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I learned a new word recently, and I think you need to learn it too,
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because it can help us explain what is going on in
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Europe and our one best hope to face the
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current crisis. There is a word, it's a mixture of Chinese
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and English, and it's called tofu dreg or tofu
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construction. It's the bad habit of corrupt Chinese construction
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companies making magnificent edifices
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that are hollow inside. The worst case was a
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bridge over the— I think it was the Yangtze River.
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And instead of steel rods, they had bamboo because
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it's cheaper and it's easier and nobody cares. And those
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buildings and bridges tend to fall down because they're hollow.
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It's a really bad idea to put up a building that
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doesn't have a firm foundation But what if you tried to make a nation,
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a continent, a civilization like that?
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Then we'd be in trouble, wouldn't we? Yes, Father, you're talking
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about France, aren't you? Oh yes, and more than just France. Stay with
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me, I've got a story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTeague, your host
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every day of The Catholic Current, coming to you from the Station of the Cross
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Catholic Media Network. Let's take a closer look.
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Glad you're here. As I record this,
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France is on fire again. There's been a lot of
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excitement, violent excitement, in Spain and Italy
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and Portugal and Belgium and Albania.
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Whole mixes, you know, students thirsting
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for justice, misunderstanders of the religion of peace
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rioting, a lot of organized and disorganized leftists.
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There's plenty of blame to go around. My concern
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is, is that nobody seems to know what to do about it,
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including members of the people who should really know better club.
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One of the reasons why nearly every solution in the past,
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I don't know, 80, 100-plus years hasn't
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worked to get Europe where it needs to be is
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that it leaves out Christ. The French still want to
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cling to the French Republic. Church Democrats talk
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about— excuse me, church diplomats talk about the
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republican values of liberty, equality, and fraternity,
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always forgetting the part of the slogan that ends with, or death.
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Load full transcript
And really, all across Europe,
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all across what used to be known as Christendom,
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current recent exception, Liechtenstein, way to go,
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Prince. But aside from that, uh, there's been more or
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less a kind of agreement that some people might have Jesus
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of Nazareth as their mascot, and it doesn't really matter
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because when it comes to the important things, you know, policy,
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uh, and money, then we don't need to have any reference to
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Christ at all. And for all that cultural battle
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stuff, well, you just keep all that to yourself. And look what happened.
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France, Western Europe, Christendom used
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to have Christ the King as the foundation,
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the cornerstone, and built there from the one church Christ
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founded. And yeah, there were still sinners. Sinners didn't disappear,
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but there was a glorious culture and civilization. And you
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had things like, you know, the rule of law and enforceable contracts and universities
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and science and Uh, the end of, you know,
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demon worship, human sacrifice, polygamy, and treating women like broodmares.
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All that went away as Christianity expanded. And then our
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friends in France in 1789 said, hey, you know what we should do? We should
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get rid of Christ and in our public and private lives,
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and it'll be great. Here's what was really going on.
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The First Commandment is first, and a
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lot of clever people figured out One of the ways to
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draw people away from the first commandment is to say,
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you don't have to live the sixth commandment anymore. Have I got a
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story for you. And that was the deal.
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If we broke a relationship with God and his Christ,
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we could run amok sexually. And we all know how that worked out.
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First, it was the French. Later, those same voices sounded German.
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More recently, they sound like really good Americans.
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Point is, is that Europe is a basket
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case. It's on fire. It's a mess, and it has
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no hope unless and until we
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come back to the kingship of Christ. So right now, uh, the European foundations,
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the great European states, whether it's Germany, France,
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uh, the, the UK,
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all those countries are the moral,
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political, philosophical equivalent of tofu
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dreck. There are buildings made out of tofu. There's no solid
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foundation. So that's one foundation is
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a non-foundation. That's secularism. Now there's another foundation,
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and that's from our friends from the religion of peace.
