The Woke Juan

10/09/2026

"...the root crisis within the Church is a grave deficit of faith stemming from the predominance of the social over the spiritual dimension—that is, the natural over the supernatural."

I think we're seeing this in a lot of so-called Catholic schools, where even their religious are, whether intentionally or not, are veering away from our identity as children of God and have busied themselves to justify the latest ideologies as a means of achieving social justice.

One of the most important books of 2026 has just arrived… “The Crisis of Liberation Theology” by Fr. Clodovis Boff, who — over forty years ago — was one of the earliest proponents and pioneers of Liberation Theology…

stpaulcenter.com/store/the-crisis-of-liberation-theology-in-the-catholic-church

Just read what others are saying:

"The Crisis of Liberation Theology in the Catholic Church makes the thought of Fr. Clodovis Maria Boff, one of the most penetrating contemporary minds in the Church of South America, available in English for the first time. Though Boff was an early proponent of Liberation Theology in Brazil alongside his brother Leonardo, his reading of the 'signs of the times' eventually led him to correct course. The relationship between the rise of Liberation Theology in South America and the decline in Catholic practice (usually in favor of Pentecostalism), he concludes, is a matter not only of correlation but of causation as well. The root cause is deceptively simple: At the level of theological focus and pastoral investment, the Church has replaced Jesus Christ with the poor as her existential center and raison d'être. Only Christ, however, can ultimately bring eternal salvation and a meaningful life. Despite drawing on considerable philosophical and theological learning, The Crisis of LiberationTheology manages to speak with prophetic candor. It deserves a wide readership."
Fr. Aaron Pidel, S.J.
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

"According to Fr. Clodovis Boff, the root crisis within the Church is a grave deficit of faith stemming from the predominance of the social over the spiritual dimension—that is, the natural over the supernatural. In this work he shows how this deficit has played itself out in Liberation Theology, making Christian social activists easy prey for secularist seduction. Boff also argues that Liberation Theology has never been very clear about how it understands the building blocks of fundamental theology, such as the relationships between nature and grace, faith and reason, history and ontology, and Scripture and Tradition. He uses the word 'ambiguity' to describe the engagement of liberation theologians with these building blocks.

Of all the books published on Liberation Theology, this will come to be regarded as one of the most significant since it is written by someone who has been at the center of the movement from its inception—and who has also become one of its staunchest critics.

While Clodovis Boff affirms the Church's social teaching and interest in the poor, he is critical of any approach to these issues that occludes Christ and indeed the entire Trinity, prioritizing the political over the spiritual."
Tracey Rowland
University of Notre Dame (Australia)

"Most priests who studied theology in the early 1980s will recall entire courses devoted to Liberation Theology—and its claimed implications for nearly every doctrinal locus: eschatology, the Trinity, the sacraments, and moral theology. It presented itself not simply as a perspective within theology but as 'an entirely new way of doing theology,' one rooted 'from below,' in the experience of the poor too often neglected by the Church.

Among the formative texts of that period was Introducing Liberation Theology by Leonardo Boff and his brother, Clodovis Boff. Yet, in the decades since its rise, Catholicism declined precipitously in parts of Latin America, where the movement first flourished.

To understand why this attempt to baptize Karl Marx and substitute politics for proclamation weakened rather than renewed the Church, one needs only read The Crisis of Liberation Theology in the Catholic Church. This book is a clear, necessary, and sobering account of both the promise and the cost of that experiment from one who was there at the founding."
Fr. Robert Sirico
Acton Institute, MI

"Liberation theology emerged in the wake of the Second Vatican Council from a genuine and urgent concern: to take seriously the cries of the poor and to discern the meaning of the Gospel within their concrete historical circumstances. Yet, in some of its forms, this project risked losing its theological center, allowing history to eclipse revelation rather than be illumined by it.

In this important work, Fr. Clodovis Boff offers a penetrating and deeply personal critique from within the movement itself, having been one of its pioneers. Writing with both intellectual rigor and ecclesial fidelity, he recalls theology to its proper foundation in the primacy of God's self-revelation in Christ.

This book is not only a critique but a necessary act of retrieval. It invites us to recover the authentic vision of the Second Vatican Council, in which attention to the 'signs of the times' is integrated within the Church's living tradition rather than set alongside or above it. For people of faith seeking to engage contemporary questions without losing sight of the Gospel's enduring truth, this work is an invaluable guide."
Patrick Craine
Franciscan University of Steubenville

"Liberation Theology's European progenitors challenged traditional Catholic social doctrine as an expression of bourgeois ideology and asserted the primacy of praxis over Theoria. Fr. Clodovis Boff meets his interlocutors on their own ground. Inductively demonstrating the failures of mainstream Liberation Theology at the level of praxis, Fr. Boff returns to the first principle of all theologizing:the revelation of the God who is Love through the mediation of Christ's sacred humanity. This work is no mere polemic. Fr. Boff provides a theologically substantive response to mainstream Liberation Theology while modeling the prophetic fortitude to which Liberation Theology calls its own disciples. He incisively warns Catholics in the West against the tendency, not limited to Liberation Theology, to grant the pseudo-religion of Man-become-God priority over the mystery of God-become-Man. Arising out of the Latin American context, the significance of this work, both profound and approachable, will reverberate throughout an ecclesial and political culture ideologically afflicted by the religion of humanity."
Patrick A. Jones
Franciscan University of Steubenville

09/08/2026

A friend shared a post about a priest trending because of his looks. I checked the priest's profile and voila: thirst trap after thirst trap, including poses deliberately made to call attention to his body. 🤦🏻

Pray for our priests.

