Excellent Homily by Bishop Jenky in Peoria

April 15, 2012 Issue

Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, delivers his homily April 14 at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria during Mass at the "A Call to Catholic Men of Faith" event.

Catholic Post photo by Daryl Wilson

Full text of Bishop Jenky's homily at men's march and Mass

Editor's note: Following is the full text of the homily of Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, at the Mass during the April 14 "A Call to Catholic Men of Faith" in Peoria. A podcast audio version of the homily is available at
The Bishop's Podcasts.

For a story on the annual march and Mass click here.

For several photos from the event, visit The Catholic Post's site on Facebook.

------

There is only one basic reason why Christianity exists and that is the fact that Jesus Christ truly rose from the grave.

The disciples never expected the resurrection. The unanimous testimony of all four Gospels is that the terrible death of Jesus on the cross entirely dashed all their hopes about Jesus and about his message. He was dead, and that was the end of it. They looked for nothing more, and they expected nothing more.

So as much as they had loved him, in their eyes Jesus was a failed messiah. His dying seemed to entirely rob both his teaching and even his miracles of any lasting significance.

And they were clearly terrified that his awful fate, at the hands of the Sanhedrin and the Romans, could easily become their awful fate. So they hid, trembling with terror, behind shuttered windows and locked doors.

When the Risen Christ suddenly appeared in their midst, their reaction was shocked incredulity. They simply could not believe their own eyes.

Reality only very slowly began to penetrate their consciousness when Jesus offers proof of his resurrection. He shows them the wounds on his hands, his feet, and his side. Jesus even allowed them to touch him. He breaks bread with them and eats with them. And only then could they admit to themselves what had seemed absolutely impossible – the one who had truly died had truly risen! The Crucified now stood before them as their Risen, glorious, triumphant Lord.

His rising from the grave was every bit as real as his dying on the cross. The resurrection was the manifest proof of the invincible power of Almighty God. The inescapable fact of the resurrection confirmed every word Jesus had ever spoken and every work Jesus had ever done.

The Gospel was the truth. Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel. Jesus was the Savior of the world. Jesus was the very Son of God.

There is no other explanation for Christianity. It should have died out and entirely disappeared when Christ died and was buried, except for the fact that Christ was truly risen, and that during the 40 days before his Ascension, he interacted with his Apostles and disciples, and on one occasion even with hundreds of his followers.

Today’s appointed Gospel reading for this Saturday in the Octave of Easter is taken from the 16th Chapter of Mark. It concludes with a command from the lips of Jesus, given to his disciples, given to the whole Church, given to you and me assembled here today: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

We heard in today’s Second Reading from the Acts of the Apostles that the same Sanhedrin that had condemned Jesus was amazed at the boldness of Peter and John. Perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they recognized them as companions of Jesus. They warned them never again to teach, or speak to anyone, in the name of Jesus.

But the elders and the scribes might as well have tried to turn back the tide, or hold back an avalanche. Peter and John had seen the Risen Christ with their own eyes. Peter and John were filled with the Holy Spirit. They asked whether it is right “in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

And Peter and John and all the Apostles, starting first in Jerusalem in Judea and Galilee and then to the very ends of the earth, announced the Resurrection and the Good News to everyone they encountered.

According to the clear testimony of the Scriptures, these Apostles had once been rather ordinary men – like you and me. Their faith hadn’t always been strong. They made mistakes. They committed sins. They were often afraid and confused.

But meeting the Risen Lord had changed everything about these first disciples, and knowing the Risen Lord should also change everything about us.

You know, it has never been easy to be a Christian and it’s not supposed to be easy! The world, the flesh, and the devil will always love their own, and will always hate us. As Jesus once predicted, they hated me, they will certainly hate you.

But our Faith, when it is fully lived, is a fighting faith and a fearless faith. Grounded in the power of the resurrection, there is nothing in this world, and nothing in hell, that can ultimately defeat God’s one, true, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

For 2,000 years the enemies of Christ have certainly tried their best. But think about it. The Church survived and even flourished during centuries of terrible persecution, during the days of the Roman Empire.

The Church survived barbarian invasions. The Church survived wave after wave of Jihads. The Church survived the age of revolution. The Church survived Nazism and Communism.

And in the power of the resurrection, the Church will survive the hatred of Hollywood, the malice of the media, and the mendacious wickedness of the abortion industry.

