Episode #36
Narco Mindset Podcast
We Wonder Why Most People Want Nothing To do With Catholic Church
Host: Jorge Valdes Ph.D. – An Author, Speaker, Blogger, Mindset Coach, Podcaster, and YouTuber
In this episode Dr. Valdes talks about a video that a priest named James Altman posted about how Democrats can never be Catholic. Father Altman continues to spew hatred and ugliness, calling DACA children criminals, young men/women brought here against their will who have shed their blood defending our Freedom, that same freedom that allows a priest to spew hatred and horror condemning people to hell. People like this are the reason why I love Jesus and hate Most of His so-called “believers.”
Narco Mindset is an enlightening, informative, effortlessly entertaining podcast. It contains compelling RAW storytelling and intellectually honest talk about life. We will be delving into life challenges, life miracles, life recovery, and life opportunities. It illuminates a new generation on the power and the impact of a positive mindset.
Transcription
INTRO: Before we watched TV shows and movies on Narcos, and even before Pablo Escobar’s rise to fame, there was one man who was the ultimate Narco. He lived the Narco life of greed, money and power but found a way to reclaim his life, and use his astonishing experiences to empower others to live a life of hope, meaning and redemption. Welcome to the Narco Mindset podcast where Dr. Jorge Valdes shares his journey through life before and after the Medellín Drug Cartel. From torture and multiple prison sentences to how he refocused his life onto a path of principles learned as a Narco. It’s time to share that raw truth with you, right here on the Narco Mindset podcast with your host, Dr. Jorge Valdes.
Jorge: Today on the Narco Mindset podcast: And at least I’ve shown people that look, there is hope in the world, and that there is redemption. You’re not defined by your past. I am a great believer that if there is a heaven-like I believe, when I get there, there’s going to be more people that the church said was not going to be there, there, than most church people. My mother would have jumped any fence, swum across any river if that’s what it took to get her children into America. Why was it that Jesus was able to attract so many people? Is it perhaps because he was all love and we have no love? All we are is judgmental?
Welcome to the Narco Mindset podcast. My name is Dr. Jorge Valdes, and I am your host. I just, first of all, want to thank you for listening to our podcast and remind you that if you enjoy our podcast, share it with your friends, share it with your circle of influence. My only mission is to make a difference in the world. Today, I want to talk about something that really, really bothered me. My wife saw a post on Facebook from a mother of a school my children used to attend to. She was endorsing a video about a Father named Altman, James Altman. I went to see the video. When I went to see the video, I don’t think that’s it’s been, I don’t know how long it’s been since I had been so irate in my life. Father Altman’s video is basically… the title is You cannot be Catholic and Democrat. Period. The video goes on saying many things.
He starts out with something that I think is exactly correct. He says that the purpose of a follower of Christ is to know, love, and serve God. You know, I couldn’t agree any more than that. Again, I want to go ahead and make a statement off the beginning. I’m not using this platform to convert anyone. I’m not using this platform to make anyone believe anything. Whatever you believe and whatever faith you follow it’s up to you, and I respect that. I’m using this episode for one simple reason, which is the problem that exists in America, and more specifically, the reason why our youth today is leaving the church at an astronomical rate.
Then we want to say oh, you know, the youth is so confused. No, maybe perhaps we can say that but perhaps really what we need to say is that you know what, this youth has access to a lot of information and they’re not stupid as we think that they are and you know what, the truth of the matter is that many of them have a social conscience that I never saw in so many of my brothers in the evangelical church and so many of my brothers in the Catholic church.
So, before I begin my entire speech on this subject, I want to say that something that I learned a long time ago. A friend of mine said to me, “Whenever you write an email, especially when you’re irate and angry, write it, wait 24 hours and then send it.” I did that. I waited for 24 hours. I wrote it. It was a pretty, pretty nasty email directly to the Father, and then you know, I erased it but I needed to answer some things and address some things because, at the end of the day, I don’t care what this Father believes. I don’t know him. I’m probably never going to know him.
