Do You Need Permission In Taking Catholic Action?

On Taking Catholic Action

In my recent video presentation on the Jews, I made it clear that the solution to the Jewish problem is to take Catholic action, in order to bring about the Social Kingship of Christ.

What is Catholic action?

Catholic action is when the laity takes public action in order to affect cultural, social, and political change in society, for the purpose of changing society to be more compliant to Christian morality.

But how does one get started taking Catholic action? And don’t you need permission to do so?

These are 2 of the most common questions asked.

The first question I will answer in a series of articles (including this one).

The second question will be answered – completely – in this article itself.

First, I will go through the common reasons people say that we should “get permission” for taking Catholic action.

Frankly, the reasons behind wanting “permission” generally come from aversion to taking Catholic action, so it’s important to address this.

Addressing The Actual Problems Behind Wanting “Permission”, First

Before I get into the question of “Do you need permission?” I want to address the elephant in the room on why this is usually asked.

Clearly, there can only be 3 possible reasons one would make this objection:

1. A person is ignorant of what the Church teaches in this matter.
2. A person is lukewarm on taking Catholic action, and thus they are making an excuse.
3. A person is a coward, and thus they are making an excuse.

In charity, we should give our Catholic brothers the benefit of a doubt, and assume they are merely ignorant on this matter.

However, should they be lukewarm or cowardly, let me quickly address those 2 vices, as I have done so in the past.

Lukewarmness In Taking Catholic Action

Lukewarmness means that there is neither fervor, nor antipathy, towards the Faith.

God calls us to be full of zeal, as He made it clear when He said:

So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Our Lord purges Himself from the lukewarm:

But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.

Apocalypse (Revelation) 3:16

And the lukewarm are more easily prone to damnation because they are a divided house:

The lukewarm may be farther from a true conversion, inasmuch as they are less sensible of the dangers to which they remain exposed, than such as commit greater sins. Their careless indevotion becomes habitual to them, they live and die with a heart divided betwixt God and the world

Haydock Commentary, Apocalypse 3

The Saints all spoke out against lukewarmness:

Pope St. Pius V says: “All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics.”

Also, St. Teresa of Avila says: “The lukewarm do not embrace the cross; they merely drag it along.”

Moreover, Pope St. Pius X says: “All the strength of Satan’s reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics.”

Therefore, you should fight any tendencies towards lukewarmness, then go out and take Catholic action, with fervor!

Cowardice In Taking Catholic Action

Too many Catholics nowadays are cowards!

Unfortunately for these Catholics-in-name-only, Sacred Scripture condemns cowardice:

Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6

The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread.

Proverbs 28:1

He that feareth man, shall quickly fall: he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be set on high.

Proverbs 29:25

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety.

2 Timothy 1:7

But the fearful…they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Apocalypse (Revelation) 21:8

And Christ also makes it clear that there will be a just reward for those who are brave:

Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12

The Saints have made it clear that evil only wins because the cowardice of the good men allows it.

St. Augustine says:

What is reprehensible, is that while leading good lives themselves and abhorring those of wicked men, some, fearing to offend, shut their eyes to evil deeds instead of condemning them and pointing out their malice.

The City of God, Book 1

St. John Bosco says: “The power of evil men, lives, on the cowardice of the good!”

Pope Leo XII says: “Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good.”

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

Therefore, stop being a coward, and bravely stand up to evil by condemning evil, and take Catholic action to bring about the Social Kingship of Christ!

But Isn’t The Contemplative Life Superior To The Active Life?

This is another common objection, that the contemplative life is superior to the active life, and thus, we shouldn’t worry about taking Catholic action.

Again, I think this is often a cover for lukewarmness, cowardice, or ignorance, but let me quickly address this.

Yes, the contemplative life is superior to the active life.

And yes, your spiritual interior life is more important than your exterior life.

Neither of these propositions can be denied by anyone familiar with Catholic teaching.

However, putting the contemplative or interior life against the active or exterior life is a false dichotomy.

