Letter From a Worried Canadian Catholic

Because my website is starting to get traction, I’m getting a lot of emails.  One that I recently got was from a Canadian Catholic.  I asked him if I could respond to the email in a post and he agreed so here is the email and my response.

Hello brother, I am a Chaldean Catholic and I feel very troubled about the Canadian culture. can we do something?

Catholics who live in the West(Canada included) live in a very unique situation.  Our culture has moved from tolerating vice to actively promoting it.  This has been slowly happening since the renaissance but now this movement seems to be on steroids.

First of all, don’t trust politicians.  They won’t help our cause.  While some politicians might occasionally support Christian causes, most would just as easily sell you out to engage in LGBTQ virtue signalling or some feminist nonsense.

I would say to network with other Catholics who are into their faith.  Get together with them every week or a couple times a month and study the faith.  Maybe study a book by Scott Hahn or Brant Pitre as they both have a lot of good material.  My Catholic study group is currently going through Brant Pitre’s study Lectio Mary.

It’s also imperative to only support good priests.  There are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing who wear clerical garb.  Avoid them at all costs and tell others to avoid them.  The good parishes need to grow and the bad parishes need to either dwindle or converted into good ones.  A good way to get connected with a good church community is to attend the mass more than once a week.  Obviously Sunday is required but maybe one during a weekday evening.

This response of mine is loosely based off of Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option.  I’d give that book a read.  I don’t agree with it 100% but Dreher’s main thesis is correct.  He has certainly assessed the situation that we find ourselves in.

In addition to this, maintain the usual routines such as praying the rosary and praying before meals.  Outreach is good as well.  Try to help fallen away Catholics return to their faith in Jesus Christ.  In addition to this, try to bring devout Protestants into the Catholic fold to grow our numbers.  About six weeks ago Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, England brought high profile Anglican Gavin Ashenden into the Catholic fold.  This is what we need.  Maybe if you’re doing a Bible or book study on the faith, invite a curious friendly Protestant to join.

So this is what I recommend.  We both know the situation is dire.  Also, to all Catholics that don’t live in the West, I recommend keeping to this as well.  The degenerates of the West are trying to spread this depravity globally.  It doesn’t matter if you live in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or South East Asia.  This movement is going to come and it’s better to be prepared, unlike how the West was in the 1960s.