We Are Losing The Culture War!
“And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:
Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” (Isaiah 29:13-14)
A ‘Catholic’ Promotes Abortion
I would like to begin today with a look at a lady called Josepha Madigan. Josepha, a Fine Gael TD, who is 48 years old and married with two children, has been chosen to lead the Fine Gael campaign to repeal the eighth amendment to our constitution. What may shock some of our readers is the fact that Josepha claims to be a Catholic. She is a reader at Holy Mass and is also involved with the Baptism Team in her parish in Dublin. Josepha prepares parents for the baptism of their children, children whom she is now campaigning to be allowed to be put to death before their birth in certain circumstances.
Josepha, who supports allowing women to kill their unborn children, is quoted in one of Ireland’s daily propaganda sheets which masquerades as a ‘newspaper’ as follows.
“I mentioned my faith because I think there are a lot of people in Ireland… who are members of the Catholic Church and feel that the two (support for abortion and Catholicism) aren’t reconcilable…I do believe that they are.”
A ‘Catholic’ Promotes Divorce
Catholic Voice readers may also be interested to learn that Josepha also introduced a private members bill to the Dáil in July 2016 with the support of both the Minister for Justice and the then ‘catholic’ Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The bill proposes having a referendum to reduce the time of separation required before initiating proceedings for a divorce, from four years to two years. Josepha says “There are too many separated couples who cannot extricate themselves from each other within a reasonable time limit. The bill is simple common sense.”
The Collapse of Catholic Education
I grew up in the same area of Dublin as Josepha Madigan. Indeed, I remember her father, Paddy Madigan, canvassing for votes for Fianna Fáil. I am not shocked that both Josepha Madigan and our former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, have no problem with claiming that they are Catholic whilst supporting anti-Catholic divorce and abortion legislation. Both are products of the total collapse in Ireland of Catholic education and of catechesis which has occurred, or which has been permitted to occur, in our times. Both live in a time when the leaders of the Catholic church in Ireland refuse to discipline the flock which God has entrusted to them and thus these Catholic leaders permit chaos to reign within the house of God.
There Are No Catholic Schools in Ireland
There are no longer any Catholic schools in Ireland nor have there been any for quite some time. The secular state has been allowed to control the curriculum, whilst our bishops have managed to retain ownership of the buildings. How the children turn out depends more on who controls the curriculum than on who controls the buildings, a fact that our government ministers have been aware of for quite some time. Both Enda Kenny and Josepha Madigan were educated in ‘catholic’ schools. That they are both advocates for divorce and abortion, clearly shows that these ‘catholic’ schools have failed in their objective to pass on the Catholic faith.
That both Josepha and Enda claim to be Catholics in good standing, is reminiscent of something that Cardinal Burke said at the talk he delivered at our conference in Limerick last November, a talk which he titled ‘Fatima and the Great Apostasy’, and which we hope to have available in video format very soon.
Russia Spreads Her Errors
In that talk Cardinal Burke said, “One of the famous agents for the spread of communism in the United States of America, Saul Alinsky, says in his manual for instructing those who would work with him, that they should appear to be devout Catholics. That they should appear to be supporting the work of the church in every way, even while they were leading people in a direction of denial of their Catholic faith and of rebellion against the law of God.”
The errors of communism are spreading in Ireland too, just as Our lady of Fatima warned us they would.
We Are Being Asked to Permit the Killing of Children
We have now arrived at a situation in Ireland where we are being asked to repeal the eighth amendment to our constitution in order to permit abortions to be performed here on an ever-wider scale. We are being asked to take the control over our pro-life laws away from the people of Ireland, and to hand that control to a bunch of morally corrupt politicians. That we are now depending solely on a piece of legislation to stop people from killing children, shows us that we have currently lost the culture war in Ireland. I do not find this surprising, because during my own lifetime, I have not seen that many people fighting for the culture. There are plenty of pro-life groups doing great work, but the general focus has been too narrow, and God and the Catholic faith have tended to be side-lined or ignored in many of the public debates on moral and cultural issues. The result is that the culture has become more and more toxic to the very notion of the Catholic faith.
