The so-called Catholic Press of today is like a very sick man, dying from massive infection and heavy poisoning with such deadly poisons as Modernism, Liberalism, Secularism, Naturalism, Ecumenism, etc. If you happen to have some old issues of Catholic periodicals before the Second Vatican Council and compare them with the present-day issues of the same periodicals or magazines, you will see the difference. The title will be the same but the spirit, the contents are different. You will find in them diluted, or partial Catholicism, mixed with many strange ideas of collaboration with anything and everything which is alien to Catholic spirit and teaching before Vatican Council II. You will never find that strong will to defend the truth, to fight against the evil forces destroying our Church and our society. There is a complete lack of intrepidity, of apologetic zeal, of any attempt to attack the enemy.

A Press with No Punch

   The general line of the best Catholic papers in the modern Church is nothing more than a delicate defense. If you happen to see an article on such a subject as Communism, Masonry, Protestantism, etc.

   It will always be weak and watered down lest our “separated brethren” be offended by reading it. In fact, you will never find in the so-called Catholic Press of today any valuable article against Communism, Freemasonry, Secret Societies, etc., nor against any heresy for that matter.

   The reason for the inability of the Catholic Press to resist the influence of the secularist world around us is the false spirit of adaptation and tolerance, of freedom of conscience and religious liberty, introduced into the Church by Vatican Council II. The Church lost her identity by extending her hand to the “Prince of this world,” that is satan, together with his human cohorts of secret and open societies. Collaboration with them means complete destruction of Catholic Faith, morals, dogmas, discipline, Tradition and even the whole structure of the Church. Our Church is of Divine origin and has nothing to do with the “Prince of this world” except to war against him. Unless the Church is militant, she cannot thrive and flourish.

Appeasing the Enemy

   Secular humanists are transforming our schools, our institutions, our government, according to their own atheistic dogmas. They dictate what we are to know and hear in the mass communications media. The great majority of Catholics think they are getting objective truth when they subscribe to Time or Newsweek. The present-day “Catholic” Press doesn t differ much from the secular press. It has accepted a “live and let live” attitude with the secularist world. Instead of defending our God-given Faith against the onslaught of its enemies and leading Catholic readers toward the true ultimate goals of life, “our” press wastes its time and means on appeasing the enemies of Catholicism.

Monkey-see, Monkey-print

   There has been a leveling of Catholic ideals with those of the world, (worldliness) which Christ condemned. In this sinful attempt to accommodate itself with the neo-pagan society surrounding us, the “Catholic” Press suffers from an inferiority complex which often leads to a slavish imitation of the secular press.

   The one additional note is the accent on social issues through the so-called Social Gospel, while the supernatural perspectives of the Catholic Faith fail to be vividly presented. Small wonder that so many Catholic publications, especially the most “progressive” ones, have suffered large losses in circulation and have failed one after another. Some of the surviving ones also are on the brink of liquidation. There were hundreds of good Catholic periodicals in this country alone, with a combined circulation of more than two million subscribers, before Vatican Council II which are not in existence today. In the years following that Council in order not to appear “triumphant” or to antagonize other religious bodies in our “pluralistic” society, little or no effort was made in them to win souls to Christ, and this, in my opinion, is the chief cause of their dissolution.

Defend the Truth

   We cannot put too much emphasis on the role of the mass communications media in the secularizing and dechristianizing of the world today. The secular press, including radio and TV, has become an important force in the war against God and the Catholic Church. Never before has so much power been so easily available for upgrading or degrading the human spirit, depending on the merits or demerits of the ones who manipulate the media. The mass media of communication is becoming the sole power for shaping the minds and actions of humanity. The owners of these agencies, who often are anti-Christian and strong believers in the false “One World without God” religion, are exercising their evil influence to undermine and destroy the Catholic Church. Their victory would seem to be assured if the “Catholic” Press of today does not become truly Catholic again, that is, the staunch, uncompromising defender of truth that it once was.

SPECIAL NOTE

   The commentary you just read had been written by Rev. Victor Mroz, O.F.M., Conv., who was born on January 29th, 1915. He joined the “Militia of the Immaculate,” which was founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe, and was privileged to have the Saint as his spiritual director. While the young Victor Mroz was praying as to whether fulfill his Franciscan vocation as a Brother or a priest, the Saint told him that “if you want to save your soul, you must become a priest.” He was also told that “you will have a hard life, but the last few years will be happy ones.”

   Fr. Mroz was ordained on July 20th, 1941. It was the same year when St.Maximilian Kolbe suffered martyrdom. He came to the United States in 1947, and served Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Buffalo, NY. He died on April 28th, 1992, which was the feast of St. Louis Marie de Montfort.

   St. Maximilian Kolbe’s “Militia of the Immaculate” was the largest Catholic printing operation in Poland before World War II, as a spiritual son of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Father Mroz was in a unique position to comment on the state of today s so-called Catholic Press.

   I believe that anyone who reads today's so-called Catholic newspapers or periodicals will totally agree with Father Mroz's commentary. I also sincerely believe that, in order to save the Catholic Faith and morals, many of our so-called Catholic publications ought to visit “Mr. Paper Shredder.”

   We read in St. John 8:32 that “the truth shall make you free.” Does that mean that many today are not free, because they accept untruths? Lucifer, as we know, is a liar, “and the truth is not in him” (1 St. John 2:4).

   Unfortunately, many today do not any longer know who Truth is. He died on the cross for truth, and today is crucified again and again. Those who should know, love and defend Him had become accomplices of His adversaries. Pope St. Pius X declared that “the chief strength of the wicked, lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men. All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easy-going weakness of good men. All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easy-going weakness of Catholics. And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries” (On the occasion of the beatification of St. Joan of Arc, December 13th, 1908).

   St. John Fisher, who had been martyred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, declared: “The fort had been betrayed by those who should have defended it.” I m sure that those words can be readily applied to our postconciliar era, in which we now live. The traitors are many now in the Church. Cicero once said that a traitor is to be feared more than a murderer. He speaks the same words and wears the same clothes of those within the camp. He is sly and deceptive, and is difficult to detect. He is well trained to undermine whatever he undertakes to undermine. He (and , for that matter, she) can be found in chanceries, seminaries, universities, convents, monasteries, episcopal conferences, etc.

   Unfortunately we do not have courageous leadership to expose the traitors. There will never be a true “renewal” of the Church, as long as they are permitted to operate within the precincts of the Catholic Church and her institutions.

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