We often discuss the downslide of our civilization and our humanity here. I am in awe of the fact that the older generations seemed to be larger than life is today. From the founders of this great nation to the generation that fought for freedom in the First and Second World War, we seem to not be able to fill their shoes. Seems we are becoming little people, with little minds, little courage, little in the way of moral values and, of course, little feet.
Of course, we stand on the shoulders of giants so we have that going for us. It makes us feel far bigger and greater than those before us but if the truth be told we have become lesser men over the centuries and few of us can stand up to the preceding generations.
It seems peculiar to me then, that we seem to esteem ourselves and speak of ourselves in superlatives because we have, of course, the use of things like cell phones, computers etc. that were the products of the work done by our forefathers in science.
The same can be said about the loss of stature of great religious leaders and saints like Padre Pio, the evangelist Billy Graham, the contemplatives like St. John of the Cross or Teresa of Avila. And what about great teachers totally dedicated to the faith such as Abp. Fulton Sheen?
Yet, over and over, we seem to want to diminish the worth of those who went before us and to argue with them (conveniently since they can’t respond and show off the ignorance of these new upstarts) and at times even make fun of their antiquated ideas. Nobody seems to imagine that perhaps, just perhaps, they had it right and we are the ones that are foolish enough to want to turn theology and social norms upon their respective heads.
I admit it, folks. My feet (size 11) are too small to fit into my late father’s size 8 loafers. And perhaps I misunderstood what Randy Newman was singing about in his strange hit song, Short People, back in the 70’s. Maybe he was pointing out how diminutive we have become and we seem to be getting shorter and smaller and less rational as the years go by.
All Along the Watchtower 
Indeed. I posit that life has gotten too easy. All those things you mention have made us soft. I recall hearing (from others) about my dad using the exhaust of his Model T truck to keep warm ( well, unfrozen) in the middle of a northern Minnesota blizzard while soldering telephone wire back up. Could I have done it – maybe for a bit, but not all day, every day, before dawn to well after nightfall, as he did. But the stories he told about others indicated that they had it worse, in his mind, he was lucky. And in his 70s, he could outwork me, even when I was in shape for playing organized football.
And you know, the kids coming up now have trouble keeping up with me. In many ways, it is a mark of advancing civilization, but we lose things in it as well.
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Good points. My grandad worked even in his 80’s not just around the house and yard but doctoring as well, even though he was retired. If they needed help he responded. The next nearest doctor was about 10 miles away and around the mountains that took a long time for folks to get there.
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Yep, so did Dad’s, well he kept some of his older patients when he retired, and in addition he was the terror of the hospital staff, always insisting that it be done right.
Men, real men, (women too, of course) it’s what made us, and mayhap save us again.
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It’s weird to say it’s a problem but both technology and literacy especially on social media have made once dangerous words no longer so.
We can anything on here and all that listen are the few here. Imagine, Scoop, if you were a literate man in 1200 a.d. and saying that Pope Francis wasn’t the Pope but Benedict XVI?
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Indeed so . . . depending on my standing I would either have an army following me or I’d be burned at the stake; though I don’t discount the possibility returning to the guillotine of the Vendee era. We seem to have a rather similar social and political commonality to that anti-Catholic French Revolution of old. So I wouldn’t discount it when you hear the rhetoric of violence from the left. In fact it is almost endemic on the left.
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Ultimately, elections are in the way those who ardently want to change the culture. And the laws–the Constitution–is in the way as well. It may come to pass that their only recourse will be violence for the “final transformation.”
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If they have their way they will have a global government with their own socialist government and laws. Every nation must submit of be punished economically or militarily.
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It dawned on me, when I marched for Life on the state Capitol that the culture no longer takes religion seriously. The procession was led down main streets with three giant Vatican flags and there was no unrest because we really have no say on the culture. In the 19th century the same procession would have broke out in violence and a mob. Are we more enlightened? No. Mobs still exist, but the culture is apathetic to religion.
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Indeed. Most are apathetic, the next largest group are the antithetic and finally you have the smallest group who are the zealous. They are considered freaks, revolutionaries, throw-backs to medievalism and simply inconsequential to life as it is understood today.
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Phillip, I think we can all identify with these paragraphs from the 1P5 article I posted:
“How do we boil down what the Church truly is, in her essence, and separate that from what we get in almost every parish we walk into? Just saying “I’m Catholic” could mean virtually anything in 2018, and that’s a problem for us.
So I ask again: where is the Church? What does it consist of when 95% of parishes and bishops and priests and laity are actually not, in any substantive sense, Catholic?
What does it mean when the handful of orthodox bishops in the Church — those very few who give us hope — would prefer to endure unjust persecution rather than stand their ground and fight on behalf of the faithful?”
Its a good article if you haven’t read it yet.
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Yes, but we must give credit to those who do make a stand such as Bishop Athanasius, Cardinal Sarah, and Bishop Paprocki who has again reject the USSCB and has critiqued publicly Cardinal Cupich.
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Indeed so. Sadly I am very worried as the good guys seem to be dropping like flies. Not too many left these days. I sure hope there is a good crop out there who are coming up the ranks but I doubt under this papacy any of them would receive a red hat.
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I’m reading some of the comments. Let’s face it. The Church is in schism. It is. And the more we keep saying it, the more it can be “resolved.”
Is the Pope with us who hold to the deposit of faith? If not…is he the Pope? Benedict said he was on his death bed but has remained for 5 years!
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Its really confusing. I think God is keeping Benedict alive for a reason.
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Along that line, I wonder if what we are seeing is the culmination of the differences between the British/Scottish Enlightenment which found it’s voice in the people, under God (America being the prime example) and the French Enlightenment, with its anti-clericalism (which shows up as anti-Catholicism), which featured in the French and Russian Revolutions, as well as the stifled risings of 1848.
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Aye. I guess you might even throw into the mix the overthrow of government in Soviet Union and the rise of Lenin and Marx. All the elitists find Christian values and religion a thorn in their side and must subjugate religion to the state. It always starts the same and it seems to always end the same. This time though, it seems that our religious leaders are selling out their principles to the ‘higher’ principles of human politics. They will lose, of course, as they are only being played for the useful idiots that they are.
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Aye, many are, and yes, they will lose.
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