May 7, 2025 • 51 mins
In this week's episode, Diosa and Mala discuss the differences between Cradle Catholics and Converts, Pope Francis' legacy, and why "being Catholic" can also be a cultural identity.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Are your ears bored? Yeah?
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Are you looking for a new podcast that will make
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Then tune in to Look At Though Our Radio Season ten.
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Today, Okay, look at Our Radio is a radiophonic novella,
which is just an extra way of saying a podcast.
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Season ten of Look At Thought Our Radio is totally nostalgic.
We're diving in with a four part series about the
Latinos who shaped pop culture in the early two thousands.
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But that's not all.
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Season ten is also launching in the wake of LA
wildfires and a new Trump presidency. As always, we're leaning
into community by conducting critical interviews with people leading the
efforts to rebuild LA and fight back against oppression.
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Tune in to Look At Our Radio Season ten. Now
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At your fingertips.
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Loka O La La Loka mot is Welcome to Season
ten of lok at Our Radio. I'm Viosa and I'm mala.
Look at That Our Radio is a podcast dedicated to
archiving our present and shifting the culture forward. You're tuning
in to Capitulo Dorina to thirty.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Last time on lok a thought our Radio. What did
we talk about last time on loc a thought our Radio?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We talked about the expectations and realities of our thirties.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's part of it, too, is like it's not all
figured out by the time you're thirty. No, it's a
continuous process. It never ends. It never ends.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's also never too late to pivot. No, I've never
been less afraid to not have a plan. And I'm
such a planner. But it's like, ooh, sometimes we pivot.
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That's a good one. Go ahead and tune in, Leave
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Speaker 2 (02:00):
So today on climax and cry, let's discuss.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Let's discuss, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
How did you climax? How did you cry this week? Mother?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So, I would say a fabulous climax that I had
this week that we actually enjoyed together. Yes, we climax
at the same time. Maybe it was a really great
meeting that we had in West Hollywood. And we used
to take meetings in Weiho all the time. We were
always in West Hollywood taking a meeting. It's much to
ourtis may, yes, but always sitting down for a coffee
(02:32):
for a drink, for a lunch to talk business because
we're business ladies, and yesterday was no exception. And I
just feel really invigorated and inspired and motivated. And the
person that we were sitting down with gave us, I think,
some really cool ideas that had never crossed my mind before.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah. Yeah, it's nice when you meet someone who is like,
you know, willing to have coffee with you, willing to
kind of like give you advice, give you some type
of mentorship, you know, and like we do not take
that for granted. We have been like mentored and guided
over the years by a lot of incredible people. So
I think that's why it was also really exciting.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, and uh, just more more to come, more to come,
always more from us. And I don't know, I feel
like a new sense of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we are reaching almost a decade wow,
you know, so it's yeah, it's time. It's time. We
there's things that we have been wanting to put that
have been in the works and we've been wanting to
put in motion for a long time, and it feels
like this is the year. Yeah, we're really setting our
sits on lots of things. So yeah, that's exciting. Well
I'm glad you climaxed in that way.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Thank you at the Little Sidewalk Cafe, How did you
cry this week?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
How did I greet you cry?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
You know, I think it's just the end of the semester.
So we're like in finals and there's just like final
producing work that has to be done on the documentary
that I worked on this semester. We have our screening
coming up. I'm writing a research paper and you know,
in film school there's really very little reading and writing.
There's lots of storyboarding and shot listing, but reading and
(04:12):
writing is rare. So I'm buckling down and I'm just
in my research phase and I got to write my
three thousand pa word, not page, my three thousand word
paper and it's ultimately going to be great, and I'm
really excited about the subject matter. Maybe I'll share more
in a future episode when I'm done with the paper.
(04:32):
But that's my cry right now, is I'm in finals.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yes, that's real.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
How about you? What was your climax this week?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, my climax is that we actually have a new
team member. Yes we do, so I have kind of
kind of been teasing this out. I've been talking about
my homegirl a little bit more of been name dropping her,
if you will. So Jackie is now our operations assistant, yes,
and it has also been helping us with social So
(05:00):
if you follow us on social media, you may have
noticed we're back. We have been posting a lot more.
She has been posting a lot more. She has just
been helping us content batch and really is kind of
is like our second brain right now, our third brain,
if you will, And that has been really exciting. She
and I have been friends for over twenty years and
(05:21):
we've never worked together under this capacity for the business
for Locatra, so this has been really exciting. And she
is just she is a business girl.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
She is a business lady like in ways that we
are not, because we're creative's first, business lady second. But
she's like, no, I'm a business lady. I'm a businesswoman,
and she gets things done. So it's nice to have
that kind of objective person come in and see maybe
spots that maybe need to be filled, but also really
(05:53):
acknowledge like what we've been able to do just us too,
at least on the business side of things, so that
I think has been like a really big so some
climaxing for me this week.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I am so happy to hear that. I'm also very
happy about Jackie. Yeah, Jackie's that also. I think she's
giving us like a blood transfusion. Yes, in a way.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I told her I was a girl. You've kind of
been a life raft. I'm not gonna lie, like, you know,
not that we've been drowning per se. But it's like,
you know, going back to what we were talking about
during your climax, right, it's like there's things that we
want to do, but there's only two of us, you know,
and like we need a third person to kind of
help with like the business side of things. We have
(06:33):
Stephanie for the audio specifically and producing, but to have
someone on like operations really help us grow, I think
is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It's true to grow. You got to grow, Yes, So
we got to grow the team to grow the project.
And we look at some of the the other podcasts
out there, they have a team of twenty people, yeah,
working on the one show, and we've just been like
plugging away, yeah, with our little tiny team, but we're
still here even mighty mighty that's us so that's good.
(07:03):
And how about your cry?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, I cry a lot. And one way that I've
cried this week is that I talk about this all
the time, y'all, but I just cannot sit down and write.
This has been my constant struggle for years. But I've
started to unpack it in new ways because I have
been undergoing a therapy assessment for us. Yes, I don't
(07:29):
want to talk about it just yet. I will once
I have more information, But basically, I've just I'm been
starting to understand myself in a different way based on
like how my brain I literally operates, and so that
has also given allowed me to give myself a lot
more grace and more patience. Like it's not that you
don't want to write, there's something deeper in there that
(07:50):
is not allowing you to just sit down and do it.
And I kind of have. I have to force myself
in so many ways to just do something that I
really love and that I want to do. And it's like, well,
then why don't you just do it? Well? My brain
is not letting me.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's are you calling this writer's block
or do you feel like it's something else?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It's definitely something else because the block I do not have.
The ideas are there, it's just the physical act of
doing it, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The sitting down, opening up the computer.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, and so that has been making me cry this
week because I just like want to write, I can't
do it. I can't do it. And so yes, more
to come, self exploring, examining that, turning that inside out,
and we'll report back when I know more.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And for our listeners, you tell us what is your
climax of the week and what is your cry of
the week. It could literally be an amazing orgasm that
you had, tell us how you achieved it. Or it
could be like a more metaphorical climax, something in your
life that has just sent you over the moon, made
you happy, or even just lifted your spirits a little bit.
And then what made you cry? Is it the state
(08:56):
of the world? Is it the Trump administration? Is it
the coming Olympics la and the catastrophe that it's sure
to be like? Is it our impending apocalypse? Is it
a breakup?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
You tell us what's going on with you? And now
let's transition into oye lokaz one of I mean I
think consistently like one of my favorite segments because I
love just hearing from the listeners, like what is on
your mind?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and just know that if you've submitted a question
and it hasn't been answered yet, it will be answered.
And this question was submitted to us via our Instagram channel.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You are now listening to.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Oh yes, this is the question. I know we're not
in our party era, but can a hobby night be
in the works, like a paint and sip or candle making,
just bonding and joy.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I love that we do love hobbies. We do have
our hobbies. Hobbies are very important. I think that they
nourish the soul. And for our listeners who are in
the Greater LA area, we will be hosting an event
actually in June, and if your hobby is drinking, then
you need to join us. More details to come. Everything
(10:05):
is in the works, but we are getting back to
in person events.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yes, expect events this summer. We will be outside. We
are planning them. They are coming for our June event.
It is like part and it's not Party Girl, but
it's like it's like party Light. It's a gathering. We're gathering.
We're gathering. There will be beverages, but it's not a party.
You will be home by seven pm. Yeah, you'll be okay.
(10:32):
It's more of a meetup, Yes, a gathering, A gathering,
a social.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
A social. It's not quite a sore, but it's somewhere
in between. Yeah, a mixer, mixer.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, we just want to hang with y'all. It's been
a minute, and so that's our focus for the summer,
in addition to producing obviously the podcast, but also being
outside and being with y'all and hanging out and just
reconnecting because it's been some time.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
It has been some time. So if you're in interested,
if you don't already follow us on socials, make sure
you follow us. We're on TikTok, We're on Instagram at
look at Underscore Radio. That's where we will be posting
all meetup and event announcements all summer.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Lone, don't go anywhere, looka motives.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
All right, so let's get into today's subject matter.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Ooh, this is a doozy this.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You know, we have not really dedicated a full episode
to Catholicism. We did talk about it a little bit
during the launch of season nine, I believe when the
Dodgers were honoring the Sister Nuns and there was like
all that boycotting protest. So we did talk about the
Catholic scent, but today we're talking about it in a
(11:53):
different way, not necessarily in a positive way, but more
so in a cultural way and the culture that we
grew up in as Catholics.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yes, and you can't spell culture without the word cult.
