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The White Privilege of Lent

Yesterday, I learned that some Catholics had organized a recent conference that took a bold stand against the Alt-Right:

“I’ve written previously about how the Catholic historical experience with nativism can serve as a reminder that the church should be out front in confronting the racism and anti-Muslim bigotry that fuels contemporary strains of white nationalism. That experience is unusually relevant these days. Donald Trump won the White House in part by selling a restorationist vision for reclaiming America often rooted in racial appeals, and a nostalgic narrative that harkened back to a time when white hegemony, culturally, and politically, were assumed to be as American as eating apple pie and ice cream.

Several scholars, advocates, and researchers tackled this subject last week at an event, “How Catholics Should Respond to the Rise of the Alt-Right,” co-hosted by the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America and Millennial, a journal and blog edited by young Catholics. …”

I rolled my eyes. Quite honestly, I didn’t think their virtue signaling was worth responding to on this blog. Why respond to these people when Pope Francis is a SJW? Anti-Muslim bigotry? Ever hear of the Crusades? Ever hear of the Reconquista in Spain?

Today, I noticed that the same Catholic group, specifically this journal called Millennial, has an article about “acknowledging” their white privilege on Lent in Time magazine:

“”Rend your hearts, not your garments!” These are the challenging words of the prophet Joel that will greet Christians in churches around the world as they mark the beginning of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday.

Lent, too domesticated over time, is nothing short a radical ancient invitation to reject the emerging dictatorship of superficiality that too often sullies our lives and our communities and to take up a new path that celebrates authentic encounter and encourages our own our conversion and a transformation of the entire human race. …

As a white heterosexual Christian man it’s a reminder that if I am to authentically honor the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ this holy season, I must acknowledge and reject the privilege afforded me for the sake of taking the path of Jesus Christ.

There’s nothing better for me to do this Lent than to abstain and fast from the sexism that too often colors my life.

Now, let’s set the record straight: there are those who are blatantly sexist and there are those who unintentionally perpetuate micro-acts of sexism in their everyday lives. I’m most certainly a sinner, but on my best days, I’m hopefully more of the latter than the former. And perhaps that’s more pernicious in a country where Donald Trump is President. …”

I’m not a Catholic.

I guess I don’t get it. I don’t recall Jesus Christ ever mentioning “racism” or “sexism” or “white privilege” or “human rights,” but whatever, who am I to disagree with Pope Francis? Protestants have always believed that Catholicism is full of things that have nothing to do with Christianity:

“In confronting the alt-right, then, we must stipulate each and every time that there is an imbalance in the discussion, that they do not share our commitment to democratic processes or values, and that this imbalance is the frame in which each and every particular discussion takes place. We must state, clearly, and each and every time, that debate presumes equal partners to the debate, and that we are committed to the belief in the essential equality of all, even while our interlocutors from the alt-right are not. When they traffic in lies, we must state, “That’s a lie” and demand evidence for the claim. We must beware of the tricky way they fabricate evidence. We must, each and every time, make sure that we do nothing to normalize their views, but identify just how hateful and beneath contempt those views are. We must, in short, be on our guard. Engage, but do so warily, and only when repeatedly noting the fact that the positions the alt-right espouses are not just wrong, but contemptuous of the means by which a liberal democracy sorts out the complexities of public policy, means that we value and celebrate, and which we accord to these provocateurs even if they wish not to accord them to anyone else. …”

What can you do but laugh at these goobers?

Pope Leo XIII denounced the heresy of Americanism. Pope Gregory XVI condemned liberal democracy. Where does these people get off condemning us for being contemptuous of liberal democracy? Are they familiar with their own traditions or are they really just this historically ignorant? What did St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas have to say about the “sin” of sexism?

Do these people know how ridiculous they sound? I find my thoughts drifting to Tertullian on women:

“And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert— that is, death— even the Son of God had to die.”

This is the fundamental reason I can’t take so many modern Christians seriously. I’ve had Southern Baptists tell me that “racism” is a sin. I have to remind them that they figured this out in the 1990s, fifty years after this nonsense started being propagated by the mainstream media, and that they were the last group in the entire country to do so. Their church was also founded in the antebellum era as a reaction against the power of the abolitionist movement in the Baptist church.

In this case, we are dealing with liberals condemning us as Catholics. All of these concepts are drawn from trendy secular culture and would have bowled over 19th century Catholics.



Hunter Wallace
the authorHunter Wallace
Hunter Wallace is the founder and editor of OccidentalDissent.com

27 Comments

  • Excellent article , as a Catholic I’ve agonized over these questions for years. Mr. Wallace makes a very good point with the question, “Are they familiar with their own traditions or are they really this historically ignorant?”. Actually they are completely marinated in their own “tradition”, which goes way back to 1958, the year of the judeo-masonic takeover through the false papacy of John 23 and the masonic, illuminati subsequent “popes” right up to the Evil Clown Pope Bergoglio. While the true Tradition is buried or eclipsed, but always there for anyone who wants to drink from that bottomless well of Truth and Grace.

  • It’s times like these when I truly appreciate being unbound from the shackles of religion. Those that want to pontificate on my behalf always seem to be slightly detached from the things that are threatening me today. They’re always telling me to accept things that they don’t really have to accept.

    When I choose to do something for the sake of my nation and the safety of my family, I don’t have to temper my reaction and response based on the interpretations of the life of someone who lived hundreds and even thousands of years ago. When we’re talking about my family, friends and the things I cherish, I protect it. If it threatens my own existence, my family, friends and the things I cherish, I kill it.

