The New Persecution

Last year, I wrote that a persecution is coming for American Catholics. Others wiser than I have made similar predictions. But the coming American persecution will not take the form of persecutions in previous eras and far-off lands. As a society, America has moved beyond wholesale execution (well, at least wholesale execution of the born). There will not be heaps of corpses left in the streets or arenas full of lions waiting to devour Christians. American Christians will not face wholesale red martyrdom.
White martyrdom is the future of the faithful American Christian. The new persecution will consist of relentless character assassination directed against those Christians who dare to uphold the teachings of the Faith, especially those teachings that conflict with the new morality of modernity (where reproductive freedom trumps all other rights).
This persecution will be severe enough to ruin reputations and careers. The continued media obsession with Catholic clerical sex abuse scandals that happened in the last century (and their utter unwillingness to discuss the epidemic of sex abuse of minors in America) is but a foretaste of the onslaught that will be leveled against faithful Catholics. The Church will be perpetually accused of aiding and abetting crime, scandal, and division. Christian morality will be attacked and blamed for every evil of modernity by a hostile press, no matter how fanciful or contrived the evidence. Christians will be forced to acquiesce in behavior they consider to be immoral (this is already occurring on a small scale), or face crippling fines or government sanction. Christian owners and administrators of charities and businesses will be shut down for failing to comply with the new morality.
Those who fight against the new morality will not face death; they will be branded as bigots and troglodytes and treated with utter contempt and hostility by the elites. Christians will serve as the scapegoats of the state, perpetually defeated but always treated as dangerous threats to the forces of progress. Like Snowball in Animal Farm or Goldstein in 1984, Christians will serve as omnipresent bogeymen, politically and culturally impotent yet somehow responsible for every societal ill afflicting America. Only at the end of this persecution (and most likely not even then), when the failure of the new morality is clearly evident, will government turn its sword against Christians.
But this will not happen for at least a generation, and it will be brief when it occurs. For as they did during all other persecutions, the forces of darkness will overreach, until they collapse under the weight of their own sin. Modern America will eventually follow the lead of other nations and blithely commit demographic suicide. Any society which embraces a culture of death is in the long run unsustainable.
The response of Christians to persecution must be the same as their predecessors' answer: unwavering fidelity to the truths of the Faith, trust in Christ's promise that His Church will not fail, and burning charity to friend and foe alike. Unwavering emphasis on the truth is the only real antidote to lies, constancy the eternal answer to despair, and charity the effective response to hatred.

The Price of Relevance

The eyes of the world have been upon the Catholic Church since She chose Her new leader. Many of these eyes (especially in the press) have proven to be hostile to the new Pope Francis; highly speculative (at best) articles have already been written of the former cardinal's supposed indifference to sex abuse scandals and his supposed silence in the face of genocide. (Dr. Edward Peters has destroyed this last absurd charge.)
The intense media focus on the new Pope is to be expected, of course. Even before the conclave, speculation was thick and fast about who the new Pope would be. Journalists descended on Rome in droves. All prying eyes were shut out from the conclave which elected Pope Francis, so the products of a technologically advanced age found itself reduced to staring at a chimney, discerning the Pope's election through the color of smoke.
A Church which perpetually accused of being behind the times and irrelevant certainly receives an absurd amount of attention from the prophets of the new (im)morality of modernity. It is hilarious to watch the powers-that-be demand that She change Her doctrines to suit the modern age, as though acts of appeasement could satisfy the insatiable piranhas seeking Her destruction or Her alteration beyond recognition.
For Her implacable foes in the secular community know that She is their only opponent who could possibly halt their seemingly inexorable march to hedonism (and demographic suicide). Other sects of Christianity have doomed themselves to fracture into eternal oblivion. Other faiths (save Islam, but Islamic countries are choosing the same suicidal path as the secular world) pose no threat to their order. And the secular world despises Her for Her firm opposition to its brave new world.
The price of relevance is eternal hatred. This is why the Catholic Church stands apart from every other faith. She is relevant in a way that no other faith can or will be; a sign of contradiction in a troubled world, a conscience to a world which has mocked the very concept of conscience.
And those whom She must oppose will seek to destroy Her in any way imaginable. This is the reason that Her trolls levy constant filth at Her. It is the reason why the chattering classes so insistently demand She change. It is the reason opponents have chosen to rewrite history to denigrate Her. Unchanging in doctrine, She stands as the only viable challenge to those who would drive the world to suicide.