So let's talk about Catholicism because for any Catholics out there,
and I love this term, cradle Catholics, yes, meaning we
were baptized as tiny babies. I wasn't even really sentient yet,
you know, like I had no consciousness of myself as
(12:23):
a being. I didn't know I had a name, I
didn't know what was happening. But I was being baptized
into the Catholic faith.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yes, you were being baptized because all babies are born
with original sin.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh, I was a very sinful baby.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Because Jesus died for us and our original sin. So
everyone is born with sin and we're baptized to absolve
us of this original sin. But before we get into
the nitty gritty, I want to set the scene for
what's been happening culturally and all the chatter that's been
happening online about the cradle Catholics versus I don't want
(12:57):
to say versus, but it's like cradle Catholics and convert. Yeah,
and this is like the conversation that's happening, and really
what has sparked I think this conversation is the man jd. Vance.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yes. And also this on the heels of the death
of Pope Francis.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yes, rip, and it even I mean it predates his death, right,
So just like, let's kind of I said, don't want
a wuman of what's been going on. So jd. Vance
the man that he is, in case you're not familiar,
he is our current vice president. He's a Catholic convert.
He became Catholic I think in like twenty twenty two
or twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I'm sorry, so strange, strange. I'm sorry, it's strange.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So Vance. Jd. Vance started this fight basically with the
Pope and with the broader Catholics because in an interview
he was basically criticizing US bishops who were resisting ice raids.
As we all know, churches have historically been sanctuary places.
(14:05):
So he has. He was criticizing US bishops for resisting
ice raids on Catholic churches and schools and basically called
upon this concept, this early church concept called urdo amoris,
which is in Latin rightly ordered love. And well, what
did Pope Francis do when he was still alive? He
(14:27):
responded to JD. Vance and he also wrote an open
letter to US bishops and asked them to continue to
support migrants refugees despite the call for mass deportations. And
he in his letter he even referred like I said
to ordo amooris and corrects JD. Evans and says, Christian
(14:47):
love is not a concentric expansion of interest the little
by little extent to other persons and group. The true
amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover
by meditating constantly on the parable of the good Samaritan,
that is, by meditating on the love that builds a
fraternity open to all without exception. Basically, be a good person,
(15:10):
help your fellow neighbor out is what he's saying. And
worrying about personal community or national identity apart from these
considerations easily introduces an ideological criterion that distored social life
and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion
of the truth. Basically, Pope Francis versus jade Evans, that's
(15:30):
what was happening.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Wow, what a title fight.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
And as a Catholic listen, the Pope is close to God,
next to God like basically, and the way we look
at things, it's like priest, deacons, bishops, cardinals, Pope like
that is the highest ranking.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah you know.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And so to piss off Pope Francis to be publicly
called called out and told like, actually, you're interpreting that
teaching wrong. Hello, Yes, that would scare me.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. How would I say in Spanish? Yes,
jd Vance.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yes, it was a scolding, it was a school was
a scolding.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It was a exactly. But this is my thing too
about some of the Catholic converts. No offense, I'm just
saying there's this weird like like when people convert into
Catholicism as adults, there's this weird like ultra conservative opus
day Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thing, traditionalist.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yes, so odd. Yes, it's so strange in us that
we're born into it. We went to Catholic school by
the time where adults were like yes, okay, like relax
everybody please, And I.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Think that's that's part of the conversation as to like, well,
that's what Jadvance is missing, and you know, rest in peace.
Pope Francis died on April twenty. First, I want to add, though,
I want to note that on Easter Sunday, the day
before he died, Jadvance met with Pope Francis for about
fifteen minutes and Pope Francis allegedly said that he prays
(17:04):
for him every day and said God bless you and
sent him with a blessing. The next day, Pope Francis died.
Now JD.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Vans killed Pope Francis.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
That's what the internet streets are saying. Me as a
cradle Catholic, as a recovering Catholic, if I met with
the Pope and he told me I'm praying for you,
because he did not say, oh, i'm praying for you,
you know that there was a connotation with I'm praying
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I'm praying for your your your soul that is bound
for eternal damnation.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yes, that's exactly what he met. I would not be okay,
I would think I killed the pope absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I mean the order of events, the sequence of events. Yeah,
has met a lot of people, Yes, a lot of people.
He's been to a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, I mean and Pope Francis, you know, as folks
may or may not know, he has been viewed as
the more progressive pope. He's the first from Latin America,
from Atrigentina. He was a Jesuit scholar, and this is
important because Jesuits are the scholarly like Catholics, and they
(18:13):
live their life and their their theology is like to
live as close as possible as Jesus. He took about poverty.
He was constantly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and
he called to protect the most vulnerable. And so there's
like a collective morning. I feel that's happening right now
with the passing of Pope Francis. And I think that
(18:33):
that's also why even like the recovering Catholics that no
longer practicing Catholics are kind of coming out to be like,
wait a minute, this is not how we do things. Absolutely,
we do not proselytize.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We don't that's not our thing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
We're not traditionalists, no, no, because we've been hearing about
it for so long.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
For so long, and we've we've read the Bible, we've
studied the Bible, We've done the Catechism and Confirmation. And
I think that within Catholic communities and within the Catholic Church,
and this is going to vary church by church, right like,
but I think that there is a healthy amount of dialogue,
there's a healthy amount of debate. I don't think that
(19:14):
it's such a severe, hardline religion, maybe that like it
once was, or like it appears to be. And Pope
Francis is somebody who I was watching on ABC. They
were doing this whole piece, this whole special on Pope
Francis and his travels and the conversations that he had
(19:34):
with people from all over the world, and conversations about
how Pope Francis made it possible for trans people to
be god parents in the Catholic Church, and a conversation
that he had with young women about like masturbation, and
Pope Francis talking about how our catechism has not always
been the most mature catechism. And so I think that
(19:58):
instead of being like a defense guarded pope who's like gatekeeping,
you know, the religion. He I think was really open.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, and aware, instead of being so insular, instead of
keeping people out of the church, we're bringing people in.
And I think that that is why. That's what he
was doing.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, I think that's what he was doing. And so
it's just, uh, I hope that our next pope, you know,
is like carrying on that spirit and that tradition, you know.
I hope that the new pope doesn't reflect our presidential
administration and those values.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I hope that the pope continues to be like somebody
who is supposed to be like a light, yes, you know,
and not an oppressive force.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Right. And when this episode drops is actually the day
that the conclave starts.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh goodness, yes. And the conclave what a mysterious what
a mysterious process.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Nobody knows. I mean, there is a fil home now
about what we assume happens during a conclave, but it's
very like hush hush, nobody knows, closed doors, nobody's allowed
to leave during the conclave, so it's very secretive, right,
nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Right, it sounds like like what it must be like
partying with Beyonce.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
NDAs everywhere.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
NDA's everywhere, only the very select few are invited or
know it's going on. It's like the same.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yes, I think you're right. I think that's a good comparison.
Don't go anywhere, Locomotives.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Going back to the cradle. Catholic being raised, being raised Catholic. Yes,
I think I wanted us to kind of sit in
like how did this shape who we are as people?
Both the positive and the negat Yeah, you know, like
how did that shape who we are?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
You know, I have been reflecting so much on this
recently because in the past year I've gone to in
the past two years, I've gone to a lot of
funerals and they have all been Catholic services, and for
at least two of those deaths, we also hosted, you know,
(22:24):
rosaries nolvanas, and to be able to gather in with
your family, with your community and like basically like sit
Shiva and pray the Rosary in Spanish. There is something
really beautiful about it. There's a tradition there that feels
like we're all putting our minds and our hearts together
(22:46):
and we're like basically in this process of group incantation
and praying over and over and over again to send
our loved one off with the strongest possible prayers that
we could muster. And it's just something that I was
grateful to be able to participate in, to know the prayers,
(23:06):
to have experience praying the Rosary. It felt like kind
of an honor and a privilege to be able to
do that for loved ones who have passed. And then
I think about even like Catholic funerals and being in
the church and the whole thing. It just for someone
that you love so much, it feels like the appropriate
amount of pomp and circumstance. And I think for some
(23:30):
things you want grandeur, you want pomp and circumstance, you
want ceremony. You know, you want that process to allow
you to grieve, like those physical manifestations. So maybe that's
not something I appreciated when I was younger. I wasn't
attending a ton of funerals when I was younger, But
(23:50):
as we get older, people die, and to be able
to have that kind of send off, I think is
just so appropriate. You know, different cultures and different religions
have their own way of doing things. I've never been
to a funeral of another faiths as I'm thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I have And I told you that I went to
a funeral that was not Catholic, it was Christian, and
I was really shocked by some of the things that
I was hearing, and I like texted my like, okay,
wait a second. Never did I think I'd be like,
where's the Catholic funeral, Like where's the pomp and circumstance,
where is the homily of the In this case, a
(24:32):
priest talking about how wonderful this person was and how
everyone was grieving right whereas I was hearing a lot
of different things from this other leader, and it was
shocking to me. And I didn't realize like, oh, I've
only been to Catholic funerals or I've only been to
Catholic masses, and I'm like, who am I to miss
the Catholic Church? What the hell?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I know? I know, sorry, but it's a tough thing
that I also it comes with experience in age and charity.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And I think that's kind of like the case that like, wait,
being Catholic is a culture even if you're not practicing anymore,
because I don't know if you consider yourself practicing. I
know you've been going to church a little more with
your mom.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I did, I see my mom still teaches at a
Catholic school. Yeah, and so they are required to. I
mean she would go anyway, she would go anyways. But
when you are a student and a teacher at a
Catholic school, there's an expectation that you're in church twice
a week. Yep. Once at the school, yes, once in
the middle of the week as part of.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Your school day, and then Sunday Mass.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And Sunday Mass. And it was Palm Sunday. You had
to go to Palm Scars got to go to Palm Sunday.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Any time you go to church, it's during Lent season. Yes,
not us, but that that is what general.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I think that's really the only time of year. Like
if I'm really going to go to Mass. It's not Christmas.
