Automatically extracted text. OCR transcription may contain errors.
A publication of Traditional Catholics of America -;- Editor: Fr. Francis E. Fenton. No. 3 t 1988
was
confronted. So? It was, I believe,
seven fight Communism with kid gloves."
are a number of ways in which a person can make a
usually reliable estimate of another's character. One is by the
enemies he has. Another (if be a prominent
verv he rc>rorn,~<:
were as a radio. paper. etc.). enemies
Communists not only despised Communists and their various nefarious allies while the press
as well because of the incalculable constantly belittled and maligned and pilloried him. If I knew
which he could in his prestigious position to their nothing about Joseph McCarthy other than the facts that the
plans for world domination. And so there developed an un- Communists detested him and the communications media
precedented campaign of smear and hate against McCarthy, a almost invariably treate'd him with contempt. I would readily
campaign instigated by the Communist conspiracy and aided conclude that he was probably a very sound and commendable
and abetted by its dupes and minions and fellow travelers-and individual indeed. He certainly must have led a morally upright
especially by the despicable American press. If Communism life because. had there been anything of a scandalous nature in
was to continue its advance in the USA-perhaps even if it were it. the holier-than-thou American press, be assured, would have
to survive-the reputation of Joseph McCarthy had to be de- dug that out and proclaimed its discovery to the world.
stroyed in one way or another.
Senator Joseph McCarthy was a man who loved his God and his
How effectively that destruction was accomplished-and that country. He was a man of honor, of courage, of strong convic-
was 30 years ago-points up the power and influence in the tion-and he was a fighter. Clearly recognizing the grave
USA of the Communist conspiracy. Ask the average American danger posed by the satanic evil of Communism to the free
today his opinion of Senator McCarthy and, if the name rings a world and to the Christian ideals he cherished-and beholding
bell with at all, the chances are very likely that that opinion with sorrow the steady progress that conspiracy was making
be a negative one. And what else would we expect since, upon the American scene-McCarthy determined to oppose
whenever senator's name is mentioned in the communica- and to expose it with all of the power and inflt11ence at his
tions media or by leftist politicians, it is done so in a derogatory disposal. And so he did, displaying a firmness and tenacity
manner? And then there is the often heard term, McCarthyism, towards Communism which no member of the U.S. Senate has
which means the making of unsubstantiated charges against an ever approached before or since.
individual in order to destroy that person's reputation or
The was coined by the senator's enemies, the God alone knows the extent to which the advance crim-
implication being that employed such tactics. Nothing could inal, atheistic conspiracy of Communism the takeover
be but, course, the America was at least slowed down by the noble efforts of
care less Senator Joseph McCarthy. Please God, the of
outstanding patriot one day vindicated
Catholic) was a man in as one
concept of him
Jill Wiesner
n the third day of May the Church celebrates the feast granted complete freedom to the Church throughout the
of the Founding of the Holy Cross. The person world.
responsible for finding this precious relic was an eighty-year-
old woman who had been reared a,; a pagan and who did not The Empress Helena was baptized the same year at age
enter the Church until she was in her sixties. But, once of sixty-three. From the moment of her baptism she was
having found the holy Catholic Faith, Helena, Empress of "incomparable in her faith and zeal." Her greatest delight
the Roman Empire, "became such a devout servant of God was to assist at Mass. In Church her attire was always
that one might believe her to have been a disciple of the simple and modest, manner quiet and unassuming. As
Savior from childhood." empress she used the riches at disposal to aid those in
need and to build beautiful churches.
