City officials in Brussels have announced that the traditional Christmas tree will not be displayed in the public square due to concerns that it might offend the minority Muslim population. It seems that the insanity of political correctness is reaching a frenzied apex. Now, any reference to Christianity whatsoever will not be … Read more
In the fourteenth century a transformation of mentality began to take place in Christian Europe; in the course of the fifteenth century it became ever more apparent. The thirst for earthly pleasures became a burning desire. Diversions became more and more frequent and sumptuous, increasingly engrossing men. The growing yearning for a … Read more
Throughout the colonial period of the three Americas, the respective mother countries were governed by a regime that, some differences aside, is known generically as the Old Regime. This was the system European countries implanted in their colonies. With the successive proclamations of independence by the American nations, this regime ceased to … Read more
The French Revolution of 1789 was based on the ideological philosophy of the Enlightenment summarized in the famous trilogy, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” By imposing full equality on society, the advocates of this philosophy sought to bring about complete freedom and an idyllic brotherhood among men. The Guillotine’s “Fraternity” As is well known, … Read more
What would an inorganic society be like? It would resemble a machine. That is to say, all its parts would be moved by the will of a single external and centralized agent much in the way a person turns on a machine. The obedience of each of its parts to this agent … Read more
Perhaps the best way to describe an organic Christian society is to take an example of a society from the past — that which existed in the Christendom of old. In this society, the most vibrant of all the elements was the family. Indeed, although the State and other lower social groups … Read more
From an economic point of view, it was an almost insignificant event. A major American firm lamentably went bankrupt as many do. These things are to be expected in the present financial climate. However, from a cultural point of view, this particular failure, and the manner in which it happened, resonated deeply … Read more
The book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go, criticizes the mass standardization of products by claiming it tends to sacrifice quality and taste for a rough equivalent. This leads to mass markets and bland … Read more
Pope Leo XIII teaches in his allocution to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on January 24, 1903: The Roman Pontiffs have always taken care to equally protect and ameliorate the lot of the humble, and to support and augment the honor of the upper classes. For they carry on the mission of … Read more
The family is the single most important component of a Christian society. However, while the family is a tremendously vital force for development of the individual, it alone will not suffice. A regime of separate and scattered families, even very Christian families, does not a society make. Isolated families alone cannot normally … Read more