Camp of the (Un)Saints
Ponder this list of names of the alleged perpetrators of a grooming-and-rape gang in Britain involving a 13 year-old girl. One name is not quite like the others, but I’d imagine he’s a convert, of sorts.
Speaking of which, the reader may be reminded of Jean Raspail’s 1973 novel Camp of the Saints, about a fictional mass immigration of the ‘third world’ into Europe – at least, it was fiction half a century ago – and the chaos and societal breakdown that ensues when, as they say, worlds collide. The novel is unfolding in real time as hundreds arrive on the southern shores of Britain each day.
The central theme, which is developed in a more theological and precise key by Pope John Paul II and others, is that what most defines a nation is its culture, and at the root of culture is how a nation, or more properly the people within that nation, views God and the laws He promulgates. Europe has been Christian from its inception as ‘Europe’, before which it was divided between two paganism, the Germanic barbarians n the north and the Roman ones to the south. Both were eventually converted to Christ and His Church, and Christendom was born, uniting Europe for a millennium. That is, until the Protestant schism which, as Newman saw presciently, has led to the agnosticism, if not outright atheism. So, a new kind of ‘paganism’ now defines most of the continent.
Britain is no longer a Christian nation, even if still dotted with churches and monuments. There are some who still attend religious services, a smaller number who actually believe and live out the Faith. What fills this spiritual void is, like the parable of the swept room, something quite unlike Europe’s Catholic roots, indeed inimical to them, with a culture and creed that knows not Christ.
And as our Saviour taught, if we are not with Him, we are against Him.
Grooming gangs are an extreme example; on the more mundane level, there are controversies and conflicts over everything from creches and Christmas to hijabs and polygamy. All of this is but the beginning of what seems much more mayhem on a darkening horizon.
But Christ, the Sun of Justice, is on His way, with a winnowing fork in His hand. Retribution for the unjust, and redemption for the just, will be swift, and inexorable. Get on His side while ye may. The only place you really want to emigrate to is heaven.
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→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]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→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]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→
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→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→