Born in Asia Minor about the year 250, Helena was the
daughter of an innkeeper. Though innkeepers were of lowly Eleven years after her her son was obliged to go
social rank and did not fraternize with the ruling class, to war once more, this time against the eastern emperor
Helena was so beautiful and sweet-natured that, when she Licinius who had failed to abide by the Edict of Milan. After
was twenty, she won the heart of a powerful Roman general the defeat of Licinius, Constantine was the sole ruler of the
named Constantius Chlorus. Overlooking her humble entire empire and the Holy Land was finally free of pagan
status, Constantius married Helena and took her with him domination.
on his military campaigns. In 274, while they were stationed
in Serbia, their only son, Constantine, was born. Though nearly eighty years old, Helena resolved to travel to
Palestine to venerate the places made holy by the presence
the year 292, Diocletian, Emperor of the Eastern Empire, of our Lord and to find the cross on which He had been
and Maximian Herculeus, Emperor of the Western Empire, crucified.
chose Caesars to govern the outer regions of the empires in
their names. Maximian's choice was Helena's husband, On her pilgrimage she provided for the construction of
Constantius. was, however, a condition imposed by churches. At Bethlehem she commissioned the building of a
emperor: Constantius Chlorus would have to divorce his church in the Grotto of the Nativity and, near Jerusalem, she
wife and marry Maximian's stepdaughter, Theodora. had a church erected on the Mount of the Ascension.
Repudiated by her husband, Helena withdrew quietly, her Her greatest efforts, however, were directed toward the
son, Constantine, remaining loyal to her. Helena's exile search for the holy cross. Christians did not know where
lasted fourteen years. Upon the death of husband, her to look because the pagans had covered the holy sepulchre
son was proclaimed by his troops and then Emperor and Calvary mounds rubbish and rocks. In
of the West. He summoned his beloved mother to the im- second century Emperor Hadrian had topped that with a
perial court and gave her the title Augusta-honored mother three-hundred-foot terrace on which he had erected a
of the sovereign. temple of Venus and a statue of Jupiter.
As provincial governor and as emperor, Constantine had not Helena was informed that, if she could locate the sepulchre,
participated in the persecution of Christians. He even prayed she would also find the cross for it was the custom of the
to God when his authority to rule was challenged by his half- Jews to bury the instruments of execution near the place
brother, Maxentius. While en route to meeting Maxentius in where the body of a criminal was buried.
battle at the Milvian Bridge outside Rome, Constantine
begged God for His assistance. The night before the battle, a She ordered the destruction of the pagan temple and the
cross of light appeared in the sky, encircled by the words, excavation of the debris which supported it digging to
"In Hoc Signo Vinces"-"In this sign thou shalt conquer." a considerable depth her engineers the holy
He promptly gave orders that the cross and motto be placed sepulchre. Three crosses were found as well as the
on a standard and carried at the head of the army. In the nails which had fastened our Savior to the
battle which followed, Constantine was victorious and
Maxentius was killed. Unable to determine which cross was the one on which Jesus
had been crucified, Helena asked the holy Bishop Macarius
Though his decisive victory did not result in the immediate for help. He suggested that she have a piece each cross
conversion of either Constantine or his mother, they de- taken to the bedside of a lady who was gravely ill. Having
fended the Church more strongly than ever. At the com- prayed, Bishop Macarius applied them, one by one, to the
mand of Emperor Constantine, Christians throughout the patient. A miraculous recovery at the touch of the third cross
western empire were permitted to worship God without revealed its authenticity.
harassment. In 313, Constantine persuaded Licinius, then
Emperor of the East, to agree to the Edict of Milan, which continued on page 8
THE ATHANASIAN 2 APRIL 15, 1988 ·
' Kenneth Wei.skittel
hen Ronald Wilson Reagan became our fortieth Soviet schools and universities). Gorbachev and President
president in 1980, many conservative Americans Reagan, who seemed to enjoy playing the role of cordial
exhilaration and relief. At long last, they congratulated host, posed together, smiling, for the army of press reporters
themselves, we've succeeded in placing a man in the White on hand to cover the meetings.
