During the sixties, so-called experts promoted something called “new math.” This spirit transformed America’s classrooms. Other disciplines soon followed. English became Language Arts. History and Government were combined into Social Studies. The library morphed into the Media Center. Science kept the same name, but instruction radically changed. Computer screens are now the sign of modern education. Some subjects were eliminated. Handwriting instruction, Home Economics, Driver’s Education, and most Business courses are things of the past. All of these changes were supposed to get our children ready for life in the twenty-first century. All of these changes were supposed to get our children ready for life in the twenty-first century. Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original format may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2024/02/important-new-research-indicates-that-students-learn-more-from-books-than-computer-screens/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2024/01/inspired-by-their-warrior-mascot-a-pennsylvania-school-board-turns-back-a-leftist-invasion/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/12/even-if-schools-deny-it-children-and-adults-need-to-learn-to-write-in-cursive/. Thank you for listening.

China. Korea. Russia. Iran. Israel. Ukraine. These are more than just the names of countries. Each one represents a significant threat to the world order that took shape after World War II. That order survived the Cold War, armed conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, and seventy years of conflict in the Middle East – among other challenges. On February 24th, Two Thousand Twenty-Two, Russia invaded Ukraine. On October 7, Two Thousand Twenty-Three, Hamas invaded Israel. What will happen in Two Thousand Twenty-Four? Will China invade Taiwan? Will Iran finally obtain Nuclear Weapons? Will the United States and its European Allies find themselves involved in a four-part international conflict? On February 24th, Two Thousand Twenty-Two, Russia invaded Ukraine. On October 7, Two Thousand Twenty-Three, Hamas invaded Israel. What will happen in Two Thousand Twenty-Four? Will China invade Taiwan? Will Iran finally obtain Nuclear Weapons? Will the United States and its European Allies find themselves involved in a four-part international conflict? Unfortunately, that same spirit is becoming increasingly popular across the land. Many Christians are taking part in it, under the misconception that believing in a poorly defined and elusive “peace” can make it happen. They find their hopes in the tired phrase “Give peace a chance,” that they inherited from the sixties. Such an attitude is massively erroneous. To ignore the world situation because of fear would be a mistake equal to that made by Neville Chamberlain at Munich in 1938. We must remain alert and ready to support the cause of Western Christian Civilization. Thank you for listening.

It is very difficult for leftists to describe their visions for the future. They will be happy to mouth the usual words, equity, inclusion and the like. However, when asked to be more specific, they are at a loss for words. There are two reasons for their speechlessness. First, many of them are so far lost in their utopian dreams that they have not transformed those dreams into useful goals. Second, those who have done that thinking can’t devise a message that attracts support. Consider this quotation, attributed to World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, “You will own nothing – and you will be happy about it.” One wonders if Mr. Schwab counted himself among the happy poor of the earth. Indeed, that may sound good to some, usually the same people that describe their hopes in Karl Marx’s famous phrase, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” However, no one knows how such a culture would work. Throughout history, an individual’s economic security has been based upon how much that person or his family owns. That is his only protection from famine, pestilence, or tyrannical governments. The only people who have been happy owning nothing are nuns and monks who derive their well-being from their relationship with God. For everyone else, the idea of being poor and happy at the same time is a delusion. The resistance to Mr. Schwab's prediction is one of three aspects of the left's overly optimistic outlook that this podcast discusses. Together these three "bumps" on the leftist road constitute a roadblock that makes their path to the future unnavigable. Those who wish to read the essays in their original formats may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/11/you-will-own-nothing-blueprint-for-the-world-to-come/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/12/what-happens-when-celebrity-leftists-turn-right/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/11/can-right-wing-marketing-compete-with-the-leftward-drift-of-many-giant-american-corporations/. Thank you for listening.

