Catholic editorials

Be Wary of Enabling The Mechanics of Genocide

The Catholic Church has a long history of social justice, but we are not exclusively a social justice or Non-Governmental Organization. Our mission as a Church is the salvation of souls and the role Jesus gave us is to testify to the truth which is Jesus Christ.

In my previous editorial, I wrote about the dangers of progressivism, that the philosophy leads to genocide. The obvious question is how can a philosophy that seeks only the good create such evil.

I pointed out that the utopian dreams are not possible for the human to create. So, seeking a vision that humans believe is possible, they try to create a perfect world which is impossible.

When we as Church egg them on or support them actively or passively, then we enable the resulting great harm.

The element of the whole mechanics that causes the greatest amount of damage is the philosophy that the ends justify the means. This is the engine of communist progressive revolution and it is the solid core of Saul Alinsky’s philosophy. He is not only the man behind the progressivist agenda in the current political movements in the United States, he is also behind some of the adulterating of the Church and her doctrine here as well.

The result taken to the extreme that happens in genocidal regimes is to create a perfect world you must allow that anything goes as long as it is on the path to utopia. False imprisonment, torture, murder, robbery, cheating on elections, anything goes because it is believed that these actions will create utopia.

This is the answer to one of the most jarring questions I asked since I first discovered the work of political activists in an attempted coup of the Catholic Church. They use as their playbook Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, which of course praises Lucifer as the first radical.

The obvious question is: How can you venerate the embodiment of all that is evil in your efforts to build a just society? The answer, I learned is: The ends justify the means. Again: False imprisonment, torture, murder, robbery, cheating on elections, anything goes because it is believed that these actions will create utopia.

Khmer Rouge torturer Kaing Guek Eav (aka Duch) head of the S-21 prison, where many political prisoners were tortured for false confessions and then executed, stated openly in court his support for this mentality.

 “Did you believe that the end mattered, not the means? Was that the way you saw it at the time?” presiding judge Lavergne asked in the crimes against humanity trial of the former torturer.

 “Exactly,” said Duch.[1]

  This concept of utopia is a false messianism that is highly destructive because it is built upon the false premise that humans are like gods and can create perfect worlds as gods do through any means necessary.

However, if the leaders of the church are on the same path by applauding this road to utopia, even unaware of the mechanics that can get us there, then they unwittingly enable this ends justify the means mentality.

I said in California, this has shown its ugly head in the move to force priests to reveal their confessions. This, I believe, is the first step in imprisoning as many innocent priests as possible to silence the Catholic Church. However, another, albeit more sinister, element has also raised its ugly head in Britain. A comedienne called not for pouring milkshakes on opponents, which in itself is part of the ends justify the means mentality, but worse: battery acid. This is in a country where pouring acid on people is already a form of violence.

Jesus warned during the Sermon on the Mount that we must be the salt of the Earth and the light to the world, but if we were not, then we were worthless. Well, let us look at another analogy of a modern mentality. If the philosophies of progressivism are like flames raging out of control, and we are not who Christ made us to be then we are like spent fire extinguishers: totally useless to stop all destruction.

The bishops who are in the midst of their Spring meeting seem to be oblivious to this reality and have been for quite some time. When the priests and the laity start waking up to what the bishops are aloof to see, then they will all comprehend what is really at stake: as always the salvation of souls and the future of society.

If you read our scripture and tradition carefully, you will see that we await the coming of a Savior who will bring us to eternal life. Many atheists think it is crazy, but they do not see the other element of this issue. Our savior will come because our world will have walked down the path of the false messianism of the modern philosophies that will create the same and worse nightmare scenarios we saw throughout the twentieth century. He will save those who seek him from those who reject him. Those who seek him will recognize their inability to create utopia on their own, while those who reject him will be busy destroying everyone in their way for their false visions of Utopia.

They shall begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. [sic] Luke 23:30 DR

 

[1] Cf Cruvellier, Thierry, The Master of Confessions, The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer New York, ECCO Press 2014 p. 11 Kindle Version

Photo: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng in Khmer; [tuəl slaeŋ] means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum

The First Commandment Protects Us From Ourselves

If there is one Bible story that is a parable for our time, it is the Tower of Babel. Only 9 verses in Genesis,  it is story of men united in language and culture, seeking to glorify themselves by building a pillar to Heaven. This would make them like gods, succumbing to the first temptation. So, the Lord confused their speech and scattered them throughout the world to prevent their success on this and other similar projects. For He knew the unforeseen consequences would be disastrous.

If you look carefully at progressivism, it has the same goal as the Tower of Babel and that is to create a world void of God that gives tribute to human accomplishment.

An obvious question then must be: is it a form of idolatry and, therefore, a violation of the first commandment?

