On its best day, Belgium isn’t much of a country. Its most famous citizen, and the only Belgian of whom most non-Belgians have heard, is Hercule Poirot. The symbolism is perfect. Belgium, in many ways, is a fictional country, a vague shadow reminding us of a third of what Caesar told us all Gaul was made of. But, it’s bureaucrats are able to jump on bandwagons. In the last day or so, Belgian police have raided Church offices, and confiscated records, trying to find “proof” of child molesting. They have confiscated priests’ cell phones, held many incommunicado, and seized their computers.
Once again, we see the results of The Church hierarchy having been successfully infiltrated by those who wish to sabotage it. And, it’s no surprise that governments increase and justify their own attacks on The Church by making use of what a handful of child molesters who insinuated themselves into the clergy did.
One motivation is clear. No Western government wants The Church’s competition or interference in education, hospitals, or social services. Attacks on The Church have been a near-constant in much of Europe since Henry VIII stole the monasteries and convents that provided such services effectively and economically.
It should be no surprise that anti-Catholic virulence is increased because The Church condemns abortion and euthanasia, both of which are legal in Belgium. One asks why the state-run media focuses on the alleged wrongdoings of the clergy while turning a completely blind eye to a far greater crime, the willful murders of its most helpless citizens, tiny children aborted at the rate of 115,000 around the world each and every day.
The answer is clear: the press is the voice of The Culture of Death, and no one with any sense takes it seriously. Some Catholic Fundamentalists wonder if the press is one of the three frogs that came out of the dragon, false prophet, and beast. Or, if the press is actually the false prophet or beast. We’ll know, soon enough.
The state has additional reasons to attack The Church. Belgian officials, like those in most “modern” governments, believe it’s “sound economics” to reduce the outlays needed to care for children and senior citizens. Reducing money spent on people by getting rid of helpless, unborn children and equally helpless seniors provides more money for bureaucrats to satisfy their own ravenous demands for salaries, benefits, and pensions.
So, they do everything possible to discredit The Church because She condemns them as destroyers of life. Such attacks on The Church are also encouraged by other, competing organizations and religions; some Christian, some not. When we step back from the flurry of rehearsed outrage that invariably accompanies the claims of abuse, we see that The Church is still pro-life and calling us to love God and neighbor, things strangely lacking in the organizations and religions behind many attacks on The Catholic Church since its, or their, beginning.
We may, and should, be heartened by Luke, 6;22 “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.”
When so many corrupt, murdering governments condemn The Church for far lesser crimes that they, themselves, commit and encourage, we are seeing only the crudest finger-pointing, as if a mass murderer distracted others from his crimes by complaining about Belgians, among others, for not being vegetarians.