House who will bravely steer the Ship of State out of the
dangerous course it has taken for the better part of this On December 11, one day after the summit ended, Reagan
century. President Reagan shares our longing for a return to met with leaders of the Democrat-controlled Congress to
traditional American values, he'll fight to dismantle socialist brief them on the treaty. Senate Minority Leader Robert
big government and he won't take any guff from the Dole (R-KS), noting the enthusiasm of the briefing,
Commies either. described it as "sort of a love feast." But Senator Steve
Symms (R-ID), a critic of the treaty who joked that "the good
Ah, the best laid plans … As the months wind down on the news is that Gorbachev got out of town and didn't win the
Reagan presidency, some of those who had been his nomination," expressed concern: "It may make it harder to
staunchest supporters are finally beginning to awaken to the get a defense budget passed around here because there's an
Grand Canyon that separates his rhetoric from his actions. appearance the 'evil empire' is a partner in peace." Perhaps
The splash of ice water that roused many sleepers came last Senator Symms meant a subtle rebuke of Reagan by using
December in the form of the INF treaty. More confirmation the president's 1983 characterization of the Soviet n;gime. If
came earlier this year when Reagan unveiled a 1.1 trillion so, "the Gipper" wasn't listening. Proof of the changed
dollar federal budget. And in February two of his Supreme outlook can be seen in the title of a December 12 Tampa
Court appointees joined in an 8-0 decision that overturned a Tribune wire report: "Reagan sees no evil in 'new' Soviet
lower court ruling that awarded the Rev. Jerry Falwell Union." The article reveals a good deal of the president's
damages for a thinly disguised attack made by smut-peddler current attitude, manifested as he fielded reporters'
Larry Flint. (The newest justice, Daniel Kennedy, did not questions at the White House. When asked whether he
participate.) stood by his "evil empire" statement, Reagan remarked:
So what has become of Ronald Reagan, the steely-eyed anti- I meant it when I said it because under previous
communist, the tight-fisted fiscal conservative, the shining leaders they have made it evident that they were
defender of the nation's morality? The question being asked based-that their program was based on expansion-
by some of the right is whether they erred in trusting him in ism, on going forwards toward the Marxian philosophy
the first place. This is a bitter pill to swallow, but one that of a one-world communist state… And it was true that it
needs to be taken, for any sober review of the Reagan Years was a philosophy then, and under previous leaders,
clearly shows that in its domestic affairs and as a world that there was no immorality in anything that furthered
power the United States has continued the same policies the cause, therefore permitting themselves to violate
against which he so skillfully campaigned. trust, to lie and so forth.
Moscow on the Potomac But under Gorbachev, he continued, "there seems to be an
For a few days in December our nation's capital resembled a entirely different relationship." Reagan says he developed a
set from Amerika, the ABC-TV miniseries about a Com- "certain chemistry" with his Soviet counterpart and even
munist takeover. Bright red Soviet flags were in abundance told Gorbachev two jokes about the USSR, getting a "belly
everywhere, including the White House. In some cases they laugh from both of them." (There is already talk that
were hanging on the same flagpoles as American flags, but Reagan and Gorbachev will be sharing the Nobel Peace
hanging above Old Glory. Also in evidence were repro- Prize by year's end.)
ductions of the U.S.-Soviet logo, a design combining fea-
tures of both flags. Sad to say, the situation is far from funny. In first place,
despite the public relations hype from the Western news
This was the dubious protocol that greeted Soviet dictator media (and, now, from Reagan), Mikhail Gorbachev in no
Mikhail Gorbachev and his entourage when they arrived for way has deviated from his predecessors' goal Of a One-World
arms reduction talks. Although the elimination of short and 'Communist State. Only a month before his Washington visit
intermediate range missiles based in Europe was at the top Gorbachev told Communist Party comrades: "In October,
of the summit agenda, representatives from the two nations 1917, we parted with the Old World, rejecting it once and
huddled together to lay the groundwork for joint space for all. We are moving toward a new world, the world of
projects, expanded trade (with the USSR receiving most- Communism. We shall never tum off that road." Second,
favored-nation status) and increased cultural and educa- the Soviets negotiate only to gain advantages over their
tional exchanges (including the broadcasting of Russian adversaries. In the 66 prior U.S.-Soviet treaties, all broken
propaganda over USA television and the National Academy by the Communists, the slow, steady, cumulative effect has
of Science's supplying one million personal computers to been weakening of the American military to the point
ATHANASIAN 3 1988
THE ATHANASIAN 4 1988
5
better world" (the motto of the JBS). If for or
this-what was he for?
