Defending alone

Satan has struck again.

Once again, there has come to light some very tragic events and crimes committed by representatives of the Catholic Church. 
And once again, it has come to light that the Catholic Church was not on its game in dealing with, investigating, and prosecuting the molesters in question.  

I am of course referring to and talking about the most recent Sex Scandals of Pennsylvania priests against young men and seminarians.  

I am not going to spend precious time arguing at length to say why and how these acts are wrong.  Nor am I going to spend time laying out and talking about the crimes themselves: this information is readily available to any who wish to know (and I would add, if you have not read about these crimes you should.  Do not turn a blind eye but be aware of how Satan attacks the Church).

What I AM going to do is briefly exhort my fellow Catholics to stay strong.  This is a ploy of Satan himself to spread dissention among the Faithful, a ploy which has historically proven very effective.  There has been Human error and sin in the Church from its very beginning.  However, these sins and the faults of the Humans within the Church do not make her message and the Sacraments any less valid or less relevant in our own lives.  

The Church has gone through many rough times, and many of these struggles has resulted in a Schismatic break by some of the Faithful.  Well-meaning, justly-angered members of the Faithful like you and me see ourselves (rightly) as soldiers on the front lines of the fight, upholding the Tradition of the Church and remaining Orthodox Christians while the Clergy and the Magisterium of the Church appears to be going the way of the world.  We find ourselves alone, and so we bunker down.  We dig in, holding to what we see as traditional and letting the Church go its own sinful way.  This is exactly what happened so many times, be it the break in Eastern and Western Churches in Catherine of Sienna's time or the break of the Pius X society with the coming of the Novus Ordo and the Liturgical Abuses which ensued in the aftermath.  

The problem is that we as Faithful Catholics do not see what is really at stake here.  These attacks of Satan are not attacks upon the Church Herself or Her teachings.  Satan fought that fight already, and he lost.  These attacks are upon US, the faithful.  Satan's precise goal is to have us feel alone, that we need to uphold and defend the Church at all costs, even if that means leaving Her.  One we see the Truth as dependent on OUR intervention and defense to exist, we place ourselves on a level with God.  And then it is that we are truly alone, for no one is like God.

The Truth does not need our help or defense.  It will continue to exist, and will never be defeated.  We are simply called to adhere to it and bear witness to it.  Do not waver in your witness of the Truth, a Truth which also calls us to adhere to the Church and in obedience to the Pope.  

I am saddened by this turn of events within the Church, as all Catholics should be.  However, let us not forget whose souls are the ones at stake here.  We are the soldiers on the front lines precisely because it is our own souls, yours and mine, which are the prime targets in this fight.  WE are the end game.  

Stay strong, my friends, and keep fighting the good fight.