The Home Front

Show Notes:The TikTok that encapsulates the argument and experience of Mental Load“Mental Load is a psy-op” by Leila Marie LawlerNew state law in Washington will attack confessional seal Catholic CultureThe Justice Department announces First Amendment investigation into Washington State’s new anti-Catholic law, Senate Bill 5375Catholics are uneasy… Leila Marie Lawler on XThe Vatican Financial Mess Pope Francis Couldn’t Fix WSJProPublica awarded Pulitzer for falsely framing abortion pill death as result of pro-life law Catholic VoteWhy the Left Lies about Amber Thurman by Leila Marie LawlerLaurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (affiliate link)Do you look forward to our podcast? Please consider supporting our work! Your paid subscription means a lot to us!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Today we have a lively, wide-ranging conversation about the goings on in Rome, including the background on Cardinal Parolin and the amazing Cardinal Joseph Zen — and much more! Phil’s long experience with such matters shines through this discussion! New study reveals an adverse event rate 22 times higher than the FDA-approved drug label reports. EPPCKaty Faust on X Katy Faust: As of 2025, 11 states and D.C. let minors get abortions without parental consent or notification: AK, CA, CT, IL, ME, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, and D.C. No parent required. No warning given. The new #AbortionPill report captures minors who experienced severe complications too.Do you look forward to our podcast? Please consider supporting our work! Your paid subscription means a lot to us!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:The death of Pope Francis:Facts—and fictions—about the papal interregnum; What to do when the conclave comes; The curious background of the Pope’s ‘fixer’ — all by Phil LawlerThe Church After Francis by Arcbishop Charles ChaputCollege of Cardinals Report (with profiles and background information on papabili)The new Pope's #1 priority (Before he can get to all the other disasters) by Leila M. LawlerThe Illinois homeschooling bill, the bishops, and implications for the political battle ahead:What the Illinois Home Schooling Bill Reveals About Democrats The lack of school choice in the state is fueling the left’s broader assault on educational freedom. By Corey DeAngelis (Wall Street Journal)Illinois bishops drop opposition to controversial homeschool bill Catholic VoteDo you look forward to our podcast? Please consider supporting our work! Your paid subscription means a lot to us!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Whatever your worst fever dreams/nightmares about in vitro fertilization are, know that it’s already happening. We came for the infertility; we stayed for the brave new world?IVF must be made illegal. It should be absolutely illegal to conceive a child outside the mother’s womb. Eugenics:“This baby was carefully selected as an embryo.” — New York Times“This vial is made to hold human embryos.” — New York TimesMarkets and Uses:The Future of IVF: The New Normal in Human Reproduction NIHInfertile people, gay and trans couples yearn for progress on lab-made eggs and sperm NPR“Spare” living human bodies might provide us with organs for transplantation MITAn artificial womb could build a bridge to health for premature babies NPRThe EucharistEucharistic Affirmations by Rev. Donald Keefe, SJThe Eucharist: the ultimate reality by Phil LawlerJoe Biden Made More Than 600 Grants to Stop ‘Disinformation.’ Donald Trump Now Has a Plan for Them.Books we’re readingPeace Like a River by Lief Enger (affiliate link)Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (affiliate link)Do you look forward to our podcast? Please consider supporting our work! Your paid subscription means a lot to usDon’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:* The Catholic Role in the American Founding by Phil Lawler; for a fuller picture of the argument, see also an earlier piece on a closely related topic: Has the American Experiment Failed?* Representatives Luna and Petterson on Proxy Voting in the House. They are as embarrassing to womanhood as they are ignorant of how things are done in Congress.“Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), both new mothers, spoke against a House rules package provision to block Rep. Luna's discharge petition to bring to the floor a bill she co-sponsored with Rep. Pettersen that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy.”* Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H. W. Brands (affiliate link)* My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant — There’s something else troublesome about this movie Leila forgot to mention — maybe next week! * The Parent Trap with Maureen O’Hara and Hayley Mills* The Parent Trap (remake) with Lindsey Lohan and Denis QuaidFor next week, you might want to read these long pieces in the New York Times about IVF (they are unlocked as of this posting): This baby was carefully selected as an embryo — “Sex is for fun, and embryo screening is for babies,” she said in a video she shared on X.“The testing was meant to look at intellectual disability, not intellectual ability,” Nathan Treff, Genomic Prediction’s chief scientific officer and one of its founders, told me, disputing the idea that parents were looking for supersmart embryos. Intellectual disability, he stressed, is “a medical condition,” and he did not rule out one day offering screening for it again.— and This vial is made to hold human embryosPlease consider supporting our work! Your paid subscription means a lot to us!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Part OneDurango mother accuses [trans] couple of illegally housing her transgender [sic] childA Man Called Otto Jon Root on Twitter: The Chosen’s wet dream And in general, just say no to The Chosen. Christology matters. Reject the false "Jesus” of the Chosen by Leila MillerHow sitcoms helped shape “queer history” — from the perspective of a fan. Note that the “fairness” — i.e. promotion of positive characterizations — is rationalized by “negative” ones. Part TwoTrump Admin To Defend Catholic Charities In Key SCOTUS Case While Fighting Org In Lower Courts (Daily Caller)Supreme Court Case: Is Catholic Charities ‘Secular’? (Wall Street Journal editorial)Wisconsin Denies the Religious Dimensions of Charity (First Things)Supreme Court Leans Toward Catholic Charity in Tax CasePhil discusses the Catholic Charities situation further on The World Over with Raymond Arroyo We Have Ceased to See the Purpose: Essential Speeches of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Center for Ethics and Culture Solzhenitsyn Series) (affiliate link)Part ThreeBlack Mass in KansasRemembering a victory at Harvard: Satan defeated, the Eucharist enthronedHas the American Experiment Failed? by Phil Lawler — we will talk more about this next week!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:* President Trump: Boasberg should be impeached!* Wall Street Journal: The Judicial Impeachment Distraction by William McGurnIt isn’t a new problem. In Trump v. Hawaii—the 2018 travel ban case—Justice Clarence Thomas said the court had a constitutional obligation to take on the federal judiciaries’ increasing resort to nationwide injunctions.“These injunctions did not emerge until a century and a half after the founding,” Justice Thomas wrote. “And they appear to be inconsistent with longstanding limits on equitable relief and the power of Article III courts. If their popularity continues, this court must address their legality.”More recently, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that he was “stunned” by his colleagues’ decision to reject the Trump administration’s request to force the restoration of foreign aid it had canceled.“Does a single district-court judge,” he wrote, “who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?” It’s still a good question.