Editor’s Note: In the following talk delivered to the Conference of Catholic Families, John Lacken describes the many threats to life, family, and the Church today and how they all stem from an attack on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. He also explains the interconnectedness of abortion and marriage and how abortion will only be ended by if marriage is upheld.
Using Pope Pius XI’s prophetic encyclical Casti Connubii, Lacken outlines what marriage is and is not and the duties spouses have to each other and their children. Casti Connubii provides Catholics with a guidebook for surviving the evil age in which we live.
The prepared text of Lacken’s full talk is published below. It has been minimally edited to use American rather than British spelling for certain words, in conformity with LifeSiteNews’ typical style.
I would like to begin with a prayer, the Litany to St Joseph, defender of the Catholic Church, defender of the Holy Family, defender of our families.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Litany of Saint Joseph
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, have mercy on us.
Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Illustrious scion of David, pray for us.
Light of the patriarchs, pray for us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Chaste guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
Foster-father of the Son of God, pray for us.
Watchful defender of Christ, pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.
Joseph most just, pray for us.
Joseph most chaste, pray for us.
Joseph most prudent, pray for us.
Joseph most valiant, pray for us.
Joseph most obedient, pray for us.
Joseph most faithful, pray for us.
Mirror of patience, pray for us.
Lover of poverty, pray for us.
Model of workmen, pray for us.
Glory of family life, pray for us.
Guardian of virgins, pray for us.
Pillar of families, pray for us.
Consolation of the afflicted, pray for us.
Hope of the sick, pray for us.
Patron of the dying, pray for us.
Terror of demons, pray for us.
Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. He made him the lord of His household, R. And prince over all His possessions.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Thine ineffable providence didst choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thy most Holy Mother, grant that as we venerate him as our protector on earth, we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in Heaven, Thou Who livest and reignest world without end R. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
___
I would like to start this talk by doing something that is normally left to the end of a conference. I would just like to thank all of you for being here. To thank those of you who have supported myself and Anthony in The Lumen Fidei Institute, since our official launch last July, and to thank the readers and loyal supporters of Catholic Voice. We would not be here were it not for you. Your prayers, your financial contributions, and your moral support and encouragement for what we are trying to do, with God’s help, is what makes this conference and our other works, such as the Eucharistic Miracles display that you see behind you, the books we have recently published, and our website, basic as it still is, possible.
Our outreach is growing. I have had correspondence from Japan, Norway, Canada, several American states, Slovakia, and other countries. Recently I sent our books to someone who contacted me from New York state. I received the following reply:
“Mr. Lacken, thank you very much for the books you sent, ‘Don’t go to Hell,’ the book on Purgatory, and ‘The Joy of Full Surrender.’
I read the first two, highlighter in hand, to help me find key points again. And as for the Purgatory book, I’ve been dedicating my daily rosaries, chaplets of Divine Mercy, Lauds and Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the souls in Purgatory after reading that book.
You asked where I am in my faith, so you could send appropriate books. I grew up Catholic until I was around the age of 10. I’ve been taking course after course in our Catholic study time here. But the books you sent are the most in depth and clearest books on Hell and Purgatory. I’ve never come across such complete texts for these teachings, so if there are more books along these lines or in this series I would love to read them.”
That letter came from one of New York’s Federal Correctional Institutions. A prisoner found us online and contacted us to learn more about the Catholic faith he has returned to. Thanks to your support. We are making a difference. We are helping people to know the Truth of Christ.
On February 12, 2017, I came across a World Meeting of Families flyer in the back of the parish church in Knock, which had printed on it what they called, “a token of my affection.” This was to be given by one spouse to the other on St. Valentine’s day. It read, “this is a special ‘Joy of Love’ gift token to celebrate our love and to help it grow…”
I scanned it and I e-mailed it to Anthony Murphy, saying:
“The attached were left at the back of the Church in Knock this weekend. They are from the organizers of the World Meeting of Families 2018. I see that sentimental drivel seems to be the order of the day as far as the organizers of WMOF 2018 are concerned. In this case I don’t see much point in opposing them. Most people will follow feelings rather than reason.”
