Tuesday 8 June 2021

Rod Dreher in Bucharest

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Good readers, I think it was Borges who said, are very black swans. I have such a swan in Toma, who comments brilliantly on my posts and is probably more interesting than my stuff. He just alerted me in a comment to the fact that Rod Dreher was in Bucharest at the weekend and has written about it in a very interesting piece.

Rod Dreher's ideas are very similar to mine and I too want to write to explain to Romanians how much they have here that they are in danger of losing because of the influence of the West.

"The peoples of this part of the world looked to the West for hope and direction when they suffered under Communist dictatorship. They still hold the West in high esteem. Yet they also experience a great deal of Western arrogance, mostly from western Europeans, but also Americans — liberal elites who treat them like primitive children who need to be taught how to be proper moderns. Perhaps the main source today of Western contempt has to do with the natural conservatism in this part of the world vis-à-vis LGBT rights. Billionaire George Soros, among others, has poured money into countries like Romania via his NGOs to try to undermine traditions on the family, and religious authority. I had heard on my first night in Romania, and in various conversations throughout the day, that political elites in Bucharest routinely mock social and religious conservatives, in particular over their views on family and sexuality.

 

"Well, in my talk, I told the audience that they may hear from the West, and from their Western-oriented elites, that they should be ashamed of their faith, of their traditions, and of their moral beliefs. This is one of the big lies that they must reject with all their heart, soul, and mind, I said. You have looked up to America for so long, but look at us now: we are destroying ourselves, because we have forgotten God. With this woke ideology, we have nothing to offer you but destruction. You don’t need to learn anything from us; we Americans need to learn from you, and your saints....

"During the question-and-answer period, a Romanian man asked the Orthodox priest sitting next to me, a man who had introduced me, and who wrote the introduction to the Romanian edition of my book, why it was that an American had to come to Romania to say these things. Where are the Romanians saying them?"

7 comments:

  1. From an important article by Rod Dreher: "Uncle Ted’s Family Tradition":
    '[Cardinal] Spellman’s homosexuality is no secret.... Cardinal William O’Connell, archbishop of Boston from 1907 to 1944, was gay. So too was Cardinal John Wright, made an auxiliary bishop of Boston in 1947 under O’Connell’s successor, Cardinal Richard Cushing. Wright went on to become the Bishop of Worcester, Mass. Engel writes:
    '....Donald Wuerl became private secretary to Bishop Wright not long after his 1966 ordination. He moved into Wright’s residence in Pittsburgh, and of course followed him to Rome, after Wright was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy — that is, head of the Vatican’s apparatus for overseeing priests worldwide. The New York Times obituary for the cardinal said:'"Meanwhile, he enjoyed the trappings of his post in the Vatican. He shared his fifth‐floor apartment with his secretary, the Rev. Donald Wuerl, whom he had taken with him from Pittsburgh. The apartment was said to be crammed with stereo equipment and his many books. Cardinal Wright enjoyed long conversations over a large dinner of pasta and he once said that he “confessed to Romanitas.” [In this context, affection for the culture and style of Vatican life. — RD]"

    'Guilt by association is a fallacy. We do not know that Cardinal Wuerl is gay, or personally guilty of any sexual misconduct. I am not here asserting, or even insinuating, that he is.

    'But there is reason to believe that Wuerl’s great mentor, spiritual father, and patron, the cardinal he served for 13 years, was an active homosexual, and indeed — on Bill Burnett’s testimony — a pederast. What, if anything, did Donald Wuerl know about Cardinal Wright’s private life? Was Wright personally compromised? What did Wright teach him about how to think about sexual activity among priests? Given what Richard Sipe has said about the “genealogical” aspect of clerical sexual abuse and misconduct — that is, this phenomenon passing down through the clerical ranks by sexually active prelates and seminary rectors recruiting and promoting those who share their sexual enthusiasm — the questions ought to be asked.'

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  2. Rod Dreher about Romania

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIfuJdPT0ZI

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  3. UPDATE: Checking in at the airport, the young woman at the airline counter said, “Oh! You are the guy who had the conference!”

    “You know about it?”

    “Yes. Lots of people are talking about it. Wow, here you are.”

    I had a copy of the Romanian version of my book in my bag, and offered it to her.

    “No, I can buy it.”

    “Let me give it to you.”

    Her eyes grew wide. “Thank you!” she said.

    “This is a great country,” I said. “I had a wonderful time here.”

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/

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  4. The future of eastern Europe is Gay Pride Marches. Forever. The future of eastern Europe is Wokeism. Forever.

    The eastern European nations made their choice when they joined NATO. There's nothing they can do about it. Joining NATO is like joining the Mafia - once you're in you're in forever. You can't ever leave. And you'd better obey the rules because if you don't a couple of the boys will take you for a ride.

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    1. https://www.perrettlaver.com/news/announcement-new-provost-worcester-college-university-oxford

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    2. It has nothing to do with Nato - is Turkey Woke? - but with the EU.

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    3. Both NATO and the EU are problems. Membership of NATO effectively puts a nation under US military control, which puts that nation under US political control. Which means there is no possibility of resisting Wokeness. Joining the EU was certainly a huge mistake for the Eastern European nations but joining NATO was the bigger mistake.

      You could argue that joining the EU brought some short-term benefits, although at the cost of long-term disaster. Joining NATO brought no advantages at all. Joining NATO also means that nation effectively surrenders its foreign policy to US control. Australia is in the same position due to its "alliance" with the US - Australian foreign policy is determined in Washington, not in Canberra.

      But either way the future for Eastern Europe is very very grim.

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