Mike Lewis and Dominic de Souza wrap up the week with a discussion of the key issues and controversies in the Catholic Church today.

SHOW NOTES

Topics:

1) The vincible ignorance of Catholic leaders 
2) Will Pope Francis approve new SSPX bishops?
3) Carmelite nuns in Texas take on their bishop 
4) Tensions and conflicts among Catholics in the Month of June 

Summary and Links

1) Discussion of Mike's recent article about vincible and invincible ignorance. How have some outspoken Catholic public figures preyed on the ignorance of others?   

Link: https://wherepeteris.com/vincible-ignorance-begets-invincible-ignorance/

2) Mike addresses a recent rumor that the Society of St. Pius X will soon consecrate new bishops WITH the approval of Pope Francis

3) What do we know about the ongoing dispute between Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson and the nuns of a local Carmelite monastery? What don't we know?

Links
- "UPDATE: Texas Bishop Dismisses Religious Superior From Carmelite Order, Alleging Sexual Sin, Which She Denies" (OSV News)
https://www.osvnews.com/2023/06/01/update-texas-bishop-dismisses-religious-superior-from-carmelite-order-alleging-sexual-sin-which-she-denies/
- "Arlington nun accused of breaking chastity vow dismissed" (CBS News)
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/reverend-mother-teresa-agnes-chastity-vow-catholic/

4) Tensions have risen in the Church as we begin the month of June, which is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart and Pride month. Is there any way to build peace and fraternity between Catholics this month?

Links
- "The Sacred Heart Beats For LGBT Catholics" (BCM)
https://www.blackcatholicmessenger.com/the-sacred-heart-beats-for-lgbt-catholics/
- "It's time Ugandan bishops speak up about inhumane anti-LGBTQ+ laws" (NCR)
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/its-time-ugandan-bishops-speak-about-inhumane-anti-lgbtq-laws
- "This Pride Month, Catholic Church shows clear, if subtle, shifts toward LGBTQ welcome" (RNS)
https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pride-month-catholic-church-shows-clear-if-subtle-shifts-toward-lgbtq-welcome
- "Dodgers pitcher denounces team’s decision to honor anti-Catholic group: ‘God cannot be mocked’" (CNA)
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254461/dodgers-pitcher-denounces-team-s-decision-to-honor-anti-catholic-group-god-cannot-be-mocked
- "Can Catholics celebrate Pride Month? Yes, and here’s why." (Outreach)
https://outreach.faith/2023/05/can-catholics-celebrate-pride-month-yes-and-heres-why-2/

ABOUT THE DEBRIEF
Intro Episode: https://youtu.be/LevSkGFqq4U
A weekly show where we dive deep into the news, topics, questions, and controversies facing the Catholic Church today. Hosted by Dominic de Souza, founder of SmartCatholics, posing questions to Mike Lewis, editor and cofounder of Where Peter Is. We bring you commentary, analysis, and context on tough questions that the Church is facing. Whether you’re a devout Catholic, a curious seeker, or just interested in the news and happenings in the Church, join us for The Debrief. When it comes to news and controversies in the Catholic Church, stay curious, informed, and engaged.

WHERE PETER IS
Visit Where Peter Is.com to read articles, commentaries, and spiritual reflections by and for faithful Catholics who support the mission and vision of Pope Francis. https://wherepeteris.com

SMARTCATHOLICS
The conversation is brought to you from SmartCatholics.com, the free online community for millennials, creators, and learners. Join our private WherePeterIs group to ask questions, share insights, and suggest topics for next time. https://smartcatholics.com

DONATE
Consider becoming a Patreon sponsor for Where Peter Is. Your generosity will help us continue to bring valuable content to you and enhance the quality of this show. https://www.patreon.com/where_peter_is

Ignorance, Division, And Pride

越人性 就越神性(十三)_M

越人性 就越神性(十四)_M

越人性 就越神性(十五)_M

2. November - Allerseelen (Klaus Küng)

If you love old books – if you love how they smell, if you love imagining their journeys through the world into your hands, if you can’t pass by a used bookstore without popping inside – then you’ll love today’s episode.

Our guest is Fr. Michael Suarez, SJ, a Jesuit priest and the director of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. The Rare Book School runs courses for students and practitioners from all disciplines on the history of written, printed and digital materials with leading scholars and professionals in the field. Fr. Suarez is also an English professor and an honorary curator of UVA’s special collections. 

Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked him about the work of the Rare Book School and why he is fascinated by books (and all matter of printed material) as cultural objects. They also discussed how Fr. Suarez’s work has deep connections to his faith, and how the Jesuits through the centuries have often been at the forefront of writing and making books around the world. Fr. Suarez is so clearly passionate about his work and teaching that it’ll make you want to travel to Charlottesville, Virginia, to check out all the fascinating stuff housed in the special collections at the university. 