The Church will survive the entrenched corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his appointed bureaucrats in HHS, and of the current majority of the federal Senate.

May God have mercy on the souls of those politicians who pretend to be Catholic in church, but in their public lives, rather like Judas Iscariot, betray Jesus Christ by how they vote and how they willingly cooperate with intrinsic evil.

As Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but as Christians we must also stand up for what we believe and always be ready to fight for the Faith. The days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction.

In our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we work – like that very first apostolic generation – we must be bold witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must be a fearless army of Catholic men, ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything for our salvation.

Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked up in the Upper Room.

In the late 19th century, Bismark waged his “Kultur Kamp,” a Culture War, against the Roman Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany.

Clemenceau, nicknamed “the priest eater,” tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.

In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

Now things have come to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgement seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.

This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries -- only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the instrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb.

No Catholic ministry – and yes, Mr. President, for Catholics our schools and hospitals are ministries – can remain faithful to the Lordship of the Risen Christ and to his glorious Gospel of Life if they are forced to pay for abortions.

Now remember what was the life-changing experience that utterly transformed those fearful and quaking disciples into fearless, heroic apostles. They encountered the Risen Christ. They reverenced his sacred wounds. They ate and drank with him.

Is that not what we do here together, this morning at this annual men’s march Mass?

This is the Saturday of the Octave of Easter, a solemnity so great and central to our Catholic faith that Easter Day is celebrated for eight full days, and the Easter season is joyously observed as the Great 50 Days of Easter. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ – risen from the grave – is in our midst. His Holy Word teaches us the truth. His Sacred Body and Blood becomes our food and drink.

The Risen Christ is our Eternal Lord; the Head of his Body, the Church; our High Priest; our Teacher; our Captain in the well-fought fight.

We have nothing to fear, but we have a world to win for him. We have nothing to fear, for we have an eternal destiny in heaven. We have nothing to fear, though the earth may quake, kingdoms may rise and fall, demons may rage, but St. Michael the Archangel, and all the hosts of heaven, fight on our behalf.

No matter what happens in this passing moment, at the end of time and history, our God is God and Jesus is Lord, forever and ever.

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

Christ wins! Christ reigns! Christ commands!

The leadership crisis continues...

Leadership is a gift, but it is also trained. There is a crisis in leadership crisis in Great Britain and America owing to the fact that the leadership training has stopped in schools, all schools, in favor of a dumbing down of gifts and the discouragement of an elite. The high schools in America moved from training a group of students to go out into the world and lead, to a democratic mode of group dynamics. This started in the 1970s. My high school and my college had leadership training as part of the classroom organization. This all disappeared when the liberal and radical agendas of the teaching unions pushed a socialist-communist order. Dewey with his ideas of social engineering also infected public education in the States. The State became all important, the creation of good citizens, as opposed to a thinking public, became the goal,. This may be called the creation of a non-elite, of a citizenry which no longer accepts hierarchical structures as the norm. Hierarchies demand leaders.

We have a crisis in Church leadership, to which I have been referring in this blog for months. The educational systems have created this crisis, and the false idea of collegiality, which claims that no one person should have more authority than the group. This mode of thinking is popular in some dioceses in Great Britain as well as in the States. Cardinals and bishops are afraid of taking a strong stand on any issues, not only for political correctness, but because they were not trained to be leaders. The old idea of noblesse oblige as disappeared in the Church. The over-emphasis on democracy as a mode of working has interfered with the idea that leadership is can be given as a charism to one or a few persons. The workers in the Church hate the word "elite", as if we are all equal in gifts and training.

A young man of the younger generation asked me the other day why people needed leaders. As an older person, I was bemused by the question. As a youth raised in a non-elitist society, he actually could not understand the idea of leadership and really wanted to understand why some young people could only follow. We need to be training leaders in the Church now, and not men who cannot accept responsibility. God gives His gifts to whom He pleases.

Christ is a Leader and was on earth. He instituted a Church which is, like any organization, based on levels of gifts and training. This type of discernment needs to happen in the seminaries. I have included a painting of St. Paul, one of the leaders in the Church.

And, now for something completely different-Maru, the Interview from my bloglist

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/maru-the-interview

Thanks to buzzfeed for this photo

What about anti-Catholic literature, which is everywhere in Britain?

