Quick Takes: Charlie, Charlie Challenge, The Ireland Vote, Should ISIS Make you Nervous?

Charlie, Charlie Challenge: Better to Stick to Water Buckets 

Over the last couple of days I've seen these posts on Facebook about the so called Charlie, Charlie Challenge. A geezer like me knowing about this can only mean that this latest internet phenomenon has been circulating around the kids for a while now.

Basically it's a ouija board for people with attention deficit, since the board itself has been reduced to small square with "Yes" and "No" quadrants, navigated by two pencils (no spelling required). Charlie, the challenge's name sake, is billed as a Mexican demon, and there are rules about how to gain and break contact with said Charlie. I don't want to give too much info, lest I inadvertently lead people to try it. I have mixed feelings about mentioning it at all, but feel moved by prayer to write at least this brief warning.

STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM THIS, OR ANY OTHER OCCULT PRACTICE AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.

As I told the young people at Mass last night, you wouldn't purposely stand on a dangerous street corner where a lot of drive-bys take place. You wouldn't wear the wrong colors in the wrong neighborhood to see what'll happen. You wouldn't flash gang signs on the street for a laugh. The spiritual world is the same. When we play with these forces we open doors that are not easily closed. Whether Charle is a real demon is beside the point. Demons are real and will exploit any opening to lay a claim either on a person or a place, and he'll answer to Charlie, Captain Howdy, or Bobo the Monkey if it's to his advantage.

Let me be clear: playing these games does not necessarily lead to demonic possession. Possessions are extremely rare, even taking into account the recent rise in reports of such cases. But demonic oppression and infestations of places are arguably more common than we may think. That's why I recommend getting your house blessed and living a moral, prayerful life, which for Catholics includes the regular reception of Holy Communion and frequent confessions. And avoiding door openers like ouija boards, seances, fortune telling, palm readings along with any other form of spiritualism is vitally important.

Keeping the dark forces out is easy when you let God, who is life and light, in.

The Ireland Vote

I know that the recent vote to legalize gay marriage in Ireland has left many Catholics reeling. Ireland, once a bulwark of the Faith, has gone completely secular, and some would say is now anti-religion, not simply anti-Catholic. I'm troubled, like most of my sisters and brothers are, but I wish I could say I'm perplexed by this development, but I'm simply not. I'm one who thinks that social commentator Camille Paglia is correct, the current gender wars are a sign that Western Civilization is dying, and I would say it's already dead.

I have written at length in this space about the Catholic teaching on marriage, and I admit that I've backed off over the last couple of years. Not because I've reconsidered what I believe, rather that I've come to conclusion that all the blog posts in the world are not going to sway minds and hearts. As a culture we have chosen the path we want to walk, and now it's time to await the consequences of that choice. For those Catholics who remain in the truth (and I pray I receive the grace to do that) it will mean social marginalization, limits put on how and where we can minister, loss of tax exempt status and possibly jail for not accepting the new secular orthodoxy.

Both Pope Emeritus Benedict and the late Cardinal George have gotten praise and consternation for comments they made about where they see the Church and society heading. Benedict VVI spoke of a smaller, more faithful Church, George famously said that he expected to die in bed, his successor to die in jail and his successor to die a martyr. But the archbishop after that would help restore society, starting with the shards of a broken culture, much like the Church has done in the past. Both men were criticized as either looking for the Church to be an elitist organization, or else was guilty of being a prophet of doom. But both assessments are false.

Cardinal George, in his last major interview before he passed away clarified what he meant by those now famous (to some infamous) words. He stressed that this was a private conversation that he didn't expect to be made public. He also framed his observations, not as a prophesy, but as a worst case scenario. It's not that he expects that these things would happen, but even if they do come to pass, we shouldn't lose heart: the Church will still be there to pick the pieces up when the crisis is over. These were meant to be worlds of hope to a friend who was depressed over where he saw things heading.

As for Pope Benedict, a fuller understanding of the context of his comments, as we can see here in Fr. Dwight Lonhenecker's post, again shows that we're not talking about an ideal, but the logical consequences that will face the Church in an age of militant secularism. Those who choose to remain with the main body of the Church once doing so means loss of status, property, and possibly liberty, will likely be a relative few, human nature being what it is. Countless numbers chose to burn incense to the Roman emperor and surrender the sacred books to be destroyed in the early centuries of the Church rather then face, not only imprisonment, but possible death. Once the peace came the debate turned to whether to admit these apostates back into full communion (which the Church eventually did). How many will flee the persecution by renouncing the Faith is anybody's guess, and a guessing game better not to play. All of us will be tested, none of us is so strong as to boast that we will, without doubt, do the right thing. In light of this we all need to pray continually for the gifts of courage and wisdom.

