Happy Seventh Day of Christmas and Happy Sylvester!

Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas. It is also the Feast of Pope St Sylvester, who reigned from AD 314 to AD 345. 

Since St Sylvester's Day is also New Year's Eve in the Gregorian Calendar, several countries, primarily in Europe, use a variant of Sylvester's name as the preferred name for the holiday; these countries include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia.

Some of the customs from various countries of Europe that are observed on this day.

Austria and Germany

In the capital of Austria, Vienna, people walk pigs on leashes for their Saint Sylvester's Day celebration in hope to have good luck for the coming year. Many Christian households in Germany mark the Saint Sylvester's Day by practicing the custom of Bleigiessen using Silvesterblei (Silvester lead), in which Silvesterblei is melted over a flame in an old spoon and dropped into a bowl of cold water; one's fortune for the coming year is determined by the shape of the lead.^[7] If the lead forms a ball (der Ball), luck will roll one's way, while the shape of an anchor (der Anker) means help in need, and a star (der Sterne) signifies happiness.

Belgium

Christians of Belgium have a tradition that a maiden who does not finish her work by the time of sunset on Saint Sylvester's Day will not get married in year to come.

Brazil

Along with exploding fireworks, the Saint Sylvester Road Race, Brazil's most oldest and prestigious running event, takes place on Saint Sylvester's Day and is dedicated to Pope Sylvester I.

Italy

On Saint Sylvester's Day, "lentils and slices of sausage are eaten because they look like coins and symbolize good fortune and the richness of life for the coming year."

Switzerland

On the morning of Saint Sylvester's Day, the children of a Christian family compete with one another to see who can wake up the earliest; the child who arises the latest is playfully jeered. Men have, for centuries, masqueraded as Silvesterklaus on Saint Sylvester's Day.

Here are the readings from Matins for today, that were used until Venerable Pope Pius XII's reform of the Roman Breviary in 1955, at which time St Sylvester's Day was suppressed because of the Octave of the Nativity.

Sylvester was a Roman by birth, and his father's name was Rufinus. He was brought up from a very early age under a Priest named Cyrinus, of whose teaching and example he was a diligent learner. In his thirtieth year he was ordained Priest of the Holy Roman Church by Pope Marcellinus. In the discharge of his duties he became a model for all the clergy, and, after the death of Melchiades, he succeeded him on the Papal throne, ,during the reign of Constantine, who had already by public decree proclaimed peace to the Church of Christ. Hardly had he undertaken the government of the Church when he betook himself to stir up the Emperor to protect and propagate the religion of Christ. Constantine was fresh from his victory over his enemy Maxentius, on the Eve whereof the sign of the Cross had been revealed to him limned in light upon the sky; and there was an old story in the Church of Rome that it was Sylvester who caused him to recognise the images of the Apostles, administered to him holy Baptism, and cleansed him from the leprosy of misbelief.

The godly Emperor had already granted to Christ's faithful people permission to build public churches, and by the advice of Sylvester he himself set them the example. He built many Basilicas, and magnificently adorned them with holy images, and gifted them with gifts and endowments. Among these there were, besides others, the Church of Christ the Saviour, hard by the Lateran Palace; that of St. Peter, upon the Vatican Mount; that of St. Paul, upon the road to Ostia; that of St. Lawrence, in Verus' field; that of the Holy Cross at the Sessorian hall; that of St. Peter and St. Marcellinus, upon the Lavican Way; and that of St. Agnes, upon the road to Mentana. Under this Pope was held the first Council of Nice, presided over by the Papal Legates, and in the Presence of Constantine, and three hundred and eighteen Bishops, where the holy and Catholic Faith was declared, and Arius and his followers condemned; which Council was finally confirmed by the Pope, at the request of all the assembled Fathers, in a synod held at Rome, where Arius was again condemned. This Pope issued many useful ordinances for the Church of God. He reserved to Bishops the right of consecrating the Holy Chrism; ordered Priests to anoint with Chrism the heads of the newly baptised; settled the officiating dress of Deacons as a dalmatic and a linen maniple; and forbade the consecration of the Sacrament of the Altar on anything but a linen corporal.

This Sylvester is likewise said to have ordained that all persons taking Holy Orders should remain awhile in each grade before being promoted to a higher; that laymen should not go to law against the clergy; and that the clergy themselves were not to plead before civil tribunals. He decreed that the first and seventh days of the week should be called respectively the Lord's Day and the Sabbath, and the others, Second Day, Third Day, and so on. In this he confirmed the use of the word Feria for the weekdays, the which use had already begun in the Church. This word signifieth an holiday, and pointeth to the duty of the clergy ever to lay aside all worldly labour, and leave themselves free to do continually the work of the Lord. The heavenly wisdom with which he ruled the Church of God, was joined in him to a singular holiness of life, and an inexhaustible tenderness towards the poor; in which matter he ordained that the wealthy clergy should each relieve a certain number of needy persons; and he also made arrangements for supplying the consecrated virgins with the necessaries of life. He lived as Pope twenty-one years, ten months and one day, and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Salarian Way.. He held seven Advent ordinations, and made forty-two Priests, twenty-five Deacons, and sixty-five Bishops of various sees.

It is traditional to recite the Te Deum laudamus at midnight on St Sylvester's Day.

We praise thee, O God, * we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, * the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud, * the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim * continually do cry.

(bow head) Holy, Holy, Holy * Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full * of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles * praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets * praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs * praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world * doth acknowledge thee;
The Father, * of an infinite Majesty.
Thine honourable, true, * and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, * the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory, * O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting * Son of the Father.

During the following verse all make a profound bow:
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, * thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, * thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, * in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come * to be our Judge.

Kneel for the following verse
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, * whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, * in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people, * and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, * and lift them up for ever.
Day by day * we magnify thee;

During the following verse, by local custom, all make a profound bow.
And we worship thy Name * ever, world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us * this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, * have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, * as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted, * let me never be confounded.

31 December, Antonio Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Last Day of the Year

1. The last day of the year has come. It should be a day of reckoning and of resolution. Think of the many benefits which God has conferred on you throughout your life, but especially in the year which is now drawing to a close.

Count the temporal favours which you have received. Many of your friends and acquaintances have died during the year, but you are still alive. God has rescued you from innumerable perils and illnesses. He has allowed you more time in which to perfect your spiritual life and to perform apostolic work on your neighbour's behalf. Try not to be like the barren tree in the Gospel, because this could be your final year of trial.

