 Think of our Lord.

00:23:38.760 Some to think of the dignity of the person and say, okay, thank you, Lord, for the beauty.

00:23:44.680 That's not for me to see, but, you know, it's whatever.

00:23:47.680 You must have worked with young people because you were at an all-boys school. 0.77

00:23:50.700 How did you sort of coach them through that?

00:23:52.640 Well, the first step is admitting there's a problem.

00:23:54.460 So helping a young person or not so young recognize, because there's also a lot of that

00:24:00.360 rationalization too.

00:24:01.420 Well, everyone's doing it.

00:24:02.480 What's the big deal?

00:24:03.260 So if you can break through that first wall of excuses and get to the heart of, is this

00:24:09.640 really the man you want to be?

00:24:11.900 And that cuts religiously or not. 0.97

00:24:14.960 Like I've met self-proclaiming atheists that know, okay, porn is a problem. 0.97

00:24:22.220 This, I am not being a better man because of this.

00:24:24.900 And so to at least recognize this, you don't even have to ascend to God yet, but just to

00:24:29.060 say, I shouldn't look at people as objects.

00:24:31.720 Great, like now we're getting somewhere.

00:24:33.940 And absolutely, there is a custody of the eyes.

00:24:36.380 St. Thomas More said, a man should not go where he is tempted.

00:24:39.420 And he said that before the internet.

00:24:41.380 You know, you can imagine now like what we have to be on guard for.

00:24:44.540 And it's not because, like you said, the body is bad or sex is bad.

00:24:48.320 It's because it is something so good and holy.

00:24:51.160 So there's also got to be the replacing education of goodness and good art.

00:24:57.120 And in that way, redeeming the whole person and as a way.

00:25:04.380 And I've talked to a priest who talked about using sacred art as a way of healing the brain

00:25:11.340 and healing the memory of like, get yourself an icon, get yourself an image of Our Lady that

00:25:15.420 you really gravitate to and just meditate and pray with that and ask for that grace to redeem how you

00:25:23.580 look at womanhood, how you look at the goodness of the body and how sacred art itself can be a healing

00:25:29.820 thing.

00:25:30.180 And the goal, too, is to not just stay at.

00:25:35.460 No, you know, the custody of the eyes is the good first step, like the hope is to move towards

00:25:40.580 integration where I could see the human person as they are and weep for them and weep when a person

00:25:46.140 feels like they they have to make a living on OnlyFans or they have to like this is the the only

00:25:52.320 way forward in their lives instead of saying, well, they consented and they, you know, they said yes to

00:25:56.860 you. What's like what's the big deal? It's like, no, no, no, like mercy on anyone who has by whatever

00:26:04.080 they've been through in life, whatever neglect or abuse or abandonment or just the lies, you know,

00:26:10.800 with how much is upside down nowadays where now we call these kinds of behaviors empowering.

00:26:16.880 John Paul, too, even wrote about, you know, back to love and responsibility, he wrote about

00:26:20.040 shamelessness. Like there is a healthy shame, which is doesn't mean like your identity.

00:26:25.440 It just means I want to cover up my body for the sake of protecting what is good, not because the

00:26:30.860 body is bad. Like if a kid walks in on me like you in the shower, you like you cover yourself,

00:26:35.960 you grab a towel, you do whatever, not because the body is bad, because it's good.

00:26:40.420 But John Paul, too, even prophetically talking about the the oncoming culture of shamelessness,

00:26:47.500 where now we just flaunt ourselves as if who cares? What's the big deal? You should get

00:26:55.020 over it. And we really are bringing down that dignity that God given dignity we're called

00:27:02.120 to. So, yes, like custody of the eyes is the first step. But then the hope to that to have

00:27:08.680 the heart of our Lord who weeps for those who are settling. And to the extent we can intercede

00:27:18.760 and pray and fast and even be the hands and feet to those who are struggling, who feel like

00:27:24.900 they have no other options. We can do that. I know people in ministry who have gone to the

00:27:30.700 parking lots of strip clubs or porn shops and done ministry there. But that also requires

00:27:35.820 a maturity and a level of I know myself, I know what I can handle and why I'm here.

00:27:42.780 Peter Krosniewski makes a very interesting point along the same lines. He says that

00:27:46.480 we veil what is sacred. And so when you go to church, the tabernacle has a veil, the chalice has

00:27:53.740 a veil over it. The altar has a veil. He's explaining this by means of explaining, yes,

00:27:59.780 the bodies, particularly of women, are veiled because they're sacred. He even says the hair

00:28:05.600 in church is veiled in the traditional mass because of the sacredness of it. So it's a beautiful

00:28:11.720 way of understanding it. It totally flips the idea. I wanted to get also to particularly this one

00:28:17.940 chapter in your book entitled, Everything is Marxist. What did you mean by that today in our

00:28:25.740 culture today? Because a lot of people will think, hey, what do you mean Marxist? I mean,

00:28:29.400 gosh, Marxism is dead and gone. The iron curtain fell. We're all good now. What do you see as

00:28:34.540 everything is Marxist? So that chapter was fun and it's a bit tongue in cheek, but I'm also serious

00:28:39.560 about it because there was a systematic dismantling of Nazism when Germany was defeated in the Second

00:28:48.680 World War. There was not so with communism. Everyone thinks, yes, the iron curtain fell,

00:28:54.780 communism's defeated, on we go. But it went underground and it just kept morphing and infected

00:29:02.640 academia. And it's made its way through in these different forms today because

00:29:09.420 now you see it everywhere once you realize the narrative is not like, for instance, the goodness

00:29:16.800 of what America strives for, the fact that we're creating the image and likeness of God. The narrative