Until then, there is no point being depressed or worried. Christ won the victory already. He always told us trials would come (persecutions, earthquakes, famines, wars and rumors of war) but he also assured us that these would not have the final word.

Should ISIS Make You Nervous?

I had a meeting of young adults at the parish last Friday, and two young women from another parish joined, what is a small but growing group. I was finishing up a talk on the Book of Revelation that I'd begun the month before. My main point was that, while the book does point to a definitive end of history as we understand it, it is also showing how history is a series of repeating patterns. Not that events repeat, but that the rise and fall of empires follow a predictable cycle, and the Church needs to know how to adapt to these ever changing circumstances. I then mentioned the Venerable Fulton Sheen's belief, expressed in the 1970's during a retreat he was giving to priests, that we're at the end of a Christendom. What he meant was that we were at the end of a unified Christian culture where Gospel values are at the root of our social, political and moral life. He claimed that history could be broken up into roughly five hundred year epochs, beginning with the birth of Jesus, and that we were now at the end of one such period.

One of our visitors looked up from the notebook that she was feverishly scribbling in, and asked, "What do you think of ISIS? They make me nervous." Normally this would be the time when I would make some reassuring comment about them being half a world away, and that they're really a rag tag outfit, the JV team, actually: no need to worry, at all. But I couldn't get myself to lie. These were adults I was talking to, so I said, "Well, they make me nervous, too."

Yes, they do make me a little nervous, mainly because the world's leaders don't seem to be taking them seriously. These are people who really believe in what they are doing, and they will stop at nothing to reach their objectives. There is no internal debate that I can see that they are having over who they are and what values they hold. We in the West really don't believe in anything. We say we believe in freedom of speech, but do we really? It seems that we do as long it doesn't offend anybody. Being self critical and self questioning is a healthy trait of Western Civilization. But we now question everything about ourselves, including the things that are genetically and anatomically obvious. Sheen would say that we have subordinated all moral and ethical values to the economic and the political. I would add another value: the emotional, or therapeutic. Because our leaders, and many of us, can't understand why people would fight for something beyond purely practical or even animal motives, they don't understand ISIS.

The secular society that at the same time dabbles in spiritualism, among other quasi religious activities, to fill the gap, is not prepared to stand up to a force of true believes, no matter how rag tag they seem. We are not ready to defend our society because we really don't believe in it. We take freedom for granted because we don't believe in responsibility. The world's leaders are making decisions based on political and economic considerations, and the electorate is being swayed more and more by emotions. This is a combination for disaster.

But I end, as I must, because I can't lie, on a positive note. I'm no prophet, nor am I from a school of prophets (as I think I've written before), but I have no doubt who's going to win this struggle. In the short term there will be trials and, dare I say, tribulations, but Christ won the victory already. I do believe, like John Paul the Great, that we are at the beginning of a new spring time for the Faith. Spiring brings flowers and new life, but also rain, and even a few thunder storms along the way. ISIS makes me nervous, sure, but not bowed, and certainly not defeated.

Not with Flesh and Blood

The funeral of Fr. Jesus Plaza, SDB and Brother Luis Sanchez, SDB on Monday, February 17

Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. Ephesians 6:11-13

As I reported last time, two Salesians were murdered over the weekend in Valencia, Venezuela, when their school residence was broken into. On one level this is a very personal tragedy, and there are no words that can properly express the loss of Fr. Jesus Plaza, 80, and Brother Luis Sanchez, 84. Both dedicated their lives to the Gospel and sharing the love of Christ with young people. How ironic that two of the suspects in connection with the murders are teenagers or pre-teens.

Unfortunately this is not the first time that I've read about priests or religious being murdered in recent years. Some are martyrs for the faith, others are victims of random crime. A priest in New Jersey was killed in 2009 by a parish employee angered by his recent firing. A Salesian in the Dominican Republic was killed a few years back in a carjacking. These murders, like all murders are senseless, but at the same time I never had the feeling that there was something darker lurking underneath the surface beyond the "normal" evil that is murder.  There were no plots, conspiracies or grand designs involved as far as I could tell. The killer's motives were transparent, though the crimes still shocking. Even in the famous case of the Monks of Atlas, whose deaths are so shrouded in mystery, we know that whatever the particulars, they had made a decision to stay in a dangerous location, making violent death a strong possibility. The Salesians in Venezuela are going to pains to say that these murders are apart of the epidemic of crime effecting their country, and are not connected with any political strife they're presently experiencing. I'm not going to argue with that. But these killings seem to have a different feel to them, one that points to something deeper and darker.