We've never been Christmas Mass people, but Palm Sunday, Yes,
it's something.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
My dad is a a midnight Christmas Mass person. Not
with me though, I don't go, but he would go.
He would go. That was his thing. He would do it.
But yes, growing up like Lent when we were going
all the time, but like especially during Lent, that's like
the time that.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You go yeah, and you know, I going back, it
does there is a it's like it's just a time
to sit and reflect and like be quiet and listen
and say some prayers. And I mean there's like nothing
wrong with saying prayers, right. We need girl, we need prayer.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
We need so much prayer, so much per Yeah. I
really struggle with that where it's like this need for
there is a need for community, there's need for prayer,
there's need for hope, especially right now. But then on
the flip side, we have this like rise of Christian
nationalism where I like don't really know how to hold
(26:49):
space for both. Where I'm like, Okay, I'm seeing I'm
seeing you know what I'm seeing. Get ready with me
to go to church? Yes, get ready with me to
go to Sunday Mass. They're not Catholic masses that I've seen,
more so like Christian churches. And I've just kind of
been noticing more and more. I don't have the numbers
of statistics. Are people turning to Christianity in waves? I
(27:12):
don't know, but I am seeing content wise like being
made and when I see it come up on my algorithm.
I'm like, how dare you?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
How dare what do you think?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
You're not interested scroll the algorithm?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
What is wrong with the algorithm?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah? But you know, so I am seeing more of that.
So I'm wondering do we just all grow up and
go back to the church.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's a it's a thing. I think you also see
that sort of arc of like uh ho phase, party
girl phase and now I'm back in church.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, that's fine. Don't be a fucking puritan. No, don't
be proselytizing. Please, Lord, don't be telling me I can't
be gay. Like, no, say your prayer, say your prayer,
be a good person, and keep it moving, keep it moving.
The same people that are saying their prayers as Sunday
Mass are going to go out and be telling people
(28:04):
to go back to their countries. Like it's that that
is the pipeline that I'm like, hold up, is that
what we're doing?
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Or are we going to church and we're listening to
the homily and we're going to go and be good people?
But actual good people? Because I think that's like that
is what you learn in Catholic school what it means
to be a good person, like what it means to
this is all subjective, of course, but like learning right
from wrong? What is a venial sin? What is a
moral sin? What is the fable of the good Samaritan?
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, like mind you the Samaritans were so awful that
one of them did a nice thing. Yes, it's like wow, finally, yes,
yes one Okay, this is like, uh, triggering so many
things in my brain. Yeah. Catholics, notably, we don't go out.
We're not preach. We're not a preaching religion.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
We're not standing on the side like handing out pamphlets.
M and I say we not. We but the Catholic Yeah,
but we're not. We're not. We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
We're not.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
We're not Catholics are compared to the Catholics or us,
We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
And you know what, Okay, on campus at USC twice, now.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Right, you did share this.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I have had two separate experiences and it was so
sneaky and underhanded, and I did not like this. I
was at Trader Joe's at the USC village and a Latina,
like a young woman approaches me out of nowhere. I
didn't even see her coming. I'm like looking, I'm in
the meat section. I'm looking at proteins and she's like,
oh my god, I love your earrings, and of course
(29:36):
me a compliment, you know, now I'm your best friend.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, thriving.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I'm thriving, like, oh my god, thank you so much.
And then she's like where did you get them? I
don't remember. And then she's like, oh, I host a
prayer group. Do you want to attend? Do you want
to come with me? No? No, thank you? And I
told her, no, thank you. I'm a Catholic, and so
I think she was probably be praying for my soul
(30:01):
after that. And a second time, I'm on campus proper,
the actual campus, like behind the gates, and two like
young white women, Oh my god, I love your sunglasses.
Where did you get them? There you go, oh, we're
hosting a prayer group. Do you want to come with us? No,
I don't want to go to your prayer group. Like
(30:24):
it's I don't know. And there was something about it
being students, or at least I think they're students, or
maybe they're not.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Maybe they're not.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I don't know who they are. But there was something
about the like, oh, this is a strategy that they've
been taught and coached and instructed, go out compliment someone
someone who looks vain, someone who looks like they love,
someone who needs, someone who needs the Lord, and try
and get them to come to prayer group. Is just
(30:50):
so far out of like what I know. And I'm
just like, don't try and recruit me right now, like
with these like really weird underhanded tactics. It was so
off putting and I did not like it, but you
just reminded me. I once attended a mega church Easter
Sunday when I was studying abroad in London. Okay, because
(31:11):
I was there junior year. I was in London at
University College London UCL for two semesters, so my entire
junior year. So Easter Sunday. I had some friends there
who were well, at least one tough student who was
is a Christian, and so she invited a bunch of
us like, oh, do you want to come to Sunday
Mass with me for Easter Sunday. I've been going to
(31:33):
this church here in London, so I'm like, yeah, sure,
I'm down to experience anything, you know, like at once
at least, so I went, and it was a straight
up mega church. It felt like a big concert, like
a you know, like at any of our at Sofi Stadium,
(31:54):
like it was. It was huge, and it was like
fog machines and laser and like a full band and
like lots of music, really loud, like there's people speaking
in tongues and they're hopping up and down and it
was wild. And you know, we're very Catholics, are very demure.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Very demure. We have our songs are hymns, our hymns,
and that's that's it, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Maybe there's a piano and there's a children's choir, yes,
you know, but other than that, maybe some Gregorian chant, yes,
But we're sitting, we're quiet. We wait until like we're
instructed and invited to like repeat prayers or to sing
along in the hymnal. So that's what I'm used to. Like.
Catholic services are so quiet. They are.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
They are quiet, and you even like develop like your
little favorite.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Hymns, Yes you do.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
My mom has one she has on eagles wing.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
That's a really good one. I love on eagles wigs.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
She has instructed that to be played at her funeral. Now,
that's one of her favorite hymns.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Honey, the big cute shine like sun.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And on TikTok. I saw this cradle Catholic if you will,
But it was this man replying to this comment where
this I guess convert Catholic didn't know the song and
they're like, you don't know this song, this hymn.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
It's a banger.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
It is it really is a banger banger. Yeah, yes,
we do things we I guess we am including myself
in this. We do baptized, we are unbaptized baptized. I
was never confirmed, as I've shared my story of confirmation,
so yeah, I was never really confirmed.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I was.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I was still blessed.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
That was your active resistance. It was my actor and
I respect it.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Thank you, Thank you. Your story about the Christians trying
to bring you to church or bring you to their
study group reminded me of this. My sophomore year of
undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, I lived with three women,
two of them were practicing Christian. When I had my
little interview with them to be their roommate, we were
(34:18):
just talking about interests. I don't remember exactly what was said,
but I was like, well I do have a girlfriend.
Because I was like I'm not about to live with
homophobic Christians. They were so fucking cool. They were so nice,
not homophobic, like not like how we imagine Christians to
be now or even then. And they were really cool
(34:40):
and they like would have their people over and they
would do their Bible study. But they never tried to
like bring me in. They were never trying to like
recruit me.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
They would introduce me to their friends when they would
come around, and they would have their stuff, and they
would invite me to things, but they were never trying
to recruit me. They were like, well I was so
they were like no, but useless. But they never like
made me feel like I was unwelcome or like, you know,
even when my girlfriend would spend the night, they were
never weird, you know, So it was it was fine.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
That's good. And I'm sure that like most Christians are
probably like that.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I mean, I would hope, but girl, I don't know anymore.
I don't know anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
It's severe out there.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
It's really severe where like moving far further right collectively
policy wise, yep, you know. And I do feel like
it's up to these like religious leaders to not move
their congregations, their churches their their masses, yeah to the right,
you know, And so that is why I think like
(35:45):
someone like Pope Francis was really important and it was
like kind of keeping keeping things in line in that way.
And again it is church by church is absolutely church
by church.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
This is not to say all Catholic churches are progressive.
We know that it's not true.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
A church can change. Yes, So the Catholic school that
I went to in Alhambra, after me and my friends
in our little like generation graduated and moved on, since then,
the school has like literally I've used the term Opus
Day before, but they are like literally an Opus day
campus now and after a while, like they required head
(36:23):
coverings in Mass for women, and they've done a lot
of other things at the school, Like I don't think
that they have singing anymore. I think that they've implemented
a lot of Latin, like they've really become it's I
don't remember that it's like Vatican one Vatican two, you know,
the different eras and the way that the Mass is
(36:44):
conducted and the language that it's spoken in. They've sort
of reverted back, and it's been a very intentional move
based on church leadership and that that little community was
never like that. Like it was a very fun little
school to go to. We had a g eight time.
The priests were like very kind. It was like a
very like kind hearted, like open place in a way
(37:07):
like I just have such positive memories of Catholic school.
It was never like I mean, you know, there's there
was things here and there with gender and of course
like about like abstinence and the human sexuality stuff was
really not on point. But it's not on point in
public schools either. I mean, let's be so for real,
like our sex education across the board is abysmal. It's
(37:28):
not only the religious institutions, but it was kind of
like like a little bit of like a paradise for
us as kids. You know, I just have a lot
of positive memories, and the church has changed a lot,
and so like I have to imagine that also has
an impact on the student body. Apparently they don't have
a computer class or computer labs anymore. Oh wow, like
(37:51):
they've really like yes, buckled down in an unfortunate way.
So yeah, it's very much church by church, and a
church based on leadership can change and the whole congregation
will go with the change or leave. Yes, you know,
and there are people who have left. I mean we
left right right, other drama on the other very unfortunate
side of Catholicism, because we're also not going to sit.
