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<\/a>I didn\u2019t know it at the time this was originally written, but the Little Sisters of the Poor were our other secret weapon, aside from prayer. Their stand against the Administration was the ultimate \u201csoft tactic\u201d in a hard war. \u00a0In a nutshell, see, \u00a0of all of the groups that filed suit against the HHS Mandate, they were the target that could fell the giant.<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the post published on June 4, 2012<\/strong> in which I described the way that we could win the day against the HHS Mandate. As I recall, it wasn\u2019t very popular among the armchair Catholic warrior types.<\/em> C\u2019est le guerre.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the original post. It\u2019s long, so you might want to linger over it with your favorite adult beverage\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Currently, the bulk of our forces are\u00a0 still in the Assembly Area, marshalling troops, building logistics trains, and communication networks, etc.\u00a0 The dozen lawsuits that were launched a few weeks ago? Probes, really, looking for areas of strength and weakness. They crossed the line of departure<\/em><\/a> a few weeks back as a reconnaissance-in-force<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Over at NRO Online<\/em>, Mark L. Rienzi gives a recap of what we know so far.\u00a0Basically, it\u2019s the tale of a media blackout, which we are all familiar with,<\/p>\n It was all too predictable that the filing of twelve different lawsuits by 43 different Catholic entities was almost completely ignored<\/a> by traditional news outlets. One would think that this type of strong, coordinated legal attack in federal court, filed by one of the nation\u2019s leading law firms (Jones Day) on behalf of the nation\u2019s largest single religious denomination, would be deemed a top news story. The networks apparently disagreed \u2014 as did the New York Times<\/em>, which ran the story on page A17.<\/p>\n But then the editorial writers at the Times<\/em> eventually did grant the lawsuits prominent coverage \u2014 to criticize the Catholic Church for defending its rights. Their lead editorial<\/a> on May 27 concludes that the mandate doesn\u2019t present any actual threat to religious liberty. In their view, the \u201creal threat to religious liberty\u201d instead \u201ccomes from the effort to impose one church\u2019s doctrine on everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> is wrong in every conceivable way about the mandate, religious-liberty law, and the lawsuits.<\/p>\n First, of course the Church\u2019s lawsuits do not seek to \u201cimpose one church\u2019s doctrine\u201d on anyone, much less \u201ceveryone.\u201d The question is not whether contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs will remain legal and available \u2014 it is whether religious organizations can be forced to provide free access to them. No one is forced to work for a Catholic institution. And those who do are perfectly free to get these drugs on their own, for free from the government, or from the many sources that willingly distribute them. Indeed, in no other context has anyone ever suggested that an employer\u2019s failure to distribute an item for free is \u201cimposing doctrine\u201d on anyone. Catholic institutions also do not give out pornography, Big Macs, or trips to Disneyland. Failure to provide these things for free does not impose anything on anyone or restrict anyone\u2019s freedom in any way. Overheated claims to the contrary cannot be taken seriously.<\/p>\n Second, the Times<\/em> suggests there is something impermissible about the lawsuits\u2019 asking for exemptions from \u201cgenerally applicable\u201d laws. It is hard to imagine anyone calling Obamacare \u201cgenerally applicable\u201d with a straight face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read the rest of Rienzi\u2019s brief<\/a> for more on points #2 and #3.<\/p>\n To be victorious in this fight,\u00a0 we must be soft. And smart. In direct confrontations, we must \u201cbe shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.\u201d<\/a> And we must never, ever, do things that will help us be perceived as the bad guys, especially not with all the scandal baggage we\u2019re carrying.<\/p>\n Like Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet<\/em>, let\u2019s talk about the facts.We are not going to win the fight against the HHS Mandate, or any other assaults we face in the public square, by trying to \u201cgo hard.