My final entry for His Holiness's Synod on Synodality: Meta version

 I started all this out with agreeing with my Archbishop Sample that we live in a post-Christian society, in a post-Christian world- and that as far as the American Empire is concerned, our government is almost as bad as that which the Apostles faced during the fall of the Roman Republic.

Almost as bad- I fear strongly it is about to get a LOT worse.  At work, I see much anti-Catholic and anti-Christian bigotry creeping in to corporate America.  It's pretty easy to see that the result of the battles over abortion, euthanasia, and gay marriage have left conservative Christians who are serious about social justice without a political home- and at times, without an economic home either as anti-Catholic marriage bigotry enforced by the courts has been used to close small businesses and throw people into poverty.

Even within the church, the Vatican has chosen to marginalize conservative American Catholics to the point that some of us wonder if heterosexual lifelong monogamy in the sacrament of marriage is still a valid teaching of the church, or if in the rush to implement Vatican II and clean the churches of any symbolism that would offend a Protestant, if it is still ok to pray with the Saints or do such popular devotions as the Rosary.

Our weak response we saw in our parish to even dare speak out when the opportunity was offered by the synod is understandable in such a anti-Catholic atmosphere, where any mention of tradition or the wisdom of the ages is often met with fierce economic retaliation.  It would not surprise me at all for the current racial and gender based philosophies currently proposed by academics, used to directly influence our public and private schools through required curriculums.  And eventually, as a full reading of history teaches us, the faith itself will become so intolerable by the very people who now preach tolerance, that Chinese-style re-education camps such as that which the much more conservative Uyghur Moslems are currently experiencing- and those who refuse to become state atheists, die.   Or in Nigeria, where there have been multiple church bombings and kidnappings of priests.   It CAN happen here- it has happened here in Oregon before, with African Americans originally being barred from the state and the KKK attacking our Catholic Schools in 1937.  The other side may have control now, but who can deny that in the last two years we've had a preview of just how ruthless, just how much hatred the Democratic Party in Oregon can amass, even among our own people?  

Perhaps those who are silent, are wiser than I; however I have always said, if my Lord Jesus Christ sends me to Hell, in this Life or the Next, I shall gladly go and preach righteousness even there.

Make Righteous Lives Matter.  MRLM.  That's what I'm for these days.