Dear Reader,

“It is necessary that there be heresies.” These words of St. Paul resonate even in those among us who turn a blind eye to evils and mask with rose-colored glasses the face of death around us.

St. Paul’s words evoke his efforts to keep his burgeoning communities together amidst the schisms dividing Holy Mother the Church. It brings up the spectacle of apostates who, lulled by the howling of the wind or the latest spiritual fad, are throwing away the precious gift of faith.

In the context of Church history, the 21st-century Catholic Church will no doubt receive the stigma of scandal, not only of scandal in general, but of the type in the apostle’s words “which should not even be named among us,” so shameful they are. No doubt, entire walls of our society are being eroded under human perversions which threaten the survival of things as basic as the inequality of the sexes and human love. The natural family unit is fast becoming an endangered species.

The titanic struggle between the Woman with Child and the serpent (Gen. 3:15) has taken a dramatic turn. The forces of evil are unleashed with a power never before seen against the very citadel of Christ’s mystical body. The priesthood and the Mass have been under siege for decades now. But we might soon witness a revival of the catacombs, the waves of persecutions in heretic and or communist countries where priests and bishops are hunted down like wild boars and a price is set on their head.

It is not our intention to sound the trumpet of defeat and doom in the face of danger. This review of the various faces of the political, societal, and ecclesiastical crisis must encourage us to throw ourselves at the feet of Christ our leader and of His powerful Blessed Mother before throwing ourselves, body and soul, into the struggle for spiritual survival. This is another reason to be the devoted children of Holy Mother the Church who is going through pain and agony, and to help souls along the way. Should we not be the proud imitators of those invulnerable saints who faced the devil and his minions with the simple weapon of faith and the charity of Christ in their heart?

Long live Christ’s ambassadors on earth who bring us the bread and water of eternal life! Long live the pope and the Catholic bishops! Long live Christ and His Holy Church!

Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Publisher