The Catholic Character of the City of Saint Louis

The temper of Catholicism in Saint Louis differs greatly from that of other American cities. Outstanding bishops, a remarkable clergy, many religious orders, significant lay leaders, varied nationalities, unnumbered organizations, and the unique spirit of the city itself combined to give a distinct flavor to Saint Louis Catholicism.

A blend of the east and west, of north and south, the city itself holds the urbanity of the eastern seaboard and the informality of the western plains: it provides a foretaste of the languid delta lands at the edge of the North; its industrial complex hums like a northern dynamo, out of place in the warm South. Saint Louis boasts a people obedient when authority speaks, but more concerned to go on their own way and get the job done, with little concern for those in charge; a people not easily understood: conservative in some things, progressive in others, with little logic in the divergence...

Just as Saint Louisans of all denominations had outlooks that differed from those of New Yorkers or Baltimoreans, so the unusual origins of Saint Louis gave to local Catholics a further differing attitude from their co-religionists elsewhere. On the eastern seaboard, Catholic immigrants found Boston or Philadelphia already stratified Anglo-American Protestant communities. Catholics began Saint Louis. They formed as much a part of the scenery as the trees, the streets, the buildings. During the forty years before Saint Louis became a part of the United States, few members of other denominations came to the city. When Saint Louis became American at the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1804), individuals of other religious affiliations arrived. Even twenty years later, they did not outnumber the Catholics. Since then, Catholics have usually numbered close to half the populace. In his book, Inside U.S.A., social observer John Gunther forthrightly called Saint Louis a "Catholic city."

In recent centuries men and women died in Paris, Munich, Warsaw, and Madrid for their Catholic faith. Even Rome itself went through periods of anti-Catholic rule. Against this background, the Saint Louis story shines with pure light.

—William Barnaby Faherty, S.J.; Dream by the River, Two Centuries of Saint Louis Catholicism, 1766-1980

ASSVMPTA EST MARIA IN CAELVM

Ceiling detail at Saint Mary of the Barrens Church, in Perryville, Missouri.

Ezra Levant versus the Human Rights Commission

ENGLISH COMMON LAW originally developed as an explicitly Catholic adaptation of barbarian legal customs, based on the universal standards of factuality, fairness, and equity. Although far from perfect, this legal system is fundamentally opposed to the concept of "might makes right". Enlightenment law systems reject these Christian notions, and instead merely are used to impose policy. 'Enlightened' law systems, like we see in Marxism, Naziism, the European Union, and even in the law systems developed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and class-action lawsuits, care hardly for the concepts of actual responsibility, disinterest, and equity, but rather are means to another end.

We in the United States, unless we are hockey fans, hardly ever think of Canada at all, and if we do think of Canada, we usually think of the place as being a "nice" country. 'Nice' is a nice, but bland word, only half a compliment and nearly half an insult. If Canada were ever to become a tyranny, we here in the U.S. would probably ignore it, for it would be a 'nice' tyranny; bland, and not flashy like militarist dictatorships of old.

The Human Rights Commission of the Canadian province of Alberta is a 'nice' and bland implementation of tyranny, in that it explicitly ignores the concepts of fairness, actual guilt, and equity, and instead is used as a tool for political persecution of others. Journalist Ezra Levant has recently been called before the Commission for causing offense to a Muslim. I ought to note that the way these laws are written, it is impossible for anyone to legally offend, say, a Catholic, but rather only certain marxist-defined protected classes seem to have standing in these courts.

Levant is fighting the Commission on the grounds of unconstitutionality. Since the press was not allowed in his hearing, and the Canadian press in general, being tied closely to the government, has little interest in the case, Levant himself has posted videos of his own defense on YouTube.

Here is his opening statement:

This building was once part of the former Vincentian seminary, in Perryville, Missouri. It is located on the grounds of Saint Mary of the Barrens Church.

The cats aren't pleased at this disturbance.