Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

Be A Water Cooler Soldier

 

Modern battleground…

 

This comment appeared on Father Z’s website is a beautiful indictment of TMAHIC but, at the same time, an indication of how good intentions can translate into a bad service for the Church, and our soul.

I’ll be perfectly honest. I’m tired of reading about pope Francis, about his many publicity stunts, and always to worry about how to wash his questionable decisions white every time he utters some poetic nonsense. I’m tired to think of excuses to tell my coworkers at the water cooler, when they ask me about the stuff the pope says, and which are totally contradictory to my lifestyle as a practicing tradition loving catholic. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of having to duoblethink most of what I came to beleive is true, just becouse our pope chooses to be a populist. I mean, it is a bad sign, if a site like 9gag.com has a picure of pope Francis liked by tens of thousands that says: “the best thing that could happen to the Catholic Church”. The pope should engage the culture of death, not smile at it, wave at it, kiss it and pet it. I mean just think about it in military terms: how would it effect the loyalty and morale of soldiers fighting in the trenches, bleeding out and dying, if their supreme commander would in the mean time have parties and drinks with the enemy.Christian people are actually dying at the hands of Islam, and our pope lays in bed with them for the whole world to see and cheer.

So this is my last uttering about this pope. I refuse to talk about him, because the only thing I could say wouldn’t be nice, so I rather choose not to speak about him at all.

Sorry for the rant.

The commenter, called Inigo, photographs the situation and the reality of our days with uncanny perceptiveness. But then he draws all the wrong conclusions from the right premises.

Pope Francis is not your funny neighbour with an obnoxious penchant for fireworks, or the socially awkward teacher of your son always managing to make the wrong joke at the wrong time. His role as a Pope gives him a unique authority; in turn, this allows him to cause immense damage to Catholicism. We cannot refuse to talk about him, simply because the only things we could say would not be nice. We can’t allow Francis to go on with his rubbish, and help him with the silence of those who have understood what kind of person he is.

The duty of a Christian to Christ comes before the understandable desire to be nice. Silent niceness does not save, the works that come from faith do. We can’t just say: “I refuse to talk openly about a man who works against my religion, because it would conflict with my duty to be nice”.

Niceness is not a religion. When heresy goes in, niceness must go out. 

The commenter sees all the problems. He sees the sabotage very clearly. He sees the open treason. Well, then: this is clearly not the time to be silent, or nice. This is the time to be militant, in the comment boxes of blogs and magazines as well as at the water cooler. There are many water coolers in the West. Those who gathers around them go home and let a casual remark or two fall, with their wives or husbands or children, about what was said at the water cooler about Francis. Next time Francis is on record with something stupid (the day after, very probably), the statement of the good Catholic guy at the water cooler will immediately be remembered.

Water  coolers matter. Comment boxes matter. The way we talk with our friends and acquaintances, or with our relatives matter. Not only they matter because they will shift the perception of this Pope from “best thing since sliced bread” to a far more accurate “worst disgrace since Stalin”, but they also help your soul, because to shut up in the name of niceness is to surrender.

If the supreme commander has parties and drinks with the enemy, the supreme commander is a traitor, and he is the enemy. You can’t just sit there and say nothing. If Francis lays in bed with Islam for the sake of his own self-aggrandizement, he must be called an attention whore, a faithless idiot, and an enemy of Christ and His Church.   

We need more utterings about this Pope. Brutal and truthful as the first part of Inigo’s comment.

Forget niceness. When your mama told you that if you don’t have anything nice to say it’s better not to say anything she did not mean that this goes in preference to defending your religion.

And she did not know Francis.

M