Denver Newsroom, Nov 8, 2020 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- No phones, no Facebook, no Amazon, no Netflix.
When Fr. Josh Mayer entered St. John Vianney’s Seminary in Denver, his first year looked a little more monk-like than what some might expect.
“It had to do with getting weaned off of the damaging effects of media, and then being able to see them for what they are when you come out on the other side of that,” Mayer told CNA.
Besides fasting from their phones and the internet, the seminarians also went on a commerce fast, where they were not allowed to make purchases. The only day the men did not observe these fasts was Saturday, when they could call friends and family or buy things they needed.
The year was also peppered with spiritual direction and counseling, as well as spiritual retreats, culminating with a 30-day Ignatian retreat. There were classes, but no grades. Book assignments, but no reports.
In January, after Christmas break, the men were sent out two-by-two for 30 days, with about $80 and a backpack, heading to unbeknownst-to-them mission destinations, for what is known as a poverty immersion. Mayer can’t say where he went, so as not to ruin the surprise for other seminarians, “but I can tell you that it was awesome.”
These experiences were some of the key parts of Spirituality Year – the introductory year of the seminary program at St. John Vianney in Denver that is designed to give men a break from academics for a more intense focus on their spiritual and human formation.
“They call it a year of the heart,” Mayer said. “So a year to focus on your relationship with the Lord and to engage in deeper prayer than probably anybody who’s in spirituality year has ever engaged in before.”
When Mayer entered his spirituality year 10 years ago, the Denver seminary was one of the only ones in the United States with such a program. Today, more seminaries throughout the country are looking to St. Vianney’s program as a model for their own “propaedeutic,” or preparatory years.
The authority in the Church that governs the formation of seminarians is the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, which provides its guidance for formation in the Ratio Fundamentalis Instituionis Sacerdotalis (or “Ratio”).
Following this “Ratio,” each country’s bishops’ conference then prepares their own “Ratio Nationalis.” In the U.S, this document is entitled “The Program of Priestly Formation.” The current edition of this document suggests a “propaedeutic period” for seminaries, but the U.S. bishops’ conference told CNA that the document is being updated, and such a period will become the norm in U.S. seminaries with the new edition.
According to the Vatican’s 2016 Ratio, the purpose of such a period “is to provide a solid basis for the spiritual life and to nurture a greater self-awareness for personal growth.”
“It must always be a real time of vocational discernment, undertaken within community life, and a ‘start’ to the following stages of initial formation,” the Ratio states.
Pope John Paul II wrote in the 1992 document “Pastores Dabo Vobis” (I Will Give You Shepherds) of the growing need for propaedeutic years for seminarians, due to the rapidly changing cultural, technological and ideological landscapes of the modern world.
“[T]here is spreading in every part of the world a sort of practical and existential atheism,” he wrote, in which “the Individual, ‘all bound up in himself, this man who makes himself the center of his every interest’…even as a wide availability of material goods and resources deceives him about his own self-sufficiency.”
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver noted in a recent document, “New Men in Christ,” that it was such an observation that motivated St. John Vianney Seminary to provide a spirituality year for the past 20 years.
“Coming from an environment of that promotes self-centeredness, our young men are given the daunting task of hearing and responding to their vocational call. In many cases, they receive and respond to their call with decidedly marginal resources – having an underdeveloped knowledge of themselves and their relationship with Christ,” Aquila wrote.
“Like the apostles, prior to entering the intellectual and pastoral formation stages of seminary, our young men need a time for their hearts to be formed by Jesus. This human and spiritual formation allows them to live with Jesus through prayer, away from the
cacophony of the voices of the world,” he added.
Fr. John Kartje is the rector of Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago, which just started its second year of a spirituality program.
Kartje said while the program took a lot of its inspiration from Denver, including the media fast, one of the ways in which it differs is that it is “housed deliberately not on the seminary site.”
“It really is in the nature of the year itself, that you’re sort of stepping away. You’re stepping outside of that busy-ness of the life you’ve been living,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, it disengages the men from some of the “dramas” of seminary and Church life, and allows them to dive deeply into community life with one another.