Count the spiritual blessings which you have received. Think of the graces and good inspirations which God has given you during the past twelve months. How often have you received forgiveness for your sins, been restored to the friendship of God, and experienced anew the joy and peace of being in the state of grace? How often has Jesus come into your heart under the guise of the Blessed Eucharist? How often have you been enlightened and encouraged by hearing or reading the word of God? Think, too, of the good example which you have received in private and in public, and recall the many occasions on which the helping hand of God has reached out to save you from falling into sin.

You could never show sufficient gratitude for all these favours. Spend this day at least in acts of repentance and thanksgiving, and promise God to be faithful to Him in the coming year.

2. Now that the year is almost over, cast your mind back to the good resolutions which you made at the beginning of it. Have you put these resolutions into effect? Has there been any improvement in your spiritual life during these twelve months, or must you confess that it has deteriorated? How often have you committed sin, perhaps even grave sin, during the year? When God appealed to you to perform some good action, how often did you refuse Him?

Your future outlook is very dark if your life has developed into a gradual descent towards evil. Any day God could grow tired of your ingratitude and obstinacy and send death to end your infidelity. Then you would almost certainly be damned forever. If you have surrendered to spiritual languor and mediocrity, therefore, it is time for you to stir yourself. It is time to become more generous with God, to display a greater spirit of self-sacrifice in responding to His appeals, and to form firmer resolutions.

Virtue cannot co-exist with spiritual tepidity, which leads inevitably towards sin.

3. After he had spent a night fishing on the lake of Galilee without having caught anything, St. Peter was ordered by Jesus to cast his nets back into the sea. “Master,” the future Apostle replied, “the whole night through we have toiled and have taken nothing; but at thy word I will lower the net.” This act of perfect confidence in our Lord was soon rewarded, for when the fishermen lowered the net, "they enclosed a great number of fishes." (Luke 5:5-6)

Perhaps we have toiled hard and made many sacrifices during the past year. But have we worked with and for Jesus Christ? We may have thought more of ourselves than of Jesus and as a result achieved little or nothing in the spiritual life. The remedy is clear. We must remain close to Jesus, working with Him, in Him, and for Him. Then He will bless and strengthen the good resolutions which we are about to make. The secret of perfection is to live in constant union with Jesus Christ.

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 31 DECEMBER – END OF THE SECULAR YEAR

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IN LUMINE FIDEI: 31 DECEMBER – SAINT SYLVESTER (Pope and Confessor)...

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31 December, A Chesterton Calendar

DECEMBER 31st

With all the multiplicity of knowledge there is one thing happily that no man knows: whether the world is old or young.

'The Defendant.'

1 January, The Roman Martyrology

Kaléndis Ianuárii Luna sexta Anno Domini 2020

The morrow is the Octave of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon the which day is commemorated His Circumcision.
January 1st 2020, the 6th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:

At Rome, the holy martyr Almachius, who was slain by gladiators (about the year 404) at the command of Alpius, prefect of the city, because he said: "This is the Octave of the Lord's Birth, cease from your idolatrous superstitions, and your unclean sacrifices." Likewise at Rome, upon the Appian Way, thirty holy soldiers who were crowned with martyrdom, under the Emperor Diocletian.
Likewise at Rome, the holy virgin Martina, who was put to divers torments, under the Emperor Alexander, and at length gained the crown of martyrdom by the sword, whose feast we keep upon the 30th day of the month of January.
At Spoleto, in the time of the Emperor Antonine, the holy martyr, the priest Concordius. He was first cudgelled, then racked, and afterwards suffered imprisonment wherein he was comforted by a visit of angels, and at length was delivered from this life by the sword.
On the same day, the holy martyr Magnus.
At Caesarea, in Cappadocia, the burial of the holy Basil, bishop of Caesarea (in the year 379), whose feast we keep upon the 14th day of June. Which is the day whereon he was ordained a bishop.
In Africa, blessed Fulgentius, bishop of the Church of Ruspa (in the year 508), who at the time of the persecution under the Vandals, suffered much at the hands of the Arians because of his Catholic faith, and his eminent teaching. He was exiled to Sardinia (in the year 510); but was at length (in the year 523) allowed to return to his own church, where (in the year 533) he died a holy death, famous for his life and his words.
At Chieti, in Abruzzo Citeriore, holy Justin, bishop of that city, famous for the holiness of his life, and for the miracles worked through him (in the year 543).
At the monastery of St. Claude, upon the Jura Mountains, in the country of Lyon, holy (4th) Eugendus, Abbot (of Condat), whose life was illustrious for his graces and miracles (in the year 510).
At Senlis (in the year 1049), holy Odilo, (6th) Abbot of Cluny (elected in the year 994), who first commanded that in his monasteries a commemoration of all the faithful departed should be made upon the first day after the festival of All Saints, the which custom the Universal Church hath since approved by adopting it.
At Monte Senario, in Tuscany, the blessed confessor Bonfiglio, one of the seven founders of the order of servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom he was devoted and by whom he was suddenly called away to heaven (in the year 1262).
At Alexandria (in the year 470), the burial of the holy virgin Euphrosyne, who shone in her nunnery as a great light by the power of her self-denial and her miracles.
V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.

Memes of the Day

TimeGhost of Christmas Past - Day 7

The last day of work of the year for many people is the harbinger of exciting new change. For British coal miners in 1986, it meant the redundancy of the canary in the coal mine. 

Malarkey from Mullaney: The Conversion of Jesus by a Woman

More heresy from a seminary president, responsible for the formation of new Priests. Kyrie eleison!

From Rorate Cæli

By Fr Richard Gennaro Cipolla

Just when one thinks that one has read or heard all of the mindless and harmful stuff that Catholic clergy have written or spoken, that assumption is shattered, this time by a truly offensive homily given by Father Michael Mullaney, the President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland, a section of which homily was published on Rorate Caeli a short while ago.

The homily was preached at the annual Christmas Carol Service at Maynooth in the presence, we may suppose, of other clergy, seminarians and laity. The topic of the homily is the sin of racism in contemporary Western society. That racism is a sin according to Catholic teaching there is no doubt. The Catholic Catechism is quite clear on this:

The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it. “Every from of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights of the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.”(CCC no. 1935)

There are many statements in Church documents of all types that confirm the sinfulness of racism. Would that Father Mullaney used one of these texts as the foundation for his homily. Instead he used the story in the Gospel of St. Mark about Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman who wanted him to cure her daughter who was very sick. The following is Father Mullaney’s use of this encounter as an example of how everyone can commit the sin of racism.

