40 Years Later, the Attack on Our Civilization Has Ony Intensified

Something different today, something I feel the need to express to dear readers, although the words may fall on deaf ears. Nonetheless, it is something I need to say. Eric Sammons, the editor in chief of Crisis Magazine has an important article on the 40th Anniversary of Crisis Magazine entitled The Present Crisis Revisited. The article takes the original opening salvo of Crisis by the first editors, Ralph McInerny and Michael Novak, and juxtiposes it onto the situation today. But why is the magazine called Crisis?

At the beginning, Ralph McInerny and Michael Novak—the founders of Catholicism in Crisis—lay out the stakes, and they are significant: our very Christian-based civilization is under attack. Forty years later, who would say they are wrong? I’m sure neither McInerny nor Novak imagined a day where a Catholic would be attacked for simply affirming that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, yet here we are. If anything, the attack on our civilization has only intensified.

Is there a Christian minister who believes that the rights which he daily enjoys and which he takes for granted, like the air he breathes, would be his to enjoy unless these rights had been fought for by Cromwell, by William of Orange and by Washington? Are Protestants in the United States to live off the liberties which others are maintaining for them and then express complete indifference to the fate of those whose sacrifice makes the tranquil and serene life of American Christians possible? Should this become the American Protestant attitude toward the world, it would inscribe one of the darkest pages of the annals of the Church.

Today is All Saints Day, but yesterday was the 505th anniversary of the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. Lutheran churches celebrated, as did a number of other protestant denominations. First, I don't think Martin Luther would be pleased celebrating what turned into a schism with the Roman church. I believe he wanted for his churces to eventually reconcile with the Church at Rome. Unfortuantely, politics in the Gernan prinicpalities of the time got in the way.  Second, faithful Catholics find themselves in a similare place as faithful Catholics did 505 years ago. One has to wonder at times, without irony, if the Pope is actually Catholic?   Does the church leadership actually believe what the church teaches?  It often seems as if the Devil has overtaken the Church.

And yet, Jesus tells us that nothing will triumph over his Church.  We are assured that He has already won.  What faithful Catholics, indeed all people must hang onto is...well...faith.  Please read Eric Sammon's piece at Crisis Magazine.  Recognize that it is all in God's hands, and it would be a good idea if more of us acknowledged the fact and humbly prayed.  Think about it.