The FALFA Project

In this episode we read and comment on Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's Solemnity of Christ the King open letter to President Trump, dated October 25, 2020. He quotes several Bible verses and we expand on them, including John 1:22-24, 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12 and its kathèkon, John 8:44, Romans 8:31, and Philippians 4:13.

The FALFA Project is an endeavor to promote and increase the understanding of spiritual freedom (based upon Catholic principles), political liberty, and their essential link, with the aim of increasing both in the world. ------------------ It is common to hear these days that the West is evil and that Western Culture is racist, but is that really so? In this episode we'll take a look at Western Culture, it's origins, achievements, decline, the objections against it and why it's important and worth saving. In this episode we mentioned the sin of pride and what St. Aquinas said about love. For love of country, see what Chesterton's said in Othodoxy, especially in the chapter "Flag of the World". You can learn more about the Aztecs from the following sources: History.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, Ancient.eu (1), Ancient.eu (2) and anthropology.msu.edu and about the Incas here, and Native Americans here. We mentioned the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Nanjing-Massacre and we also talked about the Scientific-Revolution, the Industrial-Revolution, electricity and modern standards of Living.

In this episodes we will be exploring what culture is, how it is formed, how it is transmitted and broadly how it affects freedom and liberty. References Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God": Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 250 (Line 1):

In this episode we interview Mr. Pedro Gonzales, Cuban balsero, teacher and author of the book "Why I Came to America" (Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Why-Came-America-Pedro-Gonzalez/dp/1413445616/ ISBN-10: 1413445616 ISBN-13: 978-1413445619) We investigate the question of his book's title and he shares with us his experiences of living in communist Cuba.

In this episode we ask "What is the proper role of government?" We consider three broad possible answers: "None", "Specific & Limited" and "All-Encompassing", the arguments for and against each of them and what answer the American founders gave us. We mentioned Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke , the Founding Fathers , and quote extensively from Frédéric Bastiat. References We referenced this famous text from James Madison in Federalist #51: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." For the Catholic Church's view of the necessity of government, see paragraph 1898, for her view of the necessity of private property see paragraph 2211. We mentioned Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of "the noble savage". We mentioned Franklin's reply to an eager American at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. See here for a historical note on this and here for more context relating to democracy. We mention John Locke's influential phrase "life, liberty, and property." All the text quoted from Frédéric Bastiat in this episode are from "Economic Harmonies" and "Selected Essays on Political Economy". You can find the entire text of the quotes used by searching on this page for the following text: "However, the founder of a nation must set a goal for himself" "Rousseau was convinced that isolation was man's natural state" And searching this page for the following text: "Look at the United States. There is no country in the world where" "People not only want the law to be just; they also want it to be philanthropic" "But, I repeat, these two functions of the law contradict each other" "Do not forget that the law is force, and that, consequently, the domain of" "When law and force confine a man within the bounds of justice" "But when the law, by the intervention of its necessary agent, force" "Socialism, like the ancient political ideology from which it emanates" You can find Congressman Ron Paul's speech "A Republic, If You Can Keep It" here, which we quoted the following from: "The nature of a republic and the current status of our own are of little concern to the American people in general. Yet there is a small minority, ignored by political, academic, and media personnel, who do spend time thinking about the importance of what the proper role for government should be. The comparison of today's government to the one established by our Constitution is a subject of deep discussion for those who concern themselves with the future and look beyond the fall election. The benefits we enjoy are a result of the Constitution our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to write. However, understanding the principles that were used to establish our nation is crucial to its preservation and something we cannot neglect."

In this episode we interview Alvaro Vega, a rapping seminarian on his way to becoming a Catholic priest. You can listen to and view his music videos "I Believe" and "Creo en Dios" on YouTube and iTunes, profits of which are donated to the poor.

In this episode, we ask the question "When is law legitimate?" and describe the following twelve criteria for discerning the legitimacy of any particular law: 1. A law must fulfill its functions. 2. A law must not be contrary to moral principles. 3. A law must be prescribed by a legitimate governing authority. 4. A law must be knowable. 5. A law must be understandable. 6. A law must be specific. 7. A law must be practical to enforce and to determine when it has been broken. 8. A law must not contradict a higher law nor undermine it's own foundation. 9. A law must not exceed the jurisdiction of the governing body or its legal foundation. 10. A law must be logical and grounded in reality. 11. A law must be necessary. 12. A law must not be retroactive. We use logic and syllogisms and referenced paragraph 1894 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In this episode, we take a look at the two principle functions of law: order and justice. We review some of Cicero's wisdom, including his advice about death. And we look at how morality and justice are the basis of so many laws, in spite of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's statement that: "Whenever a lawyer makes a moral observation in a case such as this, for me, the red flag of discrimination goes up." We referenced the following paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1957, 1958, 1959

