Born for Combat

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TRANSCRIPT
 

There is a call to duty for Catholics to be involved heavily in the affairs of the world — meaning, the Church, as well, since She operates in the world. Pope Leo summed it up well, in the late 19th century: Catholics, he said, are made for combat. He penned those words in an encyclical that virtually no Catholic knows of, and even more reject: Sapientiae Christianae (Christians as Citizens), issued in 1890.

Pope Leo spent a good deal of his time, huge amounts of his time, dealing with social issues and the duty of Catholics to respond — meaning fight. He was doing this in reaction to the ever-increasing threat of the Marxist specter, still somewhat in its infancy, but, nonetheless, gaining strength.

He saw the lies in Marxism — communism — and declared that Catholics have a primary duty to rise up against this: "To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe."

Did you catch that? One more time for emphasis: "To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe."

Let's boil it down: If you are a wimp or stay silent, you either have no character or no faith. While that line paints a horrifying picture of the number of bishops who will be damned, it is a certainty that there will be many laymen right there with them in eternal torment.

When he declared that we are born for combat, it was no accident he used a military reference — not to promote violence, but massive resistance and to be on the offensive. Likewise, this apostolate did not, by chance or a throw of the dice, choose the name Church Militant. Catholics are born for combat — spiritual combat which flows into the world.

Too few Catholics have a sufficient understanding that their eternal salvation depends on how hard they fight against evil in all its locales. Fighting societal evils, as well as in the Church, is a core component of evangelization. Where the truth is not proclaimed with full vigor, falsehoods and lies rush in to fill the vacuum.

What was happening in society that Leo was warning about was also happening in the Church at the same time, which is why the next pope, St. Pius X, issued his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Feed My Sheep), warning bishops around the world about the great heresy of modernism. Two encyclicals, almost back-to-back, from two back-to-back popes, warning about, first, Marxism and then modernism.

With one single generation, Holy Mother Church had zeroed in and attacked the dual-headed monster, the leviathan, recognizing that each deadly threat emanated from the same source. Modernism and Marxism are the same beast — one head arising from the State, the other from religion. If you want a clearer reference to St. John's Apocalypse, you'd be hard-pressed to find one.

And to provide just one small but direct example, look at the cooperation, for example, between the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the U.S. government. The bishops have the gall to send out emails asking for donations from average Catholics while at the same time receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the anti-Catholic government.

Talk about a two-headed monster — CRS and others of these "church charities," like Catholic Campaign for Human Development, have been proven time and time again to cooperate with contraception, abortion, and sterilization programs in third-world countries. Closer to home, they work hand in glove with Democrats to get their targeted voters to keep the machinery well-oiled. And why not? They rake in more than half their annual budget from the united Party of Death establishment.

If you are Catholic and giving to these appeals from the bishops, when they are already making huge amounts of money hand over fist as a reward for cooperating with the Culture of Death, then you've got to be brain-dead. As we said, the fight, the combat, that Catholics must be engaged in is part of evangelization — bringing the truth of the gospel to society and not just some mealymouthed "Jesus loves you," look-how-cool-we-are style, but a ferocity to tear down the walls of this evil empire — combat.

Do you not realize that the silence and indifference to all this are not only costing souls their eternal lives but will cost you yours as well? Father John Hardon — God rest his soul — Servant of God Fr. Hardon said, "Any Catholic not involved in the work of evangelization might never entertain a serious hope for the Beatific Vision." Want something to meditate on for Lent that doesn't comport with your comfortable, sweet, little piety? Think on that for a moment.

Catholics are born for combat. Want more? Hear Our Blessed Lord: "You are the salt of the earth; but what happens when the salt loses its flavor? It is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." (Matthew 5:13) Who do you think He's talking to? Catholics.

The leviathan of Marxism and modernism is what Church Militant has set our sights on. They are different sides of the same coin; they work hand in hand. If you don't get that, just check out that FBI dossier. Church Militant ferociously announces Catholic truth, unwaveringly attacks this evil empire. No Catholic apostolate sees and operates with this clear understanding that modernism and Marxism are the same beast.

The horrors in the Church are deeply related to the horrors in the State and culture; they feed off each other. This is why we are in the midst of our dollar-a-day campaign right now, asking you to donate just $1 a day to our vital work here.

We are human beings, a composite of body and soul, and that means our work as Catholics, our combat, must be waged both in the culture as well as against the evils within the Church. A saint once said, "The only way to win Heaven is to die fighting."

Fighting is what we are all about here at Church Militant. It's why so many hate us in the Church and now, more recently revealed, in the government as well. It's only fitting, though — only Church Militant has taken on both Marxism and modernism, so now they are each taking us on.

Please support us in this fight that, as long as we are breathing, we will never back down from. The media is our weapon — but the salvation of souls is our cause. Please support us in this by donating $1 a day to our work.