Those coming to this website now may note a marked difference, if they know it from the past.
But things differ according to what perspective one has on them!
Because for us, my wife Kim and myself, it is more than just a ‘difference’. No, for us a string of apparently overblown superlatives easily suggests itself: monumental, a transformation, an explosion of new life, even resurrection . . . as in: ‘We are back . . . back from the dead!’
What on earth? To explain, let us note that certain issues have long-dogged our small apostolate—including a website old and creaking, not performing as it might . . .
We lacked, however, the means to address the problems, which, in turn, discouraged us from posting much in recent years. So we focussed on other things, mainly the videos at our YouTube channel. What had once been an active site, with hundreds of pages, now became a place where occasional notices were posted, mostly when a new video went up—accompanied by tiresome lamentations for not doing more.
But dear Lector, you will note my use of the past tense.
What was is no longer! A magnificent volunteer, skilled in WordPress, came to our rescue. And after months of toil and gallons of midnight oil (dropping nearly all work on the videos) this site now looks and operates very differently than it did before.
Much of the content remains the same of course, but even some of that has been rewritten. (Travelling back in time, while reconstructing pages, can make one cringe . . . )
And now, with transformation of the website (almost) complete, we mean to go forward with many new posts, new videos and other strange new things to come. I will also mention that I am now regularly tweeting—which, for me, is a strange new universe in itself!
I also highlight this new site has an unusually personal bookshop as well as buttons for a new Buy Me a Coffee page by which we hope to earn some pennies to help support this work. More on this at the bottom of the post.
The Twisted Twenties and the New Age Religion
First though, I want to say that the new site—all these new things really—will naturally reflect the changes Kim and I have been through in the last years, while the site drifted on auto-pilot.
While Kim may say something of this in her own weblog, I thought I would say a little myself. What follows is fairly personal to me and may not interest all readers. But it should provide a sense where this website is headed.
Where to start? Well, water aplenty, in our New Woke World, has passed under the bridge since this website went (almost) dormant.
Most notably, there are the 2020s, a decade so far unlike any in my lifetime, with plague, war in Europe, the cost of living crisis, the rise of Artificial Intelligence, the normalisation of child mutilation as well as familiar woes that only continue to worsen: technocracy, pornocracy and the governance of the Church.
All of these rightly concern Catholic Traditionalists. And there are other things that ought to matter too. Although I often fear they do not register enough. Here my list includes the worsening effects of environmental catastrophe, Capitalism and the New Age Replacement of Christianity, which scarcely seems sufficiently noticed.
As the Gentle Traditionalist says in my most recent book:
Future historians may well see a shift comparable to the Reformation—yet scarcely anyone appreciates this today! Of course, the ninety-five theses were explicit: there for everyone to see. Luther, at least, was honest about what he wanted. The occultists behind the NAR [New Age Religion] are different: hidden, stealthy, deceptive . . .
Roger Buck, The Gentle Traditionalist Returns, p. 177
All told, then, we have here a grim list of items that plague this decade that I call the Twisted Twenties.
Readers, though, will be disappointed if they expect me to address the entire spectrum of woes here. No, in most of these cases I am not qualified. And almost never am I up-to-the-minute. Indeed my posts and videos are more often found on topics decades or centuries ago, such as the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the rising tide of Materialism and de-Christianisation that paved the way for our twisted times.
Here is where much of my focus lies: the reasons, that go back centuries, for the modern world—not what the Pope or Putin or Biden said last week.
Foreword for Monarchy by Roger Buck
Responding to Crises—New Age Religion Included
Still, that does not mean the misery such figures propagate does not weigh on me. It does. Deeply, I like to think. (Alas, I am sure never deeply enough.)
And my life needs to respond to that. I am in my sixtieth year now. Who knows how long I have left? All I know is that to use whatever remaining years I have wisely, I must respond with as much substance as I can to the immense suffering of these twisted times.
The substance may not seem much to some. My life is not about shooting off rapid-fire blogs and videos on topics I barely understand. (There is far, far too much of that already.)
No, I must focus on things I have sweated to comprehend, be it the aforementioned origins of modernity or the New Age Replacement of Christianity. Then there is the work of thinkers like Hilaire Belloc and Valentin Tomberg who have so much to offer in terms of healing modernity. And, in Tomberg’s case, healing this scarcely noticed, ever-spreading condition that poses as ‘Universal Spirituality’, but which is truly more Eastern than anything.
