My Pagan and Catholic Roots Against Leftism - Part 1

The Meeting of Cultures

In 1904, the St. Louis World’s Fair featured a group of indigenous Igorots from the Philippines as one of their main attractions. It was typically advertised as: “Igorrotes: head-hunting, dog-eating, wild people from Philippine Islands during a limited engagement.” The Igorots were put on display in an imitation village that simulated their natural environment in the Philippine Cordillera Mountains. Thousands came from afar to witness this human zoo-like spectacle. As Americans watched daily from the perimeters of the village, they became transfixed on the strangeness before their eyes.

Now fast-forward one hundred and thirteen years later to a scenario involving another meeting of American and Igorot culture. This time, however, it involves just one Igorot wearing the shoes of the onlooker. For the first time since immigrating to America four decades ago, he finds himself surrounded by a toxic development in American culture that is poisoning the social, religious, and political world he lives in. Like the Americans at the 1904 World’s Fair, he finds himself transfixed on this strangeness.

The Igorot I speak of is me, and the cultural development I am referring to is Leftism - a term I never understood. Along with politics, it was a topic my parents never brought up at the dinner table, and it certainly wasn’t taught to me at the Catholic schools I attended. Yet, it was everywhere around me, and I didn’t realize it. If it weren’t for America’s rapid moral deterioration this past decade, I might not have discovered it. But I did, and now I’ve come to realize the need to arm against it.

According to best-selling author and syndicated talk show host,Dennis Prager: 

“Leftism is both a way of understanding the world and a value system. It is, in fact, a form of religion, albeit a secular one. Many of its adherents believe in it with the same passion as religious Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in their respective religions. They direct their lives by it, and more than a few have been willing to die - and many have killed - for various Leftist ideologies. In much of the world outside the Muslim world, Leftism is the dominant ideology. It influences the values and actions of nearly as many people as does Christianity or any other religion.” [i]

Why Arm Against Leftism?

Simply put – it is anti-religion and anti-God (of the Bible).

As a pagan spiritual leader, my grandfather taught my mother about the Igorot gods and anitos (spirits). Believing in them gave meaning to everything in life such as work, family, marriage, illness, and death. Most important, my ancestor’s belief in the spiritual world kept them grounded in the truth that reality extends beyond the material world. To them, the material only made sense because of the spiritual. Without the spiritual, there is no meaning in life. The two are inseparable. Each makes up two sides of one coin. This oneness was always part of my parent’s spiritual DNA, which is why they were able to develop a lifelong bond with the Biblical God.

Leftism, however, seeks to remove God and any such bond to Him. Dennis Prager rightly points out:

“From its beginnings in the works of Karl Marx, Leftism has rejected God and opposed religion. It is, after all, rooted in a materialist worldview. Man has supplanted the biblical God. “God is man,” said Marx. And “man is God,” said Engels.” [ii]

By removing God, a huge void is created. Without God, what does man bond to? What will fill the void? The secular religion of Leftism would like us to bond to anything BUT God and religion because these are its greatest enemies.

The British writer and theologian, G.K. Chesterton, made this profound prediction at the turn of the twentieth century:

“When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing - he believes anything.” [emphasis added]

This is exactly what is happening today, and nobody understands this better than those who promote Leftist ideologies. In the absence of God, people are now substituting Him with the man-made ideologies or dogmas of Leftism. Examples of such dogmas are: socialism, egalitarianism, relativism, environmentalism, feminism, systemic racism, multiculturalism, and utopianism, to name a few. These and other dogmas have become their religion. Sadly, Leftism poisons anyone and anything it touches, including religion itself. When secular causes and movements remove the highest authority of God, evil will make more of a home in life than ever before. In this regard, let us heed the words of Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen when he talks about this danger:

“His [the devil] logic is simple: if there is no heaven there is no hell; if there is no hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil.” [iii]

