Interview with a stripper
Last month I had a conversation with someone on Facebook who saw strip clubs as perfectly wholesome places. When I meet someone who holds an opinion like this, I usually invite them to read the following interview:
Tag: Matt Fradd
Porn – No big deal?
Recycled Jesus
Another of the articles I saw while I was away last month was one from Catholic Answer’s Matt Fradd, speaking about the supposed relationship between Jesus and Pagan deities: Is Jesus a spin-off of Pagan Deities?
Catholic Answers Apologetics Conference
Did you know that Catholic Answers are having an apologetics conference in September? You’ve got until the end of the month to qualify for the early bird discount!
Another opportunity to become famous!
You may remember a while back, at the beginning of last year, that I did a post to advertise the recording of Matt Fradd’s new DVD “Be a man”…
Well, it’s filming time again! Our favourite Australian will be delivering a talk over in Santee at the end of February entitled “How to Win an Argument Without Losing a Soul”. The tickets are free, but you need to register. This morning there were only 46 seats left, so you’d better do it soooooon…..
TOT: The Reality of Porn
Last week we had the final session of our Theology On Tap series here in San Diego. I had not encountered Theology on Tap (ToT) until I came to America so, in case you have not been exposed to it, it’s an outreach and catechesis initiative embraced by many Catholic dioceses as part of their Young Adult ministry.
Typically what happens at ToT is that the Catholic Young Adults from a diocese take over a bar or restaurant. They eat some food, drink a beer and then listen to a talk given by a speaker. The idea behind ToT is to give young Catholics an opportunity to hang out together (or if you want to be super-spiritual about it, “fellowship”) and learn about the faith in a relaxed, informal setting.
The talk was entitled: “The Reality Behind the Fantasy of Porn : An interview with an ex-porn star who shares her story”. The chap conducting the interview was Matt Fradd, a recent addition to the Catholic Answers team. He’s been involved in the area of chastity for some time and, in particular, helping men and women recover from pornography. Recently I went to the recording of his new DVD, The Man Talk.
During this final session of ToT, Matt interviewed his friend April, who was in the porn industry for some time, but who now works to help those who wish to get out of that life.
The porn industry is massive and, as the title of the talk suggests, the purpose of the interview is to show the reality of porn, rather than the fantasy which is so often sold to us. As Matt says in his talk Taking Down Goliath, the problem with porn is not that it shows too much, but that it shows too little, reducing a woman to a collection of body parts to be lusted after, rather than a person to be loved.
Main Talk (Download)
Q&A (Download)
(The intro/outro music is Public Domain and available here)
UPDATE: During the talk Matt mentions an interview he did with a girl who had recently become a stripper. The interview is available here on his blog.
Be a man!
This afternoon I wanted to advertise the upcoming Be A Man! event. At the end of this month, Matt Fradd, the most recent addition to the Catholic Answers team, will be recording his latest talk before a live audience of men here in San Diego. Here’s some of the event blurb from the flier:
In the first part…[Matthew] invites the men to listen to powerful, moving, and often-times hilarious stories. Then, he poses questions to show the men, or perhaps even to convince them, that who they desire to be, and who God commands them to be, is in fact the same man.
In the second part of his talk, Matthew lays out five rules that every man must break (yes, that’s right, break) if he wants to fulfill his deepest desires and follow God’s commands.
Matt really knows what he’s talking about. He’s an Australian who married a Texan and, quite frankly, it doesn’t get much more manly that that!
Accent-uated Differences
I spoke to Matt on the phone a few weeks ago and we bonded over the highlights of Australian culture (Tim Tams and The Castle), as well people’s inability to identify our accents:
The most common question I get asked is “Are you Australian?” Well, my friends, you now have the opportunity to come and hear what a real Australian sounds like.