By a unique combination of circumstances, I have personally met and interacted with every Michigan governor while they held office since I was born. I’ve also known a pile of politicians, and so from a young age, I realized that there’s nothing special about famous people.
That’s why I never sought autographs or tried to meet celebrities. I knew that they are just as flawed as I am, and I spent enough time around theater people to know that they are usually somewhat unstable.
One of the many reasons I became Catholic was that I appreciated the fact that the clergy are generally interchangeable at every level. Priests get reassigned from time to time, often moving from an assistant to pastor of their own parish. Bishops also come and go. While there are some noteworthy priests and outspoken bishops (and infamous examples of both), there are limited opportunities for them to achieve fame and fortune.
But for the laity, the sky is the limit, and there are plenty of successful Christian authors and content creators, both Protestant and Catholic. Indeed, I am sympathetic to Mark Twain’s distrust of organized religion, even sharing it throughout my early life because there were so many examples of frauds and fakes.
Part of this is because Protestantism strives to be Christianity’s “easy button,” a simpler, less complicated faith and also one with fewer burdens than Catholic or Orthodox churches. No fasting, now need to confess one’s sins at least once a year, just good feelings, inspirational speeches and some singing. Maybe lots of singing.
It also offers superior opportunities for personal enrichment for its ministers, and with the mainline Protestant denominations splitting or collapsing (or both), there’s plenty of open space to come up with specific “brand” of theology, which is how we get Calvinist Nestorians.
But with Christianity back on the upswing, and traditional Catholicism seeing a widespread revival among the young, the opportunities for fame and fortune are not confined to the Protestants. Fresh-faced tradition-minded Catholics are finding ready audiences.
However, fame creates great temptations, and Catholics are in no way immune from the temptations of the devil. This week apparently some famous Christian influencers had something of a epic meltdown, and though I had never heard of them before, the topic was trending on social media for quite some time.
The specifics of the case are irrelevant to the larger point that everyone is flawed, even people purportedly living the righteous religious life. Indeed, the more perfect things seem, the more suspicious I am, especially if part of their “brand” is their moral uprightness.
Even the saints sinned, and much of their holiness came from their humility before God. It’s easy to forget this in a world governed by podcasts and endless hot takes.
Even otherwise respectable clergy and feel the siren call of making a media splash, and it was sad to watch the Lord of Spirits podcast degenerate into tried anti-Catholic tropes.
I think this is why I turn to Evelyn Waugh, G.K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc, who in addition to being wise, are also dead, and therefore safe from scandal.
Chateau Lloyd 
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