I know I’m supposed to officially be on holiday for the month of September… But I got one final interview for y’all (if you are in the market for such a thing?).

Recently, had the opportunity to feature on David Cuddy’s highly celebrated podcast, ‘The Wood From The Trees’!

We discussed pretty much every topic under the sun, from faith and meaning to the afterlife and angels and demons, and consciousness and artificial intelligence – you know the standard things these days…

If you are interested, check it out below 👇

As mentioned in the previous email, I will be taking the month of September off this year to get married and finish my PhD!!!

I will be a philosophy doctor and husband next time you see me, all being well. We will be back in October time with a new philosophy series for the Substack, of course interviews with great guests and one super cool announcement that has been quite a long time in the making…

In the meantime, God bless and see you on the otherside!

Mahon.

We have finally arrived at the final lecture of the course on Plato’s Republic on book 10!!!

In this final lecture, we survey Plato’s ontological critique of imitative art, the paradoxical case of Plato's frequent use of images despite his critiques, his arguments for the immortality of the soul and, finally, the famous Myth of Er.

The Platonic case against AI Slop: https://www.palladiummag.com/2025/11/14/the-platonic-case-against-ai-slop/

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Setup
00:17 Why Book Ten Exists
01:29 Being Versus Appearance
02:39 Art Third From Truth
05:16 Poets Without Knowledge
09:33 Redeeming Images
11:57 Myth of Er Begins
13:14 Choosing Next Lives
14:59 Lethe Rebirth and Wrap

FYI, this will be my last post until the end of September!

I am both getting married and finishing my PhD in the next month, so I’m going to take a back seat on the content until I emerge as a husband and a philosophy doctor.

However, we will be back come October time with some exciting announcements and additions to the future of the publication, so stay tuned and keep living the examined life in the meantime. 🍻

Best,

Mahon.

Over the summertime, I got the pleasure of kicking off the Irish Dominicans’ new Angelic Warfare Confraternity with a series of talks on ‘Digital Media and the Family’. Fr Maurice and I went on a tour around the four corners of Ireland, travelling to Cork, Dublin, Sligo and Newry and, despite the summer heatwave, managing to gather a great audience (check out the talk below)

The confraternity starts next weekend, so any father’s and sons aged 8 to 17 that are interested in taking on this challenge can sign up below 👇

Save your spot

History of the Confraternity

Every night before the talk, Fr Maurice told the story of the origins of the confraternity in the life of one St Thomas Aquinas. According to the legend, Aquinas family imprisoned him in order to prevent him from joining the Dominican Order, which was a comparatively poor religious order. His three brothers, who were all soldiers, kidnapped the angelic doctor and imprisoned him in the tower of Roccasecca Castle to coerce him into recounting his decision.

However, despite his imprisonment, Aquinas was unwilling to back down on his decision to join the Dominicans. So, running out of options, his brothers decided to hire a ‘woman of the evening’ and send her into the tower to break St Thomas’s vows of chastity. But rather than succumb to the temptation, when the woman entered the room, St Thomas took a poker from the fireplace and chased her from the room, branding a cross on the back of the wooden door. After he branded the cross, he knelt in prayer, and two angels appeared to him and placed a corded belt of purity around his waist. In reward for his rejection of this temptation, it was promised that St Thomas’s chastity would never be tempted again.

Based on this tale, in the 16th century, the confraternities began for laypeople to practise the virtue of chastity like St Thomas. It was popular in Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries post-Catholic emancipation. However, eventually the confraternity went cold and has since stopped in Ireland for many years. This 2026 event organised by Fr Maurice represents the re-ignition of the confraternity in Ireland to take on the challenge of virtue and purity today. The confraternity offers an amazing opportunity and guide for father’s and sons to take on a challenge together and grow in faith and virtue, in a culture that is pretty much dead set on the opposite…

Save your spot

The Virtue of Chastity

C.S. Lewis once quipped that ‘chastity is the most unpopular of all the Christian virtues’, which I’m sure most of us can empathise with. If chastity seems ‘old-fashioned’, ‘repressed’ or overly conservative, then you should consider reading some of Bishop Erik Varden’s magnum opus, ‘Chastity and Reconciliation of the Senses’:

‘...chastity is not a denial of sex. It is an orientation of sexuality, of the whole vital instinct, towards a desired finality. It is a function of the wholeness sought and healing found’ (Varden, 2023, 17).

