Letter to the Editor - Catholic Insight

The demotion of God from public ceremonies has officially begun, with the Canadian Department of National Defense spokesperson Derek Abma’s October 20th directive, that our chaplains can’t use words such as “God”,” Heavenly Father”, and “Prayer” – under the lame pretext of not wanting to displease a few discontented atheists.

This is tantamount to our Liberal government piercing the heart of God with a dagger, and throwing away His providential armor protecting our military (Isaiah 40-31) – a kind of moral treason (since all politicians have taken an oath before God), thus leaving our soldiers and all Canadian citizens more vulnerable in any future conflicts.

In contrast to this neo-Marxist like directive, in which God is degraded and pushed to the sidelines, we can look at the history of Poland and its peoples where God and courage, derived from a strong Faith played a very crucial role in groundbreaking world battles that changed world history, i.e.:

if the Polish King Jan III Sobieski the leader of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth had not implored God, he would have surely lost the Battle of Vienna in 1683, allowing the Muslim Ottoman Empire to conquer Europe’s Christian civilization – and he would not have written afterwords “Venimus, vidimus, et Deus vicit” meaning “We came, We saw, and God Conquered”;
if the Catholic Church had not urged the Polish people to have strong faith and beg God for His protection, the Communist Bolsheviks from Russia would have conquered Poland, and gone on to spread their Marxist plague to the rest of Europe – instead they lost the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, later called the Miracle over Wisla River, due to the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the Wisla River, causing the Bolsheviks to retreat in great fear and disgrace, allowing Poland to once more save Europe’s Christian civilization;
if the highly skilled and courageous Polish pilots flying in the Royal Air Force, especially in Squadrons 302 and 303, during the Battle of Britain in 1940, had not been as successful in the air defending (the most German aircrafts shot down – 203), Germany’s air onslaught ahead of their planned invasion, could have resulted in Hitler taking over the country;
if the Polish army under Lieutenant General Wladyslaw Anders not won the very difficult Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, the Allied forces could not have freed Rome and Italy in general from the German occupation, which would have prolonged the war in Europe and its casualties.

Therefore, it is illogical and immoral for any government to expect its soldiers to protect their nation, and to possibly face death, while at the same time not having any recourse to their creator, i.e., God – to do so would be like removing a soldier’s spiritual shield, and rendering him or her religiously castrated – a fragile sitting duck for the enemy.

Our Canadian military chaplains would be wise to remember the words of Christ: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”. If they can’t do that at the same time, then they can learn from the actions of St. Thomas Moore when he was the Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII, and could not agree with the King’s immoral directives – he resigned with a clear conscience, knowing that he obeyed God first.

Dr Andrzej Caruk October 23, 2023

Kitchener, Ontario

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