There is no shortage of recent literature across the political spectrum warning of the profound cultural crisis confronting the West and the erosion of the moral assumptions that once bound society together.
Douglas Murray writes of The Madness of Crowds and a self-destructive War on the West. Frank Furedi analyses the phenomenon as an Identity Crisis a century in the making. Ryszard Legutko argues that The Demon in Democracy is the same ideological impulse associated with the totalitarianism that once blighted Eastern Europe. It is a view that is echoed by Roger Scruton, for whom many of the West’s current fashionable thinkers are little more than Fools, Frauds and Firebrands.
Alexander Boot explores The Crisis Behind Our Crisis. Peter Hitchens contends that The Rage Against God is responsible for the cultural degeneration. Mario Vargas Llosa blames the lax personal and moral discipline in society, and the loss of critical thought among the intellectual elites, for the Death of Culture, while Matt Goodwin emphasises the cumulative impact of mass immigration, declining national identity, and political disengagement in what he describes as a form of national suicide.
These and many other writers, despite their different emphases, make valuable contributions to our understanding of the West’s predicament, highlighting the role of long-term processes such as secularisation, institutional change, and cultural diversification.
The fracturing of the sacramental vision
But such theorising often mistakes symptoms for causes by telling us much about the manifestations of the West’s decline but far less about the deeper forces that have eroded the shared bonds that once held Western societies together. These works identify many of the symptoms and accelerants of civilizational decline, but they can leave unanswered the question of fundamental causation.
This is true even of discussions on the erosion of Christian values. After all, Christendom, as understood in the medieval world, had long been challenged by forces such as humanism before it was finally shattered by the Reformation of the sixteenth century, which became the precursor of more socially destructive forces. Indeed, the most profound break was not institutional but liturgical and, as such, the fundamental cause of the West’s civilization crisis does not lie principally in modern politics or ideology but with the rejection of the Mass and the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
More than any subsequent political or intellectual movement, it was this liturgical revolution that fractured the sacramental vision that had shaped Western civilization for over 1500 years, paving the way for destructive forces to take advantage of the West’s shattered unity and impose their own visions on society.
The word ‘Mass’ is derived from the Latin missa, which means dismissal, specifically from the conclusion of the service. That conclusion is marked by the declaration Ite missa est, which means ‘Go, it (the Church) is sent’.
At first, the term did not have the theological weight that it would gain in the Middle Ages when it was used to refer to the entire liturgy and was connected to St. Matthew’s teaching of ‘a mission’ to spread the gospel throughout the globe.1 As it was increasingly formalised and standardised, however, the Mass became the centerpiece of community worship, reinforced by a liturgical calendar of feast days, many of which, such as the feast of Corpus Christi, introduced by Pope Urban IV in 1264, take on the quality of a social drama with dramatic rituals and processions.2
In this sense, the Mass exerted a profound influence on the development of Western civilization, notably through the Eucharistic worship of Christ, who was professed from the very beginning of the Church by Church Fathers such as Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Cyprian of Carthage, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Augustine of Hippo, to be truly present in the consecrated Host. Having developed through centuries of theological reflection and conciliar refinement at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the doctrine received its most systematic scholastic exposition in the work of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) during the late thirteenth century.3
It was subsequently given its definitive formulation as a dogma of faith by the thirteenth session of the Council of Trent in 1551, in response to challenges from the Reformation. Although Christians of the early and medieval Church did not articulate the doctrine of the Real Presence as developed in scholastic form, they nevertheless understood that the consecrated Eucharist was the body of Christ and therefore truly holy.
Yet to emphasise the formative role of Christian worship in the development of Western civilisation is not to diminish the enduring significance in this process of the West’s Greco-Roman inheritance. Rather, it is to highlight the emergence of Western civilization from the interaction of the two, with Christianity preserving, re-shaping, and transmitting many attributes of Classical culture within its own distinctive theological and moral vision that conferred on the West a distinctively Christian identity.
For instance, Plato’s notions of visible objects directing the mind to higher things served to illuminate justification for icons, while Aristotelian metaphysics assisted Thomas Aquinas in building his theological system to illuminate the doctrine of the Real Presence through the concept of transubstantiation, while still holding Christian revelation as supreme.
The Mass and Western culture
Housing the lyrical beauty of the liturgy itself was the architectural magnificence of cathedrals, churches, and chapels adorned with masterful works of art, and that resonated to the sound of sacred music.
More precisely, can Gregorian chant, for instance, be decoupled from the beatific visions of Heaven that enraptured its composers? It is difficult to imagine that El Greco, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Verdi, Mozart, or the cathedral masons would have followed the career paths they did had they not been drawn towards the spiritual magnificence of the Church beyond the material world? Would the van Eyck brothers have bothered with their wondrous Ghent Altarpiece if there was nothing to worship on the altar? Would any of these treasures have emerged without the desire of their creators to beautify worship during the Mass and honour the majesty of Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament?
An answer to these questions can perhaps be glimpsed from the bleak surroundings of the once great Catholic cathedrals and churches that were stripped of their previous cultural glories during the Reformation, their walls whitewashed, their niches emptied, their altars smashed, and their stained glass removed. Or, as the Church of England’s Directory of Public Worship of 1644 stated, there is ‘no place capable of any holiness under pretence of whatsoever dedication or consecration’ and by the same logic states ‘There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel, but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath.”4
One simply needs to imagine how barren the Western cultural landscape would be without the Mass to beautify it. In short, to understand the fullness of Western civilization, it is essential to recognise how the Mass helped to shape not only the West’s religious life but also its outward appearance, articulated by its moral and cultural identity. The Reformation and the Enlightenment may have sought to free themselves from its liturgical authority, but even these rebellions were framed by a world that the Mass had already made and which it was going to continue to influence for years to come.
Here, it is useful to engage with historians such as Christopher Dawson, Henry Mayr-Harting, Peter Lasko, Jacques Le Goff, and Eamon Duffy, who demonstrate the centrality of the Church’s liturgical life to medieval society.5
Even among those who no longer profess their Catholic faith, there is an increasing appreciation of the cultural legacy of Christendom, whose profile has been raised by the appointment as Prime Minister, self-confessed ‘cultural Catholic’, Andy Burnham 6 just as the praise extended to it had done a few years ago by atheist biologist Professor Richard Dawkins. For these people, the cultural fruits of the Faith are too immense to dispense with altogether.
Yet the muddled thinking behind the Cultural Christian phenomenon is all too clear. ‘I’m Catholic by upbringing’, notes Burnham, ‘but I’m not particularly religious now. My kids go to a Catholic school, so I still believe in the values and the grounding it gives you, I’m a very big believer in that.’ In much the same vein, Professor Dawkins declared, ‘There’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and a cultural Christian,’ Professor Dawkins declared. ‘I love the hymns and Christian carols. I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos.’
So far so good. But then he added: ‘It’s true that statistically the number of people who believe in Christianity is going down. And I’m happy with that. But I won’t be happy if we lost our cathedrals and beautiful parish churches.’7
A similar trend can be observed in the groupthink of political elites. In a speech in May 2012 honouring the Charlemagne Prize recipient, German career politician Wolfgang Schäuble, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, likened Schäuble’s efforts to strengthen European unity with those of Charlemagne.8 Stranger still, she made no reference to the liturgical foundations of Charlemagne’s ‘intellectual and cultural revival’ lest it undermined the secular fantasies associated with the work of the modern Charlemagnes. To imply that Charlemagne’s was a secular Renaissance is to expose the intellectual vacuity or deliberate deception of those who do, in turn exposing the folly of their identity-forming programmes.
Such sentiments exemplify a broad tendency to value the fruits of Christianity while questioning or rejecting the supernatural beliefs that nourished them.
Christendom and the Mass
Such cultural piggy-backing, or, to borrow the fashionable expression ‘cultural appropriation, undoubtedly provides its adherents a degree of cultural reassurance in an age of growing uncertainty.