Another reason to arm against Leftism is its agenda to destroy the three foundational values of America, which Dennis Prager calls the “American Trinity” - 1) E Pluribus Unum (from many, one), 2) In God We Trust, and 3) Liberty. These are the values my parents embraced from the moment they immigrated to this country. They believed in them so much that they decided to retire in America instead of the Philippines. When this trinity is destroyed, the dominoes of extinction will accelerate and America will no longer be the “last best hope on earth.”[iv]  

Leftism’s Successful and Failed Indoctrination

The more I learned about its bad ideology, the more I became baffled at how so many people support it in more ways than one. How does the promulgation of Leftism succeed? The answer is quite simple. Bestselling author and filmmaker, Dinesh D’Souza, teaches that the Left dominates the three major megaphones of our culture: 1) academia (universities & schools), 2) media, 3) and the whole entertainment industry (Hollywood, Broadway, comedians, music, etc.).[v] Anyone owning these three bullhorns can easily indoctrinate people into believing anything. This would explain why so many people have leftist beliefs and behaviors, many of whom do not call themselves “Leftists” and do not think of themselves as such. Rather, most will call themselves “progressive,” “open-minded,” “liberal,” (even though Leftism is not liberalism) ”feminist,” “environmentalist,” “enlightened,” or any combination of these labels.” [vi]

Like most people, I have been steeped in all three megaphones of Leftism for most of my life. Yet, the indoctrination that worked on so many others failed to imbue itself in me. Upon realizing this, I began wondering how I managed to remain mostly unscathed by it. After much reflection, I’ve come to attribute it to my pagan-Igorot heritage and Catholic religion.

Both of my late Igorot parents were the first in their families to immigrate to America. Not only were they first generation Americans, but they were also first generation Catholics. My mother’s parents were in her words, “die hard pagans.” In fact, her father was a pagan shaman. Nevertheless, they allowed a close family friend to baptize her in the Anglican Church at a very young age. With her father’s permission, she later became baptized in the Catholic Church by her own volition. Shortly before his death, she convinced her father to convert to Catholicism.

I highly doubt my parents knew what Leftism was when we immigrated to America in 1970. Political science, world history, and other related studies were not part of their backgrounds. Nevertheless, they managed to prepare me for its onslaught of absurdities by passing down their Igorot morals, values, and Catholic religion to me.

Igorot values and morals are rooted in the natural law, which are embodied in the Igorot principle called “inayan.” This principle includes traits such as courage, fortitude, truthfulness, humility, kindness, fidelity, and honesty, among others.  Inayan basically prohibits an individual from doing something wrong or bad most especially towards other people. It is a practice of not going against the law of Kabunian, the supreme Igorot god of creation, because his wrath might be worst.

My ancestors had the primary precept of the natural law engraved in their hearts, which is to do good and avoid evil. Also engraved were some secondary precepts, such as the prohibition of theft, adultery, etc. It was not enough though. They lacked the salvific knowledge of the one true God of the Bible. They needed God’s Divine revelation to keep them from succumbing to the errors of human reason, especially regarding the sanctity of human life (head-hunting, abortion, etc.). St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote “It was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation.” [vii] Thankfully, my parents accepted this revelation.      

Armed with Three Key Virtues

When my mother converted to Catholicism in her youth, she was already a very spiritual person because of her father. Despite his belief in their gods and spirits, she rejected them knowing they are devils (Psalm 95:5) and idols (1 Chronicles 16:26).  Nevertheless, she still retained the virtue of religion, which according to St. Thomas Aquinas is a virtue whose purpose is to render God the worship due to Him as the source of all being and the principle of all government of things.[viii] It is the greatest of all moral virtues, and it is what bonds us to God.

She grew up knowing our ancestors did not rely on “themselves” to determine their course of action in the absence of clarity. They were “counter-Leftist” by nature. To them, God is not man and man is not God. They relied on religious practices, such as using the bile and liver of a sacrificial animal (usually chicken or pig) to determine what to do. Rituals and ceremonies such as this, though objectively displeasing to God when done in their god’s names, gave testament to their reliance of a higher authority. For them, the authority was their supreme god - Kabunian. For my parents and me, it is the Biblical God.

