Notes on a Road Show - OnePeterFive

9/29/2015 NotesOnARoadShowOnePeterFive

http://www.onepeterfive.com/notesonaroadshow/ 1/8

YOU ARE AT: Home Catholic Life Notes On A Road Show

Search...

FEATURES BLOG ABOUT DONATE RESOURCES STORE PODCASTS

FOLLOW US!

GET FREE UPDATES!

Email address:

Your email address

First Name:

Your first name

Last Name:

Your last name

1P5 Daily Digest

1P5 Weekly Digest

Sign up

Search Search

HELP SUPPORT 1P5!

1

CATHOLIC LIFE, CURRENT EVENTS, FEATURED, THE CHURCHBY MAUREEN MULLARKEY ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

Notes On A Road Show

The road show is over. The spectacle flamed up and subsided, a Roman candle of demonic sanctimony. Think

of it as pre-game warm-up for the main event: the global climate summit in Paris, November 30 to

December 11. The Vatican is partnering with the Obama administration, at the U.N. and later in Paris, in

magnifying state control over a free society and tightening the screws on the developed world. This, in the

name of saving the planet from the production and growth of those very means by which the poor can raise

themselves out of poverty.

Our obligation to charitycaritasis bound to the truth of thingsin veritate. There is little truth in theaggressively promoted patchwork of contested science and hysteria that fuel apocalyptic prophecies. Yet

the Vatican and Our Man in Havana militate against the imagined enemy of climate change while an actual,

advancing one slaughters the faithful in its path.



RecentPosts MostCommented MostViewed

OnePeterFive is a US 501(c)(3) organization whichrelies on your tax-deductible contributions.

Please help us to meet our expenses by donatingtoday!

POPULAR POSTS

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

RECENT COMMENTS

A Christian man crucified by ISIS. Photo: Middle East Media Research Institute.

Catholics are doubly burdened. The intellectual squalor of our secular administration is mirrored in a

preening Vatican faction that adds moral indigence to the equation. The modern state is exempt from any

mandate to lead us toward a transcendent end. That is the work of the Churchan unsurpassable, crowning

mission addressed to the poor and the prosperous alike. But this pontificate makes an idol of The Poor, an

abstraction by which it justifies its own rancor toward the developed world. It gives evidence of a mind fed

on tracts by statist ideolaters who muddle distinction between the material and the transcendent. Worse, it

squanders the moral authority of the Church on an unholy alliance with corrupt or rent-seeking regimes

that relinquish their own responsibility for the conditions of those they govern. It is an ominous confederacy

that denies moral agency to all but the West.

Does there exist anything more Western than a self-flagellating urge to indict the West? A guilty son of the

European stock that was once the pride and driving force of Buenos Aires, Francis resents the Wests

affluence, scorns its freedom, curses it. He will scald it however he can. Pascal Bruckner, writing two

decades ago, anticipated the vanity of Western self-hatred lurking in this pontificate:

Evil can come only from us; other people [i.e. the poor; the Third World] are motivated by


Is Pope Francis changing churchteachings before our eyes? - Sacredand Profane

Filial Appeal Submitted to PopeFrancis With Nearly 800K Signatures!

No Rest for the Watchful - SynodPrep Begins Now

Bethefirstofyourfriendstolikethis

OnePeterFive3,945likes

LikePage DonateNow



nancyveronica on No Rest for the Watchful SynodPrep Begins Now

Tony Jokin on No Rest for the Watchful Synod PrepBegins Now

steve5656546346 on Notes On A Road Show

Steve Skojec on No Rest for the Watchful Synod PrepBegins Now

Tony Jokin on No Rest for the Watchful Synod PrepBegins Now

CATEGORIES

Categories SelectCategory

ARCHIVES

Archives SelectMonth

sympathy, good will, candor. This is the paternalism of the guilty conscience: seeing ourselves as

the kings of infamy is still a way of staying on the crest of history.

Icannot not help but wonder if this week-long showcase of misdirected sermonizing, and often ambiguous

pieties, signaled the de-Christianization of the Catholic Church. Were we witnessing the descent of

Catholicism into one more ism, an ideology using language onto which an audience could project its own

meaning? After Cuba, the non-stop showboating, pageantry, and preachments in the wrong places took on

the look of a Faustian bargain between the Vatican and cynical brokers of worldly prestigean exchange of

truth (including that of the gradual but ongoing diminishment of poverty) for power.

