In there, Belloc hypothesizes that Islam (Mohammedanism as he called it in some instances) was not a new and/or pagan religion, but really another heresy of Catholicism.  He points out how Islam started out with many Catholic tenets and how it became a heresy.

What was that heresy? It was a full denial of the Incarnation.  He explains it as follows:

Mohammed did not merely take the first steps toward that denial, as the Arians and their followers had done; he advanced a clear affirmation, full and complete, against the whole doctrine of an incarnate God. He taught that Our Lord was the greatest of all the prophets, but still only a prophet: a man like other men. He eliminated the Trinity altogether.

With that denial of the Incarnation went the whole sacramental structure. He refused to know anything of the Eucharist, with its Real Presence; he stopped the sacrifice of Mass, and therefore the institution of a special priesthood. In other words, he, like so many other lesser heresiarchs, founded his heresy on simplification.

He goes on in a lengthy discourse on the history of Islam and it waxing and waning power, but that is not a subject for this post.

I have read reports where a great number (Somewhere around 15, 000) of Muslims in France convert every year, especially to Catholicism.  I hear the number is even greater in Africa and numbers in the millions worldwide.  Here in the United States, there is no real statistics that I can find on how many convert, but I have a feeling that it may not be that many (at least to Catholicism)

What I believe is that we may be able use what Hilary Belloc termed the “heresies” of Islam as an Evangelization tool for the conversion of Muslims. I also believe that we can use the recent events such as the massacre at Ft. Hood and how Islam seems to be controlled by the radical Imams to portray Christianity in general and Catholicism particular and as an attractive alternative to Islam.

As I have pointed out in previous posts is that this evangelization must not include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

Also, as I have stated in the past, these evangelization efforts will fail if we do not live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we If we do not live by example, our message will fall on deaf ears and we will probably fall on the sword of Islam.

Yes, some of these plagues were around long before the Protestant Revolt, but none really took hold until after the splintering that took place in the early 16th century.  I believe the disunity that took place during the revolt allowed these plagues to grow into the widespread infestation that is threatening to implode society today.  It is also my opinion that only the unity of Christianity under the Catholic Church is the only way that the impending implosion can be averted.

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen the Traditional Anglican Communion take a huge step in returning to the fold and there are rumblings of other groups (I will not list them since they are only rumors) in serious talks with the Holy See in returning. The more groups, and individuals too, that return, the better chance we have in fighting these plagues.

As faithful Catholics, we must do out part in bringing our brethren back to the fold.  This can be accomplished through a number of activities. The main two are:

1. How we live our lives. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we must live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. If we do not live accordingly, we will lose the war at this point
2. A very active evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do.  Those things include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God.  We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get. What we must not to is compromise the Truths set forth by the Catholic Church. These are non-negotiable.

The more people we can bring into the fold the better the chance we will have in fighting the socio-economic plagues that threaten us all.

Historically, a town square was also a meeting place where both goods and ideas were exchanged.   It is the exchange of ideas that I am more interested in.

Until recently, the exchange of ideas in the town square was, for the most part, free and open.  This seems to no longer be the case.  In fact, there is not an open hostility towards the free expression of religion ideas particularly Christian and especially Catholic ideas.

For a couple of months now, I have exploring ideas for discussion groups on-line.  These have ranged from a narrow as a single topic like Distributism to more general like Catholic Moral and Social teaching.

It was my general disgust with the current state of the town square and my disenchantment with other “Catholic Forums” to explore a more general social/discussion group that would emphasize true Catholic teachings and ideas.   Essentially, an electronic Catholic Town Square.

I am starting to put my ideas down on “paper” and, hopefully, start the design of an actual site(s).  I have not finalized where the site(s) will be (although I have a couple prime ideas in mind).  The one will be very easy and will mainly be a “discussion group” and as exposure to the final site to be developed.  That will be more expansive and will include not only a discussion forum, but also a true social and informational site.

Saying that.  I do not expect or want this “town square” to remain in cyberspace.  I fully expect this to, eventually, blossom into actual town squares.  That is, to recapture actual town squares for evangelization of people to the Catholic faith.

“Without God, man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is.”

And

“Man cannot bring about his own progress unaided, because by himself he cannot establish an authentic humanism. Only if we are aware of our calling, as individuals and as a community, to be part of God’s family as his sons and daughters, will we be able to generate a new vision and muster new energy in the service of a truly integral humanism.”

These two statements are part of the beginning of the Conclusion for the latest encyclical, Caritas In Veritate, of Pope Benedict XVI.

We are seeing the fruits of a Godless society today with the increasingly spreading infection of the plagues of Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, and Global Capitalism.  Although these have festered through out the past two thousand years, they have been kept in check, for the most part, by the ever present emphasis of God’s natural law in the formation of the morals and man’s “positive” law.