I do care about the flock that sits underneath him and the garbage that they’re listening from him but at the end of the day, what’s important to me is that by my way of serving God, is to bring others closer to God. The question becomes when we do an entire YouTube, and all we do is spew hatred and ugliness and call people names and call another priest a heretic, and I’ll get to that in a few minutes. Say things and show images of Democrat politicians as if they were the devil and not showing images of Republican politicians that could also be acting in a way like a devil.
I mean, I remember the elections in 2016. I can name five, six, seven very prominent Republican politicians who said horrible things about Donald Trump. I mean, horrific things. Now they endorse him. I’m not saying that they should or they should not but what I’m saying is, what changed so quickly? Anyway, I believe that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely like my brother JC always said. The thing of the matter is that once they get a taste of that power, they’d do anything just to stay in power.
Father Altman starts by warning this Priest, James Martin, Society of Jesus, Jesuit, and he said the prayer at the Democratic convention. This was his exact words: “Open our hearts to those most in need, loving God. Open our hearts to the unemployed parent worried about feeding his or her children. Open our hearts to the woman who is underpaid, harassed or abused. Open our hearts to the black man or woman who fears for their lives. Open our hearts to the immigrant at the border longing for safety. Open our hearts to the homeless person looking for a meal. Open our hearts to the LGBT teen who is bullied. Open our hearts to the unborn child in the womb. Open our hearts to the inmate on death row. Open our hearts to help us to be a nation where every life is sacred, all people are loved.”
You know, I wish to God that every priest on this earth will pray like that. If Father Martin got the opportunity to pray at the Democratic convention and say this beautiful prayer, I want anyone to tell me a word in there that Jesus would not say. I know how people feel about the LGBT community and all that but he’s not even endorsing or not endorsing the LGBT community. He’s saying the teen who is bullied. That is a serious thing. Father Altman, he calls this Father hyper, confused, spreading heretic. He calls him a heretic. Another priest, another man who has given his life to serving God. He calls him a heretic.
The truth of the matter, I think that Altman is a heretic. Only because he spoke at the convention, he did not say a single word of the prayer that was a heretic. He goes ahead and says, “If you vote for a Democrat, you will face the fires of hell.” I want to know, I want a priest to tell me, look, I have a Ph.D. in Bible. I read the Bible in every ancient manuscript: Greek, Latin, and I spent seven years of my life studying it. If you know anything about earning a Ph.D. means that you’ve come up with a subject in the New Testament that no one else has ever discovered, and is worthy of earning you a doctoral degree.
I’m not saying that by no means to flute my own horn or nothing. I’m saying that simply to say I spend a lot of time in the Bible. I spend a lot of time in the Bible as an evangelical because you know one thing I fell in love with Jesus was because I saw a man that did not judge me when I was this convicted drug dealer, horrific human being. I mean, I had women in and out of my house all the time. He never judged me. He showed me that he was real. He was happy. He was joyful. I had a relationship with this character named Jesus that I thought didn’t even exist, and it was his love that transformed my heart.
Now, I’m not going to say that I’ve done extraordinary things for the kingdom but I’ve reached a lot of people for Christ, and at least I’ve shown people that, look, there is hope in the world, and that there is redemption. You’re not defined by your past, and your past will not define your future. God does forgive sins. That if that Jewish carpenter named Jesus transformed the heart of Jorge Valdes, the most hardened of all criminals can transform anyone’s heart. I’m going to tell you something, had I heard Father Altman during that period of time, I would have laughed, I would have spit on his face, and I would have asked him to show me who the heck is he going to win over with that hatred. Who the hell is he? Who made him God and died for him to say that anyone that votes Democrat will face the fires of hell?