Sharia in the UK: Church banned from using public market stall after distributing leaflet criticizing Islam; from the great Spencer's website

Do you think a group distributing a leaflet entitled "Why Not Christianity?" would have been banned? No, I don't think so, either. "Norwich church banned from using market stall after complaints about ‘hate-related’ leaflets," by Peter Walsh for the Norwich Evening News, April 14 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A church has been banned from using a market stall to hold its weekly outreach service following a complaint about “hate-motivated” leaflets published by the group.

The Norwich Reformed Church held a weekly outreach bookstall from the Norwich City Council-owned site on Hay Hill, but has been informed it is no longer allowed to use the stall after the council received a complaint about literature on it. The complaint prompted a review of the materials produced by Reverend Alan Clifford, pastor of the church, and the council contacted police as materials, particularly the leaflet entitled Why not Islam, were considered to be hate-motivated.

The church has been prohibited from using the site, while the council-run Eaton Park Community Centre has also been contacted with a view to ceasing any further bookings made by the church.

A council spokesman said: “We received a complaint from a member of the public about material published by the Norwich Reformed Church (associated with the Farthing Trust) which uses council facilities. This was considered to be hate-motivated and, in accordance with the agreed Norfolk Multi Agency Protocol, we contacted the police.

“Although the police advised that no criminal offence had been committed, we have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to foster good relations between people of all backgrounds and religions. By allowing premises owned by the council to be used by an organisation publishing such material, we would be failing in that duty. People across Norfolk have recently been urged to stand up to hate-motivated and intolerant behaviour through a publicity campaign and as a council we have to play our part and take action where necessary.”...

Internet Freedom At Risk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/15/web-freedom-threat-google-brin

The threat to the Internet and freedom of speech is real. Here is an article from the Guardian online. The link is obviously above.


The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world". "I am more worried than I have been in the past," he said. "It's scary."

The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry's attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of "restrictive" walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

The Enemy is Within the Church...I quote the current Pope on this point, and one only needs to look at seminaries

The very first entry in the three volume set of Gramsci's Notebooks is a reference by him to the social encyclicals regarding socialism and Modernism. Obviously, Gramsci had read these, including The Syllabus of Errors, Quanta Cura, and the writings of Pope Leo XIII. The editor of the Notebooks states that Gramsci had copies of the first two and a commentary on the third.  Gramsci wrote in 1929, that the popes taught social theory that, "1)...private property, especially 'landed property' is a 'natural right' which may not be violated, not even through high taxes (the programs of 'Christian democracy" tendency for the redistribution-with indemnity-of land to poor peasants, as well as their financial doctrines are derived from these assertions); 2) the poor must accept their lot, since it would be impious to eliminate them; 3) alms-giving is a Christian duty and implies the existence of poverty; 4) the social question is primarily moral and religious, not economic, and it must be resolved through Christian charity, the dictates of morality, and the decree of religion."  The note on this entry is worth reading as well.

My question is this. If a Marxist in prison could read all of the seminal documents, quoted on this blog almost weekly, when can't seminarians study these? I know they do not in many American seminaries, and most likely, in some European ones. I know one temporary deacon  and one seminarian, from two seminaries, in the Midwest, who have only had to read Rerum Novarum, and none of the Modernists or other encyclicals in six years of study. They do not understand Catholic teaching on socialism and the nature of the individual with regard to economic theories. They are, for all practical purposes, socialists, or at best, ignorant.

The reason for this horrible oversight in education is a twofold problem: one, many of the professors are communists or at least, socialists, and; two, many are Modernist heretics. Sorry, this is true.

The litmus test for such things is not been applied at all seminaries. Blessed John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem; with the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity has been systematically ignored by some seminary administrations. This disobedient mode of working and hiring of instructors continues, to the detriment of the Church. Ignorance is exactly the fertile ground for the Marxist agenda. As the Pope said last winter, the "enemy is within" the Church.


The fact that the Cardinals and bishops in discussion with the media and powers that be in the States do not have a strong background in Catholic political thought does not help the present arguments on religious liberty. One only has to listen to the vocabulary of some church leaders to hear a lack of sophistication absolutely needed at the time. 

All das Beste zum Geburtstag! Viva la Papa!

Happy Birthday, Your Eminence, Pope Benedict XVI!   Many Happy Years and God Bless you!

