Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday June 15

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

BURYING THE DEAD

Sons - both by birth and in spirit - assist in the burial of Dr. David Pence (June 10, 2019)

This past weekend we mourned the loss and celebrated the life of Dr. David Pence. At his wake on Friday, each of his children shared their fond memories and the many lessons they learned from their father. His son, Cain, reflected on how often his father told him about being at the right hand of the father, and how in his father's last moments Cain was literally there at his father's right hand. Dr. Pence would have been proud. Others, such as myself, shared as well. We heard from men who Dr. Pence campaigned with on 9/11, the "women of Jerusalem" who Dr. Pence both taught and learned from during many months of catechism classes, and the beautiful women religious who sung for Dr. Pence through the early hours of June 4 until his death at 3:55 AM.

The funeral on Saturday filled the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Mankato, bringing together so many of Dr. Pence's family, friends, students, and colleagues to pray for our dearly beloved father, friend, teacher, and mentor. We heard the comforting words of the pastor's homily and the magnificent singing of religious sisters at Communion followed soon after by the Ave Maria. It was a beautiful Mass on a beautiful, blue-skied, late-spring day at the end of the Easter season.

After celebrating Pentecost on Sunday, the burial was held in Minneapolis on Monday. I was honored to one of the pallbearers at both the funeral and burial. The burial gathered many of Dr. Pence's Men & Maps group from the Twin Cities, and burial prayer was led by Fr. Howe, who hosted the Men & Maps group at his parish. Like Saturday, we couldn't have had better weather. It was a tearful goodbye that turned to fellowship, work, and laughter, as Dr. Pence's sons invited those gathered to help bury their father. Two shovels went around as we worked. Dr. Pence would have been very proud.

Dr. David Pence, requisite in pace

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THE LORD'S PRAYER REVISITED: Pope Francis has approved Italian changes to the Our Father and the Gloria. Italian Catholics will now pray "do not let us fall into temptation" rather than "lead us not..." "Peace on Earth to people beloved by God" replaces "Peace on earth to people of good will." Pope Francis has discussed this particular change to the Our Father in the past, and has even gone so far as to say it should end with the words, "deliver us from the Evil One" (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church for an excellent overview of the Our Father's concluding petitions). This fuller revised ending to the prayer would likely have happened if Pope Francis had made the revisions himself - but the true headline is not that the Pope changed the text but rather he approved changes made by the Italian bishops. This practice stems from the pope's 2017 moto proprio, Magnum Principium ("The Great Principle"), which gave more authority to local bishop's conferences to establish liturgical translations. Pope Francis has been at work to halt the "creeping centralism of previous decades" and restore the collegiality of the early Church as called for by Vatican II. Contrary to the fears of conservatives, local bishops are not given carte blanche access to liturgical change, but are called to translate in keeping with the vernacular and receive Rome's approval thereafter. Believe it or not, this is in keeping with the collegial and synodal structure of the early Church.

FATHER NO MORE: Fr. Jonathan Morris of Fox News fame has announced he is seeking laicization. In his interview with Martha MacCallum, the Legionaries of Christ priest tells us that that he struggled with priestly celibacy and had in the past failed to keep his vows. While he didn't specify the gender of the person he broke his vows with, he assured the audience that nothing so scandalous as the priest abuse crisis headlines took place (other than the scandal of breaking one's vows). He did say that "not being able to marry and have a family" was a driving factor in his decision. This statement reveals the true scandal. The Sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacramentalization of brotherhood. It expresses fraternal love in its mission-oriented and self-sacrificial character. The fact that our deacons, priests, and bishops so often do not feel the gravitational attraction of patriarchal fraternity is a driving force behind our vocations shortage (this is something to think about as you read about D-Day and the self-sacrificial, mission-oriented national brotherhoods of armed warriors below).

II. PRESIDENTIAL TRUMP AND AMERICA

TRUMP IN NORMANDY: President Trump marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day by giving one of his best speeches as president. Excerpts below:

We are gathered here on Freedom’s Altar.  On these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood, and thousands sacrificed their lives, for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.

Today, we remember those who fell, and we honor all who fought right here in Normandy.  They won back this ground for civilization.

To more than 170 veterans of the Second World War who join us today: You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live.  You’re the pride of our nation.  You are the glory of our republic.  And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts... When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a Great Crusade — one of the greatest of all times.  Their mission is the story of an epic battle and the ferocious, eternal struggle between good and evil.

