[Catholicism.org] When I was a young man I imagined that the end of a civilization would be dramatic. It turns out to be a lot less than that. The defense of an ancient city finally collapsing after a long siege and barbarians pouring through breached walls to loot, burn, rape and kill – something like that is what I imagined. I did not foresee our modern U.S. cities’ own inhabitants reverting to barbarism. What makes it less than dramatic is that there has been so little attempt to defend against their depredations. In fact, out of cowardice, fecklessness, sheer stupidity or (one suspects in some cases) complicity, the new barbarians have been excused or, worse, positively abetted by political, social, and religious leaders. The mayor of Portland likened their takeover of an entire neighborhood of her city to 1967’s hippie Summer of Love! Of course we have all seen pictures of Catholic bishops literally “giving the knee” to them.
That is a long way from, say, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when Emperor Constantine XI died on the city's battlements with his boots on and sword in hand.
How account for there being so little resistance to the new barbarism (and so many other evils besetting society today)? Isn’t it obvious? It should be to all still clinging to the undiluted Faith and who remember that once upon a time Western society was shaped by laws and customs that conformed to its teachings. They will understand that as a society we and most of the rest of the West have exhausted the spiritual and moral capital accumulated during the centuries of our Christian past and have nothing left to spend but the now nearly valueless currency of failed liberalism. It’s not worth fighting for.
The value of any currency is only as great as everyone believes it to be, and belief in the value of liberalism, the false philosophy that a couple of centuries ago replaced the Christianity around whose teachings the life of society was organized, has run out of it like value out of the dollar. (The political and social structures it built do still stand. Much of
The value of any currency is only as great as everyone believes it to be, and belief in the value of liberalism, the false philosophy that a couple of centuries ago replaced the Christianity around whose teachings the life of society was organized, has run out of it like value out of the dollar. (The political and social structures it built do still stand. Much of
these days’ widespread anxiety arises from nobody knowing for sure what will replace them.)
5 comments:
Actually, a tremendous and insightful offering. "The barbarians are inside and there are no gates". Mark Steyn, On Paris, Nov 2015
Even traditional Catholics send their grandchildren to the institutions whose officials were the signatories to this diabolical document. Trads also pay the media that hates the Holy Trinity a small fortune in cable fees every month for the privilege of watching lots of anti Christian moronic crap on TV. Addicted to TV and the praise of their Catholic hating neighbors and friends, too many of the "faithful" pay many thousands of dollars every month to ensure that the allies of Satan inside and outside the church grow richer and more powerful. Many ask what can we do? One answer - stop voluntarily paying the institutions that hate Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. In WWII Pogo said: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Excellent comment.
God bless
-Andrew
The existential threats to a civilization based on the rule of law, human rights and common decency are criminal characters like Putin, Trump and the utter corrupt Ji Ping.
The three of them combined make Genghis Khan look like an altar boy.
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