“It allows the men to disengage a little bit from, for lack of a better word, the drama that sometimes can go on in the Church today,” Kartje said. “‘Bishop X said this.’ Or, ‘Did you see what was in that blog post?’ Dialogue is important, but there’s a toxicity in the Church today – by no means is it pervasive, but it’s there. And for someone who’s just exploring a vocation, the evil one can really take advantage of those kinds of things and just completely take us off focus.”
The men live together in a house with one full-time priest, and other priests who come for spiritual direction or to give talks. The men are fully in charge of the house’s day-to-day duties like cooking and cleaning, Kartje said, which gives them an opportunity to grow.
“It’s the men living together in community, which is much more than getting along with your roommate or something like that. It really is having that common bond as a disciple of Christ, as a man who is discerning this vocation and learning what it means to be the body of Christ in the truest sense of the word,” he said.
“But also, it does mean to take responsibility for your share of the work, to collaborate. Men in a presbyterate are not best friends primarily. They may have a good friend, who’s a priest in the presbyterate. But how do we all get along? How do we respect each other? How do we handle fraternal correction? All those kinds of things.”
Echoing the sentiments of Pope John Paul II as well as the Ratio, Kartje said that men who enter seminary are often coming from environments that are antithetical not only to prayer and the Christian life, but to any kind of quiet in their lives, which is another thing the spirituality year aims to provide.
“Nevermind having a deep Catholic experience or identity,” Kartje said, often the men lack deep experiences with “even just introspection.”
Spirituality year allows them “to unplug from the frenetic pace of our culture and really learn what it means to spend time in quiet with the Lord,” he said.
Mayer added that in his experience, the time to step back from academics was an important part of the spiritual year, because otherwise, it could be easy to view the seminary as just another academic track, with homework to study and tests to pass.
“For instance, if you have a candidate who’s coming right out of high school or right out of college and going into seminary, you’ve spent most of your life in class. And…you tend to have an expectation of seminary as more classes. Then you get to seminary and most of your time is actually spent on academics,” Mayer said.
“So it’s very possible to just see your preparation for the priesthood as being primarily a mental exercise, something that you’re still competing with others for the best grade. The seminary just becomes in the stream of everything else you’ve done, which is primarily, for Americans, school.”
Mayer said men in spirituality year still take classes on things like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and they read some spiritual classics, like “Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux and “Confessions” by St. Augustine.
“You’re going to have some classes, but they’re actually just for you, they’re just for your sake, for the sake of your flock,” he said.
Another important goal of the spirituality year is to help men with their human formation by providing ample opportunities to meet with psychological counselors, and to examine their own weaknesses and shortcomings.
“There’s a surprising amount of human formation issues that a spiritual bandaid cannot fix,” said Fr. Brady Wagner, who serves as the director of the spirituality year for St. John Vianney in Denver.
“I think doing a Spirituality Year or a propadeutic year gives men opportunities to really seriously consider their history, their life, their own experiences in light of Christ and find some freedom,” he said. “And if a guy is not free, then he’s able to see that, okay, this is probably not going to be a good fit.”
Wagner added that most men throughout the course of the year take advantage of the psychological counselors that are available to them, and even if they don’t engage in formal therapy, almost all of them receive some kind of growth counseling.
“It really is…having to get foundation in a life of prayer and having done some good work in terms of healing. Maybe there’s some things that I’ve suffered in my life, in my past experiences. (Seminarians can) have them healed and integrated into their lives according to God’s providence,” he said.
It helps seminarians come to a deeper recognition that God has “been with me my whole life, and I know what it means to walk with him.”
This spiritual and psychological work allows men to enter into the rest of the seminary with as free of a heart as possible, Wagner said, or to discern that their call is elsewhere – either somewhere else in religious life, such as the monastery, or to marriage.
“There is a heavy emphasis on vocational discernment, but only after having sensed the truth of my baptismal dignity and identity,” he said, which “naturally opens up vocation becoming clear. And so I think a lot of guys really have a sense of clarity by the end of the 30-day spiritual exercises. They have some clarity about their vocational discernment because the exercises themselves really have an orientation towards making an election to a state of life.”
Because spirituality year has a heavy emphasis on discernment, there are often men who choose to leave seminary during that year, Wagner added.
“It’s not uncommon, where guys leave throughout the year. We just had a guy after his three-day retreat, he had a deep sense of confirmation that the priesthood is not his call, and a lot of joy and a lot of freedom around that. So he just left recently and, and that’s actually a good sign. A lot of guys go through that.”
