How to Survive the Coming Dark Ages

The likely future of the U.S. Capitol building - abandoned and in ruins.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: In light of recent failures of the Pro-Life movement in the United States, as well as the cultural decline of Western Civilisation, coupled with the inevitable complete economic collapse that will soon follow. It has become painfully apparent to me that the collapse of the United States may be far worse than I previously imagined.

Not long ago I believed when the federal government collapses, under its own colossal weight and crushing national debt, state governments would pick up the banner where the federal government had fallen.  I even believed it possible that new nations would rise from alliances between these state governments, the most enthusiastic of them being Dixieland, which I believed might be rebuilt on the common moral values between various conservative Christian denominations.  After the recent 'Personhood' vote in Mississippi, however, I am seriously beginning to doubt that possibility.  It would seem that Southern Christians are not as unified on their moral values as I previously thought.  In what is supposed to be one of the most conservative states in the Old South, sixty percent of Mississippi voters opted to jettison the 'Personhood' amendment for fear that it might intrude on their sacred cows of in vitro fertilisation and morning-after pills.  Choosing instead to flush the amendment, Mississippian voters (mostly conservative) stated they would rather continue the wholesale slaughter of pre-born human life than infringe upon their modern conveniences.  This is nothing short of a catastrophic loss of moral decency and Christian virtue.  It is a sign that the worst has happened.  Even the once solid Christian South of the United States, the buckle of the Bible Belt, has completely lost its way.  If the 'Personhood' amendment cannot pass in Mississippi, than it cannot pass anywhere in the United States.

So what comes next?  Do we try to re-evangelise the South?

The answer is no.  There isn't enough time.  While evangelism should always be the personal goal of any Christian, we can no longer count on this as an effective method for saving our civilisation.  The early Christians evangelised more than any others in history, and yet the Roman Empire still fell.  St. Augustine of Hippo tells us that the reason for Rome's fall was that it was built on a flawed Pagan morality -- moral relativism -- and this eroded the very foundations of the empire.  It could not be saved, no matter how many of its citizens were converted to the Christian faith.  The Empire's foundation was built on sand.  The only thing it could do was collapse.  So likewise, we are discovering that the morality our modern Secular civilisation is built on is identical -- moral relativism -- and so likewise the fate of the once great United States shall be similar.

The only question that remains is 'how long do we have left?'  Rome was not built in a day, nor did it fall in a day.  It actually took about 100 years for the Roman Empire to completely collapse.  In contrast, the Soviet Union was built almost overnight, and likewise it fell almost overnight.  I suspect the fall of the United States will be somewhere in between.  I think our demise began in September of 2008 with the economic collapse.  Everything since then has been a downward spiral; economically, politically and socially.  If the United States accepts that it is finished as a superpower, brings home all our troops from around the world, cuts out all of our national deficit, and begins restructuring our economy to encourage the growth of small business and manufacturing, it is possible the United States may survive another fifty years, leading us into a gentle decline and breakup into multiple nation-states.  However, if none of these things happen (and they won't), than I believe we can expect a much more catastrophic economic collapse in the nearer future, resulting in a full scale political implosion on the national level.  This of course will initially result in martial law and local occupation by federal troops, but that will be short lived, as there is no way this federal government can micromanage an entire continent with troops it cannot even pay or feed.  Federal loyalty will soon give way to local loyalties, and that will be the end of it.  Within a very short time after that (perhaps just a few years) there will be nothing left of the United States to speak of, other than some tattered flags (that nobody makes anymore) fluttering in the wind.  State governments may try to stand in the gap, but they will soon be confronted with the realisation that they have no taxes to raise and thus no ability to do anything.  Thus they will collapse shortly thereafter.  Government will be reduced rather quickly to local city municipalities, which will be forced to charge outrageous taxes to assure their citizens of safety.  Local police forces will become the backbone of citizen armies.  Honourable ex-military veterans will become the knights of a new Dark Age.

What we cannot know for sure is exactly how our current civilisation will collapse, but what we can know is how it will be rebuilt, for we have an example in history.  It will be rebuilt around the only legal structure that will remain standing after the fall of the states and the federal government.  That legal system was the only system left standing after the fall of the Roman Empire.  It is the Catholic Church's 'Code of Canon Law.'