Even Jesus had to confront his ingrained prejudices; indeed, even racism. The Gospels recount his stunning and unique encounter with a Syro-Phoenician woman desperately seeking a cure for her sick daughter. The disciples dismiss her as she was considered racially inferior. Surprisingly, Jesus sharply rejects her appeal. His mission is to the Jews only; his tribe; the children of God. When the woman insists, Jesus dismisses her again– calling her shockingly a ‘dog’ – a racial slur. The woman doesn’t challenge his insult. Like so many victims in history, she has internalized her inferiority. But her repartee: “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” is the only recorded encounter that left Jesus speechless. If we truly celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, of God who takes human flesh, it should not surprise us that Jesus could not have avoided the effects of the prejudices that had shaped his human and cultural identity from childhood.

We do not know what Jesus thought in that moment. But the Syro-Phoenician woman dislocates Jesus from his narrow tribal suppositions and prejudices about the ‘other’ represented by her. She ceases to be an ‘outsider’. God’s heart could not be closed to her. She too is one of the children of God. Physical healing is given not only to her daughter but ultimately the deeper wounds of isolation, marginalization and discrimination become central to Jesus’ healing and liberating ministry in the Gospel. In this transformative encounter Jesus demonstrates that regardless of how unwittingly and unknowingly we are part of the problem, we can choose to reject racism and hostility to the ‘other’, the stranger, in ourselves and in our world, committing ourselves to the slow, hard work of transformation.

The whole passage is so wrong-headed that one hardly knows where to begin to react to these words in a homily delivered by a priest who is helping to train seminarians to become good priests. Let us begin with the observation that Father Mullaney believes that in this encounter between Jesus and the woman that Jesus is acting like a racist, that is, his comments to her are racist. If this be true, then Jesus is sinning against this woman. It is obvious that this contradicts the dogma of the sinlessness of Jesus, “he who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), which is an integral part of the Church’s understanding of the Incarnation itself. But Father Mullaney has his own understanding of the Incarnation: “if we truly celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, of God who takes human flesh, it should not surprise us that Jesus could not have avoided the effects of the prejudices that had shaped his human an cultural identity from childhood.” Does this imply that he learned these prejudices that are racist from his mother and father? Did his mother, the Virgin Mary, gratia plena, whose sinlessness is also a part of Church teaching, teach him to be a racist and consider people other than Jews “dogs”? If Father Mullaney believes this, he should read up on the heretical kenotic doctrines of liberal Protestantism that have been condemned many times by the Church. More fundamentally, he should also read up on the context of this passage in the Gospel of St. Mark.

Father Mullaney begins the next paragraph of the sermon with this statement:

“We do not know what Jesus thought in that moment” Thanks be to God for the preacher’s admission that he could not see into the mind of Jesus at the moment! But he has already claimed to know that Jesus harbored racist attitudes towards this woman. And in the next sentences he credits the woman with “dislocating Jesus from his narrow tribal suppositions and prejudices about the ‘other’ represented by her.” In this way, by her persistence the woman pricks Jesus conscience, and he feels guilty, and from that feeling of guilt is converted from his racist attitudes to a more enlightened moral state. This event marks a “conversion experience” for the man Jesus.

Is this the same Jesus who recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan? Is this the Jesus who reprimands Peter for cutting off the Roman soldier’s ear, this man the symbol of Roman oppression of the Jews? Is this the Jesus who speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well and brings her to faith? Is this the Jesus who said: “The Second (Commandment) is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.”? Is this the Jesus who gave the Great Commission to the Apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations”? And finally: Is this the Jesus who died on the Cross not only for his own people, the Jews, but for the whole world?

I have long thought that most heresies are attempts to make the Incarnation easier to understand and accept, to make the inherent contradiction that is at the heart of the person of Jesus Christ as true God and true man, two natures in one person—to make this contradiction go away. This was at the heart of Arianism, of Nestorianism, of the complex Gnostic systems, of those Protestant sects who at the Reformation and beyond rejected the divinity of Christ, of those in our own time who in their own way deny the radical nature of the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation, including the many Catholics who deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I wish I could take Father Mullaney’s homily with a sense of irony that he would preach this in preparation for the feast of Christmas. For irony allows us to distance ourselves from things that are truly bad. Irony allows us to refuse to engage with the distortion of truth when we see it or hear it or read it. I wish I could distance myself from what this priest said in this homily and say with a wry and knowing sardonic smile: “And this guy is preparing priests!”. But I cannot. The only thing I can do is to be sad, pray for him, and hope that his bishop will chastise him and correct him, and that he will never again shamelessly disfigure a Carol Service celebrating the birth of the God-man who alone can be the Savior of the whole world.

Nothing Says Christmas Like a Priest Saying "Jesus Was a Racist"

This and the following post are examples of the heresy taught by the President of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, once the largest seminary in the world.

From Rorate Cæli

It didn't happen just anywhere, no, it happened in that which used to be the central learning institution for thousands of Irish priests sent around the world to teach the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, Maynooth. The preacher was the President of Saint Patrick's College Maynooth himself, Father Michael Mullaney.

And in a Christmas Carol service no less, and posted on the website of the Bishops' Conference of Ireland:

Even Jesus had to confront his ingrained prejudices; indeed, even racism. The Gospels recount his stunning and unique encounter with a Syro-Phoenician woman desperately seeking a cure for her sick daughter. The disciples dismiss her as she was considered racially inferior. Surprisingly, Jesus sharply rejects her appeal. His mission is to the Jews only; his tribe; the children of God. When the woman insists, Jesus dismisses her again– calling her shockingly a ‘dog’ – a racial slur. The woman doesn’t challenge his insult. Like so many victims in history, she has internalized her inferiority. But her repartee: “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” is the only recorded encounter that left Jesus speechless. If we truly celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, of God who takes human flesh, it should not surprise us that Jesus could not have avoided the effects of the prejudices that had shaped his human and cultural identity from childhood. [source]

So...not only was Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ a "racist" Jew -- his prejudices were passed on to Him by His most Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, for who else could have passed on to him his "racism" and "prejudices" in childhood than his own family?

[Tip: Reader]

Why Catholicism’s Two Traumas of the 2010s Didn’t Draw the Same Attention

An analysis of why the MSM and liberal 'Catholics' ignore the ongoing slaughter of Christians in the Third World.

From Crux

By John L. Allen Jr

ROME - Suppose that, looking back at the close of a decade, there were two great narratives about a given group of people, one a tale of scandal and dark deeds coming to light, the other a story of suffering, victimization, and vulnerability.

Suppose, further, that the former storyline dominated global headlines, finishing as one of the most covered stories of the decade along with Donald Trump and climate change, while the other was second- or third-tier, with many average people not even aware it was happening. Suppose the scandal produced an Academy Award-winning movie that grossed $100 million worldwide, but the suffering had no movie, no anthem, no real pop culture footprint.