Our central question in this episode is "Should we do what they tell us?". To answer this, we ask "What is authority?", "Who is entitled to authority?" and "What obedience, if any, do we owe that authority, and why?" and we referenced the Milgam experiment from episode # 3. We also referenced the following paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1776, 1782, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904

In this episode we take a look at why being able to make distinctions is so important and why discrimination is not always bad. We talk about models and define Indifferentism, Relativism and Subjectivism, Nihilism and Reductionism. We also mentioned Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. We quote the following from the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia on Religion and Science : "Reality is a multi-layered unity. I can perceive another person as an aggregation of atoms, an open biochemical system in interaction with the environment, a specimen of homo sapiens, an object of beauty, someone whose needs deserve my respect and compassion, a brother for whom Christ died. All are true and all mysteriously cohere in that one person. To deny one of these levels is to diminish both that person and myself, the perceiver; to do less than justice to the richness of reality. part of the case for theism is that in God the Creator, the ground of all that is, these different levels find their lodging and their guarantee. He is the source of connection, the one whose creative act holds in one the world-views of science, aesthetics, ethics and religion, as expression of his reason, joy, will and presence."

In episode #2 we discussed and defined what spiritual freedom is and what it is not. We've talked about the obstacles to freedom, as well as the path to freedom in episode #3. And we've looked at the universal principles and foundations of liberty in episode #4. In this episode, we tie all these things together in order to reveal the intimate relationship between spiritual freedom and liberty. We referred to some famous key events prior to the Declaration of Independence of the United States- the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Boston Tea party and why the colonists' response was far from "practical". We refer briefly to what Alexis de Tocqueville had to say about the relationship between spiritual liberty and freedom and we reflect upon Pope Benedict XVI's statement on "internal deserts". We referenced paragraph 1888 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In this episode, we explored the following questions: What is Liberty? What are negative rights? What are human rights? What are negative rights & human rights founded on? We referred to the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, as well as writings from the founders of the United States to determine what their take on these questions were, and we also consulted paragraph 1907 of the Catechism. Our poem was "The Old Stoic" by Emily Bronte. People Mentioned: Frédéric Bastiat Louis Brandeis Thomas Jefferson John Adams John Quincy Adams Alexander Hamilton References: The Declaration of Independence The U.S. Constitution Who is Nature's God? Related Articles: Liberty & Negative Rights

This episode we talked about what the obstacles to freedom, how we can attain freedom and what freedom looks like. We delve into what sin is and why our society is losing the concept of sin. We talked about sin enslaves us and creates vice in us. We examine why it is important that we recognize objective truth and how important it is to form and obey your conscience. We also take a look at the Milgam experiment. We take a look at the virtues and how fear often keeps us from being free. Our poem this time was "Universal Prayer" by Alexander Pope. We took a look at the following paragraphs in the Catechism: 1734, 1749, 1779, 1784, 1796, 1798, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1833, 1834, 1839, 1849, 1865. We aso mentioned Mark 8:36- "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Related Articles: What is Freedom, Path to Freedom, Obstacles to Freedom, The Milgram Experiment

In this episode we ask "What is Freedom?" and define freedom theologically. We begin with the freedom of thought. The we go over how our nature and purpose are intimately connected to how we define freedom, and what that nature and purpose is. We then explore why "humanity" has a positive connotation, in spite of all of our disordered and hateful human acts. And we delineate the difference between mere free will and true freedom. Today's poem was "Bond And Free" by Robert Frost. We took a look at the following paragraphs in the Catechism: 1705, 1711, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1733 Related Articles: What is Freedom, Path to Freedom, Obstacles to Freedom

In this episode we cover what The FALFA Project is, what the podcast is about and what kind of topics we'll be covering in the The FALFA Project Podcast. We go into why the topic of freedom and liberty is important, why we should discuss it and why we are founded on Catholic principles and our view of other faiths. We go over what the Catechism of the Catholic Church is and why we'll be citing it often. We give our stance on politics, relevant to the show and make our American perspective known. We go over some of our rules for the podcast as well as our general format. And lastly we affirm that our podcast is for everyone of all faiths and non-faiths. Our poem for this episode was "The Catholic Sun" by Hilaire Belloc. We took a look at the following paragraph in the Catechism: 830 Related Article: Q&A on The FALFA Project Principles