In Professor Dawkins’s case, it offers a sense of continuity and security against the Islamic influences that he fears. Or for the likes of Ms Lagarde, it reflects the hope that secular institutions can replace Christianity as Europe’s prime identity-forming force. Yet to admire the magnificence of Christendom while simultaneously dismissing the ‘mumbo-jumbo’, to quote the post-War British Prime Minister Clement Attlee,9 is intellectually negligent and self-defeating and a misunderstanding of much of the formative process of Western civilization. It is like saying, argued the American cultural commentator Rod Dreher, that one enjoys the fruits of a farm but one is happy that farms are closing and that gardens are not being planted.10
It is, moreover, to disarm oneself utterly in defence of that which is deemed worthy of protection. To put it another way, those who disregard the driving force behind the culture they find admirable, reduce themselves to casual bystanders in a growing process of cultural decay and are guilty of the single most grievous act of national and cultural suicide–destroying the very source of the civilization they claim to defend.
The abrogation of the Mass, which had been the central feature of Christian worship since the time of Christ, was arguably the utmost revolutionary act of the Protestant Reformation and a defining expression of its anti-clerical sacramental theology. Its impact extended far beyond the nature of worship to the very character of Christian civilization. The fruits of Catholic cultural legacy were not created in a vacuum. Motivating those who produced them was a belief in the supernatural, in something beyond the material order that manifested itself in the Word made flesh, an idea so derided by the cultural Christians. Cultural Christianity is a symptom of modernity and is likely to grow as people increasingly gravitate towards what they perceive to be virtuous and magnificent in the face of a mounting civilizational crisis.
Christendom was both a culture and a civilization, combining a shared Christian worldview with political, social, and institutional structures that it helped to shape. As a culture, Christendom was characterised by a common religious belief, moral values, artistic and architectural traditions, and an intellectual outlook centered on Christian theology. These were nurtured by the Church and supported by the State. As a civilization, Christendom developed its own political systems, academic and legal institutions, economic networks, and generated a wealth of artistic and architectural traditions, all profoundly influenced by Christian thought.
Although the Mass was not the sole driver of Western cultural development, it was a significant force in the organisation of wealth, labour, creativity, and intellectual endeavour. It is insufficient, therefore, to celebrate the cultural achievements of Christendom while overlooking the Mass as their primary source, from which the traditional social and cultural order, so prized by many cultural Christians, emerged. Accordingly, to recognise Eucharistic liturgy as a principal formative force of civilization is not simply an act of faith but an acknowledgement of a creative influence that is difficult to deny.
Endnotes:
1 Matt. 28:19-20
2 For analysis of the sociological aspect of the Mass, see John Bossy, ‘The Mass as a Social Institution 1200-1700’, Past & Present, August 1983, No. 100, pp. 29-61.
3 For a detailed discussion of the theology of transubstantiation see, Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 12-35; On Aquinas, see Reinhard Hutter, Aquinas on Transubstantiation: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist: 13 (Thomistic Ressourcement Series), (The Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC, 2019).
5 Christopher Dawson, The Formation of Christendom (San Fancisco: Ignatius Press, 2008, org.pub by Sheed and Ward, 1965); Henry Mayr-Harting, Ottonian book illumination: an historical study, (London: Harvey Miller, 1999); Peter Lasko, Ars Sacra, 800–1200, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994); Jacques Le Goff, Medieval civilization, 400-1500, Trans., Julia Barrow, (Oxford, UK; Cambridge USA: Blackwell, 1994); Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional religion in England, 1400-1580, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, 2nd edition, first 1992).
6 Paul Waugh, ‘Andy Burnham Interview: On Scrapping The ‘Tampon Tax’, Catholicism, Unpaid Internships And Falling Out Of Love With Morrissey’, Andy Burnham Interview: Part 2, Huffington Post, 10/08/2015, Updated August 10, 2105.
7 ‘Richard Dawkins: I’m a Cultural Christian’ (YouTube).
9 John Bew, ‘Clement Attlee: An unromantic hero’, The New Statesman,26 September 2013.
10 Esme Partridge, ‘The naivity of Richard Dawkins’s cultural Christianity’, Unherd, April 2, 2024,
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Once Man stops worshipping the Incarnational God, it is impossible for Man to believe in himself regardless of the myriad ruses he concocts to think otherwise.
