Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola -- 'Militia est vita hominis in terra' (Man's life on earth is a warfare)

[first published July 31, 2014]


"Everything that Jesus did, from His crying as a Babe in the cradle to His getting tired and falling asleep, to His agony in the Garden, all of that is a pattern for us to imitate."

Father John Hardon, the Jesuit who died in 2000, explains that the Person of Christ is the first attribute of the spirituality of Saint Ignatius: "Man's virtues are God's attributes."

                    

The founder of the Jesuits -- unlike his Protestant contemporaries -- understood the true dignity of human freedom. Take a look at Father Hardon's fine essay.
                                 

"Take Lord and receive all my liberty... To Thee, Oh Lord, I return it. All is Thine... Give me Thy Love and Thy Grace for this is sufficient for me."         (Saint Ignatius of Loyola)

The First Jesuit Pope is Pope Francis. Many modern day Jesuits have betrayed the masculine personality of Ignatius and ignored the Evil One who Ignatius was always careful to discern and oppose. This has confused many conservative Catholics about Pope Francis. Pope Francis is not James Martin. The Pope  is not playing to the spirit of this age. Quite the contrary, Pope Francis is bringing a much needed dimension to the papal office which has been sorely lacking for over half a century. If John Paul gave priests the words of a Prophet and Benedict XVI taught the clergy to reverence the liturgy as a  priest, we believe Pope Francis will bring the king's ruling function to the priesthood and episcopacy. We believe the Pope has been misunderstood by his intellectual critics of the global North. A series of our defenses of the first Jesuit Pope.    

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, JULY 27

by A. Joseph Lynch
& Past Commentary of Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
MUELLER'S TESTIMONY DEBACLE 

As Robert Mueller testified before Congress this week, we look back at what Dr. Pence had to say about Mueller and his report on April 27, 2019:

There is no discussion in the [Mueller] Report of the foreign manipulation by British and Australian agents. They expertly "recruited" the shared hatred for Donald Trump by John McCain and Hillary Clinton. The British as geopolitical actors were understandably against any new strategic alliance between the US and Russia. That would benefit the US but greatly diminish British importance in the asymmetrical Anglo alliance. Christopher Steele got paid but his motivation preceded requests for opposition research. Christopher Steele is in the best James Bond tradition of British intelligence. He will take whatever pleasures and personal benefits come his way but in the end he wants to serve his country and hurt her enemies. He despises Russia and considered Donald Trump a foolish immature American who didn't understand the adult world of international alliances. The American politicians and intelligence officers he manipulated were no match for a man toughened as head of the Russian desk for M16 in London. The Russian dossier is a foreigner's disinformation campaign which had plenty of willing American megaphones. There is nothing so easily manipulated by foreigners as the small mindedness of party and government careerists - it's a bipartisan coastal elite character fault.

The Mueller report has laid out a case for impeaching the President for obstruction of justice. Mueller clearly explained he didn't indict Trump because of a Justice Department legal opinion that the way to charge a President is by articles of impeachment not indictments. He did say in a footnote that Trump could be indicted when out of office. The rebellion against the elected President continues. Mr. Mueller has never been a neutral. He has put forth the case and now the House is called on to impeach. The fact that many of us think the case is not only weak but ludicrous does not mean Mueller has not deliberately put forth an impeachment brief. The impeachment temptation may be irresistible for the Trump-haters. Even knowing the Senate would not remove him from office, the House Democrats could say the House patriots impeached but the Senate partisans covered up.

...Still we can take heart that things are much clearer today than before the Trump presidency. Robert Mueller will not do well in the light. Myopia and misdirection are the defining characteristics of Mueller's career in the FBI. Maybe it is some cosmic Karma that the FBI chief's stunning lack of interest in the Saudis after 9/11 was balanced by the Special Counsel's dragged out investigations of Russians after the Trump election. Mueller's inattention to the Saudis as FBI head in the decade after 9/11 is like Comey's whitewash of  Hillary Clinton for obstructing justice. The contrasts with how they treated President Trump make the ugly truth even more clear.

Mueller's testimony was stunning, but not because of any bombshells he lobbed at the President. His refusal to answer many basic question and his stammering response to many others left views with the impression of an inept and incompetent investigator. His lack of knowledge about his own report leads on to believe he had little to do with its writing. The man who testified before Congress was clearing not of the same caliber as the man who led the FBI twenty years ago.

