By Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
March 27, 2016
NewsWithViews.com
It is Easter... the day of the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter proves that love is stronger than hate,
good triumphs over evil, and that truth sets us free. The cobwebs of ignorance
are removed by shining the light of truth on them. Slimy secrets exposed no
longer withhold truth from people who seek it.
It doesn’t always happen on our time
schedule, but it always happens.
That is why we are told to seek...
why we are promised that if we seek we will find answers to our questions.
People, it seems, are lazy. We stopped seeking and began saying prayers asking
Jesus to seek and provide the answers for us... or we relied on our Parson or
Priest or a television personality to do our seeking – to find truth for us. We
must find our own truths.
We stopped seeking answers to
worldly matters, too. We turned everything over to politicians so we would have
more time for ourselves... our personal needs. And that’s how we got in our
current mess... overtaken by corruption in the hands of power seekers.
How could a greater contrast between
two philosophies of life be made clearer during this Easter Week? Those who
follow Islam gave us Brussels. Jesus Christ gave His life for Christians.
How did our lives, our sovereignty
as a nation, our peaceful world get lost so quickly? How did our world change
so fast? It did not. What we are seeing today is the result of plans that were
put in place long ago and have been implemented one small step at a time. For
example, Thomas Jefferson was the first President to declare war against
radical Islamists.
It is reminiscent of what happened
to the Catholic Church when it got caught up in the evil of pedophile priests
abusing young boys. It is the worst kind of abuse of power. It is a puzzle that
took years to figure out and Rome is still working to resolve it. Rome thought
evil could be swept under a rug... but the light of truth always surprises evil
doers.
Before Catholic haters jump to
conclusions and before Catholics become defensive, what follows is a true
story. It explains how the communists plotted the downfall of the Catholic
Church – and have come a long way toward achieving their objectives. It is a
story that is difficult to believe... but it is the absolute truth and is
exemplary of just how far diseased minds go to achieve the objectives of world
dominance.
The book School of Darkness was
published in 1954. It was written by Bella Dodd, from 1932 - 1948 an organizer
for the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). For four years, she sat on the CPUSA’s
National Council. Bella Dodd says: “In the 1930s we put eleven hundred men
into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within.” In a
Fordham University lecture, in 1950, she said: “Right now they are in the
highest places in the Church.”
This may help some people understand
the socialist/communist messages that periodically emerge from priestly
commentary at Sunday Mass – or from the Pope in Rome. Just as America today is
the result of policies put quietly in place in the late 1800s to turn our
Republic into a corporation, the Church today faces the problems caused by
those eleven hundred communists placed in the Catholic Church by CPUSA way back
in the 1930s and 40s.
Today, we count the ways in which
people can abuse power and impose the cruelest of life-changing experiences on
others while, simultaneously, holding themselves and their association with the
abuse above it all—because of position. Politicians do it, teachers do it,
policemen and judges do it—and priests do it. All are human.
It is important to realize that
those who abuse the power of position are those who suffer from the greatest
sense of personal powerlessness. They are the weakest, most insecure among us.
When asked why they abuse others, many respond “Because I can.” Their power
over others makes it possible. Not all politicians, teachers, policemen, judges
— or priests or presidents — gain a sense of personal power from their
occupations. Most seek to serve. Too many, however, do not.
Emotion can carry us into the
darkness of half-truths, but there is a greater point to be made. All believers
suffer persistent attacks against Christianity, family, and everyday goodness
and we must not allow them to overcome us! Be aware of the attacks and why they
are occurring. They want to take your faith, your family, and your goodness
from you. It is the only way they can bring down this Great Nation.
To prove my point, between 2001 and 2005 the Associated Press investigated sexual misconduct in our public schools. They found 1,801 educators were guilty of sexual misconduct with youths. We don't hear about this sexual abuse in government's public schools... but the mainstream media makes sure we hear about any deviance within any religious organization. Ask yourself why.
In a 2004 report for the U.S.
Department of Education titled “Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of
Existing Literature” done for the “No Child Left Behind” program, Dr. Carol
Shakeshaft said that a study she did of complaints against Catholic priests
versus public school abuse over a 50-year period proved “the physical sexual
abuse of students in public schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by
priests.” Still, parents appear to have no time for School Board meetings. When
did you last attend a Board meeting?
When the first Catholic priest
abused his power to sexually assault a child and was protected by the Church
rather than reported to the police, a Holy obligation to “let the little
children come unto Me” was violated. That command was given by the highest
possible authority within any Christian Church.
The Vatican has said that sinful and
criminal abuse of minors by members of the Church must be condemned. They agree
there is a need for justice and amends. I say the Church needs to clearly
define at what point it’s time to dial 911 and let law enforcement handle
unlawful behavior. All humans must be held accountable to the same standard
before the law. An Oath to God and the designation as a “Man of God” does not change
that simple rule of the most basic definition of civilization. Too, it’s pretty
clear that a “Man of God” doesn’t sexually assault children.
All of the above takes me back to
Bella Dodd’s book, School of Darkness.
