By BRIAN CLOWES
(Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book Call to Action or Call to Apostasy, consisting of a detailed description of the current forms of dissent and how to fight them, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.)
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“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little” — Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke.
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One Voice Is Powerless. Edmund Burke also said: “When bad men combine, the good must associate [with each other]; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
Burke has given us the outline of our plan — to firmly decide to take action against dissent and then to find others with the same goal and get organized.
Never has this plan of action been so necessary as in the struggle for the heart of the Roman Catholic Church in the West. A single person who persistently raises his or her voice in opposition to heresy, schism ,or apostasy will quickly be crushed under a tidal wave of ridicule and condemnation, but a dozen well-organized faithful Catholics or, better yet, a hundred, will be an obstacle that not even a liberal diocesan hierarchy will be able to ignore or overcome.
As soon as you perceive a problem with dissent in your parish or diocese, you absolutely must organize as quickly as you possibly can.
You really cannot do anything by yourself, although many have tried; so immediately start to ask your conservative Catholic friends (you know who they are!) to get involved. Make up a list of names and a telephone or email tree.
Don’t worry about sheer numbers; the Lord will raise up exactly enough missionaries to do His work effectively. If you have only three friends who feel as strongly you do, surely they will know others. See if you can get a dozen together. Fifty, of course, would be even better.
From the very beginning, it is essential to have a good spiritual director who will guide your steps and give you the “inside information” on the relevant parish or diocese that you will need to operate effectively. You know who he is: The lonely priest who has spoken up fearlessly for truth many times and who is often an object of ridicule and contempt to both the laity and even his brother priests.
He is the one you need.
Getting Started. Regular meetings are essential, especially in the beginning of any group’s existence. Remember three tactical principles as you get started.
The first tactical principle is anonymity. Don’t give the opposition an easy target to attack. The minute the dissenters learn the name of your group, they will undertake a systematic campaign of slander and ridicule at the local level which is carefully designed to undermine your effectiveness and your credibility.
This is standard operating procedure (SOP) for liberal and dissenting groups, and it is a very effective tactic. It does not matter that they know nothing at all about your group beyond your name; suddenly local clergy and Church lay leaders will hear that you are “fanatics,” “extremists,” and “divisive.”
To avoid or blunt this kind of crippling attack, keep your group’s existence under wraps for as long as you possibly can. It helps to not give your group a name in many cases, because lack of a name prevents the dissenters’ propaganda machinery from fixing upon a tangible target.
The second tactical principle is security, which is closely allied to the first. Whatever you are doing, keep your plans concealed for as long as you possibly can. Operate under a strict “need to know” principle — only inform the minimum number of people required to plan your activities effectively. This will allow you to avoid attacks by the dissenters and will give you the element of surprise, which can be devastating. Your objective is to achieve a stunning victory on your first try. This will boost the esprit de corps of your people and crush the morale of the dissenters.
The third tactical principle is just as important as the first two, but is the one that is most often neglected: Gathering intelligence, or useful information on local dissenters. Begin gathering intel as soon as you possibly can. In a group of a dozen or more people, there are generally one or two who enjoy doing research and investigation.
The information you should look for includes:
The dissenters’ viewpoints and attitudes, the way they think, and their psychology. When dissent-busters understand their opposition, they can accurately predict what they will do in the future and how they will react to initiatives carried out against them.
The dissenters’ level of morale and their opinions on what directions the Catholic Church is taking.
Concrete and specific information about dissenting organizations, to include how many people they have, what resources they have, where their money comes from, and who backs them. This is especially important if you are facing a local affiliate of a national group.
The dissenters’ long-range plans (strategies) and short-term plans in support of this strategy (tactics).
When you are gathering and processing your information, remember the four “X”s:
Explore: Take some time right “up front” to research the most likely sources of relevant information so you will use your time in the most efficient manner. These include the dissenters’ websites and newsletters. If they have a local chapter, have one or two of your people join it and gather information. This is absolutely the best way to keep an eye on the dissenters.
Examine: Carefully scrutinize the information you gather and rank it according to relevancy and usefulness. Should you take the time to process and use it right away, or should you file it for future use?
Explain: Compile the information you have gathered from various sources into a single readily understandable and handy document. This will give you a clear view of the situation and the relative strengths of groups on both sides, making it easier for you to make plans for the future.
Exchange: Share your processed information with whatever faithful groups or individuals will find it most useful, both at the local and national levels.
You do not have to learn all of this information by researching it yourself. There are several nationally based dissent fighting groups that can give you information and expertise.
These include the Adoremus Society (www.adoremus.org); the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (www.catholicleague
.org); Catholics United for the Faith (CUF, www.cuf.org); Human Life International (HLI, www.hli.org, which possesses detailed dossiers on national dissenting groups); Keep the Faith (www.keepthe
faith.org); Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. (RCF, www.rcf.org, which is defunct, but still has archived information available); and the St. Joseph Foundation (www.st-joseph-foundation.org).
Please keep these organizations in your prayers, because they are on the front lines of defending the faith.
Beginning Your Field Work. After you have gathered a group of committed people and have organized them properly, your real work begins. Every member of your group must educate themselves regarding the field of battle and the dissenters.
You must learn the following things:
Background on the dissenting groups that are causing trouble in your diocese or parish. How do they operate? Who funds them? What are their standard operating procedure (SOPs)?
You must also educate yourself regarding the standard propaganda that the dissenting groups use. There is nothing more effective, powerful, and inspiring than having a faithful Catholic stand up and debunk the lies of the dissenters on the spot in front of a crowd of people. However, you cannot do this until you know exactly what the dissenters are going to say, and until you study the many weak points in their arguments.
Fortunately, dissenters are notoriously unoriginal and inflexible thinkers. They repeat the same falsehoods and distortions over and over again, and become confused and flustered when confronted with a knowledgeable opponent.
The book Catholics for a Free Choice Exposed has a long section on the 12 arguments Catholics for [a free] Choice (CFFC) uses most frequently to deceive the faithful (available in electronic form from Brian Clowes at bclowes@hli.org). All dissenters use these arguments from time to time. It will probably take you several hours to learn this material, but consider it time well spent. Not only will this knowledge permit you to defend the faith against her enemies, but it will strengthen your faith and embolden you to do more for the Church as well.
It will be easier for you to learn this material with others in your group. Get together a couple of times and practice rebutting these arguments with each other. Practice builds confidence and boldness.
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