Boiling with Rage.

How many different angles of Charlie Kirk’s assassination did I see? Too many. How many men came to assist Iryna Zarutska? Zero. How many Catholic families were impacted by an anti-Catholic shooter in Minnesota? Many. How long could I make this list of leftist violence? Quite.

And now, to add to the rage, here comes the Felt Banner Fueled “Be Nice” crowd. “Turn the other cheek!” they squeal. “Love Wins!” they plead. “We need more forgiveness and dialogue.” they insist. Well, Charlie Kirk tried dialogue and he was killed for it. And now, we’re angry—no—boiling with rage.

You ever notice how the “Be Nice” crowd in the Church act like the greatest commandment Jesus gave was, “Thou shalt not hurt anyone’s feelings”? Don’t you dare show a little righteous anger. And their Gospel of Nice™ clearly states: “Blessed are the doormats, for they shall be walked all over.”

They’ll trot out “turn the other cheek” as if Christ was commanding us to roll over like Labradoodles at the first sign of any injustice. But here’s a newsflash: when Jesus said “turn the other cheek,” He didn’t mean, “Let the wolves devour your children, your Church, and your civilization. Oh, and by the way—smile while they do it.” He meant, don’t retaliate out of petty vengeance. That’s different from letting evil run the place like it owns it.

But of course, the Felt Banner Brigade never read Aquinas. Or Augustine. Or, you know, Scripture. They just remember that one youth retreat in 1986 where Sister Hugs of the Blessed Guitar-Mass strummed “Kumbaya” and told them God is basically a cosmic Mr. Rogers. And they’ve been stuck there ever since.

Aquinas—who, last I checked, knew a thing or two more than Sister Guitar-Mass 1986—flat out said this:

“He that is not angry, whereas he has cause to be, sins. For unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices; it fosters negligence, and incites not only the wicked but the good to do wrong.” (Summa Theologica II-II, q.158, a.8)

In other words, if you’re not boiling with rage at injustice, you’re not virtuous, you’re complicit.

And St. John Chrysostom—Golden Mouth himself—didn’t mince words either:

“He that is angry without cause shall be in danger; but he who, being angry, is moved by just cause, fights against sin, and it is not anger but zeal.” (Homily on Matthew 5:22)

So yeah, anger at injustice isn’t sin—it’s zeal. The prophets had it. Christ Himself had it when He flipped tables in the Temple (John 2:13-17). You want to call Jesus “not nice”? Good. He wasn’t. He was holy.

And Augustine? Oh, he skewered the Peace-at-All-Costs™ crowd 1,600 years before the felt banner boomers showed up:

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” (Augustine, Sermon 311)

Meanwhile, today’s Nice Catholics think hope has two daughters named “politeness” and “avoid conflict.” That’s not hope—that’s cowardice.

Here’s reality: rage at injustice is Catholic. Indifference is not. Holy anger is a virtue when it’s ordered toward truth and justice. If you can look at violence, corruption, perversion, or blasphemy and your first instinct is to make a felt dove banner that says “Peace,” then congratulations—you’re not holy, you’re spineless.

So let’s stop pretending niceness is a fruit of the Spirit. It’s not. Charity is. Justice is. Courage is. And sometimes charity looks like flipping tables. Sometimes courage looks like saying, “No, I’m not going to shut up just because it makes you uncomfortable.” Sometimes justice looks like righteous rage.

And if that makes the Be Nice™ crowd clutch their pearls—good. Maybe it’s time we stopped hanging felt banners and started hanging onto the Truth.

So yes, when children in Mass are murdered, when a peaceful Man is publicly assassinated for speaking words, when Truth is mocked, when ideology increasingly fuels bloodshed—we should be angry. To be Catholic is not to be neutered. To be Catholic is to burn with righteous indignation against the enemies of truth while still willing the good of their souls. Forgiveness does not erase anger. Forgiveness transforms it into fuel for courage.

The Church does not need more “Nice Catholics” who hang felt banners while the culture burns. The Church needs Catholics who know how to forgive and fight. Catholics who can kneel in prayer and then rise together in righteous anger. Catholics who remember that charity and justice sometimes demand a whip of cords.

If you’re boiling with rage at the darkness closing in, good. You should be. That means your conscience is still alive.

Because in the face of evil, “niceness” is cowardice. Holy anger is Catholic.