Friend,
After the violent events of last Saturday, every serious Catholic in America should stop, look around, and recognize the moment we are in.
For years, most normal American Catholics have tried to live their lives, raise their families, go to Mass, do their work, and avoid the insanity consuming our public life: mobs shutting down events; political opponents treated as enemies to be humiliated, silenced, and even destroyed.
And now we have reached a dangerous place in which we are being told erroneously that this is simply a “both sides” problem.
Peaceful pro-life Catholics pray with the Sisters of Life outside an abortion clinic. Violent agitators menace public events, attack police, and celebrate the death of political opponents.
Not the same thing.
Parents stand up at school board meetings against anti-girl policies. Radicals parade signs calling for violence against federal agents or to justify murder as “resistance.”
Not the same thing.
Some speak the truth in public. Others create a vile culture in which assassination, intimidation, and mob rule are treated as “understandable” or even “acceptable” political expression.
Not the same thing.
That false equivalence is a lie. And Catholics should have the courage to say so.
Since 2020, our country has witnessed the normalization of riot, destruction, looting, threats, and political intimidation. Intellectuals have excused it. Academics have rationalized it. Most of the mainstream media have made it an acceptable part of the political discourse.
Decent people stayed quiet because they do not want trouble. But today, silence is no longer prudence: it has become a form of surrender.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the attempts against the life of President Trump, and the growing wave of threats and violence against public officials, police officers, Christians, religious minorities, pro-life advocates, and ordinary Americans are not isolated eruptions. They are symptoms of a deeper spiritual sickness.
A nation that teaches people to hate their enemies should not be surprised when some eventually decide to kill them.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta warned the world in her 1979 Nobel lecture that abortion is “the greatest destroyer of peace.” She understood that violence does not begin in war zones or on cable news. It begins in the human heart. It begins when the smallest and weakest human beings are treated as disposable. It begins when the family is broken. It begins when truth is severed from charity. It begins when we forget that every person—including our political opponent—is made in the image and likeness of God.
Today, everyone says they want peace. But peace does not begin with yard-sign slogans or cute Instagram posts. Peace begins with conversion. It begins in the womb, at home, at our small community, at the parish.
It begins in the way we speak, vote, organize, educate, protest, and defend the truth.
Earlier this week, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote that Christians must refuse to be guided by narratives of hate, but instead, “with meekness and determination, affirm: Christians do not hate. This is our testimony, and it is already a prophecy.”
That is exactly the witness America needs now. Not cowardice, or passivity, or sentimental appeals to “unity” that ignore the truth. And certainly not a retreat from public life.
America needs Catholics who will speak clearly, act courageously, defend the innocent, and refuse to answer hatred with hatred. We need to bring a stronger witness to our Faith so that the great American tradition of freedom of speech remains guided by the truth.
We must defend free speech: not because every word spoken in America is wise or good, but because a free people must be able to argue, persuade, rebuke, repent, and seek the truth without fear of violence.
We must defend the unborn: because no society can build peace while tolerating violence against its own children.
We must defend the family: because a nation that loses the family loses the first school of mercy, discipline, sacrifice, and love.
And we must defend the dignity of every human person: including those who despise us.
In short, Catholics must finally step up. We need Catholics at school board meetings. We need them running for office, defending pro-life pregnancy centers, supporting police officers and first responders. We need them protecting Jewish neighbors from antisemitic hatred.
And we need Catholics to refuse the lie that political violence is “resistance.” We need them to vote, organize, donate, volunteer, speak, pray, and act as if the future of this country is not someone else’s responsibility.
This is our country. This is our moment. And this is our duty. Catholics cannot fix all of this by ourselves. But we can refuse to be bystanders. We can help steer this nation away from the violence now threatening to consume it.
Do not leave the field to those who hate the Church, hate the unborn, hate the family, hate America, and increasingly hate anyone who dares to disagree.
The hour is late. But it is not too late.
Go forward bravely,
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