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When you hear the word “masculine” what images come to mind?

When you hear the word “masculine” what images come to mind?

Last updated on: July 24, 2026 at 4:12 pm by Billy Kangas

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When you hear the word “masculine” what images come to mind? 2026-07-24T16:12:58-04:00 Billy Kangas

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I’ve been thinking a lot this week about masculinity. It started with the news. Andrew Tate is currently in the middle of extradition proceedings to the UK, where he’ll face charges tied to abuse and human trafficking. I bring him up not because I want to give him more airtime than he’s already claimed, but because of the sheer reach he’s had; especially among young men in the U.S. and around the world who are searching for someone, anyone, to tell them what it means to be a man.

Tate’s brand of masculinity is built on performative dominance. And for a lot of men, that message has landed as the only available alternative to another message they’ve been handed; one that treats masculinity itself as something inherently suspect, something that needs to be softened, apologized for, or dissolved into a kind of self-erasure. When the only two options on the table are “dominate” or “diminish,” it’s not hard to see why so many young men have gravitated toward the first one, even when it’s rooted in something as ugly as what Tate represents.

This isn’t abstract for me. This week I came across a story that genuinely broke my heart. It referenced A woman on an online forum sharing that she disliked the idea of raising a boy, or contributing to “maleness,” so much that she said she would rather terminate a pregnancy than do it. What shook me most wasn’t just her post. It was how many people showed up in the comments to agree with her.

That tells you something. The world is hungry for a real model of masculinity, and men like Tate are rushing in to fill a vacuum that never should have been left open. It didn’t help that a few years ago, an entire generation of young men found themselves stuck at home during COVID with nothing to do but scroll. Voices like his were waiting right there on the other side of the screen (I want to help messages of hope be there instead – see the P.S below on how you can help).

The trouble is that Tate’s version of manhood isn’t just flawed, it’s about as far from the heart of Christ as you can get. He has openly bragged about abusing women and about his involvement in pornography. He treats wealth as something that exists purely for self-aggrandizement and pleasure. That’s not strength. It’s a poor forgery of it, authored by the forger and chief of our world – Satan himself.

Thankfully, that’s not the only alternative out there

“The Christ we follow is both kind and compassionate, and a fierce warrior who confronts sin, death, and the grave head-on at the Cross.”

I was reminded of that this week spending time with our dear friend Fr. John Riccardo, host of Ave Maria’s Christ Is the Answer, at the Detroit Eucharistic Revival event “Rising from the Ashes.” He shared at the conference and later that day on Ave Maria in the Afternoon, and what he said has stuck with me since: Christ shows us manhood as it was actually made to be. It’s not dominance for its own sake, and not a retreat into passivity, but a life poured out in service of others rather than in service of self.

That’s the real thing this generation of young men needs. Not less masculinity. Not a counterfeit, aggressive version of it either. The real thing. It’s fierce and tender at once, entirely spent for the good of others.

With gratitude,

P.S. There’s a world hungry for hope right now.

You see it too, a mission field is everywhere and the call of the church is to bring it into every place on earth. That’s exactly what we’ve spent this year doing, showing up in more places than ever before. I’ve been busy all year at conferences and gatherings. Marcus has been touring with Dcn. Harold Burke Sivers to parishes that could never have afforded to host a mission like this on their own, free of charge. And this year he carried that same message even further, sharing the Gospel in Taiwan with people hungry for the hope only Christ offers.

Every mile we travel is also a chance to reach people who will never sit in those pews. When we capture these moments on video, they become radio segments, online content, and conversations that reach a fast-growing audience discovering the Gospel for the first time, often through a screen, not a sanctuary.

Right now, our video setup isn’t equipped to keep up with everywhere this ministry is going.

This week, we’re hoping to raise $2,500 to invest in new video equipment before Marcus’s next tour — so every mission stop becomes an opportunity not just for the parish in the room, but for everyone watching from wherever they are. If you’d like to be part of helping us raise these funds, I’d be so grateful. You can contribute here.

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