A Reminder--Read the Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae

This morning at breakfast here in Surrey, a couple, two others, and I were discussing the problem of religious freedom in the States and the fact that Americans are much more sensitive to the Church being active in politics than here in England. This is at least the sixth time I have had this discussion with British Catholics in recent months. English history, especially the Recusant time (1590-1791), has left its mark on the psyche of many Catholics here, who still want their faith to be "private". In addition, there are less solidly Catholic families with a long tradition of Catholicism, which sadly makes the convert in the family either estranged or quieter than perhaps a family of Catholics, both practicing and fallen away, which is not afraid of disagreement. Whatever the historical, personal or psychological reasons, the average Catholic in Great Britain is not inclined to political activity from the basis of being Catholic. Many Catholics I have spoken with here in England over the past year express an envy of our bishops in the States and the strong Catholic conservative communities, such as the pro-life groups, etc.

Mirror of Justice has an excellent article on the religious liberty issue in America, which is worth reading. Here is the link. However, I was reminded by the author to look at the document of the Church, the Declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae. I quote from it:


Since the common welfare of society consists in the entirety of those conditions of social life under which men enjoy the possibility of achieving their own perfection in a certain fullness of measure and also with some relative ease, it chiefly consists in the protection of the rights, and in the performance of the duties, of the human person.(4) Therefore the care of the right to religious freedom devolves upon the whole citizenry, upon social groups, upon government, and upon the Church and other religious communities, in virtue of the duty of all toward the common welfare, and in the manner proper to each.
The protection and promotion of the inviolable rights of man ranks among the essential duties of government.(5) Therefore government is to assume the safeguard of the religious freedom of all its citizens, in an effective manner, by just laws and by other appropriate means.
Government is also to help create conditions favorable to the fostering of religious life, in order that the people may be truly enabled to exercise their religious rights and to fulfill their religious duties, and also in order that society itself may profit by the moral qualities of justice and peace which have their origin in men's faithfulness to God and to His holy will. (6)
If, in view of peculiar circumstances obtaining among peoples, special civil recognition is given to one religious community in the constitutional order of society, it is at the same time imperative that the right of all citizens and religious communities to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice.
Finally, government is to see to it that equality of citizens before the law, which is itself an element of the common good, is never violated, whether openly or covertly, for religious reasons. Nor is there to be discrimination among citizens.


Any Catholic who has not read this document should do so. Some may be surprised at the strong statements herein. We studied this in high school in a part of a class of "separation of church and state" and I can assure you we came away with the idea that it is the duty of any state to protect religion and religious freedom.


The argument from some that the Bishops' Statement on Religious Liberty (link) is partisan merely shows that there are some non-thinking critics who need to realize that it is, sadly, one party at this time, which is compelling all Catholics to take a stand to defend not only our own Church and Her Teachings, but Life itself. The Catholic Church has never taught a complete separation of church and state, seeing the need for the state to protect religious freedom. One must be careful not to error on either side, that is, a completely religious state, such as sharia law states, or a completely non-religious or even anti-religious state, which is where America is heading quickly.

The other part of this discussion would be the importance and indeed, superiority of the Western legal,  political, and governmental heritage. But, that is another post. We should always be proud to be in Judeo-Greco-Romano-Christian tradition; that is, the heritage of Western Civilization.
By the way, the SSPX has just come out against the Bishop's Statement. You can decide if the arguments there pertain to this discussion or are merely a knee-jerk reaction against anything which came out of Vatican II.

Having said that, I do uphold the teachings of Leo XIII in Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, a snippet here given.

From the foregoing it is manifest, beloved son, that we are not able to give approval to those views which, in their collective sense, are called by some "Americanism." But if by this name are to be understood certain endowments of mind which belong to the American people, just as other characteristics belong to various other nations, and if, moreover, by it is designated your political condition and the laws and customs by which you are governed, there is no reason to take exception to the name. But if this is to be so understood that the doctrines which have been adverted to above are not only indicated, but exalted, there can be no manner of doubt that our venerable brethren, the bishops of America, would be the first to repudiate and condemn it as being most injurious to themselves and to their country. For it would give rise to the suspicion that there are among you some who conceive and would have the Church in America to be different from what it is in the rest of the world.