These checks started to crack with the Protestant Revolt and continued to grow with the Industrial Revolution.  These two events allowed the plagues of Relativism and Global Capitalism to eventually gain a foothold in society.  These, in turn eventually allowed the other plagues of Socialism (a direct reaction to Capitalism), Materialism, and Liberalism to eventually spread their infection in society.

With these plagues let loose, those who were/are infected saw the dangers of God to their plagues.  This has given rise to the outright assault on God by those infected.  It started out slowly with preventing the Church from endorsing candidates and taking prayer out of school and has grown to the point where even talking about morality based on God’s Natural Law is being criminalized.  How long are we going to take it before we say “no more”?

I say “no more” has arrived.  We must start ignoring the restraints being forced on us by those infected.  In fact, we must put God back into society any way and every way possible.

Although we must be charitable to them, we must not do anything to encourage their continued infection with these plagues.  Whenever and wherever possible, we must shun buying good and services from those infected.  We must find alternatives, including setting up a competing “white market” economy, to their businesses.

In addition, we must put forth our own candidates and/or parties for office that will promote, not hinder restoring God to society staring locally and going from there.

Finally, we must not only “talk the talk” but also “walk the walk”.  That is, we must live a life with God as its center, not just give “lip serve”.  By providing examples on how to live, we provide a much more effective witness to God.

Things must change or society will implode from the weight the plagues destroying its foundation.   This must start immediately if there is to be any hope for society.

While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes’aret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;  and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb’edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Lk 5:1-11 RSV)

Although the term “fishers of nen” (Mt. 4:19 RSV) is replaced “catcher of men”, the meaning is the same.  However, what seems to be lost today is how this applies to all Catholics.  We are called, in various capacities, to be “fishers of men”.   This means we must live our lives in accordance with the teachings of Our Lord. Part of these teachings is to spread the Gospel.  How we do it is two-fold: Passive and Active.

The first way, the passive part, I have already mentioned.  That is: how we live our lives.  Living by example is one of the best ways of showing those who do not follow Our Lord in his fullness of the Catholic Church the true meaning of his teaching.  Sadly, many of us do not live in full accordance with the teachings of Our Lord.  This, does not mean that we should abandon those teaching as some would suggest.  No, we should always strive to amend our lives to live according to those teachings.

The second way, the active part, is more difficult and not for everyone (although it should be).  That is: preaching the Gospel.  No, I am not talking about joining the priesthood or a religious order.  I am talking about evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do.  Those things include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God.  We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get.  Yes, there is a hostile atmosphere out there, but as Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.“  We must be fearless in this.  We must bring everyone possible to the full Truth of the Catholic Church.

America’s 10 Freest and Least Free States

From indelibly American quotations like “Give me liberty or give me death” to the iconic pairing of “liberty and justice” in the Pledge of Allegiance, there’s no shortage of examples demonstrating that Americans have historically placed a high value on the concept of freedom.

While the concept of freedom may be in the eye of the beholder, there’s no question that each state has done their best to codify what actions they do and do not leave up to their residents’ choice. But which states give their citizens the most leeway, and which have them on the tightest leash? A study entitled “Freedom In the 50 States: An Index of Personal And Economic Freedom,” published by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, sets out to answer this question. Click through to see which states rank the highest and lowest by their metrics.

It also linked to the source of this article:

Freedom in the 50 States

This report got me to thinking:

Where would be the best place to set up this society?

Is the US, Canada or Europe the best right now? I am not too sure. For me, they are either a little to materialistic, too hostile to the model, or have geographic (i.e. Weather) constraints.  In addition, the ever increasing Socialist nature of the governments and their incestuous relationship with Global Capitalism, also makes it too hostile to the Distributist Model.

For years, I have been researching way “south of the border” as a possible place to move (especially after I retire) . Why?  They are many but, it manly to get away from the over-Materialist and Relativistic nature of society in the United States.  For me, it is causing a real threat to the total implosion of society here.  As for Europe, it is far worse and Canada is not that far behind.

Although there are pluses and minuses to all of them, there are a few I would consider.  Now if I could get my Distubutist brethren interested, we might be able to make a go of it.  Even without them, I would consider moving if I were to find the right place.

Peter and Dorothy especially quoted Tawney’s Religion and the Rise of Modern Capitalism, which shows the dramatic changes in concepts away from the common good. Tawney contended that what happened in the historical process generated by the Reformation was the movement of the focus of exchange from the social solidarity group (common good) to the individual. He argued that the social character of wealth that had been the essence of medieval doctrine was lost through the unexpected development of economic individualism that sprang to a large extent from the notion of private interpretation of Sacred Scripture. In their eagerness to rid the world of the corruption of the Catholic Church at the time, the reformers replaced the church teaching of solidarity with the teaching of individual salvation without good works. As Tawney put it, “Individualism in religion led insensibly, if not quite logically, to an individualist morality, and an individualist morality to a disparagement of the significance of the social fabric as compared with personal character.”

