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Matt Fradd

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Mark Cobuzzi@AquinasPupilMC73

November 10, 2024

Pop-Cultured Catholic #18: Playing One’s Given Role in God’s Theo-Drama… Or OwlKitty’s Mashups

Halloween season has been a prime opportunity for my series to delve into dark, complex, and macabre subject matter, and now it is over. To provide a 180-degree shift away from that tone, I have decided to focus on something simple, silly, and adorable for today… a popular cat named Lizzy… better known by her YouTube stage name, OwlKitty.

The story begins with Licorice, a stray cat taken into foster care, after she was found flea-bitten, malnourished… and pregnant with kittens. While rehabilitating, Licorice soon got the attention of one particular couple, Tibo Charroppin and Olivia Boone, who have already owned a cat and were ready to adopt another one. And on March 3rd, 2017, Licorice had finally given birth to a litter of six kittens. The couple especially took interest in one of her kittens, the black-colored one named Lizzy. While Licorice was adopted by another household, Tibo and Olivia got to bring home Lizzy, who eventually formed a mutual bond with their current cat named Juliette. Soon, Tibo would put his video recording and editing skills to good use, creating a library of videos starring Lizzy.

The turning point began when the owners of Licorice’s kitten, Lizzy, got the idea to make a video mashup, where Lizzy replaces one of the Velociraptors in the “Jurassic Park” film’s iconic kitchen scene. Using a combination of green screens, video editing, and cat toys to coach Lizzy, the “Purrassic Park” mashup was made. Due to Lizzy’s appearance, she was also given the nickname of “OwlKitty”. Soon, the 14-second parody went viral.

From that one brief “Jurassic Park” parody video starring Lizzy, a whole series of OwlKitty videos spawned. The repertoire grew from adding Lizzy to short clips of films, shows, and video games into making full parody trailers starring her, complete with supplementary “Behind the Scenes” videos. The production value grew to the point of Tibo sometimes inserting dubbed dialogue, clips of himself, other props, and even a “stunt double” for Lizzy. OwlKitty soon got to fight alongside the Avengers against Thanos, board the Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio, clash with Godzilla as a kaiju-sized version of herself, snatch the fly buzzing around Mike Pence’s head, terrorize Amity Island in “Jaws”, pilot fighter jets with Tom Cruise, become the true culprit of “Paranormal Activity”, face down Gandalf as he commands she shall not pass, join the roster of a Super Smash Bros. game, and so on. She even got to revisit “Jurassic Park” and get promoted to the role of the Tyrannosaurus rex. As of now, the OwlKitty channel has 2.53 million subscribers.

While reading the comment sections for these videos, there has been one recurring comment I can paraphrase, which caused a silly theological analogy to cross my mind: “That cat is a superstar and she doesn’t even know it”. As far as Lizzy understands, all she is doing is just being a cat, playing with various toys, hanging out in front of a green blanket, and following her owner’s coaching. It is Lizzy’s owner, Tibo, who takes the actions he coaches out of her, then uses his knowledge, his abilities, and other collaborating “actors” far beyond her understanding to yield a bigger picture. That is, one more amazing than she can possibly comprehend… yet starring exactly her. Yet, if these OwlKitty videos were also being written, casted, directed, and produced by the cat herself, with no input from her owner, then they would be not only vastly inferior, but utterly nonexistent.

Over the years of watching Bishop Robert Barron’s videos, one of the recurring motifs I have seen is his distinction between God’s “theo-drama” versus an individual person’s “ego-drama”. Bishop Barron has used the latter words to describe the common tendency of many people to approach life as a play they are not only starring in, but also writing, casting, directing, and producing all on their own. People like Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar have coined the term “theo-drama”, to illustrate the potential roles each person can act out in the bigger play that God is writing, casting, directing, and producing. If one thinks the difference in knowledge, intellect, creative vision, and resources between Lizzy the cat and her owners is vast, then imagine the difference in such qualities between God and regular humans. In a way, one can state that each person is still being offered their own unique starring role, which God can work into the broader “cinematic universe” he envisions. And the “genres” that God is enabling us to star in include countless others besides parodic comedy shorts. Yet in our limited knowledge and perception, all we can see around us are the mere “green screens”, “props”, “laser pointers” coaxing our actions, etc. We see those with no ability to fully comprehend how it will all look, once God brings together the other cast members' performances, the visual effects in post-production, and so on. Perhaps a human clinging to his own “ego-drama”, with a presumption that it will automatically be the greatest work for him to star in, would be partly akin to Lizzy the cat trying to be a better YouTube superstar by her own ideas and skills, without any of her owner’s direction, creativity, abilities, and resources.

