 FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to the Spring 2008 issue of Hereditas.
I would like to introduce our new layout person, Mrs. Therese Dagenais
– a real professional at last! We were lucky to secure her services.
Also congratulations are in order to Dr. Andrew Seddon, whose work
appears frequently in our magazine. He and his wife, the other Dr.
Seddon (DVM), were received into the Roman Catholic Church this Easter.
It's been a long and strenuous journey for them both.
This seems to be our "historical" issue, with two biographies reviewed,
and an interview with historian Diane Moczar, whose works I heartily
recommend. The study – or rather, the contemplation– of
history is becoming increasingly important to us as we try to make
sense of our world. In the face of the news we need encouragement that
there is truly nothing new under the sun. And we need a few ideas on
how to get by. How, we ask ourselves, did our ancestors survive such
things as recessions, barbarian invasions, political corruption, wars,
epidemics, fluctuations of climate – the usual gamut of threats and
disasters.
We're pretty insecure, we moderns. Our world has darkened over the
years, our certainties gone off. The optimism of the fifties, the
roaring of the twenties – these are already history. When did you last
have a "nice day"? Current events can cast a cloud over the
brightest sunshine.
We ask ourselves whether Western Civilisation is headed for a fall. Or
has it already fallen and are we just now embarking on the new Dark
Ages? Maybe so. Some even try to assign a date to the "fall" -- 1917.
1914. 1789. Or maybe we should look even further back? When did
Protestantism really take hold? When did the Age of Faith become the
Age of Unreason? When, in short, did our culture suffer a mortal wound?
I've got no real answer. I'm not so naive as to deny that the wound is
there – but I'm not all that sure it is mortal. What brings down a
house? Fire? Termites? Rats? These things all have remedies if only someone will apply them. To deny the existence of fire and
termites is an option, but it is a foolish one. Neither is it a good
idea to try and coexist with them. You need a fire truck or at least a
bucket brigade. Termite spray. Rat traps.
What brings down a civilization? Sloth. Luxury. Cowardice. Greed.
Faith- lessness and compromise with the World. When we allow the
darkness that surrounds us to seep into our souls, when we give up and
compromise – then the edifice of Christendom comes down.
God has left these matters in our hands. Our salvation and our
heritage. We live, as every generation before us as lived, on the
cutting edge of time. We are the "modern" people, the Church Militant.
We are not alone however. The saints stand behind us. We study their
lives when we study history. Their actions are woven into every bit of
that long human story and we can call upon them even as we read. They
followed in the bloody footsteps of Our Lord, cleaned up the messes of
sin, built and rebuilt. We can do the same. Work by work, prayer
by prayer, sacrifice by sacrifice, it's up to us now. We are making
history right this minute.
Let's do something worth writing down.
Colleen Drippe’
Updated 05-03-2008, The Invention of the Holy Cross
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