Vita Primitiva

A few thoughts on this Saturday morning in early September, which I hope finds all our readers well.

Peruse Paula Adamick’s take on the Church in China, a troubling harbinger of what the future may hold, which is a lot like the past: A Church dominated by secular forces, with their own messianic zeal, a zeal with which the Communists in particular are filled. And such a ‘secular messianism’ is a hallmark of the Antichrist (cf., the Catechism, #675-676). What the future holds, I know not, but as the Chinese proverb has it, may you live in interesting times.

And, in light of the upcoming Amazon synod, whose working document praises the wisdom of indigenous and primitive societies, from whom we may learn much, and who even have ‘revelation’ of a sort, read Maureen Mullarkey’s description, rather, a first-hand account of an early anthropologist, of what life was – and is – really like in such places bereft of the benefits of Christian civilization. There is a reason why we are called to subdue the Earth and tame its wilds. Man is the pinnacle of the material, created world, and it befits him to act as such, not mired in mud and filth, with a life that Hobbes described as nasty, brutish and short. Hobbit holes, as such, filled with all the comforts of home.

A life that was rather nasty, but not by any means short, is that or Robert Mugabe, who passed away the other day as a mid-nonagenarian, after leading his country of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia – named after explorer, miner and philanthropist Cecil Rhodes of the eponymous scholarship – into economic and totalitarian misery. Mugabe began his career as a ‘liberator’ against the oppression of ‘white farmers’ who, whatever else was said of them, could indeed farm, and turned primitive Rhodesia into the jewel of Africa. Mugabe turned things around, but not in the right direction, and Zimbabwe is now one of the worst places in the world to live, mired in poverty, inflation and stagnation, back to the mud and filth. All the while, Mugabe himself lived a life of insouciant opulence. May God have mercy on his soul. And we should pray now that the nation may begin a resurgence, if they accept all that is true and good, hard work and a life well-lived, to make a nation so.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→