Monday 2nd October 2023

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

Who Says Christendom Is Dead?

May 2, 2018 Frontpage No Comments

By SHAUN KENNEY

As I write this, Baby Alfie Evans is breathing on his own and being given fluids, despite the fact that the British government is denying him food.
His crime? Being sick.
The Catholic bishops of Great Britain are — to their great shame and discredit — dissemblers at best. Long gone are the days of Reginald Pole, John Fisher, and even John Henry Newman; meekly and humbly they have prostrated themselves before the hand that feeds them.
Quite the opposite even has happened across Catholic Europe, where Italians and Poles have united in a common front to beg the United Kingdom for the life of Baby Alfie.
Leading this charge? None other than Pope Francis, and doing so in a manner vastly different than the limp-wristed response offered by the Viganò-led Vatican communications office when Baby Charlie Gard was permitted to die by the British social welfare state.
Instead, Francis is not only demonstrating backbone, but the Pontiff is earning praise from traditionalist watchdog Rorate Caeli, among others. Admirable, forceful intervention — their words!
The Italian government literally has aircraft waiting on a tarmac to respond affirmatively to Baby Alfie’s distant cry for help, a plea he cannot make due to his condition, but one his parents are making with tears in their eyes and millions watching around the world.
To date, the British government is not merely silent, but with an avarice rarely seen from any government that could claim the title of just is patently eager to see Baby Alfie die. The justice in this case, Sir Anthony Paul Hayden — no friend to Catholics and the co-author of anti-family books such as
Children and Same-Sex Families: A Legal Handbook — has shown an alacrity to poke and condemn the parents themselves in unnecessary ways, as if Alfie’s father and mother begging for clemency was an annoyance at best.

The Response Of The Christian West

Christendom was thought to be a dead letter, a relic of days gone by where the Holy Father could direct the passions and consciences of the nations of Europe. Most minds rush to the idea of the Crusades or the Protestant revolt, and while the secular world would love to urge us that the Holy See no longer holds such sway over the nations of the world.
The fact of the matter is that Pope Francis — perhaps for the first time since Pope John Paul II directed his energies against the Soviet Empire — is now reminding the secular West that Christendom is alive and well.
Vatican diplomats have been busy at work, with the Secretariat of State being directed to apply diplomatic pressure on the United Kingdom to produce an outcome.
The Italian ambassador — working at the behest of the Vatican’s urging — is in active contact with the justices (sic) who have condemned Baby Alfie to die of starvation, even as Bambino Gesù Hospital is actively awaiting Alfie’s arrival.
What’s more, in an extraordinary gesture, Baby Alfie was extended Italian citizenship, which means that the Italian government now takes an active diplomatic interest in his welfare. To those in the diplomatic community, the idea of a diplomatic row over the life of a citizen maltreated is of tremendous import.
Even the Polish government is extending offers of help and assistance, with Polish President Andrzej Duda emphatically joining the chorus and asking for Baby Alfie’s life to be saved.
Certainly here in the United States, Catholics in America have been glued to the Internet watching outlets such as EWTN, LifeSiteNews, and Catholic News Agency — sharing what they can on Twitter and musing about how the #BabyAlfie hashtag is being suppressed.
Catholics in Ireland on the cusp of a culturally seismic decision to permit the horrors of abortion on their island have noted with shock that the realities of a culture that does not respect the dignity of human life can and will exhaust itself to starve a toddler to death.

Failure Of The Secular West

Such are our choices, and they are aptly described in George Weigel’s brilliant little book The Cube and the Cathedral. In it, Weigel explains the choice that the West must make with two examples in the heart of Paris: the Museum of Modern Art or Notre Dame. One is a glass cube that allows everything in and out without judgment or precondition, the other is the beautiful Gothic cathedral to God with Our Lady of Victory as patroness.
Does Christendom still exist? Many would argue that it died when Napoleon entered Rome and very nearly eradicated the papacy altogether. Others would argue that it was swallowed down the gullet of war in the trenches of Somme during the First World War.
Yet by the definition of the Holy See, Christendom extends to two categories: those nations which profess the Catholic faith as the state religion, and those nations who have an established papal concordat.
More simply put, any nation whose social consciousness is informed by Catholic principles is indeed a part of the political body of Christendom. Much like the Crusading era, when the need arises the call is put forth, and Christendom responds. The concept is not terribly unlike the Orthodox experience, where should any member of the Body of Christ be threatened, a total response is mandated.
Baby Alfie’s enduring legacy may not simply be the miracle that he is breathing on his own for so very long, incredible and odds-defying as that is. Rather, Alfie may very well be the wake-up call Christendom needs to realize that despite the media and power elites that tell us otherwise, there are many more of us willing to restore the Christian West than we realize.
The Culture of Death may have its day, but the Culture of Life owns the future.

Send Me Your Thoughts

Of course, I am succeeding (but not replacing) the inestimable Mr. James K. Fitzpatrick for the First Teachers column. Please feel free to send any correspondence for First Teachers to Shaun Kenney, c/o First Teachers, 5289 Venable Road, Kents Store, VA 23084 — or if it is easier, simply send me an e-mail with First Teachers in the subject line to: svk2cr@virginia.edu.

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

German bishops in tug of war over blessing same-sex unions

The German Bishops’ Conference convenes its plenary assembly today, setting the stage for what promises to be a pivotal gathering amid a period of unprecedented tension within the Church in Germany — and with the wider Catholic Church.  On the official agenda for the gathering from Sept. 25–28 in the town of Wiesbaden are topics ranging from handling spiritual abuse to preparations for the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome. However, overshadowing discussions are the…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland: ‘no communication from Rome’ following apostolic visitation

Following a report that Pope Francis and Vatican officials held a meeting earlier this month to discuss requesting the resignation of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, the prelate said on Wednesday he has not been contacted by the Vatican about such matters. In addition, Strickland said if Pope Francis were to remove him from office he would respect the Holy Father’s authority but would not resign if asked. 

Trump calls six-week abortion ban ‘terrible,’ gets slammed by pro-life leaders

(LifeSiteNews) — Former President Donald Trump stunned pro-life former supporters over the weekend with a Meet the Press interview in which he repeatedly touted plans for an abortion compromise he hopes will put the issue “behind us,” repeatedly refused to say if he believes the preborn have constitutional rights, condemned state heartbeat laws as “terrible,” expressed indifference as to whether the issue is resolved at the state or federal level, and reiterated his insistence that…Continue Reading

Pope Francis reportedly set to ask Bishop Strickland to resign

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis met with Vatican officials over the weekend to discuss asking Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, to resign, according to a report on Monday by The Pillar. Pope Francis met on Saturday with Archbishop Robert Prevost, OSA, the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Pillar reported that several sources close to the dicastery told the website ahead of the meeting that…Continue Reading

">

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

A Book Review… Welcome To The Big Tent

By PEGGY MOEN Catholics now are reading more Scripture than they did in earlier generations, possibly as a reflection of Vatican II and greater ecumenical involvement. But I think the increased reading might reflect another reality — the need for the consolation of the Word of God in trying times, with so many people moving…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)