I then said the following.
“How about organizing an ‘alternative’ conference on the problems facing families, near the RDS in Dublin for the same weekend as the WMOF?”
I didn’t receive an immediate response from Anthony, but the seed was sown.
Then, on the 22nd of June 2017, I came across another WMOF leaflet, this one looking for volunteers. It said:
“We value and embrace diversity and seek volunteers from a range of communities and backgrounds. We only ask that our volunteers are sensitive and respectful of our Catholic ethos.”
I immediately recognized the [“homosexual”] speak. “We value and embrace diversity.” What does that even mean?
“I murdered my mother last week because she burnt my dinner.” “Oh that’s diverse, would you like to volunteer for the WMOF? We value and embrace diversity.” “I’m a serial killer.” “Oh, that’s so diverse, would you like to volunteer too?” “I work as a dancer in a gay bar in Dublin.” “Oooh, so diverse, come on in.”
“I work for an apostolate which upholds the teachings of the Catholic Church on same-sex attraction and we help people with these attractions to live chaste lives.” “I’m sorry, we can’t allow homophobes to volunteer or even to have a stand at the world meeting of families. Goodbye.”
“Valuing and embracing diversity” is a meaningless phrase which is used within certain circles to subtly signal acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle.
What does one do in such a situation? I e-mailed Anthony.
“I really don’t think we will get anywhere trying to challenge this. It would seem that Ireland has become part of the overall plan to further normalize the homosexual lifestyle within the Catholic Church. As you pointed out, Leo Varadkar and his male ‘partner’ will probably have a public photo op with Pope Francis next year.
I still think it would be a good idea to organize our own family conference. We would have to be very careful not to be seen to be organizing in opposition to the World Meeting of Families. We can do this by sticking to what the Catholic Church has always taught about marriage and family and in a way, we can create a place where the prophetic, catechetical voice, of the Catholic Church can still be heard.”
Later, at a conference in Rome, this idea was quietly floated with other Catholics involved in safeguarding the family and who were also concerned at the direction the WMOF was taking, and the next thing I knew, was that Anthony, in a great act of faith, had gone ahead and booked this venue. We didn’t have the funds. But in the spirit of Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Anthony went ahead in faith, and here we are today.
This was way before the announcement was made about Fr. James Martin. Our concern was to make sure that the true teachings of the Catholic Church on marriage and family life would be spoken in Dublin this August 2018, and there was, and there still is, no guarantee, that these truths will be spoken in the RDS this week.
With this conference, we are trying to highlight different aspects of the crisis, and it is a crisis of enormous proportions, that we are now facing, as Catholics who desire to live out our Catholic faith in simplicity and in peace. As in earlier times for the faithful, it seems that the powers that be do not wish to leave us in peace. They see true Catholicism and faithful Catholics as a threat to the world order which they seek to establish, and they are correct in their assessment. We are a threat to their plans, for as Christ Himself taught us, you cannot serve two masters. You will be faithful to one and oppose the other.
Our arch enemy still seeks to destroy the Catholic Church and he still recruits helpers both from within and without, corrupting the minds of men with his lies and murderous tendencies. Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 warned us that Russia would spread her errors. One of the classic ways in which Russia spreads her errors is by infiltrating the organizations she wishes to destroy with her own men, or by taking over an organization and sowing the seeds of division and corruption in order to steer that organization’s policies towards the communist goal.
The Italian Bella Dodd, a member of the American Communist Party from 1927 to her expulsion [in] 1949, publicly testified under oath, that, “In the 1930s we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.”
Bella Dodd told Alice and Dietrich von Hildebrand that when she was an active communist party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for the Communist Party.
The most desirable men for the infiltration of the seminaries are men with same-sex attraction, as this provides a cover for dealing with the celibacy issue. These men have to appear to uphold their vow of celibacy.