 

The Coming American Persecution

A persecution of Catholics in America is swiftly approaching. Obama’s HHS mandate, which actively seeks to force Catholics to pay for moral evil, is merely the first shot in the coming secular war against the Church and the principles She upholds. We Catholics must prepare for it, or else be swept away by the coming evil tide.

This coming election will determine when the persecution of Catholics begins in earnest in America. If President Obama wins re-election, he will have four years to implement his policies of persecution of the Church. If Romney wins, his election will merely delay the inevitable future persecution (if indeed his promises are true).

The persecution of Catholics was a long time in coming. American culture is rapidly becoming more crass, more arrogant, more concerned with itself and its pleasure than with fostering virtue - and has now for generations. 

Such a culture must inevitably reform itself, or participate in its own self-destruction.

But before any culture destroys itself, it will come to abhor and seek to destroy the very institutions that keep it intact. Marriage, children, religion – relentlessly, pressures are being brought to bear on these institutions holding society together, in attempts to fundamentally alter them or even destroy them. And the Church, the guardian of these institutions, is the first target of these secularizing forces which seek their destruction. 

And this persecution will be intense. As Cardinal George of Chicago famously declared: “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in a public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often in human history.”

But in a way, this is the natural state of the Church. The Church, peculiarly, always fights best when She is fighting off Her back. Broken, defeated, persecuted – it is then that She stands most powerful. The gates of Hell will never prevail against Her.

And they are coming. 

The Gift of Persecution

Thomas Jefferson once wrote that “every generation needs a revolution,” arguing revolution was necessary to keep democratic principles alive. A similar argument can be made for the Catholic Church - periodic persecution is necessary for Her long-term survival.

As Catholics still free to practice our Faith, we weep for our brothers and sisters throughout the world who face suffering and persecution. However, at the same time we also rejoice for them – those who adhere to Catholicism in the face of persecution are stronger and better Catholics for the trials they face. The victims of persecution are a beacon to non-Catholics open to truth, and an inspiration to lukewarm souls to live out their faith more fervently.

We, like our brethren, face persecution in the near future. The first symptom of the coming persecution is going to be dealing with the effects of the HHS mandate. If current trends continue, the HHS mandate is only the harbinger of a systematic persecution of Catholicism. Cardinal George of Chicago has even predicted that his successor will be martyred within two generations.

But the coming persecution will not crush the Catholic Church; trials and persecutions are beneficial to Catholicism in the long run. She has stood resolute for two thousand years against the assaults of the devil; this coming persecution will not faze Her.

Persecution will mean that the number of people who call themselves Catholic will decrease, perhaps dramatically. But those who remain faithful will be stronger, more devoted followers to the call and message of Christ.

As Catholics, we must steel ourselves for the coming combat against the foes of the Church, and accept this coming persecution as an opportunity to grow in holiness. May this coming persecution be not just a trial for us and for the Faith, but also a gift.

Christian Expectations of Evil

“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.” – Gregory VII

In the 11^th century, the great Pope Gregory VII was hounded by Emperor Henry IV, who tried to usurp power over the Church by claiming the authority to appoint bishops. The issue eventually devolved into a political and military struggle in which the Pope’s allies were ultimately defeated, and as a result Pope Gregory VII spent his last days in exile.

It is hardly surprising that Gregory would be pessimistic about human nature in his final days, considering his situation.  

Still, the “therefore” in Gregory’s statement is striking. The great Pope expected to be attacked because of his love of justice and his rectitude. In other words, he expected to be hated because he embodied Christian values.

Pope Gregory’s words should serve as a warning to every Christian. To be a Christian is to be hated in this world. Christ has even said as much, declaring that “you will be hated by all nations because of my name.” (Matthew 24:9)

For this world is a “vale of tears,” a path of trial, and a scene of suffering. The devil is the prince of this fallen world, and he will do his utmost to drag souls to hell. He will also do everything in his power to cause those under his control to attack those who are faithful to Christ.

The devil will tempt us as long as we are on earth. If we are obeying Christ, the temptations and trials of the devil will assault us. The devil will not let any soul seeking to follow Christ go unscathed.

This means that those who follow Christ will be attacked by their friends, demonized by their enemies, and assaulted by their own improper desires. And the powers of this world and the forces of darkness will unite to mock and persecute faithful Christians.

We must guard ourselves from within and without when it comes to temptation. Indeed, we must embrace that time of trial when it comes.

The trials of this world are as nothing compared to the glory of heaven. But the trials of this earth will be severe for Christians who truly seek to follow God.