“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” (1 Thess. 5:6)

I have heard a lot of “People are waking up!” over the last two years.  Actually, I have heard it since year one of Barrack Obama’s presidency.  Remember the Tea Party?  Big stimulus money spending, additional bailouts, an international “apology tour”, and the Obamacare push really did wake some people up.  Some people actually started their “red pill” journey once they learned about Saul Alinsky and the nickname “Community Organizer in Chief” began to stick to Obama.  

But how sober was America at that time?  Well, how long lived was the Tea Party?  People still fly that Gadsden flag, but for the most part, the movement fizzled.  If you keep reading St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, you will see that he was telling people to do more than just resist the sin of drunkenness; “since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation… brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all”. (1 Thess 5:8-14)

It’s not enough just to be “awake”.  There were wide awake civilians who watched Civil War battles while they ate their picnics.  Were they sober?  Everyone had a part to play in the war effort.  The sober ones worked hard and did their part to help advance their side to victory.  

Many Americans are quite intoxicated today.  Not on Fentanyl and legal weed (though there’s plenty of that), but on hours of television.  On corporate news.  On Twitter.  On the incessant creation and exchange of “shit memes”.  Sometimes it feels like we are eating our picnics and watching the battle.  We are awake, but are we engaged?  Are we fighting?  Are we sober?


June 24th-25th a Tale of two Celebrations

I was present downtown on the night of Roe v. Wade’s overturning.  I saw literally thousands and thousands of pro-abortion ralliers march downtown in a seemingly never ending procession.  Most them looked like college kids just there to "support the current thing".  Then there were the typical "misfit/punk/skater" types.  There were a few hundred middle age and older women.  One woman looked like she came from the assisted living home to fight for abortion.  There were a few young families with small children holding signs with coat hangers and prop blood.  Then there was the rainbow crew.  Men wearing braziers as tops and holding their intersectionalist rainbow flags.  There were definitely some ANTIFA mixed in the crowd as well. Full black outfits intended to hide the identity of agitators.  The horde had three unholy hymns they intoned as they thunderously marched: "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!", "Keep your theology off my biology!", and "My body my choice!"  I circled around a couple of times and saw spray painted police barricades and a bunch of college kids climbing on the statues.  Turns out they tagged all of the war memorials too.  It was an absolute zoo.  Of course, the night culminated with an attempted insurrection (a physical effort to batter in the doors of the legislature) and police shooting tear gas to disperse the unruly crowd.  

This wasn’t a protest of one particular political issue.  And it definitely wasn’t cloaked in some sort of appeal to a woman’s choice and to safe access to medical services.  No.  This was a celebration.  A party where every agitator, screamer, civilization hater, humanity inverter came together to celebrate chaos, death, and destruction.   Were they cued to organize because of the Roe v. Wade reversal?  Of course.  But they weren’t there to convey the message that they believe in a woman’s right to choose as much as they made it clear that abortion is sacred to them.  They emphatically wanted to make the point that they LOVE abortion.  And they did.

The next morning, I attended the only pro-life celebration rally that I was aware of.  It was called by AZ Students for Life and supported by the Susan B. Anthony pro-life organization.  Look, there were a lot of legitimate reasons to be absent from that rally.  After many false starts leading up to June 24th, the overturning of Roe v. Wade hit a population that became uncertain if and when the decision would finally be released.  Many people had other plans or had to go to work.  I get it.

But the overall number that showed up to this “Life is Louder” rally was so abysmal that legitimate long made plans does not explain all of the nonattendance.  150 people showed up.  This is no slight against Students for Life, either.  Their outreach, platform and voice is only so big and only goes so far.  But perhaps that’s the problem.  There is an entity that has the platform and the outreach big enough to organize a sizable pro-life rally.  It’s called the Church.  And if the diocese was too caught off guard to organize something on such short notice, what is a good date this summer to have a big organized rally?  After 49 years of marching by the hundreds of thousands in DC, when will we come together again to show that we celebrate the sacredness of life?


Resist the Fear Cues.

Leading up to the June 24th decision, we all heard how Catholic dioceses throughout the country were warned by Homeland Security about credible threats to Catholic churches.  To which, if your church has a laity driven security team, you probably took the message as a call to step up and do more to protect your congregation from bad actors.  But as I have pondered more and more why a Church organized pro-life rally has not been announced, I think the Homeland Security warnings provide the answer.  If you haven’t been building your courage or organizing resistance to the violence since 2020, then you probably only know the “hide and pray that the storms pass” modus operandi.  The bishops throughout this country told us all to hide inside our homes during Covid, why would things be different now?  

The pro-life rally in January 2021 was run by Apologia church.  Catholics were in the minority there at the Capitol!  And though the diocese stepped it up in January 2022, it is clear that we have still not recovered our ground over the last two years.  The numbers were good, but not what they were pre-Covid.  And now that we have finally have a chance to come together to celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we are giving up the small ground we have made up.  We are reading the fear cues and reverting to paralysis.  