Mayer said spirituality year serves as a good “check” on men’s motives and expectations for entering seminary.
“I’ve seen a lot of really beautiful things happen in spirituality year in both directions, from men deciding that this is not the call, but they’re grateful for the time they were able to have, or men really hunkering down and realizing that this is where the Lord’s leading them. Spirituality year is also really good for revealing deeper issues and wounds that we have,” he said.
Mayer said he learned lessons during his spirituality year that he continues to carry with him in his priesthood.
“I think having nine months of being really privileged to live like that certainly helps us analyze the way that we live our lives, and helps us make choices to preserve those things that are most important, like prayer and relationship – relationship with God and relationship with other people,” he said.
“Something like spirituality year, where you have an intensity of prayer and relationship and intensity of focus, you don’t have all the distractions that you normally have to blame your issues on,” he said.
This can sometimes bring up deeper issues that men may have been avoiding or that went unrecognized before entering seminary, Mayer added, like anxiety issues or other psychological problems.
“It’s good for them to show up and reveal themselves and how deep they go, in a safe context and safe environment, rather than 15 years later at a parish, when you have a nervous breakdown or something,” he said.
Overall, he said, he thinks things like a spirituality year or a propaedeutic experience lays a strong foundation for seminarians for further discernment.
“A lot of things are revealed when you spend a lot of time in prayer and sinking down into your heart.”
[…]
For those of us who may have missed in the left-wing media DT’s verifiable acts of kindness, among them his acts of helping Christians in general and Catholics in particular, and his actual change of mind re Hillary Clinton to avoid hurting her further. A few examples among many:
a) School choice, which benefits Catholic schools:
“Among the many executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his new administration is one that frees up federal funding in support of school choice. This is great news for many parents and a much-needed pushback against public schools’ virtual monopoly over our nation’s education system.” https://ewtn.co.uk/article-why-president-trumps-executive-order-on-school-choice-is-great-news/
b) SAVING CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: Upon Cardinal Dolan’s call for help, DT raised millions that saved the NY Catholic schools
“Fundraising for Catholic Schools
Overview of Trump’s Efforts
Former President Donald Trump has actively supported Catholic schools, particularly during his presidency. He raised significant funds for Catholic education, especially in New York, to help address financial challenges faced by these institutions.
Key Fundraising Events
Catholic Fundraiser: Trump participated in a fundraiser for the Archdiocese of New York, where he made a direct appeal for the Catholic vote and emphasized the importance of supporting Catholic schools.
• Support During the Pandemic: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump expressed his commitment to providing federal financial support for Catholic schools, which were experiencing severe financial stress due to decreased enrollment and tuition payments.
Impact of Fundraising
• Financial Aid: The funds raised have been crucial in stabilizing Catholic schools, allowing them to continue serving students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.
Educational Justice: Catholic leaders have highlighted that supporting these schools is not just a religious issue but also a matter of educational justice, as they provide quality education at a lower cost compared to public schools.
Trump’s fundraising efforts have played a significant role in sustaining Catholic education in New York and beyond, ensuring that these schools can continue to operate and serve their communities effectively.”
c) One example of DT mercy is that eventually he changed his mind about “locking her up” and he has said repeatedly that Hillary Clinton had been through enough and he was not going to prosecute her:
“President-elect Donald Trump indicated he would not pursue charges against Hillary Clinton, with a source close to his transition team stating that Trump felt Clinton had “been through enough” and would not go after her officially over her email scandal. Trump also expressed that he didn’t want to hurt the Clintons, calling them “good people,” and said he was not looking to revisit the issue. While he had previously vowed during the 2016 campaign to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s use of a private email server, his senior adviser Kellyanne Conway confirmed in November 2016 that Trump “doesn’t wish to pursue charges” against her.” See
https://nypost.com/2016/11/23/why-trump-isnt-pursuing-charges-against-hillary-clinton/
d) Many consider DT crackdown on illegal immigration not “compassionate,” yet during his first term, he actually allowed the illegals covered by Obama’s DACA to remain in the country despite the justifiable efforts by many conservatives to deport all those who had violated the laws of this country by entering illegally or by being brought in illegally. Cf. what the Vatican does with those entering ITS premises illegally:
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
Correction: Most Catholic voters – such as myself – STRONGLY support Trump on deportations, despite the bishops’ phony concern.