In this book, Bishop Varden reframes the virtue of chastity not as a restrictive set of rules all about not doing something, but rather as a necessary practice for a life that is integrated, joyful and free. In other words, chastity is the equivalent for sexual drives that temperance is for eating – moderation leads to wholeness, happiness and the redirection of human energies in the right direction. It’s not about not doing something but about sacrificing a short-term pleasure for a long-term good:

‘Ordinarily we think of freedom as scope to do what we feel like. We think in terms of freedom from, not of freedom unto. In Christian terms, freedom is about enabling commitment. The Biblical view of human nature, evidenced in Christ, regards the human being as essentially relational, oblative and covenantal. On this account, unhindered pursuit of momentary inclinations is not freedom. It is enslavement to whim, which, empirically speaking, rarely produces lasting happiness. Sensational thrills can come of it, true, but they are not much of a foundation on which to construct a life’ (Varden, 2023, 113).

The Challenge: Industries of Sin

There is no shortage of industries today whose basic business models are the seven deadly sins, and lust might be the most profitable one there is. Lust is big business, especially in today’s world; it’s hard to avoid, and young boys who grow up in this world are totally unprepared to face the challenges of this new environment.

We desperately need social and educational institutions to prepare young men to face these challenges. But unfortunately in the secular world post-sexual revolution, regulating one’s appetites is seen as old-fashioned and repressed. This is the worst of both worlds: a massive increase in temptation and a massive deficit in the cultural and educational response…

Initiatives like the confraternity are incredibly important in filling this gap. To prevent young people from growing up as addicts by default. The government isn’t doing it; schools aren’t doing it, so the responsibility falls to parents and communities and parishes to develop these core skills necessary to grow up in the current environment.

A yearly pledge might seem like a small thing, but in the delicate process of growing up, it could make a big difference in a young man’s life – preventing access early is the key. So if you are a father with sons between the ages of 8 and 17, I highly encourage you to sign up for the confraternity and to fight back against the corruption of the human soul 👇

Join the fight

This book returns to the core question from Book 2: why the just person is happier than the unjust and whether the tyrant is wretched or blessed.

We will explain Plato’s account of how a tyrant develops from democratic permissiveness, losing the ability to distinguish necessary from unnecessary desires and becoming ruled by insatiable appetites, like someone living out the lawless impulses revealed in dreams.

The tyrant’s rise is enabled by a chaotic city, but his inner disorder makes him miserable, friendless, and unfree, contrasted with the philosopher-king who is ruled by reason. Mahon then outlines Plato’s further defences of justice: an argument from the tripartite soul and an argument about true vs illusory pleasures, culminating in the claim that justice is 729 times better than injustice.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Series Context
00:16 Book Nine Big Question
01:37 Dreams and Lawless Desires
03:32 How a Tyrant Is Made
04:51 Tyrant’s Addictions and Misery
06:07 Political Rise of Tyranny
09:03 Tyrant vs Philosopher King
10:53 Tripartite Soul and True Judge
14:10 Real vs Illusory Pleasure
17:08 Dopamine Nation and Addiction
20:11 The 729 Times Proof
20:50 Conclusion: Justice Wins

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I recently got the opportunity to go on the ‘Reclaim the Faith’ podcast with John and Danielle and tell my conversion story from radical atheism to the Catholic church.

This interview is the most in-depth I’ve done on the various stages in that intellectual and emotional journey so far and so might offer some interesting insights to those who are on a spiritual journey themselves 👇

Best,

Mahon.

This interview has been a long time coming; I’ve always been a fan of Paul’s work, so it’s really great to get him on the pod for a chat on his latest book, ‘Against the Machine’.