And for the laity, I saw this up close before heading to the capitol.  Many back road social media channels were sharing a warning from a law enforcement officer saying to expect significant counter protest from the pro-aborts.  It literally asked families to be ready to evacuate in case the tear gas had to be fired.  I know for a fact that this warning diverted many families from attending.  They explicitly said they were too scarred to attend, but they would be “with us in spirit”.  Which made the 150 that showed up more vulnerable, as their numbers were smaller.  Funny how that works.  

Let me tell you how it really went…

The pro-life ralliers prayed the joyful mysteries at the sidewalk to many cars giving thumbs up.  Then we spread out in front of the capitol building where a scraggly crew of about 5 pro-aborts were trying to gather signatures for an initiative to get radical abortion laws on the ballot for November.  By the time we said “The first sorrowful mystery is the Agony in the Garden”, they practically hissed and packed up their stuff to move away!  The maybe 20 pro-aborts in total (the ones who weren’t too exhausted from the night before), virtually left because they were so outnumbered.  Even with just the 150 on our side.  Thank God.

The spirit of tepidness has been present for a while in this diocese.  I first noticed it when the Cathedral directly targeted Hispanics to get a Covid Vax in 2021.  Despite the deep convictions of conscience against this abortion tainted vaccine, many, including the current writer, took the cues from local pastors to stand down.  Once it was discovered that the Cathedral had even the Johnson and Johnson vax, that was enough to send many, including the present writer, back to the second vaccination drive in protest.  To which, we were ultimately trespassed by the pastor.  Badge of honor.

Personally, I didn’t feel an overwhelming call to protest the Satancon event earlier this year.  On principle, I’m not particularly high on counter-protests where the people you may engage with have already lost their minds and nothing is accomplished by getting into a flame war with them.  But I vividly remember guys who were gung ho to attend until they decided to follow "the order of the Bishop”.  The “order” of a bishop who never directly said one can’t be at Drinkwater road and 1st ave, probably because he does not have the authority to bar you from where you pray your rosary.  Read up on Code of Canon law, you had no moral obligation to stay home.  Your obligation was to follow a well developed conscience, which precedes the words that came down from the REO Speedwagon information network supposedly put in motion by the bishop!   By the way, when I did attend the protest against Satancon, it quickly became obvious that the fears of the diocese were invalid.  The protest ended up as a three day event of around 300 of the fiercest and most strong willed Catholics in the diocese praying dozens of rosaries.  Old ladies led by the Catholic men who still felt strong enough to be there in support and protection of them.  

The excuses are out.  We need an organized celebration of the overturning of Roe v. Wade with thousands of Catholics and anyone else who loves the sacredness of human life to be present.  I doubt any clergyman is telling you “you can’t go” on this one.  We got complacent and comfortable with a solid bishop for long enough.  Now that we have a bishop who has celebrated a “Mass for families of the LGBT community”, it may be time to accept that defending what you actually know is right may mean trudging down a narrower way.  If you are afraid of committing some sin of disobedience, afraid of how you may be ostracized at your parish, or afraid of some violent horde, it’s time to conquer your fears.  

The fight for the sanctity of life and the fight to have your orthodox and conservative voice heard in this diocese is just beginning.  If we are too afraid to attend, or cannot demand our own rallies, then we are not off to a good start.


This ought to Sober you up…

What were the pro-aborts gathering signatures for at the capitol?  Well, for those who unaware, Arizona’s constitution has a couple of peculiarities.  Over one hundred years ago, the original framers of the Arizona constitution set this state up for  some tyrannical democracy that we are experiencing today.  Arizona is an elitist bad actor crony’s dream, due to a few rules only this state and some other western states have.  The rules regard ballot initiative and the recall system.  When Arizona became a state, some “progressives” pushed hard for this state to adopt direct democracy rules similar to the Oregon constitution.  Along with California, this puts us in great company, doesn’t it?  

When the elected representatives refuse to advance a law that powerful men with money want to push through, “the people” get to put issues directly onto the ballot.  In this state, once enough signatures are collected to get a proposition on the ballot, it’s entirely up to the people to understand what they are actually asking for when they vote for it.  Once a law is passed by proposition, there is practically nothing the legislature can do to overturn it.  This is how Marijuana became legalized here.  And it's here to stay.  

Enjoy the celebration over the suspension of abortion services in this state, because if one of these initiatives can get a proposition on the ballot, to make abortion legal, not only will it stick around, but we will have pro-abortion laws will even more radical than before June 24th.  If we don’t go out and educate the people as to what they will be signing for, this Supreme Court decision may end up being the catalyst to get second or even third trimester abortion legal in Arizona!  

An initiative will require 356,467 signatures by July 7th to get on the ballot.  You better believe the signature pages were passed around the horde on the night of June 24th at the capitol.  And literally thousands of “I support the current thing” college kids and soccer moms have already signed the “Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom” initiative, and other similar ones, having no idea how much more liberal the new abortion laws will be.  


Kick the inebriation and get working.  Get sober.