Well, we pay the for the largesse they get to assist with the invasion. Taxes, press 1 for English, costs associated with maintaining translation services in hospitals, schools, ballots, reduced wages, accidents caused by illiterate and uninsured drivers
They get all kinds of money from the government and then have the audacity to run their annual appeals so they can have meetings in ritzy places…
Many polls show a massive gender divide. Here is what I found from this poll with regard to deportations (https://www.ncregister.com/news/catholic-voters-still-back-trump-ewtn-news-realclear-opinion-research-poll-shows): 62% of male Catholic voters view him favorably, compared with 45% of female Catholic voters. Catholic women voters also gave the president the strongest unfavorable rating at 33%, compared with 23% for males. Male Catholic voters were more likely than female voters, 21% to 10%, to list mass deportations as the most important campaign promise. As with the gender divide over the question of the most important campaign promise, his deportation policy has also sparked a split between the sexes, as 62% of men strongly or somewhat favor the policy, while 46% of women strongly or somewhat favor it.
“Catholic women voters also gave the president the strongest unfavorable rating at 33%…”
That’s because most women (not just Catholic women) think of Trump’s personality instead of the issues.
Most Catholics are law-abiding citizens. It is against the law to enter the USA without following the established procedures. The bishops disregard the law and foster lawlessness when they condone aliens entering the USA illegally. Those of us who are fathers and grandfathers have a moral responsibility to insure the safety of our children and grandchildren. Bishop have no children to protect and cannot possibly understand the moral obligations of fathers to protect their children.
The bishops seem to ignore the vast numbers of illegal aliens who enter the USA and rape, murder, and steal which, the last time I looked, were sins in the Catholic Church.
There used to be an examination of conscience at the back of my Church that used the Decalogue as sort of checklist, along with some other considerations implicit in each individual Commandment.
For the Fourth Commandment, the additional considerations were obeying employers and legal authority-with a specific question: “Have I paid all my taxes?”.
That question always gave me some amusement in its naivete. Being a CPA, I have a better than average understanding of taxation, and I understand NOBODY other than those with the simplest situations can answer that in the affirmative, because taxes-especially federal taxes are incredibly complex, uncertain, variable and voluminous. The best a person, even a licensed practitioner could say is “I haven’t intentionally evaded a liability”.
Now if I’m bound to OBEY Title 26, with all of obnoxious cost and effort involved with compliance, then why aren’t foreigners obliged to obey Title 8-which is relatively simple?
I am not insensitive to the plight of refugees. I had an elementary school teacher who was a refugee from Castro’s Cuba. She and her husband came to the United States and were model citizens as are their children. Cuba’s loss was our gain.
The Bishops never comment on taxes, other than to encourage more spending taxes-without the slightest knowledge of the dictum “the power to tax involves the power to destroy” and that taxes are meant to be instruments to fund legitimate functions of government, not instruments of economic engineering.
The contrast and disparity couldn’t be more stark. No Bishop would call a tax evader an “undocumented taxpayer in duplicitous attempt conceal the illegality of unauthorized entry. They don’t run organizations to assist with compliance with our onerous tax burdens. They don’t opine endlessly on the inequities or cruelties of tax administration or militate for relief.
Errata:
No Bishop would call a tax evader an “undocumented taxpayer” in the way as they label lawful entry evaders entrants “undocumented immigrant” in duplicitous attempt conceal the illegality of unauthorized entry.
The other issue is that much of this spending is borrowed funds, the becoming “Federal Funds.”
It seems there is no frugality in the federal government at all. (I realize the grossly underfunded Medicare, Social Security and sometimes Medicaid funding is likely most of the problem of this black hole)
A young relative (early 20s) works full time and has medical insurance set up through his employer (due to income he as forced onto the exchanges). With these subsidies dropping off Jan 1, the monthly pmt is set to be over 500. This is for a healthy non smoker non drinker. I think he can still get on his parent’s plan, but other than that I told him to go without, due to his low risk.
The graphic in the article asks “Do you favor or oppose the detention and deportation of unauthorized immigrants on a broad scale?” That question alone calls into question the validity of the survey. The question does not use the term “illegal alien,” the technically correct term. No, the crafter of the poll knew exactly what they were doing by using the oxymoron “unauthorized immigrants.” Such a blatant and obvious attempt to sway the response. Shameful.