The battle began in the skies above us.  In those first tense midnight hours, 1,000 aircraft roared overhead with 17,000 Allied airborne troops preparing to leap into the darkness beyond these trees.

Then came dawn.  The enemy who had occupied these heights saw the largest naval armada in the history of the world.  Just a few miles offshore were 7,000 vessels bearing 130,000 warriors.  They were the citizens of free and independent nations, united by their duty to their compatriots and to millions yet unborn.

There were the British, whose nobility and fortitude saw them through the worst of Dunkirk and the London Blitz.  The full violence of Nazi fury was no match for the full grandeur of British pride.  Thank you. There were the Canadians, whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compelled them to take up arms alongside Britain from the very, very beginning.

There were the fighting Poles, the tough Norwegians, and the intrepid Aussies. There were the gallant French commandos, soon to be met by thousands of their brave countrymen ready to write a new chapter in the long history of French valor. And, finally, there were the Americans.  They came from the farms of a vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities, and the forges of mighty industrial towns.  Before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community.  Now they had come to offer their lives half a world from home.

9,388 young Americans rest beneath the white crosses and Stars of David arrayed on these beautiful grounds.  Each one has been adopted by a French family that thinks of him as their own.  They come from all over France to look after our boys.  They kneel.  They cry.  They pray.  They place flowers.  And they never forget.  Today, America embraces the French people and thanks you for honoring our beloved dead.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

From across the Earth, Americans are drawn to this place as though it were a part of our very soul.  We come not only because of what they did here.  We come because of who they were.

They were young men with their entire lives before them.  They were husbands who said goodbye to their young brides and took their duty as their fate.  They were fathers who would never meet their infant sons and daughters because they had a job to do.  And with God as their witness, they were going to get it done.  They came wave after wave, without question, without hesitation, and without complaint.

More powerful than the strength of American arms was the strength of American hearts. These men ran through the fires of hell moved by a force no weapon could destroy: the fierce patriotism of a free, proud, and sovereign people.  They battled not for control and domination, but for liberty, democracy, and self-rule.

They pressed on for love in home and country — the Main Streets, the schoolyards, the churches and neighbors, the families and communities that gave us men such as these. They were sustained by the confidence that America can do anything because we are a noble nation, with a virtuous people, praying to a righteous God.

The exceptional might came from a truly exceptional spirit.  The abundance of courage came from an abundance of faith.  The great deeds of an Army came from the great depths of their love. As they confronted their fate, the Americans and the Allies placed themselves into the palm of God’s hand.

The blood that they spilled, the tears that they shed, the lives that they gave, the sacrifice that they made, did not just win a battle.  It did not just win a war.  Those who fought here won a future for our nation.  They won the survival of our civilization.  And they showed us the way to love, cherish, and defend our way of life for many centuries to come.

DEALING WITH MEXICO: President Trump's tariff threat against Mexico has been averted. Details are still forthcoming, but the "Never Trump" National Review has given the president credit for a victory that is neither a PR stunt nor merely symbolic. In the deal reached, Mexico is sending another 6,000 men to police its southern border and lifted all restrictions on the Migration Protection Protocols, thus allowing us to return captured asylum-seekers to Mexico while their claims are adjudicated. There is also the possibility of establishing the "safe third country" policy, which would allow asylum-seekers to remain in the first country they entered upon fleeing their home country (in this case, Mexico). This is a huge win for the president, and shows he is able to accomplish his policy initiatives even without support from Congress.

III. THE NATIONS

RUSSIAN AIRPORTS RENAMED: Russia continues to reinforce its identity following the defeat of communism. This week the winners of the "Great Names of Russia" contest we announced, and 44 airports are being renamed to recognize the winners - which include names of saints recognized by the Orthodox churches. As communism fades into the past, Christian Russia is re-emerging.

END THE NEO-CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: Theresa May has official stepped down as Prime Minister and we await the selection of her replacement. Leading contender, Boris Johnson, has said as prime minister he will withhold a $50 billion Brexit payment to the EU until a better Brexit deal is reached. The EU has said it will not reopen negotiations ahead of Britain's October 31 exit date. It would do Britain well to see this time as something akin to Napoleon's continental system, which attempted to throttle Britain's economy for remaining outside continental control. One way Britain defeated the system was to form a partnership with Russia, which lead to Napoleon's ill-fated 1812 Russian invasion and his eventual downfall. Britain also worked with Russia in World War II to defeat the Nazi juggernaut. The is simply EU the latest monstrosity to befall the nations of Europe and the free nations of Britain and Russia must work together again for the freedom of their European brethren.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

MERYL STREEP REJECTS TOXIC MASCULINITY: The actress who in 2015 rejected the label of feminist has this to say about the exclusive use toxicity on men: “We hurt our boys by calling something toxic masculinity... Women can be pretty [expletive] toxic." We at AoA do not wholly reject the use of "toxic masculinity" but rather pair it with its opposite: consecrated masculinity. That which is not consecrated easily becomes toxic. To understand this in terms of the feminine, we invite our readers to consider reading The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity by Dr. Carrrie Gress.

