Any student of history knows that the challenges of each generation are often complex, presenting the Christian with choices for which his simple formation may not have prepared him. Beyond the initial centuries after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which armed them for the binary option: “Christ or no” (with the corollary of “martyrdom or life”) the predominant choices were considerably more obscure.
The early Church, in her first ecumenical Councils, grappled with the nature of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the correct way to address the Blessed Mother. The vast array of heresies in those centuries was astonishing, and heads of local churches had the effect of sweeping their adherents along with many errors, with few (or no) viable options for resisting. The Protestant revolt added a new twist to the confessional state, but while the average believer was called to a life of personal holiness, the rest may have been above his paygrade.
For well over a millennium, Christians have had to weigh their myriad obligations to local lords, overlords, and emperors—and this has carried into the modern world. Any call to arms meant that family obligations were put on hold, and that local shops, farms, and industry must be abandoned—leaving those behind vulnerable and overworked. A knight calling his vassals to the Crusades meant that his crops were left in less capable hands, just as the World War 2 conscript entrusted his loved ones to a pastiche of Providence, grandparents, and local institutions. A more sophisticated grasp of conscience may have obligated some to reject conscription altogether when the mission itself was questionable, and there are saints who are known for rejecting a widely held consensus over what patriotism required.
There have been work-place quandaries over ethics, family squabbles over proper behavior, and parish dilemmas over the choice of programs and proper use of funds. In many instances, personalities held sway, obscuring the actual theology in play; in other setting sentiment or superstition were the primary opponents to virtue and right worship. Ultimately, good Catholics have disagreed about legitimate and contentious questions, and these combined with myriad scandals have compromised the Church’s ability to witness to the truth and joy of the Gospel.
The larger point is that whatever complexities were at play in the past, we are in a very different place now. Having followed various proclivities to sin to their logical end points, we find ourselves confronted with a remarkably simple challenge. Revisiting the opening chapter of Genesis, we are asked to confirm that God made human persons “male and female” (Gn 1:27). This isn’t rocket science, nor is it obscure theology. We are not asked to distinguish between homoousion and homoiousion, but to affirm the existence of XX and XY chromosomes. We are not asked to thrash out the just war theory anew, but to testify to the fundamental nature of human sexuality that has stood uncontested from the dawn of time. We are not asked to revisit the question, “And who is my brother?” with the ensuing debate over how best to give alms but to protect young children from mind-bending depravity.
When our great-grandparents tut-tutted the bawdy fashions and frivolous pastimes after two world wars (and a depression), they were dismissed as fuddy-duddies and kill-joys. Who could argue with harmless fun after such hardship! When the birth control pill loomed on the horizon as an innocuous way to space births within marriage, the Church was derided as a benighted institution unable to see how technology could be harnessed to improve life. When Tipper Gore suggested warning labels on some records that contained pernicious lyrics, she was ridiculed and cancelled before cancelling was cool. These are but three snapshots along the slippery slope (a slope very long and often treacherously subtle). In all honesty, throwing off the authority of religious leaders is arguably the most consistent theme in the Bible, and why should our generation be any different?
But what is different now is the utter brazenness of the sin. Some may still scratch their heads over “choose life” (Lev 18:5, Deut 30:15; Rom 10:5) and quibble about its relation to abortion, while others dismiss the admonition about divorce and remarriage (Lk 16:18) with a shrug, but such is to be expected in a post-Christian age. (The fact that many Christians themselves no longer respect any sort of authority over their personal lives is deeply distressing, but something to work on in-house in the coming years.)
To be sure, we have stepped beyond the world of Revelation and Redemption into the natural world that has decided to throw off nature as it would a straitjacket. Despite all the yard signs touting the importance of science, despite all the materialists who reject spiritual realities, and despite all those who decry convention and stereotypes as suffocating, we are awash in the denial of science. We are trapped in a shallow spiritual zoo whose conventions have more of a vise grip on society than Christendom ever had. We cannot even call it a culture in the proper sense because culture is biologically and etymologically related to life—and the spectacle before us is death on steroids.
While one dreads the emerging freak shows at every turn, one must be grateful for the simplicity of the task at hand. We might have been astonished at how one generation of Christians came to blows over one letter—the “iota” distinguishing orthodoxy from error, but we have ourselves an opportunity to go to the mat for a different letter—the difference between he and she. Warning labels for words may have been rejected in the past, but now we have an opportunity to protect children from a cascade of vulgar images in their own kindergartens. The subtlety of competing theories on how best to approach poverty has given way to throwing tax dollars at gender-based curricula and the shredding of innocence. Can we still plead ignorance over the proper demands of faith? Those children who have run the gauntlet of contraception and abortion are now prey to mind-numbing evils, and we wring our hands.
