Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II, Queen of England, recently (April 21) celebrated her 80th birthday. I thought it might be appropriate to write about her today.

I must admit that I have mixed feelings about the English royal family. As a monarchist, I have natural feelings of respect and admiration for Elizabeth. As an American, I think that we should never have rebelled against Britain, and would rather have Elizabeth as our queen than George (W. Bush that is) as our president. On the other hand, I am a Catholic, and the English royal line has had a very bad history since Henry VIII created heresy and schism by divorcing his wife (Catherine of Aragon), breaking from the Holy Catholic Church, ignoring the supremacy of the Supreme Pontiff of Rome, and declaring himself the supreme head of the Church of England. Even today it is illegal for the monarch to convert to Catholicism (I commend the Prince of Wales for his support of a bill that would have repealed this antiquated and unjust law in Britain, and I condemn the House of Lords for voting it down).

I also have ill feelings towards the English royal line and English society as a whole for historical reasons (even though I have English blood, among others, running through my veins). English society itself has a certain latent anti-Catholicism, most apparent in its view of history. The English have traditionally revered Elizabeth I and abhorred Mary I. They portray Mary as vicious, bloody, and murderous for her treatment of Protestants during her reign while she attempted to restore Catholicism to her nation, but say little if nothing of the terrible acts of both Mary’s father and half-sister (Henry VIII and Elizabeth I). Thousands of Catholics were persecuted and murdered during their reigns (many being innocent priests, monks, and nuns who had the “audacity” to remain Catholic after the king made it illegal), Church property was confiscated and used for purposes of the state, and those Catholics who weren’t killed had to worship in hiding and secret. But the British don’t like to talk about the crimes of Henry and Elizabeth, just about the crimes of Mary.

There is also the fact that Britain waged war against Germany, my fatherland by adoption. I have written earlier about Kaiser Wilhelm II not being the monster many make him out to be (a common attitude even today in Britain), yet it was the British kings Edward VII and George V who worked against the efforts of the Kaiser at maintaining peace. Germany may have started the war, but this was at a time when the Kaiser had lost control of his ministers and generals, but I digress.

I have often tried to imagine myself living in Britain (I must admit, I have a rather schizophrenic relationship with the British, sometimes loathing them, sometimes loving them). It would be glorious to have Elizabeth II as my queen, a woman I could look up to who embodied everything that is British society and culture. It would grieve me so, however, to know the fact that she is my queen yet degraded to the office of official puppet, for that is what she is, a puppet of parliament. It would also hurt to know that she is hated by many of her subjects. She should be the one who makes and executes the laws in Britain, not a bunch of bureaucrats in the House of Commons. Let her take her rightful place in British society and government. Let her be adored by her subjects.

As I said, I have mixed feelings about the English royal line, and British society as a whole. But I find myself coming to no other conclusion than this: better to be ruled by a Protestant queen than by some bureaucrat from Texas. God Save the Queen!!

Easter Sunday

"Surrexit: non est hic..." (St. Mark, 16:6).

Good Friday

"Greater love than this no man hath..." (John 15:13).

Patriotism

The subject of patriotism has been on my mind lately. America seems to be the land of patriots and patriotism. Popular slogans such as “God bless America,” “united we stand,” “support our troops,” and “in God we trust” can be seen on bumper stickers all across the nation. What should be made of all this?

Firstly, let me say that I am not against patriotism in principle, provided that patriotism is well deserved. It can be a very good thing to be proud of one’s nation. I myself used to be a very patriotic man. It was only when I became a monarchist that my patriotism began to wane. But should American monarchists be patriotic? Should Catholics (indeed all Christians) be patriotic about America?

America was founded by men who rejected the notion of monarchy, who were practicing Freemasons and Deists. They spoke much about an ambiguous “Creator” in words which could be applied to almost any supernatural creator, real or otherwise. Some were fairly hostile towards organized religion (e.g. Jefferson, Franklin). It seems to me that an invention of men of this caliber is not one that should be esteemed and honored to a quasi-religious level. I often hear so-called “conservatives” such as Sean Hannity make statements like “America is the greatest nation God has given to man.” An odd statement when one considers the fact that Hannity is a Catholic. Can an institution founded by men (Freemasons and un-churched men at that) be divinely ordained? I think not.

Much is made of the fact that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, to borrow a line from our national anthem. Are Americans truly free? It seems to me that we are a nation of slaves, slaves to sin. Pornography is everywhere, divorce is more commonplace than permanent marriages, homosexual lifestyles are accepted and celebrated to the point that heterosexual lifestyles are considered abnormal, sex has become an act of pure pleasure and completely removed from the bonds of marriage and its procreative purpose is nearly entirely forgotten. An of course we must not forget the tragedy of abortion, the willful and malicious murder of an innocent human person. Are the thousands of murdered unborn children free? If they could answer, they would do so with a resounding “NO!!!”

Abortion is the worst crime ever known to man, an even greater crime than the holocaust. The victims of the holocaust had to ability to fight back. Unborn children cannot; unborn children cannot even cry out in pain as they are being murdered. Crying is a form of fighting, a form of defiance. The Jews in the holocaust could do this, but unborn children cannot.

Any nation that allows the murder of the most innocent of its victims is unworthy of patriotism, of respect, of honor. The American flag used to be beautiful to me. Now it means little to me, save as a reminder of what this nation has become. The red stripes represent not the blood of the men who died defending this nation, but of our children who we have murdered. God bless American indeed. I cannot see any reason why God should bless America. I do however see many reasons why God should curse America. Monarchist or not, every God fearing man should not waste his time honoring a nation so drenched in the blood of its own children.