Yes, the imminence and immediacy (!) of a Triune God who transcends His own transcendence to become one of us, and then to remain sacramentally the Real Presence across all of history and geography.
Today, this “alarming” event of the Incarnation (Benedict’s term, even more than “astonishing”) is crowded out by a triad of mutations: (1) the progressive Marxist heresy (not only in Sinicizing China), (2) Islam’s regressive, inscrutable and anti-Trinitarian, non-relational Allah who is only transcendent (monolithic monotheism: a reductionist pagan/pre-Christian anomaly?), and (3) the affluent consumerism of Secularism—with a Left and a Right but no verticality (as in Wall Street, and the EU charter which genuflects to Classical but not Christian roots).
And the perennial Catholic Church?
Too much at the mercy of so many synodalized clerics and laypeople alike, who would substitute prolix/double-speak word games in place of the one “Word made flesh” (John 1:14)? Whatever happened to those:
“…runners [messengers of the Gospel who] gather impetus as they run [?]. Ages afterwards they still speak as if something had just happened. They have not lost the speed and momentum of messengers; they have hardly lost, as it were, the wild eyes of witnesses. . . .We might sometimes fancy that the Church grows younger as the world grows old” (G.K. Chesterton, “The Everlasting Man,” 1925).
SUMMARY: Too bad reading of John’s Gospel no longer punctuates the meaning of the completed Mass of the Real Presence. Witnessing in what is fast becoming a triadic pagan world: post-Christian, pre-Christian, and anti-Christian.
A lot of good points in the article. To continue, the importance of the Mass is not mentioned very offered in sermons. While the importance of the Eucharist was emphasized, last year or so. There has not been a lot of follow up.
As discussed in the article, too many think of the Catholic Church as just nice Churches, but miss the whole point on the importance of the Mass, presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the importance of Worshiping Our Savior. This needs to be emphasized in the sermons, the true importance of the Mass needs to brought home.
I have just started reading a book titled “The Incredible Catholic Mass” written by Fr. Martin von Cochem in 1774. It is published by Tan Book.
The following is a quote from the back of this book. ” The book confirms the understanding that the Mass is comparably the gratest prayer that is offered to God …”
As a followup to this article a more formal review of the book would be beneficial
It is about far more than the language:
“The movement to restore Tradition with the Tridentine Mass is not chiefly about the change in externals. There are Novus Ordo Masses said in Latin, in an ad orientem position, and with beautiful Gregorian chant, all offered in ornate parishes.
Even if these are a rare exception to the norm, they are still vastly different from the Tridentine Mass due to the very prayers at the heart of the Mass.
To understand why, an examination of the various prayers exorcised from the Tridentine Mass is in order.
The Various Prayers Exorcised from the Tridentine Mass in the 1960s:
• The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar: Removed is Psalm 42 and the various prayers said by the priest and the servers expressing their own unworthiness to enter the sanctuary and calling on God for mercy.
•
• The Confiteor: The Confiteor (i.e., “I Confess”) has been completely reworded and watered down. No longer do we call on St. Michael the Archangel, St. John the Baptist, or the holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul as our witnesses.
• The Introit: The introit is entirely optional in the Novus Ordo and rarely ever said.
•
• The readings: The entire system of readings was radically deleted and replaced with a 3-year lectionary that often displaces the common of saints for readings from the temporal cyclE AND REMOVES KEY VERSES THAT MODERN CHURCHMEN HAVE FOUND CONTROVERSIAL.
•
• ONE KEY EXAMPLE is 1 Corinthians 11:27 where St. Paul admonishes against unworthy Communions. This verse was repeated three times in the one-year cycle of readings at the Tridentine Mass, including on Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi – in addition to any Thursday Votive Masses in Honor of the Blessed Sacrament. In the Novus Ordo it is found not once. As a result, while there are still readings in the Novus Ordo, they are not the same as the Tridentine Mass for the vast majority of days.[3]
•
• THE OFFERTORY: THE OFFERTORY WAS COMPLETELY AND ENTIRELY DELETED AND REPLACED IN THE NOVUS ORDO BY TWO JEWISH MEAL BLESSINGS.