Mueller didn't know what Fusion GPS was - the organization tied to the Steele dossier and the origins of his own investigation - and he refused to assess whether or not Steele was lying in the first place. He declared he did not exonerate the President, failing to mention the fact that prosecutors never exonerate those under investigation. He attempted to make a distinction between collusion and conspiracy, only to be rebutted by his own report.

Although Mueller refused to answer around two-hundred questions, House Republicans came ready for battle and scored an impressive victory for the President. If House Democrats wish to press forward on impeachment, they will face a unified Republican minority and and divided Democrat majority. We invite our readers to look at Pat Buchanan's assessment of the situation. 

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

MORE BRANSFIELD FALL OUT: Both the state's attorney general and the lay faithful are demanding answers to the corruption behind Bransfield. Archbishop Lori, who failed to report to Rome that he had received $7,500 in "gifts" from his subordinate Bransfield, has felt the money pinch from the faithful and announced an independent audit of diocesan accounting. Bishop Brennan, Lori's auxiliary bishop, will soon become Charleston, West Virginia. Will yet another subordinate of Lori do the right thing or will the corruption continue?

A CHURCH WITHOUT GOD: Why it won't work.

CHRIST CATHEDRAL DEDICATED: The Chrystal Cathedral is now Christ Cathedral. The cost to Orange county Catholics was a mere $130 million.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

SCOTUS AND THE WALL: In a huge win for the President, the Supreme Court ruled to allow $2.5 billion from the military to be spent on the wall with Mexico. A legal fight continues, but the SCOTUS ruling indicates this fight will also go Trump's way.

DRAINING THE SWAMP: Trump may slowly be moving the government out of Washington D.C. The move of several offices has led to many employees refusing to relocate. Some offices of the Department of Agriculture, for example, are moving to Kansas City. The move will lead to cost savings for the government, reduced government employees in Washington, and more jobs held by Trump supporters in Kansas/Missouri. Another brilliant move by the President.

A GOVERNOR TO RESIGN: Corruption and mismanagement of hurricane assistance funds has led to the ouster of Puerto Rico's governor, Ricky Rosselló. Hurricane Maria has not proved to be Trump's Katrina after all. The question now is: can Puerto Rico get a corruption-free governor or is it doomed to elect another Rosselló crony?

MN HOUSE RACE: Danielle Stella, seeking to unseat the wildly unpopular Omar, seems to have been recently arrested twice for shoplifting. We hope the Minnesota GOP does a better job in selecting a candidate who should be a shoe-in on election day. With Omar's seemingly Salafist foreign policy positions, now is the time to run a candidate with a strong background in both religion and geopolitics. Meanwhile, Omar is paying back-taxes and fines related to her questionable marital history.

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

DETHRONED BEAUTY QUEEN: Miss Michigan, Kathy Zhu, was stripped of her crown over her support for Trump policies. She says its harder to "come out of the closet" as conservative than has gay.

CORRECTING MARTIN: James Martin has called for women preaching at Mass. Fr. Dwight Longenecker responds. We would add that much preaching in Catholic Masses are aimed at and worded for all-female audiences, often because women comprise an increasing percentage of Mass attenders. As homilies are directed towards women, delivered in a feminine-motherly tone, it is no wonder we are losing the men. What we need most of all now is the homilist who speaks man-to-man. It's the kind of preaching you'll encounter when prophets and apostles preached in the Bible. 

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, JULY 20

by A. Joseph Lynch
& Past Commentary of Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
TRUMP VERSUS "THE SQUAD"

A week ago Nancy Pelosi and mainline Democrats were fending of attacks from the four most radical women of their party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ("AOC") insinuated she was a racist. Not long after a leaked Axios poll for Democrats revealed that AOC had a 22% approval rating while Ilhan Omar stood at only 9%. Omar, an immigrant from Somalia with a questionable marital history, had made many remarks disparaging America.

