The Return to Order Moment

Pope Francis has convoked a “Synod on Synodality,” which is meeting as this podcast premiers. Many faithful Catholics have expressed concern over the synod, as its promoters have proposed severe and potentially destructive changes to the Church’s structure.

Synod leaders have repeatedly expressed their desire to discuss “inclusion.” The following article, taken from the recently published book “The Synodal Process Is a Pandora’s Box,” by José Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo explains what the word “inclusion” means for the Synod’s promoters.

The other essays included in this podcast describe the one group that is excluded from the Synod proceedings and the reaction to the book.

Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original format may use the following links: https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/08/radical-inclusion-the-key-to-understanding-the-coming-synod/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/confessions-of-a-radically-excluded-catholic/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/the-synod-process-is-a-pandoras-box-a-cry-of-alarm-that-raises-hopes/.

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The word freedom has been distorted out of all relationship to its true meaning. Modernists see freedom as the ability to do whatever they want, without having any regard to its consequences, either on ourselves or others. However, that brand of so-called freedom leads to bondage. It destroys ourselves and others in a more total way than any chains or prison bars actually could.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, often referred to as “The Little Flower,” offers us a perfect example of the proper use of freedom.

The founder of the International TFP movement, Professor Plinio Correa de Olivera, considered this dimension of Saint Therese’s writings in a talk that he gave on April 17, 1967. The Return to Order Moment offers its listeners excerpts of that talk as published in the January Two Thousand Twenty-Two issue of the American TFP’s Saint Gabriel Bulletin.

Most people look upon the pandemic years of Two thousand Twenty and Two Thousand Twenty-One as disasters. The idea of returning to those times sends shudders down any sensible spine.

However, there are those who see the Covid scare as the “good old days.” They look back nostalgically on a time when people took the words and commands of government officials seriously. Their technocratic souls thrilled to the sound of Anthony Fauci’s voice. Their socialist sensibilities had no trouble standing in long lines in which the people in front and behind them were six feet away. They enjoyed carrying vaccination cards that gave them special privileges to travel. Their love of virtue signaling led them to enjoy having a mask to inform people that they cared. They also got a kick out of looking down their noses at those who refused to cover their noses and mouths with useless pieces of paper and elastic bands.

The emergence of a new variant is already giving these Marxist wannabees new hope, and that should frighten anyone with an ounce of sense - or memory of the dark days of 2020-2021.

Listeners who want to read the essays in their original formats may use the following links - https://www.tfp.org/how-the-pandemic-shattered-social-skills-and-destroyed-public-spaces/?PKG=TFPE3145, https://www.returntoorder.org/2022/09/hold-public-health-technocrats-accountable-for-their-covid-blunders/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/05/how-the-liberals-became-covid-doomsayers/.

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This year marks the semi-centennial of the American TFP, the organization that sponsors the Return to Order Moment.

One of the guiding principles of the TFP is to place principles over personalities. This precept is, in and of itself, enough to separate us from the attitude of most of modern society. Therefore, we spend little time focusing upon our own organization as we strive to inform people about the need to live according to traditional morality, as taught by the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.

However, as we reach this half-century mark, it is appropriate that we take a brief look at our history. We do this for two reasons. First, it encourages our long-time supporters to look back on the battles that we have fought together. Second, we hope that it will encourage those new to the battle to look at our history and consider becoming involved with us.

It was in this spirit that the President of the American TFP, Mr. Raymond Drake, penned the cover article in the September/October Two thousand twenty-three issue of Crusade magazine.

Thank you for listening.

The ecological movement, at least as we know it today, is a tool of leftist revolutionaries. That is unfortunate because preserving the gifts that God gave us – including the natural world – is truly important.

However, the biggest promoters of today’s environmental movement are not interested in conserving God’s gifts. In fact, the majority are atheists. They manipulate the movement to gain power. They present gruesome pictures of polluted air, water, and land scarred by the wreckage of industry. They twist these images them to inspire others to repeat phrases like, “Someone ought to do something.” Then they spring their plan.

