Agents of Influence in Poland and the US
Departing somewhat from recent entries, it would be good to review the current dilemma that Poland faces, in order to compare it to our own. If one were to read the article from the New York Times Saturday, January 6th, it seems that a young philosophy student in 1967 was recruited by the secret police to spy on Polish Catholics at a Catholic University.
Here is the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/europe/06poland.html?em&ex=1168232400&en=f62f8fd3ced788da&ei=5087%0A
The idea of travel was attractive to him. It would allow him to do research and meet people at other universities. Eventually, he continued collaborating with the communists because “At the time I thought I had to continue my important scientific research and acquire sound training for the good of the church.” This led to a long-term relationship. Friday the 5th, the Archbishop admitted publicly that he had, in fact, collaborated with the communist regime in keeping tabs on his fellow Catholics.
Sunday, January 7th, this Archbishop resigned. He had compromised with an anti-catholic regime, and that made him unfit to become a ruler of the Church. The Polish Church established clear guide-lines during the Soviet Era to protect from this kind of compromise. For example, no person was supposed to go alone into a room with someone from the communist secret service. If someone were alone in a room with the secret service, he should have written to his Ecclesiastical superiors about it immediately. The young priest did not follow these guidelines of prudence.
The purpose of this entry is not to ask or answer the question about what the Archbishop or the Vatican should do, instead, it is to encourage some self-reflection on our own part.
We are not living in a communist country, but doesn't the same thing happen to us? There is a War Party in this country that works through foundations to recruit Catholic students to support its cause. These students can end up ousting other students who fail to share the views of the War Party. These students who want to go on and do research or get positions of influence to help the Church will make concessions with their faith in the interests of perhaps later on helping the Church.
There are also pro-Abortionists, who also want to recruit students for their cause. These students also, in the interest of future influence, could adopt the pro-abortionist, or pro-stem cell research line, in the interest of "the good of the Church."
There are agents promoting the homosexual marriage who come to the University in the interest of supporting their cause. Students in one way or another can take the money to become attached to these groups "for the good of the Church."
Communism is an ideology. The War Party runs on an ideology. The abortion movement runs on an ideology. The homosexual movement is an ideology. They all will attempt to infiltrate the Church, to get the Church to bend to their doctrine. There are some from within the ideology who consciously do this. There are others, who in the interest of promoting "the good of the Church" will go along with the ideology in a half-hearted way, not wanting to lose their faith, and not wanting the ideology to win out in the end either. They think that, in doing so, they will keep both alive.
This is the dilemma of dealing with revolutionary ideologies. Modern secularism is a revolutionary ideology. The forms in which it appears in the US are capitalism, sexual liberation, and Empire. As we follow the way in which a Polish student made a compromise as a student with the ideology of communism, let us beware about the compromises that we could make as young people that would lead us to compromise with the other false ideologies of our age.
Here is the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/europe/06poland.html?em&ex=1168232400&en=f62f8fd3ced788da&ei=5087%0A
The idea of travel was attractive to him. It would allow him to do research and meet people at other universities. Eventually, he continued collaborating with the communists because “At the time I thought I had to continue my important scientific research and acquire sound training for the good of the church.” This led to a long-term relationship. Friday the 5th, the Archbishop admitted publicly that he had, in fact, collaborated with the communist regime in keeping tabs on his fellow Catholics.
Sunday, January 7th, this Archbishop resigned. He had compromised with an anti-catholic regime, and that made him unfit to become a ruler of the Church. The Polish Church established clear guide-lines during the Soviet Era to protect from this kind of compromise. For example, no person was supposed to go alone into a room with someone from the communist secret service. If someone were alone in a room with the secret service, he should have written to his Ecclesiastical superiors about it immediately. The young priest did not follow these guidelines of prudence.
The purpose of this entry is not to ask or answer the question about what the Archbishop or the Vatican should do, instead, it is to encourage some self-reflection on our own part.
We are not living in a communist country, but doesn't the same thing happen to us? There is a War Party in this country that works through foundations to recruit Catholic students to support its cause. These students can end up ousting other students who fail to share the views of the War Party. These students who want to go on and do research or get positions of influence to help the Church will make concessions with their faith in the interests of perhaps later on helping the Church.
There are also pro-Abortionists, who also want to recruit students for their cause. These students also, in the interest of future influence, could adopt the pro-abortionist, or pro-stem cell research line, in the interest of "the good of the Church."
There are agents promoting the homosexual marriage who come to the University in the interest of supporting their cause. Students in one way or another can take the money to become attached to these groups "for the good of the Church."
Communism is an ideology. The War Party runs on an ideology. The abortion movement runs on an ideology. The homosexual movement is an ideology. They all will attempt to infiltrate the Church, to get the Church to bend to their doctrine. There are some from within the ideology who consciously do this. There are others, who in the interest of promoting "the good of the Church" will go along with the ideology in a half-hearted way, not wanting to lose their faith, and not wanting the ideology to win out in the end either. They think that, in doing so, they will keep both alive.
This is the dilemma of dealing with revolutionary ideologies. Modern secularism is a revolutionary ideology. The forms in which it appears in the US are capitalism, sexual liberation, and Empire. As we follow the way in which a Polish student made a compromise as a student with the ideology of communism, let us beware about the compromises that we could make as young people that would lead us to compromise with the other false ideologies of our age.
Labels: abortion, archbishop, capitalism, Catholic Church, compromise, homosexual rights, homosexuality, ideology, poland, secularism, sex, sexual liberation, students, War Party
posted by Joe Philipowicz at 11:22 AM
1 Comments:
Your posting offers tremendous insight.
The simple but far, far from easy cornerstone ought to be, "Seek first God's Kingdom and.....". But that is so difficult for young people (or anyone of any age) to do in the midst of a competitive and material world.
It is amazing how almost always "students" are in the midst of all revolutions (political or cultural etc.). They might not be the leaders, might just be lemmings, but there they are seeking to matter, striving to make a difference, wanting to be somebody.
The developmental psychologist Erik Erikson identified 8 developmental stages and tasks in life. I am not saying that his approach is Gospel...not at all...but it is useful to consider. For the age range of 18-35 (that of all traditional college and grad students) he says that the developmental task is to attain intimacy and solidarity (to belong with someone and he/she with you, to belong in intimacy and solidarity with something outside one's self) vs. the isolation that occurs when this stages results in failure.
To the extent that his analysis is accurate, then students are ripe for the picking by self-serving recruiters of all stripes (to join the Culture of Death, to join the War Party, to support various other agendas). One thinks famously that the CIA (founded in that name, had been OSS before, by one of Cardinal Dulles' brothers) in the 1950s, '60' etc. would recruit from among Catholic college students because they had been trained to obey authority. These days one imagines that recruiting stereotype has significantly dissipated...students at "Catholic" colleges seem generally as self-centered as the norm.
The specific example in Poland is such a sad one. I would imagine that it was fairly rare, but the fact is that a very small number of priests have compromised their integrity due to fear of a brutal regime (Nazis, USSR, Mao's China, Spanish "Republic", in Mexico, in Central America, in Cuba, etc.). Again, my general impression is that the percentages are extremely low (less than 8.333% or the "Judas standard").
Once again, the keen insight you offered in this posting was of great value: thank you for your efforts.
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