Baseball and Protests During Holy Week and The Call to Return to Christian Identity

As Lent is in rear view, many were looking for a way to finish it on a strong note. Sadly, our culture has become unconscientious.

I could not help but notice that there were two things happening on Holy Week that should have never happened at all. The first being is the start of the baseball season. The other is the pro-Palestinian protest that made its way to the foot of the sanctuary of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The main questions after all of this is, “Where is America going?”

First off, as an avid baseball fan who has visited six major league stadiums in a span for five years, I do appreciate the game. My family was brought up in the sport. My grandfather coached the game for neighborhood league. Many of my neighbors learned a lot from him and miss him dearly. His father tried out for the Philadelphia A’s back in the day (Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders were possibly bat boys before being “do nothing” politicians).

Yet, of all the days Opening Day 2024 could have fell on, it had to be on Holy Thursday for some parts of the country. While others got rained out, they had to make it up on Good Friday. Major League Baseball seemed to have forgotten the paramount moment of salvation history with these two days. Baseball could have waited until April when the Easter season is in full swing (pun intended).

As the Easter Triduum was coming to an end, there was another event that took place that hijacked St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Can that place get a break or another exorcism? During the Easter Vigil, three pro-Palestinian protesters made their way to the sanctuary of the oldest church in the Big Apple. A video has since surfaced showing how inconsiderate these protestors were as faithful Catholics were ready to witness the most important moment of the Easter Triduum.

Our country is losing its Christian identity every time they place God on the back burner. The culture of death that is influenced by Satan continues to gain another yard when lukewarm Christians won’t take a stand. Fulton Sheen reminds us, “A religion that doesn't interfere with the secular order will soon discover that the secular order will not refrain from interfering with it.” For Sheen, he sees that the problem is not the Catholic Church. Rather, it is those who claim to be Catholic, yet they only provide lip service.

Every Catholic must bear witness to the faith by evangelizing. We can’t let the culture win. We’re at war with the culture. We are at war with not flesh and blood but powers and principalities. Catholics must step into the breach of the culture war if we want to win. Our country can reclaim its identity when every Catholic is all in with the teachings, fight for what is true, good, and beautiful, and live out their faith daily.

Catholics must embrace the call to raise their children in the faith. Catholics must pray for more vocations, be more vocal in putting God-fearing politicians in office, and put their faith into action

The time for passiveness is over. It is either you’re in or out.

Rise up, Church Militant.