The following is an email I received from an attorney here in the USA.  He didn't expect me to publish it, but he did give me permission to do that, provided I remove his name. Dear Father Nix: I am not a scholar, influencer, or thought leader as you certainly are.  I am just a profane, vulgar, pew-sitting, often disaffected Catholic who has, by virtue of his professional training, often been  elevated to a higher station than his merit or virtue warranted.  The election of Robert Prevost, OSA to the papacy has been one of those times when I feel as if I were among the last sane individuals on [...]

This was an update I put on X this last week: I have hope in the future of the Catholic Church, but like Joshua and Caleb, we need two extremely courageous Cardinals. I don't mean decently lukewarm. I mean men who will avoid crafty-strategy in the Conclave and rather adhere with childlike courage in following ALL of traditional Catholicism. And if those men don't exist, I know Christ loves His Church more than me and may send Divine Intervention from an unexpected quarter, even if it's allowing something bad like war or schism. All I know is I need to do more to avoid sin in my own life as [...]

The Life-Update section of my site could easily become narcissistic, or at least self-centered.  But here's how I justify it:  Missionary Orders like the Franciscans and Jesuits (at least between Trent and Vatican II) had to report back in the annals of their congregations how many baptisms, confirmations, etc. they had among the natives in any certain region.  I think one reason for this strange convert-counting was simply internal accountability. So also, the Life-Update pull-down section affords  some accountability to my donors as to what I am doing with my life.  It is admittedly not as important as the theology section (the default section) or the podcast (talks) pull-down of [...]

While some people are struggling with temptations to change their gender, I often wish I had been created an angel.  It's not because I have lived an angelic life in my past or because I have an angelic intellect.  It's rather because we humans face millions of tests to get to heaven, where angels only had one major test of their obedience and sacrifice of their wills in order to be saved.  I suppose it's my laziness that makes me wish I could have just been saved by simply one decision (like the angels) instead of many, as we humans on earth have to do every week. Last year, I [...]

In the above picture, I am seen with Abba Nathanial, the bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Colorado.  Keep in mind as you read this article that the Ethiopian Catholic Church (which maintains seven valid sacraments and is in communion with Rome) is different from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (which maintains seven valid sacraments but is not in communion with Rome.)  In the above picture and the following pictures, I am seen with a member of the clergy of the latter. Why?  It is not because I am going Eastern Orthodox.  It's simply because I made a new friend who is not Catholic.  But touring his Church made me [...]

Quicumque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur—hii filii sunt Dei. (For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.)—Rom 8:14. Normally, our New Year's Resolutions as Catholics should be few and concrete.  In past years, I have made so many resolutions at New Year's that I just drop them all in some sense of exasperation by the end of January.  (I think this is common for most of you.)  This is why I am simply going to do my best on the dozen resolutions that play into my rule of life instead of making concrete resolutions. Normally, I think such amorphous (eg "do my best at everything") [...]

In November 2024, I spoke at a conference in Rio De Janeiro hosted by Centro Dom Bosco that had over 1000 Catholics attending it.  I didn't know they had a professional photographer there, but they did.  They sent me some pictures:

Many years ago, before I entered seminary, I remember hearing about a conservative priest who went to dinner at the home of his more progressive parishioners.  Before or after dinner, one of the spouses said to the priest, "Why don't you relax and take your collar off?"  The priest replied, "Why don't you relax and I keep the collar on?" I thought that was quite a funny zinger when I heard the story about 25 years ago.  But now I wonder why a conservative priest would ever spend time with progressive parishioners unless his goal was to convert them.  And I don't think talking to them that way is going [...]