When the Church was born, it was given an exceedingly strange reassurance by the Lord who passed through death and resurrection to save her:
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. (Lk 21:10–18)
This is not comfort for anybody looking forward to triumph in this life, for the very good reason that Jesus spells out, not “Because I lost everything and died, you won’t have to” but “Because I lost everything and died, you will too”. It’s reassurance that only makes sense once you really and truly and deeply come to believe that because Jesus was raised to a new and divinized human life on the the third day, those who follow him will likewise be raised to a new and divinized human life on the Last Day. It is what made it possible for the apostles to move into the future, not with eyes fixed on building a political kingdom of this world, but on eternity. It was a Church that only looked backward insofar as it was necessary to recall the living molten reality of the irruption of grace into the world in the Incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Beyond that, the marching orders were simple: “Forward!”
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Mt 28:18–20)
The reason for that forward-looking confidence was not Faith in Progress (a post-Christian ghost of the old Christian faith in Providence), but a deeply personal conviction that, as Paul put it:
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 8:28–39)The conviction of the early Church was not “God will not let us suffer and die” but rather that suffering and death had already been conquered. The worst thing that could ever happen had already happened: God had been murdered. And even that had been turned, by his love, into something so mind-bogglingly good that we could hope not just for “life after death” (something they, like most ancients, already believed in) but “life after life after death”: the incredible reality not just of a glorified new human life in the body like Christ’s risen body, but of a whole new heaven and earth for those bodies to enjoy in perfect union with God and one another for eternity.
In short, the Church lives in Hope with a capital H.
Reactionary religion, and most especially Catholic-flavored reactionary religion, however, does not hold this faith any more. Filling the bill perfectly regarding Paul’s warning against “holding the form of religion but denying the power of it (2 Ti 3:5), it’s abiding conviction is that our hope is not in Christ, but in European culture and aesthetics (and often, European bloodlines) and a fantasy past dating somewhere between the years 1000 and the Counter-Reformation. It is committed to the belief that the Faith’s best days are behind it, that Jesus has abandoned the Church, that her councils are not guided by the Spirit, and that the Pope is shaping up to be Antichrist (or else simply absent since 1958).
Given such an ecclesiology and eschatology of despair, it is therefore no surprise, not only that Reactionary religion–a postmodern sect that is ironically younger than the Beatles and entirely defined by hatred of Vatican II and the Church living in obedience to it–is at war with the human race and filled with Inquisitors working night and day to defeat salvation by grace, mercy, and love (which they regard as the decay of a once-strong Church). It functions this way because it no longer believes in the grace that animated Paul to think as he does in the passage from Romans above. Convinced that the apex of our hope is now centuries in the past, not in Christ Jesus, the Greatest Catholics of All Time see themselves as therefore on their own, tasked with the mission of saving the Church (since they no longer believe Jesus will do it). Their goal: delivering it not only from the Pope they regard as a near-diabolical enemy, but from nearly a billion Catholics and from a human race they regard with revulsion. Rather than this “wimpy Kumbayah Vatican II FrancisChurch” they long for Fortress Katolicus, purged or nearly all its weak and impure members, armed with boiling oil to drive away the “vermin” who seek entry, and heavily guarded with shibboleths, code words, regulations, and rules aimed at securing a legalist regime of blood, iron, force, and fear perfumed with a few European and white nationalist aesthetic and pelvic obsessions.
And that has had real and deadly consequences not only for our country, but most especially for the life of the Church. Of which more tomorrow.
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5 Responses
I believe the Pope needs to take the bull by the horns and identify the groups that are confusing the faithful. My sister and sister-in-law think that sources like Taylor Marshall and Lifesitenews are reliable. If they say that they are “faithful” or “pro-life” they trust them without question. I realize that people like Strickland become heroes to some of the die hards, but a fair amount of people would sit up and take notice if what is perceived as an upstanding source lands on a warning list.
I tried a couple of times to encourage the combox warriors at a couple of right wing sites to do their due diligence and research characters like Vigano. You get flagged, and the comment gets taken down. To add insult to injury, they must have also sold my email address too. I now get shrill, right wing messages directly in my personal email. They confuse the faithful and profit from it as well.
