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Posted October 15, 2005
There is a Catholic problem. Well, more properly,
Catholics have problems. That is my conclusion,
and these conclusions are shared by a lot of others
who have had the opportunity to observe over the
years. These comments, however, are restricted
to Catholics in the United States, the most influential
society and the most powerful country in the world.
Catholics don't know their
own religion. They are ignorant in the Faith.
They are not catechized. That is disastrous for
the Church and for society at large. If members
of an organization do not know what they are about,
what their purpose or mission is, then not only
will they meet with failure, but they will easily
go off track and be used for the purposes of others.
This is a recipe for disaster and ruin for any
human group or society. When you factor in the
reality which is that the Church is here to shepherd
souls to heaven, that ruin takes on eschatological
overtones since souls are lost.
Catholics have no authentic
leaders. The Bishops in the United States, charged
with teaching the Faith and shepherding the flock,
have not done their job. There are several reasons
for that. One is cowardice. Another is lack of
faith themselves. Then there is stupidity. Finally,
there is a collaboration with the culture of death
by many of the prelates in the United States.
Since Catholics have always been hierarchical
— i.e., we have been taught to follow the
priests, bishops, cardinals, pope — this
state of affairs is tragic. One young man once
told me, "It was a stroke of genius to neutralize
the Catholic Bishops. For once the leaders were
no more, the rest were clueless." Evil genius.
While the bishops no longer
either stand up to the culture of death nor do
they offer any real resistance to it, there are
apparatchiks of the dominant culture/society who
run around in the name of being Catholic to support
the systems and processes of dominion and destruction.
For example, Michael Novak who recently came to
the University of Notre Dame to espouse the sick
idea that capitalism is some sort of divine plan
and, reading between the lines, that greed is
good (a 1980s refrain) and Catholic and moral.
What Novak ignores is the tradition of Heinrich
Pesch and Amintore Fanfani — the idea that
economic systems are meant to bring all along
on the way to heaven. Some call it distributism,
it is referenced in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church, and discussed
by Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI. Instead of justifying
the economics which is broadening the gulf between
rich and poor, Novak should have been explaining
how the ideas of the Vicar of Christ, and the
teachings of Holy Mother Church should be implemented
to provide all with the material goods and the
security we need to be able to focus on leading
virtuous lives. You see, virtue to Novak and others
like him is the name given to the slaves' mentality
— the rapacious capitalistic system in which
we all live can only exist as long as the slaves
are honest and obedient and uncritical.
Authentic Catholic leaders
are those who know the Faith, and work to implement
the teachings of the Church and of the Holy Fathers
in this society. (By the way, here are Roman Catholic
Report, you'll start to see a few authentic Catholic
leaders develop.)
Catholics, as a result largely
of the first two points, have internalized the
value system of the dominant, destructive culture.
So, what that means is that Catholics have come
to accept as normal or proper a selfish, self-centered,
individualistic, materialistic lifestyle. Which
is justified by giving to certain causes which
really have no impact on much of anything other
than to make the donor feel good. Having inculcated
this view of life and adopted this way of life,
despite all the rhetoric, writings and preachings
to the contrary, Catholics will be unable to change
anything in the United States or its society.
Abortion, poverty, contraception, injustice of
all kinds, pain, suffering, misery will all continue
without any hope of relief. The Church will be,
and is, unable to do its mission. This salt has
lost its savor. And is of no use. Now what remains
is that it will be thrown out.
As a result of the above, Catholics
have no sense of identity or uniqueness. Any feeling
of being Catholic is beaten down time and again
with a false idea of ecumenism and with the dominant
culture's values of not wanting to upset anyone.
Catholics have been turned against
each other. Those who speak up for the truth and
the Truth are attacked by others who call themselves
Catholic. And, so there is a distinct, though
understandable lack of courage throughout the
community.
Unsure of who they are, leaderless,
ignorant, divided, those who call themselves Catholic
in the United States are not capable of doing
much, most importantly, saving their own souls.
The answer is to return to
the basics — teaching and living the Faith,
raising up authentic Roman Catholic leaders, suffering
for the Faith, building communities of Faith,
and knowing that the purpose of life is to reach
heaven upon death.
You've come to the right place.
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