“There cannot be only one path towards such a great mystery” Symmachus
In her new book La Fin de la Chrétienté Chantal Delsol affirms that the much-publicized Decline of the Christian influence in the governance of our societies does not spell the doom of the Christian Faith. On the contrary there is a open rejuvenation of it. We are assisting to a transformation of traditional Christian liturgy and precepts, but not its morality , which will progressively take refuge in households, away from the public spaces, In Pagan Rome there was a clear distinction between the moral values safeguarded at home and the political precepts discussed in public forums.
According to an article by Christopher Caldwell in The New York Times : “in it, the political theorist Chantal Delsol contends that we are living through the end of Christian civilization – a civilization that begun (roughly) with the Roman rout of Pagan holdouts in the late fourth century and ended (roughly) with Pope John’s XXIII embrace of religious pluralism and the West’s legalization of abortion.”
Pagan scholars like Symmachus rightly foretold that the Christian authorities replacing them in the seats of power would become as intolerant to other religions as they had been for Early Christianity when the faithful were sent to the Colosseum to be devoured by devilish beasts. Now the ultra-reactionary elements of our Catholic Church stage mendacious media campaigns to whisper in the back of progressives like out dear Pope Francis. And we do not mean the pious and conservative priests that are suspicious of his novel views on the practice of our faith. We are talking about those un-Christian Roman hedonistic-prelates that feast on lobster while half of Mankind starves. Splurging their swine body frames in a sea of Epicurean abundance, they dare to hypocritically point their fingers at the miserable man that has stolen an apple to feed his staving daughter.
Shame on those Pharisaic impersonators that are trying to co-opt for them the Voice of Jesus Christ.
Giù le mani di tutti questi vergognosi maiali che vogliono rubbare nostra Santissima Chiesa Cattolica.
Note. This reproduction of Caravaggio’s John the Baptist was taken from Wikimedia Commons.
Even though, it has been covered by a superficial patina of social prudery, there is still a very thick subterranean vein of relevant values inherited from Paganism in our society—the Hippocratic Oath we physicians swear by at graduation being a good example. And now that citizens are becoming less religious, or less subservient to official religions, we see a surge of not only Pagan values and manifestations but also signs of Eastern religions like Buddhism that seek to coexist with traditional Christendom. Progressive sociopolitical analysts argue that our modern societies have become too civically and culturally diverse, with the emergence of LGBTQ communities, to solely accept the vision of institutions that were built more than 1,000 years ago. The Meaning of Life requires more.
As a longtime adherent to the Mystical Branch of Christianism , following the lead of our dear Father Merton, we should welcome this re-assessment of our faith with a new light that goes beyond the Cartesian’s vision that ruled our church for so long. If Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, want to become “the big tent” that our dear Pope Francis has resiliently promoted since his arrival, we should pay heed to a few lessons from other religions, including Judaism and Islam. There is not a decline of Christianity, just a necessary “aggiornamento” to our times.
In our new book Emotional Frustration – the Hushed Plague we discuss the value of questioning accepted religious routines with these words heard in an Italian mass through the RAI.
“We might harbor certain certitudes about the women sharing our daily life. But we must remain skeptical as they might have been created with faux premises that layered a palimpsest of social prejudices and biased opinions in our minds. Watching the Cathedral of Agrigento’s mass, an exquisite feminine voice warned:
Chi non dubbia, non cerca.
Chi non cerca, non vede
E chi non vede, rimane cieco.[i]
References
[i] These lines were delicately pronounced by a feminine voice-over in the RAI’s live transmission of the Sunday Mass service in the Cathedral of Agrigento, Sicily, in Cristianità on April 28, 2019. It can be translated as:
“Whomever does not doubt, does not search
Whomever does not search, does not see
Whomever does not see, remains blind.”
Roman Curia, publish your monthly expenses on Lobster, Caviar and Pheasant for us to see.
Stay distant. Stay safe. Stay beautiful.
What do you think? Please tell us.
Don’t leave me alone.