Now before you condemn me as a 21^st century luddite, let me assure you that calling us to return to the days before electricity is not my point. After all, I am writing this in the heart of the Boston Public Library using its wireless technology on my Chromebook and within earshot of the radio program Boston Public broadcast live from the open air WGBH radio studio at the entrance to the Library.

In fact, it is not technology that is proscribed in the first commandment, it is acting on the desire to glorify false gods, including man, to the exclusion of God. As in the Tower of Babel story, technology is used for self-idolization which is more endemic today than in millennia past. Whereas, the source of all happiness, the saints teach us, is humbly to embrace and accept the will of God.

The first four commandments are there to protect us from walking down a path that will lead us to succumb to the weaknesses inherent in our race. They prevent humanity from becoming victim to original sin in the form of human hubris which would destroy us all.

Compare two events: The first telegraph message prior to the rise of progressivism which was “What hath God wrought?” and the declaration that the Titanic was an unsinkable ship as progressivism took hold. Man, in the latter case, believed he conquered nature through technology.

Seventy-four years later in 1986, both the Challenger and the Chernobyl accidents happened. They are the testaments of the same hubris that brought forth the Tower of Babel. We became so powerful even nature could not stop us, so we thought. The Soviets turned the atom into a worker and The Americans turned space into a classroom.

No one in 1986, except the engineers who tried to warn NASA on that fateful January morning, understood that the simple combination of cold weather in Florida and rubber O-Rings would seal the fate of the Challenger astronauts and American technological prowess.

Later that year, no one suspected that the equally technologically powerful Soviet Union would suffer a massive disaster that would doom an entire industry worldwide to this day—while leaving a whole area of the Ukraine inhabitable for thousands of years.

Adam Higginbotham in his excellent book Midnight in Chernobyl (2019 Simon and Schuster) illustrates this accident caused by design issues created a problem so serious it actually demonstrated that the 1979 Hollywood nightmare film China Syndrome was not completely implausible.

Progressivism also creates even greater disasters. Human self-glorification to the exclusion of God has within it the seeds of every form of modern genocide. The tools are always: the state in all its departments—including education, using technology and media to further promote a selective human paradise which is the goal of progressivism. Political parties and leaders rationalize killing those who stand in the way of a predicted socialist utopia. 

Zygmunt Bauman in Modernity and the Holocaust (2001 Cornell University press), explains that Hitler’s mission against the Jews was not rooted in his hatred alone, but his belief that a world without Jews would become the “hoped for world of tranquil happiness.”

In other words, progressive humanity needed to remove those who stood in its way and in Hitler’s mind this included the socially dependent, the undesirables and, specifically—Jews, just because they were Jews.

Therefore, in a tragic irony, the people who brought us the warning against all forms of idolatry, may have become victims of others committing that same sin, many of whom were fallen away Catholics who became occultists, another violation of the First Commandment. If we focus on Hitler’s hatred of Jews, we may, therefore, miss the point. His hatred created his belief that Jews stood in the way of the glory of man so he demanded their execution.

Tyler Curtis, writing for the Foundation of Economic Education warns that the deadly progressive trend toward a future utopia is personified in George Bernard Shaw.

Socialists have not only been willing to ignore the bigots and authoritarians in their midst but have gone so far as to embrace them. Few have been more adored than that eccentric playwright and unapologetic Stalinist George Bernard Shaw.

Shaw took a completely utilitarian view of life, even going on to say that murder should only be punishable if the person murdered was a value to society.

“That would involve a revised view of the sacredness of human life.  We should find ourselves committed to killing a great many people whom we now leave living, and to leave living a great many people whom we at present kill.  We should have to get rid of all ideas about capital punishment.  It is right if a man cannot be trusted to go about in society without injuring other people that he should be killed.  But a man may commit murder and be a perfectly safe and desirable citizen afterwards.  It might be that it was desirable to have removed the man he murdered.” He preached in 1910.

William Jennings Bryant, meanwhile, warning against the science only ethic he saw coming in his progressive era, wrote:

Science is a magnificent material force, but it is not a teacher of morals. It can perfect machinery, but it adds no moral restraints to protect society from the misuse of the machine. It can also build gigantic intellectual ships, but it constructs no moral rudders for the control of storm-tossed human vessels. It not only fails to supply the spiritual element needed, but some of its unproven hypotheses rob the slip of its compass and thus endanger its cargo.

Are we watching the product of the sin of idolatry in the form of progressivism taking place and if so, are we watching the beginning of another state supported genocide? This form of horror, prevalent in the Twentieth Century, has human self-deification as its source. Today it begins with the dehumanization of the unborn and legalizing their genocide in several states today. 