Finally, I have always liked Bishop Barron’s take on the meaning of Matthew 18 Verses 1-5. That excerpt from the Gospels read: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’”. Granted, we are not meant to specifically be like children, in the sense that we keep our intellectual capacity low and underdeveloped compared to an adult's. Rather, Bishop Barron has offered this as one of the potential explanations: “Children are like plants, rocks, and flowers in this sense: they don’t know how to be something that they are not. They haven’t yet learned to lie, dissemble, pretend, or to seek to be someone they are not meant to be. We are all, right now, being created by God for God’s purposes. Childlike joy returns to us the moment we put aside all our games of self-promotion and self-deception and live in accord with God’s deepest desire for us”. For that matter, I guess the Bishop could just as easily liken children to Lizzy the cat. She just behaves as the creator naturally made her to behave, remains receptive to the creative guidance of someone higher than her, and can let said someone fill in the rest to create a very good show, far better than any that she could envision purely on her own.

The first two supplementary videos will feature the adoption story of Lizzy, who would become the OwlKitty, as well as one of Bishop Barron's talk on the ego-drama versus theo-drama. Following that, I will include links to a large sample of OwlKitty mashups and "Behind the Scenes" videos which entertained me...

1.) "OwlKitty: The Adoption Story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E-8DsGrpb0

2.) "Give Up the Ego-Drama! — Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermon"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_blFDePJY

20 OwlKitty Mashups and "Behind the Scenes" videos...

1.) "Jurassic Park - Starring my cat" (debut video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYZ6YNg_1OQ

2.) "Making Purrassic Park!" (debut video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An5-RXCHTJ8

3.) "Jurassic Park but with a Cat" (T-Rex Breakout)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W85oD8FEF78

4.) "Jurassic Park with a Cat — Behind the Scenes" (T-Rex Breakout)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtIoMT1WX4U

5.) "Titanic with a Cat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEPfM3jSoBw

6.) "Titanic with a Cat (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONgEvIuyVtE

7.) "Godzilla vs. Cat (OwlKitty Parody)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf7GsKFepDg

8.) "Godzilla vs. OwlKitty (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V29BO4UR2mc

9.) "CLAWS! (Jaws OwlKitty parody)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhmKfpKM8bw

10.) "Jaws + Cat (OwlKitty Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAa0XYLCKXA

11.) "Avengers Endgame with my cat OwlKitty"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYr0hGFzU2I

12.) "The Shining + My cat (HD)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkxDXyNgAU

13.) "Lord of the Rings + My Cat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mf06IwdpVM

14.) "Lord of the Rings + OwlKitty (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDer-LnEOXA

15.) "Top Gun with a Cat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3rQ3328Tok

16.) "Top Gun with a Cat (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kO8z5fyr8U

17.) "Smash Bros with a Cat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35MNFLkSyf0

18.) "Super Smash Bros. + ‪@OwlKitty‬ (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu9ZqJVXcrY

19.) "Purranormal Activity (with my cat OwlKitty)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEqJjzN4J7s

20.) "Cat vs. Debate Fly (Behind the Scenes)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrjLIytek6o

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In their eagerness to proclaim the unity of God and man in Christ, some heretics went to the opposite extreme and taught that not only was there one person, but also a single nature, in God and man. This error took its rise from Arius. To defend his position that those scriptural passages where Christ is represented as being inferior to the Father, must refer to the Son of God Himself, regarded in His assuming nature, Arius taught that in Christ there is no other soul than the Word of God who, he maintained, took the place of the soul in Christ’s body. Thus when Christ says, in John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I,” or when He is introduced as praying or as being sad, such matters are to be referred to the very nature of the Son of God. If this were so, the union of God’s Son with man would be effected not only in the person, but also in the nature. For, as we know, the unity of human nature arises from the union of soul and body.