I’m not telling you this as a Democrat. I am a Republican but I don’t vote Republican or I don’t vote Democrat. I vote my conscience of that person who I believe represents more closely the values of Jesus. Are we all perfect? Of course not. To the Catholic community in America, the Pro-Life movement means anti-abortion movement. Period. Because I don’t see them fighting and I’m not saying all. There’s a lot of good Catholics and Evangelicals that fight for the needy, for those at the border, or one out of six children going hungry in America every day, or the underpaid, the harassed, the abused, or the black man or woman who fear for their lives. I don’t believe that anybody is pro-abortion. I just believe that there is a lot of women that find themselves in a horrific circumstance, and no one there to give them a hand that believed that the only way out is to abort. That’s my belief. Again, I am pro-life, but I’m pro all life. That’s why I get mad when people say black lives matter, blue lives matter because all life matters to God.
You know, how about the life of that man on death row? Does that life matter? Most Catholics who endorsed the death penalty do not matter. Then, of course, you know, we’re so good with scriptures, right? Because we’ll say, you know, an eye for an eye because that’s what the Old Testament says. But I tell them that that Old Testament said that thou shall not eat pork. I’m Cuban, so I love pork. I guess I’m not going to go to heaven. I try to base my theology on one simple thing, a Jewish carpenter who walked the streets of Jerusalem and said I only give life and I only take life away. This Altman guy, I refuse to call him a Father, to this Altman, I ask, “Who made you Jesus? Who are you to condemn and say who’s going to be at the gates of hell?” I am a great believer that if there is a heaven-like I believe, when I get there, there’s going to be more people that the church said there was not going to be there, there, than most church people. That’s just the bottom line.
At the end of the day, I believe that the mission of Jesus was real simple. Through his love for others, he transformed. Why was it that, here he was, this Jewish carpenter walking the streets of Jerusalem, first of all telling the disciples, listen, the only way you’re going to have power is if you die. Think about what good of a message that is. But he was a magnet. A magnet to whores, tax collectors, rich people, poor people, the equivalent of Democrats, and the equivalent of Republicans.
You know what, because he was God? Is that what was so attractive about him? No, not really. He did miracles? No, there was a lot of magic going on during that period of time in history. I believe the only reason that he was a magnet for humanity was because of his love. When the whore washes his feet, he looks at her with his eyes of love. He says no one else has done this, or when he meets the prostitute or the woman that’s had so many husbands at the well, he doesn’t say you’re going to hell as all men would tell her. No, he says, “Go sin no more.” That simple. Go sin no more.
If we are to be realistic, and if we look at the new foundation as nonpartisan research that has been researching trends in the church forever and ever, here’s another thing Father Altman said. He says, “I’ve done my research.” Really? I wonder what research he does. He says, “I’ve done my research.” He says, “Do you know how many Catholics voted for Obama in ’08 and ’12?” He says, “Zero.” Well, Father Altman, I’m here to call you out. You’re a liar because if you look at the Pew Foundation, and they have precise statistics, in 2008, 47% of Catholics voted for Obama compared to 59% for John McCain. 72% of Catholic Hispanics voted for Obama compared to 21% for John McCain.
You know what’s really sad, he’s probably going to say, “Yeah, well, Hispanics are not Catholic, they are a heretic.” Because you do call the darker recipients devils and criminals. Kids brought to this country with their parents when they were minors. Kids that immediately when they had to show up, in turn, ends up being dead. Children who have served and are dying in our wars so that an Altman can get to sit on a pew, and talk about horrific things. What service did you go to, Altman? What war did you fight in? How many people have you defended? How much of your blood has been spread for any human being?
If you look at the statistics in 2012, 40% of white Catholics voted for Obama versus 59% for Romney, and 75% of Catholic Hispanics voted for Obama versus 21% for Romney. Why? Look how many Democrats voted for Trump. Now that they do vote for Trump, they are not going to go to hell. They are the real Catholics. You know, the truth is, I’ll come clean about this. I struggle. If somehow I can find a way because I believe in the Catholic Church because of the Eucharist and the confession.