That group might well have a beef, and Christmas 2019 has offered another grisly reminder of the point.

On Dec. 26 - ironically enough, the feast of St. Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr - an ISIS-affiliated group in Nigeria released a video showing the decapitations of ten Christians and the shooting death of another. A masked man claimed the killings were in retaliation for the death of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces in Syria in October.

The executions were merely the latest act of barbarism committed by the Islamic State in West Africa Province, which over recent months has been expanding its attacks on Christians in Nigeria as well as aid workers and security personnel.

“Christians in all parts of Nigeria have been apprehensive for a long time, and they have seen themselves as clear targets of the endless acts of terrorism being witnessed in the country,” said Father Benjamin Achi, spokesman for the Diocese of Enugu in Nigeria, in comments to Crux.

“It’s very difficult not to think in that direction, in light of the scores of casualties Christians have recorded in various parts of the country since the rise of insurgency six years ago,” Achi said.

Every year over the past decade - and, in truth, for decades before this one - Christmas and Easter mark special periods of vulnerability for Christians around the world, as forces who wish to do Christians harm know that churches will be full, and that the symbolic value of striking Christians on one of the holiest days on their calendar is intense.

Last year, a coordinated series of bombings in Sri Lanka targeting three Christian churches and three luxury hotels left 259 people dead, including 45 children, and more than 500 people wounded. This year, it was once again Nigeria’s turn.

In general, anti-Christian violence and persecution dominated the 2010s for global Christianity, including Catholicism, every bit as much as the clerical sexual abuse scandals. In May, a report commissioned by the then-Foreign Minister of the UK, Jeremy Hunt, found that anti-Christian violence globally is at “near genocidal” levels, and concluded: “Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity.”

Experts debate exactly what counts as “religious persecution,” so estimates of the number of new Christian martyrs every year vary widely, from a low of around 8,000 to a high of 100,000. Even using that low-range figure, however, that’s at least 80,000 Christians killed for reasons linked to their faith throughout the 2010s.

One could make a good argument that aside from popes, perhaps the defining Catholic cleric of the past decade was French Father Jacques Hamel, an otherwise unexceptional 86-year-old priest assassinated in his parish in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray on July 26, 2016, while he celebrated Mass by two men professing allegiance to ISIS.

Though officially retired at the age of 75, Hamel had been allowed to continue serving in the parish as an associate pastor.

With a sainthood process underway, Hamel today stands in for countless Christians around the world who’ve lost their lives over the past decade, but without the fanfare that erupts when such an atrocity occurs in the heart of the West and its media establishment.

Hamel also offers the first clue as to why the human rights scourge of clerical sexual abuse has galvanized so much media attention and activism, while anti-Christian persecution hasn’t: In general, the latter is just too far away.

When someone’s brutally killed in the States, or in a major Western nation such as France, it’s a sensation. When it happens in Nigeria, or Sri Lanka, or Iraq and Syria, or anyplace else that’s off the collective radar screen, it’s a footnote.

Beyond that, there’s also the truth that anti-Christian persecution is politicized in a way that clerical sexual abuse no longer is.

It’s hard to remember now, but back in 2002 and 2003, when the Boston Globe began covering the abuse scandals, many on the Catholic right saw it as part of an anti-Catholic smear driven by the usual liberal, secular agenda, and tried to shoot the messenger. That reaction largely has faded, and today the cause of reform no longer breaks left v. right. (Though the diagnosis of what counts as reform, however, still often does.)

Yet anti-Christian persecution is still perceived in the West as mostly a “conservative” issue, which is breathtakingly ironic when one considers that most of the victims are poor, people of color, and often disproportionately female.

Why the case of Asia Bibi, for instance, an illiterate Catholic farmhand and mother of four who spent the 2010s on death row in Pakistan for the alleged crime of blasphemy before finally being freed and allowed to emigrate to Canada, did not become a towering feminist crusade, buoyed by the important feminist constituency within Catholicism, is inexplicable by anything other than the distortions of ideology.

If some on the Catholic right were slow to wake up to the clerical abuse crisis a decade and a half ago, many on the Catholic left today may need to make a similar examination of conscience about the sufferings of their sisters and brothers in the faith around the world.

However one accounts for the disparities in coverage and mobilization, they’re explanations but not excuses.

Global Christianity, Catholicism very much included, experienced two traumas over the last decade that are both global in scope and historic in their consequences. Perhaps our collective New Year’s, and New Decade’s, resolution might be to ensure that both receive the focus they merit.

How Long Should We Celebrate the Christmas Season?

An explanation of why Christmas is not yet over.

From the National Catholic Register

By Joseph Pronechen 

A history lesson in Catholic tradition and practice for the 12 days of Christmas

Days after the secular world has ceased spreading Christmas cheer, the Church celebrates the 12 Days of Christmas until Epiphany. In fact, for Epiphany, once popularly called “Little Christmas,” there were Twelfth Night feasts and celebrations. Beyond that, the Church celebrates the Christmas season up to the Baptism of the Lord. Some traditions stretch the season to the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord on Feb. 2.

So how long should we celebrate Christmas?

Jennifer Miller, her husband, David, and their two sons celebrate to the Baptism of Our Lord in their Manassas, Virginia, home. “It doesn’t mean we put all of the decorations away. That’s a process that takes a while,” she said. “Verbally, we talk about this as the last day of the Christmas season.”

Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on Jan. 6, but after it was transferred in the United States to the Sunday between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8, the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Sunday (with one exception, or Jan. 13 in the extraordinary-form calendar).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states, “The liturgical season of Christmas begins with the vigil Masses on Christmas Eve and concludes on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.” If we’re following the liturgical year, this is the official teaching. The other two possibilities are cultural or family traditions.

Unlike some folks who toss out their Christmas tree and store decorations away before New Year’s, not so for the Millers. “I want to celebrate all the aspects of the Infancy Narratives with the Church,” said Jennifer. “I want to celebrate Epiphany and go through the childhood of Jesus.”

To compete their Nativity scene, many families traditionally bring the figures of the Three Kings from some distant location in the house to their crèche, placing them in adoration of the Infant Jesus, for Epiphany, as Pope Francis explained in his recent letter.

On the Baptism of the Lord, the faithful recall their own baptism and their being given the commission to “now go forward and spread the Gospel,” Miller said. At the same time, Miller — who is a catechist at Renaissance Montessori school and liturgical contributor to the Catholic Culture website — clarifies that, on Feb. 2, “the Presentation is one of the outliers. I call it a Christmas feast after Epiphany.” There are actually three titles for this feast day, the other two being the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Candlemas.

