10 Comments

JD praying for you, Max, and your family to our Mother of Perpetual Help. She has never failed....”never was it known.”

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As a younger adult, I very strongly need the Church in the US to provide more guidance on marijuana. The things I learned in college are strongly disputed by friends I have who do partake, and while I find it's better for me to not participate for personal reasons outside of Church teaching, I have no counter to the claims that it is basically the same as alcohol and haven't found an explanation on the subject that is convincing to me, let alone argue it to my friends. I worry about potentially raising a family in an environment where this is normalized completely and I am unprepared to lead my children.

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Victoria, I would recommend the CSYSK episode on ethics of marijuana use; it only runs 15 minutes (year one!), and touches on the exact argument you mentioned (it's no different from alcohol). Fr. John analyses the definition of a drug and if marijuana fits that definition, speaking from personal, pre-conversion experience. I found it very helpful in thinking about how to address this topic, and perhaps you will too. https://catholicstuffpodcast.com/podcast/2010/12/14/the-ethical-question-of-marijuana.html

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I think I listened to that a looooong time ago, I will have to go back to it!

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Bishop Strickland voiced his support for Archbishop Aquila in a tweet on April 18.

https://twitter.com/Bishopoftyler/status/1383756467728052226

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JD and Ed, I took interest your dispute during podcast ep. 15 about whether one should take the "Mom" or "Dad" approach to criticizing Church authorities, the former being measured praise as a means of encouraging further good behavior, the latter involving being more critical. I was sympathetic with Ed's perspective but initially had a hard time articulating exactly why. I think it is this: I think that JD's "measured praise" approach assumes that your journalism can act as a carrot (or potentially stick) against the bishops, and that they might actually respond to your praise by altering their behavior so as to get more praise.

I think your journalism is great and I am grateful for it, but to put it simply, I think there's a negligible chance that this is the case.

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This rosary's for you, Max (and parental Flynns).

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Great Ep. 16. So many pearls of wisdom... groan. :) On a more serious note, I so appreciated the redirection to the cross in the face of the suffering Church in China. It is so tempting to take the "fixing" approach. Problem? Great, boy do I have a temporal solution for you! Just do this, drink this, take this thing or follow my patented formula, pass this set of laws, set up your social/governmental/economic system in just this way and - poof! - all will be well (or at least ever so much better). No. We should of course do our best to seek to help those who are suffering and to avoid it as Christ teaches. But if He couldn't avoid the Cross, then it's pretty axiomatic that we can't either. The question as you so aptly put it isn't how to avoid suffering but what do with it when it comes - and it will most certainly come. A priest once suggested that we place our suffering in the wounds of Christ like prayers in the Western Wall. I've found this to be an effective image and helpful in prayer. I give to you all in the spirit of knowing that we will suffer, but that we suffer with Christ at our side. Thank you again for all your work fellas!

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Any other resources regarding marijuana and Catholic teaching? I found out today just how much of a sacred cow marijuana is in my area. People generally seem to have no issue with someone driving while smoking marijuana, even medical marijuana (medical marijuana is legal in my state, but can’t be smoked in public or while driving, yet I witness this on at least a weekly basis and no one seems to be bothered).

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