The Placid And Comfortable Lack The Will To Survive And Protect The Church

Last week President Trump gave an address to the people of Poland.  In that speech he uttered a key statement: "The fundamental question of our time is whether the west has the will to survive".  While the president went on to answer in the affirmative, many of us aren't so certain whether that will exists.   A website called The Trumpet analyzed these presidential remarks and I think in many ways they are spot-on.

We as a nation are quite lethargic when it comes to protecting our culture for we are besotted by sin and rejection of God.  That rejection of God and exaltation of sin has become more and more ensconced in our legal and societal framework during these past few decades whereas in the early part of our nation's history, laws and customs at least gave perfunctory lip service to God and Christian values.  We know that one key effect of sin on the one committing it is that their intellect is darkened and their will is weakened.

The weakening of the will and draining of the will to survive was evident even in Old Testament history.  We can read in the books of Kings how King David, after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah, surrendered control over his own family.  Thus he was lethargic when his son raped his daughter and was murdered by another son who would go on to almost overthrow David himself.  Moving onto the Book of Judges we see how Samson was undone by his dalliance with Delilah.  The loss of will to survive has been evident almost from the start of human existence.

Not only in the arena of civil governance do we see this creeping lethargy, but also among the ranks of many Catholics.  For the sake of this post, I'm focusing on Catholics who exhibit a modicum of fidelity to the Faith by attending Mass and doing many good and charitable things within the context of their parishes.  However, when it comes to facing real threats from within the Church leadership they reflexively turn blind eyes and deaf ears to the facts that are slapping them in the face.

This deliberate blindness and deafness is magnified even more when it comes to the ever-increasing number of misbehaviors by this current pope.  I've commented about this before and now link to a LifeSiteNews article that's a few months old but still quite relevant.  Anna Silvas, who is being interviewed in that article, postulates that an "affective papalism" might be a big cause of their blindness.  That could well be a large part of the problem.  An inordinate desire for a "simplistic Catholic faith" and the overvaluing of emotions and sentiments are also factors.  When she states that Catholics who sound the alarm are berated, I can affirm that with my own experiences of being chided for being "dour" and "hateful", etc.

I now suggest that the seeking of the "simplistic" and "experiential" are inherently sinful for they involve willful (if somewhat reflexive) rejection of objective truth.  Such embrace of a subtly sinful mindset will also dull the intellect, weaken the will and diminish the will to survive as Catholics.

So now I ask this question: do the readers of this blog have the will to see our Church survive for the sake of their own souls and those whom they love?  Will they resist the insipid calls to "lighten up" and be willing not only to pray but to take decisive action if threats should present themselves?  See here, here, here, and here.  When (not "if" but "when") attacks present themselves, will we be ready to act?  Will we, as a Church, have the will to survive?