You can work on both your interior and exterior life, and most Catholics are obliged to work on both.

The first question that I have for those raising this objection is: are you a priest, hermit, monk, or nun?

Priests, hermits, monks, and nuns devote the vast majority their time to the religious sphere.

Moreover, they are focused on the contemplative life to the point that they have given up focusing on temporal concerns.

Let’s be clear: These are great vocations! And the Church teaches that they are higher vocations than temporal vocations.

That being said, the vast majority of Catholics do not have these vocations, and therefore, must contend with temporal struggles.

And if you are one of the majority of Catholics that must participate in temporal matters, then you have no excuse in avoiding these matters!

Why is this?

Because the Church teaches that those in the temporal sphere have a duty, an obligation, to push for the Social Kingship of Christ in the temporal sphere, and I will now show.

The Church Teaches That Lay People Are Obliged To Take Catholic Action

Yes, that’s right: The Church says that as a Catholic lay person, with no religious vocation, that you are obligated to participate in pushing for the Social Kingship of Christ.

As St. Paul says:

Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and hast confessed a good confession before many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:12

Also, Angelic Doctor of the Church St. Thomas Aquinas says this:

In cases of necessity where faith is in danger, every one is bound to proclaim his faith to others, either to give good example and encouragement to the rest of the faithful, or to check the attacks of unbelievers

ST II–II, Q. 3, A. 2.

Moreover, to fight the errors that threaten the Church, the First Vatican Council says:

And so in the performance of our supreme pastoral office…we command…all faithful Christians, especially those in authority or who have the duty of teaching, that they contribute their zeal and labour to the warding off and elimination of these errors from the church and to the spreading of the light of the pure faith.

First Vatican Council, Session 3, Canon 4

Furthermore, Pope Leo XIII, who essentially created Catholic action as understood today, wrote in Sapientiae Christianae:

To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God, and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitable only to the enemies of the faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good. Moreover, want of vigor on the part of Christians is so much the more blameworthy, as not seldom little would be needed on their part to bring to naught false charges and refute erroneous opinions, and by always exerting themselves more strenuously they might reckon upon being successful. After all, no one can be prevented from putting forth that strength of soul which is the characteristic of true Christians, and very frequently by such display of courage our enemies lose heart and their designs are thwarted. Christians are, moreover, born for combat, whereof the greater the vehemence, the more assured, God aiding, the triumph: “Have confidence; I have overcome the world.” Nor is there any ground for alleging that Jesus Christ, the Guardian and Champion of the Church, needs not in any manner the help of men. Power certainly is not wanting to Him, but in His loving kindness He would assign to us a share in obtaining and applying the fruits of salvation procured through His grace.

The chief elements of this duty consist in professing openly and unflinchingly the Catholic doctrine, and in propagating it to the utmost of our power. For, as is often said, with the greatest truth, there is nothing so hurtful to Christian wisdom as that it should not be known, since it possesses, when loyally received, inherent power to drive away error. So soon as Catholic truth is apprehended by a simple and unprejudiced soul, reason yields assent. Now, faith, as a virtue, is a great boon of divine grace and goodness; nevertheless, the objects themselves to which faith is to be applied are scarcely known in any other way than through the hearing. “How shall they believe Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Since, then, faith is necessary for salvation, it follows that the word of Christ must be preached. The office, indeed, of preaching, that is, of teaching, lies by divine right in the province of the pastors, namely, of the bishops whom “the Holy Spirit has placed to rule the Church of God.” It belongs, above all, to the Roman Pontiff, vicar of Jesus Christ, established as head of the universal Church, teacher of all that pertains to morals and faith.