* A Supreme Court Remedy for Nationwide Injunctions by Elizabeth Price FoleyThere is something the justices can do to rein in nationwide injunctions: exercise their authority under the Rules Enabling Act of 1934 to amend the federal rule on injunctions.The recent outbreak of nationwide injunctions damages our constitutional system. They were almost unheard of before the 1960s. Only 12 were issued against George W. Bush and 19 against Barack Obama during each of their two terms. Joe Biden faced 28. Mr. Trump faced 86 during his first term, almost all issued by Democrat-appointed judges. Two months into his second term, more than 15 have already been issued.* Newt Gingrich: “The Chief Justice can defend the court by overruling bad judges before the Executive and Legislative branches start acting against them.”* Judge Overreaches Amid Latest Lawfare Against Trump: From the onset, Boasberg failed to recognize his court lacks the jurisdiction to hear this case. Why? The ACLU filed this case in the District of Columbia. The five Venezuelan plaintiffs represented by the ACLU are not detained in D.C., but in New York and Texas. The Supreme Court ruled in Rumsfeld v. Padilla that no court has jurisdiction over a habeas petition unless those filing the petition are detained in the district in which it was filed.* You don’t have to play with your kids! Your presence is what they want. By Leila M. Lawler* Prayers from the Ark & The Creatures’ Choir by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, translated by Rumer Godden, Penguin Books — this is the copy we have. It is out of print. You can find other editions with other illustrations as well, second hand. You can read it here on the Smithsonian site.Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Vaccine resources — a compilation by Leila — please read before arguing with us!The Forgotten Triumph: How Public Health, Not Vaccines, Ended the Measles Mortality Crisis — many charts and graphs with explanations about how manipulations can fool you A must-listen/watch: Parents Of Child In Texas Measles Outbreak DeathThe doctor whose treatment should have been used — and is helping other children in West Texas: “Exclusive: ‘Just Normal Doctoring’ — a Texas Doctor’s Eyewitness Report on Measles Outbreak”The Brownstone Institute’s series on how the Covid panic was perpetratedThe “name begins with an H” rabidly pro-vaccine name Leila blanked on: Dr. Peter Hotez. Update: go here for a long survey of Hotez’s misrepresentation of vaccines and their saftey.“The Times presents Hotez as a scientist and pediatrician at the Baylor College of Medicine, and in recent years he’s become a leading go-to “expert” for the mainstream media on the topic of vaccines. Undisclosed by the Times is that he’s also a vaccine developer who holds several patents for vaccines against tropical diseases and co-director of the school’s Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. “In 2017, the center entered a partnership with the German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA to advance development of vaccines for tropical diseases (not to be confused with Merck & Co., the US vaccine manufacturer).”“The center’s purpose, in his own words, is to “secure funding and advance the development of drugs, vaccines, and other health tools . . . that currently the pharmaceutical companies are unable to invest in due to inabilities to promise shareholder returns.” Since pharmaceutical companies view certain proposed vaccine products as an unprofitable venture, the costs are subsidized through “product development partnerships” like Baylor’s. As Hotez explains, a key source of funds is the government, meaning that the costs of vaccine development are being subsidized by the taxpayers.Another name Leila blanked on: Mark Zuckerberg! Point being, things are still being subjected to the algorithm based on politics. Why should we believe his “admission” about the Biden years? It’s Hard To Take Zuckerberg’s Sudden About-Face On Free Speech SeriouslySt. Patrick, meet the Synod on Synodality, by Phil Lawler The ‘self-referential’ Synod by Phil Lawler Rearranging the Deck Chairs By Francis X. MaierIs the Synod Asking the Wrong Questions? (Part I); Is the Synod Asking the Wrong Questions? (Part II of II) by Phil LawlerThe Last Hurrah — great old movie! The book is one of Phil’s favorites. (affiliate link)Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Just War Theory and Our Military Strategy by Phil LawlerProf. Daniel Mahoney’s forthcoming book: The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then and Now; Encounter BooksTrump nominee pledges to prohibit use of aborted fetal tissue in National Institutes of Health-funded researchA bitter taste of what aborted fetal tissue research involves: The Most Evil Man in Evangelicalism, and Those Who Platformed HimA Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum by Mark C. Henrie Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:To secure the talents of our tech support guru, the who takes our ramblings and makes a podcast out of them, Patrick McCaffrey, go to his LinkedIn or find him on Instagram.Four Problems with Assisted SuicideThe states where “medical aid in dying” is legalJennifer A. Frey on X: No guardrails for euthanasia possibleRight to Life UK on X: Doctors would have to offer death with every interaction, under proposed billA Comprehensive Report on the Risks of ART (IVF)The Apostle of a Happy Death by Fr. Jerry PokorskyEric Sammons: Catholics Are Losing Ground: Only 19% of Americans self-identify as Catholic, down from 24% in 2007. This is a 20% decrease. However, “only 29% of self-identifying Catholics attend Mass weekly. So only 29% of the 19% of Americans who identify as Catholic actually fulfill the Sunday obligation.” Perhaps the most stunning finding in the survey is that for every 100 people who join the Catholic Church, 840 leave.Hispanics in US less likely to be Catholics The study finds that between 2007 and 2023, the percentage of Hispanic adults who identify themselves as Catholics dropped from 58% to 42%. Hispanics now account for 36% of the country’s Catholic population. The percentage of adults who identify as Catholics has also decreased—but far more slowly—among white (22% to 17%), black (5% to 4%), and Asian (17% to 14%) Americans.Los Angeles Religious Education CongressThe Bishops Don’t Understand Eucharistic Revival by Leila Marie Lawler: Part One, Part TwoThe Isabella Stuart Gardner MuseumThis is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Netflix: In 1990, two men dressed as cops con their way into a Boston museum and steal a fortune in art ... Was the heist an inside job? Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this:We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Who’s Really Calling the Shots at U.S. Diocesan Chanceries?Vatican condemns publication of ‘credibly accused’ clergy lists — againThe Executive Order on IVFMore Human Embryos Destroyed Through IVF Than Abortion Every YearAn Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman (affiliate link)Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri (affiliate link)We are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:J. D. Vance and Europe’s “internal problem”:CBS is wrong about free speech, Germany, and the NazisGerman candidates, including AfD’s Alice Weidel, debate their policies ahead of upcoming electionChemical AKA mail-order abortion: Thanks to Chemical Abortion Pills, You Should Be Worried About What’s in the WaterIVF and Surrogacy:New York Times: Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in CrisisWe are so grateful when you share our episodes! Sharing is a great way to support us!