Get 'Against the Machine'

In this episode we are discussing the history and concept of the machine, its spiritual and historical and philosophical roots, and most importantly, what a better story than the machine might look like? We explore how we return to tradition, our own conversion journeys, and how to counteract the dehumanising effects of modernity.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and guest introduction
01:05 What is the machine? Its history and systemic nature
04:13 The spiritual and theological dimensions of the machine
08:40 The modern pursuit of power and the myth of progress
12:21 The fall, pride, and the desire to become gods
16:40 The technological religion and the quest for immortality
22:37 AI and the final stage of the machine
30:07 A better story: returning to roots and tradition
36:30 The Christian story, repentance, and living rightly
48:49 The role of the Eucharist and spiritual renewal
57:28 Conclusion: hope and returning to the eternal

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I recently got the great pleasure of being the inaugural guest on Fionn Curran’s new podcast, ‘The Tree of Life.’

Fionn is one of Ireland’s biggest and best DJs and music producers who is taking a bold step to start talking about meaning and faith and philosophy for young people in modern Ireland.

Tune into the conversation 👇

Chapters:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:40 Mahon’s Story
00:03:40 Faith in Ireland today
00:08:05 Nietzsche
00:10:23 Selfish desires vs Marriage
00:16:30 Jordan Peterson
00:22:23 Footballers & Showings of faith
00:25:00 Greek Philosophy
00:30:00 Protestantism & OCD
00:37:40 Embodying Christ
00:42:10 former IRA woman’s story
00:45:00 the crucifixion
00:55:00 Evangelizing and questioning religion
01:02:00 Jesus as the highest Ideal
01:06:00 Catholicism & Beauty
01:11:30 Prayer to finish

In this lecture, we will meet the five regimes: aristocracy (love of wisdom), timocracy (love of honor), oligarchy (love of money), democracy (love of freedom), and tyranny (love of gain). We will meet the five characters that both create and are created by these various regimes and depict the psychological portraits of their decline.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Setup
00:16 Back to Republics Main Question
02:28 Five Regimes and Characters
04:46 Aristocracy Ideal State
05:39 Nuptial Number Mystery
07:11 Timocracy Honor and War
08:43 Timocratic Character
10:27 Oligarchy
12:07 Oligarchic Soul Split
13:15 Democracy
14:14 Democratic Decadence and Desire
15:19 Necessary vs Unnecessary Desires
18:48 From Democracy to Tyranny
19:29 Making a Tyrant
20:52 Wrap up

In the conversation we discuss Levin’s “Platonic Morphospace” research programme, which treats morphogenesis, physiology, and behaviour as pattern navigation by goal-directed cellular collectives. We discuss how these discoveries question the foundations of the mechanical philosophy for science and highlight alignments with neo-Platonic philosophy.

Mike's website: https://thoughtforms.life/
DC's books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/D.-C.-Schindler/author/B001JRTOAU

Chapters:

00:00 Introductions and Setup
00:29 Levin’s Big Questions
01:14 Patterns and Morphospace
03:21 Beyond Evolutionary Explanations
03:51 Synthetic Agents Xenobots
05:04 Minimal Computational Models
06:09 Actionable Research Program
08:02 Schindler’s Neoplatonic Lens
14:36 Machines Organicism Debate
19:19 Cognition as Continuum
22:03 Nonphysical Causation Example
25:15 Math Truths as Causal
28:35 Expanding Platonic Space
30:48 Forms Beyond Matter
31:29 Life Versus Death Question
33:03 Dog Corpse Thought Experiment
35:21 Operational Categories Spectrum
37:40 Death As Shrinking Agency
40:26 Hybrids Xenobots Blur Lines
41:46 Embryo Alignment And Goals
44:28 Soul As Organization Pattern
48:19 Transformation Models And Math
53:52 Phase Transitions Emergence Debate
58:07 Wrap Up Future Work

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We are back with a new podcast interview!

This week I am talking to Mark Walsh ( ⁨@FeralPhilosophy_mw⁩ ) - Mark is a globally recognised embodiment trainer, trauma educator, and author who has spent over 25 years dedicated to one mission: helping people get into their bodies and stay sane. Holding an honours degree in psychology from Leeds University and an Aikido black belt, Mark founded Europe’s first specialist embodiment training company and is widely regarded as a world leader in the field. He is the CEO of Embodiment Unlimited, founder of the Certificate of Embodiment Coaching (CEC). He has qualified over 2,000 coaches across more than 40 countries. Mark hosts The Embodiment Coaching Podcast with over 3 million downloads, and led the record-breaking Embodiment Conference — featuring 1,000 teachers and attended by over 500,000 delegates worldwide.