No one, however, must entertain the notion that private individuals are prevented from taking some active part in this duty of teaching, especially those on whom God has bestowed gifts of mind with the strong wish of rendering themselves useful. These, so often as circumstances demand, may take upon themselves, not, indeed, the office of the pastor, but the task of communicating to others what they have themselves received, becoming, as it were, living echoes of their masters in the faith. Such co-operation on the part of the laity has seemed to the Fathers of the Vatican Council so opportune and fruitful of good that they thought well to invite it. “All faithful Christians, but those chiefly who are in a prominent position, or engaged in teaching, we entreat, by the compassion of Jesus Christ, and enjoin by the authority of the same God and Saviour, that they bring aid to ward off and eliminate these errors from holy Church, and contribute their zealous help in spreading abroad the light of undefiled faith.” Let each one, therefore, bear in mind that he both can and should, so far as may be, preach the Catholic faith by the authority of his example, and by open and constant profession of the obligations it imposes. In respect, consequently, to the duties that bind us to God and the Church, it should be borne earnestly in mind that in propagating Christian truth and warding off errors the zeal of the laity should, as far as possible, be brought actively into play.

Sapientiae Christianae

Did you see how he also rejected cowardice and lukewarmness as excuses, in addition to decreeing that all lay faithful are to take Catholic action, as their circumstances allow?

Also, Pope St. Pius X echoed the point that lay Catholics should push for Christ in the temporal sphere, writing in Il Fermo Proposito:

The field of Catholic Action is extremely vast. In itself it does not exclude anything, in any manner, direct or indirect, which pertains to the divine mission of the Church. Accordingly one can plainly see how necessary it is for everyone to cooperate in such an important work, not only for the sanctification of his own soul, but also for the extension and increase of the Kingdom of God in individuals, families, and society; each one working according to his energy for the good of his neighbor by the propagation of revealed truth, by the exercise of Christian virtues, by the exercise of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy…

Over and above spiritual goods, however, there are many goods of the natural order over which the Church has no direct mission, although they flow as a natural consequence from her divine mission… By the very nature of things, the Church has consequently become the guardian and protector of Christian society. That fact was universally recognized and admitted in other periods of history. In truth, it formed a solid foundation for civil legislation. On that very fact rested the relations between Church and State; the public recognition of the authority of the Church in those matters which touched upon conscience in any manner, the subordination of all the laws of the State to the Divine laws of the Gospel; the harmony of the two powers in securing the temporal welfare of the people in such a way that their eternal welfare did not suffer…

“To restore all things in Christ” has always been the Church’s motto, and it is especially Our Own during these fearful moments through which we are now passing. “To restore all things” – not in any haphazard fashion, but “in Christ”; and the Apostle adds, “both those in the heavens and those on the earth.” “To restore all things in Christ” includes not only what properly pertains to the divine mission of the Church, namely, leading souls to God, but also what We have already explained as flowing from that divine mission, namely, Christian civilization in each and every one of the elements composing it.

Since We particularly dwell on this last part of the desired restoration, you clearly see, Venerable Brethren, the services rendered to the Church by those chosen bands of Catholics who aim to unite all their forces in combating anti Christian civilization by every just and lawful means. They use every means in repairing the serious disorders caused by it. They seek to restore Jesus Christ to the family, the school and society by re-establishing the principle that human authority represents the authority of God. They take to heart the interests of the people, especially those of the working and agricultural classes, not only by inculcating in the hearts of everybody a true religious spirit (the only true fount of consolation among the troubles of this life) but also by endeavoring to dry their tears, to alleviate their sufferings, and to improve their economic condition by wise measures. They strive, in a word, to make public laws conformable to justice and amend or suppress those which are not so. Finally, they defend and support in a true Catholic spirit the rights of God in all things and the no less sacred rights of the Church.

