By Msgr. Charles Fink
When the American novelist Walker Percy was asked by an interviewer why he had become Catholic, he famously replied: “What else is there?”. He was too intelligent and analytical to be merely ironic. He knew that other religions and philosophies, though they might contain elements of truth and wisdom, could not quench the human thirst for an integral vision that encompasses all the demands and vicissitudes of mortal existence, and that they often harbor errors and seeds of aberrant behaviors. Not to mention that some are, by nature, virulently anti-Catholic.
In his latest book, Modern Monsters: Political Ideologues and Their War against the Catholic Church, George Marlin sheds intense light on the dark corners of anti-Catholicism that have characterized the thought of five centuries of influential religious figures, philosophers, activists, and politicians. As the title suggests, it is not a book that seeks to promote ecumenical dialogue or build bridges between disputing parties. It is the analysis of a physician examining what ails the modern world, how it became so ill, and, implicitly, what it needs to heal.
With abundant quotes from primary and secondary sources—which alone make the book worthwhile—Marlin traces vivid portraits of more than a dozen prominent thinkers whose ideas and rabid anti-Catholicism have shaped our culture, mostly for the worse. Whether he speaks of Martin Luther or Machiavelli, or figures closer to our time—Nazis, fascists, and communists—one thing is repeatedly illustrated that Pope Pius XI pointed out in his 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge:
Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community—however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things—whoever raises them above their proper value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God: he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life it implies.
The near-megalomanic self-sufficiency of the promoters of such idolatrous notions is also documented, convinced that their implementation would lead to a world far superior to the one we know, if not to an earthly paradise. In short, most of the individuals studied by Marlin turn out to be utopians who, upon encountering resistance to their vision, transform into totalitarians bent on destroying anyone or anything that stands in the way of realizing their dreamed-of perfect society.
This explains their invariable hostility toward the Catholic Church, always ready to combat the tendency of ideologues to reduce the individual to a mere means to an end or cog in a machine and, with perfect realism, to affirm that no individual or group can create heaven in this fallen world.
From beginning to end, Marlin deals with those who, absolutely sure of their vision for perfecting the world, will tolerate no opposition to the execution of their plans. How could they? They have usurped God’s role, only without God’s mercy and love. All who oppose must be eliminated by any means necessary. Their arrogance is staggering.
Martin Luther, who understood the Bible like no one before.
Machiavelli, the first to see the true nature of politics.
Thomas Hobbes, who sought to replace the Catholic Church with a scientifically founded Church of the Commonwealth.
The ideologues of the Enlightenment, who believed they had unmasked all the above, laying the groundwork for the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, who asserted man’s natural goodness and the inherent evil of civilization.
The liberals of the 19th century, who believed man was perfectible by scientific and purely rational means.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who thought he had discovered the key to deciphering the code of history.
Auguste Comte, who sought to found a new Church of Humanity.
Karl Marx, who combined Hegel’s dialectic with Comte’s materialism, inspiring the rise of atheistic communism and the slaughter of millions.
The European fascists, who worshiped the State with themselves comfortably installed at its head.
Hitler and the Nazis, who worshiped their blood and race, considering all others subhuman and therefore expendable.
The 20th-century social justice revolutionaries, who brought us the sexual revolution, critical race theory, and critical gender theory.
All of them infected by a titanic egotism, sure of their own righteousness, intolerant of any opposition; all perfectly comfortable with the elimination, one way or another, of those who oppose them, justifying their grand ends by the most abhorrent means.
George Marlin’s book is not a cheerful read. Specialists in any of its subjects may object to certain characterizations and conclusions. But his general theme of open hostility to Catholicism in those he examines is hard to refute and should, at least, open an important discussion.
Unfortunately, the woke and other contemporary ideologues seem little interested in such a discussion. They are like the queen in Snow White, unhappy and full of hatred toward anyone or anything that dares suggest they are not the fairest in the land. Worse for them. Worse for our society.
I would say of Marlin’s book: read it and weep, but I don’t want to discourage anyone from delving into it. So I will end on a note of hope by quoting, as Marlin does, the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson:
Inevitably, in the course of history, there are times when the spiritual energy of the Church weakens or is temporarily obscured… But there always comes a time when it renews its strength and once again puts its inherent divine energy into the conversion of new peoples and the transformation of old cultures.
May George Marlin’s book contribute to that time coming soon.
About the author
Msgr. Charles Fink has been a priest for 47 years in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He is a former pastor and former seminary spiritual director, and lives retired from administrative duties at Notre Dame Parish in New Hyde Park, NY.