But the true church is one, as by unity of doctrine, so by unity of government, and she is catholic also. Since God has placed the center and foundation of unity in the chair of Blessed Peter, she is rightly called the Roman Church, for "where Peter is, there is the church." Wherefore, if anybody wishes to be considered a real Catholic, he ought to be able to say from his heart the selfsame words which Jerome addressed to Pope Damasus: "I, acknowledging no other leader than Christ, am bound in fellowship with Your Holiness; that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that the church was built upon him as its rock, and that whosoever gathereth not with you, scattereth."

The danger of the leaders of the Church is to give to much credence to the idea that the response to religious freedom would be any different in any country of the world, or indeed, that the response to the Church should be any different under the American Constitution than in any nation. The heresy of Americanism is based on a false premise that Rome did not understand or appreciate the "American Experience". As the Church is universal and created by God Himself, of course, this argument is not only fallacious, but extremely protestant.  The Church must be protected by the State, not merely tolerated as one more religion among many. Religious liberty does NOT mean that all religions are the same. We have the One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church instituted by Christ Himself. No other religion claims that, or can.

In addition, as stated by Pope Leo XIII, These dangers, viz., the confounding of license with liberty, the passion for discussing and pouring contempt upon any possible subject, the assumed right to hold whatever opinions one pleases upon any subject and to set them forth in print to the world, have so wrapped minds in darkness that there is now a greater need of the Church's teaching office than ever before, lest people become unmindful both of conscience and of duty.

This means, simply, that there is a hierarchy of ideas in reality, that the Teachings of the Church ARE NOT EQUAL BUT SUPERIOR to those of other faiths, and that the Church transcends any political or governmental system with regard to Truth. Sadly, I have not heard this from leaders in the Church recently, at least in discussions in the media, where the Church has great leverage as well as coverage.

Not all ideas are equal and not all words can be tolerated. American heretics want to hold that the Church does not have a privileged place in society and in law. She does.


Read both documents side by side--pray, and keep thinking outside of merely the Constitutional rights, but the rights of the Church qua Church.

Act of Oblation of The Little Flower

Today, for many people, is Mercy Sunday. I do not live near a church which will celebrate this. However, I found an old holy card, dated July 31, 1923 which includes an Act of Oblation composed by St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Doctor of the Church. The oblation is made to the Merciful Love of the Good God.

I share the prayer here. There is a Plenary Indulgence connected with this prayer "once a month on the ordinary conditions to those who have daily recited the Act, Given at Rome." Conditions are usually Confession once every two weeks, daily Mass if possible, or a Mass for the Plenary Indulgence, and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, usually three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys and three Glory Bes. One must check the local diocese and country, as conditions for indulgences vary, for example, from Europe to England to America in certain cases.

"That my life may be one act of perfect love, I offer myself as Victim of Holocaust to Thy Merciful Love, imploring Thee to consume me unceasingly, and to let the floodtide of infinite tenderness pent up in Thee, flow into my soul, that so I may become a martyr of Thy Love, O my God! May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before Thee, break life's web at last, and my my soul take its flight, unhindered, to the eternal embrace of They Merciful Love. I desire, O my Beloved, at every heartbeat to renew this oblation an infinite number of times, till the shadows fade away and I can tell Thee my love eternally face to face..."


"That my life may be one Act of perfect Love".


Later this week, I shall continue my series on Perfection, and look more closely on the need for purification before seeing God's Face at death. Purgation is necessary either now, or later, in Purgatory. By giving ourselves over to God's Love now, we engage in that purification. God is Mercy and Love and this is the time of Mercy and Love. For those who have asked for a compilation of this series, I promise I shall get to it this week, when I have, hopefully, some time to do so. Thank you for the request.

Real Hope Is Only Found in Christ

Bishop Kieran Conry's Pastoral Letter for Low Sunday, found here in its entirety, is a message of hope for all.  A selection follows:

John also has Mary coming to the tomb. This is Mary Magdalene, and she finds the tomb empty and tells the others. In this account Peter is beaten in the race to the tomb, but when the two disciples find it empty they understand what the cloths lying there mean, and go back home. Mary stays outside the tomb weeping, and Jesus approaches her, but she doesn’t recognise him until he calls her by name. She goes back and tells them what she saw, and then that evening Jesus appears in their midst and speaks to them. His first words are, “Peace be with you.” In some ways this might be a simply reassurance for them, because John says the doors were closed “for fear of the Jews.” The disciples are now filled with joy, but again he says, “Peace be with you.” Curiously, it is also the greeting Jesus uses in Luke’s account when he appears to them all.