Rare Book School: https://rarebookschool.org/

Fr. Michael Suarez, SJ: https://rarebookschool.org/faculty/general/michael-suarez/ 

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

www.jesuits.org/
www.beajesuit.org/
twitter.com/jesuitnews
facebook.com/Jesuits
instagram.com/wearethejesuits
youtube.com/societyofjesus
www.jesuitmedialab.org/

The Fascinating World of Rare Books with Fr. Michael Suarez, SJ

Irish Jesuit theologian Gerry O'Hanlon SJ was one of the participants at the National Pre-Synodal meeting of the Catholic Church in Ireland on October 18, 2025, at the Kilkenny Convention Centre. Over two hundred lay people, priests and bishops from across Ireland attended.

The meeting, it was hoped, would be a further step in the Irish synodal process and an important precursor to the full National Synodal Assembly in Ireland scheduled for autumn 2026. But Gerry O'Hanlon SJ, among others, felt a 'sense of deflation' at the end of the day, that was in marked contrast to the conclusion of a previous synodal meeting in Athlone last year.


So what happened at the Kilkenny meeting, and what lessons can be learnt from it that might enhance the National Assembly next year, and ensure the ongoing the momentum for change that has been the hallmark of the synodal pathway? Gerry O'Hanlon shares his views on these questions in this podcast interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications.

Learning lessons for the future

Have you been having fun with the newest slate of AI tools? Have you been doing research with GPT-5? Coding your projects with Claude? Turning pictures of your friends into cartoon characters from the Fairly Odd Parents using the image editing tool Nano Banana? 

Are you impressed with what they can do? Well guess what? You’re only impressed with them because you’re basically a naive child. You’re like a little child with an etch a sketch who is amazed that they can make crude images by turning the knobs, oblivious to greater possibilities. At least, that’s the impression you get when listening to tech leaders, philosophers, and even governments. According to them, soon the most impressive of AI tools will look as cheap and primitive as Netflix’s recommendation algorithm in 2007. Soon the world will have to reckon with the power of Artificial General Intelligence, or “AGI.”

What is AGI? Definitions vary. When will it come? Perhaps months. Perhaps years. Perhaps decades. But definitely soon enough for you to worry about. What will it mean for humanity once it's here? Perhaps a techno utopia. Perhaps extinction. No one is sure. But what they are sure of is that AGI is definitely coming and it’s definitely going to be a big deal. A mystical event. A turning point in history, after which nothing will ever be the same.

However, some are more skeptical, like our guest today Will Douglas Heaven. Will has a PhD in Computer Science from Imperial College London and is the senior editor for AI at MIT Technology review. He recently published an article, based on his conversations with AI researchers, which provocatively calls AGI “the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time.”

Jake and Travis chat with Will about the conspiracy theory-like talk from the AI industry, whether AGI is just “vibes and snake oil,” and how to distinguish between tech breakthroughs and Silicon Valley hyperbole. 

Will Douglas Heaven
https://bsky.app/profile/willdouglasheaven.bsky.social

How AGI became the consequential conspiracy theory of our time
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/30/1127057/agi-conspiracy-theory-artifcial-general-intelligence/


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/qaa



Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

The first three episodes of Annie Kelly’s new 6-part podcast miniseries “Truly Tradly Deeply” are available to Cursed Media subscribers, with new episodes released weekly.

www.cursedmedia.net/

Cursed Media subscribers also get access to every episode of every QAA miniseries we produced, including Manclan by Julian Feeld and Annie Kelly, Trickle Down by Travis View, The Spectral Voyager by Jake Rockatansky and Brad Abrahams, and Perverts by Julian Feeld and Liv Agar. Plus, Cursed Media subscribers will get access to at least three new exclusive podcast miniseries every year.

www.cursedmedia.net/




REFERENCES

Debates on the nature of artificial general intelligence
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado7069?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Why AI Is Harder Than We Think
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2104.12871

AI Capabilities May Be Overhyped on Bogus Benchmarks, Study Finds
https://gizmodo.com/ai-capabilities-may-be-overhyped-on-bogus-benchmarks-study-finds-2000682577

Examining the geographic concentration of VC investment in AI
https://ssti.org/blog/examining-geographic-concentration-vc-investment-ai

Margaret Mitchell: artificial general intelligence is ‘just vibes and snake oil’
https://www.ft.com/content/7089bff2-25fc-4a25-98bf-8828ab24f48e



AGI Is a Conspiracy Theory (E347)

9. November – Weihetag der Lateranbasilika (Wolfgang Weber)

Jake hands in a frantic book report on Chris Bledsoe’s detailed memoir as a lifelong UFO experiencer.  The hosts perform passages from the book and discuss why science fiction and Christianity complement each other so well.  

Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes: www.patreon.com/qaa

Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (instagram.com/theyylivve / sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (pedrocorrea.com)


qaapodcast.com




QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.





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Ignorance, Division, And Pride

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