“Catholicism without Christianity”
Christopher House vs. Longinus House - Tug of War at the St. Joseph Games
Odd as it may seem, I just finished reading (okay, listening to) the same book for the second time in the space of a month. With the exception of Dr. Seuss’ Butter Battle Book, I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. But when you have the pleasure of two separate, 24-hour road-trips with two of your favorite people, what else ought one do but listen to and discuss a prophetic and frightening yet powerfully edifying dystopian novel?
The book was Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World. The picture above showing our tug-of-war at the first annual St. Joseph Games, where each side struggles to drag the other onto its own scrap of ground, fittingly illustrates the book’s central theme. Benson imagines a world where Christianity has all but disappeared, leaving only a small remnant of Catholicism grappling for life, a world with state-sponsored euthanasia but no death penalty, a world where socialism of one kind or another has generally won the day yet a world where East and West stand on the brink of an all-consuming and annihilating war. In that world, from the shores of America emerges a charismatic leader who declares world-peace and universal human brotherhood among all nations… and it works! (at least for a while)
It’s as if everyone in the tug-of-war, fighting for Lordship of this earth, simultaneously dropped the rope as some mesmerizing spectacle shines before their eyes. This miracle-worker is immediately hailed as a messiah by atheists and most Catholics alike, who put their faith in him as the one who shows tangible proof of goodness after centuries of broken promises by Christianity.
All wars and rumors of wars end as humanity “evolves” to realize its tearing at the rope had been a fruitless, petty fight against itself. People miraculously realize their unity in the corporate body that is “humanity itself.” God has finally arrived, and God is nothing other than fully evolved humanity. Benson calls this new state of affairs, this terrifying communion of the un-faithful a “Catholicism without Christianity.” In other words, it is a religious view that aims at the worldly goods of justice, peace, health, absence of pain, etc., without any of the transcendent essence of the soul’s relation to God. It seems to deliver on everything Jesus promised but Christianity couldn’t achieve—universal brotherhood and unity; immortality; forgiveness of sin; and peace on earth. The new humanitarianism delivers a strictly horizontal, material fulfillment of each promise—universal brotherhood because we are part of the same organism (humanity itself); immortality because the secret of preventing physical death has been scientifically discovered; peace on earth because army no longer marches against army; and forgiveness of sin because without a transcendent God there can be no such thing as sin.
What could go wrong?
As you might expect, the only thing that becomes intolerable to this all-tolerant, unified society of perfected humanity, is the Catholic Church. That’s because it’s not primarily seeking harmony at the material level. In Benson’s words, having been consolidated into one by the false messiah, it is as if “All the forces of the civilised world were concentrating into two camps—the world and God.”
What’s most interesting to me about this scenario, however, is how Benson imagines the Church’s response to world peace. In a public audience, Pope John XXIV first anathematizes the false bringer of peace and his followers but then declares, “the Word of God bids us to war, but not with the weapons of this world, for neither is His kingdom of this world.” More stunning still, he goes on to create a new religious order, “The Order of Christ Crucified,” an order of people who willingly expose themselves to martyrdom. He is motivated to make this battle plan by his firm conviction that “the object of the Church was to do glory to God by producing supernatural virtues in man, and that nothing at all was of any significance or importance except so far as it effected this object.”
It’s as if the Pope says, “you can have your tug of war. We aren’t playing in the dirt; we’re aiming at the stars!” Ours is a battle first to re-order the human soul. It’s first a vertical battle not a horizontal rope-pull. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” says our true Savior, “and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
Which brings us to Holy Week and the Triduum. During Holy week, Christ didn’t cure all physical disease, He didn’t end world hunger, or put a stop to all military violence (though these are good things). He put an end to the reign of sin by opening the way to peace between man and God through repentance. Furthermore, He invites us into His death and therefore his resurrection through the grace of penance and baptism. We, too, should drop the rope in the tug of war, but not because there’s no battle to be fought. It’s because we’re trying to climb a rope up to heaven, not merely fight over our patch of soil. Let us praise Christ crucified…and resurrected!
A blessed Easter to you all when it arrives! We have victory in the slain lamb, for only He is worthy to rule over all!
AND NOW FOR THE NEWS!
“For now we see as through a glass darkly" (1 Cor 13:12)
Two of our students work at Jacksonville Stained Glass. Recently, all of them traveled there for a miniature stained-glass build.
“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11)
Joey Lee and Joe Hildebrand lay bricks for the College’s recent masonry project sponsored by Otto Baum!
“And he took Peter, James, and John the brothers up a high mountain alone…” (Mt 17:1)
James Heman led a group of students to Illinois’ Garden of the Gods park for the closest thing to mountains in this state.
“My Father, my father! The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 12:2)
Henry Trainor takes aim at a bale of hay during our first annual St. Joseph Games celebrating a patronal solemnity!
—Of course, the students built the chariots.
How can I not show the other chariot?
“Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God” (Ps 20:7).
Visitors Weekend, March 2026! Prospective students deconstruct and rebuild furnaces, heaters, and AC units!
It’s not too late to apply for the class of Catholic Craftsmen beginning in fall 2026!