Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Why this is really happening.


The Press: "the new black arts of mass suggestion and propaganda." Christopher Dawson




It has been said so many times, but still needs to be said: one case of the abuse of a minor by a priest is too many. It is not only a crime, but it is a mortal sin which, if unrepented, will result in eternal damnation. Independent and unbiased journalism - (seeking facts not spin) which used to exist, will confirm that the vast majority of the sexual abuse of children takes place within the family. Other institutions, especially Schools, also figure very highly in the statistics. I read one report that in one year in the New York Public School system (State schools in English), there were more reports of sexual abuse than in 50 years against the Catholic Church in the entire United States. What is happening now, in the wildly inaccurate, slanderous and downright false reporting of the current crisis, is more akin to a lynch mob than anything else. Even calling the crisis "current" is clearly not true; most of these cases are from decades ago and the Church, in Britain and the United States, is recognized, again by the independent and unbiased, as having the most stringent child protection measures in place of any organization. None of that matters; what matters is that the Catholic Church is the leading voice for traditional sexual morality in the world; the Church is the defender of life; the Church defends the God-given institution of marriage between a man and a woman. In the culture war which is rapidly intensifying in secular Europe and the United States, the Catholic Church is "the opposition" - the enemy - of a secularism which is not neutral, but hostile - and aggressively hostile. In military terms, the Pope is the "General" of this army - and if you want to take out an army, go for the leader and guide. John Allen, the uniquely fair religion "expert" on CNN, said in his new book, "Future Church" that is does not take much to move the "nones," those having no religious affiliation, to becoming the "antis." Anti-Catholicism is the anti-semitism of the secular elite who inhabit the newsrooms and editorial offices of much of the media. It is not only the "last acceptable prejudice," it is not even regarded as prejudice, it is sanity, clarity, breathing the pure air of freedom, liberated from the dark oppression of the Church. This will not change, it will only get worse. The attempt to portray the Church as the epicenter of child abuse in the world, despite the facts, is the attempt to exclude the voice of the Church from the Public Square. What is even more disturbing is that some of the support for this is "ad intra," coming from within. Perhaps we should not be surprised by this, betrayal has been part of the life of Christ's Body since that first kiss in the Garden. Every act of abuse is, of course, a betrayal of Christ - so is the sanctimonious kiss of the National Catholic Reporter and other "friends." The great fault of many in the hierarchy in recent years is not the "covering-up" of sex abuse - it has been naivete - imagining that the opponents of the Church are charming dinner party guests who wish to engage in "dialogue." They wish to "dialogue" us into obscurity, and this latest battle in the Great War to end all wars should concentrate the minds, and gird the loins of our platoon commanders. We are dealing now with what Roman Guardini called, "the smiling unbelief of the world's mighty and wellborn;" but they are snarling, not smiling. Bryan Appleyard, writing in The Independent in February 1996 wrote these words....."The truth is that Catholicism is not a problem for the contemporary liberal, is is the problem....to the modern imagination, Catholicism is the biggest enemy of all. As a result, 'I hate Catholics' is quite commonly heard in otherwise civilized circles."

2 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

"The great fault of many in the hierarchy in recent years is not the "covering-up" of sex abuse - it has been naivete - imagining that the opponents of the Church are charming dinner party guests who wish to engage in "dialogue." They wish to "dialogue" us into obscurity"

Extremely well said, Fr. Ben. It's best to KNOW your enemy and not delude oneself. These people are as much interested in "dialogue" as Lady Gaga is in regaining her virginity.

It would be nice if parishes, etc. went on offense. I.E. not take this lying down and give the people in the pews some good handouts for perspective. As you say, not to abbrogate any real harm that has been done by wayward clergy, etc. But to put it in perspective. As I understand it, as a group Catholic priests are 4-5 times LESS likely than people in society at large to have perpetrated child abuse. And yet the liberal press and media, who have always hated the church, because of what it stands for, gleefully tries to make the church a "goat" and load all these sins on it, never mind that they themselves have a lot to answer for.

It isn't the Church which celebrates pornography, or condones it, or pushes it. It's these liberal merchants who take a "neutral" position on this sort of morally deadly commerce. Unlike Justice Potter Stewart who said he "couldn't define pornography, but knew it when he saw it" these bottom dwelling pond scum pretend there IS no such thing as pornography. You see TV shows pushing loose sexual mores and filthy jokes today as common place that would have created a firestorm for heads to roll had they been shown in the 60s or even 70s and 80s.

They themselves have a lot to answer for for contributing to the cesspool. BUt they'll go on making their money, to the detriment of society.

"Turn it off if you don't like it," they say. But the problem is, even if YOU turn it off and don't directly expose yourself or your family to this -- for darn sure the neighbor's kid is watching. And your kids or family can't wall themselves off from a tidal wave of the constant pounding of sex, sex, and more sex. Sex was meant to be something beautiful and holy between a married couple with total commitment to each other and to the families they would create -- good couples are instrumental in God's creation as agents of co-creation.

And the merchants of filth have taken a diamond ring and tied it to the end of a string and dragged it through the mud, promoting every perversion as "normal, healthy, good for you, good for washing away 'prejudiced' religious notions of right/wrong" while they do their best to misrepresent religion and morality has being the hucksters.

Classic projection.

heelers said...

Well done Father Ben.
This battle rages here in Ireland also.
I think it is a new persecution of the ancient church.
No less devilish than other persecutions even if as yet it doesn't directly involve murder.
James