00:29:23.200 we're given now everywhere is power. It's about oppressors and the oppressed. And there's a moral

00:29:32.100 right we should do in toppling those who oppress. And we're going to march our way through history and

00:29:38.880 everyone who was seen as heroic. We're going to tear down their statues because they were oppressors

00:29:44.000 and we're just going to flip everything on its head. And it's, it's a lot of, it's Marxism when you

00:29:49.180 boil it down to it, of this class warfare is the point of it all. And it's morphed from just economics

00:29:57.320 to now environmentalism, to the way, you know, races are talked about, to in within feminism and the 0.79

00:30:07.260 sexual revolution, which was very Marxist. Dr. Carrie Griss, Griss, was she, did she write, um,

00:30:14.560 the anti Mary book? She did. Yes. That book is phenomenal. I highly recommend anyone who's

00:30:20.400 interested at like the communist, the Marxist roots of the sexual revolution to read that book.

00:30:27.220 I draw a bit upon it here because this is not just an academic philosophical battle. It's a spiritual

00:30:32.480 battle. So when our lady at Fatima warns that the errors of Russia are going to spread throughout the 0.89

00:30:38.440 world, it's not just economic Marxism. We could draw a through line from that thought, but the deeper

00:30:44.640 thought of how it's, it's infected, how we see humanity at its, the base level, because it was a lot

00:30:56.860 of economics for Marx, but it was also, we need to tear down the family. We need to tear down male and 0.99

00:31:01.920 female. And John Paul, the second was, was aware of this. He's, he scandalized some people walking

00:31:07.560 around the Vatican reading, I think when he was a Bishop, Carol Voitiba, and he was walking around

00:31:12.400 carrying the, the works of Karl Marx. And it scandalized some of his fellow priests, like,

00:31:19.060 what are you doing? He's like, well, I need to know my enemy better than, than he knows himself.

00:31:23.520 And it's, it's the anthropology is off in Marx. Just thinking like, if we just provide for people

00:31:30.700 economically, if everyone has bread to eat, they'll be fine. We'll get utopia. Man does not

00:31:35.560 live by bread alone. Like the system is never going to work for a few reasons. One of which

00:31:39.760 if fundamentally gets wrong, it's philosophy of the human person. And it continues to have these,

00:31:47.320 and you see it amongst the younger generation that they want goals. They want something to strive

00:31:53.340 for. And if they don't believe in God, if they don't have a religion or religious framework,

00:31:58.900 that zeal has to go somewhere. So whether that's in the sexual identity movements or in the

00:32:07.460 environmentalism movements, you see this religious passion and fervor because we're religious creatures

00:32:13.480 and it's got to go somewhere. And right now in the water has been this morphing of Marxist thought

00:32:18.740 because we, we want to, we want a good versus evil battle. So we have to get the oppressors

00:32:25.040 wherever they are and we got to find them. And like, that's our starting point nowadays.

00:32:30.320 And that's, that's what I mean by everything is Marxist.

00:32:33.480 Very much to your point, St. Augustine, you know, my heart will not rest until it rests in you,

00:32:37.080 O Lord. He did that. He searched and went, it was vigorous in, in everything until he realized,

00:32:42.680 aha, here it is. And it is, it is actually a battle of good and evil where we have to fight.

00:32:48.640 The problem with, that everybody needs to know is the battle happens right here in your own heart.

00:32:53.540 One of the things that is, I think most important is to recognize how much God actually loves you.

00:32:59.200 Once you have that firmly established, you'll be able to take that knowledge and that love

00:33:03.780 and bring it out to the world. But you got to do that for yourself first,

00:33:06.600 because that's where the battle is. Bobby Angel, any final thoughts for us?

00:33:09.860 The book I tried to write as pastorally as I could. So it's not a book where I'm just trying

00:33:14.780 to dunk on people or make fun of people. I really, I've been involved in ministry ever since I got out

00:33:21.500 of that youth ministry program that changed my life. So my aim is not to stir the pot,

00:33:27.160 but in a hopefully Christ-like way, just let the truth out and remind people, because there's a lot

00:33:33.240 of great books today too, that explain post-modernism and philosophy and how we got here,

00:33:38.040 but they don't always give you like, what do we do about it? What's the way forward?

00:33:42.300 And as Catholic Christians, we can point to the fact that truth exists and it exists in a person

00:33:48.100 and empires fall out of persecutions and martyrdom is the blood of the church,

00:33:55.960 like is the seat of the church. That beauty always finds a way. So as ugly as art and architecture

00:34:03.780 can be, good art, good church architecture is going to reclaim a sense of transcendence.

00:34:10.360 And for that we can, should invest in, and that it really is the saints. When you think about how

00:34:16.840 are we going to get out of this? How are we going to reclaim our footing throughout the last 2000 years?

00:34:22.040 Look to the saints and look to their bold example and their, their humility and which they reminded

00:34:27.820 people, there's more than just this world. There's more than what you see and it's worth pursuing to

00:34:34.820 the end. Bobby Angel, thank you so much for being with us. Do go check out his show, Jackie and Bobby

00:34:40.000 from Ascension Press and also Sophia Institute has his book, The Postmodern Predicament. Go check it

00:34:46.320 out. God bless you. Thanks so much for being with us, Bobby. Thank you, John Henry. And thank you and

00:34:50.940 God bless you to all of you. And we'll see you next time.

00:34:57.680 Aloha everyone. This is Jason Jones for LifeSide News. We hope you enjoyed this video. For more

00:35:03.240 content like this, check the link in the description. You can also connect with us on social media to

00:35:09.880 stay up to date with the latest news on life, faith, family, and freedom. Thanks for watching and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - February 07, 2025

Marxist INFILTRATION？ Bobby Angel Exclusive Interview

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