Trump, playing four dimensional chess, brilliantly entered into the fray with some over-the-top tweets. The nature of the tweets can be summed up by a new sign at a Virginia church: "America: Love It or Leave It." Calling them "the squad," Trump has voiced and denounced their craziest comments. But by wording his tweets in a way that would enrage the radical Leftist media and the radicals in the Democrats' base, the moderate wing of the Democrats has been forced to defend the squad and their statements. In doing so they, with the media and the radical Left, are further discredited. Trump took a calculated risk. His tweets could ding him in the polls, but the effect on the Democrats would be much worse. A new poll revealed, however, that Trump's approval has since jumped four points to hit the 50% mark. He thanked the squad.

Pelosi, who had been defending herself from the squad, wrapped herself around the radical wing of her party and pushed through a condemnation of Trump's tweets. Omar took her newfound fame and prestige as an opportunity to push sanctions against Israel. Meanwhile, Rep. Al Green managed to bring presidential impeachment proceedings to a full floor vote in the House. It failed. Only ninety-five House members voted to move forward with impeachment. All of this plays right into the hands of the president.

What's most important, however, is that the verbal diarrhea of the Left about Trump's tweets completely drowned out the big story of the week: Trump effectively ended America's current asylum program by invoking the "safe third country" policy. From now on, asylum seekers who, on the way to America, pass through a third country that accepts asylum seekers must first apply for asylum there. This should have been the news story of the week. Instead of "defending the refugee" the Left in the media and Congress defended four radicals who hate America. Like it or not, this week brought Trump - and the nation - huge victories.

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

BISHOP EXORCISES CITY: After a ten-year old girl was brutally murdered in the crime-ridden city of Buenaventura, Columbia, its bishop, Ruben Dario Jaramillo Montoya, knew what to do. This past Sunday he performed an exorcism across the whole city, declaring: "We have to drive the devil out of Buenaventura, to see if we can restore the peace and tranquility that our city has lost due to so many crimes, acts of corruption and with so much evil and drug trafficking that invades our port." We need more bishops who think like this.

AFRICA IS THE FUTURE: Hundreds of African priests - particularly from Nigeria (the world's sixth largest Christian nation and fifth largest Islamic nation) - are filling the priest shortage in the US. Many Catholics aren't used to the way the speak. No, not just the accent. African men speak like men, using the imperative and declarative moods, while many effeminate men in the American priesthood speak in the motherly subjunctive.

BEHOLD, THE MILLENNIAL NUNS: An intriguing story from an unlikely source covering the rising number of millenials headed to the convent.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

RESIGNED UK AMBASSADOR BACKED STEELE: The same ambassador who trashed Trump in cables to the UK government told a former State Department official that Steele - who wrote the infamous Trump dossier - was absolutely legit. We invite readers to re-read Dr. David Pence's Weekly Brief of September 18, 2018. Here is a quote from the article on the British, Steele, and Trump:

Is it foreign collusion when a white English speaking "ally" tries to frustrate American policy to favor British interests? The Russians buy Facebook ads. The British have relationships. The Brits are pretty good at getting bigger countries to help them in their foreign policy goals. Christopher Steele acted for his country against his country's enemy (Russia). He is loyal to his countrymen. The problem for a lot of us Americans with Mr Steele is that we elected Donald Trump who favored a policy of  making substantial changes in our policy toward Russia. Most British intelligence and government officials (in and out of government) see an American Russian alliance as very bad for Britain. Mr. Steele has tapped into the hatred of Donald Trump by the Democratic Party, the neocon wing of the Republican Party, and Intelligence officials who share the Anglo-American transatlantic vision of international relations. Those wellsprings of energy serve the foreign agent and the home grown resistance quite well. It comes as no surprise that "our allies" don't want too much about the Russian dossier to go public. Beware of white men speaking English who "look like us" but are serving another nation.

GOP WOMEN BACK TRUMP: CNN attempted to manipulate eight Texas women to call Trump racist over his recent tweets regarding the "the Squad" of four radical women in Congress. The women didn't cave. They went on the offensive.