TOBIN TWEETS: Bishop Tobin, not Cardinal Tobin, reminded Catholics of Providence, Rhode Island, "that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children." The bishop, however, quickly apologized for offending the "gay community" and offered his hopes for a "safe, positive and productive" gay rally held soon after. More than tweets and walk-backs, what is needed is a clear teaching and manifested culture of protection and life. A living model of chaste, patriarchal fraternity in the Apostolic brotherhoods of deacons, priests, and bishops will do much more good than tweets.

PROSECUTING COWARDICE: Scot Peterson, the officer on duty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has been arrested on eleven criminal charges. Rather than confront shooter Nikolas Cruz, who killed seventeen students and staff, Peterson hid out for 48 minutes in a stairwell. At the time, Peterson was nearing retirement and an $8,700 per month pension. While the Washington Posts worries about criminalizing cowardice, we know that a culture of life is won by a culture of protection and that both rely on honor and shame. Punishing one coward, however, is not enough. It is also important to lift up the brave and create a brotherhood of citizen protectors for our schools and communities. That's what the second amendment is all about.

"PRIDE FLAG" OR SHAME FLAG? We Catholics know the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, not gay pride. As the sexual Left celebrates "pride month" embassy requests to fly the "pride flag" alongside the US flag have been rejected. Other embassies are shamefully in open revolt, flying the "flag" (which gives "false flag" a new meaning) without permission or lighting up the embassy in rainbow colors. Here the president runs into what Obama called "the blob" - the large number of people within the bureaucracy who can create obstacles to presidential policy. In this case it is the policy of flying flags that represent nations, not ideologies. Marking our flag posts and embassy buildings with the rainbow ideology lifts up - sacralizes - the gay ideology as a central part of our mission to the nations. Those comprising "the blob" are too blind to see how promoting the sacralization of an abomination flies in the face of the world's religions and traditional moralities. Raising the "pride flag" across the globe does nothing but virtue signal to sexual leftists at home while alerting the nations to our cultural imperialist aspirations.

FIRST WOMAN COMMANDS INFANTRY DIVISION: Brigadier General Laura Yeager is set to become the first woman to command a U.S. Army infantry division. She has no previous combat command experience or time in the infantry. One former Marine combat infantry platoon and company commander commented on her appointment by saying: "I see nothing in [her] duty stations or command posts that would possibly qualify her to lead an infantry division... If we are placing PC above the training and readiness of young men... we in serious trouble as a country and a culture."

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday June 8

by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

IN MEMORIAM

DR. DAVID PENCE (1946-2019)

Today we mourn, remember, and celebrate the life of Dr. David Pence. All those reading this are welcome to join us today for his funeral Mass at St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church in Mankato, Minnesota at 1 PM (located at 105 N 5th St, Mankato, MN 56001).

This Religion, Nations, and Geopolitics Review post will be the last we write together and the first of many Weekly Briefs written by myself, A. Joseph Lynch. While these will continue to focus on the wider world news, I want to say a few things about my dear friend, brother, mentor, and father-figure, Dr. David Pence.

I first met Dr. Pence after a debate he had against Fr. Eckert at the Argument of the Month Club in South St. Paul, Minnesota. They debated the topic of Vatican II and I went in thinking I was with Fr. Eckert's traditional side. By the end, however, Dr. Pence had made many excellent points in favor of the council so I approached him for a brief conversation. Always looking for more brothers, the big-hearted Pence invited me for to eat with him and further our discussion. I had no idea these conversations would change my life.

I met him at a time of my life - my early twenties - when I was heavily engaged in reading, usually a book a day back then, and teaching the faith at a Catholic parish in Faribault, MN. I told him of my interest in history, geography, astronomy, and theology. I had discovered Peter Kreeft a couple years before this and was now engaging philosophy, too. Dr. Pence gave me a copy of the book Carnage and Culture and told me he wanted help putting together a series of presentations on world history that brought together military history, politics, and religion. I regret I have thus far failed to deliver on my promise to complete these presentations. Not finishing them before his death is regret I will carry to my dying day.