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand!How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:The Pope’s disastrous letter on immigration by Phil Lawler (must read!)Pope Francis’s Apocalyptic Dream by R. R. Reno (Opens with the provocative line: “Pope Francis published his suicide note.”)Pope Francis’s immigration letter was seriously imprudent by Samuel Gregg (“In itself, the content of the Pope’s letter was unremarkable, if you read it in light of the Church’s established teaching on immigration — and if you interpret some of the letter’s more equivocal passages in ways consistent with Catholic moral teaching.”)Archbishop Broglio’s response to Pope Francis’s letterOnly 52% of funds spent by US bishops’ Catholic Relief Services collection went to CRS, report showsA Question of Charity — Catholic Charities’ government fundingThe School for HousewivesLittle House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings, edited by Stephn W. Hines (this book is out of print, but used copies are available)We are so grateful when you share our episodes!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to take out a paid subscription just now? We understand! How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:{In case it isn't clear in our remarks, we are not backing ethnic cleansing. We think, hope, and pray that Trump’s unusual negotiations will bring peace to the Middle East.}President Trump's Excellent Executive Order: Making America Real Again by LeilaIf RFK Jr. is confirmed, his promised policy on the abortion pill is a huge pro-life win by LeilaNavigating the Coming Trade Wars (Robert Reilly of the Westminster Institute talks with former US trade representative Robert Clyde Prestowitz about tariffs)Carrie Gress: The American Spectator: Think the First Wave Is a Model for Women? Think Again.The School for Housewives by Leila (let’s stop wringing our hands and get our homes in order — a lot depends on it!)We are so grateful when you share our episodes!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this:Tip Auntie Leila! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

A hearty thank-you to all our new subscribers! We are so happy to have you here!Show Notes:By Phil:Vance vs. the bishops on immigration, Part IVance vs. the bishops on immigration, Part IIVance vs. the bishops on immigration, Part IIIIs It Time to Abolish the USSCB? by Leila Marie LawlerWhat Went Wrong with Vatican II by Ralph McInerny (affiliate link)The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture —by Phil, who examines the larger issue of sexual abuse through the lens of what happened in Boston. Review by Jeff Mirus. Some of our discussions and a post about beauty: Glorifying God in stone and woodObjectivity of BeautyImages matterIf we mentioned something but forgot to link it, let us know!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episodeWe are so grateful when you share our episodes!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this:Tip Auntie Leila! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Bishop Mariann Budde tells NPR 'I won't apologize' for sermon addressing TrumpWho is Mariann Edgar Budde, the bishop [sic] who angered Trump with inaugural sermon?Biden says the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered ratifiedElites Hate Phyllis Schlafly Because She Defeated Them From Home With Six Kids In TowPhyllis Schlafly, antifeminist, has a bio that ought to make feminists blush with shame and retreat in defeatPhil Lawler on Phyllis SchlaflyThanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episodeWe are so grateful when you share our episodes!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Black Lives Matter Activists Executed A Shocking $83 Billion Shakedown Of American Corporations— or was it $340 billion?CandlemasAll Creatures Great and SmallThanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!We are so grateful when you share our episodes!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:How Cardinal McElroy came to WashingtonIn facing ‘populist’ tide, Pope risks exposing Church skeletonsSatanic ritual abuse and its cover-up. Why Bishop McElroy should never become a Cardinal by Leila Miller Questions raised about McElroy's response to 2016 McCarrick allegationsCensored by the censorship industrial complex: Contagious Faith: Why the Church Must Spread Hope, Not Fear in a Pandemic by Phil Lawler (affiliate link)Cardinal McElroy’s Conscience Trap by Leila Marie LawlerCardinal McElroy’s “narcissistic and frankly, pagan display” by Leila Marie Lawler Cardinal Rey ResignsTranscript: Mark Zuckerberg Announces Major Changes to Meta's Content Moderation Policies and OperationsDickensian (TV Series)Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Enjoy this episode! (Sorry about my sound quality! I have to address my settings going forward.) If we didn’t get to your question, hang in there. We’ll add this feature to the end of our more “current events” “non-holiday” podcasts as we go forward.And feel free to comment or ask us anything else! Keeping the 12 Days of ChristmasReflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (affiliate link)For more on family life, check out Auntie Leila’s books, The Summa Domestica and The Little Oratory.Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:We answer listener’s questions about large families, alternatives to college, girls who might not want careers, how to find a spouse, and old house living! But first, Phil addresses this “respectful” story:A Conversation About the Virgin Birth That Maybe Wasn’t — The New York TimesNicholas Kristof: “I want to be respectful of readers who have a deep faith… So, acknowledging that this is uncertainty stacked on uncertainty, if Panthera was involved, was it [the birth of Jesus] probably a case of rape?”Elaine Pagels: “I used to dismiss such stories as ancient slander. Yet while we do not know what happened, there are too many points of circumstantial evidence to simply ignore them… The discovery of the grave of a Roman soldier named Tiberius Panthera, member of a cohort of Syrian archers stationed in Palestine in the first century, might support those ancient rumors.”Elaine Pagels is revealed to be a complete academic fraud here: The Pagels Imposture April 26, 2006, by Father Paul Mankowski, SJWe still have more questions to answer, and welcome yours! Leave a comment here or send an email to [email protected] for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

In the Christmas season we will answer your questions! We’re stockpiling the list… you have a bit more time to add to it!Please share our podcast with your friends! Show notes: Fr Benedict Kiely: Interview with Fr. Kiely on what’s happening in Syria; his organization: Nasarean.orgJeanne Kirkpatrick: Dictatorships and Double Standards — I (Leila) said it was a book but it’s a long essay, well worth reading. Slow Medicine by Victoria Sweet (affiliate links)Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

NOW IS THE TIME! To send us your Q’s for our A’s — we’ll do a holiday episode of Ask Us Anything!We’ve gotten some good questions here and by email! We will answer them during the Christmas season! Show notes:The Way of Beauty: Liturgy, Education, and Inspiration for Family, School, and College by David Clayton (affiliate link)Pattern, Geometry, and Abstract Christian Art by Deacon Lawrence. An explanation of the “eighth day” and why baptismal fonts are most often octaganal.Baptistry of St. John in FlorenceChristmas in Heaven: Stefan Lochner’s ‘Madonna in the Rose Garden’ by Denis McNamara. How symbols in sacred art convey spiritual realities, including the cosmic meaning of nature and femininity.More seeing what you see: Fr. Mankowski Calculates the AngleThanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destin by Orestes Brownson. Originally published 1865, now in public domain. (Gateway edition, 2003)We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition by John Courtney Murray, SJ. Sheed and Ward, 1960 (affiliate link)America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding by Robert Reilly (affiliate link)Pius XI: On Christian EducationWhy I Don’t Call Myself Gay by Dan Mattson (affiliate link)Thomas Massie on Twitter:This sheriff ordered the arrest of a pastor for holding services during the COVID panic. He was tapped by Trump to head the DEA. Glad to see him withdraw from consideration. Next time politicians lose their ever-lovin minds, he can redeem himself by following the Constitution.During lockdown: “Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister is taking a firm stance to push his deputies to get the shot.”NOW IS THE TIME! To send us your Q’s for our A’s — we’ll do a holiday episode of Ask Us Anything!