These men are highly trained, to give the appearance of Catholic orthodoxy, and then, when the time is right, they begin their mission to undermine Catholic teaching which is opposed to the communist world plan.
The infiltration was not just Church organizations, but civil organizations as well. They infiltrated the unions and government offices as well as the chanceries.
In her autobiography, “The School of Darkness,” (which I recommend you read, if you want to get a proper understanding of some of the forces we are up against), in dealing with a government committee that was set up to investigate the teacher’s unions, Bella Dodd states,
“The Party now placed at our services its intelligence apparatus, for the Communist Party has its own intelligence officers, in splinter groups, in the trade unions, in major divisions of our body politic, in the police departments, and in intelligence divisions of the Government.”
Russia’s errors are still being spread by organizations through take-overs and infiltration to this very day, and we are witnessing its effects in the implementation of the latest part of their plan to destroy marriage and family life, the LGBT movement. It is obvious to those who know how systems work that there are very powerful and well-financed organizations working behind the LGBT movement.
Small gatherings of self-interested queers could not have brought about the momentous change that has taken place in the world in the last two decades, with so called “same-sex marriage” being made legal in so many jurisdictions.
It is incredible to think that in the year 2000, not one country in the world had legalized same-sex marriage. There is obviously a powerful international network involved, [one] that spans civil society and is also operating within, and in conjunction with, the hierarchical structures of the Catholic Church.
These churchmen, effectively Russian or communist agents, and ultimately, whether knowingly or unknowingly, agents of Satan, have conspired together to destroy marriage and family life, and to destroy the Catholic Church.
They may indeed succeed in bringing civil society crashing down. They have succeeded in greatly tarnishing the reputation of the Catholic Church, from the world’s perspective, but they will never succeed in destroying the Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church is of divine origin.
Christ speaks of these churchmen in Matthew chapter 23:
“But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.”
For those of us who are Catholic parents in Ireland, and who can see what is going on, we are left to defend, and to fight for our families, on our own. Not one Irish bishop to date has publicly objected to the invitation of Fr. James Martin, a priest who publicly promotes the false LGBT ideology, to speak at another conference that is taking place in Dublin this week. The ideology that Fr. James Martin promotes represents a threat to our children’s wellbeing – indeed, to their very salvation, and yet our bishops…remain silent in the face of this threat. Indeed, many of them have welcomed this threat to our children.
The responses of three different Irish bishops to Catholic Voice readers were sent to me. They are almost identical. Each bishop passes the buck, one says this cardinal is responsible, one says the Dublin bishops are responsible, the last says the dicastery for Laity, Family & Life is responsible.
I cannot account for these bishops or tell you why they do not speak. All I can tell you is that they do not speak, that they remain silent in the face of a great evil, a sin which cries to heaven for vengeance, a sin which has destroyed the innocence of so many children, a sin which is destroying the lives of so many adults, and which has caused huge heartache and hurt in the lives of many parents and families.
A major part of the current crisis in the Catholic Church has to do with the acceptance and promotion of the homosexual lifestyle. I know there are problems with women being abused as well, but there is primarily a homosexual problem, with priests and bishops who are active homosexuals, and with others who choose to remain silent in the face of this great evil, perhaps because they fear to be called names such as homophobic or haters.
These people do not care for our children. The children are not their primary concern. Nonetheless, we must fight on. We cannot afford the luxury of discouragement. Marriage is our sacrament, given to the laity by Christ Himself, it is we who are the ministers of this sacrament, and it is we who must rise to face this current challenge and take whatever actions are necessary to safeguard our children.
Thank God for our patrons Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider, true shepherds to families.
Let us now turn to the encyclical Casti Connubii of Pope Pius XI. It is impossible to do this great encyclical justice in a short presentation such as this of less than an hour, so I want to pick out some highlights relevant to our times…This talk will be very inadequate as a presentation on Casti Connubii, and so, I recommend further study of Casti Connubii combined with a study of another encyclical of Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri – On Christian Education. These are essential study material for married Catholics and for Catholic parents who seek to fulfil the task that has been entrusted to them by Christ, of raising saints for the Kingdom of God.
