I’m often asked what faithful Christians; in particular Catholics, can do to turn back the tide of Modernism that’s eroding the Church. This story, passed along by a reader, may offer a template for action.
A group of young French-Canadian Catholic men are asking their bishops to teach the traditional faith and give the spiritual leadership they say is essential to combat the nihilistic culture that tempts many to despair.
That includes allowing access to the traditional Latin Mass.
Twenty-nine men between the ages of 18 to 44, including university students, a doctor and two lawyers, signed an open letter titled “We Ask for Faith: Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church in French Canada”
A lay initiative, the letter was sent to 23 bishops of French-speaking dioceses across Canada, as well as the Assemblée des évêques du Québec, or Quebec bishops’ conference, in early November, says George Buscemi, president of Campagne Québec-Vie, the province’s largest pro-life group.
The solution starts with remembering that the general vocation of the laity is to consecrate the world to God the Father. We have not only the right, but the obligation, to communicate our spiritual needs to the members of the Church’s hierarchy.
It paints a bleak picture of the lives of French-Canadian men, who “live daily in a culture of death that robs them of the desire to live and the desire to transmit life.”
Caught in “the infernal materialistic cycle of ‘metro-work-sleep,’” many men today seek to escape the “chasm of nihilism” with drugs, alcohol, and pornography. They divorce, lose touch with their children, and die alone or choose euthanasia., the letter states.
Reason to ban porn #878.995: It serves as a distraction and artificial release valve that keeps men from taking action to make their and other’s lives better.
The signatories attest to a “certain bitterness” toward their predecessors, who did not guard the Catholic faith, nor pass it on.
“In this era of euphoric delirium and destructive madness that was the 60s, those who preceded us gave way to a wave of inspirations from the depths of Hell,” it reads. That included a secular government that passed laws allowing divorce, contraception, and “the greatest genocide in the history of humanity, abortion.”
The signatories ask the bishops to give them the “Catholic Faith in its entirety, without sweetener. We ask that our people have access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a dignified form that gives glory to God.”
Kudos to the signatories for raising the Boomer Question with the bishops. These guys sound so based, I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought up Susan from the Parish Council.
Julien Bertrand, the 36-year-old principal author of the letter, says he wrote it “as a heartfelt cry for my French-Canadian brothers I see suffering from a Godless nihilistic life leading to suicide.”
“On one side they are persecuted by their own government, the mainstream media and the intelligentsia because they were born white males. On the other side, their family, the school, and Holy Mother Church didn’t transmit them their rich culture, their glorious History and the one and only true faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Bertrand told LifeSiteNews in an email.
“They are rootless trees in the hurricane of post-modernity, radical feminism and massive foreign invasions,” he said. “I hope those who are in charge of God’s flock will hear the call of their loving sons and may they know that we pray for them.”
Buscemi signed the petition “as a shot in the dark. I expect no answer, but I hope for one. I can do no better,” he told LifeSiteNews.
“I honestly think the Church is going through a Passion, that it is hanging on the cross before our eyes. I see temporal and eternal salvation nowhere else, yet the Church is practically dead and buried … Only God can resurrect, but he asks us to ‘actively wait.’ I see this petition as such an instance of active anticipation. We call for the resurrection, and hope it comes, soon.”
The government-sanctioned persecution of white men, the Vatican II generation’s abject failure to hand on the faith, and the Church-assisted invasion of the West are three catastrophic crises which the hierarchy remains deafeningly silent on.
These aren’t just political matters. All of these evils are combining into a perfect storm that’s crippling the Church in the US, Canada, and Western Europe.
God bless Julien Bertrand and the letter’s cosigners. He’s probably right that their call for our wayward shepherds to actually tend their flock will fall on deaf ears–this time.
But what if the bishops received a hundred more letters just like it? How about a thousand?
It’s also worth noting that the letter’s main author belongs to Generation Y. His example tends to support the position often advanced here that Ys who manage to overcome their learned helplessness can rise to become capable leaders.
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