H. L. Mencken understood the world better than our bien pensant hierarchy: The urge to save humanity isalmost always a false front for the urge to rule.

On the eve of Francis address to the joint session of Congress, I wrote an essay for The Federalist. Permitme to repeat a portion of it here:

Ideolatry, the idolatry of fixed ideas, is as rampant in the Vatican as in any other directorate. And

just as dangerous. Even more so. Because the pope commands deference from the worlds peoples,

the present object of his worshipfrom climate change dogma to the antagonisms peculiar to an

anti-democratic Leftist elitedisfigures the faith of billions. It becomes a golden calf festooned

with Gospel quotes.

. . . There comes a moment when deference glides into collusion. At that point, we all become Good

Germans. Fascist-friendly. Trust in respected authority curdles into a thing entirely differentawilled blindness to something dark in the particular voice commanding assent. Decent and

dependable, we incline toward the beckoning circle of connivance.



It was not necessary to listen to a scrupulously written, edited, and rewritten product scripted for media

consumption. Not a single word of it could annul Francis assent to celebrate Mass under a triumphal image

of Che Guevara:

Something in me gave way at the sight of an exultant image of Che Guevara overseeing the altar in

Plaza de la Revolucin, approved site of the papal Mass in Havana. A sadistic, murderous thug

looked down on attendees in an obscene burlesque of Christ Pantocrator. Under the gaze of a

butcher, and amid symbols of the regime, Jorge Bergolio joined his fellow Argentine in service to

the calamitous Cuban revolution. The entire spectacle played like a farcical inversion of John Paul

IIs presence in Warsaws Victory Square, in 1979, and in stark contrast to the message he brought

to Cuba in 1998.

[The Federalist essay in its entirety is here.]

Marc Thiessen, writing on September 22 for the American Enterprise Institute, compared the homilies of

the two popes. His essay, In Havana, Pope Francis is no John Paul, notes the number of times John Paul

used the words freedom (17 times) and justice (13 times). Francis did not use either word even once.Thiessen quotes generously from John Paul. He closes with this:

Pope Francis said nothing even resembling this during his Cuban visit. He is not expected to be so

reticent during his visit to Washington. But then, as the [Washington] Post correctly notes, it takesmore fortitude to challenge a dictatorship than a democracy.

Even without a TV it was impossible to completely avoid the flood of images we swim in. Screens are

everywhere. One other image touched an unwelcome chord. MSNBC scanned the crush of spectators at the

airport in Philadelphia, almost everyone with an arm raised to hold a camera phone over head. An innocuous

gesture in itself, viewed en bloc it recalls the old Fascist salute, parodied this time by the grip on a camera. Inthe wake of Francis newly released motu proprio, the analogy struck me as having a discomforting purchase

on reality.



We do not need a Leni Riefenstahl or a Ministry of Popular Culture any more. We have the promotional

tentacles of a 24/7 media doing their job. CNN Newsource hawked its Pope Francis Visit Coverage Plan to

other stations at $350 for 5-minute window or $300 per media feed:

CNN Newsource is giving you a front seat to the historic trip of Pope Francis to Cuba and the U.S.

in September. Whether you send a crew to join us on location or book a live shot with a CNN

correspondent, CNN Newsource gives you the flexibility to book a bundle of shots or onsite

services at discounted pricing. Contact your Newsource Sales representative today for details.

Circus-as-news is the bread and butter of the 24/7 media bubble that passes as an organ of information.

Time Warner Cable dedicated its own local news channel to the papal visit. If that was not enough, The NewYork Times reported:

The papal channel will be available to Time Warners subscribers in New York and more than twoWeprovideourcontentforfree,butitisn'tfreetoproduce.Weneed



The papal channel will be available to Time Warners subscribers in New York and more than two

dozen other markets around the country, 15 million households in all. It will also be available online

and on the TWC News app. In addition to showing the events, with on-the-scene commentary and

analysis, the papal channel will feature a special edition of NY1s nightly call-in show and a daily

recap show at 10 p.m., recounting the days events.

