A Troubled World 

   “The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather the cowardice of the faithful.” St. Pope Pius X 

   St. Pius X was Pope from August of 1903 until his death in August of 1914.  The statement above would indicate that confronting evil was as much of an issue in his time as it is today.  The boldness of the statement, referring to the “cowardice of the faithful” emphasizes the seriousness of the problem he saw in a timid faithful that was afraid to speak out against evil.

   Things haven’t changed in that respect even until today.  Very few of the faithful will even consider bringing up the evils of the world in polite conversation.  However, those who support those evils don’t abide by the same rule.  They will force their views on others at every opportunity.  When only one side is heard the other side can only lose the argument.

   To justify their support for many of the evils of today's society a bishop in Germany recently said that the German bishops want to remain Catholic but a different kind of Catholic.  There is no different kind of Catholic or Christian.  The truths of God are not subject to the whims of society and to pretend that they are is heresy.  We need religious leaders who will strongly condemn these heresies and a laity that will speak out against them.

   Society is losing its struggle against evil, and a big part of the reason is that so few will join the fight.  They simply smile and keep their mouth shut.  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision.  It is silent acquiescence to evil.”  Evil cannot be defeated if we refuse to engage the enemy.