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Share with everyone!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Rep. Nancy Mace says Capitol restroom bill targeted 1st transgender member of CongressWoman beaten by man in women’s prisonRuss Vought ran OMB under Trump the first time, and hopefully will again. Here’s what he learned about how the deep state actually works. (Disclaimer: we don’t necessarily endorse Tucker Carlson’s views. Phil doesn’t listen to his — or anyone else’s — podcasts. Leila agrees with some things Carlson says and disagrees with others, but enjoys hearing the opinions and experiences of those he interviews. This is an interesting episode about how government actually works these days.)We watched Becket (1964)Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Share with everyone!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent: A growing number of Americans are choosing not to have children. Their parents are grappling with what that means for them. (Here is an app for reading archived paywalled articles.)Data on birth ratesThe Making of a President: 1960, by Theodore White. (affiliate link) White was actively involved in the Kennedy campaign in 1960, and he gives a lively insider’s perspective (admittedly leaving out some of the details that might mar the Camelot legend) on a successful campaign. His later books on other presidential campaigns are not nearly as lively— in part because he was not directly involved, in part because the 1960 race was an unusually lively contest.The Comeback — the 2004 Red Sox (caution: language)Thanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Share with everyone!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:P’nut the Squirrel’s grieving owner says he was treated like a ‘terrorist’ in 5-hour raid by NY stateFarmageddon — “The story of a mom whose son was healed from all allergies and asthma after consuming raw milk, and real food from farms. It depicts people all over the country who formed food co-ops and private clubs to get these foods, and how they were raided by state and local governments.“Farmageddon tells the story of family farms that were providing healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop by agents of misguided government bureaucracies.”Biden DOJ Slams Peaceful Pro-Life Father with FACE Act ConvictionBiden’s DOJ abuses the FACE actThanks for listening to The Home Front! Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you won’t miss an episode!Share with everyone!Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Father Radcliffe blames the Russians—not the BibleCardinal-designate Radcliffe objects...The Divine Comedy by Dante, translated by Anthony EsolenScience at the Doorstep of God by Robert Spitzer, SJDon’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show Notes:Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy by Charles Coulombe* The music of Paul JernbergLeila’s short reflection about Blessed Karl’s manliness and the Empress Zita’s devotion, and the meaning of their marriage for us (voiceover available)Why the Left lies about Amber Thurman (they don’t want you to know how dangerous the abortion pill is, because it’s their business model now) (voiceover available)The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles DickensJoseph Lawler (our son) in The New Atlantis: Mass. Exodus: Massachusetts is one of the richest states in the country — because it’s pricing out its own middle class. Why did the state stop building enough to house them? (Phil and I live in Massachusetts and have experience) To receive new episodes of The Home Front and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber if you want!* From the book summary (don’t you want to read this? We do!):October 3, 2004 saw what appeared to many to be a very strange thing: Emperor-King Charles of Austria-Hungary, last Habsburg to rule in Central Europe and wartime foe of the United States, was raised to the altars of the Church as a Blessed by St. John Paul II. But odd as this appeared, the real story of the “Peace Emperor” and his just as remarkable wife reads like a combination of a suspense thriller, Greek tragedy, and hagiography. The inheritor of a tradition of Catholic monarchy dating back to the Roman Empire, Bl. Charles struggled to update it sufficiently to survive in the modern world. A brave soldier coming to the throne during a war whose start he had no part in, he risked everything to bring the bloody conflict to an end. Betrayed on all sides by allies, enemies, and subjects, his deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart, and the Virgin Mary helped him to avoid hating those who wronged him. Devoted to his wife and children, Charles succeeded, with the help of his loving Empress, in leading a good Catholic family life despite everything. In a life filled with signs and miracles before and after his death, Bl. Charles managed to combine a life of deep piety with intense practicality. After his death, his wife and children continued his work—her cause for beatification is now being considered. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Bill Clinton Seemingly Blames Kamala Harris for Laken Riley’s Murder by ImmigrantThis is What Elite Failure Looks Like by Oren Cass The Constitution of the United States is always worth a fresh reading. Pay particular attention to Article I, Section 8, which enumerates the (only) powers of Congress. If something is not listed there, the strong presumption should be that Congress does not have the power to do it. Also take a look at the much-neglected 9th and 10th amendments. Science at the Doorstep to God: Science and Reason in Support of God, the Soul, and Life after Death (affiliate link) by Fr. Robert Spitzer SJ. For a non-scientist (like me — Phil) the technical details are overwhelming. But the force of the arguments is compelling. All the scientific evidence points to the existence of God; it takes a special gift of “faith” to resist that conclusion. How to Cook a Wolf (affiliate link) by M.F.K. FisherMystery of Edwin Drood by Charles DickensJoin us in Washington DC for the Blessed Karl Conference!To receive new Home Front episodes and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Don’t wish to subscribe just now? How about this: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

The Left lies about Amber Thurman’s death on a daily basis because abortion supporters want to create a screen to obscure serious inquiry into the dangers of chemical abortion, not only to the unborn but to the mother.There is something most don’t realize: any claim about abortion and its safety simply cannot be verified. States are not required to submit data about abortion use and consequences to the CDC, and what data are submitted are collected at and provided by the abortion facility — so you can imagine how reliable the data are. When a woman is transported to the hospital (as happens far more than the public suspects), the ER is not required to report the reason for death or injury or trace it back to the clinic. You can read about this subject here, on the Guttmacher Institute site.The Guttmacher Institute supplies information to the public about abortion; it was founded by Planned Parenthood and is funded by the Planned Parenthood Foundation of America. Everyone, including the pro-life movement, depends on their statistics — because there is no alternative and uniquely, no law requiring disinterested oversight of this medical procedure.Abortion facilities claim their services are safe, and now the manufacturer and the FDA claim medical abortion, also known as chemical abortion, RU-486, mail-order abortion, and mifepristone/misoprostol, to be safe.Whenever the topic of abortion comes up, the Left is sure