• The THEOLOGY OF THE OFFERTORY IN THE TRIDENTINE MASS IS ENTIRELY MISSING from the Novus Ordo in a radical departure from how the Mass has always been said.
•
• The Canon: The Roman Canon is the most sacred part of the Liturgy and has only been changed over time extremely gradually. Already in the very early Church the Canon was virtually set, and only small changes were made in the subsequent centuries, like the addition of Diesque nostros in tua pace disponas (“And mayst thou dispose our days in thy peace”) by Pope St. Gregory the Great, who reigned 590 – 604 AD. It has remained largely untouched since then.
The Novus Ordo permits several different Canons, which is a radical innovation.
According to The Ottaviani Intervention by Cardinal Ottaviani in his critique of Vatican II, concerning these other canons: “In the Eucharistic Prayers, moreover, the repeated petitions to God that He accept the Sacrifice have also been suppressed; thus, there is no longer any clear distinction between Divine and human sacrifice.”
Father Cassian Folsom, O.S.B also said: “This is a radical change in the Roman liturgy. Why aren’t more people aware of the enormity of this change? Perhaps since the canon used to be said silently, its contents and merits were known to priests, to be sure, but not to most of the laity. Hence when the Eucharistic Prayer began to be said aloud in the vernacular, with four to choose from — and the Roman canon chosen rarely, if ever — the average layman did not realize that 1600 years of tradition had suddenly vanished like a lost civilization, leaving few traces behind, and those of interest only to archaeologists and tourists.”
• The Communion: The prayers for Holy Communion have changed as well.
•
• It was Martin Luther who desired that the priest and the people’s Communion should be united rather than the priest receive and then the people receive after another set of prayers are offered. And sadly, his error confusing the sacerdotal office of the priest and that of the people assisting at the Sacrifice has been codified in the Novus Ordo. This change, along with the allowance of Communion in the hand and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, has led to widespread apostasy and blasphemy. Yet sadly, in the Novus Ordo the words of St. Paul against unworthy Communions are no longer repeated. And the people are as sheep without a shepherd to guide them.
• THE LAST GOSPEL: REMOVED FROM THE MISSAL, THE LAST GOSPEL IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN THE NOVUS ORDO. Taken usually from the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John, it is said at nearly every Tridentine Mass. In the Novus Ordo, the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel is recited only once in the entire year.
• The Leonine Prayers: Gone are the Leonine Prayers, which are needed more than ever for the Consecration of Russia.
For a detailed section-by-section comparison of the Novus Ordo and the Tridentine Mass, please click here.[4]
Consequently, the fight for the Tridentine Mass is about far more than just the sacred language of Latin.”
https://fatima.org/news-views/catholic-apologetics-160/
Avoid reddit information; it is not scholarly and is left wing. Same for wikipedia (even one of its founders points out the left wing orientation of wikipedia)
For scholarly sources comparing the Tridentine Mass and Novus Ordo.
Here are the most substantive scholarly resources, without wikipedia or Reddit:
Primary recommendation:
Fr. Anthony Cekada, Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI (Philothea Press, 2010, 445 pp.) — the product of nearly three decades of research, copiously footnoted, with an extensive bibliography and index. It systematically compares the two rites point by point, tracing the Bugnini-led reform process and analyzing how each part of the Novus Ordo differs from the Tridentine rite in light of Catholic theology and liturgical tradition. Even though Cekada is a sedevacantist, it was praised by mainstream Catholic liturgical scholars such as Dr. Alcuin Reid, who reviewed it on the New Liturgical Movement. Available at ~$25.
Primary historical document:
The Ottaviani Intervention (September 25, 1969) — a letter from Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani (prefect-emeritus of the Sacred Congregation for the Faith) and Cardinal Giuseppe Bacci to Pope Paul VI, with an attached critical study by a group of Roman theologians. It is one of the most important contemporary critiques of the Novus Ordo, written weeks before its promulgation. The full text is freely available online.
Thank you, Oscar.