This greeting is more than just an attempt to calm or reassure a group of frightened people. It is a message that is profoundly associated with the events we have just celebrated. It is a reassurance for us in our anxieties and fears. It is a promise that, as the other John says in the second reading, we need not fear, “because anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world.” It is a way of pointing us to the consequences of the death and resurrection of Christ, that our sins have been forgiven and that salvation has been won for us all. We have been brought back into that relationship with God that we lost in sin; God the Father has shown us just how much he loves us, by sending his only Son to die that we might live. Here is the cause of our peace. This is why at this time we can feel reassured, despite all our own secret anxieties and fears.

The Elephant in the Church....

In Notebook 2 from 1929-1933, Gramsci, using R. Michels and Max Weber, writes a long entry on the fact that bourgeois, socialist and Marxist parties have been formed around a charismatic leader. Gramsci also refers to Yves Guyot's idea of the religious orders taking their names and charisms from such men-Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, etc. Gramsci even refers to the anarchists and the anarcho-syndicalists, still alive and well today in Italy as seen in the troubles last Autumn, as groups, oddly organizing sometimes around a person of charism, despite the fact that these groupings are anti-authoritarian.

He goes on the write that the "basis of these parties is faith and the authority of a single individual. (No one has ever seen any such party; certain expressions of interests are, at certain times, represented by certain more or less exceptional personalities. During certain periods of  'permanent anarchy', due to the static equilibrium of the conflicting forces, a mans represents 'order'....there always is a program...which is general precisely because its only aim is to repair the exterior political facade of a society which is not undergoing a real constitutional crisis, but only a crisis arising out of the inordinate number of malcontents who cannot be easily controlled because of their sheer numbers and because of the simultaneous, but mechanically simultaneous, display of discontent across a whole nation...."


This is what Europe saw in the rioting of the past Autumn and early Winter of 2012

Gramsci also refers to "doctrinaire" parties, such as "free market or protectionist parties or parties which proclaim rights of freedom and justice..."

Basing his discussion on Michels, Gramsci notes that Mussolini at the time falls into this category of charismatic leader of a party. We now can add Hitler, Mao, and many others to this discussion.

For the purposes of a Catholic political discussion, we must note that Gramsci is both right and wrong on two accounts, as he finds that communism is the only answer to what he sees as faulty political analyses of Michels and the need for a system which acknowledges class struggles-the fixation of the Marxist.

Firstly, because Gramsci eschews religion as a reality for social change and for social unity, he wants political organizations to take the place of a religious philosophy underlying all; for example, we as Catholics would start with a Natural Law philosophical position and move to an ethical or moral position of government based on Christian principles and the Christian definitions of State and individual (Maritain has an excellent book on this subject-The Person and the Common Good-which I read many years ago, but is still valid for discussion. 


That the Marxist only has a material and in Gramsci's case, a historical view of humankind, and the individual, the spiritual goals of men and women are only considered in terms of a vague morality. Here is Gramsci in Notebook 4- "Clearly, neither materialist nor idealist monism, neither matter nor spirit, but historical materialism, i.e. activity of people (history) .. i.e. applied to a determinate organised material (material force of production), to nature reshaped by people. Philosophy of act (praxis), but not of the pure act, on the contrary, of the impure, i.e. the real, act in the profane sense of the word.." .And, again.."In this way we also arrive at a fusion, a making into one, of 'philosophy and politics,' of thinking and acting, in other words we arrive at a philosophy of praxis." And in Notebook 8, "Where, in a philosophy of praxis, everything is praxis, the difference will not be between moments of absolute spirit, but between structure and superstructures; it will be a matter of establishing the dialectical position of political activity as differentiation in the superstructures." (some quotation marks are changed or missing from my transcription).


Man becomes the only meaning to his own destiny and the only goal of history, which he created. Unlike the Catholic, who sees the Incarnation of the God-Man, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, as the culminating event of human history, combined with the Resurrection from the Dead, as the changing event of all history, Gramsci cannot believe in the spiritual reasons for history-that is-the renewal of the world and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Man is the creator of his own destiny. And politics becomes the only force for change-that is, political action tied to the Marxist ideology. Some critics disagree with the Marxist ideological underlay to Gramsci's ideas of praxis and history, but these are intertwined and used interchangeably. I am not going to get into the discussions about whether Gramsci's ideas vary from traditional Marxism here. But, I want those in the Church to understand where the financial and social thinkers of Europe have imbibed these ideas and are creating or destroying, the new Europe accordingly.