Especially in earlier times, many people held that the season didn’t end until this feast. In his 1953 Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, Jesuit Father Francis X. Weiser wrote, “Candlemas Day used to be, and still is in many countries, the end of the popular Christmas season. Cribs and decorations are taken down with care.” And in his 1955 book True Spirit of Christmas, Father Edward Sutfin noted, “Candlemas is the last feast day of the Christmas cycle and constitutes a transition between the seasons of Christmas and Easter.”

In “Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve,” one of several poems on Candlemas by 17th-century English poet Robert Herrick, he exclaims:

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and mistletoe
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall.

And a 15th-century English carol proclaims,

Make we mirth
For Christ’s birth
And sing we yule till Candlemas.
 
In addition, an 18th-century poem from Colonial Williamsburg goes:

When New Year’s Day is past and gone
Christmas is with some people done
But further some will it extend
And at Twelfth Day their Christmas end
Some people stretch it further yet
At Candlemas they finish it.

Yet celebrating Christmas to Candlemas is not official in the eyes of the Church. Searching historically, including though old missals, Miller found clues to clear up confusion regarding the Christmas season. She explains, “Following the liturgical colors is a good indicator: How does the Church look at this time of the year?”

After the Baptism of the Lord, she said, “the vestments change to green. If it was still Christmas, it would be white.” The main time after Epiphany is a different season, yet “still looks back at Christmas as the pivotal feast for the focus until we reach Lent.” When the colors shift to purple, the focus looks forward to Easter.

It is helpful to think of these 40 days as the “Christmas cycle” whereas the “Christmas season” concludes after the Baptism of the Lord.

Something else to keep in mind: Around 2010 the Vatican began taking down the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square in mid-January. Then, in 2016, the Vatican began opening the Christmas Crib at the beginning of December and closing it with the Baptism of the Lord. But until 2009, according to Polish tradition, the crèche remained until Feb. 2 after St. John Paul II reintroduced the Vatican’s Nativity scene. It would remain from Christmas Eve to when he made his last visit to pray before the Nativity — on Feb. 2, the Presentation of the Lord.

“That would be a tradition to have at home,” Miller shared. “To me, it means it’s a Christmas feast but not the Christmas season.” Even more, her young sons liked to keep the stable up all year. “They loved the reminder of the Nativity.”

Joseph Pronechen is a Register staff writer.

Hong Kong Conspicuous by Absence from List of Pope’s Christmas Concerns

Of course, there was no mention of Hong Kong! It would have upset the Red Chinese Slave Masters, to whom he has sold the Chinese Church.

From Crux

By Elise Harris

ROME - When Pope Francis ticked off countries suffering political and violent unrest during his traditional Christmas blessing Wednesday, one place currently in the thick of months of heated protests was notably absent: Hong Kong.

In his traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing on Christmas Day, the pope offered prayers for Syria and the Middle East, Venezuela and the Americas, the Democratic Republic of Congo and all of Africa, and Ukraine in Europe, in each case urging efforts to ensure peace, security and an end to suffering.

However, he made no mention of Asia or the sometimes violent protests which, since June, have rippled through Hong Kong, complete with complaints of police brutality, arrests and calls for the city’s former Chief Executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, to step down.

Initially sparked by a bill granting mainland China extradition rights over any Hong Kong resident, including tourists and foreign nationals, the unrest has morphed into a movement pushing for greater democracy, with protesters setting out five specific demands, including universal suffrage and an investigation into alleged police brutality.

At times clashes between police and protesters have turned violent. Several people have been arrested, and protesters have called for formal inquiries into police brutality, including the use of tear gas and rubber pellets. Since protests began some seven months ago, police have arrested more than 6,000 people.

In a Christmas message to Catholics in the city, Cardinal John Tong Hon, the current interim leader of the diocese, called the current unrest a “socio-political turmoil” which has torn the social fabric of the city apart.

“As we approach Christmas, we earnestly appeal to all people to stop acts of violence,” he said, and called for a “cooling-off period” that allows for “an in-depth reflection on our social turmoil and find a way to resolve the current impasse in a humane manner, restoring peace with healing of body, mind and spirit.”

As he has in the past, Tong Hon again urged government officials to heed public demands for an independent inquiry into violent clashes between protesters and police, saying the move could “help to re-establish mutual trust between the government and the people and pave the way for a dialogue of reconciliation.”

Getting to the truth, he said, could also help “to rebuild mutual trust between officials and the people, and to open up ways of conversation and repair.”

“I hope that our beloved Hong Kong can always uphold the core values ​​of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, and alleviate the disparity between the rich and the poor as soon as possible,” he said.

Other religious leaders have also chimed in. In a separate Christmas message issued last Saturday, Archbishop Paul Kwong of Hong Kong’s Anglican church encouraged both police and protesters to use the festive season as a chance to “start a dialogue with courage, sincerity and humility, and to admit their own inadequacies and shortcomings.”

“The government should not limit themselves to rigid thinking when they respond to voices from society, but should instead take practical measures or actions that are relevant to the needs of the citizens,” he said.

According to the South China Morning Post, around half of the Catholic churches in Hong Kong opted not to celebrate midnight Mass on Christmas Eve due to fear of possible chaos.

Some 38 Catholic churches in Hong Kong held midnight Masses last year, but this year the number was closer to 20, the paper reports. Many churches either chose not to celebrate evening Mass at all, or to move up the time of services so parishioners would not get caught up in whatever drama might unfold.

Protesters had reportedly made online plans to march late on Christmas Eve, but the gathering was cancelled when police told organizers they would have to disperse by 10 p.m., rather than 1 a.m. on Christmas Day, the time for which they had initially applied.

The Civil Human Rights Front, responsible for organizing some of the biggest marches, at times drawing close to a million people, has reportedly applied to hold another march on New Year’s Day.

While Catholic authorities on the ground have been largely supportive of protesters, the Vatican has been silent on the issue - a point driven home by the absence of the protests in the pope’s Christmas message at a time when many residents believe the future of democracy is at stake amid communist China’s so-called “one country, two systems” approach.

Many critics of the Vatican’s silence, including bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, have accused the pope of pandering to mainland China, effectively abandoning Catholics in Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

On a late November trip to Thailand and Japan, Francis dispatched telegrams to the heads of state of countries in whose airspace he entered, including Lam of Hong Kong and President Xi Jinping of China, but carefully avoided any reference to the protests. He also faced backlash for referring to the “territory” of Hong Kong, the “people” of Taiwan, and the “nation” of China.

