Thomas (The New Catholic)

I am new to Christianity in general and recently baptised & confirmed Catholic Dec 13th 2025. With this account I aim to both learn, discuss & share learnings.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

Hey everyone! Tis me! Tom. I'm chronically ill and house bound so forgive the decrepit state here. My family are all agnostics or atheists so I am learning the faith in secret. I've been Christian for some years and trying to complete the Catholic catechism for near a year now. Started officially I think November last year maybe. But was trying to work out how to join before that whilst being too ill to go out and not alerting my lovely parents who care for me. It's slow going getting through all the catechism material online with a brain and body that feels oxygen hungry with altitude sickness and concussion like & poisoned a lot of the time. But I'm getting there!

For a good chunk of my illness I was bed bound so at least I've improved from that. There are no known cures but science is advancing and treatments that help a bit are becoming more known. IvIG may well be one that can cure my sub type of chronic illness which I got in 2020 from an unknown virus, but which was greatly exacerbated by the vaccine in late 2021 when it looked like I was finally improving well in the months before that. Have been stuck in limbo since. Autoimmune type reactions with the vaccine probably hence the IvIG has a decent chance of helping me a lot. Not certain. However it's not funded for my type of condition and probably won't be for at least the next decade. I was 23 when I got I'll and super fit. I'm now 28.

To self fund it for my doctor who's happy to administer it if we could ever afford it I would need 60,000 NZD for three months. 20 grand a month. NZD as I live in NZ. Far out of reach for my family. So in the last wee while I've also been attempting to spend ten percent of my energy effort on writing a story. Directing it mainly as I can't focus enough to write the whole thing and am instead poking and prodding AI in the direction I want it. It's my ideas and themes and world but written out not fully by me due to my unfortunate limited capacity.

I am going to aim to publish some chapters and see if anyone finds it interesting enough to help pay for the IvIG. But I also set up a donation link and people need not read the story to donate. I'm not expecting anything really but it is an attempt to really make it happen.

It's a fascinating Catholic tale delving into a sci-fi future. An adventurous tale. It helped me apply my learnings of the faith into pondering what the future will look like for Christians and Catholics once AI really takes off as well as medicine that allows us to choose longer and longer lives. Immortality even. The moral choices and how evil will use it all. People even having to make choices between being 99% AI and one percent human in their brains and the disadvantage societally choosing to remain human brained only might put them in (perhaps for faith and moral reasons), instead of picking augmented Ai brains.

Oh and there's some adventurous action packed twists that blend in the spiritual reality made more physical. I'm fully open to being told any wrongs I've made theology wise also. I've been careful. It was as much about applying the Catholic faith I have been growing deeper with as anything else. Most of my time being spent on Catechesis, with some remaining spare time on further study in my chronic illness, writing this, and family. Sometimes a few small social hellos in my house with friends when my body isn't crashing out. My number one goal is to be baptised and confirmed in the Church by the end of 2025. And then somehow bring my antogonistic family over once they know about my faith.

I'll write up a synopsis of the story sometime soon. I think I'll probably crash over the next week having trying to set up all these subscription and financial donation things and where to publish the story. But I will be back.
In the meantime here's a donation link: https://t.co/Z3P4DxpCml

Also please do not donate if you cannot afford it! Donate to your church and such first. And people you know in person in need.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@MrsCasey6 Praying 🙏

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@CatholicArena I liked Bishop Barrons comment on it also https://t.co/B0ULeMIo7w

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Three cheers for Pope Leo's comments regarding the Christian foundations of Europe and the defense of the unborn. Echoing the sentiments of Pope Benedict XVI, Leo reminded his audience that the essential structures of European society and Europe's commitment to human rights are unthinkable apart from Christianity. And speaking before a hard-left Spanish Parliament, the Pope presented an admirably consistent ethic of life, defending migrants, to be sure, but also insisting that no society which "casts into the shadows" the unborn can be called truly just. With bracing clarity, he insisted, "Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence." And he concluded that "the moral greatness of a nation" is manifested in this principle. That he has been received so warmly in Spain I take to be an encouraging sign that the people of that country, especially the youth, have finally had it with a soul-flattening secularist ideology.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@CatholicSat Many beautiful good things happening with this Spanish trip
https://t.co/B0ULeMIo7w