I feel awful that a lot of sincere older Catholics get taken in by this stuff and I feel even worse that to a lot of sincere, caring young people this is the face of the Church. I also feel awful that a lot of young Catholics inexplicably are on board with this nonsense. We have to trust that God won’t let us down, no matter how messy things get.
Just as our Lord promised to sustain the Church until his second coming, the people of the Old Testament were also given assurances that God would keep his promises and make of them a great nation. God keeps his word— indeed his Word becomes flesh, but the old Israel and Judah both fall. As a people of hope, we should not be fatalistic about the future of the Church; but we must also not have a Pollyanna attitude for how God provides. The legacy of the martyrs is proof enough as to how bad things might become. We often envision resurrection simply in terms of the dead Christ but the Church will also be raised up, and if need be, from the ashes.
While the “saints keep marching in” and the Church moves forward, we as Catholics are cognizant of “remembrance” or anamnesis. We are given our marching orders in Matthew 28:18–20. Trusting in divine providence for the future, God’s intervention and grace is realized in the present by our looking backwards. What do I mean by this? The price of our redemption is paid within the paschal mystery of Jesus. It is for this reason that we are Eucharistic Christians. What the Mass remembers is made present— our Lord’s saving oblation at Calvary— feeding his people with his “real” risen presence. That which is remembered is made present. More than that, we offer our sacrifices, indeed our very selves, with him as an offering to the heavenly Father.
While freedom is real, we also believe that nothing will ultimately circumvent God’s will. We live in the sure and certain hope of our salvation. We pray to be counted among the elect. But the specter of Judas is real as is the prospect of perdition. God will not be fooled. We must never take for granted either our own justification or the need to be an instrument of Christ in the salvation of others. Every good priest is ordained for one essential reason— the forgiveness of sins and thus the salvation of souls.
St. Paul writes: “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?” (Romans 8:35). The apostle emphasizes that if we remain steadfast in faith, nothing and no one can separate us from the Lord. But this does not mean we are entirely out of the woods. Everything hinges upon the mysterious interaction between divine election and human freedom. God gives us everything we need to be saved. God loves us, even the worse sinners. But the question remains, do we love him in return? This is very much the love that Jesus proclaims in the two-fold commandment and to which he manifests in his passion and Cross. St. Paul tells us, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). This love for God spills over upon our neighbor.
Ultimately our calling as believers is directed to conformity to Christ in his love and his life. The elect must know a transformation into the likeness of Christ. That begins in this world, and we hope that when the heavenly Father looks upon us in the next that he will see his Son in us and give us a share in his reward. God elects whom he pleases. St. Augustine referred to this as the election to glory. It is different from the Calvinist appreciation of election that inordinately focuses upon the damned. Nothing about this is capricious or arbitrary.
Just as the field of historiography is a recent one, similarly the Church has often failed to deeply reflect upon the development of dogma, worship and pastoral practice over the centuries. Statements once routinely began with the assertion, “the Church has always taught,” when such was not absolutely the case. We do believe that formal revelation ends with the death of the last apostle John. Thus, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition become the sources for Christian doctrine. While not entirely immutable, there is a basic stability and thus it is labeled, “the deposit of faith.”
As for the criticism of a reactionary Christianity, one might argue the opposite thesis from yours, and claim that the Church has often been too passive and unresponsive to challenges until it was too late to avoid great tribulation. Abuse and corruption could have been dealt with as it came up, but instead much evil and confusion was tolerated and with the coming of Martin Luther, all hell breaks loose. Christendom would forfeit large sections of the Church and the Council of Trent would call us to arms in a war setting against Protestantism that would last five centuries.
