In the Beginning...

Introduction

     This is an unabashedly Catholic blog. I accept entirely the claim made by the historical man, known in English as Jesus the Christ, that He, and He alone, is The way, The truth, and The life, and that no one can come to God the Father in Heaven except through Him (cf. The Gospel of St. John, Chapter 14, verse 6ff); that He is equal to the Father (John 10:30)), for He is God made man (Matthew 1:23); that He established His Church, structured upon His heavenly kingdom (Matthew 6:10; Ephesians 2: 19-21),  as the instrument of salvation (Acts 2:47) to teach with His authority (Mat. 18:18), and that to reject this church is reject Christ Himself (Luke 10:16); that His One True Church is the Catholic Church, with its seat of teaching and governing authority in Rome (for biblical and historical proof of this, go here and obtain my small book, The Roman Catholic Church). 

  

     Yet, this is a blog on history, particularly, American history and the often suppressed facts of this land's Catholic foundation -long before the pilgrims and the establishment of Jamestown. Can one (Catholicism) compliment the other (American history)? Absolutely! You see history itself began with an act of God the Creator: "In the beginning [of time -of history] God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Therefore, not only are religion, theology, and faith concerned with God, but so is authentic history -since the Almighty Himself got it started, often intervened, and then actually entered it and set it on a new course.

     Even more specific, authentic history centers on Christ our Lord: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made by Him and there is nothing that was not made by Him... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 3, 14). The real nature of history will be completely misunderstood (and its presentation mortally distorted) if it is separated from Our Lord Jesus Christ, for we must  "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) when studying it. 

     Therefore, for a properly formed Catholic, history is understood as the unfolding of God's will in time and the record of how men and nations conformed to that will or resisted it. It is thus seen as the unfolding in time of the war between the Kingdom of God on earth, which is found only in the Catholic Church, and the kingdom of Satan. Though spiritual in nature, this war has as its battle ground the very hearts and minds of us mortals here on earth and is manifested in numerous ways in and through religious movements, philosophical movements, social movements, political movements, revolutions, etc. Thus we will examine American history, its civilized origins, its political origins, major events, including its wars, in light of the Catholic Faith and Catholic principles.

History Basics

     Let me start with the fact that history affects each and every one of us to varying degrees. This includes both the events themselves, and their consequences, as well as what has been recorded, written, published, and handed down to succeeding generations in classrooms everywhere. The latter has as much an effect upon our sentiments, sympathies, prejudices, and loyalties as much, if not more, than the actual consequential results of historical events. The truth of this last sentence proves that history is involved in not simply passing on facts of the past, but the actual formation of both one's mind and emotions/affections/feelings, etc., because it results in some form or another of sentimental and/or intellectual loyalty. Loyalty to what? Well, to what ever the historian, author, teacher, publisher, school union, government, or whoever, wants to promote and propagate - a particular world-view, or philosophy, a political school of thought, a political party, a sociological school of thought, etc. Thus, history (and "social studies") has been used as a tool to garner, or we could even say, "evangelize," children and adults to come to some type of mind-set, or some position. This can be either positive or negative. It's function in schools definitely involves social conditioning.

     Ask any American (or yourself)  what he believes to be the greatest virtue, and, like any "good" American, he will answer -"freedom." Now, check your catechism and look up "virtues."  I'll tell you what... I'll save you the time and effort and inform you now that no catechism, no manual of dogmatic or moral theology anywhere lists freedom as a virtue. Why not? Because freedom is no such thing. Freedom is a condition, or a status; it is a consequence or a result. But it is not a virtue. If you, Dear Reader, are a Catholic, and thought that "freedom" was the answer, then recognize that you have been conditioned to think more as an American than as a Catholic. If this just happened to you, hopefully you are disturbed by this fact.

We Have Been Cheated

     You see, much of the American history that has been taught in the vast majority of schools and common texts came from a Protestant-English viewpoint. To be more exact, American history had been primarily taught from a White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) viewpoint. And this has more often than not been anti-Catholic. Yet today, or rather, for the last generation or more, much history being taught comes from a blend of Marxism (or Naturalism -condemned by the Church in the 19th century), and it's child known as "political-correctness," and the viewpoint of a new paganism that appears to worship nature and holds that the beliefs of all pagan cultures are equal to, if not better than, Christianity. These erroneous views reject the truth concerning Original Sin, the Fall, and thus man's fallen nature, and therefore are blinded to the proper understanding of man's nature and the nature of politics. Unfortunately, these view points have permeated even the history texts used for Catholic schools since at least the 1950s, but even earlier in pockets of progressive regions (i.e. California, New York, New England, etc).

     Most unfortunate is the fact that Catholics in American have been cheated from knowing the true history of this land by being given false notions as to its origins and false notions concerning the reasons for, and forces behind, major historical events. We have even been taught myths about major events such as what is popularly known as the "Civil War," and the causes of the two World Wars. This means that Catholics (all Americans, in fact) have received for the most part a distorted and even false history of their American past. The real heroes, and the real villains, have often not been properly identified, some being left out completely. We've been taught a national mythology of supposed great deeds by adventurous pilgrims and courageous forefathers. All of whom rejected the social Kingship of Christ and the One Church He established to teach all nations all that He taught. This blog, as I have done in a number of books, sets out to correct such myths and distortions of American history. 

      Details provided here will most likely result in some "eye-opening" and "jaw-dropping" moments for you, my dear readers. Stay tuned...