Luke brings up a topic he has been nervous to raise: does the way American Catholics apply the Church's teaching on birth control account for what happens to a person's freedom under real constraint? It's a good conversation. It's not heterodox (we promise). No need to send that email.

Gomer walks through his own family's case and then through what the Church actually says about grave matter, full knowledge, and consent of the will. The conversation runs long enough that the fellas decide to finish it next episode.

In This Episode:

• Luke's caveats before the topic: not arguing the Church's teaching, not arguing Humanae Vitae, only asking what full consent looks like when someone's freedom is genuinely constrained
• Gomer's own case—three miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy that almost killed Shannon, the doctor's warning that another pregnancy could kill her, and the principle of totality that had to be satisfied before a hysterectomy could be recommended
• The three conditions for mortal sin, and what pornography, hypersexualization, and monetary inflation do to knowledge and consent
• Having a lot of kids as a measure of Catholic seriousness, the people who feel judged for three or four, and the practical questions about the pill, IUDs, and abstinence
• Occasions of sin and why this became a two-part conversation

Resources Mentioned:

• Catching Foxes Website
• Pope Francis Generation
• Humanae Vitae by Pope St. Paul VI
• Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyła
• Catching Foxes on Substack

Chapters:

• 00:00: Intro
• 02:15: Rethinking the American Catholic approach to birth control
• 04:59: Humanae Vitae, and what is not up for debate here
• 07:53: Full consent, the unitive good, and when NFP does not work
• 10:16: Gomer's story—miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, and the principle of totality
• 16:49: What mortal sin requires, and growing up in a culture of death
• 23:48: Settled teaching and where the Church is still exploring
• 31:38: The pill, IUDs, and abstinence that wounds the marriage
• 35:10: Psychological impairment, cultural conditioning, and mitigated guilt
• 50:25: The alcoholic, the crack addict, and near occasions of sin
• 01:01:09: IVF, the heroically moral choice, and postpartum realities
• 01:07:40: Unitive and procreative—von Hildebrand, Wojtyła, and splitting the conversation

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Luke opens with a confession—he got fuming mad at a Catholic content creator online, posted about it on Instagram, and deleted it in the middle of the night—which turns the show into a long conversation about what men are supposed to do with rage.

Dave VanVickle walks through lifting, prayer, and the confessional as outlets. He gets into Taekwondo's golden age, cage matches in Buffalo, and the night he took a knife in the back and still loaded the two men he knocked out into his truck bed and drove them to the emergency room.

In This Episode:

• Luke's temper flare at a Catholic content creator who used a photo of the Pope to score a point about liturgy, the Instagram post he tagged him in, and the middle-of-the-night regret that made him delete it
• Dave's outlets for rage plus his read that watching the news right now should make a normal man angry
• Gomer on anger as a blanket over your life, why a lot of anger at the world is really anger at yourself, and giving up the news in 2019
• The rad trad and Vatican II debate, Peter Kreeft's question about whether any of those posts are well processed, and Dave building a middle school philosophy course
• The study claiming the average American man thinks he's 400% more effective in a fight than he actually is

Resources Mentioned:

• Philosophy 101 by Socrates by Peter Kreeft
• Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
• Evangelii Nuntiandi by Pope St. Paul VI
• Catching Foxes on Substack
• Support Dave VanVickle on Patreon

Chapters:

• 00:00: Welcome and Dave's New Middle Name
• 01:58: Luke's Anger Problem and the Influencer Who Set It Off
• 08:39: Lifting, Running, and Prayer as Outlets
• 10:57: The Manosphere and Men Who Stopped Reading
• 14:42: Gomer on Turning the Anger Dial Down
• 21:08: Rad Trads, Vatican II, and Peter Kreeft's Question
• 25:45: Infinite Jest and the Parasocial Prophecy
• 27:56: Teaching Plato to Seventh Graders
• 33:25: Dave's Complete Fighting Résumé
• 42:16: The Knife in the Back at Shenanigans
• 50:20: It's Not Like the Movies and the 400% Study
• 1:08:00: Closing Question—Combat Sports and the NFL

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Luke and Gomer talk about the passing of Gomer's father, but the episode isn't all doom and gloom (just the appropriate amount). Also included this week: an attempted murder, gray-market drugs, and a review of The Odyssey.

