Ave Maria!
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost—1 September A.D. 2013
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap.”[1]Ordinary of the Mass
Mass Text - Latin
Mass Text - English
Those of you who have attended Mass here or who have read the Parish Bulletin, have, over the years, heard me speak about something called “cultural Marxism.” (If you have not, you can read a number of articles on our website at www.rosarychurch.net—just go down the index on the right hand side of the main page and click the link that says “cultural Marxism.”[3]) In brief, you will find that Marxists discovered that the violent efforts, like those of Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung, were resisted by the masses precisely because of their violence.
The Marxist intellectuals decided that communism would be better served by destroying the institutions of a culture, and either leaving them in ruins, or building them back up along Marxist lines. The “institutions,” were of course things like religion, the family, the schools and universities, the legislatures and courts, the media, and so forth. This is what theorist Antonio Gramsci called a “long march through the institutions.”[4] But, whereas Mao Tse Tung’s long march was military, Antonio Gramsci’s “long march” would be a war of the mind against the culture of the people he wished to subvert.
Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this “long march” is in the concept of “political correctness.” Through constant propaganda, people are conditioned to never speak out about what is evil and societally destructive. Those that do speak out are mocked, treated as bigots, and even persecuted/prosecuted under color of law. When the evil becomes tolerated, the next step is to push for laws requiring it. Consider divorce, contraception, abortion, or sodomy. At one time in American history, all of these things were illegal in many of the United States. Then came a movement to portray them as “progressive,” beneficial, “enlightened—and then to make them all legal—and then to prosecute those who stood in their way. Today we see law suites being brought against photographers and caterers who refuse to serve same sex “weddings” and against employers who refuse to provide medical insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortions.
The Modernism that has afflicted our Catholic Church for the past fifty-odd years is simply the flip side of the coin called cultural Marxism. At the highest levels, the existence of objective truth is denied, everything is made relative, everyone must get along with everyone else (no matter how wrong their ideas; no matter how bad their morals). Endless discussion replaces careful scholarship—“dialogue” of the “acting persons,” very much resembling the dialectic of Marx and Hegel, synthesizing putative “truth” from thesis and antithesis.
The Church has condemned both socialism and communism (along with modernism).[5] But on the national level it supports socialized medicine, redistribution of income, a welfare state with no borders[6]—we see Catholic charities supporting organizations that provide abortions and contraception.[7] On the international level It exalts the United Nations and nearly every evil which it supports.[8]
One of the strangest effects of political correctness on the part of both Church and State has been the failure to recognize the danger posed by Islamic militants. Islam has a record of violent expansion that goes back about fourteen hundred years to its so-called “prophet” Mohammad. Movement was rapid across Arabia and the middle east, along the northern coast of Africa, up into Spain and France, along the underbelly of what used to be the Soviet Union, and up into Mongolia. The Mongols were not conquered, but they were attracted to the violence of the religion! The Koran, the Moslem holy book, says:
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.[9]
At the height of Islam’s power, Christians on land and sea were captured, forced to abandon the Faith, had their goods and their property plundered and held for ransom. Trade was suppressed by the inability to safely use the Mediterranean for shipping. In Moslem lands a special tax was imposed on those who did not follow Allah—those in “dhimmitude”—and if they did not convert they were at least to recognize the superiority of the Moslem religion. A number of feast days on the Church calendar commemorate the victory of Catholic forces over those of the Moslems. Our own patronal feast of Our Lady of the Rosary commemorates the Catholic victory in 1571 at Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth in Western Greece.
Given this history it is nearly impossible to understand why Popes would attend mosques, kiss the Koran, and send messages of congratulations at the start and the finish of the Moslem fast of Ramadan.[10] It is similarly impossible to understand why our nation is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in both Egypt and Syria. In several countries (including also Libya and Cyprus) Christian churches, homes, and businesses have been burnt down. Cemeteries have been desecrated. In Egypt “Islamists burned down a Christian school, paraded three nuns on the streets like ‘prisoners of war,’ and sexually abused two other female staff even as at least 58 attacks on Christians and their property....”[11] And this in a period of four days. And yet, the Secretary of State chided the Egyptian Army for being too brutal in dealing with the demonstrators. As this is being written, Obama is talking about U.S. military action supporting the Muslim Brotherhood against the Syrian government.[12]
There is no Constitutional basis for attacking Syria; but an attack seems to be in the works—and against the wrong side! I say “wrong side,” but perhaps both sides are evil. In any event it is not our business.
I don’t know that there is much we can do about any of this. Certainly we must pray—for the conversion of the Moslem world to the Catholic Faith,[13] and for the deliverance of our civil and religious leaders from cultural Marxism. I would urge you to make your displeasure known to your elected representatives. If you receive any charitable solicitations for aid to people in this part of the world, be sure to scrutinize them carefully so as not to aid the criminals. And if you receive a solicitation from a Catholic charity, be sure to let them know that Koran kissing is out of order.
“God is not mocked” but the forces of cultural Marxism have done a great deal of damage to Western Civilization. It is time to begin acting like Christians again.
NOTES:
[1] Epistle: Galatians v: 25, 26.; vi: 1-10 http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=55&ch=5&l=25#x
[5] Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno, No. 120 http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_pi11qa.htm ; Pope Pius XI Divini Redemptoris, Nos. 4,5 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19031937_divini-redemptoris_en.html ; Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dóminici gregis http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis_en.html
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/us/politics/catholic-leaders-to-take-immigration-push-to-the-pews.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
[7] http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/us-bishops-anti-poverty-arm-defends-grants-claims-allegations-based-on-fals/
[9] Surah 9, verse 29 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=282392
[10] http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/popekiss.html http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-francis-greets-muslims-for-the-start-of-ramadan-english-10488.html#.Uh927vDD_Jo http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23656779
[11] http://www.christianpost.com/news/3-nuns-paraded-like-prisoners-of-war-2-christians-killed-58-churches-properties-attacked-in-egypt-102507/