A graduate of Hunter College and New York University’s School of Law, Mrs. Dodd
was a school teacher and lawyer by profession. Reading Bella Dodd’s book made
me realize the Church has been fighting a communist recruitment program put in
place in the 1930s by CPUSA. All Christians have been fighting this battle and
the Communist Party is still up to its old and very dirty tricks in our fight
against radical Islam.
It is for this reason I draw the
analogy between what Bella Dodd reports about the CPUSA and our President's
inability to accurately define our current Middle East enemy in the war on
terror. Until Mrs. Dodd wrote her book and explained what happened in the 1930s
and 40s, the Catholic Church couldn’t define its enemy. And, I would point out
the communists are as anti-Christian today as they were in 1940.
Specifically, Mrs. Dodd said: “In the 1930s we (CPUSA) put eleven hundred
men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within.” The
idea was for these men to be ordained and progress to positions of influence
and authority as Monsignors and Bishops. Just 12 years before Vatican II, held
in 1962, she said: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church.”
The plan was to weaken the church’s effectiveness against Communism. She stated
that these changes would be so drastic, “you will not recognize the Catholic
Church.”
During her Fordham University
lecture in 1950, Dodd talked of the chaos planned. A monk who attended the
lecture is quoted from Christian Order:
“I listened to that woman for four
hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been
fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world’s greatest prophet,
but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of
Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the
world’s religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the
Communists… The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the
Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the
Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a
pseudo-religion: something that resembled Catholicism but was not the real
thing.
“Once the Faith was destroyed,” the
Monk continued, “she explained that there would be a guilt complex
introduced into the Church... to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being
oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the
sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies
throughout the centuries. This would be necessary to shame Church leaders into
an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward
all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this
openness in order to undermine the Church.”
Has anyone listened to the recent comments of Pope Francis lately? They ring with "openness."
In New York, the CPUSA got into
trouble and Dodd was a featured part of the problem in the New York Times
reports. Dodd, who parted ways with CPUSA, went to Washington to argue an
immigration appeal and met with a friend from the old East Bronx area of her
childhood. He talked with her about testifying against the Communist Party in
front of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and asked if she wanted FBI
protection. He then asked if she would like to see a priest. She was startled
by the question, but was amazed at the intensity of her own answer as she said
she would.
“Perhaps we can reach Monsignor
Sheen at Catholic University,” he said, and an appointment was made for her
late that evening.
“A thousand fears assailed me. Would
he insist that I talk to the FBI? Would he insist that I testify? Would he make
me write articles? Would he see me at all?
“...By what right, I thought, was I
seeking the help of someone I had helped revile, even if only by my silence?
...I rang the doorbell and was ushered into a small room. While I waited, the
struggle within me began again. Had there been an easy exit I would have run
out, but in the midst of my turmoil Monsignor Fulton Sheen walked into the
room, his silver cross gleaming, a warm smile in his eyes.
“He held out his hand as he crossed
the room. ‘Doctor, I’m glad you’ve come,’ he said. His voice and his eyes had a
welcome which I had not expected, and it caught me unaware. Monsignor Sheen put
his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘This thing will
pass,’ and he led me gently to a little chapel. We both knelt before a statue
of Our Lady. I don’t remember praying, but I do remember that the battle within
me ceased, my tears were dried, and I was conscious of stillness and peace.”
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (as he
was at the end of his life) never hesitated to point out the evils of communism
on his popular television broadcasts of the 1960s. He was an exceptional man.
He counseled Bella Dodd as disease sent her to her death. He is the reason she
wrote her book.
The impact of Archbishop Sheen’s
counseling is apparent in Bella Dodd’s words:
“On my way to the airport I thought
how much he understood. He knew that a nominal Christian with a memory of the
Cross can easily be twisted to the purposes of evil by men who masquerade as
saviors. I thought how communist leaders achieve their greatest strength and
cleverest snare when they use the will to goodness of their members. They stir
the emotions with phrases which are only a blurred picture of eternal truths.”
There is no doubt the current crisis
and liberal attitudes within the Catholic Church have hurt many people. The
headlines achieve the objectives set by CPUSA over 80 years ago. This, then,
established the battleground of the Catholic Church from 1950 until—today. It
is also the battleground of our schools, families and all other
character-building tools used by humanity to keep evil in its cage and civilization
moving forward and not “progressing” back into the cave.
As Bella Dodd said, “I thought how
communist leaders achieve their greatest strength and cleverest snare when they
use the will to goodness of their members.”
That is a danger all Christians
face. Goodness misdirected can deter us all from its very purpose. We
must keep a clear line of delineation between how faith and religion are
defined. Our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion do not carry with
them the right of Islam to establish a separate government with its Sharia
statutes and laws as part of its religion.
What is “Goodness?” It is best
defined by the reason we celebrate this day: Easter and the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ who sacrificed His life so that we might have eternal life.
Compare that with the tyrannical
taking of other lives so radical egos can celebrate its power over the
powerless... whether it is done via violence in Brussels or non-violence in
Washington, D.C.
Happy Easter!
© 2016 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All
Rights Reserved
<< Home