As I have said many times before, I was once steeped in this so-called ‘Universalism’, living at Findhorn (which Malachi Martin called the Vatican City of the New Age) and later working as a full-time activist for the New Age Religion (that I did not realise was a religion) in England. Only Tomberg could lead me from this to Catholic tradition . . .
Today, I hope I can help others do the same. This is tough work. As I write in my book Cor Jesu Sacratissimum:
Although I was baptised in 1998, I could hardly shake off my New Age-ism all at once. I did not wake up one morning and suddenly think to myself: “Everything I believed these last twenty years, everything I worked for, must be wrong.”
For years, I wondered if the New Age might be reconciled with Christianity. Whilst this appears ludicrous to Catholics of Faith, I had held New Age thinkers in high regard all my adult life. Respected, dear friends of mine did likewise. And, despite Tomberg’s growing influence on me, it was far from easy to simply conclude: All of this is false. Indeed, I was regularly reminded of the old metaphor of the elephant for God. One seeker feels God and calls Him trunk; another calls Him ears. Cataphatic and apophatic theology—positive and negative—appear to say different things, but the Church believes they can be reconciled. Could David Spangler and the Church be seeing Christ from different perspectives? Could all this be just semantics?
I cite such notions as evidence of the iron grip of New Age ideology. This ideology will not pass away overnight. If it dies, it will die hard. The death-shriek lasted years, in my case. My mind protested, day-in, day-out. And without the Sacraments of the Holy Church, without Valentin Tomberg, I might never have managed to extricate myself. Here, again, is why I advocate Tomberg’s unusual writings. New Agers will find it tough to overcome their conditioning. Here is one author who can help them.
Roger Buck, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum, p. 192
Yes, there is tough work to be done here, which is not always understood.
But a second Reformation cannot be ignored . . . !
And for me, the work is slow, often painfully slow, entailing reflection, research, craftsmanship—creating articles, books, videos, which I hope can help.
(Yes, the videos are carefully crafted, no matter how crude they look in terms of ‘cinematographic’ superficials such as lighting, editing, my appearance etc. I am painfully aware of many faults here, but must prioritise deeper things.)
Certain things have not changed, then. I mean to keep writing and speaking on the few issues I truly feel qualified to speak on: the Easternisation of the West; Tomberg and Belloc; Ireland and France; the Sacred Heart as well as issues related to the Reformation, Enlightenment and the destruction of Christendom and Church.
His Body, His Blood
And then there is the Eucharist!
Here, as ever, is my greatest hope for the world. For despite the present, temporary but terrible state of the Church, we have the Eucharist and all His Sacraments.
As the Gentle Traditionalist also says:
The greatest act of mercy is the Holy Mass. I said there were four hundred thousand priests on the planet. The majority of them say Mass at least once every day. Hundreds of thousands of times a day then, His Body and Blood are given to the world. The graces that flow from that are inconceivable. They completely dwarf anything else the Church does for people in terms of healing and feeding their bodies.
Roger Buck, The Gentle Traditionalist, p. 120
Old themes, then, but deepened awareness in these difficult times. Hopefully, though, there will be a little new ground to break. Increasingly, I rejoice in the great saintly G.K. Chesterton and recently I am more moved than I can possibly say by that not-so-saintly tormented genius, Evelyn Waugh. In time, I hope to qualify to speak of them, too.
New Features (and Sales Pitches)
But let us move from themes to features now. There are many new features to this website, some quite subtle, but nonetheless helpful and effective, I think. There are too many to list now, but I hope in time readers will discover and profit by them.
But I would draw attention to one in particular: the bookshop of sorts mentioned above (really it consists of aisles of ads for books that take you to your local Amazon). But the shop is unusual, in terms of what I write here:
Most book shops sell anything they think people will buy.
This one is different.
What we have here is a highly personal shop. It only features titles we truly believe in—virtually all have personally enriched us. Here are books that shaped our souls and even transformed our lives.
Of course, not every book has had such a dramatic impact. Yet virtually everything here has been helpful, touching or important in some way or another (including books that can be quite flawed or even annoying in certain respects!).
Purchases (via Amazon) support our work and we are most grateful if you can consider helping us this way. Thank you!
So there you have it—we close this piece with a sales pitch.
For in these troubled times, we need to raise some pennies. Hence, the bookshop and book ads you will see throughout the site. This is why we also now have the buttons for our Buy Me a Coffee page throughout the website.
This is something I never countenanced before. But I see we need it if we are to continue this unusual apostolate and often misunderstood response to the misery and horror of these twisted times.
Thank you for listening.
Foreword for Monarchy by Roger Buck
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