\u201d<\/p>\n True, we aren\u2019t wired this way. When confronted by an attacker, see, no one thinks of using the soft option. Instinctively, our response is to stand our ground, or run like hell. Unless you have had some experience in say akido, <\/em>where you\u2019re trained to use an attackers own momentum against them, you\u2019re more likely to pursue an approach that pits strength against strength. Instead of being patient, and looking for weaknesses to exploit, you instead attempt to go head to head with your opponent in a slugfest where might<\/em> will likely carry the day instead of right<\/em>.<\/p>\n News flash! That is what attrition warfare is, and it isn\u2019t going to work for us. We\u2019re going to have to use unconventional methods instead.\u00a0 And while our shepherds engage the Administration at a high level through the courts, they will also need to plan a strategy where our \u201cwe will not comply\u201d tactic is engaged in via soft methods that do no harm to those whom we serve through our ministries. We have to keep the collateral damage to the innocents at a minimum, while protecting our troops lives as well.<\/p>\n Splash of cold water in the face, time. Truth be told, the hardest way to go is paradoxically via following this soft way. Soft like a whisper. This particular way of the warrior is not thought of very highly in Western culture. No, we want to paint ourselves blue like William Wallace, strap on our kilts, grab our broadswords, and go to town on the Godless enemies of all that is true, good, and beautiful. We want to re-enact the events at Lexington and Concord and face down our oppressors like our patriot forebears, holding our fire until we can see the whites of our enemies\u2019 eyesballs, etc., etc.<\/p>\n And so we get our dander up and shout down our enemies while they give commencement addresses (while getting unceremoniously escorted out of the building to the applause of everyone in attendance). Our we \u201cgo hard\u201d and thereby play right into our opponents\u2019 hands by up and canceling all of the health insurance policies for our students, for example. Or we start closing hospitals, soup kitchens, etc., and the next thing you know, \u201cYour move, Mr. President!\u201d looks more and more like, \u201cGee, those Catholics sure talk a good game, but look at what they are doing to the poor, and the weak.\u201d Checkmate.<\/p>\n Scorched earth policies are dumb, and meaningless, especially when you don\u2019t own much of the acreage involved. It looks more like arson, and throwing folks under the bus to the disinterested parties out there. And the disinterested parties, the masses of the citizenry, who we need desperately to sympathize with our side, are, in a word, legion.<\/p>\n So in this battle that we face against the HHS Mandate, etc., we must be soft. Not weak and worthless, or flaccid, no. But instead of getting all excited and flooding our Facebook pages with pictures like this one complete with \u201cWe will not comply!\u201d slogans,<\/p>\n if civil disobedience is our lot, and our bishops say this just may be the case, then we need to prepare to be like the folks with the flowers below instead,<\/p>\n \n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Checking in with the Tao Teh Ching<\/em>, the wisdom of Lao Tzu beckons with the following assertions,<\/p>\n Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water. Ain\u2019t it so? Actually someone did put this \u201cinto practice.\u201d Jesus the Nazarean. Also known as Christ the King<\/em>. You know,\u00a0 I AM<\/em>.<\/p>\n Remember the scene when St. Peter whacks the right ear off Malchus when the authorities came to arrest Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane?<\/p>\n \u201cThen Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest\u2019s slave and cut off his right ear. The slave\u2019s name was Malchus.\u201d (John 18:1-10 <\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n Obviously Peter was attempting to protect Jesus by cleaving the head of this Malchus fellow in two. Quick reflexes saved Malchus, while costing him his ear. In his last recorded miracle before being crucified, Jesus heals Malchus by restoring his ear to him,<\/p>\n But Jesus said in reply, \u201cStop, no more of this!\u201d Then he touched the servant\u2019s ear and healed him. (Luke 22:51<\/a> )<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n Our Lord then explained that if He were about to take over the world at that time by force of arms, He wouldn\u2019t need the help of us humans to do it:<\/p>\n \u201cPut your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way?