When it comes to the troubled Special Administrative Region, however, Francis over Christmas 2019 appears to have decided that at least in this case, discretion remains the better part of valor.

Have Yourself a Very English Christmas

Fr Longenecker discusses the absolute essentials of an English Christmas.
 
From Faith&Culture

By Fr Dwight Longenecker

Having spent twenty-five years of my life in “the damp lands” I can affirm that while the Americans can’t be beat for Thanksgiving, the English can’t be beat for Christmas.

Yes, it is true. The dour snobs in the land of Scrooge know how to pull out all the stops and celebrate Christmas in style. I doubt if any true conservative is not also at least a little bit of an Anglophile, so take a few moments, therefore, to learn some of the great English Christmas customs and don’t be afraid to integrate them into your very American Christmas. You’ll find they add a bit of English spice, jollity and frivolity to your festive season.

First, Festivities: The English celebrate Christmas with style because they avoid the commercial, secularity of American Christmas. Christmas is a Christian festival and you will not be snowed under with red nosed reindeer, frosty snowmen, Santa (which is an anagram of Satan) and songs about city sidewalks. Instead the English still sing Christmas carols and believe it or not they go house to house singing them. A high point of the season is the annual ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings’ College Cambridge on Christmas Eve.

I was chaplain there for two years and I can testify to the immense and immortal magic of the scene. The soaring fan vaulting of one of Christendom’s finest churches combines with the sonorous tones of the organ, the cherubic faces and voices of the choir boys and solemn and sedate English folk all seated to celebrate the birth of Christ. You can listen to it on the BBC if you’re technologically clever.

Other English festivities to mark the Christmas season are the school Christmas play, Midnight Mass in the village church, Christmas parties, the Queen’s speech—delivered on television on Christmas Day, and the mysteriously named “Boxing Day.”

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas and everyone quite sensibly has the day off. On Boxing Day you go for a long walk to “blow away the cobwebs” or you pile into the car to visit the relatives and exchange useless presents. On Boxing Day you sit down to watch the films you’ve been given or you pull out the dusty board games and jigsaw puzzles and spend the day relaxing. How unlike America where we all rush back to work or back to the mall to return all the gifts we don’t want, and argue with the sales clerk for a refund even if we don’t have the receipt.

Second, the Food - We must admit the serious and solemn truth that the English are not famous for their cuisine. The smallest cookbook on our shelf is a little pocket-sized book of fifty straining pages called The Best of English Cookery. (I tease my English relatives by calling it The Beast of English Cookery.) Nevertheless, there are some uniquely English delicacies on offer during the Christmas season. They don’t bake cookies, but they like mince pies. These are little pastry shells with sweet dried fruit jelly. The mince pie will introduce you to the English Christmas obsession with dried fruit. One can only assume that the passion for dried fruit came from the times when the impoverished peasants saved up handfuls of raisins to take them through the fruitless bleak mid-winter.

The Christmas cake is another example of the dried fruit thing. It is a heavy, dark fruitcake which is cultivated throughout the year with a strange ritual. For the perfect Christmas cake you start in January and through the year you add small amounts of booze and let it soak in. Here a little glass of sherry. There a drop of rum. Here a snozzle of scotch. There a snort of port. By Advent the cake is ready to be completed with a layer of marzipan covered with hard white sugar icing. This confection is bound by a red ribbon and topped with little figurines of deer, trees and woodland animals to make the white icing seem like a snowstorm scene. Very quaint and very tasty. It is eaten in the afternoon with a good English cup of tea.

Complementing the Christmas cake is the “figgy pudding” made famous by the carol. Like the Christmas cake, this is a dark dessert made with dried fruit and flour and held together with suet. It must be steamed in a double boiler (or cheat with the microwave). To serve it you plop it upside down out of the bowl, shove in a sprig of holly, douse it with brandy, set the whole thing alight and carry it in a solemn and riotous procession into the dining room. It is served with brandy butter.

These sweets follow the “Christmas Lunch” at which our English cousins demolish the turkey. Alas, the Dickensian Christmas goose has almost disappeared and been replaced by the American imported bird. Christmas lunch not only features the roast turkey and stuffing, but a bowl of carrots with a sweet glaze, roast potatoes, roasted parsnips and brussels sprouts (which will make old uncle Nigel flatulent and amuse the children.)

I cannot conclude without some instructions on the beverages. Mince pies are to be accompanied by a little glass of sherry. Ladies will prefer sweet “cream” sherry. Gentleman a dry or medium sherry. Before dinner a discreet cocktail is best. A gin and tonic is very English or perhaps a dry martini, but certainly nothing crude or rude like a Screwdriver, a Bloody Mary or a drink called “Down and Dirty” or “Lose Your Shorts.” White or red wine with Christmas lunch and afterwards a glass of port or liqueur or maybe a glass of “bubbly”—sparkling wine or champagne.

Third, the Frivolities - The English let their hair down for Christmas, and one of the oddest and most enjoyable of their festive frivolities is the Christmas pantomime or “panto”. In brief, this is a theatrical entertainment based loosely on a children’s fairy tale. In every town the local theater makes up for the year’s losses by sell-out houses for the Christmas panto. Families throng to the pantomime to see Puss n Boots, Cinderella or Jack and the Beanstalk. There is a “pantomime dame” who is a large actor dressed outrageously as a woman who clowns around with plenty of slapstick. The “principal boy” or hero of the plot is actually a leggy young actress while the rest of the cast are a motley crew of jesters, dancers and varied entertainers. The English panto is something that can be experienced, even if it cannot be explained. You can’t see one without visiting the old country.

Other frivolities of the season are the New Year’s Day polar bear swim— in which English people strip down to their briefs and bras and holler a lot as they plunge into the icy North Sea; and last, but not least, is the Christmas cracker. The Christmas cracker is like a cross between a fortune cookie and a party popper. The cracker is a paper and cardboard novelty placed on the Christmas table. Inside is a miniature firecracker which pops as you pull the two ends of the cracker. The whole thing comes apart as you pull and inside are little gifts—a miniature pocket knife, a comb or a tiny toy and a scrap of paper with a bad joke which inevitably become hilarious with a few more sips of wine. Also included in every Christmas cracker is a tissue paper crown which must be unrolled and worn during Christmas lunch.

Every English person from duchess to dustman wears a Christmas cracker crown at Christmas lunch. Even her majesty the Queen exchanges her crown for a tissue paper tiara.

The Christmas cracker crown is mandatory.

No exceptions and no excuses.

