The account of “The Patriarchal Family” in Human History” by the famous Catholic historian Christopher Dawson concludes that without enough fathering a culture always dies in a few decades. It is almost too late to reverse the demographic collapse of families in Western culture and the end of our civilization. What happened to our Dads? Yet we must not despair. When we look back it becomes clear that the revolutionary Christian marriage vows reformed the patriarchal family structure. This is the way back. These vows dedicate spouses completely to each other, while honoring Dads as the indispensable foundation of moral authority in a marriage and thus in society.

What happened to our Dads? Where did they go? How did Dads lose their honored status in the Christian family described in the Bible? Are Dads at fault or were they chased away from their children? We might find part of the answer when we consider the natural families of other advanced mammal species. New scientific studies have indicated that the Father is the most important foundation of a family. Are we a matriarchy or have Dads been replaced by a Super-Dad; a Patriarchal government using the power of welfare, public schools, media, and free health-care?

Astonishing Louis IX was one of God’s great gifts to the entire world as a model of wisdom, virtue, and temperament. He was the real life embodiment of the legendary wise king described in many religions. He commanded the largest army ruled the largest and wealthiest kingdom, and led the European centre of arts and intellectual thought. In wartime he displayed genius as an innovator in the art of military logistics and wise strategy. He courageously fought at the front of every battle. In peacetime his compassionate character led him to introduce a humane legal system and to spend time listening face to face to the common people, defending them against nobles when necessary. Beggars were fed from his table, he ate their leavings, washed their feet, ministered to the wants of the lepers, and daily personally fed over one hundred poor.

“Merrie Old England” is an accurate description of the good times of the 13th Century. People had refined manners and open hearts. Troubadours sang of idealized love. Chivalry ennobled men and protected women. Secular life was clustered securely around the Catholic Church’s monasteries, universities, and hospitals. Intellectuals abounded. Communities were small so a lot of laws and administration were not needed. The secular guilds were democratic organizations that cared for their member’s earthly needs from the cradle to the grave. There was very little poverty. There were old age and disability pensions, and even insurance of all types.

Universities are a natural invention of the Catholic Church. They are one of the many beneficial gifts Catholic Culture showered on the world in the 13th Century - The Age Of Illumination. The universities had a larger number of students that they do today. They were administered by democratically elected student fraternal organizations, not by the professors. There was an academic freedom so liberated that it puts to shame our modern politically correct university communities. As a result the 13th Century University provided a safe home for an unmatched concentration of great scientists, philosophers, theologists, medical doctors, legal experts, artists, writers, and musicians. Though it was 250 years before printing, anyone could borrow the numerous hand-copied books from university lending libraries, even the gloriously illuminated ones. It was a time of intelligence, sacredness, trust, happiness, and sublime earthly works.

Light ! The brilliance of God’s grace that illumines our lives reached its peak in the 13th Century. Some call it ”The Greatest Century”, but it should be called “The Age of Illumination”. The most apt symbol of the 13th century is the ingenious Basilica of Saint-Denis which was created by Abbot Suger to open the inner space to streams of sunlight. Following the 13th Century was the hyper-rational era called “The Enlightenment”. It should be called “The Darkening”. “The Darkening” shut out God’s guiding light and has led civilizations, following mankind’s perverse inclinations, down into one murderous revolution after another. In contrast listen to the magnificent and delightful effects “The Age Of Illumination”.
Short stories by Catholic Authors that present a positive image of the Catholic Church http://www.catholicstories.net

Art has flooded from Catholicdom in greater abundance and unmatched beauty than anything produced in other cultures in any period. One is led to attribute this cornucopia of genius to God the Creator having graced the human species with an extraordinary creativity. An ability that imitates His own; that is the image of His own. A wellspring of God’s beauty gushed forth
through God’s human creatures from the earliest days of the Catholic Church. It reach an astounding height as an illuminating positive response to the darkness shadows of the Protestant Reformation. This crest of created beauty continued for four centuries. Is it over?
Short stories by Catholic Authors that present a positive image of the Catholic Church. http://www.catholicstories.net

An Old Civilization vanished. It had been millions of years old, climaxing in the magnificence of Christendom/Catholicdom. In the USA it was replaced by layers of mutually intolerant civilizations called Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, etcetera. Was this just natural “progress”? No. It was the result of a carefully executed cultural project executed in full view. Although many deny its existence, this Culture War succeeds the same way every where, beginning with Bismarck, and continuing with Soviet subversion, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the Communist takeover of 32 countries after World War Two. The subtle lever of Public Schools and the hoax of Peer Group socialization were inserted under societal foundations toppling countries into a world in which governments became the parents.

Short stories by Catholic Authors that present a positive image of the Catholic Church. http://www.catholicstories.net

We all know the ghastly story of “The Spanish Inquisition” conducted by a violent Roman Catholic Church. However the story is a lie, a slander, war propaganda, disinformation, in other words a deliberate hoax. The legend of the Grand Inquisitor is so dramatic, delicious, and astonishing that many people think that it has to be true.But there is no data to support it. Fortunately the Dominicans kept complete highly detailed records of the proceedings for 240 years. The actual data reveal that the so-called “Spanish Inquisition” was the most advanced humane and even gentle court in Christendom at the time. Listen and be astonished at how easily fooled we can be by a good lie.

Civilization is teetering on the edge of a precipice. We have been led there, blindfolded and credulous, by the retreat of humility before hubris. The coincidence of the arrival of the internet, glamorous and efficient, with the simultaneous retreat of a sensible Christian awareness of the flawed nature of mankind is a disaster. We have charged heedlessly into building our most vital systems on the fragile foundation of the easily corruptible internet. After 35 years of creating Information Technology systems Chuck offers his pessimistic analysis based on the typical character of IT professionals. He found that their rampant hubris, charged by the seductive lure of technological novelty, caused them to undervalue the tender humanistic needs for which IT systems were supposed to have been created. He also comments on the similar retreat of humble truth-seeking that has deteriorated contemporary science.

Listen to Part 2 of the amazing and true life story of Father John Gerard. This is an except from “The Hunted Priest”, the autobiography of John Gerard, a Jesuit priest, who risked all in a savagely anti-Catholic England under Elizabeth I. He had been condemned to be tortured to death in the Tower of London yet managed to make a incredible escape. He survived to live a long life, multiplying generously his granted portion of God’s love.