to tell you that because of post-Dobbs legislation in some states, women are dying from lack of treatment of reproductive issues. In particular, they cannot stop lying about what killed Amber Thurman. They claim she was killed because post-Dobbs Georgia’s restrictive laws made it so she couldn’t seek help after the chemical abortion of her twin babies.This is an obvious lie, as has been shown over and over. The law didn’t and wouldn’t have led to her death, because it doesn’t restrict the help she needed. She didn’t get it because the hospital has a bad reputation and seems to have been incredibly negligent (and her family is suing them, suggesting they and their lawyers have a reasonable expectation, under the current law, for recourse).The abortion pill works using mifepristone and/or misoprostol and sometimes methotrexate. These chemicals come with a “black box” warning — words in a black box that inform the user of severe consequences of their use. Mifepristone is labeled with one of these “black boxes,” which are located right at the top of the patient information pamphlet. The January 2023 PIP by GenBioPro, available on the NLM Website, also includes a long list of side effects under Section 5, “Warnings and Precautions” and Sections 6, “Adverse Reactions,” including infection and sepsis (such as fatal septic shock), prolonged heavy bleeding (sometimes requiring a transfusion), missed ectopic pregnancy, anemia, immune system disorders, cardiac and vascular disorders, nausea, weakness, fever/chills, vomiting, headache, diarrhea, dizziness and even uterine rupture.The April 2022 misoprostol PIP also features a “black box” which warns of the possibility of uterine rupture and birth defects if the medical abortion procedure fails. The list of side effects for misoprostol includes many of the same ones listed for mifepristone. At first, this method was restricted to hospital administration and a two-week follow-up visit with the doctor to be sure all tissue had been expelled, lest the woman suffer sepsis and death. The risk is just that high. The chemicals also don’t terminate an ectopic pregnancy, so that ought to be checked at that point. After allowing it to be prescribed for home use, in 2021 the FDA dropped the requirement for the visit. The narrative about Thurman is that she didn’t wait after being given the abortion pill at the clinic she visited. But the product works over the course of several days. Given the way clinics work and the low information women receive, she was probably sent home. In any case, she was left to deliver her twins on her own (that’s how it works!).This Wall Street Journal article by Nicholas Tomaino goes over the reasons the story (as retailed by Tim Walz, Kamala Harris, and every pro-abortion activist or commentator in America) is a lie. What pro-lifers have not quite internalized is that more is required than a defensive posture (“you are lying about Amber Thurman’s death”). The lies are intended to prevent us from going on the offense and exposing the vast amounts of harm and mayhem blithely thrust on the indoctrinated women of our nation.They know they are lying. In our focus on refuting these lies over and over, will we allow the noise to drown out the larger concern, the high probability mail-order abortion will cause great suffering? We already know (thanks in large part to the work of David Daleiden) of the ways surgical abortion exploits women, especially minors. Imagine this exploitation put into pill form. Coerced and forced abortions are already happeni

Vice Politics by Charles Fain Lehman in City JournalAmerican Carnage by Christopher CaldwellLepanto, a poem by G. K. Chesterton — you have a year to memorize it!Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldTo receive new Home Front episodes and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:An extraordinary statement from the world’s Orthodox leadersA Light for Our Times: BLESSED KARL OF AUSTRIA Conference in Washington, D.C. | Oct. 18-20, 2024 (Phil will be speaking there and I will be attending!)I keep promising to post our music credit! It’s Jazz Suite, Waltz No. 2 (Shostakovich) Mandolin & Manouche Guitar — it’s provided for use on a podcast etc. Not every musical piece is licensed to be used that way. You can find other versions, more orchestral — here’s a lovely one! Or search for the piece with the word mandolin.To receive new Home Front episodes and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Corey DeAngelis, the man with the most effective voice for school choice and parental control of education, turns out to have been a gay porn actor. (You probably don’t want to know.)What interests me about this story is not whether a cause, in this case, school choice and funding policies, can be right even if its proponents are hypocrites or have a terrible past, and it’s not about whether someone with a sketchy past can repent and work on the side of right (of course they can and should). It’s about whether depraved acts can be okay for adults and not okay for kids. We need to figure this out, because our moral confusion is harming our children, even as we claim to be rescuing them.Some things are good for adults, but not for children. Some book or movie themes are dark and children should be shielded from them; but they are not bad in themselves. We can follow Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina along her path to destruction through sin, but it’s not a story we want to tell children; it would deprive them of their peace, so important to their development. Some stories are dark through and through. Everyone should avoid them and their authors should be shunned until they change their ways.Alcohol is acceptable for adults and not for children. A 200 lb. man can drink a few glasses of wine, but children shouldn’t be imbibing. And we ought to agree that drunkenness is not acceptable at any age. Sex is good in marriage and not good outside of it; young children ought to be protected from knowledge about it and even when they are old enough to learn some facts about it, still need to be protected from exposure, so powerful is the appetite for it (which makes sense, because along with taking nourishment, reproduction is a primal force in any living thing). Some forms of sex are wrong and harm everyone, even if they are done in secret, because secretive things have a way of making themselves known; they never remain secret, nor kept in control.Some things are just evil. There’s not a good side to them. Evil things, sinful things, bad things, don’t become acceptable once one is an adult. Porn is completely and absolutely wrong for everyone. It’s always wrong. It’s not just wrong to have it in schools where young people can’t avoid it. It’s wrong for adults to justify taking part in it or even look at it, and it’s done incalculable harm to our society.The problem right now with DeAngelis is that he seems to be drawing a line just there, between gay porn being bad for children and okay for adults. It’s hard to say. This tweet is his statement about the revelations, after a period of silence:As an activist for parental rights and school choice, my passion is personal. Just like everyone else, I have made mistakes throughout my life, learned from those mistakes, used that as an opportunity to grow and tried to channel that experience into something positive. I was a victim of poor decisions and poor influences. I have turned that experience into the fuel that fires me to save young people from being put in the same position I was put in and to help parents protect their children. I will never stop fighting for what is right.Opponents of the degradation of public schools are reluctant to inquire too deeply into the mind of their most effective champion; most are giving him a pass.Well, Keri Smith, a writer on the lies of the Left, did challenge him:None of us are a “victim” of our own poor choices, including me and including you. You are not a victim here. You chose to keep your gay porn past in the closet while you became the