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“Wear your blue shirt. The one you wore for picture day. This is BIG.”

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Welcome to Locals!

A big and hearty welcome to all who have joined our Locals community!

Here's what to expect:

Interviews one week early (before they hit Youtube)
The opportunity to ask my guests questions
Exclusive biweekly spiritual direction videos from Fr. Pine
Access to video courses such as:

7 part series on St. Augustine's Confessions by Dr Chad Engelland (here).
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5. Occasional livestreams with me.

6. Knowing that you're supporting the work of Pints With Aquinas.

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Matt Fradd@Matt_Fradd

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A Practical Method For Spiritual Warfare

In this article, I want to suggest a powerful, practical method for spiritual warfare—one that I believe will be a game-changer in your everyday life. We'll explore how consistently announcing what is true and renouncing what is false can become a potent weapon, helping you navigate the unseen battles that often manifest as struggles in our thoughts and emotions.

At the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass, there is a significant moment where the congregation renews their Baptismal Promises.

In essence, the priest leads the faithful to announce what is true and to renounce what is false.

For the purposes of this article we’ll begin with the questions that invite annunciations. He asks:

"Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?"
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?"
"Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are in a very real sense aligning ourselves with reality. While emotions may be present, they don’t need to be. Simply stating our agreement with the way things are is enough.

Prior to the above questions are a series of questions which invite renunciation:

"Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?"
"Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you?"
"Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are renouncing, repudiating, what is false.

To those who may attend Holy Mass once or twice a year they may be surprised to discover just how seriously the Church takes the reality of the Devil and spiritual warfare. But anyone somewhat familiar with the Scriptures and the consistent teaching of the Church would not be. Here I could dump a multitude of Scriptural verses proving my point, but one will suffice. From the first letter of St. Peter:

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

And now for the main point of this article: Just as it is beneficial to regularly align ourselves with what is true (say through an act of faith), it is also beneficial to regularly repudiate, and disassociate with, what is false.

And given that our lives are situated squarely within a world at war. A world which “lies in the power of the evil one.” in which demonic forces are seeking to blind us to the things of God (2 Cor. 4:4). This is something we are going to be needing to do in one form or another on a daily basis. Multiple times a day.

Let me offer a personal anecdote that will illustrate this. I was about to interview someone on a topic that I knew would get blowback from the Demonic realm. I was going on a walk praying my rosary before my guest arrived. While I was walking I slowly became aware of a sort of oppressive force. I felt sad and restricted, somehow. Anxious. I’m not sure how long I was feeling that way, but at any rate I didn’t become conscious of it until that moment. I stopped walking and tried to sum up what I was experiencing in a word. It clicked. intimidation. That’s was it. I felt intimidated. And so I said the following prayer:

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Matt Fradd@Matt_Fradd

June 14, 2025

Life is very, very simple, actually.

There is a lot going on. We are confused about many things. Embarrassed that we are confused. Pretend not to be. Have a few soundbites we can rely on when the conversation turns to Trump or the state of the Church or what is going on in Israel and Gaza or the AI revolution. We hope they don’t press us because we know enough to answer two or three questions before they will hit bedrock and we will have nothing.

All of this can lead us to believe the lie that life is complicated. And since we cannot figure it out, we should either quit, or numb, or pretend, or run ourselves ragged trying to understand everything we think we should understand.

And yet life is simple. Very, very simple. There is very little to figure out.

Love what is good. Hate what is evil. But how? When I have willingly habituated myself to do the opposite. Pray. Repent. Keep turning away from distractions. Don’t hate yourself for failing. Hope in the good God who is better than you think He is. Who cares for you more than you think He does.

What are your duties? Do them with joy and attention. Don’t hate yourself when you fail at this. Pray. Repent. Have a sense of humor about your littleness. You are incredibly loved after all, remember?

Turn away from what is useless and petty and vulgar and think about what is excellent.

Say “Your will be done” 100 times a day, especially when things are bad or seem meaningless. Your headache. Your bad night sleep. The house you can’t seem to get around to tidying.

Be patient and gentle with stupid people who can’t seem to make themselves love or want to love what is good, yourself first and foremost.

Jesus, help me want to want to love you. Help me want to want to hate anything opposed to you or your kingdom.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

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