In England and in the young United States, with time and pressure from merchants, Puritanism (the outgrowth of Calvinism) added a “halo of ethical sanctification to the appeal of economic expediency, and offered a moral creed in which the duties of religion and the calls of business ended their long estrangement in an unanticipated reconciliation.” Gradually, the Reformation idea that individual conscience decides led to the practical conclusion that might be thought of as whatever works, whatever is comfortable, whatever makes a profit. Those in trade argued that “business affairs should be left to be settled by businessmen, unhampered by the intrusions of an antiquated morality or by misconceived arguments of public policy.” Economics became separated from ethics. The contrast with earlier Christian teaching on the sin of avarice is striking. The church had always taught that greed, the implementation of the desire to gain more and more wealth, was one of the capital sins, and the idea of acquiring wealth was limited by a body of moral rules imposed under the sanction of religious authority. (pg 141-142)

I would tend to agree in the above assessment.  Protestantism has fragmented Christianity to the point where, in some cases, it is completely detached from its roots.  This allows for the the individual to interpret what Christianity is to fit with what they want, not what  it is.  This individualism is what has given root to the social ills of Relativism and Materialism (via Capitalism).

Furthermore, earlier in the chapter, Peter Maurin (one of the founders of the Catholic Workers Movement with Dorothy Day) believed that “socialism would not have existed if not for the excesses of capitalism (pg 135).  I would tend to agree with this premise also since tends to be a backlash when there are excesses in any system.

With Socialism and Global Capitalism combining forces these day with their incestuous relationship, I think we may be starting to see  a backlash to both systems.  What replaces it will depend on who presents the best alternative.   I believe by combining aspects of the Distributism, Catholic Workers, and Catholic Land movements (along with some others which I have not researched yet), I think we Catholics could provide a viable alternatives to both Socialism and Capitalism.

There have been a number of times where western civilization went astray or was in imminent danger of collapse.  Some of these include the fall of Rome, the Black Death of the 14th century and the protestant revolt.  It was the Catholic Church that either held civilization together or brought it back to the Truth. Even in other time where the circumstances were not that dire, the Catholic Church has been there to right the way when things have gotten off track.

Today’s situation is much like the time around the fall of the Roman Empire.  Immorality was rampant and the “barbarians” were invading.  Today it is a little different though.  The “barbarians” are causing the immorality.  Yes, I am calling the Relativists, Materialists, Capitalists, Liberals, and Socialists the “barbarians” of today’s world.

Now, back to the movements and how they may help.  There have been many throughout the last 2,000 years and we must explore which one can do the most good today.  When looking at the movement, we must not only look at the ones that were a resounding success, but ones that had little or no success and even those that were utter and complete failures.  What did not work in the past, may work now.

Three that I am exploring right now are relatively new movements.  They are the Catholic Workers, Catholic Land, and Distributism movements.  I am exploring these since mainly related to the economic ills brought on my Capitalism, Socialism and Materialism.  I truly believe that much, if not all the answers, to the economic destruction and injustices can be found in three movements.

As for the social decay brought on by all of the aforementioned, I am still searching for keys to solve those.  Part of the solution probably can be found in the three movements, but I still see the need to look further.

The solution and/or solutions need to be found soon or a second “fall of Rome” is in the future.

The forces of evil are taking many forms today. Whether it be Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, Materialism, or even Global Capitalism, all are aligned against the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church and are trying to drive us away from the Church. Their perversions have infested the world and we must be the defenders against them

We must completely reject all of these even if it means persecution. This means the complete opposition and refusal to comply with unjust man made “positive law”, rejection of excessive material cravings, and refusal to do business with or even associate with those who subscribe to the above perversions. This is the defensive part of the war.

The offensive part of the war is the Crusade of Evangelization we must all partake in to convert people over to our way of thinking. This crusade has a two-pronged attack.

The first is how we live our lives. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we must live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. If we do not live accordingly, we will lose the war at this point

The second is a very active evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do.  Those things include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God.  We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get.

The battle will be long, but we must in it for the long run.  All of us are called to do battle in varying degrees.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

More and more, our right to be Catholics and to live by the Moral and Social Teachings of the Catholic Church are being violated by the immorality and perversions of the Relativists/Socialists/Liberals who are trying to impose their despotic rule on the rest of us.

Maybe it is time we push back and demand they abide by the Natural Laws of our Lord as taught by the Catholic Church.  At the same time, we will also declare that their unjust man-made “Positive Laws”, which are in conflict with God’s Natural Law, are null and void.

Yes, I know many will say that we are not being “Christian” by doing so but, so what.   Being Catholic does not mean that we are suppose to be their doormat.