Digging Deep

TRANSCRIPT

Different times require different responses.

We see that plainly played out in the Wuhan virus reality: A U.S. Navy hospital ship now sits docked in New York harbor, pulled out of military service to help civilians. Likewise, the most vibrant economy, likely more than any other in world history, has been deliberately turned off. In the nation noted for capitalism, people are actually being paid not to work. But again, different times require different responses. Clothing factories are now making facemasks.

These are strange days indeed, but nowhere near as strange as affairs in the Church. Allow us a little perspective.

The U.S. economy is being shut down so that it may be started up again. Naval ships are being used as civilian hospitals so that they may be returned to active military service. These actions and many more are being done to preserve life as much as possible, and everyone involved understands they are meant to be temporary actions, not the new normal.

But within the Church, that is not the case. Establishing a new normal is precisely the point. 

In the face of the crisis, various banks and financial management firms, for example, are sending out notifications saying people should use this time off to think in greater detail about their retirements and plan for them. "If there was ever a time that you have the time, now is the time" is the general thrust of the message. That's not bad advice, as far as it goes.

But where are the parallel letters or e-mails from bishops saying "If there was ever a time that you have the time, now is the time to prepare for eternal retirement?" It is Lent, after all, and Catholics are already supposed to be thinking that way during this season. But not only did we hear almost nothing of that prior to Wuhan, now we hear practically nothing at all in a time where bishops have the closest to a captive audience they're ever going to get. Where's the catechesis video? Where's the daily video speaking to the flock? Where's the anything?

We're deliberately choosing to highlight this point to show you that in any story, there is almost always a Catholic angle. News stories are almost exclusively about the material world, but this material world is the theater of our redemption, and therefore there is also a spiritual, supernatural dimension to practically any story you can point to. It's this mysterious mix of the natural and supernatural, the world and the Church, that we talk about at Church Militant a lot.

If you dig deep enough into any article or news report, there is almost always a Catholic "angle" that you can talk about. Do you want to talk about the leaning into Marxism or socialism by the Party of Death? There are loads of Catholic angles there to talk about for the betterment of your soul. Do you want to talk about the giant push for sodomy or gender dysphoria so dominant in the culture today? Again, there are loads of Catholic angles to talk about. And it's not just something to talk about — to wax eloquently over at some cocktail party. It's to be as well versed as you can be in doing battle for the Church.

See, times have changed from the middle of the last century, in case you hadn't noticed. And different times require different responses. Since roughly 1960, a combination of Marxism, homosexuality and professional Catholicism has set up shop in the Church and nearly wiped it out. Most baptized Catholics have little to nothing to do with the Church, many consciously rejecting Her. Seventy percent do not believe in the Real Presence. Approximately 80% do not attend weekly Mass. Ninety-plus percent reject all or most of the teachings on sexual morality.

These very topics are also what dominate the news cycle — the growing population of the unchurched, the growing embrace of socialism, the acceptance of divorce, fornication, pornogrpahy, abortion and so forth. No Catholic can step into the world — into that world — and be unprepared for battle. And it is battle, as many of you know when you speak to family or former friends, or have to unlike loads of people from your social media platforms.

For years now, Church Militant has been walking this thin line between these two dynamics — the world and the Faith. You can't live your faith other than in the world. And the world seeks to destroy your faith. So yes, it's a mess.

But decades ago, we did have some bishops who understood this dynamic and provided encouragement. So our response to the world was to listen to them and remain steadfast. But as they say: That was then, this is now. Today, there really aren't that many bishops to listen to, or even worth listening to. What do you suppose you hear from most of the more notable ones anyway? Whatever it is, it's usually not very Catholic. Heck, some of them even seem today, during the Wuhan virus, to "out-un-Catholic" the other. It's a race, literally, to the bottom.

It all began as "No Communion on the tongue." Then the next one said "Close the churches." "No laity at even private Masses," says one. "End livestreaming by priests of Masses," says another. "No funerals," says the next. "No baptisms until this is all over," says one. "No visiting the sick and dying," says another, and so it goes. How is any of that Catholic?

Spoiler alert: It isn't. There is too much of a rush to accommodate Ceasar and dump Christ with too many of this faithless crowd of bishops. This should be causing some people to stop and think, "Wait a minute ... ."

These bishops didn't just drop out of the sky. They've had this underlying approach for decades. It's just that the Wuhan virus is making it all visible now. It's all being surfaced. And that thought should lead to the next thought, which is, if these are the men who have been entrusted with teaching us the Faith, yet their actions demonstrate they don't really believe, or certainly not enough, then what truths have I not been told?

That's why we here at St. Michael's Media and Church Militant started this apostolate — because it was painfully evident that most Catholics knew nothing of their Faith. Over the years we have built up an inventory of hundreds of hours of theological, apologetic and evangelical programs meant to not only help you understand the current situation in the Church and how we got here, but also to help you understand authentic Catholicism — not the pukey drivel passed off today as the Faith.

No, we do not have a reasonable hope all men are saved. No, it is not the case that Jesus is just the "privileged way" to Heaven. No, all religions are not the same. But stop and consider, that's the message of the world that has found a home in too many chanceries, bishops conferences and parishes. They're all lies. Every single one of those claims and hundreds of others all have a genuinely Catholic response, which lays bare the lie.

That's what we do here at Church Militant: We look at news, stories, the world — even the worldliness that has invaded the Church. We expose it, explain it and give the Catholic response as loyal sons and daughters of the Church. That's why so many of these crooked, lying, thieving, gay bishops hate us — because we expose them and hit them straight in the kisser with authentic Catholicism.

So we are asking you to enrich yourself and at the same time help us continue our mission of digging deeper and providing the genuine Catholic response to these troubling times in the Church by becoming a Premium member. It's just $10 a month — less than the price of a cup of coffee a week. Your subscription not only gets you on-demand access to our vaults of Catholic content, but it also allows us to keep doing our work of reporting and evangelizing.

For those of you who are already Premium subscribers and even donors, thank you for all your support. It is greatly appreciated. For those of you about to sign up, right now — just click on the link — thank you in advance. 

Different times require different responses. We are certainly in "different" times. In the next few weeks or couple of months, the Navy hospital ship will pull anchor and go back to military service. The economy will be warming up again. Things will be on their way back to normal.

But it will not be like that in the Church. This evil has corroded the Barque of Peter for more than a century and nothing but an all-out war — as the term has been applied to fighting the Wuhan — nothing but a war is required to set the ship straight.

So please join us in the war. Help support us as well as jump into the fray with us. Again, thank you in advance.