The Catechism of the Summa - SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - XXI. OF THE SINS OPPOSED TO DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: OF THE RESPECT OF PERSONS; OF THE SINS OPPOSED TO COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE; OF HOMICIDE; OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; OF MUTILATION; OF FLOGGING; AND OF IMPRISONMENT (B)

(B)  
What sins are opposed to commutative justice?

These sins are divided into two groups (LXIV.-LXXVIII.).
 
What are those of the first group?
They are those which touch our neighbour in which his own will has no part (LXIV.-LXXVI.).
 
What is the first of these sins?

It is homicide, which affects our neighbour by deed, as regards his greatest good, viz., by taking his life (LXIV.).
 
Is this a great sin?

It is the greatest sin against our neighbour.
 
Is it ever permitted to attempt our neighbour's life?

No, never.
 
Is it never permitted to take away a man's life?

It is never permitted to take away a man's life, unless through some crime, he has merited death (LXIV. 2, 6).
 
When a man through crime merits to lose his life, who alone has the right to deprive him of life?

Only the public authority has the right to do this (LXIV. 2).
 
Whence does the public authority derive this right?

It derives this right from the duty incumbent upon it of guarding over the common good of the society (ibid.).
 
Does the common good of the society sometimes demand that a man be put to death?

Yes, because there may be no other efficient way of putting a stop to the crimes committed within the society; or because the public feeling demands such satisfaction for the expiation of certain crimes that are hateful and revolting (LXIV. 2).
 
Is it only for crime that a man can be put to death by the public authority?

Yes, for this reason only (LXIV. 6).
 
May public interest sometimes justify the putting to death of an innocent person?

No, never, because the supreme good in a society is always the good of virtue (LXIV. 6).

Next - The Catechism of the Summa - SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - XXI. OF THE SINS OPPOSED TO DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: OF THE RESPECT OF PERSONS; OF THE SINS OPPOSED TO COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE; OF HOMICIDE; OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; OF MUTILATION; OF FLOGGING; AND OF IMPRISONMENT (C)

The Second Crusade: A Concise Overview for Students

Real Crusades History #42

Portraits of Bohemond and Eleanor of Aquitaine by Gordon Napier (http://dashinvaine.co.uk) 

This video provides a concise overview of the Second Crusade (1147-1149) for students. It is perfect for the classroom setting, or for private study. It is also an excellent video to review before a test on the Crusades. The Second Crusade saw the departure of the armies of Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany for Outremer. Preached by Bernard of Clairvaux, it was one of the pivotal events of the twelfth century.

Baltimore Catechism #2 - LESSON FIFTH ON OUR FIRST PARENTS AND THE FALL

LESSON FIFTH ON OUR FIRST PARENTS AND THE FALL

39. Q. Who were the first man and woman? A. The first man and woman were Adam and Eve.

40. Q. Were Adam and Eve innocent and holy when they came from the hand
of God? A. Adam and Eve were innocent and holy when they came from the hand of God.

41. Q. Did God give any command to Adam and Eve? A. To try their obedience God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of a certain fruit which grew in the garden of Paradise.

42. Q. Which were the chief blessings intended for Adam and Eve had they remained faithful to God? A. The chief blessings intended for Adam and Eve, had they remained faithful to God, were a constant state of happiness in this life and everlasting glory in the next.

43. Q. Did Adam and Eve remain faithful to God? A. Adam and Eve did not remain faithful to God; but broke His command by eating the forbidden fruit.

44. Q. What befell Adam and Eve on account of their sin? A. Adam and Eve, on account of their sin, lost innocence and holiness, and were doomed to sickness and death.

45. Q. What evil befell us on account of the disobedience of our first parents? A. On account of the disobedience of our first parents, we all share in their sin and punishment, as we should have shared in their happiness if they had remained faithful.

46. Q. What other effects followed from the sin of our first parents? A. Our nature was corrupted by the sin of our first parents, which darkened our understanding, weakened our will, and left in us a strong inclination to evil.

47. Q. What is the sin called which we inherit from our first parents? A. The sin which we inherit from our first parents is called original sin.

48. Q. Why is this sin called original? A. This sin is called original because it comes down to us from our first parents, and we are brought into the world with its guilt on our soul.

49. Q. Does this corruption of our nature remain in us after original sin is forgiven? A. This corruption of our nature and other punishments remain in us after original sin is forgiven.

50. Q. Was any one ever preserved from original sin? A. The Blessed Virgin Mary, through the merits of her Divine Son, was preserved free from the guilt of original sin, and this privilege is called her Immaculate Conception.

Next - Baltimore Catechism #2 - LESSON SIXTH ON SIN AND ITS KINDS

Please note that there are gaps in the numbering, and some questions are out of order, because the questions are numbered to agree with the 'Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism' (Baltimore Catechism #4)

Word of the Day: Simple Vow

SIMPLE VOW. Every vow, whether private or public, that is not expressly acknowledged by the Church as solemn. The term came into use with the Church's recognition that religious congregations are authentic institutes of Christian perfection, as distinct from religious orders. Simple vows render actions committed against the vows illicit, unlike solemn vows that make such actions invalid.

The Honorable Roger Scruton and His Enemies

I often quote Sir Roger and share his articles because I consider him the pre-eminent philosopher of conservatism today. Here is a review of a recent book of his.

From The Imaginative Conservative 

By Jerry Salyer

Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition, by Sir Roger Scruton (176 pages, All Points Books, 2018)

In the pantheon of science few figures merit a more honored position than does Antoine Lavoisier. Lavoisier almost singlehandedly overturned the idea that heat is a substance released by burning and friction, and developed combustion theory as an alternative; he set forth the law of conservation of matter; he laid the groundwork for the eventual establishment of the periodic table. By themselves such discoveries would confer an enduring reputation, yet even more important was Lavoisier’s systematic practice of data collection, which helped establish the modern scientific method. On the purely practical side his efforts to boost agricultural productivity and improve conditions in French hospitals and prisons offer a paradigm for the application of science to the lives of ordinary people.

Neither Lavoisier’s extraordinary scientific achievements, nor his civic and humanitarian service, nor even his impeccable credentials as a man of the moderate left shielded him from the insanity of the Reign of Terror, however. In 1794, a revolutionary tribunal condemned the father of chemistry as an enemy of the people, and the first mortal head to imagine oxygen rolled its way into the executioner’s basket. That atrocities like Lavoisier’s judicial murder have been allowed to fade into obscurity tells us quite a bit about the state of the establishment right, which devotes too much time to earning leftist approval and too little time to addressing the myriad crimes perpetrated by leftists in the name of Equality. If we are foolish enough to reply upon Republican talking-heads, the egalitarian war on science, civilization, and human nature will never be checked.