APOLLO 11 AT 50: Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. The battle between America and Communist Atheism was on full display in the space race. The Cold War was not a battle between capitalism and communism but a battle between religion and nations against an evil atheist empire. When America landed on the moon, we planted the flag and consumed Communion. Before Neil Armstrong declared his "one giant leap," Buzz Aldrin declared as he took Holy Communion: "As Jesus said: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in Him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me'" (John 15:5). Communion with God was man's first meal on the moon. This moment was included in the HBO mini-series, From the Earth to the Moon. It never made it to air worldwide, however, because of a lawsuit by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of American Atheists. It was O'Hair who led the fight to ban prayer in school. A good article on the topic of Communion on the moon and O'Hair tells of her grim fate:

And as for O'Hair? History was unkind. She disappeared in 1995 along with her son Jon and granddaughter Robin Murray. After a long hunt, their dismembered and charred bodies were found in a field. Authorities believe that David Waters, a former employee of O'Hair, masterminded a plot to rob and murder O'Hair. Her born-again son, William Murray, who lost not only his mother but also his brother and daughter to Waters and his associates, has spoken very strongly about his upbringing under O'Hair. He mourns his family but believes his mother was pumped up by her own hype and was even evil. In a statement given in 1999 he said, "she honestly believed she had singlehandedly removed prayer from school. She honestly believed she had 'liberated' America sexually".

III. THE NATIONS

POLISH COMMUNITIES LGBT-FREE: Government officials across Poland are declaring their towns, cities, and regions free of LGBT ideology. More from Church Militant. A Polish magazine is giving "LGBT-free zone" stickers to its readers and the Sexual Left has labeled it a call to violence. What is missing in the press is the gender sanity we've lost and Poland intends to keep.

ORTHODOX RUSSIANS IN SPACE: Although Christian America was the first to the moon, today's Russians are becoming deeply Christian. It is not uncommon for Russian cosmonauts to take icons and relics with them to space. They even brought up a fragment of the True Cross. How things have changed in fifty years!

ORTHODOX WIN WIMBLEDON: Steve Turley, an Orthodox Christian nationalist, discusses the epic wins.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

ASKED TO LEAVE: Five cops - working July 4 so others could enjoy the civic holy day - were kicked out of Starbucks because they made someone "feel unsafe." Starbucks apologized. While the apology and reprimand of the employee are welcome, customers who would kick out law enforcement should be called out and given the boot themselves.

COACH RED PILL - BUSINESS LOVES FEMINISM: The video is a bit crass, but "Coach Red Pill" does a good job of explaining the close relationship - or "marriage" - between Big Business and Radical Feminism.

"GAY STREET" MAKEOVER: First it was LGB, then LGBT, then LGBTQ, and more recently LGBTQIA. They've since added the "+" because the list of letters is too long to write. Facebook offers its users the choice of fifty-eight different genders options. A TED Talk given by Mirjam Heine arguing that "pedophilia is an unchangeable sexual orientation, just like for example heterosexuality." When will that "P" be added to the acronym? Here's "Gay Street" in NYC:

"Gay Street" NYC

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, JULY 13

by A. Joseph Lynch
& Past Commentary of Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

JEFFREY EPSTEIN - ANOTHER WEINSTEIN

Before we address the Weekly Brief, today is the one month anniversary of the burial of our friend, mentor, and spirit behind the Anthropology of Accord: Dr. David Pence. As we here at AoA give thanks for the gift and man that he was, we invite all our readers to join us this morning in prayer for the repose of his soul. We also invite you to listen to the outstanding eulogy delivered by his son, Cain, at his wake. Both he and his brother, Mike, were the strongest men at their father's funeral. 

Dr. Pence is gone, but never forgotten. His words ring as true today regarding Jeffery Epstein as they were when he wrote them regarding Harvey Weinstein:

Harvey Weinstein is just the tip of the atheist Hollywood pornography cult. Exploiting actresses in this inverted cult is actually less common than the young male meat market. But who will write that story?  Like the overwhelming homosexual nature of Catholic clergy abuse--the journalists of the sexual left cannot face that huge group of chicken hawks who dominate so much of Catholic social services and so much of the predominantly Jewish porn industry. Cardinal Bernadine of Chicago, Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and still prancing Uncle Ted Cardinal McCarrick of Washington DC could give Hollywood's Weinstein and the porn racketeers a run for their money in gross depravity. There is a sick male dominated libido cult in our country that hates God, the flag of brotherhood, the purity of feminine virginity and the sanctity of motherhood. This cult is represented in public not by male homosexuals and porn millionaires but by feminist careerists, many Republican but most Democrat. They entered  the big league by showing they would kill for the gang--they championed abortion. They have insured that the term domestic violence never includes the deliberate killing of an unborn baby by her mom. Don't let it matter that there is nothing so violent as killing and nothing so domestic as a mother's womb. In the fake news world of the sexual left, taking God's Name in vain is free speech, abortion is women's liberation and sodomy is marriage. What if that strange trifecta of lies was linked and exposed? Is that over the top or is it about time?