In this podcast, Mark shares his transformative journey through spirituality, embodiment, and the crisis of modernity and back to his Catholic roots. We explore the importance of tradition, morality, and community in restoring meaning and mental health in a fragmented world.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Mark Walsh and His Background
02:53 Exploring Spirituality and Family Influence
06:03 Navigating Nihilism and Materialism
09:00 The Role of Embodiment in Healing
11:57 The Search for Meaning in Modernity
14:53 Rituals, Liturgy, and the Body
18:01 Cultural Critique and the Absurdity of Modern Life
20:51 The Need for Boundaries in Society
23:53 The Future of Spirituality and Hope for the Younger Generation
31:07 The Role of Spirituality in Recovery and Society
32:01 Christianity and Modern Philosophies
33:13 The Balance of Kindness and Boundaries
34:41 The Crisis in Psychology and Therapy
36:35 Integrating Tradition and Modern Psychology
39:17 The Limitations of Modern Therapy
41:03 The Importance of Community and Nature
43:14 Rediscovering Meaning in Suffering
48:17 Humility and Tradition in Faith
51:37 Cultural Strategies for Change

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It’s been a while (I’m sorry) but the Plato’s Republic lectures are back!

Before the end of the year we will be getting through the last books 7-10, and if you want to catch up on the lectures so far here is the link:

Course Playlist

In this lecture on book 7 we will discuss the following:

• The Digression of books 5-6, including the images of the sun, divided line and the Cave.

• The cave as an image of education — reorienting the soul from shadows and appearances toward reality.

• Tracking the prisoner’s painful ascent from images to objects to intelligible forms and ultimately to the Good as the source of intelligibility.

• The return to the cave, where the enlightened person is mocked and potentially killed, linking this to Socrates’ fate.

• Drawing on John Vervaeke, Karl Jaspers’ Axial Age, and concepts like salience, enkrateia, and sophrosyne, framing the ascent as moral and attentional training.

• Finally, we compare the Cave Allegory to Social Media and The Matrix, comparing the modern and ancient perspectives on transcendance.

00:00 Lecture 7
00:22 Recap and Digression
05:41 Inside the Cave
10:51 Climbing to Sunlight
12:47 Divided Line Revisited
18:31 Source of Intelligibility
21:26 Return and Resistance
23:50 Axial Age and Two Worlds
27:11 How to leave the Cave
33:00 Social Media as the Cave
33:46 The Matrix Retells the Cave
39:15 Plato vs Matrix on Happiness

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Recently participated in a great interview with Dr Simon Ussher on understanding the meaning crisis and human flourishing!

His channel Floreology is dedicated to the science of human flourishing, and how it intersects with Christianity 👇

Best,

Mahon.

In this podcast, I talk to Dr. Zachary Porcu about his book, Journey to Reality: Sacramental Life in a Secular Age. We discuss why the modern secular worldview stops people from understanding ancient faiths, how Dr Zak explains these categories and concepts to his students, and the spiritual and ethical consequences of secularism.

Get the book: https://www.amazon.ie/Journey-Reality-Sacramental-Life-Secular/dp/1955890625

Get the course: https://zacharyporcu.substack.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Journey to Reality
02:32 The Need for a Pre-Catechism
05:37 Understanding Religion and Worldviews
10:55 The Challenge of Changing Categories
15:44 Engaging with Cultural Contexts
19:16 The Role of the Internet in Faith
26:33 The Future of Catechism and Pre-Catechism
32:18 Exploring Orthodox Masterclasses
34:12 Practical Lifestyle Changes for Spiritual Growth
37:14 The Impact of Technology on Attention and Thought
40:50 The Dystopian Future of Technology and AI
46:49 The Church's Response to Secularization
50:17 The Meaning Crisis and Mental Health
54:27 The Shallow Nature of Modernity and Hedonism

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My Initial Doubts

When I set out to become a Catholic last year, I didn’t know what to expect.