(38:13):
We've criticized Catholicism for ten much. Yeah, on the show.
On the show, go back and listen privately. In Downey.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yes, the school that I went to obviously was attached
to a church in Downey. Our Lady of Perpetual Help
can't believe I'm talking about this.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I'm screaming.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yes, but you know, this was a school that I
went to that definitely had its issues. I felt very
more like peace safe haven in my Catholic high school.
But the school that I went to, and then the
in turn, the church that I grew up going to,
recently made headlines because a newer priest, Ariaga Pedrosa, was
(38:54):
charged with one felony count of assault with intent to
commit loot acts upon a child and I fell an
accounts of lude acts upon a child aged fourteen or fifteen.
And he was a priest at my church, at the
church that I grew up going to. Right, I'm no
longer an active member of that church, but that was
a church that I grew up going to and it
(39:14):
made local headlines.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, I saw the headlines, I saw the news.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yes, I learned to be a good person through the
teachings of Catholic school. Yes, But this is the same
church that hosts like anti choice protests outside of a
clinic in Downey. I've like run by it, these active
protests and I'm like, get the fuck out of my way,
and so like this, this is the same congregation. So
(39:39):
if you can kind of get a hint as to
the type of leadership that is there and the type
of things that are encouraged, you know, at this church,
at this congregation, which is why I'm no longer one
of the reasons I'm no longer a member or practicing,
but I mean, yeah, it is the type of leadership
that is involved and what can really make break your experience.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Yeah, and I think that for the most part, like
Catholics are pretty obedient, Yeah, especially if they.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Are We're taught to be obedient.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
It's part of it.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
It's part of it.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
You can't spell culture without cult.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
I mean we're taught to be obedient and used to
be hit you know, not us, but like you know,
that is like part of the Catholic school experience if
you went to school back in the day.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yeah, yeah, you have to fall in line, and you
have to follow the rules, and you have to obey,
and that's part of I think Catholics take pride. Devout
Catholics take pride in like following the rules, yes, you know,
and doing what a good Catholic would do. If your pastor,
the head priest who's like in charge of all the
(40:42):
priests and the spiritual life of the church, if you're
a devout Catholic, you're gonna listen to what the pastor says. Yes,
you're gonna You're gonna follow suit, because that's the whole deal. Yes,
you know, that's the participation. And if you don't agree,
it's like, well you got to leave the church and
find a new one.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yes, And this is why the Pope Francis is of
the world. Yeah, Archbishop Romero, yes, right, who's a saint?
Who is a saint? Right? That is why, like and
I would talked about this at the beginning of the season.
I'm like, oh, I'm being called to read his theology
and being called to read upon this. I'm like the
state of the world is making me return to the church,
(41:20):
and I fucking hate it.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's how bad things are.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
That's how bad things are.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
That's how you know apocalypse is mynes And it's not
even in this like devout way.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
It's just like out of spite. I gotta go back, yes,
because what the fuck?
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, some guidance, there's got to be some teaching somewhere
going back to Catholicism being having a cultural aspect. Yes,
I'll never forget. I took this religion class when like
a world religion's class at Tufts in Massachusetts, when I
was an undergrad and one of our units, in addition
to studying Buddhism and you know whatever, this, that and
(41:57):
the third, all these world religions and all these case
studies from all across the globe, we had a specific
unit on Mexican American Catholics in La Oh. Interesting, Yes,
with specific literature and research. And it was its own unit.
You know. It's like, Okay, we're studying Judaism, we're studying Buddhism,
(42:17):
and now we're going to study this community of Mexican
Americans who are Catholics in Los Angeles. And it gave
me so much perspective on myself and my own community
and where I came from. That at this liberal arts college,
these white ladies, these professors designed a curriculum and included
us because we have our own thing going on. Yes,
(42:40):
we're a distinct religious, cultural, ethnic enclave with enough that
is unique about us and that distinguishes us from others
that we can be studied and spoken about as a
unique community. And it gave me more appreciation for where
I came from and for who we are and the
(43:01):
way that we participate at different levels. But you know,
it's like there's a lot of cultural aspects of I
think being Mexican American that are so tied in with
the Catholic Church intrinsically that even if you don't go
to Mass, there are Catholic bones, you know, underneath the
other muertos. I mean, it's it's a Catholic celebration.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
It's like an indigenous celebration, but also tied.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
To Catholicism the way that we celebrate it here in
la at least like Spanish speaking likely Mespisol Catholic communities.
It's a result of syncretism. It's not the original indigenous iteration. Anymore.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Right, the like components of like the sampasulcila is definitely
like an indigenous practice, Yes.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
But the version that we have now and the altars
at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and at Grand Park and
such and such, it's syncretic. And so we don't know.
I don't know a version, and I don't know that
the Mexican American community really knows a version without Catholicism.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, I mean, and that goes to like one of
the really hard truths of being Latino and Catholic is
that it's it is a result of colonization, right, and
so you can't talk about one without talking about the other.
It is why so many of us are raised to
be Catholic, grow up in the church by design.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Absolutely absolutely so. Also shout out Pope John Paul the Second.
Everyone's favorite pope.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Not mine, girl, he was evil.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
I know, evil Signoras love John Paul the Second. My
grandma still has a painting in her living room of
John Paul the Second, like genuflecting to the Virgin Mary,
to the Virgin of Guadalupe. I think that he still
has this like icon status amongst older.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Yes, they don't want to acknowledge some of the dark
side of the church sense why they would still admire him,
see him as like, I mean, the pope is like
the highest highest rank.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah. And even with Pope Francis, there was in that
news special that I saw after his death, but before
his funeral, conversations about how he had to have his
own reckoning and sort of come to Jesus moment when
it came to being supportive of cardinals who were involved
in sexual abuse scandals.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And basically there was an interview with him where a
journalist was asking like, why did you appoint this questionable
cardinal to this position or why did you recommend that
this questionable bishop become a cardinal when he has this
like sordid past, and Pope Francis was like, well he
told me it wasn't true, Like why would he lie
(45:51):
to me? You know, just so much faith in this person.
And then later Pope Francis then was like, okay, like
give me more information. What are the investigations finding, and
then he backtracked, right, And so I would say that
like at least Pope Francis was willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yeah, because I think with from what I've read like
with Pope John Pope God, this is so fucking niche.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Let's go, let's talk about it, my God.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
With Pope Jump Paul the Second, I think all of
the accusations came after his death, so you know, this
person is also no longer here to defend themselves. But
there was like a documentary about how he was involved
in like hiding sexual abuse cases.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Oh and like Cardinal Mahoney and all that back era.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yes, and then the pope that came after John Paul
the Second was like Pope Benedict, who was also very questionable.
So I do think that is all of that context
is why I think Pope Francis was like revered in
this way, a stand out, a standout because of like
his politics, the way he chose to live his life
even as a pope. Again, like we this is take
(46:56):
this all with a grain of salt. These are still
like fig of a church. We are not co signing
these people, but what they represent I think was very impactful.
It's from the sexual abuse allegations, the cover ups, the
boarding schools, the Native Americans were placed in, Like this
(47:17):
is all like a built up right, We're not sitting
here and being like the Catholic Church is perfect, think
more so we're making it. At least I'm making an
argument that as a cultural Catholic, you're taught to be
a good person, to look out for each other, to
not turn the migrant refugee away, to make space for
(47:39):
them because they need help, they need it. And I
think that that at its core, the Church and the
Bible can teach you those things. It's the way we
don't allow nuance, the way we then weaponize Bible versus.
We take things out of context and we collective we
write where then we use it to oppress other people.
(48:00):
That's what the issue is.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
And also I think that a lot of religious leaders
are banking on the fact when quoting the Bible, you
should do this because the Bible says, banking on the
fact that most people have not read the Bible and
don't know what's in it. No, I was listening to
on Spotify. I was listening to a Joan Rivers comedy
album Okay, and she has this joke where she's like, no,
(48:24):
I don't cook for my husband. Show me in the
Bible word says I have to cook for my husband.
It's not in there. Anywhere, show me the verse, you know,
and it was so funny. I don't know if it
says that or not, who knows, but it just made
me think, like, we're told do it because the Bible
says the Bible tells me so, But like, are we
(48:45):
really going line by line and investigating and are we
really interpreting in a way that makes sense for our
modern context?
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Right exactly? Yeah? And I think there are people that
spend their time kind of contesting these like, Okay, the
Bible says this, are you going to do that?
Speaker 1 (49:04):
You know exactly?
Speaker 2 (49:04):
Are you kind of flipping it? Okay? Well it says this,
are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Are we stoning people?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah? Like are we going to take your word for word? Okay?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Are we cutting off hands? Be yeah? Are we gouging
out eyes? Is that what we're doing? I don't think so.
I hope not. I pray. Well.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
This has been our cradle Catholic episode.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
As you can see, we're still recovering, We're still quite damaged, we're.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Still recovering, we're still insane, we're still making peace with it.
But you know, it's sometimes it takes the fucking JD
Vances of the world for me to come out swinging.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
That's how bad it is here.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
I'm defending the Catholics.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
That's how bad it is. Yeah, yeah, how dare you
JD Vans that you've brought us to this place? You
killed the pope, you're making us go to church? Like what?
Pray for us?
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Pray for us, Pray for our sins.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Pray for our our everlasting souls.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
All right, this has been enough. Yeah today, Thank you
so much for listening to another episode of Loka Dora Radio.
Take everything we say with a grain of salt, but
this is our experience as the recovering Catholics that we
are as cradle Catholics. If anyone can critique the Church
and Catholicism, it's us.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
We've paid so much tuition money we have.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
That's another conversation, but we'll save that for another day.