Much of the Damage is Self-inflicted
Much of the damage to the culture is self-inflicted, because so many ‘catholics’ amongst every rank, have compromised the Catholic faith of their baptism. Josepha Madigan’s current archbishop denied the existence of hell in a radio interview in May 2014. Many senior clerics, including some cardinals of the Catholic church, are now actively working to undermine Catholic teaching on marriage and family life.
Poland sets the Example
We should take note of the work of the laity in Poland. There they have a catholic lawyers group who advise their political legislators on how to change the culture. At the last general election in Poland, not one left wing politician was elected. They have managed to overturn their country’s liberal abortion laws and last year they came very close to outlawing abortion altogether. Most recently Poland has implemented a ban on Sunday trading. They are changing the wider culture because they realise that there is a connection between abortion and shopping on a Sunday. The connection is this, both practices dishonour God.
In August 2016, the Polish government received the prestigious award of the European
Large Families Confederation. This prize brings to light “a breakthrough in Polish family
policy, as it is the first widespread, systematic and direct financial support for families
with children. It recognizes the economic value of family care and education.”
The Polish Constitution Protects Marriage
Incidentally, the Polish constitution guarantees in article 18, that “marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland”
Catholic Families Make Catholic Culture
When we look to the culture, the solution is simple. Catholic families make up Catholic culture. If we evangelise families so that their outlook becomes Catholic, then our culture will revert to being Catholic. There is no other long-term solution to the problems of divorce, abortion, and the other evils which plague our modern neo-pagan society. We must return God to His proper place so that our society may receive His blessings once again.
Of course, we must fight the battle to save the eighth amendment to our constitution but mark my words, if we win this battle the enemy will simply re-group and launch a new campaign for abortion based on what he will have learned from this particular battle. Our enemies know that they are winning the culture wars and that it is therefore only a matter of time before they get their way on abortion provided we do not regain the culture. They also know, that if we do regain the culture through the promotion of Catholic marriage and family life, then their days are numbered.
Promoting the Constant Teachings of the Catholic Church
This is why Legio Sanctae Familiae seeks to promote the constant and unchanging teachings of the Catholic church on marriage and family life as contained in the encyclical ‘Casti Connubii’ of Pope Pius XI. This is why ‘A Conference of Catholic Families’ was hosted in August 2018, on those very teachings and this is why we reach out to you for support, because the decisive issue for any culture is precisely marriage and family life. This is what Sr Lucia of Fatima told Cardinal Carlo Caffara and she also said that it would be the final battle between the reign of satan and Christ.
Let me finish this week with another quote from ‘Casti Connubii’
“Even the very best instruction given by the Church, however, will not alone suffice to bring about once more conformity of marriage to the law of God; something more is needed in addition to the education of the mind, namely a steadfast determination of the will, on the part of husband and wife, to observe the sacred laws of God and of nature in regard to marriage. In fine, in spite of what others may wish to assert and spread abroad by word of mouth or in writing, let husband and wife resolve: to stand fast to the commandments of God in all things that matrimony demands; always to render to each other the assistance of mutual love; to preserve the honour of chastity; not to lay profane hands on the stable nature of the bond; to use the rights given them by marriage in a way that will be always Christian and sacred, more especially in the first years of wedlock, so that should there be need of continency afterwards, custom will have made it easier for each to preserve it.
In order that they may make this firm resolution, keep it and put it into practice, an oft-repeated consideration of their state of life, and a diligent reflection on the sacrament they have received, will be of great assistance to them. Let them constantly keep in mind, that they have been sanctified and strengthened for the duties and for the dignity of their state by a special sacrament, the efficacious power of which, although it does not impress a character, is undying. To this purpose we may ponder over the words full of real comfort of holy Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, who with other well-known theologians with devout conviction thus expresses himself: “The sacrament of matrimony can be regarded in two ways: first, in the making, and then in its permanent state. For it is a sacrament like to that of the Eucharist, which not only when it is being conferred, but also whilst it remains, is a sacrament; for as long as the married parties are alive, so long is their union a sacrament of Christ and the Church.” (Casti Connubii 110)
© John Lacken 2018
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Author: John Lacken
‘Legio Sanctae Familiae’ – The Legion of the Holy Family
E-Mail: john@truedevotions.ie
Mob: +353 (0)85-1208779
Website: www.truedevotions.ie
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