Now, there is one "party" which has for all time a charismatic leader, who is not a political king but King of the Universe and that is Christ. Sadly, as the Marxist can only think and work in materialist terms, the spiritual nature of the Kingdom, that is, the changing of men's hearts to those of love and consideration for their neighbor, is not a reality.


Secondly, the problem with his analysis of other philosophers of politics or history is that he uses the same framework of class struggle, not believing at all in noblese oblige, or the requirement of the rich to help the poor while recognizing differences. I find it interesting that Gramsci is so optimistic, so hopeful as to political change based on an intellectual change, rather than a change in the spirit. He used the word spirit, but by that does not mean an eternal life in each individual but some sort of movement of man, not unlike those of the progressivists, whom he criticizes. This second error, of ignoring the eternal spirit, means that political struggle and cultural change is all important, is the only way for humans to live in peace. His ideas are utopianism in another disguise, and as such, fall into the heresy of wanting a perfect system on earth, which is not possible.


Once someone denies the spiritual and only works in the material, this utopianism is the only goal of all activity. Of course, I am looking only at the Notebooks and some of the Letters, hardly a complete philosophical system is created therein. But, the effect of such notes and references has been a cultural revolution in Europe and now in America, which needs addressing.


Modern secular humanism substitutes the same ethical framework. The Post-Moderns would find a home in Gramsci, perhaps even the late Christopher Hitchens, who had an ethical outlook without the framework of religious dogma. This type of atheism is popular in Europe and increasingly so in the States. But, what I find most disturbing, and what I am trying to address, are the Catholics who are "practical atheists" in that they believe the same premises as the secular humanists and Gramsci, but call themselves Catholics.


Now, the reason this discussion is so important for me is that too many discussions concerning socialism or communism center only on the economic structures and not the philosophical structures of atheism and secular humanism. Those in the Church need to engage a conversation at this level-of showing that the individual and his rights are at stake not merely because of economic structures, but because of the denial of the Incarnation as a force in history and in the world. This is not to fall into Liberation Theology, which sees Jesus only as a material Messiah, but to stress the recreating nature of Catholicism as a force in politics and cultural renewal from the spreading of the Gospel message. Unless the larger view is established in the minds of priests, bishops and cardinals, as well as the laity, the Church will lose many souls and nations to a more organized social restructuring. The Church can do the restructuring, but only with open eyes and a clear message of evangelization. This cannot be merely a softly, softly approach, but one of passion and conviction, which so many Catholics eschew.

Many years ago, the post office lost my copy of Enthusiasm by Ronald Knox, which would come in handy here as another critique of fanaticism, both spiritual and material, which we are dealing with in the socialists and communists of Europe. If someone wants to buy me another copy, I would appreciate it. The socialist and communist agendas must be examined in the light of Catholic heresies, held by a large majority of Catholics in Europe. Catholic Churchmen in America must stop playing footsy with any type of socialism and communism, which happens too often, even in seminaries.

Are we spreading the joy of Christ in the world? Are we evangelizing? Do we expect exciting things to happen because Christ is in our lives??

The priest who has been giving the sermons this week at St. Joseph's in Dorking is an excellent homilist. Father Terry Martin manages to give ideas in a short manner which one can mull over the entire day. Yesterday, Father exclaimed that when the Resurrected Jesus enters our lives, exciting things happen and we are never the same. True and simple. What exciting things one may wonder, but the life of joy and the life of the virtues would be exciting in this day and age of sadness, gloom and general lack of virtues. The point Father was making is to be open to Christ changing us, giving us grace, and inviting us to join in His Life.

This morning, the message was connected, but emphasized our duty to go out and change the world by our Christian commitment. The world needs us to bring Christ into a morass of paganism and depression. Father noted that the apostles and disciples were grieving at the loss and manner of the death of their Beloved Jesus when Mary Magdalen brought news that He was and is alive. What confusion this must have caused, noted Father, but the message of Life brought hope and joy to all, as it does to us. The command to preach to all nations, to carry the joy of the Resurrection out into the world, needs to be taught from the pulpit, as did good Father Terry this morning and all week.