That plan always includes forcing others to give up legitimate freedoms. Only such sacrifices can establish the leaders’ vision of some environmental utopia.

The ironic side of the issue is that the proposed solutions don’t solve anything. That is the topic of this week's podcast.

Listeners who wise to read the essays in their original formats, including the charts from the second essay, can use these links: https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/04/unreliable-wind-and-solar-energy-will-not-save-the-world/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/three-reasons-to-doubt-the-extreme-weather-alarmists/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/08/are-the-recent-canadian-wildfires-accelerating-the-end-of-the-world/.

Thank you for listening.

What does it mean to say that a man was “a warrior against himself?” The concept is one that is entirely absent in our modern world which teaches us that the most important interest is our own.

However, this meditation on the life of Saint Peter Orseo-lo by Professor Plinio Correa de Olivera carries a message that is diametrically opposite to that of the modern world. In it, we see a man who set out to conquer himself. He had money, power, and position. Yet, he saw that only by abandoning them, could he conquer his own sinful nature.

We would all do well by considering the example of the little-known Saint Peter Orseolo, as written by the founder of the international TFP movement, Professor Plinio Correa de Olivera.

Thank you for listening.

We live in a cynical world. We are surrounded by those who try to pretend that evil is good – and that the evil that they do is even better.

Our leaders do not lead us. They try to figure out what we want and then try to convince us that they want it, too. We are surrounded by people who say that they want to help us, but are only willing to do so if they are paid for their help. We are bombarded by advertising that says that we can be truly happy – but only if we buy their stuff.

Fortunately, there are those whose primary motivation is one of charity. When we first meet such people, we might distrust them at first. Our inclination is to wonder what is in it for them. Only slowly do we change our minds as a sense of trust grows.

Today, the Return to Order Moment takes you back about one hundred sixty years – to the time of the Civil War. We will focus on a small group of women who called themselves the Daughters of Charity. We hope that this account will inspire our listeners to be just a bit less cynical and rejoice that such people exist.

Thank you for listening.

Often, a light bulb that is about to expire gives a very brief moment of bright light before the darkness comes. Such an occasion may be an appropriate analogy for the woke movement. On one level, wokeness has never appeared stronger. On the other, there are signs that it is losing its potency to dictate the policies of the future.

Listeners who wise to read the essays in their original format may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/is-d-e-i-going-to-d-i-e/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/08/where-are-wokeism-and-cancel-culture-taking-us/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/a-period-correct-mass-at-the-160th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-gettysburg-attracts-a-full-tent/.

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Years ago, Hollywood was often called “tinsel town.” This refereed to its ability to make something that was artificial appear real. They make their money selling illusions.

One of Hollywood’s favorite phrases is “push the envelope.” In other words, the goal is to produce something that is even more shocking than that which came before.

However, Hollywood has pushed the envelope as far as possible before it rips, losing the support of its audience.

That is the main point of today's episode of the Return to Order Moment.

Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original format may use these links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/what-if-the-hollywood-strike-never-ends/ and https://www.returntoorder.org/2018/12/the-spirit-of-hollywood-versus-the-spirit-of-the-cross/.

Thank you for listening.

Until recent years, the ability to understand and explain the arguments of an opponent was vital to participation in the public debate. Without such an understanding, an advocate for a position said ridiculous things that prevented them from being taken seriously.

Those who promote the positions collectively called woke are proud of their inability to understand their opponents’ arguments. To them, this inability is a sign of their ideological purity.

This is a dangerous position. Science exists to help humanity to discover the truths of God's natural world. Subverting the process to suit a political or ideological agenda takes us further away from those truths.

Listeners who wish to examine the articles in their original format may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/education-secretary-cardona-is-wrong-about-the-causes-of-disrespect-for-the-public-school-system/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/07/what-david-french-gets-wrong-about-the-culture-war/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/06/why-cancel-the-scientists-who-follow-the-science/.