And Pitchfork Rebel, you are spot on. The vast majority of bishops are completely out of step with the sentiments of the American Catholic voter. The overwhelming support for Trump in the last election proves the point. And ritzy meeting places? Indeed. The optics of that…
I’d like to say you have a gift for understatement “out of step”, because there’s almost an arrogance to their actions.
I remember when they were having a meeting at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore in 2018 this very day, November 12, where my former Bishop, James Timlin defied Bishop Bambera’s order prohibiting him from representing the diocese at any public events, liturgical or otherwise.
Timlin was 91 at the time, so it now doubt took some effort to get there and to fail to momento mori.
I didn’t take a vow of obedience-Timlin did and when he retired as Bishop, he was returned to the instruction of the new Ordinary.
CCC Paragraph 2241 is clear and it provides no quarter for Episcopal oversite of the nature and extent of immigration.
All persons have a right to preserve their nation, it’s customs, laws and traditions-its distinct identity. Charity shouldn’t mean Muslims capturing municipal governments and telling Christians they are not “welcome” or having inner cities turned into enclaves of foreigners.
Even Theodore Hesburgh had a grasp that unlimited immigration was pathological altruism at best.
“It is not enough to sympathize with the aspirations and plight of illegal aliens. We must also consider the consequences of not controlling our borders,”
March 1986
The issue boils down to the Rule of Law as a foundational principle of our national life. My willingness to obey various state and federal laws is how I contribute to a functioning society. I am not above the law, and I am not the exception to all the rules. Allowing unlimited and unvetted mass immigration is an insult to all of those responsible citizens who are playing by the rules. If a person’s first act is to disobey laws to be here illegally, then he or she forfeits the privilege of being here. If I’m an athlete who is not willing to play by the rules, I don’t get to play in the game. If illegals cannot follow the law and honor the process, they don’t get to be here. It’s much more simple than the out-of-touch bishops realize.
Somewhere I read recently that Biden is responsible for the illegal immigration mess.
Well, duh.
These actions are taking place daily but the left wing media will not report them to the citizens of this country:
ICE Sweep in Sanctuary California: 10,000 Criminal Aliens Arrested, Including 14 Conviction Repeat Offender
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2025/12/11/ice-sweep-in-sanctuary-california-10000-criminal-aliens-arrested-including-14%e2%80%91conviction-repeat-offender/
ICE Sweep in New Orleans Nets Rapists, Human Smugglers, Child Abusers
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2025/12/11/ice-sweep-in-new-orleans-nets-rapists-human-smugglers-child-abusers/
Maria Corina Machado Credits Trump Admin with Aiding Daring Escape from Venezuela
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2025/12/11/maria-corina-machado-credits-trump-admin-aiding-daring-escape-venezuela/
Our family knows immigrants that came from Vietnam and are model citizens. They went through the Naturalization process, spoke the pledge to this country, and are now model citizens. This what I support. It’s a slap in the face for the people who sacrificed to become an American citizens the lawful way. We are country of laws and if your first inclination is to disregard those laws and arrive here illegally then chances are you are….well you can fill in the blanks.
Politics and religion don’t mix, except when we have no other moral choice.
I agree that Cartel criminals must be arrested and deported, but the process is seriously flawed and the colateral damage is overwhelmingly cruel and in some cases, life threatening. Puppy killer Noem has divided families even sending some immigants to El Salvador’s dreaded Cecot prison that mandates no release.
Trump’s mass deportation process is using the National Guard with polICE using a saber instead of scalpel to find the worst of the worst has failed miserably causing mass uprisings ans havoc across the bation.
Trump has difficulty with morals, honesty, and character. Calls Somalis GARBAGE. Other nations are S*i*-Holes. His tirades of falseness and spewing of lies and hatred place him a historically unique President. Examples:
Trump calls his purported enemies, like ailing Joe Biden, “a walking corpse and a lunatic.” MT Greene is a “traitor,” which often triggers death threats by his criminal MAGA sycophants. Geene said her family has gotten death threats on her children.
Ironically, Pete Segheth is calling for the court martial of decorated astronaut Mark Kelly for following the UCMJ, which clearly supports illegal commands. A sure loser for Trump who never served a second in defense of the country that made him a billionaire!!!