The atheist nature of the sexual left, its Aztecan approach to child sacrifice, and its despoiling the flag of brotherhood with the stench of Sodom is a house of cards more vulnerable than the good name of Harvey Weinstein. Just a little light will scatter the predators once it is shined in just the right direction.

The billionaire Epstein was a mega-Democrat donor. Beginning around 2002, Bill Clinton rode on Epstein's plane - the so-called Lolita Express - over twenty times, and it appears he may have intentionally left his secret service detail at home during some of them. Like McCarrick, stories about Epstein have circulated for years and he even did some limited time for what should have been life in prison. It wasn't until someone discovered that President Trump said something nice about Epstein decades ago, and perhaps rode once on his plane, that the story received massive media attention. Nancy Pelosi's daughter indicated that many favorites of the Democrats might go down with Epstein. But that's the price of trying to take down the president. Time will tell what comes of this story. We are reminded, however, of the crisis of masculinity in our nation and in our Church. We must shed light on the evil and raise up a warrior brotherhood to cast it out.

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

BISHOP BRANSFIELD - THE PLOT DEEPENS: More details have emerged regarding the Bishop Bransfield controversy. Bransfield, who reached the canonical retirement age of seventy-five last September, is under investigation after credible allegations were made of financial impropriety and homosexual harassment of priests, seminarians, and young men. Pope Francis directed Baltimore's Archbishop Lori to lead the investigation. Lori discovered that Bransfield has gifted - or paid off - many high-ranking Church prelates to the tune of $350,000. Although Lori named names in his official report to Rome, they were redacted when the report went to the public. Leaked details of Lori's report, however, revealed some troubling, if not unexpected, recipients of Bransfield's "gifts" - among others, Archbishop Vigano, Cardinal Burke, and Archbishop Lori himself. Why these three men? A bribe to Vigano kept the Vatican from investigating, a bribe to Burke kept the Catholic judiciary from investigating, and a bribe to Lori kept his provincial archbishop from investigating. Lori's chancery had known about Bransfield since 2012 but conveniently said he lacked authority to do anything about it. Let us not forget that during the sexual abuse reforms of 2002 it was Lori who replaced "clerics" with only deacons and priests. The bishops were to be immune from the reforms. In any case, we at AoA want to shed light once more on the fact that the corruption includes both conservatives and liberals - including the supposed bastions of orthodoxy, Vigano and Burke. They are wolves in shepherds clothing.

VATICAN DOCUMENT ON GENDER: The Vatican has released a document for schools on gender, Male and Female He created them. More AoA analysis is forthcoming. For now we suggest our readers look it over.

AMERICANS RARELY CONSULT CLERGY: A new study in the U.S. revealed that Americans, even frequent church-goers, rarely consult clergy when making important decisions. Speaking from the Catholic perspective, there seems to be an increasing disconnect between Catholic clergy and parishioners. This may in part be due to the number of clergy relative to his parishioners. It may also stem from clergy who do well in a crowd but intentionally keep themselves from interacting with small groups or individuals. Many clergy are afraid of being falsely accused of misconduct. Too many do their sacramental duties and check out. In any case, the personal connection between shepherds and flocks is increasingly tenuous. When you meet a shepherd, does he smell like his sheep?

Raw decline in Anglican membership.

CHRISTIANITY DYING IN THE UK: A British Social Attitudes survey reveals a steep decline in Christianity in Great Britain. Most reports will say that "religion" is dying. But this is not the case. While 52% of Brits now identify as non-religious, Islam has doubled its numbers over the past ten years. As Christianity continues to bow to radical feminism and gender ideology, more and more people will continue to leave (see charts at right and below). If this happens, men will turn to another religion - Islam - for man needs religion. The spirit abhors a vacuum.

Anglican church attendance decline as the church embraces the sexual left. 