In This Episode:

• Luke and Gomer compare notes on sleep, snoring, and inheriting their dads' blood pressure meds
• The legend of Dave Van Vickel: grocery deliveries, a mid-street knife fight, and a jury summons
• A review of The Odyssey movie, mythology demythologized, and Elliot Page's casting
• Gomer reflects on his father's death, anticipatory grief, the Sirach 38 reading, and the funeral
• Don Gormley's Shell/Texaco career stories, plus Luke's deep dive into nasal breathing, buzz breathing, nitric oxide, and gray-market Redatrutide

• Chapters:

• 00:00: Intro — Sleep Problems and a New YouTube Rabbit Hole

• 06:09: Blood Pressure Meds, Family History, and Following in Dad's Footsteps

• 08:21: The Legend of Dave Van Vickel (Knife Fights and Groceries)

• 16:53: Sponsor — Faith Mosier, Dallas Healing House

• 18:37: The Odyssey Movie Review

• 24:41: Back to Dad — Carrying His Ashes and the Sirach 38 Reading

• 32:11: Anticipatory Grief, Hard Conversations, and the Funeral

• 1:00:47: Don Gormley's Career — From Skelly Oil to the Shell Tanker Standoff

• 1:10:04: Sponsor — Cloister Ignatian Prayer App

• 1:14:16: Welcome to the Dead Dads Club

• 1:16:34: Nasal Breathing, Buzz Breathing, and Nitric Oxide

• 1:32:02: Redatrutide, GLP-1s, and Wrapping Up

Resources Mentioned:
Dallas Healing House
Cloister Ignatian Prayer
ParishSOFT
Catching Foxes Substack

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Gomer's dad is out of the hospital and in a care home and this episode starts there, in the territory of walking a parent toward the end of his life. Luke and Gomer work through the lessons Gomer has picked up in the trenches: what hospitals won't tell you, how to have the DNR conversation, and why AI has become an unlikely companion through all of it.

In This Episode:

• Why hospitals won't spell out what's actually happening with your loved one and how Gomer used AI to decode his dad's medical charts and communicate clearly with family
• Lesson one from the hospital: no one will tell you what's going on unless you make them, and the only people who will are in palliative care
• The do-over myth and why middle age is when you realize the world stopped giving them to you—you don't go back, you live with the scar tissue
• The DNR conversation: what it actually means, why outside-of-hospital DNR requires a signed document on the door, and why you should have it sooner than you think
• When specialists miss the whole person: how productivity-driven, siloed medicine can leave no one reading the full picture

Chapters:

• 00:00: Welcome Back
• 00:46: Gomer's Dad and the Care Home
• 02:08: Lesson One—Hospitals Won't Tell You Anything
• 07:25: Luke's Dad and Losing People Too Soon
• 20:00: The Gradual Decline You Can't See Coming
• 24:00: Reality, Do-Overs, and the Things That Can't Be Undone
• 29:38: When Specialists Miss the Whole Person
• 37:54: The DNR Conversation
• 41:47: Big Fish and What We Learn from Our Parents' Stories
• 48:21: What Parents Say When They Think It's Time
• 53:23: AI, Claude, and the Bot That Said It Was Praying for You

Resources Mentioned:

• Rebuilding Mum and Dad (YouTube)
• Catching Foxes on Substack

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

After a two-month hiatus, Luke and Gomer are back. This episode opens with a conversation about Gomer's father Don's ongoing health decline, the emotional and logistical chaos of elder care, and the conversations no one prepares you to have. From there, the fellas pivot to AI, the World Cup, Hollywood Botox, and the slow enshitification of everything.

In This Episode:

• The full story of Gomer's dad Don's hip replacement, repeated ER visits, and the family's difficult reckoning with permanent skilled nursing care
• What no one tells you about Medicaid's "look back" provisions, the true cost of elder care, and why planning ahead matters far more than most families realize
• Gomer's complete 180 on AI and how tools like Claude and ChatGPT have become indispensable for managing his father's medical records, medications, and care in real time
• Euthanasia, modern medicine's ability to keep people alive without keeping them well, and what it means to age with dignity
• What they're angry, excited, and concerned about: home construction costs, the Fox Sports World Cup AI ad, The Iliad film, and Hollywood's Botox problem

Chapters:

• 00:00: Welcome Back
• 02:07: Gomer's Dad's Health Crisis
• 10:06: End-of-Life Conversations
• 18:54: Navigating Elder Care and Medicaid
• 31:39: Euthanasia, Modern Medicine, and Keeping People Alive
• 42:43: From AI Skeptic to AI Convert
• 51:29: AI in Practice: Research and Healthcare
• 01:06:37: What Are You Angry, Excited, and Concerned About?
• 01:10:09: The Enshitification of Everything

Resources Mentioned:

• Catching Foxes on Patreon
• Catching Foxes on Substack

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

This is a nephilim-heavy episode. Strap in!

Also, please pray for Gomer's son, Noah. You'll hear all about it in the episode.

Enjoy!

The fellas talk about the fragility of life. Also, Luke may or may not have taken a lover (in a tasteful way).

Want to know for sure?

You'll have to listen!

Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Luke and Gomer discuss a variety of topics; some light, some heavy. The two recount their experiences at (different) SEEK conferences and offer their thoughts on the heaviness and difficulty that seems to be moving through the lives of many public-facing Catholics, most recently Paul J. Kim.

If you're tired of hearing AI critiques and why AI is killing you (it is), you'll love the first 60 minutes or so. You may want to bow out before the end, if you're a big fan of AI or of Morlocks.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Saint Kolbe Studios for producing this podcast!