TrueManhood Podcast – Episode 13 Fatherhood, Leadership, and Gender Roles

Dave discusses the topic of fatherhood, leadership, and the roles of men and women. If you’re a Catholic, a husband, or a father, this episode is for you.

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The TrueManhood Podcast Episode 3 – The Devil’s Top 5 Lies

The TrueManhood Podcast, brought to you by TrueManhood Men’s Ministry, in Episode 3, will examine what we believe are the Devil’s Top 5 Lies to win souls. Lie #1: Pornography. #2: Decay of Marriage/Okay of Divorce. #3: Abortion/Contraception. #4: Gender Agenda. #5: Atheism/Secular Humanism

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The TrueManhood Podcast – Episode 1! “What TrueManhood is All About”

The FIRST episode from The TrueManhood Podcast by Dave DiNuzzo Sr!

In this episode, Dave dives in to what TrueManhood is… from the definition of the words, to the ins-and-outs of the ministry that has been serving the Church for over a decade. TrueManhood is emulating Jesus Christ (True God and TrueMan).

The files will be downloadable from iTunes very soon.  Watch social media for updates.  Please like and subscribe, and share with the men in your life!

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Onions: My Barrier to Holiness

Lent is intended to be a season of penance, of self-reflection, of growth, of personal introspection, and ultimately, we should be working to “die to self”.  I’m terrible at it.  Here’s a lame story.  Let’s call it the “onion-idiot story.”  I’m the onion-idiot.

Last Friday was the 1st Friday of Lent 2018, and my beautiful wife, Catherine, (who is a phenomenal chef!) made a meatless cheese and broccoli soup.  (It was even Keto-friendly, which we are currently utilizing as our fueling system.  Perhaps more on eating Keto in the future?)  The soup was VERY tasty.  The ingredients were fresh.  The flavor was amazing.  It probably wasn’t much of a Lenten sacrifice, other than the fact that it didn’t have bacon in it!  There was only one problem: onions.

I HATE ONIONS.

It’s not the taste.  It’s not the texture.  It isn’t even that they make you cry.  It’s the smell.  They stink.  Terribly.  Whenever I smell an onion, it is as if it embeds its stink in my nasal cavity, and won’t evacuate the premises for days on end.  It’s stench digs deep into my skin’s pores, and it won’t leave.  I hate onions.  [I apologize if you like onions… this has nothing to do with you, it’s my issue.]  And I’m assuming you’re seeing where this is going.

Catherine knows this about me, and hasn’t cooked onions (one of her favorite ingredients!) in our home for years – all because she knows, very explicitly, how I feel.  I’m very grateful.  And how do I show her how grateful I am?  I complain.  I make it known just how bad it smells in the house.  I put every sort of smell-good mechanism that we own directly in the ‘on’ position.  I turned on the vanilla-scented burners, sprayed the air freshener, and even opened up windows and doors on a cold February day.  The smell was still in the… well… everything. Yuck.

Saturday rolled around and Catherine wanted to eat leftovers.  She considered – again, because of how much she loves me – taking the soup leftovers over to her parent’s house to warm and eat it there, just so the onion smell wouldn’t be present in our home again.  I still complained.  I still made childish comments.  Then, in my only moment of reasonable interaction surrounding these onions, I got the leftovers out, pulled out the bowl, and warmed up the soup for her.

I had already failed miserably in terms of “dying to self”.  What a stupid thing, too.  Onions.  Onions are my barrier to holiness.  I need to learn to keep my mouth shut, bear difficulties with humility, and realize that onions (read that “my own preferences/wants/desires/me-me-me”) are keeping me from true holiness.  If we were to apply this to anything else, especially something that matters, we’d hopefully see that when we die to self, we love others.  When we love others, we fulfill who we are as men.  The culture is extremely interested in destroying the idea that men can love.  That love, which they reduce to a mere emotion, is feminine.  Love, in actuality, is so much more and is required for authentic masculinity.

There are countless exercises that we can all work on to die to self.  And some might think that because I’ve been in this thing we call the Christian journey for so long that I’d have this down, but I don’t.  Can you believe how ridiculous I am?! 

In order to get better at something, we need to practice it and rely on God’s grace! So, here’s what I’m going to do today to die to myself: first off, I’m going to go home and tell my wife that I love her, give her a big, meaningful hug and kiss, and ask her about her.  Nothing to do with me.  Next, I’m going to find 5 little ways (one per my wife and 4 children) to choose someone else’s preference and never make mention of it.  And, I’m going to try to sustain that every day… slowly working to lose my own preferences (ultimately, the goal is to become selfless in all things, and not selfish, ie: prideful) and offering up in prayer my ‘suffering’ for their sanctification.  If you struggle with dying to self, try it with me.

TrueMan up!

Christian Persecution Out of Control in Middle East

I’ve been wanting to write about the persecutions, rapes, pillaging, plundering, destruction, and massacring of Christians in the Middle East for some time now.  I haven’t really known what to say and how to possibly bring any value to the discussion because it is so unthinkable.  Many have likened what is happening in the Middle East by ISIS to Nazi Germany, and I can’t disagree.  However, I find the tactics and purpose (of the terrorists) much more heinous because of a few reasons.  1. It is on display (thanks to the media outlets available worldwide, and very easily).  The Nazi’s scheme was all but hidden, especially the concentration camps, while these Muslim’s galavant around, showcasing the horrow of their actions for all the world to see.  They display the decapitated heads of small children as if trophies added to their collection.  It’s absolutely sickening.  2. The world is seemingly doing little to nothing to stop ISIS.  I pray this changes very quickly.  3. It’s not the first time this sort of “ethnic/religious cleansing” has happened.  For me, that’s why it’s worse this time around.

“Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Come on, world!  Get it together!  Start stepping in for these people, and rid the world of these awful terrorists.  Haven’t we learned anything from the past mistakes of humanity?!

Well, because I doubt I’ll be eloquent enough to make any difference, I thought I’d let Fr. Barron shed some light on the subject.  See below.

TrueMan up!

The ‘Other’ Option

The video below is a parody done by some guys from an evangelical Protestant church.  It appears that I’m poking fun at them, but in fact, they’re poking fun at themselves.  The video is really funny, especially to someone like myself who spent several years attending and ‘worshiping’ in this sort of setting.  For those who haven’t experienced a service like this, I recommend you stick to the Mass.

What’s the difference?  Can’t we all celebrate and worship the way we feel is best for us?  NO!!!  Christ instituted the Church and the rituals, celebrations and Sacraments the way He wanted them to be!  When we deviate from what Christ intended, we lose total focus and begin living relativistic Christianity.  Bad news.  Instead, stay true to what Christ instituted.  Want to know what He intended?  Read the Gospels!  But don’t just read the Gospels, because unless you speak/write/read Greek and have a 1st Century Hebrew worldview, you’re going to miss too much.  Get other resources (such as commentaries, for instance) that explain what’s happening in the Gospels.  If you have questions, please email us for help.  Info@TrueManhood.com

If you can’t view the video, click HERE.

TrueMan up!