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Three cheers for Pope Leo's comments regarding the Christian foundations of Europe and the defense of the unborn. Echoing the sentiments of Pope Benedict XVI, Leo reminded his audience that the essential structures of European society and Europe's commitment to human rights are unthinkable apart from Christianity. And speaking before a hard-left Spanish Parliament, the Pope presented an admirably consistent ethic of life, defending migrants, to be sure, but also insisting that no society which "casts into the shadows" the unborn can be called truly just. With bracing clarity, he insisted, "Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence." And he concluded that "the moral greatness of a nation" is manifested in this principle. That he has been received so warmly in Spain I take to be an encouraging sign that the people of that country, especially the youth, have finally had it with a soul-flattening secularist ideology.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@catholiccom I pray all Mormons find the fullness of love, truth and faith in the Catholic Church. Beautiful things await you. God bless you in any case. I pray you recieve the joy of God.

[Catholic Answers @catholiccom]

Here are three compelling reasons to think the Book of Mormon is not a historical work:

1. Lack of archaeological confirmation

Most Bibles contain maps that describe where important biblical events took place. You can visit the ruins of cities described in the Bible. The same is not true for the Book of Mormon. The book itself contains no maps; moreover, there are no references to where the events it describes took place. None of the sites described in the Book of Mormon have ever been found, and even LDS scholars don’t agree on the general location of where the events in the book took place.

According to the National Geographic Society, “Archaeologists and other scholars have long probed the hemisphere’s past, and the society does not know of anything found so far that has substantiated the Book of Mormon.” (https://t.co/zeYOJ8I9R4)

Although it is possible that evidence for the events in the Book of Mormon lies deep underground waiting to be discovered, this lack of evidence does not bode well for the book’s claims to being historical.

2. The existence of anachronisms

The Book of Mormon describes many things that did not exist in the Americas during the time when the events in the Book of Mormon allegedly took place. These include animals (dogs, horses, cows, elephants), plants (barley and wheat), fabrics (silk), metals (steel and iron), and technologies (swords and chariots).

Although it is possible (in the barest sense of the term) that these items are waiting to be discovered by archaeologists or that these modern words refer to completely different things (such as when Europeans used the term “water horse” to describe a hippopotamus), it’s more likely that these anachronisms are evidence of Joseph Smith’s lack of knowledge about ancient America and more proof that the Book of Mormon is a work of fiction.

3. Evidence of plagiarism

Significant portions of the Book of Mormon consist of a word-for-word copy of the King James Version of the Bible. These include dozens of whole chapters from the prophet Isaiah as well as scores of verses from the New Testament. Especially troubling are passages like Moroni 7:44-47 that copy large portions of the New Testament but do not cite those passages.

Since the New Testament wasn’t available for the Nephites (the people whose history the Book of Mormon allegedly records) to copy and place in their own records, these passages most likely came from Smith’s recollection of the Bible.

For more, see @counseloftrent's video "5 Reasons to Doubt the Book of Mormon" (linked below)

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@BishopBarron Wonderful stuff.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@ChristianNbdy @ShamelessPopery @counseloftrent
@JimmyAkin3000
@RealMattFradd
@godsplaining
@LilaGraceRose

Are all great. You've probably heard of most but do try Fr Gregory Pine and Fr Bonaventure (and anither name I can't remember often on it) with Godsplaining if you haven't. They're great

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@father_rmv God bless and lead the mormons to the fullness of faith. We'd love to see them in the Catholic Church and are thankful for the good they do in the world.