To me, those are so critical components of my faith life but if I could find a way to achieve those two things, to receive the Eucharist, to receive Christ and confession, and not go to a Catholic church and sit under this hatred by so many Catholic priests that equate faith, love with your position on abortion. Bottom line, forget about talking about the children at the border, forget about talking to so many undocumented people that have crossed rivers, and have come into this nation to provide a better opportunity for the children. Forget about that. We don’t give a damn about those.
You want to see a very powerful documentary, turn on Netflix, Immigration Nation. Look at it. Immigration Nation. I challenge you. See if your idea of immigrants is the same after you’ve watched that. Listen, I’m entitled. My parents came here in an airplane, got off Miami, and immediately were US residents or six months thereafter.
We had our open card to come to America. My mother left everything in Cuba. Millions. My mother and father left a lot of wealth because they didn’t want their children to grow up in a communist nation. My mother would have jumped any fence, swum across any river if that’s what it took to get her children into America. The same that so many of your immigrant ancestors did but all of a sudden, we believe that we’re white, we’re privileged because we were born here, and we forget where our ancestors come from, and everybody else doesn’t belong here. I hate it when my brother said, “Hey, look, we don’t care. We want them to just come here legally.” Really? Look at Immigration Nation to see how legally possible it is to come to America.
Coming to America and turning yourself at the border, and asking for asylum for an 85-year-old grandmother whose granddaughter she was raising, 12 years old, and the gang, she had recordings, she had everything. The gangs were trying to take the little girl away from her so that she could be a bitch for the gang. This grandmother put herself through living hell to come to America. She turned herself in at the border legally, legally, and what did they do? They stuck her in some camp. Six months later, the granddaughter went to be with her mother who was in Texas but the poor grandmother, 85 years old, knowing that the minute she gets back to the gangs where she comes from, the gangs are going to kill her. This poor grandmother had to sit there for two and a half years. Why? They want to use this as an example so that people don’t even try to come and ask for asylum, which by the way, is the legal way to come into America.
Four elements that were critical in her asylum and in every asylum application. Number one, are you a criminal? No. Number two, do you have ways to support yourself in America? Yes, a daughter, established here and legal. Number three, are you in danger back home? Gangs wanted to kill her. Number four, are you a danger to the United States community? 85-year-old poor grandmother? I don’t think so. Well, yeah, you know what happened? Two and a half years later, she was sent back home. I don’t think she’s alive today.
See, I don’t hear that Altman, I don’t hear my many Catholic brothers and sisters, my many friends who are Catholic priests talk about that. Damn it, I’m tired. Honestly. It doesn’t take too much for me to figure out when I did youth crusades why young people wanted nothing to do with faith, and to do with religion. Look at the statistics. The Catholic church is dying in America. That’s not me saying it. It’s facts. People are living the Catholic church in the masses. Why? The other churches too. They’re all seeing a drop. The only increase in the Catholic faith is Hispanics. But why? Why are we losing people? Why was it that Jesus was able to attract so many people? Is it perhaps he was all love and we have no love? All we are is judgmental?
Thank you for listening to part one. My name is Dr. Jorge Valdes. I am your host, the Narco Mindset podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned next week and we’ll finish up on this topic. Again, thank you for listening to the Narco Mindset podcast. Please visit my website, WWW.JORGEVALDESPHD.COM. If you sign in to our community, you will receive a free copy of my book, Narco Mindset: Freedom Edition. Also, you will stay up with all the latest news. There’s a lot of amazing content being created, and there are some challenging subjects that we’re going to cover, and I’m just going to be as transparent as I am. Again, if you enjoyed it, share it with your friends, and thank you for your support. See you next week on the Narco Mindset podcast.
OUTRO: We’ve come to the conclusion of this episode of the Narco Mindset podcast but your path towards hope, meaning and redemption continues. For more information and resources to help you on your path towards finding a life built on integrity, honor and truth, head to jorgevaldesphd.com, and join our community. We appreciate you joining us for this episode, and look forward to helping you find your turning point right here on the Narco Mindset podcast.