Despite my acceptance of the Christian story, metaphysics and ethics, joining the Catholic Church as an Irish person was a whole level above (hence why I procrastinated getting baptised for the entirety of 2024). In my head I knew that the journey to God was not an intellectual exercise, and you had to participate in the sacraments and the life of the church to go on that journey. Yet, my heart was still divided on the church: the scandals, the stories of repression, death and decay – was it all a broken ruin worth turning your back on, like they said? And yet, to remain outside the church’s walls was to remain, in some sense, unfinished, like a spiritual Peter Pan?

The fact that finding a place to be baptised proved difficult and that the church had no standardised process for adults seeking baptism only compounded my doubts in early 2025 when I went seeking baptism – maybe this was not the true church? Surely the true church would have a big massive neon sign outside and pull you in like a magnetic tractor beam? And not be so difficult to join? Not to mention that when I did find a place to get baptised in Rathfarnham, and attended my first mass on that dreary January Wednesday morning, I was the only one in the pews below sixty years old.

That morning, I sloped down the back and sat by myself in the pew; that way, if the inspiration struck, the option was there to simply run out of the church and never come back again. But as the mass began and the rag-tag choir rose, composed of two elderly gentlemen in the front row, my soul was put at ease. The two men started a ghostly chant, and then the other parishioners broke in behind them, and the lilting melody of those aged Irish voices, melted away the icy fears that gripped my heart. Their faith, quiet as it was on that dreary Wednesday morning, shone through and moved me to the point of tears. I found that the spirit still burnt brightly in that humble place, and I concluded though scarred and wounded, embattled and bruised; the church was alive and singing.

Finding Faith and Faithlessness

Each time in the Catholic Church when I have opened a door expecting ruins and decay, I have found green growths of life and deep joy instead. My journey into the Catholic faith and the sacraments began with tension and trepidation, facing great resistance that blocked the bigger picture, like tunnelling through a cave with only the light of a lamp in front of you. But as the year has gone on, that narrow tunnel opened up into wider and wider caverns, filled with beauty and treasures and gold and rubies and gems and many others who were emerging from their respective tunnels, led by their own lights, to discover the same.

Throughout the year, there has been great joy in getting to know those who tend the treasures of the Catholic tradition and those who are just discovering them alike: the exuberant peace of a difficult confession, the feeling of Christmas day when queuing for communion, and the sound of a missing piece, one did not know one was missing, clicking into place. I came to the conclusion, it is this church and this tradition that is the heart modern Ireland is missing.

But this is where things get complicated again…

The joys of participating in the sacraments are like a delicious meal one has tasted, and so naturally, one wants to share the meal with other people. But unfortunately, what you learn then pretty quickly when you do try and share what you have discovered with others is that most people in Ireland hate the Catholic Church and religion in general (including Catholics). It’s a somewhat paralysing experience at first to find yourself suddenly transformed into the villain or a villain apologist in the unseen drama of another’s mind, when only a moment ago you were a friend or an ally. Paranoia can take hold, and it feels like a great chasm has opened between oneself and friends and family and modern culture and that you must now withdraw or exist on the margins or disappear completely.

It’s like one of those mythological stories, an inversion of Tír na nÓg, where you only walked into another room and then returned, but for everyone else, you’ve travelled a great distance and now stand on the opposite side of a gorge (’It’s like I don’t even know you anymore’). This is very hard to experience. You return with your excited news of a God still living, but those eyes that have not glimpsed the treasures for themselves regard you with the same story you did the church only a moment ago: the scandals, the stories of repression, death and decay, and a broken ruin worth turning your back on…

In my experience, after realising the absurd gap between the secular worldview and the sacred or sacramental worldview which I was participating in, one can get a sort of ‘world sickness’. The feeling of world sickness comes from being a convert and lurching between the secular and the sacred worlds like a seasick sailor. The two are so different you could end up with a kind of schizophrenia or a double life as a secular person and a practising Catholic under the cover of darkness – how do you marry up the two worlds? Is it even possible?

