Catholic Lessons Taught on D-day

80 years ago this date, as you have no doubt repeatedly heard today, allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to commence the D-day invasion. What does that have to do with us as Catholics and even with society as a whole?

Well, in WWII the nature of the enemy, and also of one of our allies, was known to most. Hitler and his Japanese pals were evil. Stalin was our enemy's enemy and thus our temporary friend. But he too was evil. Actually, the worst of them all.

Then, we recognized who and what are adversaries were and acted accordingly. We don't do that anymore. Evil blurs to us into comforting pastel shades that hastens tolerance and finally acceptance of what we know inside just isn't right.

We trade with our most committed foe, China, and cut breaks to those who wish us death, Hamas and Iran. In fact lately, this administration has gone out of its way to act as a surrogate and negotiator for Hamas. Knowing what they did on October 7th, how can we do this? Easy. We don't believe in evil anymore. As Catholics, we need to understand that is a deadly development.

For if there is no evil then there are no moral standards and thus we live in a world, a universe, without moral law. As such, the massacre of children by Hamas, the genocide of easy late term abortion, and the aid and comfort given to the enemy on American college campuses are quite acceptable. Yup, anything goes. Because, if to some, to maybe the modern majority, there is no right and wrong, then who is to judge between light and darkness? Actually, as Catholics, that would be us.

When we're doing our jobs as original Christians we need to stand athwart the road to moral relativity and act as our forefathers did on the beaches of Normandy. We need to look evil straight in the eye and take the beach.

I know something of the history of that endeavor. My own Army unit, the First Infantry Division, was assigned the first wave on Omaha Beach. My brothers of decades ago knew that their steps unto that shore could be their last. But they went anyway. Many fell, but more fought and got off that beach. No whinging, no compromise, no choice: They got off that beach.

Today many of us, even Catholics, find the beach warm and cozy. We shrink from hard logic and reason, preferring the siren call of pure emotion and subsequent irrationality. We direct out inner turmoil outwards in spasms of personal and national masochism. We wallow in self-obsession, trying to rationalize our own weakness by calls for unwarranted sympathy towards those who would do us harm.

And then, even on an anniversary day like this, we throw an anvil around the necks of those who bear the hard lonely tasks of leadership and sacrifice. After all, why not feel sorry for ourselves when others will pick up the slack engendered by our boo hoo sensibilities?

That may be alright for some. But for Catholics it should not pass muster. We belong to a higher tradition, to an honorable notion, to a strong faith. We see leadership and ultimate sacrifice in the man and God who gave us redemption by his own death and resurrection. We know he is of one with the free men of every faith who fell on D-day.

We dare not ignore their sacrifice by turning our heads away in fear when the true nature of evil, no matter where it emanates from, comes before us. 80 years ago, today, or tomorrow, the face of evil will change. But we must not. We must still make common cause with the men of Omaha Beach. As Catholics, as Americans, and as citizens of the West, we can do no less and remain free.