[Father V @father_rmv]

In strictly theological terms, Catholics do not consider Mormons (Latter-day Saints) as Christians for these reasons:

Rejection of the Trinity: Catholicism affirms one God in three co-equal, co-eternal Persons (Nicene Creed). Mormonism teaches three separate gods (God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Ghost) united in purpose, not in substance (tritheism).

Different understanding of God: Catholics hold God as an eternal, immaterial Spirit who has always been God. Mormonism teaches God the Father has a physical body, was once a mortal man who progressed to godhood, and that humans can become gods.

Additional scriptures and revelation: Catholicism holds that public revelation ended with the apostles; Scripture and Sacred Tradition are sufficient. Mormonism adds the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price as equal or superior scripture, plus ongoing prophetic revelation.

Fundamentally different Christology: Catholic teaching is that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated second Person of the Trinity. Mormonism views Jesus as the literal spirit-brother of all humans, a created being who became divine (similar to other gods in their cosmology).

Apostolic succession and authority: The Catholic Church traces its priesthood directly to the apostles through unbroken succession. Mormonism claims the original Church fell into total apostasy, requiring Joseph Smith’s restoration with new authority.

These are only a few of the differences which places Mormonism outside historic, orthodox Christianity as defined by the early Church councils. Bottom line: LDS theology is a radical departure from the fundamental tenets of what one holds as a Christian.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@OVTweetmarck Praying

[Catholic Arena @CatholicArena]

🚨 Pope Leo XIV called out Spanish politicians TO THEIR FACES for their support for abortion and euthanasia:

'Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?'

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@CatholicSat Wonderful

[Catholic Sat @CatholicSat]

Addressing the Spanish Parliament, Pope Leo XIV calls out abortion and euthanasia:

“The defence of human life is neither a partisan issue, nor a confessional interest. It is a goal of civilisation. Every human life must be recognised and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning; to serve and protect every person. For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested above all in its capacity to accompany, protect, and love those lives that are most fragile.”

[Catholic Pebble @CatholicPebble]

I came back to ask for prayers. I have a friend whom I love dearly but who has been suffering lately.

He's grown weary of dealing with many troubles. In your charity, please please pray for my friend.

Pray that he sees better days very quickly. Pray that his strength, faith and hope increase. Pray that Our Lady comforts him and Our Lord grants him joy.

He is an amazing person and I just want to see him happy.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@CatholicPebble Praying

[Catholic Arena @CatholicArena]

The world's oldest priest, Fr. Bruno Kant, has died aged 110 🙏

[The Catholic Engineer @TheCatholicEngr]

Sin has a ripple effect that will cause more damage decades into the future, worse than you can even imagine

Take for example, the sins committed by priests in the 1900s

Because of them, there has been a decrease in vocations, which led to a decrease in the number of religious care facilities for people with disabilities

Which led to an increase of abortions of children with disabilities

Sin is never personal

[Catholic Answers @catholiccom]

Is it wrong to starve a child to death just because she has Down syndrome?

That's exactly what happened in 1982 when parents of a newborn with Down syndrome named “Baby Doe” withheld a common surgery to help the baby digest food.

The case made national news and, even though the hospital fought the decision, the courts sided with the parents, who allowed their child to die of dehydration five days later.

In 1984, the “Baby Doe amendment” was added to the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in order to prevent hospitals from withholding food, fluids, or medically indicated care to children merely because they are disabled.

But if it is wrong to starve a child to death just because she has Down syndrome, then surely it is just as wrong to dismember a child in the womb because she has the exact same condition.

In fact, there is a term for this kind of discrimination against the disabled: ableism.

Our society has learned that people with disabilities are still people, and so we reasonably accommodate them with things like handicapped parking and braille on signposts.

But aborting someone because he is disabled is, to put it mildly, not very accommodating. And when it is done systematically, it is a form of social oppression against marginalized communities.

Just as we wouldn’t euthanize a child who became disabled through an accident or an illness, we should not kill a child in the womb for the same reason.

[Thomas (The New Catholic) @TheNewCatholic]

@Rosie_Gamgee_ God bless you!