There are honorable exceptions to the general rule of amnesia, though, and Sir Roger Scruton is one of them. At the very least Sir Roger is not to blame for the general public’s ignorance of the Revolution, for whether writing about the environment, music, or God, the English philosopher never fails to acknowledge his debt to the statesman Edmund Burke, arch-nemesis of the Jacobins and one of the co-founders of the conservative tradition. Even if conservative populism represents an attitude and outlook quite different from the Burkean strain, the author of Conservatism declines to join NeverTrumpers pining for the supposedly golden days of Bush II, instead seeing in the tectonic shift of 2016 an excellent opportunity for conservatives to reexamine their roots and do some heavy thinking. The long-term survival of Western culture depends in part upon how many other conservatives have the nerve to follow his lead.

Following Burke’s “complex, unsystematic but highly illuminating account of custom, tradition, and civil association,” Sir Roger affirms that the “binding principle” of society

is not contract but something more akin to trusteeship. It is a shared inheritance for the sake of which we learn to circumscribe our demands, to see our own place in things as part of a continuous chain of giving and receiving, and to recognise that the good things we inherit are not ours to spoil but ours to safeguard for our dependents. There is a line of obligation that connects us to those who gave us what we have; and our concern for the future is an extension of that line. . . Concern for future generations is a non-specific outgrowth of gratitude. It does not calculate, because it shouldn’t and can’t.

Here it becomes clear just how radical Burkean conservatism is, in the contemporary context—or, to examine the matter from the other end, it becomes clear that the underlying inspiration for the liberal project is man’s repudiation of his humanity. While “localist” liberals like to talk about neighborliness, for instance, and some of them may well practice it, anyone who thinks lucidly and coldly about the implications of leftist ideology will admit that “love thy neighbor” is, if taken seriously, every bit as “fascist” as a MAGA hat, if not more so.

Even as liberals and pseudo-conservatives alike ignore the destructive effects of runaway inclusiveness upon religion and culture, Sir Roger points out that such destruction is a feature of the inclusive regime, not a bug:

Rousseau’s social contract begins from an assembly of abstract individuals, who are without ties or attachments, and who have nothing to guide their social conduct other than the agreements that they can make with their fellows. This picture of society was shared too by the revolutionaries, for whom the old order was to be pulled down in its entirety, so that people could start again with nothing to guide them save their own free choice. But social beings are not like that, as Burke insisted. Societies are by their nature exclusive, establishing privileges and benefits that are offered only to the insider, and that cannot be freely bestowed on all comers without sacrificing the trust on which social harmony depends.

Whether we speak of pastor and flock, parent and child, or neighbor and neighbor, human relationships require a certain measure of focused intimacy, millions of Facebook “friendships” notwithstanding. So limits must necessarily be set upon inclusivity if future generations are to enjoy a recognizably human order.

Although Sir Roger emphasizes the Burkean variety of conservatism, he also introduces the unfamiliar reader to other strands, such as the French counter-revolution, the Hegelian right, and the agrarianism of the American South. Where Francois Rene de Chateaubriand highlighted the debt civilization owes to the Faith, as well as the adventurous, romantic, and aesthetic dimensions of Christianity, his fellow Francophone Joseph de Maistre argued that “the events of the Terror were literally satanic, re-enacting the revolt of the fallen angels, and displaying what ensues when human beings reject the idea of authority, and imagine themselves capable of discovering a new form of government in the freedom from government.” As for Hegel, if Sir Roger’s reading of the notoriously opaque The Philosophy of Right is accurate then Hegel’s initially revolutionary theory “evolved into the most systematic presentation that we have of the conservative vision of political order,” a presentation whereby detached Kantian universal ideals are balanced with “the historical attachments of real moral agents.” Turning to Warren, Tate, and their colleagues, Sir Roger recognizes the Vanderbilt Twelve as America’s first culturally-conservative intellectuals, and clearly appreciates their warning that high-speed, Twentieth-Century living “had detached Americans so completely from the soil that they were no longer at home in their own country.”

To be sure, discerning readers are liable to raise their eyebrows at a few points. For instance, Sir Roger fails to mention the damage done to conservative thought by William F. Buckley’s respectable sanitizing of it. And this reviewer is of the opinion that Sir Roger goes much too easy upon Austrian libertarianism and Straussianism, given that the former movement embraces precisely the liberal individualism the conservative school was founded to confront, while the latter not only embraces egalitarianism uncritically but got to where it is in part by inciting leftist hatchet jobs upon the Old Right. Of course, Sir Roger is correct to note that in some circumstances conservatives might make common cause against socialism alongside libertarians, or even alongside a certain kind of neoconservative. But so what? It is just as true that conservatives could make common cause with a certain kind of leftist against the cultural and environmental depredations of global capitalism. At any rate, at a more conceptual level, by the end of the book we are still left wondering whether “conservatism” and “the right-wing” are entirely synonymous, and how our specific religious commitments might intersect with either.

Still, when all is said and done I know of no more comprehensive and reflective summary of conservatism than Sir Roger Scruton’s. We should not expect conservative establishmentarians on either side of the Atlantic to pay it much heed, though, for the author has now been pushed into the ranks of the untouchables. During an interview conducted by a journalist from The New Statesman some time back, the English philosopher strayed from the safely obscure world of ideas to comment about current events, and so has been tagged as a “homophobe”—meaning he recognizes a natural purpose for sexuality—an “anti-Semite”—meaning he has noticed and objects to George Soros’s war upon Christian Europe—and a “racist”—meaning he frowns upon the policies of the Chinese government. Labour Party witch-hunters soon rallied on Twitter, and thus was Sir Roger booted from his advisory post with the United Kingdom’s “Building Better, Building Beautiful” commission. Apparatchiks worried about Sir Roger having a platform whereby to interfere with their dystopian urban planning can thus breathe easier: The racist conspiracy to beautify England has been thwarted—for now, at least.

Rather than commiserate with the dissident author of Conservatism maybe we should instead congratulate him, for at this point getting purged by the liberal regime is itself a mark of distinction, not shame. Getting purged nowadays means not that one is incompetent, but merely that one is not a total coward, fit only for finding new ways to regurgitate comically ossified clichés about equality and tolerance. True, Sir Roger is now persona non grata for many of the movers and shakers of British politics. Yet these movers and shakers are the spiritual cousins of Lavoisier’s murderers, the same lot who were too busy combating “xenophobia” to notice that an immigrant gang in Rotherham was freely abducting and molesting children. Really, what worth resides in the honors conferred by such people?