face of a movement working to end the sexualization of children and the exposure of children to sexually inappropriate indoctrination. You did so knowing that if this came out you could and would damage the credibility of that movement. You could have been honest up front about the mistakes of your old life, even without sharing specifics, and shown that you had a repentance and redemption experience, but you didn’t. I didn’t notice an apology in here to the parents or the anti-woke movement who aligned with you, unwittingly. Just an effort to claim victimhood. Redemption only ever follows repentance. Smith implies in her last sentence her concern that DeAngelis has not actually repented of being involved in gay porn. And I don’t see it in his tweet either. On the contrary.Immediately following his tweet, the responses came pouring in. The ones from his allies affirmed him for his good work and attributed the revelations to the chaotic opposition he faces. Some opponents mock him for being a hypocrite and somehow use the revelation of his transgressions to assert their support for gay porn in schools. In this midst of the uproar, DeAngelis retweeted a lot of the supportive messages, including this one:Plenty of things are perfectly fine for consenting adults to enjoy but completely inappropriate for kids.Plenty of things are perfectly fine for consenting adults, but gay porn is not one of them. DeAngelis r

Show notes:San Diego diocese bans homeschool groups on parish properties, proclaims zero toleration of the choice to homeschool, against Church teachingCardinal McElroy’s statement on Synodality, professing limitless toleration for marginal groupsDid Amber Thurman die as a result of a restrictive abortion law (strong protection for the unborn) or from legal abortion?Mifepristone (“abortion pill/chemical abortion”) is dangerousLeninthink by Gary Saul Morson — lies are a feature of the murderous ideologyThanks for listening! This podcast is public so feel free to share it.Please support our work by subscribing — and consider upgrading to paid! Thank you so much! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:The Imminent Russia-US War by Christopher CaldwellA Just-War Perspective on the War in Ukraine by Phil LawlerGovernor Newsom signs bills to combat deepfake election contentHustler vs. FalwellThe Second Coming, Love in the Ruins, and Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy (affiliate links)Hillbilly Elegy Thanks for listening! This podcast is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Build Back BetterLate-Term Abortion and Infanticide Fact Check by LeilaFrom our bookshelf, in the Literacy Project: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, by Albert O. Hirschman, Professor of Social Science, Emeritus, at the Institute for Advanced Study in PrincetonThe School for Housewives, Leila’s new publication! It’s based very loosely on the Reykjavik School of Housewives — have you ever watched this film? Your subscription brings our posts to your inbox! Your paid subscription enables us to employ the services of a webmaster to deal with the technical aspects of producing the podcast and maintaining our sites! Thank you!Thanks for listening to The Home Front! This podcast is public so feel free to share it — your share helps us enormously in our work. Thank you. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

A book that helped me (Leila) understand how revelatory nature is: Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity: Common Experience, the Hierarchy of Being, and Modern Science by Daniel Toma, biologist at the University of Minnesota (affiliate link)Harris tax and spending proposals: What we know by Joseph Lawler and Zach Halaschak Movie: ArrivalThanks for listening! Share with your friends, relatives, and enemies! JK we know you love everyone!The Home Front is a reader-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Please leave feedback wherever you listen — subscribe and “like” our podcast! This helps others find us!From the Archives: The Pursuit of Happiness Rightly Understood by Justin Dyer.It is telling, Conklin notes, that, throughout the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, and despite the numerous changes great and small that were made to the document, no one ever disputed the initial inclusion of “the pursuit of happiness” as an inalienable right alongside the rights of life and liberty. The ‘Tell’ in Zuckerberg’s Letter to Congress by Philip HamburgerMr. Zuckerberg (and surely his lawyers) thus admits both the pressure and the social-media censorship but carefully keeps the two apart. The aim, presumably, is to avoid having Meta treated as a state actor for purposes of the First Amendment and then being held liable for damages.Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales, translated by Rev. John Ryan. This is the translation I have and used to write my talk. If the recording becomes available, I will post it. The book (two volumes) seems to be out of print. I don’t know if other translations retain the earthiness of St. Francis’ descriptions of the baby nursing at his mother’s breast as an image of the love of God. ~ LeilaThe Home Front is a reader-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thanks for listening! This podcast is public; we’d love you to share with your friends! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

An interesting article at The Free Press reports on the rising trend of veiling at Mass, especially among young women.Here in Part I is a general observation that I haven’t heard from anyone (though I don’t doubt someone else has noticed); Part II will explain my personal reasons for covering. I haven’t written (or much talked) about why, in 2019, at the age of 59, I began wearing a covering on my head in church. Full disclosure: those reasons are also not the ones I have seen others give!And I’d be interested in hearing from you about this general observation; do you think it’s valid? Does it make sense to you? It is this: I think St. Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians is speaking to unmarried women. In our era and place, we do not have a traditional, national, cultural, or religious costume, so we are totally unfamiliar with the idea that married women in all times and places not affected by modern individualism, but particularly Jewish women of St. Paul’s time, have always covered their hair. Norwegian women, Pakistani women, Chinese women, Amish women — all women pretty much universally, and Jewish women for sure, covered and if traditional, still cover, their hair.Consecrated religious women veil* — wear rather complete hair covering — for this reason: they wish to appear, since they are, espoused. They are not in search of a husband, for they already have one, Christ Himself, and their head covering reminds us of this truth.So married women and consecrated virgins do not appear without their hair covered.Therefore, St. Paul is speaking to unmarried women. Because we Americans (and in the West generally) don’t think of things this way, we, men and women, assume St. Paul is speaking to every woman. So we either defensively explain why women don’t have to do this oddly first-century thing or have created a rather impressively spiritual theology about why women ought to do it.I agree that St. Paul, when he says to wear a head covering "because of the angels," is certainly referencing the hierarchy of creation: “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” And it’s lovely to think of precious things being veiled, as Alice von Hildebrand said: “Therefore, [because of her ability to carry new life,] the dignity of the female is that God, so to speak, has a direct contact with her body. This is why the woman should be veiled. Why is it that women are called upon to be veiled, which is not truly the same way of males? Why? Because whatever is sacred calls for veiling. The shamelessness of women today should make the devil rejoice and should make Christ cry, because there is no more consciousness