Note to new readers
[updated welcome and some housekeeping]
Welcome, new readers! I’m grateful that you’re here.
In the past few months, Dailies & Sundays has experienced another1 notable influx of subscribers, thanks to a couple of popular posts. The growth this time around has been largely driven by my second piece on Bishop Robert Barron, focusing on his MAGAfication, and my latest piece, on Pope Leo XIV calling out President Trump’s lies about Leo’s position on Iran gaining a nuclear weapon (this one significantly thanks to a link from the Drudge Report).2
For anyone who may be unsure what they’re reading or how they got here, feel free to check out my recently updated About page, in which I introduce myself and this Substack and offer a sampler of what my writing looks like. The short version: According to my Substack bio, I’m “a Catholic deacon, film critic, cartooning enthusiast, and father of 7 who writes too much about everything that interests him.”
In other words, I write about all kinds of things here—which is not, I well appreciate, everyone’s jam. I’m grateful to readers and subscribers who find enough value in enough of what I write to put up with my preoccupations with topics that may not interest them! I’m particularly grateful to new paid subscribers whose generous gifts will be very helpful to me and my family over the next few months in particular.3
Housekeeping notes
Some of the topics I write about are, I understand, controversial, and disagreements and criticism are both expected and welcome. I’m entirely willing to hear out other points of view, and to let differing opinions be expressed and read by others. I have thick skin and I’m not easily angered or offended.
I haven’t seen many replies that I would say cross bright red lines. Not many; not zero. In just the past couple of days I’ve blocked a couple of overt antisemites.4 I’m not quick to hit the block button, and pretty much anyone who can play well with others is welcome here, but there are limits. Perhaps I should say a few words about those limits, and what they aren’t as well as what they are.
I’m a Catholic deacon and I profess and defend Catholic orthodoxy, but my hope, in much of what I write, is to engage readers of many religious backgrounds and of none. I’m glad to hear from thoughtful people who disagree with me and who appreciate thoughtful disagreement. If that’s you, you’re welcome, whether you’re a believer or a nonbeliever, Jewish or Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, polytheist or animist, or nothing in particular.
I have a long history of engaging liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, Never Trumpers and MAGA Trumpers, libertarians, communists, distributivists, objectivists, anarchists, you name it. Individuals of every race, ethnicity, nationality, and heritage are welcome. I welcome women, men, and individuals who don’t identify as either. People who identify as LGBTQ, or most anything else, are welcome. I get along just fine with six-day creationists, theistic evolutionists, and people with various attitudes toward anthropogenic global warming.
So, for example, if you post that the moon landing was faked, or that the Earth is flat, I’ll cheerfully tell you you’re a kook, but I don’t block people for just being kooks. If you post that all Catholics should have voted for Trump, or that Democratic policies are so evil and dangerous that voting for a Democrat is always a sin, I’ll argue with you, but you’re welcome to comment. If you post links to nutty videos or websites arguing nutty positions, I won’t watch or read them, and I may delete them. Your opinions are one thing, but my combox is not your bulletin board.
If you have serious problems with the Catholic Church, Catholic teaching, or the Catholic hierarchy, that’s fine. If you have problems with Pope Leo XIV or one of his predecessors, if you think one or more of these are or were terrible popes, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a civil discussion. If you identify as Catholic, but wish to argue that that the Mass according to the current liturgical texts is invalid, or that the pontificates of Pope Leo or any of his recent predecessors are invalid or the Antichrist, I’m not interested. Please take it somewhere else.
I won’t block you for expressing doubt or denial that racism is a significant ongoing problem in American society today. If you express or advocate overt racism, I’ll delete your comments immediately and with prejudice and block you. Same goes for antisemitism, misogyny, misandry, homophobia, and other overt bigotries.
Other types of dangerously nutty, intellectually bankrupt extremist content not welcome here include: 2020 election trutherism (i.e., claims that the 2020 election was stolen or too compromised to be credible); 9/11 trutherism; radical anti-vaxer propaganda (“vaccines cause autism,” etc.); mass shooting conspiracy theorists: and calumny against the wrongfully slain (e.g., Renée Good and Alex Pretti) blaming them for their own wrongful killings. These are all good ways to get blocked. None of this is up for debate here.
Such extremism aside, playing well with others doesn’t exclude forceful disagreement and trenchant criticism of others, including me. It can potentially include serious accusations of bias, including confirmation bias and political bias. Feel free to disagree, and disagree strongly. I would only add that I don’t like insults, cheap shots, and overtly rude behavior. Please don’t attack others who are trying to engage in good faith, or recklessly ascribe perverse motives to them. That’s pretty much it.
At this point, if not long since, you probably have a good idea whether this is a place in which you have any interest. If not, no hard feelings—not on my end, anyway.5 If, after reading all this, you’re happy to be here, I’m very happy to have you!
□ SEE ALSO
This post is a reworking and re-upping of content originally posted a few months ago, the last time I had a major influx of readers and subscribers. Prior to that, some of the evergreen content has been workshopped on Facebook for years.
My thanks to a kind reader who brought my piece to Drudge’s attention!
On the subject of readers financially supporting my work at Dailies & Sundays, this post from last September is the only thing I plan ever to write. We are now more than two-thirds through the one school year in which my appeal for support applies. Beginning next September, things will be different for us, but for now, I appreciate every paid subscription.
This is perhaps to be expected on any social media platform, but Substack has been criticized for tolerating neo-Nazis and the like.
You don’t need me to tell you that your feelings are your business, but I’m saying it anyway.
Just want to say thank you for being a voice of sanity for Catholics and everyone else, too! Finishing my first year of diaconate formation after a lifetime of working in the church, which was interrupted by a stint in national politics. Your perspective is immensely appreciated and dearly needed. Continued blessings to your family and your work!
Just want you to know: I follow less than 5 folks in social media, and I’m so glad I found you. I really enjoy your writing and your positions on Catholic topics, movies, and comics. Keep up the good work — I hope younger Catholics (and others) find your posts. Thank you!