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

THE PASSING OF ROSS PEROT: The third-party candidate of the 1992 presidential election has passed. It is likely his name on the ballet story just enough votes from George H.W. Bush to cost him the election and bring Bill Clinton to office. His candidacy paved the way for another president: Donald Trump. Both Perot and Trump have billionaire backgrounds and a strong populist, limited foreign policy message. James Carville went so far as to call Perot the "John the Baptist" figure paving the path for Trump. We shouldn't be surprised that just before his death, Perot donated to the Trump re-election campaign.

EX-GOVERNOR WELD - HALF RIGHT: Former Republican governor of Massachusetts, Bill Weld, in four tweets is called out President Trump over tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Two tweets were accurate. It is true that (pt. 1) President Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal is what first got us into the current mess; and (pt. 2) the withdrawal was "a colossal blunder" which got us nothing in return. His assertions that (pt. 3) Trump's foreign policy as a whole is a "disaster," and (pt. 4) "Time for new leadership in Washington!" Trump has made mistakes on Iran, we pray his hesitation on air strikes helps him hesitate to wage needless war.

AMASH WAS A WASH: Justin Amash, the first Republican Congressman to call for Trump's impeachment, has left the GOP. With Trump we hail it as "great news." As Trump remakes the GOP, many will need to go. The 2018 election did this in the Senate. Never Trumpers left and were replaced. This needs to continue in both houses of Congress in 2020. For now we applaud when men like Amash leave early.

EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CITIZENSHIP: Trump's plan to add a citizenship question to the census, a question that had been once been part of the census, has come up short. His new executive order hopes to gain more information on the number of immigrants in America.

III. THE NATIONS

BOLSONARO PRAYS WITH 3 MILLION BRAZILIANS: Dr. Steve Turley explains its impact and places it within the context of global Christianity.

MORE LIES ON IRAN: Calls for attacking Iran crept into the news cycle this week after reports that Iran attacked a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. What when unreported is that the British seized an Iranian oil tanker as it made its way into the Mediterranean. We pray a war does not break out over a tit-for-tat oil tanker feud.

MERKEL GOING DOWN?: Angela Merkel has suffered her third public bout of uncontrolled shaking in something reminiscent of Hilary Clinton's near collapse during the 2016 campaign. We will not be surprised if Germany will get a change of leadership sooner than planned.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

BIOLOGISTS AGREE - LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION: A recent study by Steven Jacobs first asked average (though slightly more left-leaning) folks who could best determine when human life begins. Around 80% said biologists. So Jacobs polled over 5,000 biologists from across the globe.  Two-thirds of them described themselves as non-religious and nine-tenths as liberal. 85% supported abortion. Despite this, 96% agreed that life begins when the sperm fertilizes the egg. Side note: Jacobs sought to conduct a test among pro-life and pro-abortion law students but it was a non-starter as he could not even get them to agree on the common definition of a fetus... We at AoA are not surprised.

FIRST FEMALE PASTOR REMOVED: The first female pastor of the renowned liberal bastion of Riverside Church in NYC has been ousted. Amy Butler was removed after taking two other pastors, one female and the other a gay male, to a sex store in Minneapolis and attempting to buy them sex toys. Spending $200 on one sex toy, she wondered aloud if she could charge it to the church as work expense. An article about the firing also describes her "cushy five-year contract, which... paid her a $250,000 annual salary, an $8,000-a-month housing allowance and more than $55,000 in yearly pension contributions..." This is what happens when sexual depravity and careerism are married. We are not surprised in the slightest by this story.

CARJACKER BEATEN TO DEATH: A would-be car thief was beaten to death after driving off with a woman's car - with her three children still in it. The woman stepped out of her running car to visit her boyfriend (the father of two of the children) when the carjacker jumped in her car and took off. The father, with other neighborhood men, caught him and rescued the children. While the carjacker's death is unfortunate, it's good to see a group of men performing their duty to work and protect.