of the fact that my body is a place where God is conceived.”But with all due respect to dear Dr. von Hildebrand’s beautiful insights, maybe we are complicating things. We should remember that St. Paul was practical and actually rather earthy. And he knew that woman is caught up in how she and above all, her hair, which as he says elsewhere, is her glory, looks. The healthy unmarried woman takes pride in her beauty and can’t help making the most of it. It’s human nature for her to do so and for healthy young men to notice.The married women are already covered in near-universal custom, certainly in St. Paul’s time and place — at Mass and everywhere else. And who among us has not wished we had this practice, free as we are — it’s a lot to take care of your whole household and deal with bad hair days!St. Paul is simply guarding against making church a place of, well, exploring attraction, being flirtatious, looking at others and being looked at, and not being focused on worship. All very normal activities! Those things aren’t bad — in fact, they are good in their own modest way, or how else would we find our mates? But they are not for church.Because it is a spiritual event (with the angels present, taking the offering to the throne of God), the Mass needs to have some practical rules. Covering one’s head (and uncovering, for the man) is one of those rules. Today, Mass is restrained and meeting-like for most. It may be difficult for critics and dismissers of this teaching, with their experience of the versus populum posture of the priest, so conducive to keeping an eye on the staid, child-deprived pew-sitters, to imagine the undoubtedly more boisterous, clamorous, and less “presided-over” pre-conciliar church. A church much more full of life, and comings and goings. That’s it. I think that’s the reason. St. Paul is not talking to married women at all, for he would not have encountered any married women who did not cover their heads. He assumes, in his letter, that they are already covered.He is talking to unmarried women, urging them to be as if they are taken, for the sake of the invisible world bearing its cloud of witness. He wants everyone to minimize distraction. He’s lifting our minds to that heavenly realm and leaving

Show notes:Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health, by Casey Means and Calley Means (affiliate link)The U.S. Marriage Rate Rebounds to Its Pre-Pandemic Level (but is nowhere near its 1960 level)Leading prayers for the culture of death, by Phil Lawler Text of Cardinal Cupich’s invocation at the Democratic National ConventionText of Archbishop Listecki’s Prayer at the Republican National ConventionRationalism in Politics and other essays by Michael Oakeshott (affiliate link)The Home Front is a reader-supported podcast. To receive it and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notesTrump has put social conservatives in a dilemma by Edward FeserTim Sheehy on the issues. As you will see, he is anti-abortion as I said (and very conservative on all the issues), making him an important choice for the Senate. He is correct in identifying his opponent as wildly, extremely pro-abortion. Sadly and inconsistently, Sheehy is also pro-IVF. IVF results in the deaths of many human lives for every live birth that occurs (and would be evil even if somehow, improbably, it could occur without this outcome).“I stand in strong support of IVF as a path for Montana families to grow and thrive when they struggle to conceive naturally, like my brother and sister-in-law who battled infertility for three years, and eventually were blessed with my nephew through IVF. I will fight against any effort to restrict IVF treatments for women and families.”As with LGBT issues, having family members involved in immoral practices risks compromising our willingness to stand for principle. According to the CDC, Approximately one in every 50 kids born in the United States today is conceived in a fertility clinic or lab. We need to anticipate this and decide ahead of time what we will say and how we will respond (and start now by being able to explain why it’s wrong so you’re ready when someone tells you they are considering it). It will happen — we need to be brave. All the babies in petri dishes in their icy prisons are counting on us to keep others from ending up there.Tucker Carlson’s interview with Amjad MasadWIRED: Meet the ExtropiansArtificial Intelligence (Summary and Conclusions) by Thomas B. FowlerGod’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (affiliate link)Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper (affiliate link)Happiness and Contemplation by Josef Pieper (affiliate link)Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast, please re-stack it here and share it with your friends and on your social media!Happy Despite Them and The Home Front are reader-supported. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

The Eucharistic Revival isn’t, as claimed, a grass-roots initiative, and fails to take into account a penetrating blow to the hearts of the faithful in the US and around the world, a blow inflicted by the very hierarchy that now claims to seek to impart love for the Eucharistic Lord.Attendees of course worshiped and adored Our Eucharistic Lord during the events of the Revival. Their sincerity not in question. There was even some beautiful music! (There was also terrible music.) I don’t even doubt that the organizers of the Eucharistic Congress that followed desire greater understanding of the Real Presence of the Lord, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament. Let me bring up two issues: hypocrisy and a failure to repent.Hypocrisy: A strong word. I’ll just touch on it. Father Richard Cipolla explains it here very well. He says, “The root cause of lukewarmness and disbelief [in the Real Presence] is how the Mass is celebrated in most parishes, especially on Sundays. It is the refusal of both bishops and priests to acknowledge this that keeps the Church in this country in the vapid bondage in which it finds itself.”I myself gave two examples just to demonstrate simply how mundane practices thwart Eucharistic revival.I also wrote about the stunningly pagan-adjacent liturgy presided over by one of the top prelates in the US, Cardinal McElroy. Are we to believe the bishops when they say they love Our Eucharistic Lord? Actually, it’s hard to believe that they aren’t blaming us when they speak of revival and organize huge events to push it. If only we, the faithful, knew Who we worship, as Bishop Barron says in his lavish contribution to the effort. Hypocrites, when pushed to the wall (in this case, made to see that they failed in their one job, to preserve the faith in Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist), tend to pass the buck.Father Brian S. Lewis wearing a face mask symbolizing the Roman collarI want to focus on the second reason I have a taste of bitterness when the subject of Eucharistic revival comes up: failure to repent of lockdown transgressions.The Eucharistic revival the bishops say they want won’t happen until they admit what they did during the Covid lockdown.They bowed to the state, which was engaged in the most grievous attack on its own citizens ever in our history. They bowed even though in most cases, had they refused to go along with spurious, illegal strictures, the state would have relented. They left any political or legal pushback to others — who did prevail.St. Mary’s Basilica, Sydney, 2 August 2020They allowed and required absurdities that harmed our sense of reality, things that everyone knew were theater and only served to heighten fear-mongering — which by the way, caused great harm to the mentally vulnerable, many of whom have still not recovered. They cravenly used religious assent and willingness to obey as a weapon against the faithful, using that weapon solely on prudential matters of masking and in many cases, getting shots. But bishops never require obedience in matters that actually pertain to their sphere, such as reverent