I’m a lover of the TLM, and that “Introibo” Foot-of-the-Altar prayer moves to great humility each and every time. It never fails to startle and astound…the great honor and privilege afforded us, as we are specially invited guests to a very select and distinctly beautiful place, time, and event. Each and every time we read the words.
The final Gospel. Who is NOT moved by those words of the Word? We are recalling justly and exactly WHO IS.
More of V II destructive reforms: the priest turning his back to the East to face the people, and the Destruction of the Beautiful Altars to be replaced by tables.
—THE PRIEST TURNING HIS BACK TO THE EAST AND NOW FACING THE AUDIENCE INSTEAD OF THE EAST, A VERY 60’S SHIFT TO ME, ME, ME FROM THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS TO GOD
• TRIDENTINE MASS: Ad orientem (“toward the east”) — priest and congregation face the same direction (TRADITIONALLY EAST, TOWARD THE RISING SUN AS A SYMBOL OF CHRIST). THE PRIEST HAS HIS BACK TO THE PEOPLE.
• NOVU ORDO MASS: Versus populum (“toward the people”) — PRIEST FACES THE CONGREGATION directly.
The physical distinction describes The theological framing — that versus populum shifts emphasis FROM THE SACRIFICE OFFERED TO GOD TOWARD A HUMAN-CENTERED, COMMUNAL GATHERING. A VERY 60’S SHIFT TO focusing on “ME, ME, ME,” INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON GOD.
—THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BEAUTIFUL ALTARS:
historical accounts describe the phenomenon as a “WIDESPREAD ABANDONMENT” AND A “VERITABLE ORGY OF ALTAR SMASHING,” with critics noting that “tens of thousands” of beautiful sanctuaries were altered or destroyed worldwide.
• Scope: The destruction affected “countless” churches and cathedrals, ranging from small rural parishes to major urban centers, with the U.S. and Europe being particularly significant sites of this “iconoclasm.”
•
• Terminology: THIS MASS DESTRUCTION OF BEAUTIFUL HIGH ALTARS AND REPLACEMENT WITH FREESTANDING “BUTCHER BLOCK” OR WOODEN TABLES is often pejoratively referred to as “Wreckovation” or “altar-bashing.”
Thank you for casting this light on the thing that all the deceptions of the modern world conspire to obscure: Christ given in the Eucharist is the source of the goods we now take for granted in the modern world. The surrender of the Mass at the center of culture is, in turn, the source of our terrifying decline.
Our Catholic Mass may not be as Dr Gregory Slysz assumes the sole driver of Western cultural development. More than a significant source it likely is the primary source.
When I offer the sacrifice of the Mass, Sacrifice has come to take form as the essential act of my humanness in finding my identity as a priest. Which is to offer myself with my creator savior for my brother. Whoever he is.
Laying down my life as commended by Apostle Evangelist John 3 16, and implied by Christ in John 15 12–13. As personally assumed when I repeat Christ’s words over the bread and the wine.
It is this interior attitude understood by the many that compelled, inspired us to shape a spiritually based culture commissioned in the sacrifice of the Mass, drawing us to express this in our art and lives. Gregory Slysz makes his point well. A reminder why we’re here.
Dr. Slysz,
Oscar provides the next chapter to your treatise. The culmination of the destruction of western civilization is the new theology that accompanies the new Mass. Together, they form the New World order.
The traditional Latin Mass was the center of western civilization. When it was usurped and almost universally outlawed in 1970, the final battle to destroy western civilization was commenced. The wreckage and spiritual bloodbath is undeniably clear to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
The wiles of the enemies of the church so denigrated the Holy Sacrifice that it was and mostly still is unrecognizable, thus lacking the great virtues of grandeur and distinction. It became so watered down that it appeared little was happening. If little is happening, why show up or why not just go to the heretical Protestant Church down the street??
If the church could change the source, Center, and Summit of the Christian life so drastically, anything can change. Thus the new world morality is hatched, even for Mass-attending Catholics.
That western civilization fell for abortion rights and near universal acceptance of contraception is not in the least surprising. If the Mass and all the Sacraments could change so quickly into something so foreign to our prior paradigm, the culture of death could easily undermine the whole western cultural ethos, and it did…
Ave Maria!