At the time, my reading was total absorption of the material. Pence, however, didn't just read a book. He had a "Pencian" way of seizing the gold nuggets in a text and discharging the rest. At the time I didn't know how to read like him. In addition to the many books he sent me over the years - and I will greatly miss receiving those book packages from him (one of which he inadvertently bought from a friend of mine online here in Kansas City) - he often sent out links to online article to men on his email chain. I would always read the articles, but at first not know how to interpret them with a "Pencian" lens. I would call him to ask him what I should take away from the reading, then after hearing tell him to send everyone his unique commentary. One day I had the idea for the Religion, Nations, and Geopolitics Review. Rather than email links with commentary, I asked him to put them together in this post, with his words, so that we could read the news of the week with him and get his take on things. Since then we've written and edited together, and I'm happy to say he's read some of my entries and thought he had written them himself.

Over the past year, Dr. Pence spoke more often of his coming death and insisted I continue on with this Saturday post and AoA as a whole - and I will do everything I can to continue bringing you his voice and his arguments. I wanted so much to more time with him and I write now with tears. But I am so thankful we had the time and endless hours of conversation together. We have become in many ways of one mind and I feel as though there are enough breadcrumbs for me to follow as I continue developing "his baby" - the Pence project. I told my wife that had he died five years ago it would have been a total disaster. With these five years, I feel I have learned his mind enough to continue in his footsteps. Knowing that is one thing, realizing it it in a way that is truly faithful to his thought is another. I cry in part for loss, and I cry in part for fear that I cannot do this visionary justice. I miss him dearly in so many ways.

I know most of you do not know me or have never met me. I hope you'll continue to keep reading nonetheless. There is more to come and I am happy to say that you have more to read from our departed friend. The two of us have spent years of discussion, and months in writing, a new book called The Catholic Palette. I don't know why, but I worked frantically last week to finish my portions along with giving it an overall edit. Dr. Pence finished editing what I gave him late last week and met with the printing house on Friday. At the time of his death, it was due out by the end of July. I fully plan on seeing it finished and available to you, dear reader. For the last several months it has been a labor of love and I convinced God gave him just enough time to get it finished before his death.

With most friendships, death leads to the thankful remembrance of good times past. Dr. Pence and I, however, rarely spent time making small talk or going to fun activities. We prayed, worked, studies, and struggled together. It was always fun, but it was never just for fun. And this means that the fun will continue as I continue to converse with him at least through his ideas. So I hope I can help bring Dr. Pence in some way to you each Saturday. We'll also continue to Keep Catholic and Civic Time. I also plan to continue writing the missing articles in our sectional table of contents pages. It might be slow, but there will be progress. I have a wife, a twenty-one month old daughter, and hopes to begin working on a theology doctorate. In true Pencian fashion, the planned dissertation will focus on Holy Orders as a sacrament of fraternity. I pray my friend will help me in some way as I write. He was especially adept at finding my wordy "Lynchisms" - through I was quite surprised to learn from him over the weekend that he had left some of them in the book. I should have known he wasn't feeling well.

I tell you I have never experienced so much grief and so many tears - and this comes from one who lost a six year old nephew to drowning last July and then lost a childhood mentor a few weeks later. I knew my time with Dr. Pence was coming to an end, but I had prayed the Lord would give me one more time to see him in a planned visit next month. Ours was the kind of friendship good men should have with each other - deeply personal but, unlike marriage, aimed at prayer, work, study, and battle rather than intimacy. We had had a very real communio together - and when that kind of bond is there the death of one takes much of the other with him. He has passed into the mystery of Christ and for now I will seek out our fraternal communio in that mysterious communio of the Blessed Sacrament. He is taken with Christ and now hidden yet present with Him through the hands of the Apostolic priesthood. It is fitting he left between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday.

I would love to meet you at the funeral or burial in Minneapolis on Monday, but please forgive me if I am teary eyed. I know Dr. Pence would give me the hardest time for this and I will do my utmost to show some manly strength. If I fail at this, I will not fail in keeping my promises to the best mentor, friend, brother, and father-figure a young man can have. I wouldn't be the man I am without him. The work continues, and I invite you to join us in it. For now read on for the rest of Dr. Pence's final posting. I also invite you to listen to our inaugural podcast of Religion, Sex, and Politics. As a fellow listener, hearing his voice again has brought me a great deal of peace. I leave you know with the words Dr. Pence always told me when we hung up the phone: "God love you!"