Thank you for listening, locomotives. We will catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Besitos.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
Loka A Radio is executive produced by Viosa Fem and
Mala Munios.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Story editing by Me viosa.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Creative direction by Me Mala.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Look At Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael Dura
podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
You can listen to look At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
Leave us a review and share with your Prima or
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Speaker 1 (50:55):
And thank you to our locomotives, to our listeners for
tuning in each and every.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
Week besitos.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
Look at on a Radio
Speaker 2 (51:05):
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Are your ears bored? Yeah?
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Today, Okay, look at Our Radio is a radiophonic novella,
which is just an extra way of saying a podcast.
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Season ten of Look At Thought Our Radio is totally nostalgic.
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But that's not all.
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in to Capitulo Dorina to thirty.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Last time on lok a thought our Radio. What did
we talk about last time on loc a thought our Radio?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We talked about the expectations and realities of our thirties.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's part of it, too, is like it's not all
figured out by the time you're thirty. No, it's a
continuous process. It never ends. It never ends.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's also never too late to pivot. No, I've never
been less afraid to not have a plan. And I'm
such a planner. But it's like, ooh, sometimes we pivot.
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That's a good one. Go ahead and tune in, Leave
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with an enemy, lok.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So today on climax and cry, let's discuss.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Let's discuss, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
How did you climax? How did you cry this week? Mother?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So, I would say a fabulous climax that I had
this week that we actually enjoyed together. Yes, we climax
at the same time. Maybe it was a really great
meeting that we had in West Hollywood. And we used
to take meetings in Weiho all the time. We were
always in West Hollywood taking a meeting. It's much to
ourtis may, yes, but always sitting down for a coffee
(02:32):
for a drink, for a lunch to talk business because
we're business ladies, and yesterday was no exception. And I
just feel really invigorated and inspired and motivated. And the
person that we were sitting down with gave us, I think,
some really cool ideas that had never crossed my mind before.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah. Yeah, it's nice when you meet someone who is like,
you know, willing to have coffee with you, willing to
kind of like give you advice, give you some type
of mentorship, you know, and like we do not take
that for granted. We have been like mentored and guided
over the years by a lot of incredible people. So
I think that's why it was also really exciting.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, and uh, just more more to come, more to come,
always more from us. And I don't know, I feel
like a new sense of inspiration.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we are reaching almost a decade wow,
you know, so it's yeah, it's time. It's time. We
there's things that we have been wanting to put that
have been in the works and we've been wanting to
put in motion for a long time, and it feels
like this is the year. Yeah, we're really setting our
sits on lots of things. So yeah, that's exciting. Well
I'm glad you climaxed in that way.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Thank you at the Little Sidewalk Cafe, How did you
cry this week?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
How did I greet you cry?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
You know, I think it's just the end of the semester.
So we're like in finals and there's just like final
producing work that has to be done on the documentary
that I worked on this semester. We have our screening
coming up. I'm writing a research paper and you know,
in film school there's really very little reading and writing.
There's lots of storyboarding and shot listing, but reading and
(04:12):
writing is rare. So I'm buckling down and I'm just
in my research phase and I got to write my
three thousand pa word, not page, my three thousand word
paper and it's ultimately going to be great, and I'm
really excited about the subject matter. Maybe I'll share more
in a future episode when I'm done with the paper.
(04:32):
But that's my cry right now, is I'm in finals.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yes, that's real.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
How about you? What was your climax this week?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, my climax is that we actually have a new
team member. Yes we do, so I have kind of
kind of been teasing this out. I've been talking about
my homegirl a little bit more of been name dropping her,
if you will. So Jackie is now our operations assistant, yes,
and it has also been helping us with social So
(05:00):
if you follow us on social media, you may have
noticed we're back. We have been posting a lot more.
She has been posting a lot more. She has just
been helping us content batch and really is kind of
is like our second brain right now, our third brain,
if you will, And that has been really exciting. She
and I have been friends for over twenty years and
(05:21):
we've never worked together under this capacity for the business
for Locatra, so this has been really exciting. And she
is just she is a business girl.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
She is a business lady like in ways that we
are not, because we're creative's first, business lady second. But
she's like, no, I'm a business lady. I'm a businesswoman,
and she gets things done. So it's nice to have
that kind of objective person come in and see maybe
spots that maybe need to be filled, but also really
(05:53):
acknowledge like what we've been able to do just us too,
at least on the business side of things, so that
I think has been like a really big so some
climaxing for me this week.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I am so happy to hear that. I'm also very
happy about Jackie. Yeah, Jackie's that also. I think she's
giving us like a blood transfusion. Yes, in a way.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I told her I was a girl. You've kind of
been a life raft. I'm not gonna lie, like, you know,
not that we've been drowning per se. But it's like,
you know, going back to what we were talking about
during your climax, right, it's like there's things that we
want to do, but there's only two of us, you know,
and like we need a third person to kind of
help with like the business side of things. We have
(06:33):
Stephanie for the audio specifically and producing, but to have
someone on like operations really help us grow, I think
is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It's true to grow. You got to grow, Yes, So
we got to grow the team to grow the project.
And we look at some of the the other podcasts
out there, they have a team of twenty people, yeah,
working on the one show, and we've just been like
plugging away, yeah, with our little tiny team, but we're
still here even mighty mighty that's us so that's good.
(07:03):
And how about your cry?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, I cry a lot. And one way that I've
cried this week is that I talk about this all
the time, y'all, but I just cannot sit down and write.
This has been my constant struggle for years. But I've
started to unpack it in new ways because I have
been undergoing a therapy assessment for us. Yes, I don't
(07:29):
want to talk about it just yet. I will once
I have more information, But basically, I've just I'm been
starting to understand myself in a different way based on
like how my brain I literally operates, and so that
has also given allowed me to give myself a lot
more grace and more patience. Like it's not that you
don't want to write, there's something deeper in there that
(07:50):
is not allowing you to just sit down and do it.
And I kind of have. I have to force myself
in so many ways to just do something that I
really love and that I want to do. And it's like, well,
then why don't you just do it? Well? My brain
is not letting me.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's are you calling this writer's block
or do you feel like it's something else?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It's definitely something else because the block I do not have.
The ideas are there, it's just the physical act of
doing it, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The sitting down, opening up the computer.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yes, and so that has been making me cry this
week because I just like want to write, I can't
do it. I can't do it. And so yes, more
to come, self exploring, examining that, turning that inside out,
and we'll report back when I know more.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And for our listeners, you tell us what is your
climax of the week and what is your cry of
the week. It could literally be an amazing orgasm that
you had, tell us how you achieved it. Or it
could be like a more metaphorical climax, something in your
life that has just sent you over the moon, made
you happy, or even just lifted your spirits a little bit.
And then what made you cry? Is it the state
(08:56):
of the world? Is it the Trump administration? Is it
the coming Olympics la and the catastrophe that it's sure
to be like? Is it our impending apocalypse? Is it
a breakup?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
You tell us what's going on with you? And now
let's transition into oye lokaz one of I mean I
think consistently like one of my favorite segments because I
love just hearing from the listeners, like what is on
your mind?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and just know that if you've submitted a question
and it hasn't been answered yet, it will be answered.
And this question was submitted to us via our Instagram channel.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You are now listening to.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Oh yes, this is the question. I know we're not
in our party era, but can a hobby night be
in the works, like a paint and sip or candle making,
just bonding and joy.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I love that we do love hobbies. We do have
our hobbies. Hobbies are very important. I think that they
nourish the soul. And for our listeners who are in
the Greater LA area, we will be hosting an event
actually in June, and if your hobby is drinking, then
you need to join us. More details to come. Everything
(10:05):
is in the works, but we are getting back to
in person events.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yes, expect events this summer. We will be outside. We
are planning them. They are coming for our June event.
It is like part and it's not Party Girl, but
it's like it's like party Light. It's a gathering. We're gathering.
We're gathering. There will be beverages, but it's not a party.
You will be home by seven pm. Yeah, you'll be okay.
(10:32):
It's more of a meetup, Yes, a gathering, A gathering,
a social.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
A social. It's not quite a sore, but it's somewhere
in between. Yeah, a mixer, mixer.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, we just want to hang with y'all. It's been
a minute, and so that's our focus for the summer,
in addition to producing obviously the podcast, but also being
outside and being with y'all and hanging out and just
reconnecting because it's been some time.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
It has been some time. So if you're in interested,
if you don't already follow us on socials, make sure
you follow us. We're on TikTok, We're on Instagram at
look at Underscore Radio. That's where we will be posting
all meetup and event announcements all summer.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Lone, don't go anywhere, looka motives.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
All right, so let's get into today's subject matter.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Ooh, this is a doozy this.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You know, we have not really dedicated a full episode
to Catholicism. We did talk about it a little bit
during the launch of season nine, I believe when the
Dodgers were honoring the Sister Nuns and there was like
all that boycotting protest. So we did talk about the
Catholic scent, but today we're talking about it in a
(11:53):
different way, not necessarily in a positive way, but more
so in a cultural way and the culture that we
grew up in as Catholics.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yes, and you can't spell culture without the word cult.
So let's talk about Catholicism because for any Catholics out there,
and I love this term, cradle Catholics, yes, meaning we
were baptized as tiny babies. I wasn't even really sentient yet,
you know, like I had no consciousness of myself as
(12:23):
a being. I didn't know I had a name, I
didn't know what was happening. But I was being baptized
into the Catholic faith.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yes, you were being baptized because all babies are born
with original sin.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh, I was a very sinful baby.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Because Jesus died for us and our original sin. So
everyone is born with sin and we're baptized to absolve
us of this original sin. But before we get into
the nitty gritty, I want to set the scene for
what's been happening culturally and all the chatter that's been
happening online about the cradle Catholics versus I don't want
(12:57):
to say versus, but it's like cradle Catholics and convert. Yeah,
and this is like the conversation that's happening, and really
what has sparked I think this conversation is the man jd. Vance.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yes. And also this on the heels of the death
of Pope Francis.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yes, rip, and it even I mean it predates his death, right,
So just like, let's kind of I said, don't want
a wuman of what's been going on. So jd. Vance
the man that he is, in case you're not familiar,
he is our current vice president. He's a Catholic convert.