  • Oh hey I have a great idea: How about we stop giving a fuck about middle eastern religions? If you MUST worship something, pick Odin and be done with it.

    At this point, I couldn’t give a fuck if every church in Europe burns.

    • Let’s not go overboard. Those churches, many are great works of art, are European creations. They deserve to be populated by our people.

      I’d rather see us worshiping as Whites rather than Cucktians.

      • The church two blocks from me has a huge banner out front stating “Refugees Welcome” with a photo of a brown kid. Then just yesterday I saw an old white couple on that same block taking their adopted brown pet for a walk. “Come on angel” they said when afro kid lagged behind. I know for a fact there are homeless white kids in this city but instead the church is working towards this. And someone’s God help you if you question them on it. “Jesus loves everyone!”

        At what point can we admit these religions are a liability? Cause I wanna start burning them now.

      • I don’t think Cologne Cathedral ‘deserves’ to be populated by the people on whom it turned off its lights during the pegida march.

  • How should Catholics respond to the Alt Right?

    Short answer: cuck harder.

  • I guess I don’t get it. I don’t recall Jesus Christ ever mentioning “racism” or “sexism” or “white privilege” or “human rights,” but whatever, who am I to disagree with Pope Francis? Protestants have always believed that Catholicism is full of things that have nothing to do with Christianity.

    Yeah, everyone knows Protestants are the voice of sanity on these issues.

    • “Yeah, everyone knows Protestants are the voice of sanity on these issues.” LOL. Good one.

  • A lot of this social-justice ideology in the U.S. seems to derive from Puritanism. Today’s SJW’s have just secularized the Puritans’ impulse to seek out, condemn and punish sinners by coming up with new sins like the isms.

    • Nah, it’s just another strain of Cucktianity. It works on the collective pathology of the White mind. It’s a maladaptive psychological trait that’s been recorded since Hypatia.

  • “A bold stance against the alt-right” if that isn’t code for a circle-jerk I don’t know what is.

  • Christianity has been spitting and sputtering since The Reformation and it’s now ultimately come to this kinda nonsense. It’s just more degenerate liberalism, nothing more, nothing less. There’s just too much in Christian doctrine and the bible that can be taken out of context, distorted, reframed into full on poz. I don’t like getting into this pissing match with Christians on the Alt-Right because I understand that they get it but Christianity as a whole, I’m sorry fellas but it’s over. But don’t worry because The All Father loves you. Say what you will, but at least he’s ours.

  • You have to know the lay of the land around The Catholic University of America to appreciate the anarcho-tyranny these parasites are hiding with their moral signaling. Think of CUA’s campus like a scene from The Bonfire of the Vanities or, for a closer approximation, like Yale University surrounded by crime-infested New Haven.

  • None of this crap has anything to do with Catholicism or Christianity in general. This is put out by Democratic party front groups using religion as a cover.

    They are just the left-wing version of the Republican televangelist shills. This is no different than Karl Rove under George W. Bush saying “just get me some fucking faith based thing!”

    It’s politics, not religion.

    • Christians fall for it though. It’s way easier for a Christian to agree with “racism is a sin” than it is to agree with “put your own race first.” That’s a serious problem.

      Anyway, if this is all just leftism masquerading as Christianity, where are the conservative Christians who oppose it? Nowhere, because deep down they actually agree with these tenets.

  • I was raised Catholic. The rot had set in under John Paul II, and began with Vatican II.

    I’m not Christian, but if one wants to profess faith in Jesus, I would suggest the Orthodox Church. There seems to be way less of this White Guilt Virtue Signalling bullshit going on in Orthodox Christianity.

    And Protestants are just as bad as Catholics right now, if not worse. The Southern Baptists apologized for slavery and racism a few years back, and if a SWPL tells you they are Mainline Protestant, you immediately know that they are a race traitor who likes to do missionary work in some African shithole and bring black babies back home with them.

    • I recently went to an orthodox church where we said a prayer for suffering Orthodox Christians in Palestine

      • I know a couple of white American converts to Orthodox Christianity. They’ve told me that in their understanding of history, the Catholics broke away from the Orthodox and went astray.

        • Thing with Orthodoxy is that’s people religion, i know ’cause i’m one. What it means, basically theology and spiritual part is same for all, but it doesn’t deny local traditions, ie promotes idea that Christianity should be adopted according to local mentality. So in Africa you have new converts acting well like Africans (dancing in church???), but if they come in Russia and go their way they will be expelled from the church by babushka. Reason? They don’t respect local traditions.
          Saying that first that will whine how Orthodox church isn’t “universal”(actually from my standpoint it’s only universal) enough are members of OCA (American church), Finish one on other hand got expelled for their stance about gays (because it well first part, theology and spiritual part). Oh and yeah, you’re right, Catholics are considered as church that abandoned communion.

    • The Catholic church was staunchly pro-white before Vatican II. Everyone knows that.

  • Their position isn’t really Catholic; it’s just more virtue-signaling from a social justice platform. I suspect most of my pious, traditionalist Catholics (not to mention the monarchists, for goodness sake) are cringing when they read those statements. Notice their pious moaning is devoid of scripture, canon law, or Tradition; it’s just more SJW stuff with a – barely – Lenten patina. A Christian culture and society is absolutely worth fighting for, for example, but notice how they’ve turned it a “be nice to Muslims” campaign.

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