White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers told CNA that Trump “won in a landslide victory with historic support from patriotic Catholics across the country because he promised to fight for people of faith, and he has delivered in record time.”
The Guardian: FALSE! Final certified results indicated he won approximately 49.8% of the popular vote.
Donald Trump (Republican): ~77.3 million votes (49.8%)
Kamala Harris (Democratic): ~75.0 million votes (48.3%)
The convicted criminals’ averages hover around 36% …
Approval Ratings by Policy Area
Recent polls indicate varying levels of approval for how he handles specific issues, most of which are underwater (more disapproval than approval).
Policy Area Approval Rating (Approx.) Polling Source/Note
Crime 43% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Foreign Affairs 41% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Foreign Trade 39% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Immigration 37% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Economy 31% – 36% Reuters/Ipsos (Dec 2025), Gallup (Nov 2025)
Middle East Situation 33% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Federal Budget 31% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Ukraine Situation 31% Gallup (Nov 2025)
Healthcare Policy 30% Gallup (Nov 2025)
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+trump%27s+approval+rating+for+his+policies&oq=what&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAECMYJzIGCAAQIxgnMgYIARBFGDkyBggCECMYJzIMCAMQABhDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGJECGIAEGIoFMgwIBRAAGEMYgAQYigUyDAgGEAAYQxiABBiKBTIGCAcQRRg80gEINTY2MWowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
There is not enough ink to list Trump’s many unlawful and immoral acts. The most egregious is that he has broken his oath to protect the Constitution. Trump is a divider, not a uniter.
God protect our children.
“Politics and religion don’t mix, except when we have no other moral choice.”
Meaningless drivel. Worse, completely false.
MorganD: Your TDS is way out of control. I’d get help soon if I were you. In the meantime, stop watching CNN, PBS and anything coming from AP or Reuters as it will exacerbate your condition.
Trump is a symptom, not the problem. The problem is that a large swath of the population buys into the MAGA schlock. The white working class has lost a lot of ground over the past 40 years. Instead of blaming the true culprits, CEO’s and billionaires, Trump and the Republicans transfer the blame to safe targets, such as immigrants, transgenders and other culture war targets.
Incredibly, MAGA buys into tax cuts for the rich and other supply side economic drek, even though it does nothing for them. Millions of MAGA people will lose their Medicaid health care coverage, but by golly Trump beats up those Transgenders, so everything is great.
No one will be losing Medicaid under Trump. Democrats like you have been repeating that lie for decades, so no one is buying what you’re selling here.
I have a friend suffering from TDS who texts me with anti Trump rants before 5am and composed an anti Trump tirade on her Christmas card.
I hope Mr Morgan’s TDS is less painful. It can’t be a pleasant affliction to suffer.
mrscracker: My prayers for your suffering friend !
That text message sounds like good food for thought early AM, over coffee (I’m kidding). You should tell your friend that his text alert beeping just woke the grandkids spending the night and now they are upset and can’t get back to sleep!
(they think Santa texted Grandma that they aren’t getting any presents this year)
Its funny how many liberals attack Trump on “name calling”, except when its THEIR side that does it. I have lost track of how many democrat politicians have called Trump a dictator, a nazi, a murderer; said that he is going to refuse to leave office, is endangering our democracy, and any number or other clearly deranged accusations. They do the same with his cabinet picks. Tom Homan has been personally threatened and his agents physically attacked. All of those attacks far and away supercede calling obviously dysfunctional third world nations full of pirates, criminals and terrorists “S…Hole” countries. And all of THAT leftist name calling has thus far resulted in two REAL assassination attacks on Trump, not to mention illegally ginned up legal charges made up out of whole cloth simply intended to knee-cap his political ambitions. The weaponization of our government agencies. And lets not forget the attack on the Republican baseball team in Washington DC.
My big concern is that we have too many uninformed voters who expect instant results on bringing normality back to our nation while Trump is attacked in the courts every single time he makes a move to pass a law. It does slow things down. I wonder about the people who vote for a party that wants to free criminals,open our borders to terrorists, and pay for every Tom , Dick and Harry who can jump the border. These voters are clearly ill-informed, partisan, credulous or simply not too smart. Changing your vote every year is not a pathway to fixing the government. Our schools, hospitals and housing stock is bursting at the seams. And we see from the recent Somali theft rings that stole a BILLION of taxpayer dollars, that not all immigrants are nice folks who just want to work. Save me the fairy tales.
