Controversiam in 2025

A personal reflection and an update on the road ahead

Above: “Saint Matthew and the Angel” by Nicolas Régnier (1591–1667).

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for following and engaging with our work. If you haven’t already, take a look at our pinned post—it explains what our Substack is all about. As we said there, we aim to keep our writings free. But if you’d like to support us, you can do so by updating your subscription. I began a personal Substack as well (also free), where I’ve written a brief account of my conversion to Catholicism, in case anyone’s interested. Also, if you think we’re doing something good, please share our work!

Reflection

It’s hard to believe that Jake and I started Controversiam over a year ago. We now have around 250 subscribers, which is humbling. That’s 250 people who, at least on paper, care to read what we have to say. Our open rate is over 50% per article, which I hear is quite good.

2024 was a wild year for my family. My wife gave birth to our third daughter in March, then battled a severe bout of anemia for months. In July, I came down with shingles and spent the whole month in misery. By fall, I had to recover fast and scramble to get our house ready to sell before we moved to our new house in October.

By late October, after a quick trip to Los Angeles to visit an old professor, we were settling nicely into the new house. So much so that, in my last article on November 20th, I wrote this at the top:

Author’s note: an insanely busy season has come to a close, as our old house sold and we are a month into a new home! I will be resuming my Whelton review in the coming week or so. I hope you enjoy the following essay—or at least find it helpful.

Well, life had other plans.

A few days later, on Thanksgiving Day, my wife fell and broke her radius and ulna. Surgery followed, along with a long road to recovery. Then, in December, the stomach flu swept through the house and took us all down at once.

Between all that, plus work and everyday life, I haven’t written much. I’m trying to get back into it. I tend to write slowly because I research thoroughly and edit obsessively. Even so, I still catch mistakes here and there and update them as soon as I do. The Whelton series, in particular, takes time—his claims are many, the subject matter wide-ranging. Even after publishing, I often go back and refine my arguments, correct errors, or add new information. So if you revisit the series, you will find new things.

Update

Here are a few topics on my list for 2025:

1. Continue the Whelton review

2. A debate review of Erick Ybarra v. Denny Sellen (Ubi Petrus)

3. Is there salvation outside the Church? What Bishop Barron should have said.

4. Whether (according to some Protestants) Exodus 20:4 implies that we shouldn’t have icons or crucifixes

5. The indissolubility of marriage and Eastern Orthodox objections

6. Book review of Fr. Crean’s latest book on the filioque and the Council of Florence

7. The Catholic view of sex and contraception: an explanation and defense

8. Sex and gender

9. The Catholic teaching on Capital punishment

10. The Catholic teaching on hell

11. Some topics in natural theology, atheism, etc.

If there are topics you would like us to address, please let us know. Perhaps we can pivot!

Finally, Jake declined to provide an update, but he and his family are doing well.

That’s all for now.

Blessings to each one of you!

Sincerely,

Wesley C.