Relentless Incrementalism and Defiant Optimism

Southern heritage defenders smile and wave to passers-by in Richmond, Virginia.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  I wish to apologise to my readers.  I am human and I do sometimes make mistakes.  While I believe the information I gave was 100% accurate, and my logical prognosis is essentially correct, I must admit that I have in recent months lost sight of a core value that made this blog what it is today.  I lost sight of my view that this culture war will be won by relentless incrementalism and defiant optimism.

In some recent posts I lamented the loss of the Pro-Life 'Personhood Amendment' in Mississippi.  I said this would result in the fall of America.  I was right about that, and I stand by that prediction, but that is not necessarily a bad thing and it's not the end of the world.  I said I had doubts about the Southern states ever being able to rise again because of it.  Again, those doubts remain, but that doesn't mean it can't happen, and it doesn't mean Dixieland hasn't overcome larger challenges in the past.  In another post I predicted the complete implosion of Western Civilization, and the need for Catholics to move closer to their parishes and monastic communities.  Again, I stand by that, and I think we may see the wisdom in that sooner rather than later, as gas prices soar to record levels in the coming years due to emerging conflicts in the Middle East.  Nevertheless, that is no reason to despair.  Why?  Because of this...

1. God is on our side.  It doesn't matter what happens to our nation, or our civilisation, because in the end, he is going to preserve his people, and his people will eventually prosper no matter what.  The fall of the Roman Empire demonstrated this beyond the shadow of a doubt.
2. Our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, is interceding for us.  She has visited her people, the Church, and has given us a message of victory, that in the end her Immaculate Heart will prevail -- no matter what!
3. The Catholic Church is radically different today than what it was just five years ago.  Since then we have seen the revival of the Traditional Latin Mass (Summorum Pontificum), the emergence of Anglo Catholicism (Anglicanorum Coetibus), and we are about to witness the complete revision (vast improvement) of the English translation of the Roman Missal.  While it may not feel like it sometimes, all the ingredients are present for a massive liturgical renewal of the U.S. Catholic Church.  All we need is TIME to reach the critical mass necessary.  This pope has done some amazing work steering this massive ship (called the worldwide Catholic Church) between the two great pillars.  Though the winds and the waves may buffet us, we are well on our way in that direction.
4. While the entire Western World finds itself in the midsts of economic and social upheaval, it is nothing short of a vindication.  Deo Vindice! or 'God will vindicate!'  It is a vindication not only of our Southern agrarian historical culture, and not only of our Southern political subsidiarity, but of the teachings of the Catholic Church as well, particularly in the area of economic Distributism.  With every failure of our government, our economy, and our society, WE (Southern Catholics) are winning in the realm of ideas!  As I've said in previous entries, many of the movers and shakers in today's Southern Movement are Catholics, and even those who are not Catholic share many of our views on economic Distributism.  The rise of the South should not be viewed as a political movement (not yet anyway) but more as a cultural movement.  So long as it is viewed that way, we will never be disappointed, because if it is cultural (not political yet) than there is no way their anti-heritage laws will be able to stick.  Cultural movements almost always grow, and as they do, the prevailing government persecution is forced to subside.  The flag of my government may be the Stars and Stripes, but the flag of my people is the St. Andrew's Cross of Dixie.  As the smiling faces in the picture above depict, this is who we are.  We are proud of it, we should be, there is nothing wrong with that, and we are growing.  Deo Vindice!  The trick for Catholics (particularly in the South) is to elevate the use of our Southern symbols above and beyond what is typically seen on pickup trucks and bumper stickers.  Our symbols deserve better treatment than that.  It's time to raise them on flag polls where they belong.  We are Catholics, and this is the Christian Cross of St. Andrew, brother of St. Peter, and first disciple of our Lord.  I've got half a mind to fly both the St. Andrew's Cross and the Vatican Flag outside my house, just to make a point.  This is who I am.  Now cope.  
5. The rest of the United States (outside of Dixie) should not be for want of optimism either.  For there is a strong hope in the TEA Party movement IF it can shed the influence of the Republican Party.  The TEA Party began as a protest against the first federal bailout package put forward by the Republican G.W. Bush administration!  Never forget that.  "Don't Tread On Me!" was the motto of this movement, and now new flags have been created modelled after the Betsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral "II" in the centre.  The message of that should be clear.  We need to get back to the small government and limited corporations of our American forefathers.  It is possible that the United States can be rebuilt on the ashes of a full collapse, even after a Southern secession, but to do it will require a firm understanding of where we came from and what we need to get back to.  Not only was government limited in the early American Republic, but so where corporations, and by doing this, the Founding Fathers were able to keep a balance for some time, before the Civil War that changed everything.  If the TEA Parties will go back to protesting the big corporations, along with the big government, they can shed the Republican influence and reclaim their identity.

Yes, as Americans and as Southerners, there can be found strong points of defiant optimism to cling to, especially if we stick to a cultural strategy of relentless incrementalism. There is no group however, that has more reason to be defiantly optimistic than faithful and traditionally-minded Catholics.  Thanks to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we have been given everything we need to transform the U.S. Catholic Church into something far more beautiful and influential than its ever been.  We are growing too, especially in Dixieland, so let's keep growing and bringing people into the full knowledge of the Christian faith.  In the mean time, let's also work to reclaim the Southern Cross of St. Andrew as just as much a Catholic symbol as it ever was Protestant, military or political.  It was never intended to be a racist symbol, and let those who would use it as such default to something else.  (Perhaps the Nazi Swastika is more appropriate for them.)  The Southern cross is the symbol of who we are as a people, both white and black.  We didn't choose slavery, it chose us, and we certainly didn't invent it either.  The Christian Cross of St. Andrew, however, was invented during a time when blacks and whites came together in the South, and worked together, to fight a foreign aggressor.  It is a symbol of our alliance, not our division, even if people have misused it as such.  It is cultural, and it is very VERY Christian.  Yes, I will fly it, and I will do it with a smile on my face.  Those who don't like it can just learn to cope.  Our ideas are winning, and our movement is growing, and that makes be very VERY happy, and it gives me HOPE !!!!