tional establishments. The rebelhon finally combined aspectsnof misandry with a new political agenda, and politicsnis, besides the penal system, the scene of mankind’s mostnobvious and most painful failures. To make matters worse,nthe political vision now invoked is the sort of democracynrevived by the French Revolution after a gap of 2,000 years.nViewed with horror by the Founding Fathers and importednto America only in the second quarter of the last century,negalitarianism’s American record includes two world warsnto “make the world safe for democracy,” both of whichninadvertently paved the road to abysmal tyrannies (as Platonand Aristotle clearly foretold us). Democracy rests onnmajority rule and equality, whereas the basic principle ofnChristian justice is not equality, but Ulpian’s “To EverybodynHis Due.”nThe reader of the minutes of the Woman ChurchnCoalition meeting in Chicago (November 11-13, 1983) hasnto make up his mind whether to laugh or to cry. “We arenWoman Church not in exile, but in exodus,” a leader criednout. Needless to say, a number of bishops endorsed thisnfabulous pow-wow whose driving ideas are clearly of thenleft. The ladies wanted to be “in the swim,” but right isnright, and left is wrong. Yet a “Woman’s Church” with anHe-She God-Goddess (this ludicrous expression was actuallynused!) would certainly not get the support of the vastnmajority of women. Wars, finally, can be won only by theninfantry. Without our female infantry the Church would benlost—and the vast bulk of Catholic womanhood wouldnemphatically not tolerate but desert a Church designed bynthese “Catholic” feminists.nThese battle-axes, however, represent merely one facet ofnthe Church’s general problem which consists in the surrendernto the aion, i.e., the spirit of the Time and of thenWorld. (The English words “secular” and “temporal”nexpress the fundamental unity and identity of both concepts.)nBut one also might ask whether this Augean Stablencan still be effectively cleaned up by the present Pontiff whonis becoming increasingly aware of the depth of this crisis—ncleaned up before we see a schism. Schism is a distinctnpossibility. But on the basis of my experience with thenChurch in America, covering on and off nearly a halfncentury, I believe that the exodus of a small minority wouldnFruitless Grainn(continued from page 10)nbecomes in fact a rather conservative creature, fornhe is dependent on natural laws, a thousand yearsnold; do what you will, no revolution will hasten thentime of germination, or allow the lilac to flowernbefore May; so the man becomes wise and submitsnto laws and customs.nDiocletian, after he retired from governing the RomannEmpire, devoted himself to growing cabbages. Too many ofnus, these days, would rather rule the world—or, at least,nthe U. S. We read the papers, watch Dan Rather, and broodnover Lebanon, over Libya, over the Senate race in NorthnCarolina. We are like the man in Rasselas who was afraid tongo to sleep, because he was convinced the stars might fall ifnhis attention wavered.nbe more likely, just as in the days of Vatican I when then”Old Catholics” (the great, unfulfilled hope of the left)nseceded from the Church Universal. An “AmericannChurch” might cause big juridical problems (Churchnproperty!), might produce a redoubtable number of apostasiesnin the clergy and among the remaining religious, butnthe main body of the laity would remain loyal to Rome.nSuch a schism might after all prove a real blessing. Thenstrength of the Catholic Church lay always with the simplenfaithful and the great minds—not with the half-educated,ndoubt-ridden middle-of-the-roaders. And let us remembernthat the world has reacted to the “Progressivists” in ourncamp as was to be expected: with great publicity, but alsonwith utter contempt. (And so have those admirable peoplenin the Reformation Churches who staunchly stick to God’snRevealed Word . . . from the late Karl Barth down to thensteadfast Fundamentalists.)nThe pre-Conciliar Church in America was not sheerndelight, but she was infinitely preferable to the presentnchaos. And we also have to admit that the EcclesianHibernica of the past was providential. She represented thenmedieval spirit, the Irish being the only Catholics whonnever experienced the Renaissance which gave the OrbisnCatholicus its lasting profile. Without the Irish clerg}’ thennascent Church in America would never have reached firstnbase. A newly created “American Church,” however,nwould not be Catholic but local—and it would soonnbecome dissolved in the big slime of modernity, mimicry,nand mediocrity. What we have now to do is to stop, withinnthe precincts of the Church, the braying of the Trojan Assesnbelonging to the theological demimonde.nSome time ago The New Yorker published a cartoon ofnunique depth. It shows two men in Hell. One says to thenother: “My motto was ‘Go with the Flow,’ but I had no ideanthat the flow would end up here.” In view of the crisis innAmerica’s Catholic Church, one can only hope for annexodus of the worshipers of the World and the Spirit ofnTime. But he who knows his Church history in truth willnbe neither too dismayed, nor surprised or downhearted.nHope, after all, is, together with Love and Faith, an”theological virtue.”nThe American Empire, like the empires of Rome andnBritain, will have its season, but it will be a short one if wenrefuse to mind our own business. There is no simplenpolitical remedy for mass society and for the increasinglyntotalitarian way of life that Western nations are busyninflicting upon themselves. The best advice, however, wasngiven by Gabriel Marcel, who recommended small-scalenassociations of friends, neighbors, and workmates. Thenmore we depend on ourselves and each other, the less willnwe be inclined to rely on the masters to whom we havenbound ourselves. It is the gardener’s wisdom to make hisnown yard beautiful and productive before presuming tonadvise his neighbor on soil pH; to cultivate his garden beforenmaking the world safe for democracy.n—Thomas FlemingnnnJULY 1986/21n