As this episode goes live, Ash Wednesday is only one week away. This may come as a surprise because it has been such a short time since the end of the Christmas season. As most Catholics know, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a penitential season that lasts until Easter. Typically, most people observe lent by giving up something – perhaps a favorite food, drink, or activity. This podcast is oriented to finding new meanings in the Lenten experience. Any listeners who wish to read the essays in their original format may use the following links - https://www.tfp.org/how-to-make-this-lent-sublime-by-broadening-your-supernatural-horizons/, https://www.tfp.org/real-american-men-put-on-the-armor-of-god/, and https://www.tfp.org/lenten-meditation-unconventional-ash-wednesday/. May all of our listeners have a blessed Lent, and thank you for listening.

Other than the gathering clouds of yet another contentious election, the biggest news story of the day is the battle between Israel and the Hamas Terrorists. The media coverage of this story is telling. Israel is immediately connected with Judaism and Zionism, yet there seems to be a reluctance to draw the obvious connection of Hamas and Islam. There is an even greater reluctance to recognize that Islam is an inherent enemy to Western culture. This podcast discusses several aspects of this broadening struggle. Listeners who wish to read the articles in their original format may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/12/why-are-people-ignoring-the-slow-motion-jihad-that-rages-inside-france/, https://www.tfp.org/new-book-by-catholic-scholar-islam-and-the-suicide-of-the-west-reveals-great-threat/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/10/the-west-at-war/ and https://www.tfp.org/pope-franciss-abrahamic-religions/. Thank you for listening.

Welcome to the Return to Order Moment. We hope that you find these weekly podcasts to be both informative and a blessing. Today, we are going to shift gears a bit and bring you a message from the founder of the International TFP Movement, Professor Plinio Correa de Olivera. This message concerns three virtues – seriousness and serenity as listed in the title – as well as the related virtue of obedience. Instead of talking of these virtues as part of a philosophical or historical discourse, Professor Plinio uses incidents from his own life. Many of these occasions happened in the context of his childhood relationship with his mother – a woman of great strength and love, as you will see. In the later part of the podcast, he will be answering questions about practicing these virtues which were raised by TFP members.

Recently, many Americans have become interested in the so-called Gilded Age. The term itself comes from the title of a little-read book by novelist Mark Twain. Today, it is easy to get swept up in the lavish clothes and elaborate social rituals of that period. It is so different from the modern age, where there are no rules and many believe that jeans and t-shirts are appropriate for any occasion. However, there are many products of the late nineteenth century that helped to destroy the society that created them. One of these is Liberal Christianity. Those who industrialized the world were dissatisfied with traditional religious belief. They wanted a scientific religion to accompany their technological advances. They cared little about salvation after death, what they wanted was a religion that worked to improve society. This was the development that Pope Saint Pius the tenth criticized as Modernism. Interestingly, as Liberal Christianity grew, the Christianity part became detached. Today, many say that they are “spiritual,” rather than religious. Interestingly, their so called spirituality always fits beautifully into their “no limits” lives without rules. This podcast examines the failings of Liberal Christianity and the reasons that it is failing. LIsteners who wish to read the essays in their original formats may use the following links - https://www.tfp.org/why-liberals-love-religion-without-consequences/?PKG=TFPE3222, https://www.tfp.org/the-plight-of-modernists-without-faith/, and https://www.tfp.org/the-hoax-of-atheistic-communism/. Thank you for listening.

As this podcast goes live, the final preparations are being made for the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on January 19, 2024. The date for the annual event was first chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the disastrous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. When that decision was overturned, many hoped that the pro-abortion – often inappropriately referred to as “pro-choice” – movement would dry up and blow away. However, that has not happened. In fact, the pro-aborts appear even stronger today than they did in the bad-old-days of Roe. Many so-called conservatives are saying things out loud that they once kept under wraps – that it is time to jettison the pro-life message from the right-wing lexicon. Today’s podcast is designed to resist that sentiment. Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original formats may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/02/achieving-christendom-is-americas-best-chance-at-overthrowing-abortion-lgbt-reign-of-terror/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/11/no-the-abortion-issue-did-not-lose-its-edge-in-the-last-elections/ and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/12/the-invincible-courage-of-paulette-harlow/. Thank you for listening.