10/07/2026

”At issue here is the question: "To whom do I belong? God or to the world?" Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.

As long as I keep running about asking: "Do you love me? Do you really love me?" I give all power to the voices of the world and put myself in bo***ge because the world is filled with "ifs." The world says: "Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, and good connections. I love you if you produce much, sell much, and buy much." There are endless "ifs" hidden in the world's love. These "ifs" enslave me, since it is impossible to respond adequately to all of them. The world's love is and always will be conditional. As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain "hooked" to the world-trying, failing, and trying again. It is a world that fosters addictions because what it offers cannot satisfy the deepest craving of my heart."

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

30/06/2026

30/06/2026

One of our followers sent this to us.

If this is legit, we have to be honest to ourselves: 1. Do we really want this kind of indoctrination for our children? 2. Can we even trust DepEd anymore?

28/06/2026

I am disappointed but not surprised by the statement from the CSC of UST. I am more disappointed because it comes from students who should know better. If this came from a state university, I would not be batting an eyelash.

I am disappointed because the statement reduces the human person to a self-declared identity. It talks about dignity but detached from an authentic understanding and respect for the human body, for family, for marriage, and for the whole human person. For a Catholic university that is supposed to be formed by the intellectual tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, what we get is an extremely superficial account of the human person within a politicized context of resistance. I hope this is not indicative of the Catholic education in the university.

I also wonder: has the CSC actually read the SOGIE bill it is now explicitly endorsing? Has it considered the serious concerns regarding its overreach and vague standards, considering it is a proposed penal law? Has it read about the growing concerns over hormone therapy for children? Has it honestly looked into the history of Stonewall and how it has, in many places, been weaponized by the transgender movement?

Has the CSC spoken with the same urgency about poverty, indigenous peoples, religious persecution, the killing of the unborn, and other grave injustices? Or is Pride simply a more fashionable cause — a cause that makes one feel better about themselves?

The CSC had an opportunity to say something more courageous rather than virtue signalling. Instead, the council chose the safer and more palatable route of pandering to Pride language. And does the CSC speak for the whole student body? If so, did it seek the consensus of the students it represents? If not, it should be clear that this is only the position of its officers.

Thomasians deserve student leaders who can think with clarity and not merely conscript the approved vocabularies of the age.

18/06/2026

Reading a book called The Faith Applied by Jean Daujat. One point that struck me: The Lord is more pleased with the good that we do than He is displeased by our sins.

It's a good reminder whenever one feels discouraged by falls and weaknesses or thinks all merits are wasted when we make a mistake. So stand again, do not let the enemy limit God's mercy, and strive to be better.

We are God's children after all. He only wants the best for us and so the demands of our Christian life are always just because they are always possible.

11/06/2026

'BEING CHRISTIAN DOES NOT MEAN NEVER MAKING MISTAKES'

Pope Leo XIV reminded inmates that their past mistakes do not define who they are, assuring them that God’s mercy is greater than any sin and that every person remains worthy of dignity and hope.

Speaking during a visit to the Penitential Center Brians 1 in Barcelona on Wednesday, June 10, the pontiff encouraged prisoners to resist feelings of despair and rejection, emphasizing that God never turns His gaze away from anyone. He acknowledged the pain of separation from loved ones and the hardships of incarceration, while urging them to look to Christ, who continually offers love, closeness, and the opportunity for a new beginning.

Drawing from the example of St. Augustine, Pope Leo said that while the past cannot be changed, it does not condemn the future. Instead, he noted that divine grace allows people to transform their lives, make better choices, and rediscover hope beyond the mistakes they have made.

“God loves you just as you are, but he dreams of you being even better,” the Pope said. He added that being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but growing in the capacity to repent, make amends, reconcile, and forgive. The Holy Father concluded by entrusting the inmates to the care of Our Lady of Mercy and imparting his blessing.

10/06/2026

Try and develop a habit of keeping close with the opinions you agree with, and keeping closer with the opinions you don’t. Why? You see, only with that kind of habit would one be able to understand how others see things – their reasoning, their presumptions and even their biases; the weaknesses in their argument, the conditions that compelled them to hold certain beliefs – and in the process, reinforce your own position, and perhaps allow one to be closer to the truth of the issue in the process of a dialogue, and possibly even win a friend.