Can we commit to promoting the basic truth, confirmed by science, that humanity is divided into two sexes? And the fact that sex is ordered to procreation? And marriage is ordered to the flourishing of children? Let every person with XY chromosomes dress as he will, let every person with XX chromosomes work where she wants, but there are only two sexes. Gender might be a construct and identity a parlor game, but let’s insist first on the binary nature of the sexes and hold on as if our lives depended on it.
What are job losses, social shunning, and imprisonment in relation to life-destroying hormones and surgeries? What is a little ridicule compared to the horror of an impressionable child forced to watch pornography? How can anyone plead ignorance when the next generation is being groomed with lies for lives of misery? There is nothing subtle about this battle, and cowering on the peripheries while the children are prime for slaughter is an unconscionable take. We should know. By now we should know.
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It takes a woman. I say this as a proud man who is concerned about the moral failure of Catholic priests, bishops, and many male laity [deacons get a pass since they’re moral vocal on the issues detailed here].
Like the Maid of Orléans Genevieve Kineke appeals to our courageous instincts [as I perceive it a reprimand to spineless men] in her ending paragraph, that it is better to lose positions, be incarcerated, than stand by cowardly [is Uvalde a symptom of male emasculation?] as our children our indoctrinated on sodomy, pornography, murdered in the womb [and slaughtered in the classroom].
Cowardice goes with the territory of self gratifying sensualism and an increasing amoral culture. Whereas God calls the weak and makes them strong.
Your perceptive words mean a lot to me, Father. Thank you.
Thank you ..is there something mysterious about English as a ‘chosen ‘ language – are there other languages that can capitalise letters to convey sacredness – such as an
H , for a He ..noted from the article that the letter S – for sacred / set apart is in the word -she ? to denote how she is set apart , esp . to cooperate with God in that envious role of life giving … the role detested by the enemy in his envy ..
and that Y , in XY – ? men asking why – 🙂
an an echo of the spirit of rebellion and envy that was invited in at The Fall ..from having neglected the God given role to be the priest of creation , for ever deeper Family relationship with the Most Holy Trinity , the same spirit of envy now leading many into degrading envious carnal imitations ..
God inviting women the role to help negate the envy , by showing greater respect to XY , by giving them tougher roles .. in priesthood too , by sacrifice of carnal fallen traits in exchange for the Life giving role in The Lord . 🙂
https://www.littlechildreninthedivinewill.com/how-to-pray-the-rounds#:~:text=The%20rounds%20are%20simply%20an,I%20love%20you%20too%20God!
English ? allowed to be the language that connects nations .. the wars and conquests of old , allowed for such a role .. to help bring forth the Reign of The Divine Will for these times – the Rounds in the Divine Will as a means to go around creation , to requite The Love we owe ..thus to help sanctify hearts and lives, to take in what our Lord has done in His Sacred Humanity , desiring for us to claim same ever more deeply , attributing – in every heart beat of every human-
praise and glory to You Lord .. in the silence in homes , churches ..to wet the thirst for holy , blessed relationships -lack of same said to be the root of issues as addictions, rebellions ( heard on EWTN as a topic at the WMF )
the thirst that also manifests as the confusion of the alphabet soup , as racial envy and such towards those who were allowed to have a role in history that is meant to bless all , not excluding any , in role of the Divine Will ..
https://www.queenofthedivinewill.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-rounds-of-the-soul-in-the-Divine-Will-final-edition-2014-Copy.pdf
God bless !
A poet once wrote that in all ages the “good guys” constitute “a little citadel of nobility threatened by an immense barbarism, a flickering candle surrounded by infinite night.”
It has always been the role of the Church (laity, monks, nuns, priests, bishops) to be a “little citadel” of holiness amidst an “immense barbarism.”
The general decadence of the world unshephered by Christ and His vicar is nothing new.
What is new is the last 50 years of brazen divisiveness and brazen decadence among large numbers of those professing to Catholics. We can’t blame outsiders and their crazy ideologies for that.
All this makes me sad, since I can’t see any solution coming, at least not in the lifetime of those I love.
Heart-felt comment, dear Gus.
All I can offer is a reminder that King Jesus Christ never interfered with or ministered to the massively diverse population of weird, wacky, and willfully wanton distortions of human relationships prevalent among contemporary Jews, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and many others.
Almighty-God-With-Us lovingly shepherded those who were devoted to Him, who He identified as the sheep given to Him by Father God (see John 10:27-30), of whom none were lost but the one (Judas Iscariot) destined to be His betrayer (e.g. Matthew 10:4).
The New Testament Apostolic witness shows Jesus Christ was no unitarian, universalist, syncretizer! He categorically excluded all those who did not love Him above all things and all people, even their own lives (e.g. Luke 9:23; 14:27). Jesus also explained that those who love Him are those who obey His commands; and, being filled by His Holy Spirit they bear the fruit of righteousness that honors and pleases God.
Don’t lets be too disturbed by the bad stuff: Jesus told us that these offences HAVE TO happen (see Matthew 18:7; Luke 17:1). Just don’t be caught in their spider’s web!