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They've got moral clarity. They've got
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a standard that is written down, that is observed strictly.
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And they're obviously in it to win it. So they showed
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up to the civilization that has no foundation and say, hey, do you mind if
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we move in? And, you know, can we bring our
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own cornerstone with us? Sure, come on in. Because,
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you know, cornerstones are not important. And no one said, hey, why is the little
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girl in a wedding dress? Oh, never mind. It'll be fine. Come on in.
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All are welcome. And that
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hasn't been working out very well, especially for Western
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Europe. So there seem to be 2 alternatives.
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There's the hollowness of secularism and the
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other alien foundation of Islam,
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and then there's the kingship of Christ.
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Those are really realistically the only 3 available
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cornerstones for rebuilding a collapsing burning
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Europe. No more tofu,
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no more building on vapor, no more building
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on hollow foundations. Secularism is a
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spent force, and we have to admit it.
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Islam is in it to win it. They believe that the future belongs to
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those who show up, and they are showing up in numbers, and they're having a
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lot of kids, and they are acting like people who believe that time and demography
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are on their side. And then there are the
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followers of Christ. Now, back in the day,
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uh, Hilaire Belloc thought that the final battle
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would be between, uh, the secular forces and
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the Christians. And he said this almost 100
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years ago. He said, the ranks have lined up as for a battle.
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And though such clear division does not mean that one or the other antagonist
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will conquer, it does mean that a plain issue
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is defined at last. And in plain issue,
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a good cause, like a bad one, has a better chance
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than in confusion. So yes, the lines are being drawn,
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but if I may say so, uh, it's 3 sides, not 2.
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It's
secularism, It's Islam, and they seem to be forming
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a marriage of convenience in Europe for the time being, maybe in the United States
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too— another story for another time. And then there's
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the Christians, and there are the Christians who
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insist that Christ the King reigns now,
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and then there are the Christians who make up a
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significant portion of the people who should really know better club,
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but they seem to me to be not in it
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to win it. They're not showing up in numbers,
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they're not showing up in confidence, and they're not showing up like
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they know that there's a war on and they have a fight on their hands.
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Here's what Belloc said about Christians who are
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not ready to stand with Christ the King. He said this: It
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is not the barbarians at the gates that worry me, it is the traitors within.
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Those who forget their faith, who scoff at their history, and who
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welcome the enemies of Christ with open arms— these
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are the ones who will bring down Christendom brick
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by brick. So said Hilaire Bellocq.
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So friends, we, we have some choices to make, and we have some,
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uh, we have some work to do. There are 3 sides.
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There is empty secularism, which is obviously failing in Europe.
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There is Islam, which is in the ascendance, and there's
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Christianity, which seems to be kind of confused and is still
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looking for its car keys under the sofa cushions.
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And that's, that's a problem. So what do we do about that?
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I'm going to talk about more in the coming days and weeks, but meanwhile,
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let's start with an examination of conscience. Let's turn to Christ
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and say, is it I, Lord? Have I failed to proclaim
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you? And your reign in this life and the next.
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And then we have to make amends accordingly. We also have to make reparation
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for our fellow Christians, members of the people who should really
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know better club, and make up reparation for them and hope
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that before it's too late, they wake up, discover they're in a
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battle, and act accordingly. We need to make intercession for
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those who have not yet heard Christ. And then
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we need to be apostolic. We need to go out into the world
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to be heaven in the bread to perform the corporal and the spiritual
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works of mercy and work till our dying
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breath so that Christ the King may be known and loved
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in this life and the next. We have a
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lot of work to do. Meanwhile, think of these things today, take them
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to prayer, and talk about it with those you love. Go in peace,
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and please do pray for me, for I am a sinner.
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Thanks for watching today. I release new videos on Mondays and Wednesdays.
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Check out the archives for more videos. You can listen to my
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podcast at stationofthecross.com, and you can find my written work
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at heraldofthegospel.org. See you next time.