So what can we do now to prepare and expedite this process when the day finally comes?  While stocking up on food, water and necessities is always a good idea, that will not rebuild our civilisation or make the world a better place when the stuff finally hits the fan.  What will save our world for us and our children is networking, and by that I mean intensive religious networking between those who share the EXACT SAME moral values.  Similar values are not good enough.  These values must be IDENTICAL, or the networked community will eventually fall apart.

The good news for faithful Catholics is this.  When the stuff finally does hit the fan, and our civilisation crumbles, there will no longer be room for happy-clappy neo-liberal Modernism in the Catholic Church.  Those priests that cannot wake up and smell reality will soon find themselves overwhelmed and unable to function.  The only priests that will be able to cope are those with enough discipline (doctrinally and liturgically) to rebuild a civilisation!  (Perhaps this is why we Traditionalists are being made to wander in the wilderness of Modernism now, to prepare us for the rebuilding that lies ahead.)  When faithful traditional Catholics are finally released from their restraints, and allowed to rebuild without boundaries, the reformation of the Church will come quickly.

In the mean time, this is what we can (and probably should) do.  Think of this as both a short-term and long-term goal.  We need to physically move closer together.  Right now we are too spread out.  We need to find relatively strong and growing Catholic parishes.  These parishes are the ones we must try to physically move closer to.  The closer you physically are to your parish chapel, the better off you will be when the stuff hits the fan.  Try to get within reasonable walking distance of your local parish chapel, but make sure it's a growing and thriving community first, with reasonably sound orthodoxy.  The same goes for monasteries and convents.  If you are anywhere within a few hours drive of one, and it is physically possible to do so economically and practically, you should move to within a few minutes drive of these locations.  However, the same rule must apply.  These monasteries and convents must be growing and thriving to be considered good candidates.

Physical walking distance is an absolute necessity, because in a complete and total civilisation collapse, gasoline may be too expensive to be practical.  People will quickly be reduced to moped-scooters, bicycles, and good old fashioned horse power (I'm talking about the kind you feed).  Thus average daily commutes will be reduced from 20 miles to 2 miles maximum.   Catholics in rural areas will be highly dependent on monasteries and convents.  If you live in a rural area, and there is no Catholic parish nearby, and you happen to have some land (or know another Catholic who does), consider donating it to a Traditional Catholic or Anglo-ordinariate Catholic community with a simple deal.  "You supply us with the priest, and we will supply you with all the land you need, and a group of families to help."  Thus, if you can't get close to a parish or monastery, than maybe you can get a parish or monastery close to you!

Parish and monasteries with nearby dense Catholic communities will be a necessity, because Canon Law may be the only thing left to govern us.  If we are too spread apart, we cannot network, nor can we practically be governed.  The idea here, by moving closer together, is to establish an enclave of law and order, in what is likely to become a continent of chaos and anarchy.  In time these enclaves WILL grow, because people always prefer order to chaos, and as a result Americans WILL convert to the Catholic Christian faith en mass, because they will see that Catholics actually have their act together (legally) while the few Protestant sects that remain fumble around trying to put something together in a trial and error process.  We Catholics have done all this before, during the Dark Ages, following the fall of the Roman Empire.  That's where Canon Law comes from.  So we actually have some experience with this.  The Protestants have no experience in this department -- zero!  Whatever enclaves they manage to set up will be quite a mess for some time, if they manage to survive at all.

So start doing your homework folks.  I don't know how much time we have left, but it can't be too much longer.  Maybe a decade, maybe two at the most, but the time is short -- very short.  Find those parishes and religious communities that are worth a darn, then work on a plan to get yourselves closer to them, or else find a way to get them closer to you.  If however, you are already blessed to live close enough to one of these parishes or monasteries, than it's your job to talk to your priest about helping distant parishioners move closer.  Perhaps some kind of 'parishioner rescue-relocation network' can be created.  Tick-Tock; the clock is running, so I guess we better get cracking!