The encyclical was prompted by the Lambeth conference of 1930, where for the first time in the long history of Christianity, a group who claimed to be Christian permitted the use of contraception within marriage. Pope Pius XI, the defender of the deposit of the faith at that time, responded by coming to the defense of marriage and family life.
He opens the encyclical as follows:
“How great is the dignity of chaste wedlock, Venerable Brethren, may be judged best from this, that Christ Our Lord, Son of the Eternal Father, having assumed the nature of fallen man, not only, with His loving desire of compassing the redemption of our race, ordained it in an especial manner as the principle and foundation of domestic society and therefore of all human intercourse, but also raised it to the rank of a truly and great sacrament of the New Law, restored it to the original purity of its divine institution, and accordingly entrusted all its discipline and care to His spouse the Church.
In order, however, that amongst men of every nation and every age the desired fruits may be obtained from this renewal of matrimony, it is necessary, first of all, that men's minds be illuminated with the true doctrine of Christ regarding it; and secondly, that Christian spouses, the weakness of their wills strengthened by the internal grace of God, shape all their ways of thinking and of acting in conformity with that pure law of Christ so as to obtain true peace and happiness for themselves and for their families.”
Did you get that?
“The principle and foundation of domestic society and therefore of all human intercourse” is the Catholic sacrament of matrimony. If you want a society that is free from abortion, free from divorce, free from contraception, free from pornography, free from murder, and rape, and drugs, and same-sex marriage, and child abuse; then you must primarily concentrate your efforts on fostering the sacrament of matrimony, because this, the sacrament of matrimony, is the principle and foundation of domestic society.
Conversely, if you wish to destroy domestic society, you must first undermine and destabilize the Catholic sacrament of matrimony. Our enemies have been working on this for decades.
All too often, we get caught up with defending very important, but, in effect, secondary issues whilst leaving aside the primary issue of sacramental wedlock. The fight against abortion is one of these important but secondary issues.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we must fight against abortion, and we must fight it with every fiber of our beings. However, we will never win the fight against abortion in the long term if we are not primarily defending the Catholic sacrament of matrimony, because this sacrament is the principle and foundation of domestic society. I cannot emphasize this point enough.
I don’t want to single out a particular group, because we all fail in our different ways and we are all outclassed by our enemy the devil, but I want to give you one example of why we fail in the fight against abortion, because we need to understand the war that we are fighting.
I recently received an e-mail from an Irish pro-life group inviting me to a fundraising dinner at which a former Taoiseach is going to be the speaker.
In 1995, this Taoiseach was the architect of the referendum which legalized divorce in this country. He was the general who finally breached the wall that, up until that time, had defended the principle and foundation of our domestic society, sacramental marriage. That referendum effectively undermined that principle and foundation, and opened the door to abortion in this country, and yet this man, who has never recanted his position on divorce, is invited to speak at a pro-life dinner?
Divorce is one of the key drivers of abortion in any society because it undermines the sacrament of matrimony, therefore promoting and encouraging sexual promiscuity within society, which in turn increases the rate of abortion, as most children aborted are conceived outside of the stability of sacramental wedlock. When you introduce divorce into a society you demean the value of marriage and as time goes on [fewer and fewer] people tend to get married. Meanwhile, more and more people are engaging in sexual activity without the benefits of the sacrament and the children thus casually conceived are at great risk of being aborted.
We need to understand this. Catholic sacramental matrimony is the greatest long term defense against abortion.
Pope Pius XI, in the second paragraph above, tells us, that to obtain the fruits of this great sacrament of matrimony, “it is necessary, first of all” – First of All, in other words, before you do anything else – “that men’s minds be illuminated with the true doctrine of Christ regarding the sacrament and secondly, that Christian spouses, the weakness of their wills strengthened by the internal grace of God, shape all their ways of thinking and of acting in conformity with that pure law of Christ so as to obtain true peace and happiness for themselves and for their families.”
