Orthodox Catholics shall never surrender

There have been many inspiring initiatives taken by orthodox Catholics lately in the areas of education, publishing, TV, radio, the Internet, and vocations, but liberal Catholics still control most of the levers of power and influence in the U.S. Church. It's still rare to hear a sermon forthrightly opposing abortion, contraception, premarital sex, homosexuality, consumerism, or pornography. Vatican efforts to restore reverence to the liturgy have fallen on deaf ears. The wreckovation of our churches and cathedrals continues apace, with new monstrosities being built from scratch. The decade-long effort by the Holy See to re-Catholicize our institutions of higher learning has been sabotaged.

The sexual perversion in the priesthood and episcopate has hardly been dealt with. Although there is a strong policy on the sexual abuse of minors (nevertheless obstructed by certain bishops), nothing has been done about homosexual clerics who are sexually active with adults, including fellow clerics. The Lavender Mafia, where homosexuals protect and promote their own, is still riding high.

Moreover, liberal Catholics are confident of victory because they have the full force of the Zeitgeist--our decadent Western culture--on their side.

Yes, we orthodox Catholics still have our backs to the wall. But so what? St. Athanasius had his back to the wall. So did St. Thomas More. And so did Winston Churchill at the beginning of World War I[. None of them capitulated. A mere 18 days before the fall of France, Churchill said that even if all the Continent should fall to the Axis powers, "We shall not flag or fail.... We shall fight in the seas and oceans ... we shall fight on the beaches ... we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...."

The struggle ahead is difficult. We know that many loyal Catholics feel beset on all sides--out-manned, outgunned, isolated. That too was Britain's plight. She stood alone. But she did not flinch--and she prevailed.

St. Paul urges us to "fight the good fight" (1Tim. 6:12). And so, to paraphrase Churchill on the day after the fall of France, let us orthodox Catholics brace ourselves against those who collaborate with the Zeitgeist and let us so steel ourselves for victory that even a thousand years from now men will say, This was their finest hour.

To get yourself in fighting trim, you must read the New OXFORD REVIEW, an orthodox Catholic monthly magazine that candidly addresses all the problems in the Church--and takes no prisoners. We're "Catholicism's intellectual prizefighter," says the ace Catholic apologist Karl Keating, and we "belong in every loyal Catholic's arsenal," says the indomitable Fr. Joseph Fessio. Among those who've written for us are Walker Percy, James Hitchcock, Alice von Hildebrand, Fr. Stanley L. Jaki, and Michael S. Rose (whose book Goodbye, Good Men stirred up a hornets' nest).

We shall never surrender, and we shall prevail. The Barque of Peter is in violently turbulent waters and is assailed on all sides, but we are assured by our Lord that the Gates of Hell will never swallow her. Semper fluctibus agitata et semper victrix ("always tossed about by the waves and always victorious").

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