France, The Most Perfect
Godless Society In The World.
By Richard Salbato
The
title of this Newsletter is very unfair to France, but I have to have some
excuse for writing about my great trip to Paris. My own reflections of the place and people were great, but when I
learned that only 3% of the people go to Church, I spent a great deal of time
and conversation trying to see why this society was so civilized, you might
even say perfect, and it would seem, without the virtues of the teachings of
Christ. I thought about Thomas More's
"Utopia" written to influence King Henry the Eighth not to create a
Church-State government, but based on Marco Polo's stories of the civilizations
he saw in his travels. Probably Marco
Polo witnessed the results of Confucius'
great teaching on the virtues of living in
perfect harmony and but even Confucius said when asked
about God, "I do not talk about what I do not know about". After Confucius we have the great Greek
thinkers; Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, who added the God equation but had
little to say about it. At least they
also created great societies. All these
societies were based on the logic of the moral law.
But
what about France? What I saw in and
around Paris is the best civilization in the 30 countries I have ever traveled
in. The infrastructure was perfect,
city roads well planned and easy to get around in, parking garages everywhere with
plenty of parking, subways that were clean, modern, fast and easy to follow,
sidewalks that were wide and well cared for with plenty of trees to hide the
image of a concrete city, taxis and buses everywhere and easy to get, wide
county roads and freeway with all the modern touches you would expect only in
Disney World. The old city of Paris is
kept historical and all the buildings have the 18th Century
architecture, and no building over 4 stories is allowed. Outside the old Paris is the modern high rise
buildings of glass and steel but even these have enough variety of styles to be
interesting.
In
fact France is probably the most successful country of its size in the world,
with almost no poverty, many millionaires, great quality in everything from industrial
products, to clothes, to food. But what
strikes you the most is the harmony between the people. No one is confrontational, you never see
anyone arguing or angry, and in fact they are not out to con you even though
they have the largest tourist trade in the world. Paris is very expensive in just about anything but you do get you
money's worth. Maybe I saw only the
good in Paris because I went to see three very intellectual people, who could
carry on meaningful conversations, something I cannot find in Fatima.
Before
bragging about my trip to Paris, let me finish my reflection on the
people. Are they without Christian
morals? No! The French are a very proud
and independent people. They are proud
of their culture and their culture is Christian. France was founded and occupied by Catholics with Catholic
morals, and although that same pride does not like outside forces to change
their traditions, they have held on to those morals of their Catholic virtues,
well almost. In fact one of the reasons
for the drop in Mass attendance in France is the changes in Vatican II that are
not according to the French idea of hanging on to their historical
culture. Keep in mind that Marcel
Lefvebre is French and his rebellion is more of a French rebellion than a
religious one. Something that the
Church should keep in mind when trying to unite with the Orthodox. These traditions mean more to some people
than doctrine, which most of these people could care less about. This might be why I could attend 5 Tridentine
Masses in Paris and never in the same church twice. I also attended a Pius X Society Mass, but that takes a special
paragraph.
Anyway
this French pride makes them do their own work, no matter what it is, and they
do not bring in People from other countries to do the great works of art, like
farming, the making of their great cheeses, cooking, and even the making of
clothes. They do have many foreigners
but they do not mix in the culture, but have their own districts and do very
untalented jobs and so hidden you never see them.
No!
The French do not go to Mass, but I find more virtue and morals (Ah! Almost)
than any other social order in my 30 counties.
What do I mean by "almost"? Well! One moral
problem the French have is their tolerance for sexual crimes. A married man or woman who has an occasional
affair with another man or woman, is considered "French" and no one
pays too much attention to it. Getting
along and making others feel good, feeling good themselves and being kind at
least outwardly is the important thing, and tolerance for a little affair or a
little to much wine, is just overlooked.
Anyway,
France is not Godless, it is just hanging on to its Christian traditions in a
somewhat exaggerated way. France may be
the one country that saves Europe from jumping into the real anti-religious
European Union.
Great Religious Experiences
So that is my impressions of the people and
the culture but I went there for a meeting with three wonderful people and a
great deal was accomplished. I also
went to see the great religious shrines of Paris, Rue du Bac, Notre Dame, and
the large piece of the Crown of Thorns given to Saint Luis. But first we attended a Tridentine Mass at
the Church where my friend was married.