Jobin Bernhard. Christ on a Donkey; The Pope on a Horse (16th C.)

Some commentators, anxious for something nice to say, mistook waving, cheering multitudes as proof that

Americans are still a religious people. Yes, we are. But the adulation of crowds testified equally, perhaps

more, to the strength of celebrity culture and its susceptibility to media promotion. Here was yet another

once-in-a-lifetime experience. (Experience is the magical marketing word of the day.) In short, excitedthrongs are as much evidence of the efficacy of media-perfected techniques of mass mobilization. This is

what we once called propagandaa therapeutic massage which includes valorizing treacle from the amencorner.

How much the supremacy of God in Christ had to do with the sponsored product remains moot.

OnePeterFive is a US 501(c)(3) organization which relies on your tax-deductible contributions.

Please help us to fight for the faith by donating today!

Weprovideourcontentforfree,butitisn'tfreetoproduce.Weneedyourhelp!

SUPPORT1P5

47Shares 11 9

Never Miss a Thing.Wantallofourstoriesdeliveredstraighttoyourinboxeachday?Signuptoday!

EnteryourFirstName

EnteryourLastName

Enteryouremailaddress

SUBSCRIBENOW



PREVIOUS ARTICLE

Is Pope Francis changing church teachingsbefore our eyes? Sacred and Profane

ABOUT AUTHOR

MAUREEN MULLARKEY

Maureen Mullarkey is a painter who writes on art and culture. Her essays have appearedin various publications, among them: The Nation, Crisis, Commonweal, Hudson Review, Arts, TheNew Criterion, First Things, The Weekly Standard, and The Magazine Antiques. She was acolumnist for The New York Sun.

RELATED POSTS

SPONSORED

1.PythonEatsAPorcupineWhole,ThenTheUnexpectedHappens6daysagololboom.netLolBoom(sponsored)2.1LittleSecretToEliminate15YearsOfMortgagePayments2weeksagolowermybills.comLowerMyBillsLowerMyBills.com(ASL)(sponsored)3.WarrenBuffettJustGaveAmericansaBigWarning3monthsagofool.comTheMotleyFoolFool.com(sponsored)4.10GayActorsThatMadeYouBelieveTheyWereStraight2monthsagothewebtrovert.comTheWebtrovertTheWebtrovert.com(sponsored)

The Ascending Way of Prayer,Part II

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015 4

The Ascending Way of Prayer,Part I


Full Text of Pope FrancisCongressional Address




ABOUT

Online journal offering news, commentary, resources,

podcasts, and original essays. Dedicated to rebuilding

Catholic culture and restoring Catholic tradition.

Contact Us

Advertise

RECENT POSTS


Is Pope Francis changing church teachings before our

eyes? Sacred and Profane

Filial Appeal Submitted to Pope Francis With Nearly

800K Signatures!

No Rest for the Watchful Synod Prep Begins Now

Relics of St. Maria Goretti in Chicago

SUBSCRIBE

Email address:

Your email address

First Name:

Your first name

Last Name:

Your last name

1P5 Daily Digest

1P5 Weekly Digest

Sign up

WebtrovertTheWebtrovert.com(sponsored)

5.OlderGuyswithYoungWives2hoursago15celebs.com15Celebs15Celebs.com(sponsored)6.CharlizeTheronis100%African2monthsagoreviews.wura.tvWURA(sponsored)basketball7.WarrenBuffettadmitshisnightmarewillbearealityaweekagofool.comTheMotleyFoolFool.com(sponsored)8.25MostBeautifulPlacesYouMustVisitBeforeYouDie!3monthsagotravelmonster.meTravelMonsterTravelMonster.me(sponsored)

2Comments OnePeterFive Login1

Share SortbyBest

Jointhediscussion

Reply

thetimman 2minutesagoSteve,thanksforpostingandhostingthis.Itdoesn'tmatterhowmuchIagreewithMaureenornotmostlyIdo.IsimplydespisetheneoCatholicunpersoningeffort.Hilaryknowsallaboutit.Othersdotoo.Keepstanding.

Reply

steve5656546346 anhouragoWell,thatcertainlyseemstocapturetheessence!

Subscribe AddDisqustoyoursited Privacy

Recommend

Share

Share

Documents

Notes on a Road Show - OnePeterFive