At first frequently, I was ranting and raving at people, arguing about complex theology and metaphysics over brunch and generally alienating people. This confusion even resulted in some sin on my part: bitterness and enmity in my heart, which I had to confess. When I went to confession, the priest asked me quizzically,

“Do you have cause to be around people like this often?”

And I had to laugh.

“Father, it’s the entire world that I live in…”

“That’s the way it is these days,” he explained.

The Need for De-Secularisation

A lot of the time this year, I felt yoked to two ships that were travelling in opposite directions. But like a dog with a bone, desperately I’ve been trying to find a bridge across this chasm to somehow reunite these two worlds so that they might even understand and talk sensibly to each other. In these attempts, and through the insight of Dr Zachary Porcu, I started to understand that prior to even considering joining the church, I’d undergone a long period of ‘de-secularisation’.

Through studying philosophy and the history of ideas, I’d been given a totally new set of categories to understand reality and through these new categories I was able to start grasping the sacred worldview, piece by piece. The problem is when you transition to a new worldview how quickly you forget the old one (and those who got you there, hence why Jordan Peterson was so easily defamed). Importantly, this de-secularisation took me over ten years! And I’m a pretty quick learner!

The vast majority of people that are part of the secular culture have not undergone this autodidactic ‘pre-catechism’ and so are working with an entirely different set of modern categories that preclude the sacred or sacramental worldview. So, I’ve started to chill basically and recognise that helping people firstly see the categories that are guiding their thinking and the alternatives and why the alternatives might be better than the former is deep and slow work that requires patience, understanding and compassion.

And importantly, this understanding has given me a kind of quiet underlying confidence because every bit of my mind was once composed of that secular worldview, and through pursuing the truth, I shed it like a snake shedding skin. I feel like I’ve run through this whole video game already and have then come back to people who are only at the beginning. Despite the many difficulties and the upward slope, if you persevere, I know where it ends: beyond modernity, with the capacity to grasp both the secular and the sacred worldviews.

In the meantime, there are many who are further along on this trajectory, who experienced the Jordan Peterson wave, symbolic world, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis etc., and so have de-secularised their minds enough to return to a living faith. And throughout the year, I’ve met more and more of these people who are being drawn by the light of truth, goodness and beauty in the great tradition. What at first seemed like only a few droplets has quickly become a stream and even at times threatens to turn into a roaring river. These prodigal sons and daughters are taking on a new apostolic mission to help the secular cross over from the derelict secular worldview, like they were helped themselves, and building many flotilla’s and channels and groups around this shared aim.

In quiet moments of great joy for me personally, the light in my own eyes has sparked enough curiosity in others to go and see the treasures for themselves, and then I get the great pleasure of seeing the light in their own eyes. Like the fading ripples of a pool made still, my own purpose has crystallised throughout this year as a go-between in this great transition or advent of the sacred, a philosophical ferryman of sorts, worldview middle management, who can attempt to stand in the tension between the secular and the sacred and hold a space for those who might cross.

Conclusion

If we had eyes to see and we could look up, we would see the cosmic wheels turning; we’d see we are in the lurch at the moment, coming down off a four-hundred-year binge on materialism that, in many places, is not yet over. The end of modernity will not be brief or clean, and the goods of the world will go on and on, but honestly, they aren’t all that good anyway. In that sense, the old saying is true: not all that glitters is gold. But also by contrast, not all that doesn’t glitter is not gold.

Modernity, if you will allow me to be reductive, is a critical age and has spent a great deal of time and intellectual resources heaping coal on the Catholic Church to dim the shine of its treasures. Therefore, as modern people, we see only through a glass darkly, dimly apprehending the glory of spiritual realities with our atrophied intellectual vision, like a light at the end of a dark tunnel that can be easily dismissed as an illusion or trickery. But as the soot comes off the great tradition, more and more will see the gold glittering and be called forth to participate in the supper of the Lamb. So you know, all hands to the wheel.

For all the grand narratives abounding for your attention at this transitory moment – transhumanism and the political and economic utopias – my vote goes to this ‘return to the roots’ paradigm. Not necessarily to go full Amish (although they might be onto something), but to return to your tradition with your newly minted bifocal vision: to be able to see both the secular and the sacred worldviews and thus participate fully in the deep moral transformation that is required of us: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Mathew 5:8), but also start to establish thriving post-secular christian communities, oriented around proper values like love, family, community - wouldn’t that be something?