This is why, when the Irish government announced that it was going to hold a referendum on abortion, I told people that I believed that the greater threat to the Irish people in 2018 was not the abortion referendum, but is in fact, the World Meeting of Families taking place not ten minutes’ walk from here. That meeting, with its homosexual lifestyle-promoting prelates, further undermines sacramental marriage, which is the principle and foundation of our domestic society, and without which principle and foundation, we will never defeat abortion or any of the other ills that afflict our society.
In Casti Connubii, Pope Pius XI, quoting St. Augustine, lists the three blessings of matrimony and gives detailed explanation of each one, and then shows how each in turn is being attacked.
Here are some relevant quotes.
“..Amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds the first place.”
As regards this first blessing, the blessing of the child, we must return to the correct understanding that the primary end of marriage and of our human sexuality is children. The secondary ends of marriage are subordinate to this primary end, and the purpose of the secondary ends is to ensure that the children will grow up in a loving and caring environment.
The failure to uphold children as the primary end of marriage and human sexuality is ultimately what opens the door to all the great evils that afflict marriage in our day. Sadly, several documents of the Catholic Church that have been issued since the Second Vatican council list the ends of marriage in the incorrect order, thus leading to confusion amongst the faithful and allowing the enemy a “foot in the door,” in his attack on marriage.
If the primary end of marriage and human sexuality is not children, then it must obviously be something else, which would mean that human sexuality, if not ordered primarily towards children, can be used for other purposes without regard for children. This false notion is what opens the door to contraception, abortion, and ultimately to the acceptance of disordered same-sex relationships which use sexuality in a way that contradicts its primary end.
The two other blessings of marriage which Pope Pius XI mentions are as follows.
“The second blessing of matrimony which we said was mentioned by St. Augustine, is the blessing of conjugal honour which consists in the mutual fidelity of the spouses in fulfilling the marriage contract.”
The third blessing St. Augustine calls the sacrament “by which is denoted both the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby He made it an efficacious sign of grace.”
Pope Pius XI goes on:
“For now, alas, not secretly nor under cover, but openly, with all sense of shame put aside, now by word again by writings, by theatrical productions of every kind, by romantic fiction, by amorous and frivolous novels, by movies portraying in vivid scene, in addresses broadcast by radio telephony, in short by all the inventions of modern science, [in our time, that includes smart phones] the sanctity of marriage is trampled upon and derided; divorce, adultery, all the basest vices either are extolled or at least are depicted in such colors as to appear to be free of all reproach and infamy…”
“These thoughts are instilled into men of every class, rich and poor, masters and workers, lettered and unlettered, married and single, the godly and godless, old and young, but for these last, as easiest prey, the worst snares are laid.”
The worst snares are laid for the children.
The following are just some of the books that have been designed for children. Some teachers are now using these books in primary schools.
A Tale of Two Daddies:
“A Tale of Two Daddies” is a playground conversation between two children. The boy says he heard that the girl has two dads. The girl says that is right – she has Daddy and Poppa. True to a child’s curiosity, practical questions follow: “Which dad helps when your team needs a coach? / Which dad cooks you eggs and toast?” To which she answers: “Daddy is my soccer coach. / Poppa cooks me eggs and toast.”
“Intended for 4- to 8-year olds, this book introduces a type of family increasingly visible in modern society. Neither favoring nor condemning, it reflects a child’s practical and innocent look at the adults who nurture and love her. It becomes clear that the family bond is unburdened by any cultural discomforts.”
Mommy, mama and me: & Daddy Papa and me
“One of the only original board books about gay parents! A perfect purchase for new parents, baby showers, and more! Rhythmic text and illustrations with universal appeal show a toddler spending the day with its two mommies or its two daddies. From hide-and-seek to dress-up, then bath time and a kiss goodnight, there’s no limit to what a loving family can do together. Shares the loving bond between same-sex parents and their children.”