So how do we get started?  In order to fight Carthage, we have to get and stay sober.  Is that the appropriate analogy, though?  Considering this past month, is our culture more Cathage, or is it more Sodom?  A little of both?  In commemoration of this past month, Let’s talk about both the LGBT agenda along with the abortion angle and see if there is an intersected call to action.

One thing I noticed since the Covid vaccine, is that many Catholics have grown accustomed to the “remote participation” out when considering the morality of what medical treatments to take, stores to patron, and what products to buy.  June is a reminder to us all that totally eliminating all woke companies is practically impossible.  But there are some companies that go way too far.  Additionally, there are some things that should be easy to give up.  We may not be able to do it all, but we can all do something to fight back against an agenda that is literally designed to attack your kids and irreparably harm your country’s moral fabric.  And if we can’t totally stop it, maybe we can gain some peace of mind and conscience for ourselves when we stop handing money to the people destroying Christendom.

The hard part is knowing how much boycotting is too extreme.  After all, you got to get groceries and sometimes you just need some screws at the hardware store.  As the early Christians had to do business in the same market place where meat was sold from the previous day’s pagan sacrifice, sometimes you gotta buy that lumber and  just pray for the conversion of the store CEO when you see the rainbow at the checkout isle.  

I don’t purport to know exactly where that line is that a company would cross that would demand a boycott, but I know when it’s been way overstepped.

And while we may need those building materials and groceries (bread), we can do without the circus. There are some real intoxicating drugs out there that should be much easier to give up.  Netflix exists to keep you inebriated.  Disney teaches your kids to hate their natural biology and human nature itself.  Pro-sports don’t just keep the masses bewildered anymore, but practically all of them support the LBGT agenda now.  

I did some research this month on every NFL team just to see how bad it really is.  Two years off of that opiate, and I really missed a few things!  Did you know that the Giants, Jets, Broncos, Patriots, and the Cardinals have all supported something called the “Gay Bowl”?  The Bills, Dolphins, Rams, and Chargers send representatives to march in their city’s gay pride parades while wearing the team logos.  The Colts, Jaguars, the Raiders and the NFL itself give money to subversive youth groups that counsel LGBT interested children.  And then of course, the Carolina Panthers have now hired a trans cheerleader.   And most other teams are going hard with this agenda too.

And now, the moment the Supreme Court decision was announced, many companies explicitly declared their allegiance to Carthage as well.  Duel citizenship, I guess.  Amazon, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bank of America, CVS, Starbucks, Kroger, Mastercard, Microsoft, Disney, and many more have all announced that they will travel women out of state to get abortions.  We wouldn’t want a pesky thing like the motherhood of employees to get in the way of profit now, would we?  Oh and for anyone still idolizing transhumanist demagogue Elon Musk, Tesla is paying to help women get their abortions too.  

Enough is enough!  Get in the car and build the parallel society and economy with the rest of the winners.    Boycott these losers.  If you only knew how good it feels to fire these companies!  I believe in you that you have the strength to join us.

No, you cannot outright stop these entities by boycotting them, but you sure can improve your life by getting rid of the trinkets, propaganda, and other junk these companies are peddling.  Dump the Starbucks and find your wallet, your body, and your conscience a little healthier.  Cancel Disney plus and drop the National Communist Football League, and you will marvel at all the extra time you have to grow your garden, take your boys hunting/fishing, or actually play football with your own family.

Learn from Lot’s wife.  Why did she turn and look at Sodom?  Because she was comfortable living in Sodom.  It was probably a bustling city with great opportunities, wonderful luxuries, and all the friends she had made over the years.  You may not be called to physically pick up your family and ditch town, but when the NFL literally tells you “Football is Gay” (no seriously they ran an add that says the words “Football is gay”, click on the link!), it’s time to leave the Sodom, and now Carthage, that persist in our culture and in out day to day lives.  Don't look back.


Conclusion

If we cannot boycott the people who hate us and we cannot even go to our own rallies, then we literally have no long game.  If we can’t get engaged in the political grassroots and educate the neighbors on our block against a radical pro-abortion ballot initiative, then what hope do we have when they come for our guns?  Or when the RF chips are put in people’s hands and cash is abolished?  Imagine some day your parish priest says,  “Well, getting microchipped isn’t directly contrary to Church teaching, and you have a primary obligation as a father to take care of your children and feed them.  It’s okay to participate in this digital breadline.”.  What will you do then?

Guess what?  We can stop the quietism now and potentially avert that future.  Or at least build the muscles necessary now to protect our families from such dehumanization.  Let’s start by upping our game in defending the unborn.  By celebrating the win our five Catholic Supreme Court Justice helped secure for them while putting their own safety on the line.  

Thousands vs. hundreds means something.  Your presence means something.  Those Justices are watching to see how their decision was received.  There are squish republicans in every state legislature and in the US House and Senate who are watching.  When AZ Central reports on thousands of pro-abort ralliers versus hundreds of pro-lifers the next day, that means something.  

We got some big stuff coming up, folks.  The unborn got a win, but there’s a whole new ball game up ahead inside and outside of the pro-life arena.  We have a tough road ahead of us that we cannot be afraid of.  Sober up.

God bless,

Gadfly