In his 2015 apostolic exhortation Into The Breach, Bishop Thomas Olmsted described “the battle that is raging,” a “battle that is wounding our children and families.”
“This battle is often hidden,” he wrote, “but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual…” A decade later, this battle is still raging in our society.
It’s a battle against diabolical forces.
“The world is under attack by Satan,” wrote the Bishop. That’s why the battle is primarily spiritual, and often hidden: it’s a battle of divine grace vs. diabolical forces, being fought in our hearts, our minds, and the depths of our souls.
The demonic nature of this attack is revealed in our culture. It’s no coincidence that mainstream fashion, music, art, and architecture now reflect the decadent, the transgressive, the bestial, and the ugly.
We are losing this battle.
Right now, we are losing this spiritual battle. This is evident in how our society has become dispirited, in debilitating and deadly ways:
- Mental illness has exploded in the US, with one in five teenagers suffering from clinical depression or crippling anxiety. Around half report serious emotional distress.
- “Deaths of despair” from alcohol poisoning, drug overdose, and suicide have doubled since the year 2000. Nearly 200,000 Americans die every year in these ways.
Degeneracy now runs rampant in America. For example:
- Drag Queen Story Hour, at which cross-dressing men read to children at libraries and schools, has become a nationwide nonprofit, with chapters in 17 states.
- The number of students in New Jersey public schools who identify as “non-binary” increased by 4,000% in four years.
- The number of American children aged 6-17 diagnosed with gender dysphoria skyrocketed from 15,000 in 2017 to over 42,000 in 2021.
Pope John Paul II noted that the family is “increasingly menaced by forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical planes.” His words remain true:
- Ideologically, families here are damaged by the widespread promotion of single parenthood. The US has the world’s highest rate of children in single-parent households.
- Practically, families here are also damaged by the unrestricted use of internet devices. In many American families, cell phone addiction has replaced strong family relationships.
The Church is weak and in decline.
These diabolical forces are formidable. There is a power, however, that exists to stand against them and prevail: Ecclesia, the Holy Mother Church.
Can the Church defeat them? Not in its current state. Right now, in America, the Church is weak and in decline. Bishop Olmsted noted that between 2000 and 2015, 14 million American Catholics left the faith, and Catholic marriages dropped by almost half.
Since the Bishop wrote his exhortation, things have gotten worse for the Church. It’s losing American Catholics at a rapid rate, especially men:
- More people in America are leaving the Church than are leaving any other religious tradition. For every one person who becomes Catholic, eight leave the faith.
- Only one-third of Catholic men attend mass every week.
- Fewer than half strongly agree that it’s important for their children to be Catholic.
The Church was once regarded as a place for strong, courageous men. It brought into its service men such as the warrior monks of the Knights Hospitaller, and the former soldier Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
To prevail against the diabolical forces corrupting our society, the Church needs such men now. Until it enlists more of them in its service, its decline will continue, and those forces will gain ground.
Read the next section: A Cunning Diabolical Enemy >>