Heather has two mommies:
“The story of a little girl called Heather. Heather’s favourite number is two – she has two arms, two legs, two pets and two lovely mummies. But when Heather goes to school for the first time, someone asks her about her daddy … and Heather doesn't have a daddy! But then the class all draw portraits of their families, and not one single drawing is the same. Heather and her classmates realize – it doesn’t matter who makes up a family, the most important thing is that all the people in it love one another very much.”
The Family Book:
“The Family Book celebrates the love we feel for our families and all the different varieties they come in. Whether you have two mothers or two dads, a big family or a small family, a clean family or a messy one, Todd Parr assures readers that no matter what kind of family you have, every family is special in its own unique way. Parr’s message about the importance of embracing our differences is delivered in a playful way. With his trademark bold, bright colours and silly scenes, this book will encourage children to ask questions about their own families.”
These books are designed to poison the image of marriage as being between one man and one woman in the minds of children. They are targeted at children of eight years of age and younger and they are being used in primary schools.
One lady recently called me from a rural town in Ireland. Her five-year-old granddaughter had come home and asked her mother if it was okay to have two mammies. The mother replied that it might be nice but that it was better to have a mommy and a daddy. The child was delighted because she had become afraid that her daddy might have to leave if it was okay to have two mammies.
In her autobiography, Bella Dodd mentions teachers.
“I realized for the first time just how important a part of the communist movement in America the teachers were. They touched practically every phase of Party work. They were not used only as teachers in Party education, where they gave their services free of charge, but in the summer they travelled and visited Party figures in other countries. Most of them were an idealistic, selfless lot who manned front committees and were the backbone of the Party’s strength in the Labour Party and later in the Progressive Party. Even in the inner Party apparatus they performed invaluable services. They provided the Party with thousands of contacts among young people, women's organizations, and professional groups.”
We no longer have Catholic schools here in Ireland (I don’t have time to go into this in detail), and so parents must be aware of the duty they have as regards their children.
“Therefore it is the duty of parents to make every effort to prevent any invasion of their rights in this matter, and to make absolutely sure that the education of their children remain under their own control in keeping with their Christian duty, and above all to refuse to send them to those schools in which there is danger of imbibing the deadly poison of impiety” (Divini Illius Magistri 35).
Pope Pius XI looks at the organizational structure of sacramental marriage in what is nowadays frowned upon by many. There are very few who accept this teaching today, and their refusal is based on a false understanding of human nature.
“Domestic society being confirmed, therefore, by this bond of love, there should flourish in it that ‘order of love,’ as St. Augustine calls it. This order includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends in these words: ‘Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church.’”
Pope Pius XI explains:
“This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife.”
He speaks of the attacks on this order:
“The same false teachers who try to dim the lustre of conjugal faith and purity do not scruple to do away with the honourable and trusting obedience which the woman owes to the man. Many of them even go further and assert that such a subjection of one party to the other is unworthy of human dignity, that the rights of husband and wife are equal; wherefore, they boldly proclaim the emancipation of women has been or ought to be effected. This emancipation in their ideas must be threefold, in the ruling of the domestic society, in the administration of family affairs and in the rearing of the children.”
“This, however, is not the true emancipation of woman, nor that rational and exalted liberty which belongs to the noble office of a Christian woman and wife; it is rather the debasing of the womanly character and the dignity of motherhood, and indeed of the whole family, as a result of which the husband suffers the loss of his wife, the children of their mother, and the home and the whole family of an ever watchful guardian. More than this, this false liberty and unnatural equality with the husband is to the detriment of the woman herself, for if the woman descends from her truly regal throne to which she has been raised within the walls of the home by means of the Gospel, she will soon be reduced to the old state of slavery (if not in appearance, certainly in reality) and become as amongst the pagans the mere instrument of man.”
