{"id":18392,"date":"2015-03-11T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=18392"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:58:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:58:44","slug":"the-progression-of-totalitarianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-progression-of-totalitarianism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Progression of Totalitarianism","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent, March 12th, 2015<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Damiano_Mascagni_Joseph_Sold_Into_Slavery_by_His_Brothers_Fotor\"<\/a>Joseph Sold Into Slavery by His Brothers<\/em> by Damiano Mascagni (1579-1639)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WITH <\/strong>the death of logic<\/a><\/em>, we are not far from when not only truth, but Christians themselves, will be banished from the public sphere (and it’s already begun). At least, this is the warning from the seat of Peter:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

When natural law and the responsibility it entails are denied, this dramatically paves the way to ethical relativism at the individual level and to totalitarianism<\/em> of the State at the political level<\/strong>. \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, June 16th, 2010, L\u2019Osservatore Roman<\/em>o, English Edition, June 23, 2010<\/span><\/p>\n

d. totalitarianism<\/span><\/strong>: the political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The progression toward totalitarianism is descibed in today’s first reading:<\/p>\n

\n

This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First, a nation turns from the Lord. Second, they ignore the corrections that God sends to call them back. Third, the truth is watered down completely. And last, truth itself is no longer tolerated. <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Since [the powers that be] do not admit that one can defend an objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit or implicit totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows… In this way democracy, contradicting its own principles, effectively moves towards a form of totalitarianism. <\/strong>\u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, Centesimus annus<\/em>, n. 45, 46; Evangelium Vitae, \u201cThe Gospel of Life\u201d<\/em>, n. 18, 20<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That is, the State must control not only what their subjects do, but what they\u00a0think<\/em>. And that is easiest through\u00a0the indoctrination\u00a0of children<\/em>. Both the Communists and the Nazis understood that, if you can get to the children, you can control the future. Today, once again, the “re-education” of youth is in full swing under the guise of “compassion” and “tolerance.” But this has not escaped the notice of Pope Francis:<\/p>\n

\n

I would like to express my rejection of any kind of educational experimentation with children. We cannot experiment with children and young people. The horrors of the manipulation of education that we experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have not disappeared<\/em>; they have retained a current relevance under various guises and proposals and, with the pretense of modernity, push children and young people to walk on the dictatorial path of “only one form of thought” … A week ago a great teacher said to me\u2026 \u2018with these education projects I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re sending the kids to school or a re-education camp\u2019\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014POPE FRANCIS, message to members of BICE (International Catholic Child Bureau); Vatican Radio<\/a>, April 11th, 2014<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Brothers and sisters, like Joseph in last Friday’s first reading, our children are being sold into a new kind of slavery. It is clear that those who resist are on\u00a0a head-on collision course with the State… [1]<\/sup><\/a>“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine providence. It is a trial which the whole Church\u2026 must take up.”<\/strong> \u2014Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II), reprinted November 9, 1978, issue of The Wall Street Journal from a 1976 speech to the American Bishops<\/span><\/span><\/span>