worship.In many cases, they violated their duty to defend bodily integrity, a natural-law right expressed in Pius XI’s encyclical Casti Connubii paragraph 70: “Public magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their subjects; therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is no cause present for grave punishment, they can never directly harm, or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for the reasons of eugenics or for any other reason.”Instead, some even handed over fathers of families, nurses, doctors, and military members to the fate of losing their livelihood by following their conscience in refusing shots they mistrusted and knew were tainted by aborted fetal tissue.The bishops and clergy, with few exceptions, hid themselves away, refusing their people the Mass, including, unbelievably, on Easter Sunday, when virtually every church in the country was ordered to be closed.Bishop Emil Wcela and Fr. Larry Duncklee, from their Facebook page, featuring streaming videos of them doing song-and-dance routines together during lockdownAs far as I know, only one prelate who committed all these sins and more, Cardinal Dolan, has so much as adverted to them subsequently in any sort of “examination of conscience”, and he only to say that he approved. “A big part of me remains grateful that we did more than our part in obeying the severe restrictions leveled during the pandemic, and for the careful vigilance rendered by our public servants.”He at least has a niggling thought: “Yet, another part of me worries that future decades will not look back at us with the same admiration we now have for a St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Damien of Molokai, and those young ‘Martyrs of Shreveport’.But he does not act on this worry; he’s content to praise his own “scrupulous” attention to orders from the government, even in the face of the truth we (and he)

Show notes:The “Fact Sheet” “journalists” are likely to come across if they do a Google search for how to determine whether someone is male or female.Tim Walz, “folksy Midwestern Dad” narrative supercut. His positions (doesn’t include his insistence that born-alive babies be left to die).J.D. Vance supports access to abortion pill mifepristone“I have said repeatedly on the record, that I think that that girl should be able to get an abortion if she and her family soon choose to do so,” Mr Vance said.UPDATE: Wall Street Journal Opinion piece: Does Imane Khelif Belong in the Women’s Ring? No, but transgender ideology has sown confusion as to why. By Colin Wright. The Home Front is reader-supported. Please share with everyone! To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:How NOT to respond to the blasphemy in Paris — Phil Lawler, Catholic CultureLights remain on at the Sacre-Coeur Basilica during city-wide blackoutChariots of Fire The Moral Life of the Child: The Ten Commandments — Leila Marie Lawler, Like Mother, Like DaughterKaren Hall, The Sound of Silence: The Life and Cancelling of a Heroic Jesuit Priest (affiliate link)Leila Marie Lawler: The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Is Kamala Harris the presumptive nominee? How the Bet on an 81-Year-Old Joe Biden Turned into an Epic MiscalculationWilla Cather, One of Ours (affiliate link)We talk about the movies Boys on the Boat and Sully!To receive new posts and podcasts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thank you for listening to The Home Front! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECOMING PRO-CHOICE?Troublingly, Republicans brush pro-life support aside and removed pro-life planks from the platform, replacing them with support for IVF and birth control — and recent convert to Catholicism J.D. Vance pivots towards unprincipled rhetoric on abortion. J.D. Vance: “I have said, repeatedly, that that girl [10-year-old Ohio girl having to leave the state for an abortion, according to a one-source story] should be able to get an abortion if she and her family so choose.” Phil and I discuss the difference between acknowledging political realities that may require pragmatic adjustment and relinquishing principle entirely.Immunity for Trump—or for everyone? Phil is named as a plaintiff in one of the precedents cited in the Trump immunity case dismissal.Thank you for listening! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Archbishop Viganò excommunicated; other prelates get a passRhetoric vs. reality in the Synod’s working documentEntirely excluded from the synod!WSJ: How Biden’s Inner Circle Worked to Keep Signs of Aging Under WrapsMarine Corps Band supplies walk-on music for Jill Biden - how fabulousDiversity Was Supposed to Make Us Rich. Not So Much. “Since 2015, the approach has been tested in the fire of the marketplace and failed. Academics have tried to repeat McKinsey’s findings and failed, concluding that there is in fact no link between profitability and executive diversity. And the methodology of McKinsey’s early studies, which helped create the widespread belief that diversity is good for profits, is being questioned.” This shouldn’t come as a surprise. If companies could boost their profits as easily as McKinsey suggested—the most-diverse firms had a 39 percentage point higher chance of higher-than-average profit margins than the least-diverse—then surely companies would have rushed to promote more women and minority racial groups.The Sound of Silence by Karen HallThank you for reading Happy Despite Them and listening to The Home Front. This post is public so please share it with everyone you know! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes: Vatican prefect doubles down in defense of use of Rupnik’s artVatican ‘trial of the century’ defendant opens countersuit in London courtUS bishops’ conference cuts justice-and-peace staffIs It Time to Abolish the USCCB? by Leila Marie LawlerNew law requires all Louisiana public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (affiliate link)The Door in the Wall: (Newbery Medal Winner) by Marguerite De Angeli (affiliate link)The Liturgy, the Family, and the Crisis of Modernity: Essays of a Traditional Catholic (Os Justi Studies in Catholic Tradition) by Joseph Shaw Thank you for reading Happy Despite Them. This post is public so feel free to share it.Happy Despite Them is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber, and please share with your friends! Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Scientific American: Children Deserve Uniform Standards in HomeschoolingThe Harvard Gazette: A warning on homeschoolingHSLDA: Harvard Summit to Discuss Regulating HomeschoolingHSLDA Responds to the Summit (good info on who the players are)Interview with Andrea Grillo on the Traditional Liturgy: The Church isn’t a “high-society club” or “sect that experiences infidelity as salvation”Phil: A new offensive in the war on traditional liturgyWillie Mays, the Giant’s electrifying ’Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93Willie Mays will be foreverWillie Mays: “The Catch"In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (affiliate link)We would love you to receive Happy Despite Them in your inbox! Please consider becoming a subscriber!Thank you for reading Happy Despite Them. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes:Europe’s Elections: Right, But Not Far — Robert RoyalThe Modern State Will Become Very Religious — Sebastian Morello Justice Alito’s wife vows revenge for flag controversy in secret recordingThis will not be 1968.’ Chicago police prepare for DNC as whole world watches once again.9th Circuit Court Decision in Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Carvalho (thread on Twitter from Julie Hamell)Text of the decisionLocked Up: Meet the Elderly and Infirm Women Now in Prison for Pro-Life ActivismWe would love you to receive Happy Despite Them in your inbox! Please consider becoming a subscriber!Find more from Phil here: Catholic CultureFind more from Leila here: Like Mother, Like Daughter Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe