Quote of the Day
Mark Shea over at Catholic and Enjoying It quotes the great Macauley
There is not, and there never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of that Church joins together the two great ages of human civilisation. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheatre. The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains. The Papacy remains, not in decay, not a mere antique, but full of life and youthful vigour. The Catholic Church is still sending forth to the farthest ends of the world missionaries as zealous as those who landed in Kent with Augustin, and still confronting hostile kings with the same spirit with which she confronted Attila. The number of her children is greater than in any former age. Her acquisitions in the New World have more than compensated for what she has lost in the Old. Her spiritual ascendency extends over the vast countries which lie between the plains of the Missouri and Cape Horn, countries which a century hence, may not improbably contain a population as large as that which now inhabits Europe. The members of her communion are certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions; and it will be difficult to show that all other Christian sects united amount to a hundred and twenty millions. Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all. She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished at Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.
Mark Shea adds: Since this was penned by Macauley, the British Empire has gone to pieces, Europe has committed suicide in two global wars, the Soviet Empire has come and gone, the Japanese Empire likewise, the Chinese Communist experiment is daily menaced by a growing Church, and the thousand year Reich vanished like a mayfly in 12 years. Don’t over-estimate the odds that our fantastically ephemeral cult of celebrity, hedonism and imperialism is likely to inflict lasting damage on the Church.
My comment: The Church lasted so long because each generation that was threatened willing offered up witnesses and martyrs to the divine truth we uphold. Fortunately, in this country, our ‘prosecution’ will probably amount to no more than people posting images of flying spaghetti monsters on Facebook, or fines, or jail time if we don’t pay the fines. Only in the Middle East and Africa are they actively burning churches and slaughtering Christians. Compared to that, what are we being asked?
We are being asked to resist the Tyrant.
Resist the Tyrant. Merely because Mr Obama (aided both by a compliant media and by those who are his alleged opponants) by one slow step at a time has reached the point where he feels it within his powers to nationalize automobile industries, health care industries, banks and mortgage industries, not to mention the student loan industry, and he feels it within his powers to murder American citizen suspected by an unknown government body of terrorism, and also feels it within his powers to appoint officers without the advice and consent of the Senate, and also feels it within his powers to define to the Catholic Church was is and is not permissible exercise of our freedom of religion, at that point there is nothing, economic nor military nor judicial nor theological, beyond his grasp, or to serve as a check on his power.
At that point, he is a tyrant. We might as well call him one.
And now for a word from Al Kresta:
As many of you already know, Ave Maria Radio launched StopHHS.com two weeks ago to provide a comprehensive source for news on thje HHS Mandate. The reason I’m sending this to you today is that we have worked together in promoting the faith in the past, and I know you would be interested in at least being
approached about cooperating with us on this issue as well.I’m asking you to click here to download the banner and post it on your blog / site / social media, and, if appropriate, send it to your e-mail lists. This is the most significant Church / State conflict in our lifetimes. Let’s make a stand. Thanks much and God bless your efforts for the Kingdom.
– Al Kresta
Request:
1. Please add the LOGO of StopHHS to your website home page & link it to www.StopHHS.com
2. Please email / Facebook / & Twitter your contacts to state you are now “Endorsing StopHHS.com”
3. Then send a print screen of your website with the StopHHS.com logo to endorsements@stophhs.com
StopHHS.com will check endorsements@stophhs.com each day and add your endorsement to the list of national endorsers as they come in. Your SEO will be improved when we load the name of your webite, the URL, and hyper link back to your site.
For more information contact Nick Thomm: 734-277-0693 or nthomm@avemariaradio.net
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