Such beauty both inside an outside, altars that give glory to God,
something missing in modern churches, and the rest of the surroundings in great
effort to have a glimpse of the glory of heaven. Even the newest of the Paris Churches, Saint Odile, was a great
tribute to God, with a Eastern style of architecture, and also Tridentine
Masses.
Not
far from Notre Dame is another church near the Latin quarter for Byzantine Mass
and having a beautiful Iconostance wall. The Latin quarter is named such
because people came from all over the world to exchange philosophical ideas and
were able to converse together because they all spoke Latin. It was from this area that came the great
heresies of the 18 to 20th centuries including Communism, Marxism,
humanism, and naturalism. It was this
thinking that brought on the French Revolution and caused the death of the monarchs and placed a nude dancing
prostitute on the main altar of Notre Dame as the new mascot of the
country. Although the revolution failed
quickly, its ideas of marriages being illegal and sex free somewhat still infects France. If France fails it will be
for the same reason that all of Europe fails, a too low of a birth rate.
No
trip to Paris is complete for any Catholic without going to the place God
picked to answer the French Revolution, Rue du Bac, the Chapel of Our Lady of
the Miraculous Medal. It may not have
been so beautiful when Catherine Laboure saw Our Lady in 1830 and bringing us
the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Miraculous Medal. This is important to me for other reasons
and that is that the 20th Century apparition of Our Lady of
Soufanieh and Rue du Bac have many things in common. The order of the Daughters of Charity was founded by Saint
Louise de Marillac, or co-founded with Saint Vincent de Paul, as she had to
talk him into a real order for nuns.
Her uncorrupt body can be seen on the left side of the altar. Catherine Laboure's uncorrupt body can be
seen on the right side of the altar with her eyes still open. It is just below
the often forgotten statue of the vision of Our Lady holding the globe. These two images have taught me a great deal
about Our Lady, one that She is the dispenser of God's grace, and two that She
takes our prayers, no matter what they are, and presents them to the Triune
God. This statue of Her with the Globe in Her hands teaches us this second
lesson. We attended Mass there and my
friend bought some Miraculous Medals and chains next door in a very exclusive
shop.
From
there we followed the path where the Daughters of Charity walked when moving
the body of Saint Vincent de Paul to his new tomb and Church not far away. Walking with the nuns and the body of Saint
Vincent de Paul on April 30, 1830 was a young novice, Catherine Laboure. There we honored the body of Saint Vincent
de Paul.
Not
counting the meeting we had at the Marriott Hotel with our friends from Jordan
and the reason for my trip, there are two other things I would like
mention. We took one day to drive to
Normandy, where the Allied Forces landed to free Europe and lost so many lives
doing it. We stopped to see the great
French farms, the quality of their livestock, and the cute little Norman towns
that give the impression of being new but hundreds of years old in style. Funny
about Normandy, is that although they speak French, they consider themselves
Normans and look it.
The
other thing worth noting, is the Pius X Society Church and Mass we
attended. Not far from the heart of the
old district of Paris is a very large and beautiful church that was abandoned
by the Catholic Church for lack of attendance and priests. One day some priests and people of the PXS
broke down the large doors and just took possession of the church. The police came and was going to arrest them
but the local Catholic Bishop decided that any one in the Church would preserve
it better than being empty and let them stay.
At any point he can change his mind and they will be kicked out, but for
now they have a place in Paris. My
friend wanted my impression of them because at one time he was a member and
still promotes the Tridentine wherever he can, but inside the Body of Christ
now and not outside.
Before mass was perpetual adoration and benediction, then a group rosary, then the Mass with 6 altar boys and great reverence.
After
Mass my friend asked my impression of them.
I said,
"It
reminds me of Medugorje. Everything is
too perfect. More perfect than most of the churches in the True Church. It offers those who are seeking the
reverence and holiness in the Church, what they are lacking with the changes
made since Vatican II by liberal priests and bishops. But the end result is dividing the Church which is what the word
"demonic" means, "to divide". Even holiness, or rosaries can be used to separate us from God,
as Martin Luther did with the bible."
Richard Salbato
THE TRUE FRANCE
Email to Unity Publishing
Complete nonsense! ... If this continues like that there will be another revolution but harder than that of 1789!