Tragedies, Evils and the Still, Small Voice
Tragedy in Christchurch, New Zealand, the bucolic land of sheep and Lord of the Rings, where murder is about as rare as it can be in this post-Cain world, as at least 49 people – Muslims, worshiping for Friday prayers – have been killed in an apparent terrorist attack, perpetrated by a white, 28-year old Australian with a grudge against immigrants. He chillingly recorded much of the massacre on helmet-mounted camera, recording the all-too-real event as though the viewer – should one watch such a thing – were in a virtual first-person shooter game, which the murderer has likely spent much of his mushy millennial life playing.
Alas, and alas again. There are many factors leading up to such evil, and a whole host of preceding evils: The breakdown of culture, of family, the consequent alienation, the suppression of rational dialogue about real problems, such as cultural integration and cooperation – if such individuals are now even capable of ‘rational dialogue’ – and, of course, the malformation of conscience and the loss of any moral compass, especially the principle that grave ‘intrinsic evil’, whatever difficulties one perceives, is never, ever a way to ‘fix’ them, and will lead, unrepentant, to the loss of one’s soul- that is, the eternal despair of hell – far more ‘evil’ than the loss of one’s bodily life, as tragic as that itself may be.
Yet, as today’s reading from Ezekiel proclaims, there is always hope for repentance, should the sinner turn from his wicked ways. For now, pray for the dead, the wounded, the grieving, and for the perpetrator(s).
As expected, Canada has bowed to the obvious and ground the Boeing Max-8, the brand-new aircraft that has suffered two tragic crashes in the past two months, and this, right in the middle of March break, leaving many travellers stranded. It turns out that an automatic sensor, designed to control the powerful engines from pitching up too much, will in certain conditions take over the aircraft, plunging it up and down until, well, until control is lost altogether – and the pilots, apparently, were not even aware of this automatic feature.
This is a problem we’re all going to face in more than aircraft as ‘artificial intelligence’ – an oxymoronic term – takes over more not only of our air-flight, but cars, trains, banking, shopping, surgery, our information searches, even people looking for love, in all the wrong places. Everything is being reduced to an algorithm, a code, that works well in a limited way, but, by those very mathematical limitations, will never fully adapt to the complexity of reality, as I wrote a while ago. The automated Tesla that a certain Joshua Brown was driving decapitated him and the car when it mistook the white side of a turning semi for the sky, and went, full speed, underneath its trailer.
As the Galileo affair told us, pointed out by Pope John Paul II, there is no ‘univocal’ model that can account for the deep and always-changing richness of God’s real world. We will always need that human factor – in the current case, pilots – trained to deal with all the complexities of flight, and whose brains are more complex than the reality they face.
Yet Boeing did not tell the pilots about the Max-8’s pitch problem, saying it did not want to ‘overwhelm’ them with information. Ignorance is never bliss, as we discover all too late, and too often, leads to tragedy.
As Pius XII put it in a radio address in 1946 just after the unspeakable evils of the Second World War, the greatest sin of the twentieth century is the loss of the sense of sin. Paula Adamick will have some words to say on Pius XII, and the Vatican’s decision to open the ‘secret archives’, offering historians an opportunity to correct the calumny heaped upon the saintly pontiff. We could use more of his clarity and courage in the Church.
And while these evils occur, students on March break, have required the Texas police to call in extra cartel-busting forces to deal with their drunkenness, revelry, puking, twerking, passing out and vomiting all over the beach – not, one might think, the most felicitous way to begin one’s Lenten journey. But see what I said above about the loss of culture, our descent into evil, and we are no longer even aware of the gravity of sin. Lent? Isn’t that what you do with a five dollar bill?
It’s telling that students generally have to be pass-out inebriated to commit shameful sexual actions that, deep down, they know are deeply wrong, with life-long, perhaps eternal, consequences. As the Catechism puts it, ‘no one is deemed ignorant of the principles of natural law’, so best to drown out one’s conscience, that quiet, still, small, but yet insistent, voice that calls us, as Pope John Paul phrased it, fortiter et suaviter, strongly and sweetly, to obedience.
Would that the murderer had listened to that voice, along with all others who commit such evils – and I’m thinking here of abortion and euthanasia – on a daily basis. Murder is wrong in all its manifestations, and unless we return to the way of truth and life, we’re going to see a lot more of it.
Domine, miserere nobis, quia peccavimus tibi.
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 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→
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→
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→