How a Man Loves a Woman: Phylogyny and Gynophilia

Cain: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Christ: "Yes, you are a guardian, you are the guardian of holiness, guardian of the dignity in every man and woman. You are the keeper of the holiness of her body. It is to remain ever an object of your respect. Then you can rejoice in the beauty with which God has endowed her from the beginning. And she will rejoice in you. She will then feel safe under her brother's gaze and rejoice in the gift that her womanhood was created to be."       John Paul II in "A Meditation on Givenness"

The one is good, the second is at best weak (which is not bad) and at worst evil. These words, phylogyny and gynophilia, both etymologically from the Greek roots "philia" (love) and "gyno" (woman), mean "love of woman." They are entirely different: they refer to distinct forms. They are not intrinsically contradictory of each other. For example, in a wholesome romance or marriage, they can enrich each other. But they are normally at least in tension and often, in practice, exclude each other.

Phylogyny is noble, selfless, generous: it is love as admiration and tenderness. Gynophilia is attraction out of one's own needs/desires and is self-centered. It is not itself bad; it is rooted in finitude as a created goodness; but in our fallen/sinful state it is easily, normally, even systemically prone to corruption, dysfunction and toxicity. 

Phylogyny

In tenderness and admiration, this love is ecstatic, generous and contemplative as it considers the Beloved for herself, in her distinctive integrity, beauty, worth, fragility, vulnerability and misery. It does not value the love object for its own satisfaction. It is Agape love as self-giving and sacrificial even as it is Eros as contemplation of the Beloved as beautiful, good and true in herself. It is neither utilitarian nor narcissistic. It is ennobling. It is virility as virtue. Interiorly, it transforms the man with strength as well as humility, chastity, wisdom. It is love as filial reverence/gratitude, as brotherly affections, as spousal devotion, and as paternal care. 

It is rooted naturally in the infant boy's reception of maternal comfort in visceral wonder and gratitude. The baby boy, in his hunger, agitation, and misery, receives the mother's tenderness, and especially her nurturing/comforting breast, in a euphoria that is already an implicit gratitude and admiration. He experiences a union with her, in tenderness and delight, which he will retain in memory, albeit inchoately, and transfer unconsciously to women in various ways throughout his life. In other words, the boy who is well-loved by his mother will carry a debt of tenderness and affection he will repay to all women he encounters. 

This paradise of comfort is short-lived however, as he must be weaned and detach from mother in the excruciating Oedipal Passover. But  if he is received by a Father (or surrogate) he is on the road to interiorizing that paternity as strength, confidence, courage, tenderness and generosity. His itinerary into virility, long and difficult (unlike the maturation of the girl: spontaneous, organic, and miraculously efficacious) destines him, in God grace, for masculine strength that is tender/generous/protective to the woman and all life as precious, holy, fragile and suffering.

This maturation includes the steady transformation of the infant's incoherent wonder/gratitude into conscious admiration: contemplation of woman as other-than-masculine, as precious and beautiful, as strong-generous-sacrificial-sensitive in an extreme, as fragile and vulnerable to misery. This glance of reverence channels his explosive, testosterone-inflamed, even dangerous masculine fierceness into heroism, service, chastity and humility as son, brother, bridegroom and father.

The form, the interiority and essence, of masculinity is phylogyny as fierce, sober, chaste, generous, tender, contemplative and courageous love for the woman, for this specific woman, for the children she gives him, for the entire community and social order that surrounds mother-and-children.

Gynophilia

At the core of this love are the natural needs, desires and longings of the created male as lonely, dependent, needy, and desirous. We can imagine that when Adam viewed Eve with such wonder ("Here at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!"), free of sin, he appreciated her for herself even as he felt satisfied at all levels of his own needy self, physical-emotional-intellectual-moral-spiritual. Prior to the Fall, there was no binary of selfish-selfless: his spousal embrace of Eve encompassed and satisfied all the longings of both their hearts. It was the honeymoon we all dream of  (and some of us experience, although only for a while.) It is the satisfaction of the mother happily nursing her child, and the proud father standing over them (again, a paradise short-lived but abiding in memory forever.) 

Unhappily, however, in the condition of original sin and concupiscence, this naturally wholesome vulnerability/dependency does not remain innocent but becomes corrupt, with virtual inevitability. If we return to the primal mother/boy attachment, we can imagine that in course of time the mother fails to adequately comfort and nurture her child, for any number of reasons. Or, the mother is adequate but there is no father-figure available, for any number of reasons, to support and accompany the boy as he detaches from maternal enclosure. Through no fault of his own, the little guy is now agitated, dissonant within, unhappy and angry. As he grows up with this internal wound of loneliness, he carries within himself two troubling propensities: the regressive infantile longing to return to the comforting breast/womb and a rage at the mother who frustrated him and the father that abandoned him. Here we discover the two faces of misogyny: childish craving for and objectifying of woman as source of relief/ pleasure and rage expressed in contempt, abuse, jealousy, and control. The male as weak or vicious.

This inordinate but largely unconscious internal dissonance, this "weakness of the flesh," will now find toxic, dysfunctional expressions under the influence of the "world" and the devil. The world will discourage and distort the form of "virility" in various ways in accord with the two-pathed strategy of Satan. His goal is to desecrate the maturing boy's virility as iconic of the Fatherhood of the Father in two ways: making him weak, unchaste, fearful and cowardly or making him angry and violent. Or making him both! (Consider Peter: he angrily severs the ear of Malchus and then cowardly denies Christ three times.)  While Lucifer despises Mary and in her femininity the most, his second favorite target is virility, especially as spousal fidelity and paternal protection. So, in our world today, he has targeted the family as structured around the faithful father (and holy mother) and the priesthood as fatherly love.

Combat Within the Masculine Soul: Six Architypes

In the real world, of sin, the male heart/intellect/will is in interminable conflict between these two philias. I was told years ago in confession in regard to my own gynophilia: "Your body will be cold in the grave four hours before you feel any release from these impulses." THE crisis of our age is the Satanic attack on femininity; this is waged through the corruption of virility into infantile narcissism and vicious misogyny. 

Each one of us men carry us within the "old man" of fallen Adam as cowardly-lustful-indifferent-oppressive-infantile, and the "new man" of Christ as courageous-chaste-engaged-generous-fatherly. We can identify seven (surely there are more) architypes carried in the male psyche: the Queen Mother, the Precious Princess and the Sister-Friend-Collaborator are holy and wholesome. By contrast, the The Lost Love Object, the Bad Mother, the Temptress, and Woman as Worthless are all destructive. These are coherent, dynamic interior forms which can be triggered at any time by a woman. Every encounter of a man with a woman is, of course, a fresh, novel Event which opens to a horizon of promise; but it also remembers, rehearses, and elaborates prior memories which can take the shape of these six and others.

Queen Mother is woman as strong, noble, generous, protective, beautiful, heroic, comforting, reassuring. This is the memory of the serene, nurturing, especially nursing mother. A good image of her is Galadriel in Lord of the Rings as played radiantly by Cate Blanchett. The elven queen is mesmerizingly lovely in a blend of purity and power. She, perhaps alone in the entire saga, is invulnerable to the Darkness that is threatening. She surely was, for the Catholic Tolkien, inspired by our Blessed Mother, who is as Immaculate-Virgin-Mother the pinnacle of God's creation and singularly crushed the head of Satan. 

Princess Daughter is woman as precious, delightful, innocent, refreshing, surprising, pure, good, beautiful, true, delicate, fragile, vulnerable to misery, other-than-masculine...as seen adoringly by her Father. This is the love of a mature virility: strong, confident, certain, seasoned, fearless, generous, heroic, wise, humble. It is not that the man already has these virtues, but that her infinite worth and charm arouse within him a Godlike fervor to cherish, provide, protect, and guide at all costs. So the man who has been well loved in infancy, has interiorized the virility of a father figure, and is himself a man-among-men (a "made man" in some sense) is now moved by the inexpressible worth and preciousness of his daughter into paternity as generosity, heroism, valor, devotion and holiness. She is, like the Queen-Mother and the Sister Friend, a "sacrament" for the man, a physical encounter with the Divine.

Sister-Friend-Collaborator is a companionship in the good and true. Here there is equality of status in contrast to the asymmetry of filial reverence and paternal affection. Here we find mutuality in respect, affection and fascination. This is not a needy, dependent relationship as both relate out of a prior plenitude. They unite with each other in some shared Good beyond themselves: the family, a mission, an interest, a task. This is the Greek Philia  as classically distinguished by C.S. Lewis from love as Eros (beauty), Agape (self-giving) and Affection (as for family.) In the tenderness and reverence they share for each other they draw each other into a shared Good and eventually to God.

Lost Love Object is the loving, comforting mother as lost. This is the unconscious grief of the little boy who has lost his paradise: he is weaned too early, he is neglected, he is deprived as siblings require the limited attention of mother, he is detached without a compensating father, he is alone and desolate. And so he carries within himself, quietly and covertly, an infantile craving to return to the euphoria of maternal enclosure. Later, this longing, if not honestly recognized and addressed, can be perverted into lust, covetousness, and romantic infatuation. This is a needy, dependent desire; not love in the true sense of appreciation for the other as other. Rather, it is narcissistic desire for the other as boundless comfort and relief from inner dissonance. The range of addictions (drugs, alcohol, eating, hording, consuming as well as sex and romance) express this regression into a comforting, faux-maternal enclosure. Such "love" becomes the "fatal attraction"  of the raging or despondent lover spurned. 

Bad Mother is similarly the lost mother, as disapproving, angry, distant, indifferent, abusive or negligent...at least in the boys subjectivity. This experience arouses within a rage, rather than the longing of the previous architype. Of course, the two are compatible, even as they move in different directions. A man can swing swiftly from one to the other as infatuation can change to resentment. Again, this rage is repressed but simmers in the psyche/heart/soul to erupt later as misogynist compulsions of contempt, control, and abuse. 

Temptress, seductress or femme fatale, is a sophisticated elaboration of the lost and bad mother. This is woman as desired in a passionate gynophobia, a desperate longing in loneliness,  who is powerful but given over to the evil side and draws the vulnerable, needy male into sin of some sort. We have premonitions of this already in Eve's tempting of Adam. The weak, emasculated male, in his craving for feminine comfort/approval surrenders himself to temptation. This is obvious in sexual seduction, but includes much more. Recall Jezebel who drew Israel away from Yahweh into Baalism and killed the humble Naboth who refused to sell his vineyard to the cowardly, jealous King Ahab.

Woman as Worthless may be the most pernicious as it is both pervasive and unrecognized, like a virulent cancer without symptoms. This is masculinity as blind to the distinctive worth of the feminine. It characterizes the insecure, immature male psyche desperate to establish its own masculine identity. It infuses toxic hyper-machismo cultures of competition, combat, achievement and egoism. In its exaltation of power, victory, success and status it denigrates the distinctively feminine as weakness: sensitivity, empathy, generosity, kindness. The woman only has value as a status symbol ("trophy wife"), source of pleasure, or a competitor in combat. Much of mainline feminism since the 1960s interiorized this poison as it mimics a depraved machismo: sexual license, abortion, career obsession, and idolization of physical appearance and meritocratic success.

Variations on the Architypes in Phylogyny and Gynophilia

Real relationships are always a rich, dense, deep blend of these architypes. Certain patterns stand out.

Romance, as infatuation or "falling in love," is heavily influenced by the gynophilic craving for the lost mother. "Falling" suggests a failure, a regression, a loss of control and potency. And so "falling in love" is an intoxication, a loss of sobriety and prudence, a fog of confusion and irrationality. Infatuation is best understood as a mirage of longing: the smitten does not see his desired in her actual self, but projects upon her his own image of the feminine as comforting,  approving and encompassing. It is like the wanderer in the desert who lacks water: he actually sees, in the distance, a mirage of water that is not there but a projection of his own longing. So it is with romance: euphoric, desperate, irrational, confused, erroneous. By contrast with such gynophilic "falling" is the phylogynic language of "loving" or "being in love" or "standing in love." These last suggest virile strength, autonomy, and sobriety rather than lack, deprivation and need. Real romances are usually an unstable, explosive combination of the two types of love: the drama is the conflict between them.

Spousal Love of the Groom in its true form is the phylogynic blend of love for the bride as queen mother, precious princess and sister-friend. In this it is wholesome and ennobling. It also entails  gynophilic desires that in the right way enrich the marriage. This includes: erotic attraction, desire for companionship, and longing for feminine approval, support and comfort. These, in the right order, are intrinsic to the conjugal union and seal it off  distinctively as exclusive, free, final, fruitful. Unhappily, in real life the man also brings a range of dysfunctional gynophilic propensities: lust, control, resentment, jealousy, possessiveness, and contempt. For the marriage to thrive, of course, these demons must eventually be exorcised, in patience-prayer-persistence. But even the wholesome desires for comfort and pleasure are destined to frustration in the normal course of married and family life. This inevitable,  organic negation of natural selfish desires is a school of purification...if accepted as such...which ennobles the male in generosity and frees him from his emasculating compulsions.

Celibate Priestly and Religious love is a heaven-on-earth phylogyny blending filial devotion, fatherly affection, and brotherly love. Without the blessings and privileges of matrimony, the wholesome as well as the toxic gynophilic urges must be expressed and renounced in a new economy of chaste virility. Grace will work with nature in an itinerary that includes: increased bonds of affection with women of his family such as mother, sisters, cousins, aunts; strong fraternal bonds with brother priests; deep prayer life around the sacraments, Daily Office, contemplation; reverent, chaste, mature friendships with women; and especially devotion to Mary as quintessential Queen Mother, Precious Princess and Friend. Indeed the celibate priesthood is possible and intelligible only as rooted in the deepest bond with the Mother of Jesus, as exemplified in John, the beloved disciple

Virgin Martyr. This splendid architype flowered spontaneously, robustly in the very infancy of the Church. It echoes the virginity of Mary, Jesus, Joseph, John the Baptist and John the beloved apostle as well as the martyrdom of the Baptist, Jesus, and the other apostles. It is a sublime marriage of the Princess Daughter and the Queen Mother: small, vulnerable, innocent, fresh, pure; and powerful, victorious, protective, nurturing and comforting. Consider, in our own time, St. Maria Goretti: viciously attacked at the age of 11 by the porn-addicted Alessandro Serenelli, she defended her purity heroically and was stabbed 14 times and carried a distance to a hospital where she finally died, praying for her assailant. The miserable criminal's life was transfigured years later when she appeared to him in sleep, offering him 14 lilies and God's mercy.  Here we see woman in full radiance as vulnerable and triumphant, innocent and heroic, humble and magnanimous, receptive and generous. Here we see the influence of luminous femininity...purifying, encouraging, ennobling...on masculinity, even at its vicious, decadent worst.

The First Step

The absolutely necessary, crucial step in the male journey to a robust, generous love for women is recognition of one's gynophilic impulses: lust, infatuation, control, contempt, indifference, detachment and narcissism. If a man is 99% virtue and 1% vice (unlikely of course!) but he denies the 1%, he is a catastrophe! Better to be 99% vice and 1% virtue, with honesty and the slightest contrition and hunger for goodness! Our world and especially our Church have both been devastated and scandalized by a horrific, recurrent tragi-drama: talented, accomplished, brilliant, admirable and pious men who protect a secret of predatory abuse of the vulnerable and innocent women and young men. It seems that in the worst cases (Vanier, Maciel, McCarrick) there is a split personality whereby the desperate predator is cut off from the largely virtuous personality, a profound disassociation, a double life. 

Such compulsions, even in ordinary cases, are profound, powerful and invulnerable to moralism, good intentions, and the limited human will. They are rooted in primal wounds, genetic tendencies, worldly influences, bad decisions, patterns of habit, and demonic influence. Alessandro Serenelli is typical: raised in poverty amidst mental illness and alcoholism, he associated with bad people, used pornography, and so surrendered himself to evil, an evil that was not able to withstand the holiness of little Maria: "the gates of hell shall not prevail."

At the root of toxic, disordered impulses are, of course, genuine masculine needs for connection, nurture, approval, and comfort. These are the valid needs of the infant and child that have been frustrated, leaving a traumatic wound. They cannot be denied or willed away. When they are honestly admitted the male is no longer regressive, infantile and childish, but childlike. He can bring these pains and yearnings out of the darkness of shame and denial. In trust and prudence, he can receive healing in wholesome and holy ways.

Paths to Freedom

Psychology offers therapy and counseling. 

But nothing trumps trust, transparency, accountability, support and intimacy of family and friends.

Catholics  benefit from confession, Eucharist, spiritual direction, fellowship with men, and an entire program of repentance, encouragement and sanctification. 

There are, additionally, outside of the mainstream, powerful dynamics that bring deliverance to men through natural means under the influence of the Holy Spirit: 

1. 12 Steps, the most well known, starts with acknowledgement of powerlessness and proceeds through surrender to God, a fearless moral inventory, reparation of wrongs, accountability and an intimate fellowship of honesty and accountability. Among these are programs which address sexual compulsions. The best of these (certainly for a Catholic) is Sexaholics Anonymous (S.A.) which defines sobriety as reserving sex for marriage (man/woman) alone, a high bar indeed, brazenly countercultural!

2. Healing of Memories, developed in the 1970s within the Charismatic Renewal, especially by Ruth Carter Stapleton (sister of President Jimmy Carter), recalls traumatic injuries,  invoking the Holy Spirit, and re-imagines them with Jesus Christ now concretely present. Prayerful, gentle, psychology-based, Jesus-centered, and liberating, it seems to have fallen into disuse, unfortunately.

3. Deliverance from Evil Spirits, like the healing of memories, flowered out of the Charismatic Renewal, but has been growing in influence. There are any number of approaches, especially in the evangelical world, but a strong, Catholic-friendly model has been developed by Neal Lozano. This again is psychology-based, gentle, Jesus-centered and entirely surrendered to the Holy Spirit. In a safe, conversational, prayerful ambience current bondages are identified and bad memories recalled and then clear steps are taken to dismiss the evil spirits: repentance (from sin to Jesus as Savior), forgiveness (in the name of Jesus of anyone who has offended), renunciation (specifically, gently, authoritatively in Jesus name, directing the demon to depart), command (follow up renunciation by prayer minister) and blessing (invoking the Holy Spirit to fill the now vacated soul with the contrary good as peace in place of anxiety). 

4. Scrutiny, a little-know step within the Neocatechumenal Way, uses amateur, commonsense, prudential psychology within a prayerful, trusting, transparent environment. Experienced catechists probe the participant and help identify impediments to holiness. They then give a specific task to break through to freedom. It is unknown and misunderstood outside of this "way" but I can testify from experience that it shares with the prior three methods: practicality, reliance on the Holy Spirit, shared trust and honesty, a deep sense of the power of Jesus Christ, gentleness, and a breathtaking efficacy.

These practices are the more amazing as they are all "ay" in two senses: outside of the priestly, sacramental economy and detached from the professional, credentialed clergy of modernity. They are all practiced by the little ones, under the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our Path Ahead

Ways we men grow in phylogynic virility: 

- Recall, receive and relish all the admiring, tender love we receive from so many women. As we internalize this, our own virile tenderness/reverence/devotion is inflamed.

-  Healthy friendship with our friends-brothers quiets our longing for connection and strengthens us.

-  Embrace of our masculine state of life...son, brother, friend, groom, father, cousin, uncle, grandfather, priest, religious brother...in all its connections, challenges, privileges, responsibilities and blessings.

- Reverent intimacy with our Blessed Mother, female saints, and the holy women who come into our lives.

- Eucharistic reception of Jesus, imploring him to infuse our own masculinity with his robust virility.

Mary, our Blessed Mother, Princess Virgin, Sister-and-Friend,

we men place ourselves under the mantle of your holiness and purity, beauty and love,

and request the influence your exercised on your husband Joseph and your son Jesus!

Free us from sins against women!

Make us pure, strong, generous, wise, peaceful and holy...just like your own Joseph and Jesus!

Amen!

Mary Crushes the Head of Satan (Letter 28 to Grandchildren)

Fr. Amroth, the chief exorcist of Rome at the time, asked the devil: "Why do you hate Mary so?"       The response:  "She is humble, I am proud; she is pure, I am not; she is obedient, I am rebellious." 

Milton's Satan: "It is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven."

Lucifer's "Non Serviam!" (I will not serve) is answered absolutely by Mary's "Fiat" (be it done to me according to your will.) The binary of opposition and contradiction between these two is perfect and complete. Here there is no negotiation, no merging or blending, no compromise! The Immaculate repels the demonic; as she is herself absolutely repelled by it. Each of us, in our identity and destiny, is finally defined by our consent to one or the other side of this binary: the darkness or the light. In our weakened, wounded humanity we are often in the fog of confusion, compromise and conflict; but the dramatic structure of life requires a final decision, one way or the other, for eternity.

Accommodating and Accompanying Sin.

Pervasive in our culture is a resistance to this binary: a compulsion to blend good with bad, to enjoy both. The famous Carl Jung developed a psychological religiosity that ignored a Creator God and Trinity but identified the divine as a dimension of the human personality. He rejected the binary of opposition between the kingdoms of light and of darkness. He advocated a psychology of integration that accepted the dark side of human nature as inevitable. We know that when he was developing this approach he himself was involved with drugs, the occult and sexual sin. He was, in effect, rationalizing (brilliantly) his own surrender to sin. This concordat with sin has now permeated our culture and even our Church. The surest antidote to this accommodation: devotion to our Blessed Mother along with love for our crucified-risen-spirit-sending Savior in confession and Eucharist.

Luciferian Misogyny.

In his hatred of Mary, Satan despises the feminine as such. Note that he targeted Eve in the garden; and ignored the male. Scripture indicates that he revolted against God and his kingdom. One tradition has it that the trigger for this rebellion was God's decision to crown Mary, a fleshly woman, as Queen of Heaven and Earth, of the Angels and the Saints. In his pride as God's supreme angel, he refused to defer to a fleshly, earthly, fragile female. He is the great, the primal, the quintessential Misogynist. He despises the feminine as such. 

So, we can see that violation or degradation of the feminine as feminine is deeply diabolical. By contrast, the Catholic, loving Mary in her holiness, mercy and purity, transfers this affection/reverence to the feminine as such and to all woman and is the quintessential, sublime Philogynist. ("philogyny" as reverent admiration for the feminine is different from "gynephilia" as physical attraction.)

Misogyny is (in my view) the primary objective of Lucifer and the deepest, strongest evil in our world. We see this in various cultural forms around the globe: the targeting of female fetuses for abortion, the honor killings, polygamy (but almost never polyandry), pornography, prostitution, the contraceptive pill with its toxicity for the female body and person, a raging feminism that mimics a crude machismo, adultery, fornication, and serial divorce.

We find it in language. I was once told by a holy woman (but never from a priest), and I believe it still, that obscene language is a sign of the demonic. This applies specifically to language that expresses contempt for the sexual and the feminine. The F-bomb is an example: it refers to the violent, sexual abuse, usually of the woman. Likewise, words that refer to the woman's body with contempt and disgust are blatantly demonic.

This hatred of the womanly finds graphic, horrific expression in the eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia) that diminish and destroy especially the feminine body by starvation, a slow and tortuous death. These are, in my view, the most directly diabolical of pathologies. 

The Marian World

By contrast, where women are held in reverence and tenderness, all of human life flourishes: the masculine is ennobled, purified, strengthened, and sanctified; the small, the suffering, the incompetent are safe and cherished; the sacred is revered. Herein, femininity itself is recognized as a divinely created form, contrasted with, complementary of, and facing towards the masculine in the mutual generosity and intimacy of the spousal embrace. Herein, in family and religious life, the woman is cherished specifically as daughter, sister, virgin, bride, mother. In this world, the masculine is deferential to and in service to the feminine as holy.

The Catholic Church in its hierarchical structure is patriarchal. But we who live in this world know that that patriarchy is deferential to the matriarchy of Mary, our heavenly Mother, Queen of Angels and Saints, of Heaven and Earth. She is the greatest of creatures, superior to all the angels, to all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and popes. But her matriarchy is itself within a greater patriarchy, that of God our Father. Her preeminence flows from her humility as handmaid, her Fiat and her Magnificat. 

The guaranteed way for us all, men and women both, to defeat Lucifer is to draw close to Mary.

Mary, our Mother, we place ourselves under the mantle of your holiness and purity, your beauty and your love.

Luciferian Tactics (3 of 3): Temptation and Deception (Letter 27 to Grandchildren)

If there really is no such actual thing as a devil... a real, thinking, intending, seducing spirit...if "devil" is merely a symbol or myth not a person with will and intelligence... then I am a superstitious, ignorant, pious old man. But, if there really is such a reality, it is crucial that you know him as your adversary, understand his plans, and prepare to defeat him. Thus, this series of letters.

Temptation.

This is the tactic we all understand: the seductive voice suggesting that we do what attracts us but is not right. It is portrayed in cartoons as the devil, pitchfork in hand, on one shoulder, advocating the bad thing, and an angel, on the other, encouraging the good thing. As a master psychologist, Satan knows the specific "weakness of the flesh" of each of us and aims accurately at that vulnerability: fear, anger, lust, perfectionism, greed, discouragement and so forth. This is the most straightforward of his tactics; something with which we are all familiar. 

A key distinction here is the distinction between the temptation and sin which is surrender to the temptation. We are all tempted. Jesus himself was tempted by Satan in the desert for 40 days. The key is to renounce the temptation. That word again: renounce. In dealing with evil the only option is to renounce. This must be done quickly, calmly, firmly. Imagine a married person is being seduced into adultery. He/she knows it is wrong. But imagine he/she decides just to play around with the seduction, enjoy it a little, but not pursue it all the way. Bad decision! Tolerating and allowing it is already a step down the slippery slope. The need here is for an immediate, definite, firm renunciation: NO! The answer is NO! NO! And NO again!

Consenting to what we know to be wrong is a defect of the will. The good thing here is that if the intellect is not deceived, if it retains an awareness of right/wrong and a sense of guilt, there remains open a path of contrition, confession and reparation. This hope is not present when deep deception occurs. It is also true that repeated, habitual sin coarsens the conscience so that there may be little or no remorse or regret. The conscience may be peaceful, because it is misinformed. Bad! If you are sinning and regretting it and confessing, there is much hope. If there is sin without regret, you are in trouble.

Deception.

This is possibly more pervasive and catastrophic than the more straightforward temptation. In this the intellect is deceived into thinking an evil is good. So the will consents without hesitation or regret and even feels righteous about it. The deceived conscience, self-righteously, can become aggressive and violent against the innocent, feeling entirely just and good all the time.

 Examples:

Abortions are procured, sometimes repeatedly, by young women who do not know any better because they haven't been taught. Related to this: it is now commonplace for unmarried young Catholics to cohabitate, contracept and be physically intimate without qualms of conscience as they are deceived.

Reports are that over 90% of Russians support the invasion of the Ukraine as a good thing. They are deceived by the powerful misinformation propaganda of the Putin regime.

Palestinian children, who may have lost family members in the conflict with the Israeli government, are inspired to become suicide martyrs by strapping explosives to themselves and blowing up busloads of Israeli children their own age. They are deceived.

Many grow up with ancient hatred of other nationalities, ethnicities, religions and tribes and are righteous and even religious in their certitude.

Subjectively all these are doing what they think is right. But their consciences are ignorant. They are doing what is really, objectively evil. And they and others are victims of this evil. 

Often enough the attachment to error is so fierce that we are powerless before it. And yet, we ourselves must witness to what is true. We may not succeed or persuade, but we must witness. We must calmly, clearly, firmly say: This is true; This is false. 

The good news: there is really Truth. It is not just that each of us can create our own truth. There really is objective Truth, as intended by God, whatever we may think about it. And our human minds, however wounded by sin, are created to long for that Truth. In the long run, there is a mysterious dynamic whereby the human mind is finally attracted out of error into Truth. Our mission, our task in the Spiritual Combat, is to witness to Truth, whatever the response of others.

Conclusion.

We have covered five basic tactics of Lucifer: possession, obsession, oppression, temptation and deception. In a final postscript letter we will consider the enmity between Satan and our Blessed Mother Mary.

Luciferian Tactics: Oppression and Obsession (2 of 3): Letter 26 to Grandchildren

Not one but three letters from a Grandfather about the devil! Isn't that a bit much? No! The devil is actually vastly underrated. How many sermons or religions classes speak of him? Yet, he and his domain are our fierce adversary. Our first and foremost enemies are NOT the Communists, Putin, Trump or Biden.  They are: the world, the flesh and the devil. The three work together. I would say the devil is the least of the three. He is restrained in many ways, especially by the sacramental and prayer life of the Church. He is already decisively defeated. It is possible to exaggerate his power in anxiety; that occurs among the psychotic; but is rare in our world. I write to you about him that you may be wise, vigilant and fierce in combat against him, for your own sake and for so many who are bound by him and in need of liberation. Jesus invites us to join him in this Spiritual Combat. Having treated possession, we turn now to oppression and obsession, leaving temptation and deception to the last letter. 

Oppression. 

Like possession, this is very rare and something you are not likely to confront, unlike obsession, temptation and deception. But it is good to know about nevertheless. Oppression is an external, physical attack by the devil. It is the least of his tactics since it does not take possession of the personality nor does it corrupt the spirit. 

The classic case is Job: God allows (in his permissive will, not his direct will; he does not intend it but allows it to bring out greater good; a very important principle!) Satan to torment this good man: sickness, death of loved ones, loss of health and wealth. Job, happily, defeated the Tormentor and praised God: "Naked I came into the world and naked I shall depart it. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The saints seem to be often the target of oppression. St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, was beaten at night by demons who threw furniture and left him bruised and bloodied. But they did not defeat his spirit. And the power of the devils was restrained: they did not kill him or even leaven him disabled.

Why Satan does this is not clear. Perhaps to discourage and leave the victim despondent and despairing? In the cases noted we can see God's providence: he allowed it for good to triumph over evil. Wise on God's part; not so much on Satan's.

Of course every human life experiences oppression in the form of suffering, sickness, disappointment, failure, and tragedy. All of this is not directly willed by God, but allowed by his permissive will. It is a consequence of the Kingdom of Evil, of Satan's revolt, that of Adam and Eve and their children. But it would be an exaggeration to identify every misfortune as directly demonic. Rather, we would consider supernatural oppression if there is an extraordinary convergence of misfortune as with Job.

Obsession.

Pervasive and often undiagnosed, obsession is the state of bondage to a compulsion or addiction that takes control of ones life. In this condition, a person may sincerely intend to be free and resist the force but is unable to. Examples: all addictions to chemicals, sex, gambling, eating, shopping, and others. Also: overwhelming anxiety, anger, suicidal despair, sense of abandonment, self-harm, unbelief, and others. 

You will say: these are psychological, not demonic! Yes they are psychological for sure, but in many cases there is also a demonic component, as the devil exploits weakness of the flesh to thwart God's plan for our happiness and salvation and bring about our ruin an final damnation.

A complex, mysterious composite, the human person in sickness and health has different dimensions: physical, emotional/psychological, social, moral, intellectual and spiritual. And so an obsession/compulsion is operative on all six levels. Consider an alcoholic. He first has a physical tendency to find relief and pleasure in this "medicine.". Many of us lack this; some get sick when they drink too much. Others may have a predisposition to find relief in sex, work, food, shopping and so forth. Secondly, we can imagine emotional wounds, from early childhood on, which leave an interior suffering. At some point the victim finds that drinking drowns out that suffering and brings pleasure. However he can only develop and sustain this addiction in a social environment that makes it possible and especially one that encourages it: think Irish and Russian! Next the moral: he himself makes the decision, frequently, to drink too much. The intellectual comes in here as he may rationalize that his drinking is normal, wholesome, and a well deserved recreation. Lastly, and very important indeed, the spiritual: as he sinks into the addiction, he feels far from God and becomes despondent and depressed, ashamed and guilty, and resentful. With the absence of God, the demons are ready to invade the now unprotected soul and intensify the compulsion and all the toxins of isolation, anger and despair that accompany it.

Obviously, release from this bondage must occur on all levels: physical abstinence from the addictive substance or behavior; healing of the internal wounds that cause it; a moral decision to become sober; a supportive community and detachment from those who support the habit; a new intellectual outlook that values sobriety; and finally renunciation of the devil and intimate embrace of God. 

This last will include for the Catholic participation in confession and the Eucharist. May also include 12-step work with Alcoholics Anonymous (or other 12-step group) which addresses all six levels. But if there is demonic presence there needs to be Deliverance. Deliverance is a lesser form of exorcism by which the demon is renounced and cast out of the person he is obsessing. Neal Lozano, a charismatic Catholic, has developed an outstanding method of deliverance which I have learned. He identifies five steps when he prays for deliverance for one to be "unbound" from the enslavement.

1. Repent: turn from sin to Christ. This is familiar to all practicing Christians.

2. Forgive: anyone for whom you have resentment. This is basic. And must be practiced frequently.

3. Renounce the demon. Specifically, by name. In the name of Jesus, not by one's own power. Gently, firmly, confidently with full trust in the Holy Spirit. This is, in my view, the key to deliverance. It is something unknown and unpracticed, so explicitly, in the Church. So, for example, if I realize I am becoming discouraged about something that is clearly God's will for me (my work, marriage, children, etc.) I will calmly, in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, command: "Spirit of discouragement, weakness, despair and cowardice and all related spirits, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from me." Again: this is said gently, confidently, with full trust in Christ. Guess what? It works!

4. Command of the demon to depart can then be done by the prayer minister assisting the deliverance. For example, if I am praying with you and you have just renounced the spirit of discouragement I will follow up and reinforce: "I command you spirit of discouragement to be gone in the name of Jesus Christ." If you are praying deliverance by yourself of course this reinforcement is not available.

5, Blessing. The last and best. The blessing invokes the Holy Spirit to replace the displaced demon with its opposite. In this case: "Come Holy Spirit! Bring courage, strength, hope, energy and ferocity!" This is said by the prayer minister but if praying alone it is done by oneself. 

This deliverance prayer is in one sense not prayer itself as it is addressed not first to God, but is a direct command to the devil. "Be gone, in the name of Jesus." But it is done in the power of Christ and ends with the invocation for blessing and infilling of the Holy Spirit. 

It should be done frequently. It there is a powerful, entrenched demon it may take years of combat before final liberation. It can become habitual. For example, if I am walking on a city street and hear two people in an argument so violent that I sense the demonic, I quietly pray deliverance, directing the demons to release the people involved. Does it work? Well it sure can't hurt! I pray it long distance for those I love who are distant from God and in bondage. Yes I believe this works. I believe the gates of hell are vulnerable to our prayers. Years ago we were praying with a group in Duncan Projects in Jersey City for a Mexican-American father of about 8 or 9 children who was deep in mental illness and diabolic obsession (after some occult behavior) and we learned later that he experienced a remarkable release at the very time we were praying. This is the power of Jesus Christ!

Our Catholic Fredo and My Biden Derangement Syndrome

 "Fredo. You're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the family. Ever!"    Michael Corleone

Me: "Hi! My name is Matt (AKA Fleckinstein). I am powerless over my Biden-Derangement-Syndrome."  

My 12-Step Group:  "Hi Matt!"

Joe Biden is our Catholic Fredo, our Benedict Arnold, our Judas. He has betrayed the Catholic family and all we value: powerless human life, religious freedom, the sanctity of traditional marriage. Yet he wears his rosary around his neck and parades his Catholic piety. This is nauseatingly despicable! 

I was happily immune to the pandemic of the Trump Derangement Syndrome. Most liberals were afflicted. Many Never-Trump conservatives were also. I always thought he was an obscene, wealthy, obnoxious, jcelebrity idiot. But when he became President I was thrilled that he defeated the liberal establishment; I found him entertaining in his shameless, cartoonish, narcissist machismo; and I applauded his real accomplishments (especially the judges.) But I was unemotional: he was not close to me. He was distant. Not one of my own.

The Clintons and Obamas were my adversaries, but I didn't take it personal. Again: they are not close to me; not one of my own. Bill and Barack are non-Catholic. Both were abandoned by their fathers. They didn't know any better. They are gifted, interesting, charming and well-intentioned. Nothing personal. The Bush presidents were both decent men.  Their policies for the most part moderate and reasonable. I don't get emotional about them either. They are WASP Brahmins. Not one of our own.

It is different with Biden. He is one of us. He has stabbed us in the back. Like Michael Corleone, my tribal-religious-ethnic loyalties are fierce! I am emotional about him. When I hear him speak my reaction (stomach, bowels, blood pressure) is visceral. This applies to his cohort: Pelosi, Kerry, the Cuomos and the Kennedys. All of them! Betrayal! 

The worst thing is that this uncontrollable rage and resentment extends also in part to those who support them. Those who vote for them. This composes about 60 to 70 percent of my family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. I feel like Michael Corleone. I love my older brother. But he has betrayed me!

My conscience...and the law...will not let me bring them all out on the lake. What do I do?

Jesus tells us to love the enemy. My only option is to lean into my love: pray for my enemies.

So, starting now, and through this Lent I will say special prayers every day for my enemies. Particularly the Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Cuomo and Kennedy families. And all who support them, especially those close to me. Additionally, I will be praying for my progressive enemies in the /Church: Pope Francis and all his lieutenant cardinals in the USA and the Vatican.

I have never been good at any fasting. But I think this will be a good lent if I can be faithful to this vow.

Lucifer: His Intentions and Tactics (1 of 3): Letter 25 to Teen Grandchildren

 Lucifer is a real person, a spirit with will and intelligence, but no body. He is not a symbol. His is the greatest intelligence ever created. His will is purposeful, focused and powerful. Freely he rejected his status as a creature and determined to self-invent and lead an autonomous kingdom of darkness against God. His purpose: to draw us into that dark world and away from God. He is quintessentially The Liar or The Deceiver. His tactics are: possession, oppression, obsession, temptation, and deception. He has significant influence over the entire world and substantial control over many. His primary deception in our secular world is that he does not exist. This allows him to anonymously take control of our souls. 

The good news: Christ has defeated Satan and his armies on the Cross. The victory is definite. But by God's permissive will he continues to reign powerfully in the world as we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit, within the Church, to wage war against him and complete the victory of Christ. "The gates of hell will not prevail" against the Church, we hear from Jesus. This means that our offense will overcome the grip of evil. Since Calvary, Lucifer is on the defensive. We are the aggressors. We have and will, in Christ, triumph over evil. Even if it doesn't seem that way sometimes. 

It is for us to be alert, vigilant, knowledgeable about the tactics of Satan as to protect ourselves, but then go on the offensive on behalf of the Kingdom of God, with Jesus, Mary, St. Michael the Archangel, all the angels and Church(militant, suffering and triumphant). 

Possession

In this first of three letters we will consider possession.

It is real, but very rare in our largely secular world. It is more common in Africa and less sophisticated cultures as it was in the ancient world of Jesus. Is this because those societies are less scientific and mistake psychotic conditions for demonic activity? That is probably true to some extent. Surely Judaism at the time of Jesus and large areas of Africa are unfamiliar with schizophrenia, bipolarity and other diagnoses. But that is not an adequate explanation. The recognized cases of possession in our scientific world are always clearly evaluated by psychiatrists who rule out such psychological diagnoses. Only after such thorough examinations does the Church consider an exorcism. It is similar to the miracles involved in canonization of a saint: copious scientific evidence must determine that there was not possibility of a natural explanation for the cure.

My theory: Lucifer realizes that he gets more work done, in our non-believing world, anonymously and covertly, by convincing us that he does not exist. He is the Great Deceiver and this may be his greatest single deception since he talked with Eve about the fruit of the Tree in the Garden. In primitive societies, where there remains a sense of the supernatural, he gets more mileage out of possession as he torments, intimidates, discourages and overwhelms. But in our world he works secretly.

As you know from the movies, in possession the demon takes control of the personality and acts out, often in obscene, dramatic ways: cursing, speaking foreign languages, vomiting, showing unnatural strength, and demonstrating supernatural powers. I have myself never seen a possession but have spoken to people who have: exorcists and even rational, skeptical people who would be inclined to disparage such reports.

The person possessed, for example a child, may be innocent of sin and entirely a victim. In that sense, possession, despite its horror to us, is actually less grave than mortal sin. We really have no clue as to why the demons afflict certain people: if there is a logic or strategy, it is opaque to us. However exorcists and those in deliverance ministry identify the primary paths the demons take into the soul. These might be practiced by others, such as parents or family, rather than the victim.

1. The Occult. Any intentional evoking of spirits (outside of prayer and liturgy of course) opens a door into which demons happily enter. This includes: ouija boards, fortune telling, astrology, tarot cards, and communication with ghosts or demons. So, for example, if a family member is practicing this an innocent child might become the target of a devil. Even seemingly harmless practices like having your palm read or playing with a ouija board can be openings to the demonic. Therefore these practices are absolutely forbidden. Any use of such must be confessed as soon as possible. Some worry about the popularity of things like Harry Potter in its positive portrayal of magic. These concerns are not irrational but my view is that if used simply as entertainment they are not objectionable.

2. Mortal Sin.  This also can open a door to the diabolical. Sexual sin is particularly vulnerable since such intercourse for the human is never merely physical but an opening of one soul to another. Therefore, a sinful interchange, outside of marriage, is an opening of the soul to the evil of the partner. Sex as conjugal love within marriage is a holy act; outside of that, it is gravely evil, however good the intentions of the participants.

3. Trauma. As the devil is a coward, he attacks always the one who is weak. When a person is traumatized, she is vulnerable, wounded and defenseless. It is at that point the demon takes advantage and attacks. This can be possession, obsession or oppression (which we will discus in the next letter.) So, if a young person is abused and violated, almost certainly there is legion of demons ready to pounce on one without protection and remain there to torment her forever.

4. Family Tree. We inherit from our parents and ancestors, not only our biological DNA and cultural/ethnic history, but a spiritual legacy, for better and for worse. Serious patterns and events of sin from past generations are passed onto us unconsciously, much like our DNA. So we often see in families ongoing generational patterns, some of which are not overtly taught or intended: abuse, addiction, infidelity, violence. suicide, instability, and hatred of the Church. I have read, for example, that in the aftermath of an abortion, even when hidden and unknown, an innocent adolescent is vulnerable to the eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia) that directly attack especially the female body. There is evidence that certain sins, in the family line, bear fruit in particular physical maladies, just as we know that uncontrolled rage, anxiety or depression affect the body in specific ways.  This is, of course, inconceivable and ridiculous to a materialist mindset. The good news: these family curses can be broken, especially if identified and specifically renounced in prayer. Also good news: if we inherit the bad, we do the same for the good!

In the Catholic Church, only priests designated by the bishop are allowed to do exorcisms. There are several fine, fascinating books by exorcists, especially those by the now deceased exorcist of Rome, Fr. Amorth. Normally the identity of the exorcist is not made public, probably to shield him from frequent, unwarranted petitions. As noted above, exorcists work closely with psychiatrists to differentiate real possession from psychiatric disorders. Fr. Amorth reported some years ago that he is flooded with requests from all over Europe because many bishops do not authorize an exorcist as they are obviously weak in their understanding of the demonic. Evangelical and Pentecostal (charismatic) Protestants often have a stronger sense of spiritual combat and engage the demonic but we will address that(in the next letter) as "deliverance" which is a less intense battle against "obsession" and "oppression."

At a birthday party an exorcist from another diocese told me of a possession. He had a group helping him and singing songs of praise and praying. The devil was resistant. He asked: "When did you enter her?" (I don't know if such conversation is "best practices". The Vatican holds training sessions for hundreds of exorcists-in-training regularly.) The demon answered "At age 12." Eventually the demon was cast out. He asked the woman: "What happened to you at age 12?" She answered:  "I had my first period. My mother had wanted a son and hated that I was a girl. She cursed me terribly." In this case, the trauma seems to have been the occasion for the possession.

In the mid 1970s, my wife and I were at home in Jersey City with out infant daughter when we got a phone call from friends in our Catholic Charismatic Prayer group: Hispanic brother and sister in West NY. The sister's description of her brother I took to be classic symptoms of the demonic. I called our pastor  who was experienced in spiritual combat, deliverance but not full-blown exorcism, from his jail ministry. Got no answer. I knew a fine pastor in West New York near my friends. He was chaplain at the county psychiatric hospital so he was familiar with psychosis. Lots of common sense. He of course was skeptical of supernatural activity but consented to visit them. We prayed five decades of the rosary. Later I learned what happened. Our pastor got our message and went to the home with oils, crucifix, prayer book. The other priest arrived first and was horrified by what he saw: unlike any mental illness he had seen. Our pastor did an exorcism. Both priests agreed this was the supernatural. 

In college, my friend John Harper was absolutely the leader of the class: mature, wise beyond his years, kind, extremely competent and gifted. The most fun and funny man I ever knew! After his ordination he was immediately put in leadership in Maryknoll. He studied theology in the 1970s and said he learned nothing about the demonic. In those years, theology became very interested in psychology and political justice with the supernatural downplayed, but not denied. It was ignored in many ways. This contrasted of course, with the non-academic but spiritual formation I was getting in the Charismatic Renewal. He described to me an incident he did not expect. He was counseling a woman who started to manifest demonic activity. He did not understand. He did remember, however, from the seminary, that an exorcism is basically a command to the devil: "In the name of Jesus Christ, be gone!" He did that several times. The demon departed. He was dumbfounded. Theologically unprepared for the encounter. 

I was myself exorcised. It was only a simple, not the solemn rite used in possession. I have no grotesque manifestations to report. Previously, I had read about, attended conferences and observed as a trainee deliverance sessions. I had learned to practice renunciation of demons in my own combat. But I was on a personal retreat at the Franciscan Friary in Newark and telling the Friar about a persistent pattern of temptation and sin. He offered me a simple exorcism. He was practiced and authorized by the bishop, but not the official exorcist (as far as I know.) I accepted. He prayed an Church formula from an official prayer book. It felt like about 20 minutes. Very quiet, no drama. Invocation of St. Michael, the saints, etc. What you would expect.  Did it work? I think so.

You were also exorcised. At baptism, exorcism is part of the rite. The demons are expelled. This is a great thing. But of course, they come back. They are out to get you. They will never tire. But you need not worry much about possession. It is highly unlikely. If it happens, we get the exorcist. That's all. 

Next letter we treat obsession and deliverance. Much more pertinent to you and me.

Seeing FORM in a Formless World: Letter 24 to Teen Grandchildren

Our cultural, religious crisis is the failure to see the FORM. A profound spiritual/moral blindness!

Form is the interior, active, unifying principle of a reality. It is a spiritual interiority that makes the thing what it is: the "tree-ness" of the tree; the "cat-ness" of the cat; the soul of the human being.

Embryo from its conception is a living, growing human person. What else could it be? As it grows and absorbs nutrients it's path of growth is guided by its form or soul. It is destined to be a full person. The pro-abortion movement is a failure or refusal to see the form; it sees waste material that can be destroyed and discarded. 

Masculinity/Femininity are the binary forms intended by God in our creation by which we bond with each other in marriage and open ourselves to new persons. This binary gender idea is announced to us in the very beginning of the Bible as God's plan. In the LGBTQ and "trans" movements these primary, created forms are denied and replaced by an alphabet soup of subjective, cultural, constructed or fabricated "forms" that are not real but ideological myths.

Eucharist, for the Catholic, is actually the body and blood of Christ. Just like your nose is your body, so this is the body of Christ. Most Protestants do not believe this; they see here a symbol, a reminder, a memorial of Christ, like the picture a man has on his desk of his family. Some believe in "the real presence" but not in transubstantiation. It is not actually Christ's body, but it is temporarily a temple in which Christ abides to come to us. That is not Catholic belief.

This past week Fr. Thomas Reese S.J. wrote that he believes in the Real Presence but not in transubstantiation because he does not believe in "substantial forms." He does not see in the Eucharist the actual body of Christ. But this is defined Catholic belief by the Council of Trent. For the Catholic, after the consecration of the mass, we are not dealing with bread and wine, but with the actual body and blood of Christ.  The materials become "trans-formed" so that the appearance remains but the form or substance or essence is different. That is why we are so reverent: we are silent; we genuflect; we protect and revere; we adore; we visit Church; we cross ourselves when passing a Church. Fr. Reese and many progressive Catholics do not see the FORM: they do not see the reality here. 

Marriage, as a sacrament, is a form, it is a indissoluble bond between a man and a woman. If it is a valid form it cannot be broken, not by any human agent, not even the pope. If a couple divorce and remarry civilly, they remain bonded to each other until the death of one of them. This is invisible, it is spiritual, it is real. This is sheer nonsense to most people in our society as they cannot see the form.

Lethal Force is not only allowed but required to be used by the state to protect innocent life and the common good and deter real violence. It is used in warfare, police work and capital punishment. It should not be used unless necessary. It is a prudential decision. There is a widespread, but not complete, consensus in the Church and the West that our society no longer requires use of the death penalty. However as a form capital punishment is not intrinsically evil; its moral status depends upon practical circumstances, intentions and consequences. Pope Francis wrote in the Catholic Catechism that it is "never allowable." This is a mistake in "form": it is not only allowable but obligatory if circumstances require it for the protection of innocent life. 

Intrinsically Evil acts are those which are evil in their very form, cannot ever be done, whatever the good intentions or circumstances. These include: intentional killing of the innocent, torture, blasphemy, sacrilege, adultery, fornication, prostitution, etc. There are other obviously "wrong" acts which are not evil in form and may be required in some circumstances with proper intentions: stealing (from the rich to feed the starving), lying (to protect Jews hiding from Nazis).  

Our Catholic tradition believes (with St. Thomas Aquinas) that the forms of reality were intended and created by God and that we are endowed with intelligence to see these forms. This is realism. Our progressive, elite, woke culture does not believe in Creation, or forms, or the dignity of human intelligence in knowing the Real. What does it believe in? 

A materialism in which reality is just microscopic atoms which combine in random fashion without interior form, beauty, goodness of purpose. A scientism that believes only what can be measured numerically and disparages moral, religious, and aesthetic knowing as just emotions. A subjectivity in which the individual can determine his own truth. A Darwinism that all life comes from the random mechanism of natural selection without any guiding intelligence or purpose. A Marxism in which the powerful (white, rich, males, heterosexuals, privileged) are always oppressing the others. A sexual jungle which pulls that iconic mystery from the safety, holiness, wholesomeness, intimacy and fruitfulness of marriage and family. Theirs is a drab, sterile, hopeless, futile world, without forms, full of incoherent, senseless feelings.

By contrast, what do we Catholics believe? In an extravagantly generous, loving, expansive, three-person-communal, eventful God who shares with us His splendor, goodness and truth in a Creation radiant with forms in all their preciousness and wonder, here on earth now and forever in heaven!

Concupiscence and the Actual Binaries of Sexual Orientation, A Catholic Perspective (Letter 24 to Grandchildren)

Concupiscence:  The sexual and affectional disorders that we all (except Jesus and Mary) suffer as a result of Original Sin. Many of the saints, for example, were tormented by lustful longings. A certain chaos in our sexuality and emotions is normal for humans after the Fall. We all deal with this.

Binary:  A hard either-or between two contraries with no in-between and no other options. For example: one is alive or dead; pregnant or not; the light switch is on or off; will you marry me?

Orientation: The position and direction of someone relative to other realities. A human orientation is the direction of one's life, always a moral position. 

From a Catholic perspective, we consider four real binaries regarding sexual orientation: masculinity/femininity; chastity/impurity; the vocational vows of marriage/priesthood-religious life; and conjugal/extra-marital sex.

Masculinity/Femininity. As created by God, the human person is inherently binary. The masculine and feminine are oriented to each other in Providence. This is reflected physically: the male has an x and a y chromosome; the female has two x chromosomes. By virtue of DNA, each human person is biologically male or female. No exceptions. No other options. No middle course. With that said, there are universes of elaborations, disorders, developments, deprivations in sexuality and gender. All of us, in a fallen world, are in distinctive ways wounded in our femininity and masculinity. 

Chastity/Impurity. This is the foundational moral/spiritual decision we all face. In various ways, we are tempted by Satan to impurity. It can be pure physical lust or emotional/psychological covetousness. This is a lifetime battle. Our lives are directed (oriented) to God in holiness and purity or away into sin.

While this is a hard binary, in experience it is confused and opaque. Feelings, attractions, passions and longings are NOT in themselves good or bad. They are unavoidable. They cannot be avoided or repressed. But we are rational (thinking) and volitional (willing) by nature so we receive each feeling, evaluate, and decide what to do with it. So, however powerful a disordered desire might be, we have, with God's grace, the ability to see it for what it is and reject it. The witness of the saints is that they were tormented with powerful urges but refused to surrender to them.

Vocation and Vow.  In our Catholic economy there are two distinct calls from God: to marriage/family and to the priesthood or religious life. As Christ gave his life for us, he offers us two paths to reciprocate with the gift of our own lives. Both involve a total, exclusive, free, fruitful, permanent gift of the self. Both involve a lifetime of fidelity: to spouse, or priestly service of the Bridal Church, or spousal-chaste intimacy with Christ in the evangelical life. 

The two vocations or orientations both involve chastity: the one as fidelity to ones present-or-future spouse; the other to one present-or-future vow of celibacy, intimacy with Christ. 

This is a clear binary, obvious to the Catholic mind, non-intelligible to the non-Catholic. But in real life things are very complicated and confusing. What do we make of the single life? What about divorce, annulment, remarriage, dispensation from vows, laicization of a priest? What of the married diaconate? What about the many saints who raised families, lost their spouse, and went on to the religious life? Real life is complicated, messy, and confusing. But the basic reality is clear: each of us, whatever our current state of life, is called to chastity as fidelity to spouse or sexual abstinence.

Conjugal and Non-Marital Sex. For the Catholic, sexual intercourse is a spousal or conjugal act, by its very nature. It expresses a union that is free, permanent, exclusive and fruitful (open to life.) Any sexual act outside of that wholesome, grace-filled, holy context is a violation of the very nature of sex. Even within a marriage, then, certain acts (contraception, mutual masturbation, anal or oral intercourse) are non-spousal and gravely sinful. 

This is a clear, hard binary. Adultery, fornication, pornography, prostitution, contraception, masturbation are always, inherently grave sins. No exceptions!

Here again, however, in real life there are areas of confusion. For example, imagine a young couple who are committed to each other, possibly even engaged to marry, and have every intention to love each other forever. Short of full intercourse, are they forbidden any and all expressions of erotic affection? This is the perennial question in high school religion class: "How far can we go?" A prudent, mature response will involve honest discussion and will err on the side of mutual restrain as to protect each others purity and the integrity of the relationship.

Homosexuality, for a Catholic, is NOT an orientation. It is not the direction of one's life. It is not an identity, a destiny, a lifestyle. It is an attraction, physical and emotional. It is a suffering, a grave suffering, as it is a longing for physical-romantic union that cannot be morally satisfied. It is a temptation. It is a call to heroic chastity, continence and sacrifice. It is an embrace of the cross.

In a Catholic perspective, homosexuality is a type of concupiscence. It is no better or worse than the many other forms. And all of us have this in some form. In a Catholic perspective, active homosexuality is seriously sinful but it is also a sin of weakness, of the flesh, and the Church is quick to give pardon in confession. In a Catholic perspective, one cannot affirm the "gay identity" because that would be to encourage one in an erroneous identity and possibly a state of sin.

Homosexuality/heterosexuality is not a real binary. Many people experience both attractions and are referred to as "bisexual." The female lesbian attraction seems to be more fluid and changeable as we observe women changing their lifestyle. In contrast to the animal whose sexual drives are fixed at birth ("born that way"), the human is highly fluid and impressionable: all the experience preceding puberty (at around 12 years old) influence one's sexuality. This includes especially relationship to mom and dad but other dynamics as well. For example, a little discussed reality is that boys who have wholesome, affectionate relationships with one or more sisters are less likely to objectify and abuse women. This is not to say that boys without sisters are doomed to become predators; but they will benefit immensely from sister-like relationships of tenderness and reverence with friends, cousins, neighbors and classmates well before romance and sex enter the picture. 

A Catholic perspective knows that we are are weak, wounded, tempted, and sinful. All of us. At the foot of the Cross we stand on level ground. We do not judge each other. We love each other in our weakness and our sins. We love each other, all of us, as called to purity of heart and fidelity to our vow and vocation.

Cheap Mercy: the Defining Flaw of the Francis Papacy

Heresy is the exaggeration of some aspect of our faith and the denial of countervailing realities and so violation of the integrity of Catholicism in its symphonic, mysterious complexity and depth. What we have received over the last decade in this pontificate is a mercy that is corrupt and degraded because it is bereft of judgment, repentance, justice, wrath, truth, and the war with evil. In the last few weeks:

1. Pope Francis is reported to have advocated unconditional absolution on two occasions, recently to seminarians in Barcelona and a few months ago to rectors of seminaries. He stated that the right to absolution, even of the unrepentant, is absolute and that a priest may never deny absolution. This is a clear contradiction of Catholic practice: contrition is required for absolution. It is inherent to the rite: the penitent always makes an act of contrition. The initial proclamation of the Gospel by Jesus was  a call to conversion: "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!" The priest in confession is first judge: that this is sin and that the sinner is contrite. Only after that judgement does he dispense mercy. I understand that it is extremely rare for one to come to confession without some contrition. Nevertheless, contrition is intrinsic to the form of the sacrament. Imagine a married man confesses the sin of adultery; says he enjoys it, has no contrition and intends to continue it; but demands absolution so he can receive at his child's first communion without the additional sin of sacrilege! Were the priest to grant unconditional absolution, a la Francis, he would collaborate in and enable both the adultery and the blasphemy; the priest is obliged to refuse absolution. The comments of Pope Francis (as reported) are heretical, sacrilegious, and a perfect expression of cheap, decadent mercy.

2. Fr. Marko Rupnik S.J., a celebrity-artist-priest, is accused of sexual violations with adult women going back decades. Recently he received the automatic excommunication for having absolved, in confession, a woman with whom he sinned sexually. That excommunication was almost immediately lifted as he repented. Note: he repented. That means he acknowledged the sin. This is not a mere sin of the flesh. He has a long history of abuse of his position of authority, of sexual sin, of violation of his vows. But the violation of the sacrament of confession is one of inconceivable gravity: a sacrilege against the sacrament, against the woman, against his own ordination and vow of celibacy. Meanwhile, in 2022 he preached the Lenten meditation for priests working in the Curia including the Pope himself, he created the logo for the 2022 World Meeting of Families, he met privately with Pope Francis, and continues his glamorous life as a clerical, artist celebrity. This is not an exceptional case: Pope Francis has sheltered three or four high profile priest predators that we know of. And this is from the crusader against clerical privilege! This is more than cheap mercy: it is scandalous and sacrilegious!

3. In an interview last week, the Pope spoke of his conversation with Cardinal Zen, the 91-year-old saintly, heroic prelate who is being prosecuted by the Chinese Communists. He is the world's premier opponent of the Communist take-over of the Catholic Church. He goes every day into a prison as a chaplain. He vigorously opposes the Vatican's concordat with the Chinese Communist government. He may be our greatest living saint and hero. The Pope laughed patronizingly: "Of course he is charming. All the Chinese are charming." He then went on to diminish the prosecution by likening it to a traffic ticket. His dismissive tone is deplorable. More substantial however is that this shows his indulgent, really delusional attitude to the Chinese Communist Party into whose diabolical hands he has surrendered the suffering Catholics of China. "All Chinese are charming." He actually said this. Does he find Xi charming? How about the genocide of the Uyghurs? How about the crackdown in Hong Kong? How about the threatened invasion of Taiwan? About the ambitions to world domination? How about the millions of forced abortions with the 0ne-baby policy? What about the Covid-cover-up? All of this is charming? This is more than cheap mercy, it is if not dementia a form of moral pathology.

This theme of cheap mercy runs through his entire pontificate. The redefinition of capital punishment as no longer a prudential judgement involving protection, deterrence and retribution. The simplistic, broad-brush disparagement of national boundaries. The relaxation of sexual mores upholding chastity and conjugal fidelity that culminated in the destruction of the John Paul Institute of the Family in Rome. And more.

My Encounter with Divine Mercy

In 1980, John Paul released his encyclical Dives in Misericordia. He brought God's Mercy into the heart of the Catholic faith. I was deeply impressed in reading it. Shortly after that our family suffered a tragedy: death by suicide of my wife's brother Al. He was a superb person. A dear friend to me. An unspeakably sad funeral. But the outpouring of compassion and mercy from hundreds of people...friends, family, Church...was even more overwhelming. I had only one thought, a thought that has directed my life ever since:  If all of these are so merciful, how much more must our merciful God receive warmly into his Kingdom this good man that suffered so!

God's Initiative of Mercy

I believe that the most significant action of God in our world in the 20th century was this initiative of Divine Mercy through the revelations to Saint Faustina, the papacy of John Paul, and a myriad of saints like Maximilian Kolbe, Mother Theresa, Solanus Casey, Brother Andre, Dorothy Day, Adrienne Speyr, Catherine Dougherty, Edith Stein and a litany of others. Yes, this initiative is more important than the Vatican Council or all my beloved lay renewal movements or the downfall of the Soviet Empire or any combination of such political events. 

The classic and contemporary devotion to Mercy (as in the Sacred Heart) is always in tension with the wrath and judgement of God against sin and evil. For example, Saint Theresa of Lisieux prayed passionately for the conversion of triple murderer Henri Pranzini whom she called "my first child." She prayed that he be spared hell. She later learned that seconds before he died, he took the crucifix from the priest and kissed the wounds of Jesus three times. Likewise, the writings of St. Faustina are full of an awareness of hell and the horror of sin.

A mercy that is not in tension with evil, wrath, judgement, repentance, truth and holiness becomes insipid, sentimental, saccharine and effete. 

A Satanic Strategy

Lucifer, the greatest intellect in Creation, saw what was happening and developed a brilliant strategy. He would coopt mercy, corrupt it, and use it for his purpose of leading the gullible into sin by way of deception. And so he inspired a "paradigm shift." Rather than "hate the sin, love the sinner" he proposed "love the sinner in his sin." And so now we have the ideal of "accompanying" others into sin: enabling the abortion, affirming the "gay identity," welcoming everyone and anyone, whatever their beliefs and practices, to the Eucharist. This is a far cry from the authentic apostles of Mercy like the Little Flower, St. Faustina and St. Maximillian, who engaged fiercely with evil and suffering. We know that the Holy Spirit is guiding our hierarchy. We also know that Lucifer and his legions are working frantically on them. They have been doing a good job lately!

The Clerical Ogre of Bergoglio and His Generation

What is the psychic source of this compulsion of Pope Francis and his coterie to cheapen mercy by the dismissal of repentance, truth, wrath and holiness? I suggest it is the "clerical ogre", the clergyman as arrogant, privileged, distant, moralistic, rigid, formalistic, dogmatic, and lacking in compassion. In so much of what the Holy Father says there is the threat of this horrific figure. Clearly, in his mind, he is fighting this terrible monster. More than anything, the Pope seems to despise the clerical ogre. This would explain, for example, his dismissal of contrition from confession. 

Now we do have in the Church a problem with rigidity, moralism, arrogance and the failure of charity on the part of the clergy. But it is not on the scale it seems to take in the papal imagination. I would argue that over the last decades our Church has suffered more from the opposite extremes: sentimental, soft, "nice guy," bourgeois accommodation. In other words, the Vatican is kicking a dead horse, is fighting the last war, is Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

This derangement is common, I have noticed, among his generation of priests, at least here in the USA, the "silent generation" born between 1928 and 1945. Is it that they have all been traumatized by cruel priests in confession? Possible. But I see a sociological cause as well. Their formative teen and early adult years, 1945-62, were a period of profound change in the American Church. It was a Camelot period of post-war revival, confidence, expansion, building, prosperity and exuberance. But in those years, steadily and incrementally, a new paradigm of the Church was replacing an old one. The Council itself was not an "event-out-of-nowhere." It was the culmination of powerful trends developing in the post-war years. As a child in that era, I grew up in what was basically a Vatican II Church. Already we were ecumenical as we swam at the YMCA. We had an open, positive attitude to Protestants and those of other faiths. There was awareness of the role of the laity in the Church. The liturgical and Scripture movements were all cooking with gas. There was reverence for the Jews and sorrow for the Holocaust. There was a preference for informality, democracy, liberality, inclusion. 

As the new paradigm was anonymously, undramatically, but inexorably replacing the old, it was inevitable that the more extreme expressions of the now-receding model would become despised. Recall that in the 1930s Fr. Coughlin was rejected in his anti-Semitism and in the 1950s Fr. Feeney was disciplined for his narrow ecclesiology. My suggestion is that the generation of seminarians of the 1950s, just prior to the Council, were already imbibing the values of that Council and unconsciously developing an aversion for a caricature of the cranky old traditional Church. Priests now in their 90s and 80s have no use for the Latin mass; they dislike the conservatism of the younger priests; and they share this horror of the clerical ogre. They are much like Pope Francis.

We are, all of us, desperate for God's Mercy. A Mercy that is wrathful to sin, just, true, holy.

Let your Mercy be upon us as we place our trust in You!