Carrie Gress - The Marian Option: God’s Solution to a Civilization in Crisis

T here is a growing sense of unease in the world today. People of every political stripe and creed are concerned that the world seems to be spinning out of control. Home-steading, living off the grid, and prepping are trends that many have quietly been undertaking for some time, but suddenly, those who would never have considered something so radical are now contemplating packing up and moving out into the country. While the promise of a simpler lifemore connected to earth, air, and skyis part of the appeal, theres more to it than that. People are looking for something solid, concrete, reliable, safe, wholesome, and beautiful. Our secular culture and the ghastly news cycle have left many people wondering, What should we do? How should we live our lives in the face of so much chaos?

In the wake of September 11, Wall Street Journal reporter Peggy Noonan wrote about many peoples deeper reflection because of that tragic day:

There are a lot of quiet moments going on. Have you noticed? A lot of quiet transformations, a lot of quiet action and quiet conversations. People are realigning themselves. I know people who are undergoing religious conversions, and changes of faith. And people who are holding on in a new way, with a harder grip, to what they already have and believe in.

Some people have quietly come to terms with the most soul-chilling thoughts. A young man I know said to me last week, as we chatted in passing on the street, I have been thinking about the end of the American empire. And I thought: Oh my boy, do you know the import, the weight, of the words you are saying? And then I thought Yes, he does. Hes been thinking, quietly.

These are the same sort of quiet moments people are having nowbut somehow, the stakes seem higher, particularly for Catholicism. Mocking and disparaging Catholicism has been called the last acceptable form of bigotry. No other group has continued to hold a strong line on life, family, and marriagethe fundamentals of any flourishing society. The Church and her members will continue to pay a price for defending the most defenseless and upholding the law written within our hearts.

The Benedict Option

The late law professor Charles Rice, during his brilliant career at Notre Dame Law School, would frequently tell his students back in the seventies, eighties, and nineties that contraception would eventually lead the country to same-sex marriage. He was generally laughed off as a bit too doomsday or even half-mad becauseso they thoughtsuch a thing could never happen. Sadly, his prophecy became a reality just a few months after his death in February 2015. Same-sex marriage was made the law of the land in June 2015 through the Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, decided by the slim majority of one Supreme Court judge.

Shortly after the fateful ruling, journalist and author Rod Dreher suggested that Obergefell was an indication of the direction the culture was going. Christians, he argued, would be well served to consider how to respond to religious persecution and societal collapse. His warning was clear: things are bad, and they are only going to get worse. In the face of observable chaos, Dreher wonders, how can we be faithful as post-Christian America quickly turns into anti-Christian America?