He became Catholic I think in like twenty twenty two
or twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I'm sorry, so strange, strange. I'm sorry, it's strange.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So Vance. Jd. Vance started this fight basically with the
Pope and with the broader Catholics because in an interview
he was basically criticizing US bishops who were resisting ice raids.
As we all know, churches have historically been sanctuary places.
(14:05):
So he has. He was criticizing US bishops for resisting
ice raids on Catholic churches and schools and basically called
upon this concept, this early church concept called urdo amoris,
which is in Latin rightly ordered love. And well, what
did Pope Francis do when he was still alive? He
(14:27):
responded to JD. Vance and he also wrote an open
letter to US bishops and asked them to continue to
support migrants refugees despite the call for mass deportations. And
he in his letter he even referred like I said
to ordo amooris and corrects JD. Evans and says, Christian
(14:47):
love is not a concentric expansion of interest the little
by little extent to other persons and group. The true
amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover
by meditating constantly on the parable of the good Samaritan,
that is, by meditating on the love that builds a
fraternity open to all without exception. Basically, be a good person,
(15:10):
help your fellow neighbor out is what he's saying. And
worrying about personal community or national identity apart from these
considerations easily introduces an ideological criterion that distored social life
and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion
of the truth. Basically, Pope Francis versus jade Evans, that's
(15:30):
what was happening.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Wow, what a title fight.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
And as a Catholic listen, the Pope is close to God,
next to God like basically, and the way we look
at things, it's like priest, deacons, bishops, cardinals, Pope like
that is the highest ranking.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah you know.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And so to piss off Pope Francis to be publicly
called called out and told like, actually, you're interpreting that
teaching wrong. Hello, Yes, that would scare me.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. How would I say in Spanish? Yes,
jd Vance.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yes, it was a scolding, it was a school was
a scolding.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
It was a exactly. But this is my thing too
about some of the Catholic converts. No offense, I'm just
saying there's this weird like like when people convert into
Catholicism as adults, there's this weird like ultra conservative opus
day Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thing, traditionalist.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yes, so odd. Yes, it's so strange in us that
we're born into it. We went to Catholic school by
the time where adults were like yes, okay, like relax
everybody please, And I.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Think that's that's part of the conversation as to like, well,
that's what Jadvance is missing, and you know, rest in peace.
Pope Francis died on April twenty. First, I want to add, though,
I want to note that on Easter Sunday, the day
before he died, Jadvance met with Pope Francis for about
fifteen minutes and Pope Francis allegedly said that he prays
(17:04):
for him every day and said God bless you and
sent him with a blessing. The next day, Pope Francis died.
Now JD.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Vans killed Pope Francis.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
That's what the internet streets are saying. Me as a
cradle Catholic, as a recovering Catholic, if I met with
the Pope and he told me I'm praying for you,
because he did not say, oh, i'm praying for you,
you know that there was a connotation with I'm praying
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I'm praying for your your your soul that is bound
for eternal damnation.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yes, that's exactly what he met. I would not be okay,
I would think I killed the pope absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I mean the order of events, the sequence of events. Yeah,
has met a lot of people, Yes, a lot of people.
He's been to a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, I mean and Pope Francis, you know, as folks
may or may not know, he has been viewed as
the more progressive pope. He's the first from Latin America,
from Atrigentina. He was a Jesuit scholar, and this is
important because Jesuits are the scholarly like Catholics, and they
(18:13):
live their life and their their theology is like to
live as close as possible as Jesus. He took about poverty.
He was constantly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and
he called to protect the most vulnerable. And so there's
like a collective morning. I feel that's happening right now
with the passing of Pope Francis. And I think that
(18:33):
that's also why even like the recovering Catholics that no
longer practicing Catholics are kind of coming out to be like,
wait a minute, this is not how we do things. Absolutely,
we do not proselytize.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We don't that's not our thing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
We're not traditionalists, no, no, because we've been hearing about
it for so long.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
For so long, and we've we've read the Bible, we've
studied the Bible, We've done the Catechism and Confirmation. And
I think that within Catholic communities and within the Catholic Church,
and this is going to vary church by church, right like,
but I think that there is a healthy amount of dialogue,
there's a healthy amount of debate. I don't think that
(19:14):
it's such a severe, hardline religion, maybe that like it
once was, or like it appears to be. And Pope
Francis is somebody who I was watching on ABC. They
were doing this whole piece, this whole special on Pope
Francis and his travels and the conversations that he had
(19:34):
with people from all over the world, and conversations about
how Pope Francis made it possible for trans people to
be god parents in the Catholic Church, and a conversation
that he had with young women about like masturbation, and
Pope Francis talking about how our catechism has not always
been the most mature catechism. And so I think that
(19:58):
instead of being like a defense guarded pope who's like gatekeeping,
you know, the religion. He I think was really open.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, and aware, instead of being so insular, instead of
keeping people out of the church, we're bringing people in.
And I think that that is why. That's what he
was doing.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, I think that's what he was doing. And so
it's just, uh, I hope that our next pope, you know,
is like carrying on that spirit and that tradition, you know.
I hope that the new pope doesn't reflect our presidential
administration and those values.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I hope that the pope continues to be like somebody
who is supposed to be like a light, yes, you know,
and not an oppressive force.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Right. And when this episode drops is actually the day
that the conclave starts.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh goodness, yes. And the conclave what a mysterious what
a mysterious process.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Nobody knows. I mean, there is a fil home now
about what we assume happens during a conclave, but it's
very like hush hush, nobody knows, closed doors, nobody's allowed
to leave during the conclave, so it's very secretive, right,
nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Right, it sounds like like what it must be like
partying with Beyonce.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
NDAs everywhere.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
NDA's everywhere, only the very select few are invited or
know it's going on. It's like the same.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yes, I think you're right. I think that's a good comparison.
Don't go anywhere, Locomotives.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We'll be right back, and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Going back to the cradle. Catholic being raised, being raised Catholic. Yes,
I think I wanted us to kind of sit in
like how did this shape who we are as people?
Both the positive and the negat Yeah, you know, like
how did that shape who we are?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
You know, I have been reflecting so much on this
recently because in the past year I've gone to in
the past two years, I've gone to a lot of
funerals and they have all been Catholic services, and for
at least two of those deaths, we also hosted, you know,
(22:24):
rosaries nolvanas, and to be able to gather in with
your family, with your community and like basically like sit
Shiva and pray the Rosary in Spanish. There is something
really beautiful about it. There's a tradition there that feels
like we're all putting our minds and our hearts together
(22:46):
and we're like basically in this process of group incantation
and praying over and over and over again to send
our loved one off with the strongest possible prayers that
we could muster. And it's just something that I was
grateful to be able to participate in, to know the prayers,
(23:06):
to have experience praying the Rosary. It felt like kind
of an honor and a privilege to be able to
do that for loved ones who have passed. And then
I think about even like Catholic funerals and being in
the church and the whole thing. It just for someone
that you love so much, it feels like the appropriate
amount of pomp and circumstance. And I think for some
(23:30):
things you want grandeur, you want pomp and circumstance, you
want ceremony. You know, you want that process to allow
you to grieve, like those physical manifestations. So maybe that's
not something I appreciated when I was younger. I wasn't
attending a ton of funerals when I was younger, But
(23:50):
as we get older, people die, and to be able
to have that kind of send off, I think is
just so appropriate. You know, different cultures and different religions
have their own way of doing things. I've never been
to a funeral of another faiths as I'm thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I have And I told you that I went to
a funeral that was not Catholic, it was Christian, and
I was really shocked by some of the things that
I was hearing, and I like texted my like, okay,
wait a second. Never did I think I'd be like,
where's the Catholic funeral, Like where's the pomp and circumstance,
where is the homily of the In this case, a
(24:32):
priest talking about how wonderful this person was and how
everyone was grieving right whereas I was hearing a lot
of different things from this other leader, and it was
shocking to me. And I didn't realize like, oh, I've
only been to Catholic funerals or I've only been to
Catholic masses, and I'm like, who am I to miss
the Catholic Church? What the hell?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I know? I know, sorry, but it's a tough thing
that I also it comes with experience in age and charity.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And I think that's kind of like the case that like, wait,
being Catholic is a culture even if you're not practicing anymore,
because I don't know if you consider yourself practicing. I
know you've been going to church a little more with
your mom.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I did, I see my mom still teaches at a
Catholic school. Yeah, and so they are required to. I
mean she would go anyway, she would go anyways. But
when you are a student and a teacher at a
Catholic school, there's an expectation that you're in church twice
a week. Yep. Once at the school, yes, once in
the middle of the week as part of.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Your school day, and then Sunday Mass.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And Sunday Mass. And it was Palm Sunday. You had
to go to Palm Scars got to go to Palm Sunday.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Any time you go to church, it's during Lent season. Yes,
not us, but that that is what general.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I think that's really the only time of year. Like
if I'm really going to go to Mass. It's not Christmas.
We've never been Christmas Mass people, but Palm Sunday, Yes,
it's something.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
My dad is a a midnight Christmas Mass person. Not
with me though, I don't go, but he would go.
He would go. That was his thing. He would do it.