The few that you would label reactionary today tend to see themselves as sentinels crying in the wilderness. (I am not talking about the media pundits seeking to increase their views or to enhance their brands among conservatives.) Many shepherds seem to be “yes men” who want to preserve the peace and good name of the Church at the cost of transparency and doing what is right. They make excuses. They hide abusers. They remain silent when they should speak. Here in my part of the country, the Maryland Catholic Conference had a political program between the three dioceses called MARRIAGE MATTERS. It pleaded with Catholic voters to oppose same-sex marriages. The effort failed dismally. Why? The Church for too long was silent and passive. Marriage and family life were in trouble a long time before gays wanted inclusion. We had quietly tolerated the regularization of sex outside of marriage, condom giveaways in high schools, legalized abortion for all nine months, an epidemic of no-fault divorce, the end of Catholic adoption services, etc. Priests were advised not to shake the boat in their homilies. Why? Cardinal McCarrick told me that we might need politicians on other issues, and these issues often had to do with money.
Dissenters can also be very reactionary. We saw this during the pontificates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Indeed, we are seeing it now from progressives who do not think the declaration under Pope Francis goes far enough. They are also hopping mad made about his rejection of surrogacy.
You seem to think that a reactionary religion is entirely outward or for show. I would not hold such a view. Many of the shepherds that question the current direction under Pope Francis are learned men with genuine convictions and a love for both Christ and his Church. The media critics are questionable at times, but I would not categorize them with men like Cardinal Muller and Cardinal Sarah.
Western civilization, with its good and bad elements, has been the chief vehicle for the transmission of the Christian faith. Any transition will not happen overnight or easily. As one who values tradition, I would not be so naïve as to assume that everything old is good and that all things new are bad. It would be wrong for anyone to look forward without taking into consideration Vatican II. I would be of the school that suggests that we view the council within the long trajectory of faith and NOT as a rupture to our identity and beliefs. We see this proper line of thinking in Pope Benedict XVI in terms of matters like religious liberty, true ecumenism, the one covenant with Christ that we share with the Jews, and the efficacy of the liturgy in all its forms.
While there needs to be dialogue in the Church, even about matters like the status of homosexuals, it should reflect both our values and a loving respect for our brothers and sisters. The Church opposes sex outside of marriage, but we can all affirm LOVE. I believe there is a way out of the mess. But it will not make dissenters happy, and it will not appease those who hate.
As one who has participated in Latin Masses, African liturgies, Gospel celebrations, charismatic prayer groups, and more— we must not be quick to condemn the cultural elements and varying aesthetics that appeal to believers. I would counsel the Holy Father to side with freedom. If the liturgy (of whatever form) does what it sets out to do— if it brings grace to souls and sanctifies participants— then any castigation risks impugning the work of the Holy Spirit.
I sometimes disagree with your opinions, Mark, but I still prize your books for teaching the truth. Are you sure that you are not reactionary in your own way? In any case, no one would ever question your passion for the faith. Sorry I went so long. God bless!
“…but we can all affirm LOVE. I believe there is a way out of the mess. But it will not make dissenters happy, and it will not appease those who hate.”
This. Thank you.
When fear is at the forefront of our minds, we can’t love. We go into survival mode.
“Be not afraid”
“Jesus I trust in you”
“Love without limits”
>>While freedom is real…, we also believe that nothing will ultimately circumvent God’s will.<>Western civilization, with its good and bad elements, has been the chief vehicle for the transmission of the Christian faith.<>…but we can all affirm LOVE. I believe there is a way out of the mess.<<
I've been reflecting recently on the correlation between freedom and love. Can love exist without freedom? I would say no, for then any kind of "love" would be coerced and would not be love at all.
Western civilization has freedom as one of its hallmarks. Western civilization is highly tolerant, and very highly individualistic.
As such, Western civilization does have good and bad elements, but it would be a misreading of the Bible to take the message as to revert to ancient Israelite society (with all its flaws that so greatly enraged Jesus). The Bible / deposit of faith is the story of salvation. Salvation is God's will.
It seems salvation is a path between the cliffs of Pelagianism on one edge and hypocrisy/false witness on another. Though we note that St. Dismas did enter the kingdom of heaven — he was not much of a Pelagian. Reflecting on Dismas – where are our hearts? That seems to be the key question.
Pope John Paul II once said "The Church imposes nothing; she only proposes, she proposes like a lover to the beloved." This quote should be a cornerstone of the church's preaching and behavior (which is a form of preaching). To the extent we can preach with empathy, humility, and compassion, recognizing that we as humans are at the same time both sinners and having dignity as children of God, then we can say we are following the Gospel.