In brief, I wasn’t sure about the Catholic church particularly in Ireland but after one year of investigation and participation I don’t have those doubts anymore. Sure there are difficulties, under staffing and short-comings, but in my experience if you are humble and willing to take on responsibility, those are gaps which young people are actually there to fill (i.e starting prayer groups, bringing other young people in, building communities etc) - in short, and you can imagine reading this in a John F Kennedy accent; “ask not what your parish can do for you, but of what you can do for your parish”.

The real question is, are you going to take my word for it? Or the secular story of decline and degeneration? Or are you going to go and see for yourself? Run the experiment: one year of ‘catholic-maxxing’ and let me know what you think.

I’m back with another podcast on the faith in Ireland/signs of renewal. This time I’m speaking with Robert Nugent from the Catholic Man YouTube channel.

In this podcast we discuss the resurgence of faith among young people, the importance of authentic community, and practical steps to renew the Catholic Church in Ireland. We also explore how the Holy Spirit is working silently amidst crises, the role of prayer groups, and innovative ways to foster faith in a modern context.

Key topics include:

• The rising interest in faith among Generation Z and the signs of renewal within the church

• The perceived crisis in the Catholic Church: challenges and signs of hope

• The role of community, prayer groups, and faith in action to foster spiritual growth

• Innovative approaches like faith-based pilgrimage walks and lay-led prayer groups

• The importance of spiritual mentorship, formation, and authentic friendship in faith development

• How Orthodox monastic traditions exemplify community and faith renewal in practice

• The need for modern digital strategies, such as QR codes and online faith formation, to connect with seekers

• The significance of sacramentally driven transformation—understanding theosis and spiritual purity

• Practical steps for integrating faith into everyday life: confession, prayer, humility, and community

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Personal Connections

02:32 The Resurgence of Faith Among Gen Z

07:16 The Role of Community in Faith Formation

11:51 Challenges in Engaging with the Church

11:56 Building Intentional Faith Communities

17:43 Learning from Other Faith Traditions

22:54 Building Community Through Faith

25:42 The Challenge of Faith Formation

27:47 Transformational Faith and Theosis

35:30 The Role of Sacraments in Transformation

41:20 The Importance of Humility in Faith

Best,

Mahon.

Howiyee!

There is a really cool event happening at Maynooth University this coming Saturday on 'Being Human in the Age of AI' (hosted by @ThomisticInstitute Ireland), and I wanted to share it with you in case you might be interested in joining us on the day?

Try peeping the lecture schedule:

• “I Compute, Therefore I Am”: The Distinctively Human in the Age of AI by Dr. Robert McNamara | 11:00 AM

• The AI Apocalypse Already Happened (and What You Can Do About It) by Mahon McCann | 2:30 PM

• Artificial Intelligence: A Theological Investigation by Fr. Ezra Sullivan, O.P. | 4:00 PM

The event is free to attend but you do need to register, though, to save your seat on the day, as numbers are limited 👇

https://thomisticinstitute.org/events/being-human-in-the-age-of-ai-symposium-ireland

Hopefully see you there!

Best,

Mahon.

In 2025, my friend Jacob, who’s been on the podcast numerous times, told me about his plans to host a summer Resonant Man retreat just outside London.

Unfortunately, couldn’t attend due to the timing but am super excited to join the ‘Summer Soulstice’ for the first time in 2026 at the beautiful Pitchcott Hill Farm.

It’s going to be a weekend of fun and festivities, and if you are a man and looking for a new adventure this summer, consider joining us the 19th to the 21st of June!

Save your spot

I will be hosting a martial arts workshop over the weekend, combining traditional Japanese Ninjutsu and Western Boxing, for a crash course in Celtic Ninja warrior training, and there are a bunch of other dynamite thinkers and speakers to look forward to!

If you might be interested but want to learn more, there will be a free info session this Thursday 8 pm Irish time 👇

Info session

Peace,

Mahon.