Today, the Return to Order Moment wants to introduce its listeners to one of the most significant men of the Twentieth Century. His significance lies in the fact that he diligently opposed the Zeitgeist that made the last century the moral cesspool that it was. This man founded the international TFP movement. His biographer referred to him as “the Crusader of the Twentieth Century” and “the Prophet of the Reign of Mary.” I refer, of course to Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Shortly before his death in 1995, he compiled this Philosophical Self-Portrait. We hope that bringing this to you will inspire you to read his books and find out more about the organization that he founded. Those who wish to view a printable copy of the essay upon which the podcast was based may use this link - https://www.tfp.org/philosophical-self-portrait-plinio-correa-de-oliveira/?_gl=1*7dbgbp*_ga*NjI0ODI1NDY3LjE2NTgxNjYyODM.*_ga_T660L5C23G*MTcwMzg2NTI4Ni40NC4xLjE3MDM4NjU3NTkuMC4wLjA.*_ga_HFSGW18RNL*MTcwMzg2NTI4Ni4yMDcuMS4xNzAzODY1NzU5LjYwLjAuMA.. Thank you for listening.

Usually, Americans tend to ignore foreign policy. It is messy and tricky and difficult to understand. However, the death of Henry Kissinger last month recalled one of the few periods that foreign policy was on the newspapers’ front pages. For those born since the disastrous Vietnam War, if may be difficult to understand why Dr. Kissinger was so famous. His short stature, homely face, and thick German accent would seem to inspire ridicule rather than respect. However, those who lived through that time wanted to see an end to the war. They also wanted reassurance that World War III would never happen. Henry Kissinger’s presence seemed to promise that these ends would be achieved. The current situation in both China and Russia shows that Kissinger's happy talk of detente made promises and implied a future that has not come to pass. Indeed, Russia provoked the first European war since World War II and China became ever more militant. This podcast explores those realities. The second essay, by Mr. Julio Loredo, is richly footnoted. Interested listeners can see his sources of information by activating this link - https://www.returntoorder.org/2022/04/can-russia-and-nato-co-operate-vladimir-putin-says-no-it-is-time-for-the-facts/. The other two essays can also be read in their original formats by using https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/12/the-disastrous-kissinger-era-comes-to-an-end/ and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/05/xi-jinpings-threats-to-taiwan-highlight-the-dangers-of-americas-fictional-one-china-policy/. Thank you for listening.

We want to welcome you to episode two of The Return to Order Moment’s Christmas gift to our listeners, taken from The Christ, the Son of God: A Life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by Abbe Constant Henri Fouard. Last week, we brought you the events surrounding the Annunciation, Visitation, and the Dreams of Saint Joseph. This week, we will pick up Father Fouard’s narrative and take our listeners through Mary and Joseph’s trip to the City of David, the Nativity, the Visit of the Shepherds and 1the Presentation of the Baby Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. We hope that you have enjoyed our attempt to add something to the Holiness of your Christmas Holidays. May God bless you all!

We want to welcome you to the Christmas episode of the Return to Order Moment. In this annual celebration, we attempt to help you deepen your celebration of this Holy time by reading material that our listeners would be unlikely to find otherwise. This year, we turn to Abbe Constant Henri Fouard (1837-1903). He was part of a tradition of priests who were best known for their scholarly work. In addition to his ecclesiastical duties, Father Fouard was a historian who traveled widely in Palestine, Syria, Greece, and Italy. His extensive travels bore fruit in his many books, including his The Christ, The Son of God – A Life of Jesus, from which these excerpts are taken. He had the ability to write about the scenes of Our Lord’s life that could only come from one who had spent considerable time there tracing the steps that Our Lord Himself took. It is also significant that Father Fouard’s journeys took place in an age when Palestine still looked and felt much as it did during the time of Christ, without the modern traffic, industries, and tourist traps that one finds there today. We decided to bring you this magnificent narrative over two episodes. This week, we will give you the setting of the Nativity and the condition of the people who lived there. Then, we will speak of the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the visions of Saint Joseph. Next week, only five days before Christmas, we will hear of the Holy Family’s journey to Bethlehem, the Nativity itself, the visit of the Shepherds, and conclude with the presentation in the Temple.

