Tea at Trianon: A 'Nice People' Club

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, October 3, 2021

A 'Nice People' Club

From The Federalist:

This is how a stance of conciliatory indifference becomes deadly. After so much dialogue, tolerance, and compromise, the majority of people now lack the capacity to defend themselves against oppressive systems. Any radical who is loud or powerful enough can tell them to act against reason and morality, and they will obey because they have never known a time or occasion when it was okay to do otherwise. After saying yes and adopting so many clashing ideas, they don’t know how to say no and close the door.

In order to restore the wherewithal to resist, it becomes necessary for individuals and institutions to recover a certain degree of exclusivity. They must adopt ideas that accord with the good, the true, and the beautiful while they explicitly reject ideas that do not conform to those standards. (Read more.)

From Crisis:

When a bishop considers this issue on the practical level—what to do when a Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi presents himself or herself for Communion—he will consider many factors (assuming he even cares about reserving the Eucharist for Catholics in a state of grace): How will denying the politician Communion impact the diocese? Will it cause a revolt among his clergy? Will it dry up donations for charitable works? Will it cause a media frenzy? Ultimately, how will the work of the diocese be impacted?

The average Catholic sees—or cares—little about these factors. His questions are more directed toward individual concerns: Will the soul of the politician be harmed? Will more women consider abortion? Will this cause people to lose faith in the Real Presence? Will my Catholic cousin think this gives him support to keep voting for pro-abortion politicians? Ultimately, how will souls be impacted?

Bishops primarily look to the good of the organization; lay Catholics look to the good of individuals. Bishops strive to be strong administrators; we want faithful apostolic leaders. Bishops focus on the natural elements of the Church; their critics within the Church focus on the supernatural elements. (Read more.)

Also from Crisis:

In Church teaching, the relationship between common good and conscience becomes clear. Man’s “access to his own fulfillment” requires his ability to follow his conscience. Society’s good is achieved through the individual person’s good, and his or her ability to access that good. If you remove man’s individual liberty to do “what he knows to be just and right,” you make impossible the true common good. The right of conscience does not merely exist alongside common good; conscience is a component of common good.
The denial of this principle inevitably leads to totalitarianism. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that “one must follow a certain conscience, or at least not act against it.” History illustrates that the penultimate policy of totalitarianism is to disallow the following of conscience; the ultimate policy of totalitarianism is to force people to act against their own consciences. (Read more.)