\u201d (Matthew 26:52-54<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cSir, I\u2019m going to have to blow the whistle on you. <\/em>You\u2019re just trying to proof text pacifism on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Um, not quite. If anything, I\u2019m just trying to help us understand what works when we don\u2019t have a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) at our disposal. <\/em>Or we can continue to pretend that we\u2019re going to re-fight the Battle of Bull Run, like a bunch of arm chair generals. Honestly, that\u2019s a Walter Mitty fantasy that is destined to fail.<\/p>\n Regardless, there are plenty of military geniuses who will testify to the high success rates of the soft approach. Remember the water analogy of Lao Tzu? Sun Tzu, the Chinese general (who would have made a great Christian, except that he was alive around the time the Book of Malachi was written [440-400 B.C.], and the Peloponnesian War was raging) noted in his classic The Art of War<\/em> (translated by Samuel B. Griffith, USMC)<\/a> in the chapter on strengths and weaknesses (Chapter VI) the following.<\/p>\n Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no trace; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is the master of his enemies fate.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strengths and strikes weakness.<\/p>\n And as water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.<\/p>\n And as water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions.<\/p>\n Thus, one able to gain the victory by modifying his tactics in accordance with the enemy situation may be said to be divine.<\/p>\n Of the five elements, none is always predominant; of the four seasons, none lasts forever; of the days, some are long and some short, and the moon waxes and wanes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n The methods that will work best for us are of the kind pioneered by civil rights leader, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. As our shepherds are wise to do, they have studied his strategies and tactics, and are adapting them to our struggle<\/a>. Success with the 40 Days for Life <\/em>campaigns have been helpful to prepare us for the fight as well.\u00a0 Organized, peaceful, charitable, and armed with no more than our rosaries, we\u2019ll need to ramp up the size of these events, possibly to\u00a0March for Life <\/em>proportions.<\/p>\n Another role model to emulate is Mahatma Ghandi, and of course, St. Francis of Assisi\u2019s meeting with the Sultan sheds light upon this well worn path towards the freedom that we have been given by God. From Christ the King to the present day, these peaceful, and nonviolent methods are the standard for us to follow.<\/p>\n In preparation for the struggle to come, we\u2019ll be holding a Fortnight of Freedom <\/em>prayer vigil<\/a> from June 21 through July 4th. Some of you may not know, but prayer is our secret weapon in this fight. General George S. Patton once held forth on it\u2019s importance<\/a>, and the omnipotent power that it channels. The entire Church will be engaged in these prayers, both here at the front, and abroad across the entire Kingdom, to include all of the saints in the Church Triumphant as well.<\/p>\n To recap, we must be smart, soft like water, charitable, and filled with grace from the Holy Spirit through the power of prayer. I\u2019ll now turn this briefing over to James Breig from HQ. He\u2019s got a little presentation on Catholic heroes<\/a> who have fought for, and secured for us, religious liberties that we will defend with our lives if necessary, as they themselves did.<\/p>\n Lights out at 23:30. The smoking lamp is lit until then, and the slop chute is open as well. That is all.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n In Kenneth Branagh\u2019s version of Shakespeare\u2019s <\/em>Henry V, the troops sang this after the victory at Agincourt. It seems appropriate now, too.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Teddy Roosevelt\u2019s famous saying, \u201cSpeak softly, and carry a big stick,\u201d is not what our leaders have in mind, either. Because quite frankly, we don\u2019t have any big sticks.\u00a0 Forget talk about winning the culture war.\u00a0 We have to win the next battle first, and then the one after that. Though it has been building for some time now, our opponent launched their attack last fall. It was an open declaration of war.<\/p>\n\n
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\nYet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
\nIt has no equal.
\nThe weak can overcome the strong;
\nThe supple can overcome the stiff.
\nUnder heaven everyone knows this,
\nYet no one puts it into practice.
\nTherefore the sage says:
\nHe who takes upon himself the humiliation of the people
\nis fit to rule them.
\nHe who takes upon himself the country\u2019s disasters deserves
\nto be king of the universe.
\nThe truth often seems paradoxical<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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