Mark 16: 9 - 15 (thanks to ewtn website)

---

9 Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.10,She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.14 Afterwards he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.15 And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

Mayor Boris Johnson Crosses Christians on Homosexuality

I actually enjoy watching the London Mayor's Question Time, as he is very entertaining. However, I am not happy about this action, reported on LifeSite News. Here is the entire article.

London mayor sued for pulling ‘Ex-Gay and Proud’ adverts from London’s buses

Hilary White, Rome Correspondent

Fri Apr 13 11:17 EST

Faith

LONDON, April 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party mayor of London, is being sued by a Christian organization whose bus advertisements for overcoming same-sex attraction he ordered pulled.

Saying, “Not gay, ex-gay, post-gay, and proud! Get over it,” the nixed slogans were the work of the Core Issues Trust, a Christian organization that helps churches minister to those who want to overcome their temptations to homosexual behavior. The ads were also backed by the group Anglican Mainstream, a worldwide organization of Anglicans who seek to restore traditional Christianity to their communion. The ads were due to run for two weeks on London’s iconic red buses, starting from Monday. Now, however, the group is reported to be instructing lawyers to launch a suit.

The campaign was cleared by industry regulator the Advertising Standards Authority. It was intended to be an answer to a similar pro-homosexual ad campaign that said, “Some people are gay. Get over it,” sponsored by the homosexualist lobby group Stonewall.

Core Issues co-director Mike Davidson responded to Johnson’s action, saying, “I didn’t realise censorship was in place.”

“We went through the correct channels and we were encouraged by the bus company to go through their procedures. They okayed it and now it has been pulled.

“It is of deep concern that there can only be one point of view and that is the point of view of individuals who are determined to push through gay marriage and apparently believe that homosexuality cannot be altered in any possible way. That is not a universally held view.”

Johnson reacted after a chorus of rage from homosexualist campaigners, who argue that homosexuality can only ever be a natural life-long variant of human sexuality, the cornerstone of the homosexualist political schema. The far-left Guardian newspaper reports that the mayor, who is facing an election next month, contacted the paper to announce that he had banned the ads “within two hours of their contents becoming public,” to stave off a political backlash from the homosexualist lobby.

“London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses,” the Guardian quoted the mayor as saying.

The incident illustrates the growing reality that even to assert that there are some people afflicted with unwanted same-sex attraction who do not want to live the homosexual lifestyle, is now regarded as “anti-gay.”

Lesley Pilkington, a Christian psychotherapist, who is under investigation by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy for her therapy for homosexuals, told LifeSiteNews.com that she is not surprised that Johnson would get “cold feet,” over such an ad.

“On the one hand, it’s shocking, such a lack of freedom of speech, but on the other, I’m not too surprised,” she said.

“Boris Johnson is very concerned to get re-elected, and there is such a lot of intimidation on the part of gay activists. You just don’t say the kind of things this bus campaign is saying if you want to get reelected as mayor.”

“I think people don’t understand just how political it is in the UK,” she said. “Anything to do with the gay activists’ agenda, particularly with the marriage campaign, is political dynamite.”

The climate right now, she said, is immensely hostile to anyone who opposes the homosexualist political agenda. She recounted the story of a Christian Conservative Party MP, David Burrowes, who received death threats after he signed a petition to retain the current legal definition of marriage.

Pilkington said that the traditional reserve of British political debate is a thing of the past on these issues, and there is growing tolerance for overtly anti-Christian rhetoric. And it is having the desired effect; Christians, she said, are responding by remaining silent: “There’s just such a lot of fear.”

Mrs. Pilkington related the story of a conversation with a Catholic bishop, Philip Tartaglia of Paisley, Scotland, who gave the keynote address at a conference in Oxford on religious freedom.

The bishop had asked Mrs. Pilkington why there is such a lot of political power behind the homosexualist political movement. She replied that, while it is “good to have an intellectual discussion” on the impact of equalities and hate crimes legislation and related issues, “at the end of the day what it’s about is intimidation and bullying and fear” by homosexuals to silence opposition.

“People are afraid, so they agree rather than face opposition that is aggressive. So people who have the information, those who know about the dangers of the homosexual life, don’t speak out.

“The bishop totally agreed with me, saying that he was glad that I as a psychotherapist could say that, but he couldn’t. People would expect him to say what I said but he couldn’t say it.

“My question is why can’t he say it? Why should that silence him, people saying ‘you would say that,’ when in fact he doesn’t.”