Carlo Acutis is finally a saint

Modern Relics is a newsletter about when religion happens online and in pop culture, which happens a lot actually. The vibe is a bit like:

Hey I’m going to be so real with you right now: I have been wanting to do this newsletter all year but I couldn’t, for my own reasons. But now I am! A bit!

Plenty of interesting stuff happened in my absence, and maybe I’ll do a FLASHBACK section in a future issue. For now, the important story is about our boy Carlo Acutis.

Blessed Carlo is becoming a saint!!

Just giving everyone a heads up — our favourite holy nerd boy is being canonised on Sunday. This was going to happen back in April, but it got delayed when Pope Francis died.

In case you are new, Carlo Acutis will be the first millennial to be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church. He was born in 1991 and died at the age of 15. During his life he was a computer programmer and a gamer, and spent a lot of his time and money with the poor in Milan.

Carlo is widely called the patron saint of the internet, gamers, students, programmers and, according to me, this newsletter.

To celebrate, we made a special episode of Soul Search where I visit a relic of (soon-to-be) Saint Carlo in Chatswood in Sydney. Yes, there is a relic of Saint Carlo in Chatswood. Chatswood is inherently funny to me because of this tweet that caused a whole lot of consternation during Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey.

Thank you to Father David for being incredibly kind to me and generous with his time! The episode is available to listen to now.

Please ignore the fact that Carlo hasn’t actually been canonised yet — we’re broadcasting Sunday evening and by then he’ll officially be Saint Carlo. Whatever! Being digital first and broadcast is hard sometimes!

P.S. I'm obsessed with this Getty Images photo of a priest fully taking a selfie in front of Carlo’s body right next to a NO PHOTOS sign. I would like to imagine Carlo would be chill with this kind of thing.

When the Lord comes back there’ll be no cops

I want to share this Instagram Reel my friend Jono sent me. Nathan Evans Fox is a musician from North Carolina and released Hillbilly Hymn as a short, vertical video that went bonkers in the corners of the internet where I usually reside.

When the Lord comes I’m gonna drive real slow
Go wherever the Spirit goes
Gonna dawdle and piddle and talk and cuss
Ain’t no boss gonna make a fuss
When the Lord comes back I’m gonna drive real slow
Every high place is gonna be brought low
Every high place is gonna be brought low

Nathan grew up in various nondenominational, Pentecostal churches. He no longer identifies as Christian, but this essay on why he still uses religious language in his music is compelling reading. Basically, he argues, we need to reclaim the language of the demonic.

We need language that can conjure up more than information and can locate people and institutions within the cosmos of forces that determine their actions. It is not enough to talk about the people who make the world worse. We also have to talk about the ghosts they are trying to appease in doing so.

I also really enjoyed this episode of Rock that Doesn’t Roll where he talks about his musical influences, Christian and mainstream.

He’s since released Hillbilly Hymn as a full track. Seeing as its escatological, I’m going to add it to my Advent Apocalypse playlist. It's now in the complete Modern Relics playlist too.

Feeling a bit like this right now

Trixie Mattel’s guide to the Amish

Drag superstar Trixie Mattel walks us through everything she learned about the Amish after she did a deep dive after coming across an ex-Amish creator on TikTok.

“I thought, what if talking about this makes the Amish mad at me, but then I thought they can’t watch these videos or they’re telling on themselves so I might be okay.” Classic.

Sure, the Amish might not love being told they are “cunty and whacky type” but in this context, that’s a nice thing to say. I really enjoyed the curiosity and openness and honesty of this and tbh that’s what I hope the vibe is with Modern Relics too.

Also, I learned a few things! Lol stop cutting my grass Trixie you bald bitch!

Are People Born Wicked?

Click through to watch the video.

It’s Rohan’s self-promo corner oh god please don’t leave there are memes after this

I’ve been busy with a few things. Perhaps you’d like to listen to this episode of God Forbid I guest-presented about queer religion?

I've also been guest presenting on Soul Search quite a bit. I took a trip to Melbourne to attend the Sacrededge festival and took my recorder with me. Later, while Meredith was on a much-deserved holiday, I took over the show to talk about H.P. Lovecraft and the ineffable, and about astrology and tarot cards. In the tarot episode I even interview my friend Dizzy about a tarot reading she did.

Speaking of H.P. Lovecraft: "Unlike you, I read the scrolls I know the incantations and I know what happens when you pronounce his name properly".

Christianity explained in dril tweets

Guy who sings people’s songs back to them sings I Love You Jesus by Tricia Paytas to the Show Me To Me Please woman

Click through to watch the video.

Aunty Barb sent me this saying “I feel like this would take an essay to explain in Modern Relics, but for your consideration” So, here it is with almost no explanation at all.

Also, Barb alerted me to the fact God Warrior was on the Very Delta podcast.

Marguerite Perrin went viral for her 'God warrior' meltdown on Trading Spouses, and went on to have a radical change of heart about homosexuality. I covered it in Modern Relics back in 2022.

:)

Troye Sivan singing in Hebrew

Click through to watch the video.

Sorry but I think about this Quora question constantly

"missionaries can't dance😡"

Click through and watch the video.

Hey just catching up on this one, did Cynthia Erivo ever play Jesus Christ in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Hollywood Bowl this Summer?

Genuinely would like to know because that would have been very cool.

Okay that's enough for now. Hopefully it won't be so long between editions next time sorry bye!!