So, amidst the mounting chaos in Society & (sadly) evident in our Church, rest assured, dear Gus, Jesus has been & is unshakably, unbreakably, unbeatably, omnibenevolently, omnicompetently shepherding God’s sheep; and, will do so until God’s Kingdom comes. So let the reader be sure to be one of the sheep who listens to and follows Jesus Christ. The best is yet to come!
Always in the love of The Lamb; blessings from marty
This is a moment of great opportunity.
That creepy, ratfaced evil one always oversteps. And he’s done it once again.
Never has the leftist groupthink been more obvious or more absurd than in the delusional denial of the sexes.
Anyone who is the least bit reluctant to sacrifice his or her sanity on the altar of leftist conformity is going to choke at this latest detachment from reality.
As George Orwell put it, “There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”
Non-intellectual truck drivers, food service workers, programmers, clerks, mechanics, nurses and real estate agents will all readily observe that the leftists’ latest emperor is foaming at the mouth and strutting around buck naked.
@ brineyman “Non-intellectual truck drivers, food service workers, programmers, clerks, mechanics, nurses and real estate agents will all readily observe that the leftists’ latest emperor is foaming at the mouth and strutting around buck naked.”
Well this foaming emperor was and is wearing a mask while injecting toxins derived from abortions so that got him full endorsements from Catholics. ‘Hey, he isn’t completely naked. He is trying to “save lives”.’ They actually tried forcing everyone to don the mask making it seem as though it was enough covering for the open nakedness. I think of what Bernard Nathanson said about the bishops at a time before I made it out of the womb.
Wow. I had to look up Nathanson and the bishops to understand what it was that he said. Wow. This well-written article says it rather well and says it all. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Chilling. I wish every Catholic could read this, understand, and vote the demoniacs out. Too bad we cannot vote to defrock select bishops.
https://insidethevatican.com/magazine/culture/americas-abortion-king-dr-bernard-nathanson-and-the-catholic-strategy/
Gabriel! Meiron!
Thank you both so much for highlighting the regrets of Dr. Nathanson!
All those working for life ought to know of his tragic struggles and use them in their fight against this unimaginably horrific scourge.
And the article cited is excellent!
Godspeed to all who welcome the sweetest and cutest and funniest among us!
Here’s a *very* funny thing.
Since the Roe decision came down from the Supreme Court, Democratic politicians have been using the word, “women,” repeatedly, without hesitation, as if we had any idea of what they were even talking about.
LOL!
🎯 Direct Hit Bullseye.
The reason Genesis chapter one does not make sense, is because Creationism refuses to examine the truth. The seven days are not linear. The truth is found in the “Observations of Moses”.
ephraim7@aol.com
Congratulations to Kineke on the current “vise grip on society” with its double meaning (vice grip)! Also, the clarity with which she shows that the Church, now, is the persecuted defender of natural science (!): As with Galileo and his telescope view of the outer universe, now the Church and our ultrasound view of the inner universe of each personal-DNA, preborn child: “eppur si muove” (nevertheless, it moves).
And, expanding on the quotes in Meiron’s link to “Inside the Vatican,” here’s a more complete citation from Nathanson’s “The Abortion Papers”:
“…[the] anti-Catholic warp was a central strategy, a keystone of the abortion movement. It was, in a sense, the self-fulfilling prophecy: knowing that the Catholic Church would vigorously oppose abortion we laced the campaign with generous dollops of anti-Catholicism, and once the monster was lured out of the cave in response to the abortion challenge and the nakedly biased line we could make the Catholic Church the point man of the opposition. The more vigorously the church opposed, the stronger the appeal of the anti-Catholic line became to the liberal media, to the northeastern political establishment, to the leftist elements of the Protestant Church, and to Catholic intellectuals” (p. 196).
Hidden among the few lines in the “Inside” article is the bishops’ response to Nathanson’s NARAL strategy:
“…NARAL braced itself for a response, especially from the Catholic hierarchy. But none came.”
BUT NONE CAME.
One NARAL strategy, a la Alinsky, aimed to ‘divide and conquer’ Catholics. Francis seems not to have realized that tired and worn strategy won’t lead to any loss of faith among true believers; if anything, trials and long-suffering strengthen faith, lead to hope, and embolden character. Nothing men can do will stop the providence and grace of God. Perhaps some folks don’t truly believe what the Crucifixion and Resurrection accomplished.
Just last week Francis extended his lexicon against bad sheep, labeling some the fresh-sounding term: ‘restorationists.’ As if on signal, other American Catholics joined Francis in his game. Francis must have handed out many pills, of all colors of the rainbow, because many old names began to fly, as if out of a tempestuous tornado. All bore marks of straw-brained derision.
What a contemplative wonder I had with the Eucharistic Lord on His Feast of the Sacred Heart! Would that everyone could know what love He has to give.