Protestantism, Communism and Socialism....What Do They Have in Common?

A thought....with regard to why things are the way they are with the Western liturgy.

It is a clear communist goal to strip religion from the people, so they can better understand the socialist ideal.  However, I think that looking into this a little more we can see a clarification of just what secularism and humanism (ie. horizontal theology) actually does...

Protestantism is at it's core a humanist ideologue.  It is subjective at it's heart and it strips away all authentic religiosity from the human person.  But in looking at this, we can truly see how the human person is being duped by Socialists by accepting Protestant ideals, this includes the errors of the Consilium and their actions.

To strip religion from a society, the easiest way is to not simply impose Socialism, but rather to first allow for and promote human secularism.  For with that, what do we have?  We have indifference.  When the human person becomes indifferent to religion, it is then easy to shift that society to Socialist behaviors and re-invent said society.

This is exactly what has been happening in Europe for the last 250 years.  Look at it this way....the Reformation took place as a way to "level the playing field."  It was to make all things even again.  At it's heart, that is exactly what Martin Luther wanted.  He wanted to restore the Church to it's earlier glory.  How to do this?  The best way was to take that which was Catholic, strip it to it's base and then worship, according to Luther.  What he didn't expect was the outcome he got.  What happened was that the human person took this to a socialist ideologue with the Enlightenment and applied a Socialist agenda.  The agenda wasn't to directly eliminate religion, but rather to Protestantize it.  The Protestant simply became apathetic toward what the Church taught and allowed secularism to move in.

Once secularism moved in, what we had was a pure stripping of religion in Europe.  The Catholic Church fought this for several centuries, but with the coming of Vatican Council I and eventually Vatican Council II, this movement became the norm within the Church.  It first found it's root in the most public of actions, the liturgy, but eventually it has invaded all aspects of Catholic thought.

The goal now is that the liturgy, which is the most visible sign of the Church, has been stripped of it's vertical (Godly) nature, the indifference will lead to the abandonment of religion all together.  For it was the Church which fought the good fight for the longest time.

What the secularists didn't account for, was the current Pope.  They expected that with the pontificate of John Paul II taking the amount of time it would, that it would be one of his cardinals who would be elected to the Pontificate.  They never thought that it would still be a "Paul VI" cardinal who would be elected.  As it turns out, Pope Benedict doesn't share in the same world view as a number of the "leadership" of the Church.  From the moment of his election, Ratzinger has been fighting against the rising tide secularism.  First, by opening up authentic dialogue with the SSPX.  Then by freeing the TLM.  Then by clarifying Summorum Pontificum.  Thereby opening the doors to a more authentic understanding of Catholic thought.  Couple the authentic restoration of the Mass, with his encyclicals and one can easily see the movement toward a more vertical understanding of Catholic theology.  Much to the chagrin of the Socialist liberals.

We know that the Church will not fail, but we don't know how it will be saved.  It is my contention that the only way the Church can be saved is through her liturgy and through her priests.  For without priests, you have no liturgy and without authentic liturgical actions, you have no Church.  The Mass must be an authentic extension of the Church, it must be.  There can be no rupture.  The TLM brings no rupture.  The Novus Ordo is replete with it.  This is why the TLM has gained so much ground so quickly and why the Novus Ordo is still mired in all of it's 1970s glory.

Lest anyone think that the East has been spared all of this, I would point him to the Islamic conquest of Turkey.  I would also point him to the Communist conquest of Russia.  The East has also been affected by the same issues as the West.  To a certain degree, this is a much larger issue, because the East has limited itself to a much more ancient practice and theology.  While this is certainly a valid expression of the Church, it does limit how they can combat the modern world and it has devastated their numbers through the years.  That is why so many Eastern Churches eventually reconciled with Rome, because they understood that while they have their own traditions, they needed the support of the constant development.  Rome has been providential in it's handling of the East, by allowing it's traditions to continue unencumbered, while recognizing that without the barque of Peter, there can be no Salvation.

What we as Catholics must do, is to combat the indifference.  We must combat the horizontal view.  We cannot allow for the ideas of Martin Luther to continue.  While those thoughts don't necessarily invalidate the Mass, those thoughts certainly do rupture the mentality which leads to indifference.  And it is precisely that indifference which is the largest threat to the Church today, as it has been since it's founding.  Socialism cannot work with the Church.  Humanism cannot work with the Church.  Horizontal theology embraces both and all Catholics, those from the West and those from the East must work together to understand that horizontal theology must always be subjugated to the vertical.

The first way to stop this is to restore the Mass.  For the TLM is not horizontal in nature, it is vertical; the Novus Ordo is the exact opposite.  Subjugate the horizontal and promote the vertical.  That is the key.  Socialism cannot exist where there is little horizontal growth.