The Rise of The Romish Papist By Steven J. Alvey, Editor
For, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty to God, unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels,and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God: and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ… -- II Corinthians XX: III-V
Presently, as any objective observer would agree, the Catholic Church finds itself in a state of crisis. Practice of the faith, as measured by attendance at church on Sundays, has fallen to below 25 percent while belief in transubstantiation and participation in confession once or more often each year have fallen to about the same level. Somewhere around 90 percent of Catholics reject or are unaware of the Church’s teaching on contraception, while a majority of Catholics regularly vote for pro-abortion politicians.
The world, of course, has also fallen into a moral and cultural decline of epic proportions. The problem is that the church was supposed to stand apart from the world and be a light in it, a city on a hill, easily distinguishable. This has not been the case for these past fifty years. In almost every important statistical and tangible way, the faithful of God’s church cannot be told apart from the secular, pagan, or protestant populations surrounding them. When the divorce rate in the United States advanced towards 50 percent, Catholics joined the frenzy of serial adultery. When Americans and Europeans left churches en masse, it was often Catholics leading the exodus. When the world stopped having children, Catholics followed suit. To go on would, of course, be futile. These issues and others will, God willing, be analyzed in detail by our contributors in the years to come.
In the midst of this crisis we find ourselves surrounded by conflicting arguments about causes and solutions as Traditional Catholics and so-called conservative Catholics (the few of the latter that even acknowledge a crisis) try to determine where we went wrong and draft a blueprint for how to get out of this mess. Detailed studies in causality and historical precedent will be forthcoming, but for now it seems only fair that the general angle of this periodical be stated as clearly as possible. It is the opinion of this editor (and therefore the general view of this periodical and most of its contributors) that the most immediate cause of the present state of affairs is an abandonment of tradition and therefore it is fitting that most people will likely refer to The Romish Papist as a traditionalist periodical, which it most certainly is intended to be.
However, simply attributing the majority of this crisis to an apparent outward break from tradition that began a half-century ago is not sufficient. Careful attention must be given to events and personalities that go back much further than the 1960s. The so-called protestant reformation, the great scholastic-humanist debate, the so-called enlightenment, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and a whole host of political philosophers, the revolutions of the 18tth century, junk science, popular media, liberalism, modernism, secularism, relativism, pluralism, false ecumenism, the corruption of music and literature, the sexual revolution, and many more culprits will be analyzed in the future issues of this periodical (we will also be careful to distinguish between causes and symptoms regarding the items mentioned above). In this manner, regarding the enemies of the Church, The Romish Papist intends to “delve one yard below their mines, and blow them at the moon”.
That said, it should be noted that while the above paragraph states that a focus on the changes in the church fifty years ago is not by itself sufficient, it cannot be stated that it is not necessary. On the contrary, it is the opinion of this editor that very careful (and canonically legal) criticism and scrutiny of the conciliar and post-conciliar reforms are by all means necessary. Hence, a great portion of this periodical’s pages will be devoted to those topics as well. At the same time, however, this periodical will not hesitate to seek out and invite contributions from those with whom we have disagreements on the issues of tradition, particularly from those who are subject matter experts in fields that we deem to be of great importance.
This periodical will endeavor to carry out the above tasks in accordance with the laws of the church and with the utmost respect for the magisterium and, above all, the papal office. Out of love for Holy Mother Church, we intend to fight alongside that small remnant led by such giants as Michael Davies, Hamish Fraser, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Walter Matt, and the many others, living and dead, who have bravely carried this banner for the past fifty years. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we publish this first article, signifying the long awaited launch of The Romish Papist. May our Lord bless us with success and deliver us from the calamities of the present age and may this tree, by the grace of God, produce good fruit and be of some aid in the Church’s battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus!