The Battle Begins HERE!

As a Catholic husband and father I find our recent losses in the culture wars disturbing, to say the least. I am raising my children in a world that wants to redefine God’s institutions, reform religious thinking, and do violence to the Christian conscience. The popular culture seems intent to undermine, in effect, my efforts to educate my children in the ways of Christ.

The secularization of the culture seems to be happening quickly, and yet if we are honest with ourselves, we see that it has been going on for a very long time. The harsh truth is that we Catholics have been half asleep for the past few decades, coloring rainbows and butterflies and singing “Jesus loves me,” while the society in which we live has become increasingly intolerant of Christian truth (in a great irony, as “Tolerance!” is the battle cry of the same secular culture!).

The culture is effective, we must concede, in proclaiming its anti-gospel of “Live for yourself!” Everything becomes a question of what feels right, not what is right. As Merton said, though, love without truth is mere sentimentality.

We live in a society in which emotion and sentimentality trump truth and charity. This conflict has raged since the Fall, but has there ever been a time that emotion and sentiment have been so widely worshipped?

With the government’s increasing control over the education (i.e. indoctrination) of our children, the entertainment industry’s promotion of godlessness in popular culture (and our cooperation with it through our spending), and the diminishing appreciation of the worth of the human person through the demonic work of groups like Planned Parenthood, we who are parents find ourselves tempted to despair of our ability to raise Christian disciples in such a world.

How is it possible to raise children to know, love, and serve God, who is the ultimate reality of self-gift, in a culture that promotes egocentrism like some crack dealer pushing his deadly stuff on the corner? How do we teach them that the meaning of life lies in being a gift of self when the popular culture sings the faithless hymn, I Did it My Way? The Dogmatic Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, taught us that “Man... cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself (GS no. 24)”. The popular culture teaches us that “man cannot find himself except by the pursuit of his own happiness at any cost.” 

Which message is going to attract a spiritually slothful society more?

But in the midst of my growing anxiety, what I have been thinking about lately is this: the battle for the culture of life begins here, with me and with my family.

The questions that haunt me today:

In what concrete ways am I witnessing to the goodness of human life to my children?

What “word” does my life today speak about the gift of life?

How am I being an instrument of God’s love to my wife, to my children? Is my marriage an authentic icon of God’s love?

My answers are personal and frankly, cause for concern. I have a lot of work to do.

Until our families take seriously the call to discipleship, we will fail to be witnesses to the world of what the Gospel looks like in the flesh. A family that lives the Gospel with integrity is beautiful, and therefore becomes an almost irresistible magnet to others who desire goodness and the attainment of happiness.

Until I, as a father, take more seriously my own call to discipleship, I will fail to be a witness to my family to what God the Father’s love looks like in the ordinary day to day existence of human life.

The transformation of society begins at home. That doesn’t mean I must delay a vocal challenge to the popular culture in order to concentrate solely on my home life. But if my witness fails to begin at home, my arguments for the goodness, truth, and beauty of Christianity will rest on shifting sand. My family's most convincing argument for Christianity--- the witness of an integrated and joyfully authentic Catholic life--- is what will contribute to the transformation our culture.

As a former member of the "pro-choice-religion-is-for-the-weak-minded" secular army, I can attest to the power that abundant Christian living wields in drawing hearts to Christ. What first got my attention and rattled my proud agnosticism was the real and earthy holiness of certain people who, while not perfect by any stretch, took their religion seriously. Nothing converts people's hearts like authentic Christianity enfleshed in believers. When all is said and done in the culture wars, nothing else will do.