Is this the reason why the states and the media are so focused on painting the anti-abortion Catholics in such a negative light?  Are the Catholics now the ones who stand in the way of Western civilization’s progressivist utopia. After all, Fr. Walter Czizek who spent fifteen years in the Soviet GULAGS wrote in his book, "He Leadeth Me" that the governments then used the actions of corrupt priests as a doorway to implicate innocent priests too, likewise seen in the way of the future utopia.

Saul Alinsky taught in Rules for Radicals to use the sins of the Church to bring her down. But those sins and the bishops and priests, religious and laity who commit them are proving themselves to be just as rooted in idolatry and progressive ideology as the followers of Alinsky. These Pope Pius X warned us about in Pascendi Dominici Gregis paragraphs 2-3

We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, nay, and this is far more lamentable, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, feigning a love for the Church, lacking the firm protection of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious daring, they reduce to a simple, mere man . . .

And having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to disseminate poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic truth from which they hold their hand, none that they do not strive to corrupt. Further, none is more skilful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious arts; for they double the parts of rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error; and since audacity is their chief characteristic, there is no conclusion of any kind from which they shrink or which they do not thrust forward with pertinacity and assurance. To this must be added the fact, which indeed is well calculated to deceive souls, that they lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for the strictest morality. Finally, and this almost destroys all hope of cure, their very doctrines have given such a bent to their minds, that they disdain all authority and brook no restraint; and relying upon a false conscience, they attempt to ascribe to a love of truth that which is in reality the result of pride and obstinacy.

Pope Pius X

The attempt to imprison priests in California who choose not to violate the seal of confession, I believe, is the next step in the attempt to destroy the Catholic Church in the United States. It is now becoming clear that the faithful priests are an obstacle against the utopian vision which will use the utilitarian mechanics of infanticide and genocide to build the assumed perfect society for the current elites. In fact, Bauman explains that is exactly the result of the modern state. Since it is focused on utopia, it will use genocide to create it. 

The two most notorious and extreme cases of modern genocide did not betray the spirit of modernity. They did not deviously depart from the main track of the civilizing process. They were the most consistent uninhibited expressions of that spirit. They attempted to reach the most ambitious aims of the civilizing process most other processes stop short of, not necessarily for the lack of goodwill. They showed what the rationalizing, designing, controlling dreams and efforts of modern civilization are able to accomplish if not mitigated, curbed or counteracted. (p.92)

We can only respond by eliminating progressive ideology from our parishes, schools and pulpits and return to the call of faithfulness to the sacred tradition of the Church and the Gospels on which it is based. Many of the bishops who may disagree with our action, may not be fully aware of what is at stake and just see their mission to keep the church afloat and parishes open. Jesus reminded us that we are light to the world and it seems some bishops have yet to understand how dark the world becomes when we do not seek to be the light Christ calls us to be.  

Time will tell, but clearly the ingredients are there for another dark period in human history, this time in the United States. Also, as before, cooperation with a biased or corrupt mass media, without which the twentieth century genocides would never have happened, and the hubris in which all these attitudes are rooted—and have been since Genesis chapter 11—is leading us to disaster quickly. Like all attempts before, this will fail and destroy the progressives seeking to create it and many innocent victims along with them.

Photo: Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel Public Domain

 

Bibliography:

Anderton, Charles H. and Jurgen Brauer, Economic Aspects of Genocides, Other Mass Atrocities, and Their Preventions, 2016, London, Oxford University Press

Bauman, Zygmunt Modernity and the Holocaust, 2000; New York. Cornell University Press

Destexhe, Alain. 1994-1995. ‘The Third Genocide’. Foreign Policy (97): 3-17.

Hamburg, David A. M.D. Preventing Genocide, 2010; Bouilder, CO. Paradigm Press

Higginbotham, Adam, Midnight In Chernobyl 2019; New York, Simon and Schuster.

Maritz, Dominque, What Are the Main Causes of Genocide? 2012; E-International Relations Students (website)

Pius X, Pope, Pascendi Dominici Gregis  1907, Rome. Liberia Editrice Vaticana

Catholics Need to Tweet Correctly and Sparingly

I stopped posting on Twitter some time ago.

I read the tweets of other Catholic priests and bishops and it only confirms my decision that none of us should be tweeting.

Here is the problem with tweeting. Twitter is a general social media application/site. However, many messages that we communicate are not general messages and they do not belong on this or any similar social media site.

A tweet from Bishop Thomas Tobin brought this dynamic clearly into light. He wrote that Catholics should not go to any Pride events. This is what he said specifically:

A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ “Pride Month” events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.