“This equality of rights which is so much exaggerated and distorted, must indeed be recognized in those rights which belong to the dignity of the human soul and which are proper to the marriage contract and inseparably bound up with wedlock. In such things undoubtedly both parties enjoy the same rights and are bound by the same obligations; in other things there must be a certain inequality and due accommodation, which is demanded by the good of the family and the right ordering and unity and stability of home life.”
We can see how a false notion of equality was used very effectively in the recent marriage referendum which clamored for same-sex marriage in the name of a false equality.
The third attack on marriage is the attack on the sacrament itself. I don’t have time to go into this in great detail, [but] suffice to say that this attack is being led from within the Catholic Church by cardinals, bishops, and priests who favor the reception of Holy Communion by those who are living in adulterous relationships…those who favor the recognition of same-sex relationships, more often than not, [are] the same people who support Holy Communion for unrepentant adulterers.
Remember, Christ was betrayed by one of the inner circle of his apostles, and by the leaders of His chosen people, so do not be surprised to find that the same is true today, that those who betray Christ are those who should be closest to Him.
“It is then fitting that, with all fatherly solicitude, We should turn Our mind to seek out suitable remedies whereby those most detestable abuses which We have mentioned, may be removed, and everywhere marriage may again be revealed. To this end, it behooves Us, above all else, to call to mind that firmly established principle, esteemed alike in sound philosophy and sacred theology: namely, that whatever things have deviated from their right order, cannot he brought back to that original state which is in harmony with their nature except by a return to the divine plan which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, is the exemplar of all right order…
In order, therefore, to restore due order in this matter of marriage, it is necessary that all should bear in mind what is the divine plan and strive to conform to it.
Wherefore, since the chief obstacle to this study is the power of unbridled lust, which indeed is the most potent cause of sinning against the sacred laws of matrimony, and since man cannot hold in check his passions, unless he first subject himself to God, this must be his primary endeavour, in accordance with the plan divinely ordained. For it is a sacred ordinance that whoever shall have first subjected himself to God will, by the aid of divine grace, be glad to subject to himself his own passions and concupiscence; while he who is a rebel against God will, to his sorrow, experience within himself the violent rebellion of his worst passions.”
The solution is quite simple: we are called to become saints and we become saints by subjecting ourselves to God and to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
It is complicated in our day because so many Catholics have not been catechized or have been filled with false teachings by dissenters within the Church.
So I urge you to carefully study authentic Catholic teaching. Make sure you are familiar with Catholic teaching on marriage as promulgated before the Second Vatican council and wherever you come across a “new” teaching or a ‘new’ formulation of Church teaching which seems to depart from the old, disregard it, and stick to what was always taught.
We are in the middle of a war. In a war, not everyone gets to fly a plane or to drive a tank. There are other more ordinary jobs that need to be done as part of the war effort.
In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah, who works as cup bearer for the Emperor Artaxerxes, hears from his brother that Jerusalem is in bad shape. So, he goes back there to help them to rebuild the wall.
He gets each family to re-build that part of the wall nearest their own home. Nehemiah realizes that families tend to protect and defend their own.
In Nehemiah 4:14, he addresses the people because there are rumors that their enemies are planning an attack.
“Be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses.”
This is the job of parents, to fight for their families.
In the Catholic life, the “examen” or examination of a conscience, well-formed in Catholic thinking, is essential to progress in holiness.
So too for married life. Husband and wife should sit down and do an “examen” of their marriage to find any areas where they may have departed from Catholic teaching. Are you upholding Church teaching on human sexuality and regards [to] the use of marriage? Are you ensuring that the education your children receive is free from corruption and are you refusing “to send them to those schools in which there is danger of imbibing the deadly poison of impiety”?
These are dangerous times, but with God’s help, with the enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our homes, with placing Our Lady in the place of honor in our homes, and with a simple and sincere devotion to good St. Joseph, we must have the courage to rise to the challenge and to defend our children and our families, and to promote the true wellbeing of Irish society, by courageously promoting and defending Catholic teaching on marriage and family life.
I’m John Lacken. May God bless you.