Storming the Beaches for Freedom

June 6th was the 77th anniversary of the storming of Normandy, the Allied offensive on the north shore of France, taking the war to the Nazis on the continent, leading ultimately to their defeat. What struck me in a recent article was an excerpt from General Eisenhower’s exhortatory Order of the Day:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade . . . . The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you . . . . Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely . . . [but] I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! . . . [L]et us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

By the time the beaches were taken, 4,415 Americans were killed while another 5,600 were either wounded or missing. All to take one coast in one phase of the war, in which, overall, upwards of 40 million died, and who knows how many wounded, scarred, bereft.

The phrase that jumped out at me in Ike’s address was the ‘liberty-loving people’, which, it seems, as a people, too many of us are so no longer. Freedom is hard won, hard fought, and hard to live out. Like the men who had to clamber out of their amphibious vehicles and face heavy machine-gun fire in the swell of the sea, staying at home, curled up on a sofa, and ‘hoping for the best’ seems like a much better idea.

Except it’s not life. For to live, to say nothing of living well and fully, one must be willing to risk all and face death. We are in proximate danger of giving away everything for which those men gave everything, as we submit supinely to an increasingly authoritarian regime which has far more power over us than the Nazis could dream of – however they might use it – and ‘hoping for the best’. We give away our freedom by inches, until there’s not much left.

Liberty-loving people everywhere – safeguard that freedom for which your ancestors fought and died. We can do no less.

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→