Put me down as an educated woman who is thrilled Trump has shut the border, and is stopping boat loads of terrorists before they and their DRUGS, reach our shores. I dont care how many times we have to hit their boat. They are enemy combatants, trying to kill our citizens. “Just poor folks trying to earn a living”???? REALLY? So its ok they kill our kids?? Americans need to wake up and understand we are at war.
Well on the bright side, at least our schools are getting some numbers back recently. I was reading a border town newspaper and their enrollment keeps falling because people are having fewer children. The article said it’s a feature now in the state elementary schools and eventually will affect enrollment numbers for high schools and colleges.
I’m sorry for the lives lost in those drug boats. Cartel workers aren’t always given a choice when they’re recruited. But what they carry are weapons of mass destruction. I don’t know a single family who hasn’t lost a loved one to an overdose, has a member who suffers an addiction, or has someone incarcerated because of addiction.
Thanks, LJ, for your excellent post. God bless you.
Regarding drugs,the problem is demand. Those “Narco-Terrorists” would not be bringing drugs to the US unless there was demand. Yes,we should make every effort to stop drugs from coming to the US, but we must also stop demanding them. The drug users are not exactly innocent victims, but participants in this mess.
LJ: Well said. We have to recognize that those with TDS are deranged individuals, full of hate and vitriol.
When we saw how the TDS crowd went about keying Teslas because Elon Musk was busy trying to uncover fraud in government, we witnessed this deranged hate.
When Charlie Kirk was murdered by a homosexual trans maniac we saw evidence of how the TDS crowd applauded his murder.
When two assassination attempts were made on President Trump we saw the TDS hate crowd rejoice at the prospect of his death.
There are so many more examples of the TDS syndrome of hate and violence that illustrate that much of their thinking and behavior is the work of the Evil One.
This may not help poor TDS sufferers. Please do not show it to them:
Nobel Prize Winner Machado: Trump Is ‘Champion of Freedom’ for Hemisphere
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/maria-corina-machado-trump-venezuela/2025/12/14/id/1238291/
I seem to recall Biden calling all Trump supporters “garbage.” Did we cry? Did Trump cry? No, instead, he wore garbage man’s yellow vest (“because it made him look thinner”) and drove a garbage truck. It was hilarious!
“…using a saber instead of scalpel to find the worst of the worst…”
The “worst of the worst” and the “best of the best” are the same – they both violated our immigration law. They deserve the same treatment.
“Young said much of American Catholic history has been an ‘immigrant group coming in and being the target of nativism.’”
Oookay! When nothing else seems to work, pull out the race card. But the race card – and the charge of “nativism” that goes with it – do not work for us LEGAL immigrants, because we are not native., But we, too, are here. Don’t ignore our presence. The difference is, we’re LEGAL.
Why do the pope and bishops purposely overlook the difference between legal and illegal immigrants? When was the last time we hear the pope or a bishop preach that illegal immigration is immoral? They hardly ever, because for them, illegal aliens are sacred. Preferential option is only for illegals. Period.
Neither is it true that immigrant groups are the target of nativism, since natives and alien groups hardly ever sit in the same Mass. They don’t interact. The natives attend the Mass in their preferred language (English); the immigrants have their own Mass in their own languages. Where did the idea of “target of nativism” come from, then? Obviously, it’s the race card.
Using the race card indiscriminately without regard for us, Brown legal immigrants, is in itself racist. The race card is old and does not work. What works is the green card.
Thanks to Carl and to all who responded to my post on more young Catholic voters supporting President Trump. Complementary discourse is always a winner. It concerns me when vile personal rhetoric destroys the discussion. Those stark words incite the very thing we need to fix.
My overriding fear is for the future of our innocent children being exposed to today’s enormous challenges, including political polarization driven by lies and hatred. I feel that President Trump’s bully pulpit causes much of that fear. He shows a stark cognative difference from his first term.
The broader question is how can we come together and put “America first”? The term coined by the president.
Putting America first requires collaboration and conciliation with other nations. The key is strong and fair leadership. Current events pose many negatives and dangers.
I suggest that we become more involved and vocal in defence of our Republic.