Also revealing was the following exchange between Lou
Cannon and a White House aide regarding Reagan allowing Is President Reagan a "useful Or is he just weak and
himself to be photographed with March for Life leaders. easily manipulated? is a conscious agent of a criminal
Cannon writes: conspiracy on merging USA with the Soviet Union
to form the foundation of a New World Order? The reader is
"What do you want to give them?" I asked. "Sym- free to draw his own conclusion. the final analysis, it really
bolism," he replied. He then offered an analogy drawn doesn't matter greatly how one answers because the destruc-
from the popular film, The Godfather, in which the tion of our nation continues unabated. It is difficult to see
criminal leader advises, "Hold your friends close, hold how Reagan can fully escape responsibility. He's had eight
your enemies closer." That, the aide said, was the years to fight for those values he has spoken so captivatingly
tactic which the administration would follow with its about and, almost without exception, he has presided over a
friends on the fringes of the right. "We want to keep greater erosion of them. Those policies that favor the Con-
the Moral Majority types so close to us they can't move spiracy have been followed by President Reagan in the same
their arms," he concluded. (ibid., p. 316) way they have been followed for much of this century.
Holding them as a boa constrictor holds its prey, perhaps? In a few more months Ronald Reagan will pass the scepter of
power to the next carefully-groomed Establishment lackey.
But if Reagan's real role is to neutralize the right by Then the script has him mount his steed, doff his cowboy hat
pretending to be a conservative, the strange distance to the camera and ride off into the sunset. And for America
between his words and deeds falls into place. When KAL and her freedoms, unless enough informed citizens are
007, carrying U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald and 268 aroused to action in time, that sunset is getting perilously
other civilians, was shot out of the sky by the USSR, near. t
conservatives implored President Reagan not to let this
atrocity go unpunished, to "get tough." In "Reagan: the
Wrong Stuff," an article that appeared in the February,
1984 issue of American Opinion magazine, the late Gary
Allen (author of None Dare Call It Conspiracy) wrote:
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not
Upon hearing Conservative outrage at his failure mean to stand by the president or any other public
adequately to respond, Mr. Reagan actually asked with official save exactly to the degree in which he himself
fatuous irony if his critics wanted him to start a nuclear stands by the country …
war.
It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently
The national news media, of course, did not inform serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him
Americans that many on the right reasonably argued that, in to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he
retaliation for the KAL murders, the U.S. should close the fails in his duty to stand by the country …
Soviet embassy, expel their "diplomats," sever relations and
the like, the media saying only that the president had hinted (fheodore Roosevelt)
that they were nuts who wanted to start Armageddon. More
recently, when conservatives were assailing the INF treaty,
Reagan said: "Those people, basically, down in their deepest
thought.'>, have accepted that war is inevitable." (White
House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater would actually tell the
press that individuals such as Howard Phillips and Richard
Viguerie had nothing to do with Reagan being elected.)
Some of the president's remarks can be written off, perhaps,
r y
as being the result of misinformation, but the two above
have a calculated ring to them. What better way to destroy
the conservative movement in America than to have the
t e sa
beloved president, thought to be a solid conservative,
ridicule its leaders as loonies and warmongers. An average
American, who gets his news only from the controlled
ily
sources, hears the president attack and concludes, "These
guys must really be extremists if Reagan won't have
anything more to do with them." And it is just as easy for the
gullible citizen (who probably still has his "Reagan in '80"
lapel pin) to believe that the latest arms treaty-which he'd
THE ATHANASIAN 6 15, 1988
"Lift /'i-,.1("8 ' '
el'Spite the nearly incredible state of disarray traditional Sacraments and devotions (especially
to which enemies have brought the the Rosary), in our fidelity to total Roman
Church in their attemptl'S totally to destroy it. we Catholic orthodoxy in doctrine and morals, in our
Roman Catholics must ever bear in adamant refusal to compromise our divine Faith
of the basic doctrines of our Faith, for any reason-we know we are right and,
. Church is a divine institution consequently, by the grace of God we will never
which1 the will and power of God Himself, is abandon the principles we hold and the stand we
indestructible. evil force or any combination of have taken!