But yes, growing up like Lent when we were going
all the time, but like especially during Lent, that's like
the time that.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You go yeah, and you know, I going back, it
does there is a it's like it's just a time
to sit and reflect and like be quiet and listen
and say some prayers. And I mean there's like nothing
wrong with saying prayers, right. We need girl, we need prayer.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
We need so much prayer, so much per Yeah. I
really struggle with that where it's like this need for
there is a need for community, there's need for prayer,
there's need for hope, especially right now. But then on
the flip side, we have this like rise of Christian
nationalism where I like don't really know how to hold
(26:49):
space for both. Where I'm like, Okay, I'm seeing I'm
seeing you know what I'm seeing. Get ready with me
to go to church? Yes, get ready with me to
go to Sunday Mass. They're not Catholic masses that I've seen,
more so like Christian churches. And I've just kind of
been noticing more and more. I don't have the numbers
of statistics. Are people turning to Christianity in waves? I
(27:12):
don't know, but I am seeing content wise like being
made and when I see it come up on my algorithm.
I'm like, how dare you?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
How dare what do you think?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
You're not interested scroll the algorithm?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
What is wrong with the algorithm?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah? But you know, so I am seeing more of that.
So I'm wondering do we just all grow up and
go back to the church.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's a it's a thing. I think you also see
that sort of arc of like uh ho phase, party
girl phase and now I'm back in church.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, that's fine. Don't be a fucking puritan. No, don't
be proselytizing. Please, Lord, don't be telling me I can't
be gay. Like, no, say your prayer, say your prayer,
be a good person, and keep it moving, keep it moving.
The same people that are saying their prayers as Sunday
Mass are going to go out and be telling people
(28:04):
to go back to their countries. Like it's that that
is the pipeline that I'm like, hold up, is that
what we're doing?
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Or are we going to church and we're listening to
the homily and we're going to go and be good people?
But actual good people? Because I think that's like that
is what you learn in Catholic school what it means
to be a good person, like what it means to
this is all subjective, of course, but like learning right
from wrong? What is a venial sin? What is a
moral sin? What is the fable of the good Samaritan?
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, like mind you the Samaritans were so awful that
one of them did a nice thing. Yes, it's like wow, finally, yes,
yes one Okay, this is like, uh, triggering so many
things in my brain. Yeah. Catholics, notably, we don't go out.
We're not preach. We're not a preaching religion.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
We're not standing on the side like handing out pamphlets.
M and I say we not. We but the Catholic Yeah,
but we're not. We're not. We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
We're not.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
We're not Catholics are compared to the Catholics or us,
We're not.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
And you know what, Okay, on campus at USC twice, now.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Right, you did share this.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I have had two separate experiences and it was so
sneaky and underhanded, and I did not like this. I
was at Trader Joe's at the USC village and a Latina,
like a young woman approaches me out of nowhere. I
didn't even see her coming. I'm like looking, I'm in
the meat section. I'm looking at proteins and she's like,
oh my god, I love your earrings, and of course
(29:36):
me a compliment, you know, now I'm your best friend.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, thriving.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I'm thriving, like, oh my god, thank you so much.
And then she's like where did you get them? I
don't remember. And then she's like, oh, I host a
prayer group. Do you want to attend? Do you want
to come with me? No? No, thank you? And I
told her, no, thank you. I'm a Catholic, and so
I think she was probably be praying for my soul
(30:01):
after that. And a second time, I'm on campus proper,
the actual campus, like behind the gates, and two like
young white women, Oh my god, I love your sunglasses.
Where did you get them? There you go, oh, we're
hosting a prayer group. Do you want to come with us? No,
I don't want to go to your prayer group. Like
(30:24):
it's I don't know. And there was something about it
being students, or at least I think they're students, or
maybe they're not.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Maybe they're not.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I don't know who they are. But there was something
about the like, oh, this is a strategy that they've
been taught and coached and instructed, go out compliment someone
someone who looks vain, someone who looks like they love,
someone who needs, someone who needs the Lord, and try
and get them to come to prayer group. Is just
(30:50):
so far out of like what I know. And I'm
just like, don't try and recruit me right now, like
with these like really weird underhanded tactics. It was so
off putting and I did not like it, but you
just reminded me. I once attended a mega church Easter
Sunday when I was studying abroad in London. Okay, because
(31:11):
I was there junior year. I was in London at
University College London UCL for two semesters, so my entire
junior year. So Easter Sunday. I had some friends there
who were well, at least one tough student who was
is a Christian, and so she invited a bunch of
us like, oh, do you want to come to Sunday
Mass with me for Easter Sunday. I've been going to
(31:33):
this church here in London, so I'm like, yeah, sure,
I'm down to experience anything, you know, like at once
at least, so I went, and it was a straight
up mega church. It felt like a big concert, like
a you know, like at any of our at Sofi Stadium,
(31:54):
like it was. It was huge, and it was like
fog machines and laser and like a full band and
like lots of music, really loud, like there's people speaking
in tongues and they're hopping up and down and it
was wild. And you know, we're very Catholics, are very demure.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Very demure. We have our songs are hymns, our hymns,
and that's that's it, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Maybe there's a piano and there's a children's choir, yes,
you know, but other than that, maybe some Gregorian chant, yes,
But we're sitting, we're quiet. We wait until like we're
instructed and invited to like repeat prayers or to sing
along in the hymnal. So that's what I'm used to. Like.
Catholic services are so quiet. They are.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
They are quiet, and you even like develop like your
little favorite.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Hymns, Yes you do.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
My mom has one she has on eagles wing.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
That's a really good one. I love on eagles wigs.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
She has instructed that to be played at her funeral. Now,
that's one of her favorite hymns.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Honey, the big cute shine like sun.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And on TikTok. I saw this cradle Catholic if you will,
But it was this man replying to this comment where
this I guess convert Catholic didn't know the song and
they're like, you don't know this song, this hymn.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
It's a banger.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
It is it really is a banger banger. Yeah, yes,
we do things we I guess we am including myself
in this. We do baptized, we are unbaptized baptized. I
was never confirmed, as I've shared my story of confirmation,
so yeah, I was never really confirmed.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
I was.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I was still blessed.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
That was your active resistance. It was my actor and
I respect it.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Thank you, Thank you. Your story about the Christians trying
to bring you to church or bring you to their
study group reminded me of this. My sophomore year of
undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, I lived with three women,
two of them were practicing Christian. When I had my
little interview with them to be their roommate, we were
(34:18):
just talking about interests. I don't remember exactly what was said,
but I was like, well I do have a girlfriend.
Because I was like I'm not about to live with
homophobic Christians. They were so fucking cool. They were so nice,
not homophobic, like not like how we imagine Christians to
be now or even then. And they were really cool
(34:40):
and they like would have their people over and they
would do their Bible study. But they never tried to
like bring me in. They were never trying to like
recruit me.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
They would introduce me to their friends when they would
come around, and they would have their stuff, and they
would invite me to things, but they were never trying
to recruit me. They were like, well I was so
they were like no, but useless. But they never like
made me feel like I was unwelcome or like, you know,
even when my girlfriend would spend the night, they were
never weird, you know, So it was it was fine.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
That's good. And I'm sure that like most Christians are
probably like that.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I mean, I would hope, but girl, I don't know anymore.
I don't know anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
It's severe out there.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
It's really severe where like moving far further right collectively
policy wise, yep, you know. And I do feel like
it's up to these like religious leaders to not move
their congregations, their churches their their masses, yeah to the right,
you know, And so that is why I think like
(35:45):
someone like Pope Francis was really important and it was
like kind of keeping keeping things in line in that way.
And again it is church by church is absolutely church
by church.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
This is not to say all Catholic churches are progressive.
We know that it's not true.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
A church can change. Yes, So the Catholic school that
I went to in Alhambra, after me and my friends
in our little like generation graduated and moved on, since then,
the school has like literally I've used the term Opus
Day before, but they are like literally an Opus day
campus now and after a while, like they required head
(36:23):
coverings in Mass for women, and they've done a lot
of other things at the school, Like I don't think
that they have singing anymore. I think that they've implemented
a lot of Latin, like they've really become it's I
don't remember that it's like Vatican one Vatican two, you know,
the different eras and the way that the Mass is
(36:44):
conducted and the language that it's spoken in. They've sort
of reverted back, and it's been a very intentional move
based on church leadership and that that little community was
never like that. Like it was a very fun little
school to go to. We had a g eight time.
The priests were like very kind. It was like a
very like kind hearted, like open place in a way
(37:07):
like I just have such positive memories of Catholic school.
It was never like I mean, you know, there's there
was things here and there with gender and of course
like about like abstinence and the human sexuality stuff was
really not on point. But it's not on point in
public schools either. I mean, let's be so for real,
like our sex education across the board is abysmal. It's
(37:28):
not only the religious institutions, but it was kind of
like like a little bit of like a paradise for
us as kids. You know, I just have a lot
of positive memories, and the church has changed a lot,
and so like I have to imagine that also has
an impact on the student body. Apparently they don't have
a computer class or computer labs anymore. Oh wow, like
(37:51):
they've really like yes, buckled down in an unfortunate way.
So yeah, it's very much church by church, and a
church based on leadership can change and the whole congregation
will go with the change or leave. Yes, you know,
and there are people who have left. I mean we
left right right, other drama on the other very unfortunate
side of Catholicism, because we're also not going to sit.
(38:13):
We've criticized Catholicism for ten much. Yeah, on the show.
On the show, go back and listen privately. In Downey.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yes, the school that I went to obviously was attached
to a church in Downey. Our Lady of Perpetual Help
can't believe I'm talking about this.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I'm screaming.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yes, but you know, this was a school that I
went to that definitely had its issues. I felt very
more like peace safe haven in my Catholic high school.