The Memorial of Saint Benedict: Christian fraternity and male socialization

by David Pence
                     

Saint Benedict (480-543) left the comfortable life of a university student to discipline himself as a hermit. He left the life of solitude to become  an abbot of several monasteries. He survived several poisoning attempts of monks not as dedicated to moral reform as he was. In one of those episodes, a raven clutched the poisoned bread he was about to eat and saved his life. The raven is often prominent  in the name of Benedictine institutions and pictures of the saint. He introduced an order of life (Rule of St Benedict) which regulated the prayer, study, and manual labor of men who lived together in community. He is considered the Father of Europe. Benedictine monasteries are highly independent from one another and democratic in their selection of an abbot. To this day, they number some of the holiest (and some of the most corrupt) communities in Christendom. Benedict’s Christian fraternities of work, study, and prayer were the spiritual forerunners of corporations, universities, and cities which invigorated European civilization. Benedict taught men how to live together under Christ in love. He shaped Christian masculine character in monasteries that served as the fraternal template of public life. He united men in a transcendent spiritual purpose in a specific local community under a patriarch. An excerpt of the Rule of Benedict from the Church readings for his feast day:

"Just as there exists an evil fervor, a bitter spirit which divides us from God and leads us to hell, so there is a good fervor which sets us apart from evil inclinations and leads us toward God and eternal life. Monks should put this fervor into practice with an overflowing love... No one should follow what is good for himself but rather what seems good for another. They should display brotherly love in a chaste manner; fear God in a spirit of love, revere their abbot with a genuine and submissive affection. Let them put Christ above all else; and may He lead us all to everlasting life."

                               

CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD, THE BENEDICT OPTION, AND INTERRACIAL VIOLENCE

A contemporary "Benedict Option" would be an all-male communal group which shaped men in Christian brotherhood. These all-male communities of prayer and work would be a model for interracial brotherhood and male socialization in towns or cities. The goal of the fraternity would be to teach and socialize young males as American men regardless of color. The perfection of some men leads to the maturation of many men. Men in the spirit of Benedict pray together regularly and do physically productive work. They would introduce the Christian culture of brotherhood as active protectors and workers for the young men of a local community. This is just the kind of male maturation and sex roles needed in our cities to bring cooperation between young black men and police officers. Both policemen and black male citizens SHARE a common identity as male protectors and fellow Americans. The police officers are the officer corps of the citizen protective bond. The feminist culture of the Democratic party which dominates America's inner cities is clueless about socializing and integrating young men into our protective role as men. They seek a lesbian police chief here, and many more female officers there, but the public peace of fraternity and male protective sex roles is an enemy to them. The enmity between black men and urban police is one of the bitterest fruits of the sexual revolution. Sabotaging the ability of young males to show they are men by acting out a public protector role in manners, dress, and actions pierces the masculine heart of Christian civic culture.

The Benedict Option is masculine and fraternal. Patriarchal fraternity is the fundamental form of Christian accord which shapes public life just as the marital spousality of the male-female couple shapes domestic life. Benedictine fraternity combines physical work with prayer; otherwise it is not of Benedict. The black men of our inner cities have lost the pathway to fatherhood and maturation which industrial jobs once provided. They need a Benedict. He is the father of Europe because the ordered masculine fraternity of his monks eventually flowered into the male communal forms of work, worship, and protection called nations. Benedict built masculine religiously-ordered publics. His men were patriots of whatever land they worked. They were manufacturers (manus facto -- to make by hand). Let us honor his feast day by remembering what he did long ago, and pray that men in our country will once again imitate his fraternities of ora et labora.  

                          ALL-MALE GROUPS ARE THE SOLUTION, NOT THE PROBLEM

This is the road not taken to racial reconciliation. Street violence is overwhelmingly a male problem. It can only be solved by building a civic culture which can sanctify and socialize the males. There are many paths to social deviancy when men are not integrated into public protection and meaningful labor. One is seeking social recognition in the false "communities" of drugs and sexual promiscuity. Our large cities have fatally made peace with this errant path. Another errant path is chosen by much tougher males than those at the pot parties and dance clubs. They seek public recognition in violent dissent. That path wakes society up enough to start looking for solutions. Let us consider the strategy of that Italian saint who 1,500 years ago countered the dissipating cities of Europe with prayer, learning, and manual labor forged in local fraternities under God. As part of the Church’s morning prayer memorial of Benedict, she employs a 19th-century hymn:

             "Rise up O men of God!
              His kingdom tarries long
              Bring in the day of brotherhood
              And end the night of wrong."
     


St. Benedict was one of the four holy men we featured on All Saints Day as  "A man in full."