We are back with another explosive podcast conversation with Mr Jordan Bates:

Jordan is the Founder of Council of Kings. He’s a father, husband, co-founder of Apotheosis, men’s leadership coach, and the author of six books. Jordan has been immersed in transformational work for fifteen years and in Men’s Work for the past six years, training with respected leaders and organizations in the space. He is repeatedly humbled and honored to witness the depth, beauty, and power of this work—and to contribute to the formation of the God-led masculine leaders our world truly needs.

Join Jordan’s upcoming ‘Rise of the Kings’ programme (starts April 1st): https://councilofkings.co/rise-of-kings

In this podcast, we discuss the plight of young men in the modern age from unclear gender roles to pornography and technology. Then we discuss how to find your place in the world, the skills and virtues you need and Jordan’s model for becoming the man you could be. Finally, we discuss the ideal man (Christ) and how Jordan’s own journey from cradle Catholic to wandering nomad and back to the faith inspires his men’s work. Check it out 👇

Chapters:

00:00 Meet Jordan Bates

00:26 Why Mens Work

03:57 Modern Male Isolation

08:07 Purpose In A Meta Crisis

11:27 Service Over Introspection

14:07 Missing Rites Of Passage

16:09 Brotherhood And Retreats

19:39 Finding In Person Community

24:30 Christ As North Star

31:14 Hierarchy Of Values

33:30 Attention As Worship

35:14 Ora Turning Life To Prayer

36:41 Leaving Church Finding Mysticism

43:03 Family Life Brings Christ Back

47:00 Dogma Structure And Fire

52:48 Practices For Holy Spirit Experience

54:35 Mini Monasteries And Centering Prayer

59:24 Ritual Without Living Faith

01:02:30 Breaking Materialism With Soul Tech

01:06:51 Final Reflections And Outro

In this conversation, we explore the connections between the biblical concepts of heaven and earth and Platonic categories of form and matter, discussing how these ideas can be mapped onto contemporary understandings of reality. The dialogue emphasises the importance of symbolic language in conveying deeper truths and the challenges of communicating these concepts in a modern context. We also examine the nature of the soul, the influence of spirits, and the dynamics of agency in relation to higher patterns of existence.

Get the "Post-reductionist christianity" book: https://store.thesymbolicworld.com/products/post-reductionist-christianity-a-way-out-of-the-meaning-crisis

Chapters:

00:00 Exploring Heaven and Earth: A Comparative Analysis
09:47 The Role of Symbolic Language in Theology
17:52 Understanding Heaven: Bridging the Secular and the Sacred
25:08 Patterns of Influence: The Higher Powers in Culture
30:00 The War of Spirits in Technology
32:17 Divine and Unholy Spirits: A Duality
37:26 The Nature of Good and Evil Spirits
41:35 Agency and Patterns: The Human Condition
44:06 Understanding the Soul in a Christian Context

In this conversation, Paula shares her transformative journey from a typical Irish Catholic upbringing to a profound encounter with God that reshaped her faith. She discusses the struggles of returning to her roots after years abroad, the significance of confession, and her evolving understanding of the Catholic Church's teachings on women. Paula reflects on the challenges modern women face, the impact of feminism, and the importance of compassion in welcoming others into the faith.

Join Paula's Substack at: https://truthofthewomb.substack.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Journey of Faith: From Doubt to Belief
03:47 Cultural Influences: Exploring Spirituality Abroad
06:41 Encountering God: A Transformative Experience
09:47 Returning Home: Navigating Loss and Faith
13:00 Reconnecting with Catholicism: A Personal Journey
15:52 Confession: A Path to Healing and Renewal
18:49 Understanding the Church: A New Perspective
21:51 Feminism and Faith: Reconciling Beliefs
24:41 Natural Family Planning: The Church's Wisdom
27:46 Embracing the Catholic Faith: A New Identity
33:35 Misconceptions About Women in the Church
35:17 The Role of Women in Faith
38:37 Cultural Shifts and Women's Identity
40:14 Feminism and Women's Empowerment
43:26 Contraception and Its Impact on Women
46:28 Challenges for Women in the Catholic Church
49:37 Navigating Faith and Personal Struggles
53:31 Finding Community in the Catholic Faith
58:44 Opportunities for Growth in the Church

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