-A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

"Some may imagine Cardinal Bernardin applauding, or at least tolerating, Joe Biden’s flip on the Hyde Amendment. To do so, however, is to dishonor the cardinal’s memory, while continuing to let self-seeking politicians distort the meaning of “Catholicism” in American public life."  George Weigel doing his standard  anti Democratic "analysis" but he implies (as he has in the past)  that Cardinal Bernadine is maybe mistaken but surely to be honored. This is a colossal error in judgement about Bernadine  much more relevant to the state of Catholicism than Joe Biden's tired campaign.

JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN - A DEFENSE OF THE TERM: We have always resisted the term Judaeo Christian values  because it seems a way to praise good guys and nice people without worshipping the Living God. These authors (an Orthodox rabbi and an evangelical Christian) however make a serious case for the Judaeo-Christian tradition that begins  with the sovereignty of God. They deserve a serious hearing.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

JD VANCE TALKS AT AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE DINNER: He argued for a pro-family, pro-worker, pro-nation Conservatism.

THE ROOTS OF NATURAL RIGHTS AND AMERICAN LAW: Canon Law and Roman Law precede the Enlightenment.

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S IMPROBABLE ROLE IN HISTORY: “History is at once aristocratic and revolutionary. It allows the whole world situation to be suddenly transformed by the action of a single individual.” It is this dynamic historical process that is fatal to a secular understanding of religious approaches to history. In the words of Edmund Burke that Dawson quoted with approval, at times a “common soldier, a child, a girl at the door of an inn have changed the face of the future and almost of Nature.” To the Christian, this understanding of historical development permits interpretation of past events in the light of divine will and spiritual forces that may be unknown even to the actors themselves."  CHRISTOPHER DAWSON, CATHOLIC HISTORIAN

CHRISTIANITY, THE ENLIGHTENMENT, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: From Robert Louis Wilken.

III. THE NATIONS

ARGENTINA: At the annual Te Deum Mass, the Argentine Cardinal and the civil heads of the national government agree on a "Great National Pact"-what  Cardinal Poli  called a "Great Covenant of Honor" with a preferential option for the poor. "Unity is more important than division and reality over ideas" the cardinal said in emphasizing two favorite themes of Pope Francis.  We are going to see the Pope and those who think about politics with him are going to be much more open to Christian nationalism than many think.  Don't look at his Vatican "magic circle" making  statements about immigration and Europe. Look back at the Cardinal in his homeland.  That is where the Pope's language and categories are been deepened.

ITALY AND THE POPE: Be a brother - engage with elected Italian officials from the populist nationalists says Cardinal Mueller to Pope Francis. Mueller criticized the "magic circle" around Pope Francis including Jesuit Fr  Antonio Spadaro of Civilta Cattolica  and Cardinal Gaultiero Bassetti head of there italian Bishops Conference.  The conversation is getting a lot clearer.

CANADA: In the second largest geographic nation, something new is blowing in the wind. A Canadian University professor must use a pseudonym to report. “This is the world of those without a mystique. . . .Let there be no mistake, and no one rejoice in it, on either side. The de-republicanization of France is essentially the same movement as the de-christianization of France. . . It is one and the same movement which makes people no longer believe in the Republic and no longer believe in God, no longer want to lead a republican life and no longer want to lead a Christian life. One and the same sterility withers the city and Christendom.” CHARLES PEGUY

EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA: A good review.

ROMANIA: Orthodox for sure. How religious?

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

JUDGE CLARENCE THOMAS AND JUDGE RUTH GINSBERG: EXCERPTS FROM RECENT ABORTION CASE: THOMAS - "The use of abortion to achieve eugenic goals is not merely hypothetical. The foundations for legalizing abortion in America were laid during the early 20th-century birth control movement.  That movement developed alongside the American eugenics movement.  And significantly, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger recognized the eugenic potential of her cause. . .

 "Eight decades after Sanger's 'Negro Project,' abortion in the United States is also marked by a considerable racial disparity. . .  there are areas of New York City in which black children are more likely to be aborted than they are to be born alive—and are up to eight times more likely to be aborted than white children in the same area. . .