As Pope Francis ages, he appears to become more consistent. Normally, that would be a good thing. However, the trend seems to be that the aging pontiff is consistently wrong on every new issue. He appears to be so enamored of radical leftism, that he seems willing to take the Church down every radical road. Today’s podcast will look at three areas in which that tendency manifests itself. Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original format may use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/11/pope-francis-the-war-and-the-holy-places/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/10/why-pope-franciss-eco-friendly-apostolic-exhortation-rings-unconvincingly-for-the-faithful/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/pope-franciss-synodal-path-mimics-the-anglicans-route-to-self-destruction/. Thank you for listening.

We Americans don’t usually think much of titles. In fact, this disdain was written into our Constitution, where Article I, Section 9, Clause 9 states, “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States.” Not only that, but any government official must get the permission of Congress before accepting one from a foreign king. So, we tend to turn a deaf ear to titles like marquis, duke or knight. We have a few titles for current and former office holders. We allow medical doctors and members of the clergy to put Doctor or Reverend in front of their names. Other than that, it is just plain Mister, Missus, or Miss, and even those become less common every day. The founder of the TFP, Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, thought that this tendency was very unfortunate. In his mind, titles separated those who provided exceptional service to their nations and God – together with their descendants – from the rest of the human herd. He believed that such separations – or hierarchies – were essential to the proper order of society.

Radicals and Revolutionaries always make the same mistake. They all think that the Church is just going to roll over and die. Perhaps Josef Stalin posed this error most succinctly when he asked, “How many divisions does the Pope have?” In his mind, it was the size of the army that made you strong. Nothing else mattered. The Church had no army, except the spear-bearing Swiss Guards. Therefore, it was weak and would soon die. Of course, today, Stalin is dead and the country that he led no longer exists. Vladimir Putin pretends to be some sort of modern-day Stalin. However, the Ukrainians are proving that Putin is more like Humpty-Dumpty than the legendary Soviet dictator. Even though the Church today is in crisis, it is nowhere near death. It still exists and claims millions of followers, which is far more than one can say for the many enemies who predicted her demise over the centuries.

The spread of Western, and particularly Christian Civilization from Europe to the rest of the world is a magnificent story. Unfortunately, most of America’s young people never hear it. Most of those who do hear it get a doctored, out of context version written by woke so-called historians who abandon the truths of history to promote their political agendas. This episode of the Return to Order Moment will try to set the record right. Of course, a single podcast cannot undo the years of work of that the university propagandists put into their lies, half-truths, and out-of-context conclusions. Hopefully enough people will hear this to begin to make a dent. This podcast looks at two missionaries to the Americas and a site where much missionary work takes place. These are only three of the hundreds of missionary stories that took place in North America during the exploration and colonization of this great continent. They are essential parts of the American story. We hope that you enjoy them, are edified by them, and use them as a beginning of your own studies of early American Catholicism. Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original formats may use the following links - https://www.tfp.org/saint-anthony-mary-claret-apostolic-missionary-ultramontane-champion-and-crusher-of-communism/, https://www.tfp.org/the-mystic-who-became-a-missionary-the-extraordinary-life-of-saint-marie-of-the-incarnation/, and https://www.tfp.org/a-rare-view-of-frontier-catholicism-in-america/. Thank you for listening.