All these works, sustained and promoted chiefly by lay Catholics and whose form varies according to the needs of each country, constitute what is generally known by a distinctive and surely a very noble name: “Catholic Action,” or the “Action of Catholics.” At all times it came to the aid of the Church, and the Church has always cherished and blessed such help, using it in many ways according to the exigencies of the age…

Above all, one must be firmly convinced that the instrument is of little value if it is not adapted to the work at hand. In regard to the things We mentioned above, Catholic Action, inasmuch as it proposes to restore all things in Christ, constitutes a real apostolate for the honor and glory of Christ Himself. To carry it out right one must have divine grace, and the apostle receives it only if he is united to Christ. Only when he has formed Jesus Christ in himself shall he more easily be able to restore Him to the family and society. Therefore, all who are called upon to direct or dedicate themselves to the Catholic cause, must be sound Catholics, firm in faith, solidly instructed in religious matters, truly submissive to the Church and especially to this supreme Apostolic See and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. They must be men of real piety, of manly virtue, and of a life so chaste and fearless that they will be a guiding example to all others…

It is also important to define clearly the works which the Catholic forces must energetically and constantly undertake. These works must be of such evident importance that they will be appreciated by everybody. They must bear such a relation to the needs of modern society and be so well adapted to moral and material interests, especially those of the people and the poorer classes, that, while arousing in promoters of Catholic Action the greatest activity for obtaining the important and certain results which are to be looked for, they may also be readily understood and gladly welcomed by all…

Il Fermo Proposito

But Don’t We Need Permission To Take Catholic Action?

Here’s the thing: The Church has already given you permission.

If the above quotes from Scripture, Saints and Popes still hasn’t convinced you, then consider Canon Law, which says, in the following canons:

Can. 208 From their rebirth in Christ, there exists among all the Christian faithful a true equality regarding dignity and action by which they all cooperate in the building up of the Body of Christ according to each one’s own condition and function.

…

Can. 210 All the Christian faithful must direct their efforts to lead a holy life and to promote the growth of the Church and its continual sanctification, according to their own condition.

Can. 211 All the Christian faithful have the duty and right to work so that the divine message of salvation more and more reaches all people in every age and in every land.

…

Can. 215 The Christian faithful are at liberty freely to found and direct associations for purposes of charity or piety or for the promotion of the Christian vocation in the world and to hold meetings for the common pursuit of these purposes.

Can. 216 Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.

…

Can. 223 §1. In exercising their rights, the Christian faithful, both as individuals and gathered together in associations, must take into account the common good of the Church, the rights of others, and their own duties toward others.

…

Can. 225 §1. Since, like all the Christian faithful, lay persons are designated by God for the apostolate through baptism and confirmation, they are bound by the general obligation and possess the right as individuals, or joined in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation is made known and accepted by all persons everywhere in the world. This obligation is even more compelling in those circumstances in which only through them can people hear the gospel and know Christ.

§2. According to each one’s own condition, they are also bound by a particular duty to imbue and perfect the order of temporal affairs with the spirit of the gospel and thus to give witness to Christ, especially in carrying out these same affairs and in exercising secular functions.

…

Can. 229 §1. Lay persons are bound by the obligation and possess the right to acquire knowledge of Christian doctrine appropriate to the capacity and condition of each in order for them to be able to live according to this doctrine, announce it themselves, defend it if necessary, and take their part in exercising the apostolate.

Code Of Canon Law

Now Go, and Take Catholic Action!

In conclusion, you can see that us lay Catholics have a duty and obligation to take Catholic action.

Moreover, the Church already gives us express permission to do so by our own undertakings.

So do we need even more permission? No, we don’t, since it’s already been given.

With this, dear reader, you can no longer excuse yourself from Catholic action out of ignorance, or appealing to “needing express permission”.

And you also know that cowardice and lukewarmness will only damn your soul to Hell!

Moreover, lukewarmness and cowardice causes Catholic men to become hypocrites, picking and choosing what type of Catholic action is okay to take without express permission, leading to Catholic men saying that praying public group Rosaries in safe places is okay, while praying reparations Rosaries in the middle of a Sodomite Pride Parade, surrounded by sodomites, is not okay, which is the exact kind of inconsistent nonsense that comes from lukewarmness and cowardice!

So if your state in life is that of a non-religious lay person, your interior life is solid, and you aren’t encumbered by such a heavy family or work life that you have the time to spare, then I admonish you to join us in the fight for the Social Kingship of Christ!

Deus vult!

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