Remember Jesus’ words to Peter? "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren." (Lk: 22:31) St. Peter took these words to heart, for in his first letter he advised us: Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you (1 Peter 5: 8-10). Pope Leo XIII too was aware of this spiritual war. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, a journal from Rome published in 1947 gives an account of a priest who worked at the Vatican during the time of Leo XIII, Fr. Domenic

As chronicled here , S an Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s effort to ensure that Catholic schools remain Catholic has prompted one-hundred San Franciscans who label themselves as “committed Catholics inspired by Vatican II,” to write a letter   requesting Pope Francis to force his resignation and appoint a new archbishop committed to “our values and your teachings.” Francis, who has spoken strongly in the past against gay marriage and transgender ideology , has also called for a church that is “poor and for the poor.” Here Cordileone is more representative of Francis’ vision than are the letter’s signatories. A sampling: Charles Geschke  is the co-chairman of Adobe Systems, which had 2014 revenue of   $4.147 billion . He has given over $200,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign and $40,000 to the Democratic National Committee.  Reuters   reports his basic compensation at $4,129,090 with $5,302,000 in exercisable, $19,993,300 in unexercisable, and $10,993,6

Pope St. Pius X's Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (September, 1907) presented a systematic exposé of modernism, which he termed  the “synthesis of all heresies.” Subsequent to the encyclical the Pope instituted an oath against modernism, required of all clergy prior to ordination, which checked the modernist movement for a time. However, Pope Pius XII found the writings of Fr. Pierre Teilhard De Chardin reflective enough of modernist sentiment to issue his encyclical Humani Generis ( “ Warnings against Attempts to Distort Catholic Truths”, 1950).  So, having written about nemodernist influnce in the Catholic Church, I found Crisis ' recent piece of note.  F or a most illuminating proof of the neomodernist apostasy of Teilhard, see Malachi Martin,  The Jesuits and  Philip Trower, Turmoil and Truth.

Ross Douthat of the Times has written: "Right now, if you look around the United States, you’ll see a landscape in which religious practice has declined and traditional religious institutions have weakened relative to where things stood sixty years go. This decline is a complicated thing; the story  could fill a book . But the weakening of institutional faith is clearly entangled, in various ways, with changes in family structure and communal life, particularly among the working class." I have read this book, and it is remarkably prescient. I also say that the story of how traditional Catholicism has weakened relative to sixty years ago could also fill a book....

"So proud of my nephew Scott and the dialogue he started. He was responding to a teacher he had at his high school who still believes that homosexuality is a learned behavior. High school is a tough time anyway ... students don't need teachers making it even more difficult." -Susan Sarandon In 1972 Pope Paul VI remarked: We have the impression that through some cracks in the wall the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God: it is doubt, uncertainty, questioning, dissatisfaction, confrontation . And how did this come about? We will confide to you the thought that may be, we ourselves admit in free discussion, that may be unfounded, and that is that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the devil. We thought that after the Council a day of sunshine would have dawned for the history of the Church. What dawned instead was a day of clouds and storms, of darkness, of searching and uncertainties. It was after reading this t