Today’s episode of the Return to Order Moment will be shorter than most. However, it is packed with importance. Twenty-first-century Catholics find ourselves faced with a dilemma that we never expected until recently. We find ourselves torn between loyalty to the papacy while being unable to agree with many statements made by the current pope. We will not be able to resolve all the points of that dilemma today, but a sense of faithfulness to the unchangeable truths behind Holy Mother Church forces us to respond to certain comments made by Pope Francis. In that necessity, we take comfort in the fact that the author of the essay that we read here today, Mr. Luiz Sérgio Solimeo, is a superb scholar who has been studying such questions for over five decades. Mr. Solimeo’s essay is richly footnoted. Any listener who wishes to review his sources can gain access to that essay in its original format by clicking on this link - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/10/at-the-height-of-the-sexual-revolution-why-does-pope-francis-belittle-those-who-defend-chastity/?PKG=RTOE1899

Society conditions us to see ugliness. The television news business thrives on it. Advertising tries to make us pay attention by shocking us. Movies and novels are deemed boring unless there is something in it that is incredibly ugly, like murder or adultery. Even many fashion trends make the people who adopt them appear ugly. Why did we stop seeking out things that are beautiful? Perhaps it was when society stopped seeking after God. After all, if God is all beauty, then using our wills to embrace ugliness has to be a rejection of God – and an embrace of evil. Each of the four essays that make up this podcast focus upon beauty. The first considers the implications of a miracle that saved a beautiful place. The second describes one kind of beauty of character - and how it was found in a surprising place. The third is more philosophical - considering the ways that modern people reject beauty and how it can be recovered. The last describes a vacation in a magnificent and beautiful place - and the factors that make that place beautiful. Listeners who wish to read the essays in their original formats can use the following links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/08/the-miracle-on-maui-is-god-sending-us-a-message/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/finding-light-in-a-walmart/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/08/the-rejection-and-restoration-of-beauty/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2021/07/finding-a-world-of-peace-and-order-on-michigans-mackinac-island/. Thank you for listening.

Josef Stalin once said, “Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Our listeners can be sure that Communists, whether they be in China, Cuba, Moscow or anywhere else have not ignored Stalin’s ideas. Throughout the world, they have diligently worked to take over education. Unlike many other Marxist and Communist doctrines, this one makes sense. In the United States, and much of the world, education is the most socialized segment of society – the area of greatest government control. Even private schools in the United States are staffed with those who meet state certification requirements. To get that certification, teachers and administrators must attend state-approved schools of education. These often become indoctrination centers. This podcast discusses some of the methods that leftists use that divert the schools' attention away from education and toward creating a new generation of "social justice warriors." Readers who wish to read the essays in their original formats may use these links - https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/the-red-chinese-are-turning-americas-best-schools-into-little-red-classrooms/, https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/09/californias-controversial-math-curriculum-focuses-on-dismantling-white-supremacy/, and https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/06/should-high-school-debaters-be-forced-to-promote-marxism-and-leninism/. Thank you for listening.

One of the buildings at the American TFP’s headquarters in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania has a glass covered niche immediately across the entrance hall from the main door. It encloses a statue of the Mother of God, under the title of Our Lady of Good Success. Among the members and supporters who enter the building each day, the custom is to stop and bow before this image whenever one enters or leaves the building – or even when walking from one end of the building to the other. The founder of the international TFP movement, the Brazilian scholar, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, had a fervent love of the Virgin Mary, and of Our Lady of Good Success, in particular. This essay is typical of the instruction that he gave to TFP members and supporters about the importance of devotion to the Blessed Mother. So, we begin this podcast about Our Lady of Good Success by bringing our listeners Professor Plinio’s essay, “Why We Need Our Lady.” Those who wish to read this essay may use this link - https://www.tfp.org/why-we-need-our-lady/ Then we continue with an excerpt from one of our favorite books, A Spanish Mystic in Quito. It is available as a free download from the American TFP by using this link - https://www.tfp.org/free-version-of-a-spanish-mystic/ We conclude the podcast with a marvelous essay in which Mr. Norman Fulkerson related his experience on a pilgrimage to Quito in his essay, Visiting Our Lady of Good Success: A Pilgrimage to Heaven. That essay can be read at https://www.tfp.org/visiting-our-lady-of-good-success-a-pilgrimage-to-heaven/. Thank you for listening, and pray to Our Lady of Good Success for her protection of Holy Mother Church.