But the school that I went to, and then the
in turn, the church that I grew up going to,
recently made headlines because a newer priest, Ariaga Pedrosa, was
(38:54):
charged with one felony count of assault with intent to
commit loot acts upon a child and I fell an
accounts of lude acts upon a child aged fourteen or fifteen.
And he was a priest at my church, at the
church that I grew up going to. Right, I'm no
longer an active member of that church, but that was
a church that I grew up going to and it
(39:14):
made local headlines.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, I saw the headlines, I saw the news.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yes, I learned to be a good person through the
teachings of Catholic school. Yes, But this is the same
church that hosts like anti choice protests outside of a
clinic in Downey. I've like run by it, these active
protests and I'm like, get the fuck out of my way,
and so like this, this is the same congregation. So
(39:39):
if you can kind of get a hint as to
the type of leadership that is there and the type
of things that are encouraged, you know, at this church,
at this congregation, which is why I'm no longer one
of the reasons I'm no longer a member or practicing,
but I mean, yeah, it is the type of leadership
that is involved and what can really make break your experience.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Yeah, and I think that for the most part, like
Catholics are pretty obedient, Yeah, especially if they.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Are We're taught to be obedient.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
It's part of it.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
It's part of it.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
You can't spell culture without cult.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
I mean we're taught to be obedient and used to
be hit you know, not us, but like you know,
that is like part of the Catholic school experience if
you went to school back in the day.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yeah, yeah, you have to fall in line, and you
have to follow the rules, and you have to obey,
and that's part of I think Catholics take pride. Devout
Catholics take pride in like following the rules, yes, you know,
and doing what a good Catholic would do. If your pastor,
the head priest who's like in charge of all the
(40:42):
priests and the spiritual life of the church, if you're
a devout Catholic, you're gonna listen to what the pastor says. Yes,
you're gonna You're gonna follow suit, because that's the whole deal. Yes,
you know, that's the participation. And if you don't agree,
it's like, well you got to leave the church and
find a new one.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yes, And this is why the Pope Francis is of
the world. Yeah, Archbishop Romero, yes, right, who's a saint?
Who is a saint? Right? That is why, like and
I would talked about this at the beginning of the season.
I'm like, oh, I'm being called to read his theology
and being called to read upon this. I'm like the
state of the world is making me return to the church,
(41:20):
and I fucking hate it.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's how bad things are.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
That's how bad things are.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
That's how you know apocalypse is mynes And it's not
even in this like devout way.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
It's just like out of spite. I gotta go back, yes,
because what the fuck?
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, some guidance, there's got to be some teaching somewhere
going back to Catholicism being having a cultural aspect. Yes,
I'll never forget. I took this religion class when like
a world religion's class at Tufts in Massachusetts, when I
was an undergrad and one of our units, in addition
to studying Buddhism and you know whatever, this, that and
(41:57):
the third, all these world religions and all these case
studies from all across the globe, we had a specific
unit on Mexican American Catholics in La Oh. Interesting, Yes,
with specific literature and research. And it was its own unit.
You know. It's like, Okay, we're studying Judaism, we're studying Buddhism,
(42:17):
and now we're going to study this community of Mexican
Americans who are Catholics in Los Angeles. And it gave
me so much perspective on myself and my own community
and where I came from. That at this liberal arts college,
these white ladies, these professors designed a curriculum and included
us because we have our own thing going on. Yes,
(42:40):
we're a distinct religious, cultural, ethnic enclave with enough that
is unique about us and that distinguishes us from others
that we can be studied and spoken about as a
unique community. And it gave me more appreciation for where
I came from and for who we are and the
(43:01):
way that we participate at different levels. But you know,
it's like there's a lot of cultural aspects of I
think being Mexican American that are so tied in with
the Catholic Church intrinsically that even if you don't go
to Mass, there are Catholic bones, you know, underneath the
other muertos. I mean, it's it's a Catholic celebration.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
It's like an indigenous celebration, but also tied.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
To Catholicism the way that we celebrate it here in
la at least like Spanish speaking likely Mespisol Catholic communities.
It's a result of syncretism. It's not the original indigenous iteration. Anymore.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Right, the like components of like the sampasulcila is definitely
like an indigenous practice, Yes.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
But the version that we have now and the altars
at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and at Grand Park and
such and such, it's syncretic. And so we don't know.
I don't know a version, and I don't know that
the Mexican American community really knows a version without Catholicism.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, I mean, and that goes to like one of
the really hard truths of being Latino and Catholic is
that it's it is a result of colonization, right, and
so you can't talk about one without talking about the other.
It is why so many of us are raised to
be Catholic, grow up in the church by design.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Absolutely absolutely so. Also shout out Pope John Paul the Second.
Everyone's favorite pope.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Not mine, girl, he was evil.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
I know, evil Signoras love John Paul the Second. My
grandma still has a painting in her living room of
John Paul the Second, like genuflecting to the Virgin Mary,
to the Virgin of Guadalupe. I think that he still
has this like icon status amongst older.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Yes, they don't want to acknowledge some of the dark
side of the church sense why they would still admire him,
see him as like, I mean, the pope is like
the highest highest rank.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah. And even with Pope Francis, there was in that
news special that I saw after his death, but before
his funeral, conversations about how he had to have his
own reckoning and sort of come to Jesus moment when
it came to being supportive of cardinals who were involved
in sexual abuse scandals.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And basically there was an interview with him where a
journalist was asking like, why did you appoint this questionable
cardinal to this position or why did you recommend that
this questionable bishop become a cardinal when he has this
like sordid past, and Pope Francis was like, well he
told me it wasn't true, Like why would he lie
(45:51):
to me? You know, just so much faith in this person.
And then later Pope Francis then was like, okay, like
give me more information. What are the investigations finding, and
then he backtracked, right, And so I would say that
like at least Pope Francis was willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yeah, because I think with from what I've read like
with Pope John Pope God, this is so fucking niche.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Let's go, let's talk about it, my God.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
With Pope Jump Paul the Second, I think all of
the accusations came after his death, so you know, this
person is also no longer here to defend themselves. But
there was like a documentary about how he was involved
in like hiding sexual abuse cases.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Oh and like Cardinal Mahoney and all that back era.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yes, and then the pope that came after John Paul
the Second was like Pope Benedict, who was also very questionable.
So I do think that is all of that context
is why I think Pope Francis was like revered in
this way, a stand out, a standout because of like
his politics, the way he chose to live his life
even as a pope. Again, like we this is take
(46:56):
this all with a grain of salt. These are still
like fig of a church. We are not co signing
these people, but what they represent I think was very impactful.
It's from the sexual abuse allegations, the cover ups, the
boarding schools, the Native Americans were placed in, Like this
(47:17):
is all like a built up right, We're not sitting
here and being like the Catholic Church is perfect, think
more so we're making it. At least I'm making an
argument that as a cultural Catholic, you're taught to be
a good person, to look out for each other, to
not turn the migrant refugee away, to make space for
(47:39):
them because they need help, they need it. And I
think that that at its core, the Church and the
Bible can teach you those things. It's the way we
don't allow nuance, the way we then weaponize Bible versus.
We take things out of context and we collective we
write where then we use it to oppress other people.
(48:00):
That's what the issue is.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
And also I think that a lot of religious leaders
are banking on the fact when quoting the Bible, you
should do this because the Bible says, banking on the
fact that most people have not read the Bible and
don't know what's in it. No, I was listening to
on Spotify. I was listening to a Joan Rivers comedy
album Okay, and she has this joke where she's like, no,
(48:24):
I don't cook for my husband. Show me in the
Bible word says I have to cook for my husband.
It's not in there. Anywhere, show me the verse, you know,
and it was so funny. I don't know if it
says that or not, who knows, but it just made
me think, like, we're told do it because the Bible
says the Bible tells me so, But like, are we
(48:45):
really going line by line and investigating and are we
really interpreting in a way that makes sense for our
modern context?
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Right exactly? Yeah? And I think there are people that
spend their time kind of contesting these like, Okay, the
Bible says this, are you going to do that?
Speaker 1 (49:04):
You know exactly?
Speaker 2 (49:04):
Are you kind of flipping it? Okay? Well it says this,
are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Are we stoning people?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah? Like are we going to take your word for word? Okay?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Are we cutting off hands? Be yeah? Are we gouging
out eyes? Is that what we're doing? I don't think so.
I hope not. I pray. Well.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
This has been our cradle Catholic episode.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
As you can see, we're still recovering, We're still quite damaged, we're.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Still recovering, we're still insane, we're still making peace with it.
But you know, it's sometimes it takes the fucking JD
Vances of the world for me to come out swinging.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
That's how bad it is here.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
I'm defending the Catholics.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
That's how bad it is. Yeah, yeah, how dare you
JD Vans that you've brought us to this place? You
killed the pope, you're making us go to church? Like what?
Pray for us?
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Pray for us, Pray for our sins.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Pray for our our everlasting souls.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
All right, this has been enough. Yeah today, Thank you
so much for listening to another episode of Loka Dora Radio.
Take everything we say with a grain of salt, but
this is our experience as the recovering Catholics that we
are as cradle Catholics. If anyone can critique the Church
and Catholicism, it's us.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
We've paid so much tuition money we have.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
That's another conversation, but we'll save that for another day.
Thank you for listening, locomotives. We will catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Besitos.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
Loka A Radio is executive produced by Viosa Fem and
Mala Munios.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Story editing by Me viosa.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Creative direction by Me Mala.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Look At Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael Dura
podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
You can listen to look At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
Leave us a review and share with your Prima or
share with your homegirl.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
And thank you to our locomotives, to our listeners for
tuning in each and every.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
Week besitos.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
Look at on a Radio
Speaker 2 (51:05):
Look Alumnia
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