On the surface this does seem like a routine robbery gone terribly wrong. Schools getting broken into are not uncommon. Computers and other AV equipment are the usual targets, and there's sometimes loose cash hanging around in teachers' desks; field trip money, prom money that teachers are collecting, things like that. Gangs are most often behind the break-ins, though the cash grabs are most likely "inside" jobs; students who know what teacher is collecting money for what event, and where they hide it, which is usually in an obvious place.

The break-in at the Salesian school in Valencia, Venezuela has all the earmarks of a gang related burglary. Add to this the rampant crime, as well as the social-political unrest which has plagued that nation for months, the pieces fall into place neatly for a rather prosaic explanation for what happened. So while these murders are all very shocking, the explanation for why they happened seems to be very logical. So why the queasy feeling that things may be more than what it appears?

Because gangs in Latin America and, increasingly, in the United States, are connected with drug cartels. Many of these cartels have adopted a form of occult practice and spirituality; a mixture of "folk Catholicism" and occult beliefs known as Santa Muerte (Saint Death). She is usually depicted as a grim reaper holding a sickle and an orb. Statuettes and other images of the "saint" come in black and white (I know this because someone left one of each outside our church doors a number of years back). She is invoked for protection and good fortune, especially before big drug deals and other criminal activities like robberies. She is nonjudgmental, or so her devotees claim, the goddess for those whose lifestyle leaves them outside the norms of both civil society and mainstream religions like Christianity. Though there are devotional elements associated with Catholicism mixed into Santa Muerte ritual, they view the Church as an enemy and priests as legitimate targets for violence and murder. Don't take my word for it, the FBI has a report on their website detailing this insidious cult, which is especially popular among the Mexican gangs.

The reports I've seen in both English and Spanish on this tragedy have been brief. And yes, the Salesian provincial there has rightly tried to down play the sensationalistic aspects of the murders. Still, I'm faced with questions. I'm not familiar with the layout of this school's campus, but Salesian residences are usually placed in an out of the way location on the grounds, if it's on the property at all. They are not practical targets for thieves if their goal is to steal computers, grab some cash and get out quick. They also went out of their way to enter the chapel to desecrate the Blessed Sacrament. Again, while the community chapel isn't hidden per say, it is in a quiet part of the house that typically has to be sought out. While avoiding hysteria is important, I can't help but think that this was a robbery, true, but one that didn't go "wrong" as far as the perpetrators' intentions are concerned.

This adds up, in my mind, to gangs, possibly ones with particular animus for the Church. And, sadly, young people with familiarity with the school. That the intruders were teens, one possibly as young as 12 years old, is incomprehensible, and yet not unheard of. Gangs do recruit kids that young, and indoctrinate their minds, steal their souls.

These gangs are not values neutral. They want to justify their actions as good. Many who engage in crime and vice as a way of life abandon God and religion. Atheism, though, is not a natural human inclination; we are "wired" for God. So when some one's life is at odds with traditional religious values, but they want to hold on to some transcendent connection one of two things happen. Traditional religion is kept but perverted in some way. The criminal reduces religion to superstition, often living a double life of devotion and murder, unable to see the contradiction. Otherwise esoteric devotions arise which are confused at best, demonic at worst. We know what side the gangs and cartels have thrown there lot in with.

The problem of organized crime in Latin America and the United States is a complex one. There are social, political and economic factors at work. But there are also spiritual realities at work. Yes, the murders of Br. Luis and Fr. Jesus are two of thousands of such killings that result from the rampant crime in Venezuela, be it organized or random. As good citizens, in the spirit of Don Bosco, we need to advocate social changes that will bring a world of greater justice and peace.

We also need to understand that there is a spiritual battle taking place, and the enemy isn't flesh and blood. He doesn't carry knives or guns. He seduces with promises of paradise and power, which leads to short term benefits and eternal death. The deaths of our brother Salesians came at the intersection of the earthly and spiritual struggle that we are engaged in. Our part, as children of the light is to advocate justice through peace, while aggressively fighting the powers of darkness with the spiritual weapons at our disposal.