Archbishop Chaput Reads This Blog

Or at least says a bunch of the same stuff that we've been saying here.

I direct you to this particular shpiel that he recently provided. Read it. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Just take a look at this:

These events suggest an emerging, systematic discrimination against the Church that now seems inevitable.

Today’s secularizers have learned from the past. They are more adroit in their bigotry; more elegant in their public relations; more intelligent in their work to exclude the Church and individual believers from influencing the moral life of society. Over the next several decades, Christianity will become a faith that can speak in the public square less and less freely. A society where faith is prevented from vigorous public expression is a society that has fashioned the state into an idol. And when the state becomes an idol, men and women become the sacrificial offering.

Here's one guy at least who has his head out of the sand. He understands what is at stake and manages to present it in a way that is urgent enough not to minimize what is going on.

That means we cannot dispense with our history out of some superficial concern over offending our non-Christian neighbors. Notwithstanding the chatter of the “new atheists,” there is no risk that Christianity will ever be forced upon people anywhere in the West. The only “confessional states” in the world today are those ruled by Islamist or atheist dictatorships -- regimes that have rejected the Christian West’s belief in individual rights and the balance of powers.

Persecution is coming, and when it gets here and knocks on the door, it will be wearing the smiley face of secular harmony and indifferentism. Basically, society will not tolerate the intolerance of Catholicism towards its collective "Non serviam." And the masses will cheer for this protection. Whatever Dawkins and Co. might say, they have it easy here in the West.

The temptation in every age of the Church is to try to get along with Caesar. And it’s very true: Scripture tells us to respect and pray for our leaders. We need to have a healthy love for the countries we call home. But we can never render unto Caesar what belongs to God. We need to obey God first; the obligations of political authority always come second. We cannot collaborate with evil without gradually becoming evil ourselves. This is one of the most vividly harsh lessons of the 20th century. And it’s a lesson that I hope we have learned.

I wonder if Father Jenkins is paying attention at ND. When you consider how stuff like this has gone down in the past, it's scary. How many bishops stood up to Henry VIII? One- St. John Fisher. How many priests and bishops will take a stand against the rising secular power? How many will instead decide to shake hands, pass out awards, and get a nice photo op in the name of secular goods and fake dialogue?

We've already seen how some will act. Pray for the priests and bishops of the world that they might stand firm.