"Enshrining a constitutional right to an abortion based solely on the race, sex, or disability of an unborn child, as Planned Parenthood advocates, would constitutionalize the views of the 20th-century eugenics movement. . .  Although the Court declines to wade into these issues today, we cannot avoid them forever."

GINSBURG: ". . . a woman who exercises her constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy is not a 'mother.'"

CARDINAL ROBERT SARA ON GOD, FATHERHOOD AND THE ATHEIST PROJECT OF THE WEST: "People in the West are guilty of rejecting God. They have not only rejected God. Friedrich Nietzsche, who may be considered the spokesman of the West, has claimed: “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him…” We have murdered God. In view of God’s death among men, Nietzsche would replace him with a prophetic “Superman.”

The spiritual collapse thus has a very Western character. In particular, I would like to emphasize the rejection of fatherhood. Our contemporaries are convinced that, in order to be free, one must not depend on anybody. There is a tragic error in this. Western people are convinced that receiving is contrary to the dignity of human persons. But civilized man is fundamentally an heir, he receives a history, a culture, a language, a name, a family. This is what distinguishes him from the barbarian. To refuse to be inscribed within a network of dependence, heritage, and filiation condemns us to go back naked into the jungle of a competitive economy left to its own devices. Because he refuses to acknowledge himself as an heir, man is condemned to the hell of liberal globalization in which individual interests confront one another without any law to govern them besides profit at any price.

... I want to suggest to Western people that the real cause of this refusal to claim their inheritance and this refusal of fatherhood is the rejection of God. From Him we receive our nature as man and woman. This is intolerable to modern minds. Gender ideology is a Luciferian refusal to receive a sexual nature from God. Thus some rebel against God and pointlessly mutilate themselves in order to change their sex. But in reality they do not fundamentally change anything of their structure as man or woman. The West refuses to receive, and will accept only what it constructs for itself. Transhumanism is the ultimate avatar of this movement. Because it is a gift from God, human nature itself becomes unbearable for western man. This revolt is spiritual at root. It is the revolt of Satan against the gift of grace."

The Prayers of D-Day: June 6,1944

I am honored to say I knew the man pictured at center above Eisenhower's thumb, Private Sherman Oiler from Kansas. When I knew him in the late 90s, he could still fit into the uniform from this picture. -AJL

In remembrance of the men who fought and died during the D-Day invasion of Nazi-controlled France, we remember the words and prayers of our civic and military leaders, President FDR and General Eisenhower, as the invasion was underway. (Here is transcript of Eisenhower order of the day. You will see that the movie-audio version we link to strangely leaves out the last line which made it a prayer.) Listening to Walter Cronkite interview with Eisenhower 20 years later at Normandy is another good way to remember this day.

"Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity." FDR D-Day Prayer. 

June 6, 2019 Update: These above words were quoted by President Donald Trump during his trip to England on June 5, 2019 - on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the invasion (AJL). Read President Trump's incredible anniversary speech from June 6, 2019 here.

Dr. David Pence (1946-2019)

In the early hours of this morning we lost a friend, a teacher, and a visionary thinker. Dr. David Pence, our brother in Christ, has been called home by the Father.

He leaves us in between the great holy days of Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday, precisely half way through what was a ten-day retreat by the Apostles and the Virgin Mother of God. If now is the time the Father calls, we know Dr. Pence would rejoice that the timing of his departure was anchored between our Lord's Ascension and the great pillars of Marian femininity and Apostolic fraternity. Even in death, Dr. Pence knew how to Keep Catholic Time.

We mourn the loss and give thanks to Almighty God that He gave us such a man as Dr. Pence. The world will never see another like him. We know here at Anthropology of Accord that we can never totally recapture his voice, or replicate his unique - "Pencian" - way of analyzing religion and politics. We do know, however, that the way he would like his memory and work to be honored is by the men he knew to continue the project he began. This is not the end - neither for the man we lost in the flesh nor for his visionary contribution to the Catholic worldview.

Let us now mourn and give thanks. Let us rejoice that our dear friend and brother in Christ has arrived in time to celebrate with the saints the birthday of the Church and the beginning of the Apostolic mission to the nations. The mission continues. Much work remains ahead. Dr. Pence would often talk about "advancing the football." Let us honor Dr. Pence, as brothers in Christ and men of the nation, by moving the football downfield. He wouldn't want it any other way.

Dr. David Pence, rest in peace.

Teacher, Visionary, Friend, Mentor, Father, and Brother in Christ.

Sunday June 2-see Ascension Thursday