Needless to say, the pushback was intense. Some approved of his words and many others rejected them and attacked not only him and his past in Pennsylvania, but also priests and bishops generally. Many added that they long ago rejected the Catholic Church and encountering those who spoke similarly to Tobin was one reason, others disagreed with Bishop Tobin’s teaching in light of the Catholic faith or Christianity in general.

Bishop Tobin’s jurisdiction is his own diocese which is the entire state of Rhode Island. So, technically, his words apply within the state of Rhode Island although, certainly no Catholic should disregard them just because they do not live in that or any New England state.

However, he and others can ask: Is Twitter the venue to address such issues in the Catholic faith?

For example, did atheists in Thailand need to see Bishop Tobin’s words? If not, then why use Twitter? It is a general app and yes, the message is relevant for a certain group, but not for all including, in this case, atheists in Thailand, who have access to the message.

If you look carefully at Christian teachings and scripture, you will see that they are directed to those that welcome them. Even Jesus himself said in Revelation, that He is knocking but the person needs to open the door.

Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount not to preach to those who did not want to hear the message.

He also says that we should not distribute our message where it is rejected. St. Paul warned against giving to the uninitiated what they cannot understand. Even the Holy Spirit directed the apostles where they should not go.

Therefore, when you are using Twitter, you are using a wide distribution where a more directed approach is warranted.

Bishop Tobin uses the law approach. Catholics should not attend a pride event because it is contrary to Catholic faith and morals. OK, but Catholics also have a mission to spread the Gospel.

Jesus called us to be witnesses to a greater truth, which includes the reality of eternal life. Christianity is more than a set of moral rules; it is an anthropology. In fact, the conflict between Christianity and secularism is on the anthropological and ontological levels; they are literally contradictory definitions of the human person. Jesus did not simply teach rules; he taught his listeners a new understanding of being — that is the point of the resurrection.

Conversion to Catholicism is a change in understanding of whom we are as human beings. Further, it is rooted in the quest for divine wisdom which feeds our morality. It is not rooted in morality alone.

I always use the approach to lead people to pray to encounter Christ and have Him lead the person to holiness. In fact, I used that approach in my homily this weekend.

Seeking holiness is the point of living our faith, as we grow in holiness we grow in our ability to be what Christ called us to be—salt of the Earth and light to the world and witnesses to Him as truth. This is important, especially in this context. Many will cite homosexuality as the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah that leads to their destruction, but if you read the scriptures, you will learn that the actual reason God destroyed those two cities was lack of righteous people. (Genesis 18:16-33) We have a calling to be holy not for our own sakes, but for others as well.

Mary at Fatima gave a similar message to the children of the importance of praying and sacrificing for sinners that they too may be saved: "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them."

If one is seeking holiness then one is not going to enter into places that will lead him or her away from it. After all, Jesus also taught that where our treasure is, so our heart is. (cf Matt 6:21)

There are Catholics who can read the bishop’s tweet and understand it to a deeper level, but there are many others, Catholics and not, who would not understand it at all as indicated by the backlash.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which takes fourteen paragraphs to define and teach on chastity, acknowledges that living in chastity is a lifetime apprenticeship—this include those who are heterosexual and those who are homosexual. It adds that Catholics need a good prayer life and Christ centered friendships both with the opposite and same sex as part of living chastity successfully. Chastity cannot be lived successfully simply through external restraint. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #237-250, 257-259)

This teaching goes beyond anything that can be expressed on Twitter effectively.

Jesus commands us to go out into the world and preach His Gospel. His Gospel is his living word and not just a code of conduct. Preaching the Gospel requires first to be transformed in Christ. It means to be infused with the Holy Trinity and to become a new person in Christ, that goes far beyond just following rules or avoiding someplace that is contrary to faith and morals.

When we truly seek Christ and his friendship, he shows us what he wants us to surrender that we may draw closer to Him. We learn that the deepest form of seeking Christ lies in dispassion in the name of seeking holiness. This means to turn from all that deters us from knowing Christ more deeply. That ancient understanding goes beyond anything that is simply in the rules of Catholicism.

Twitter is the wrong venue to communicate the teachings of the Catholic faith well. If it is used at all, the writer needs to understand the venue and write accordingly.

A better tweet would have been a link to an editorial in the diocesan newspaper with full catechesis on what the Church teaches about chastity.

Bishop Tobin released a statement of regret for his tweet saying he did not mean to offend. He never did offer any catechesis by a link through twitter or otherwise . He ended his statement wishing everyone a safe, positive and productive experience for all. 

Ultimately, it almost appears the two messages cancel themselves out.

I think that whole exercise was counterproductive to all sides and only confirms that Twitter is no place for Catholic teaching that can not be fully expressed in a simple tweet, which is virtually all of it. 

 

 Photo credit: 

Burst