such forces in all the world could possibly destroy
the Roman Catholic Church for it has the infall- Let us, then, never permit our sadness at the
ible guarantee of itl'S divine Founder that it will last present woeful plight of the Church to become
until the end of time, until the world itl'Self is no excessive and thereby discourage and divert us
more. It is today the same One, Holy, Catholic and from the noble apostolate to which we are
Apostolic Church that it was on the first Pentecost committed. Nor let the fact that we are but a
Sunday, the day of itl'S birth: the Kingdom of God remnant, a small minority, deter us or tempt us to
on earth, the ever glorious Mystical Body of despair. Superior numbers do not determine
Christ. To be sure, that Body, as never before, has morality. If a course of action is morally right, it
been severely scarred and bruised and pierced remains morally right even if no one follows it; if a
her enemies by course of action is morally it remains
disguised, traitorous enemies within. But have no morally wrong even if everyone follows it. What is
fear. These wounds are not unto death. The supremely important is that the stand we take is a
Church will survive all. We have God's Word for morally right and just and logical one.
that.
So, "lift up your heartl'S"! Pray often and ardently
And there is a second reason why, in spite of all to the good Lord for the precious grace to remain
that has happened, we traditional Roman ever loyal and true to our beloved Faith until
Catholics should take heart, and that is the simple death! "For… the sufferings of the present time are
truth we are holding fast, that we are not worthy to be compared with the glory to
remaining faithful to the one true Church. In our come … " (Saint Paul-Romans 8, 18)t
steadfast adherence to the True Mass and the
THE ATHANASIAN
Published by Traditional Catholics of America
issues a year: (Jan. 15, Mar. 1, Apr. 15, June 1, July 15, Sept. 1, Oct. 15, Dec. 1)
Subscriptions: $12.00 per year (via First Class Mail) for the USA, Canada and Mexico; $16.00 per
year (via Air Mail) for all other countries
Additional copies: single copy – $1.50; 10 copies – $12.00; 40 or more to same address – $1.00 each
Mailing address: P.O. Box 38335, Colorado Springs, CO 80937
Telephone: (719) 636-1575
Manuscriptl'S sent to us for possible publication in The Athanasian should be typewritten, double-spaced and no more
than seven pages in length. [f not accepted, they will be returned to the sender. No articles from this newsletter may be
reproduced either in whole or in part without the written permission of the TCA.
ATHANAS1AN 7 APRIL 1988
"Saint Helena" continued from page 2 temptations of worldly honors, "received heavenly
crown." Before in Constantine, following
Helena had the cross divided into three parts. One was sent example of his mother, was baptized.
to Rome and placed in the Church of the Holy Cross of
Jerusalem; another was sent to the Emperor Constantine Though she had been brought up as a pagan, Saint
in Constantinople. The remaining portion was placed in a gave unreservedly to God, once she found
silver shrine in the Basilica of the Holy Cross which the true Through her intercession may we also live our
Empress Helena had built over the where the cross always in our the
had been found.
The elderly empress remained in Jerusalem where "she
continually resorted to church, humbly dressed
among the praying women; the
buildings rich ornaments
twentieth year of the of
rejoiced in humility while
To live in our great cities without the loss of faith I am only one but I am one; I can't do everything but
and purity requires no less heroism than was I can do something; what I can do, that I ought to
needed in the days of bloody persecution. do; and what I ought to do, that, by the grace of
God, I shall do.
(Pope Pius XII)
(Edward Hale)
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it
has been found difficult and untried. Treason doth never prosper, wh.9.t's the
if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
(G.K.
(Sir John
Those people who are not governed by
ruled by tyrants. is necessary is
good men do
Burke)