Another thing my mother passed onto me is the cardinal virtue of prudence. St. Thomas defines prudence in two different ways but both definitions convey the same meaning,[ix] viz. “The application of right reason to action” [x] and “right reason of action.” [xi] Because it resides in reason, prudence perfects reason[xii] as to its operations in relation to practical matters,[xiii] prudence helps the person to know what is to be done.[xiv] It does this through its integral parts: Memoria (Memory or experience), Intellectus (understanding), Docilitas (docility), Solertia (shrewdness), Ratio (reason), Providentia (foresight), Circumspectio (circumspection), and Cautio (caution). Essentially, it is about truth, the truth of what is and what must be done. We have to know what is true before we are free to do what is good.

In the case of my mother’s conversion, prudence played a key role. Filled with a collection of good memories and experiences from her father’s moral teachings (Memoria); she allowed herself to be taught the Catholic faith by Belgium nuns (Docilitas). Her quickness of mind led to the discovery of the Catholic faith having the fullness of Truth (Solertia). Her interior senses took into consideration her exterior experiences from the past (Intellectus) and the knowledge she learned from the nuns (Ratio), and concluded that she can reach Heaven only through the Biblical God. Her vision of being Catholic (Providentia) was so clear that she became baptized and applied all the knowledge she gained to her everyday life (Circumspectio). Since then, she was always careful never to entertain the paganism of her people (Cautio) for fear of breaking the First Commandment, which is a grave mortal sin.

The third key virtue passed down to me is fortitude, which is the cardinal virtue that is associated with bravery and courage. On many occasions, I’ve seen my parents demonstrate this virtue in their professional, family, and religious lives. Perhaps they inherited it from our ancestors, who have always demonstrated it in the past. General Douglas MacArthur’s account of the Igorots who served in America’s 2nd Battalion, 11th Infantry during WWII comes to mind.

In a War Department communiqué that was reported by Time magazine during the last days before the fall of Bataan in the Philippines, MacArthur gave tribute to the Igorots who mounted atop American tanks to guide the battle weary and vastly outnumbered Americans through the dense undergrowth of bamboo thickets and vines to confront the Japanese. His account was quickly picked up by other newspapers, such as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s article subtitled, “Descendants of Head Hunters Hailed By MacArthur for Smashing Jap Unit.” This story can be summed up in the following words of the General himself:

“When the attack was over, the remnants of the tanks and of the Igorots were still there, but the 20th Japanese Infantry Regiment was completely annihilated...Many desperate acts of courage and heroism have fallen under my observation on many fields of battle in many parts of the world. I have seen forlorn hopes become realities. I have seen last-ditch stands and innumerable acts of personal heroism that defy description. But for sheer breathtaking and heart stopping desperation, I have never known the equal of those Igorots riding the tanks. Gentlemen, when you tell the story stand in tribute to those gallant Igorots."

Once we know Truth, we must have the fortitude to defend it against evil with our prayers, words and actions. This is especially true when it comes to Leftism.  

In the words of Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

“Courage has always been in the past the attribute of those who have faith; now the moral leaders become defenders only of the feeble. They are afraid to speak on vital truth to their troops, fearful that they may incite a revolt or be unloved. The result is “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” Actually, the troops are yearning for strong leaders who will challenge them and sound trumpets with clear notes. But seeing the shepherds uncertain and afraid of wolves, the sheep scatter.Why are leaders in a nation, in education, in religion afraid to speak out with courage? Partly because they are not themselves practicing what they ask others to do; partly because they are afraid of being unloved or because running counter to the moods of the time and partly because they do not rely on Divine strength to aid them in their defense of what is right and just.” [xv]

Connection to Both Roots

In the plant world, roots provide nutrients and strength. Our ethnic roots can do the same if we connect to its “good” parts. I’m not talking about customs, mannerisms, attire, language, music, dance, food, etc. These things are important, of course, but they don’t bring us the truest sense of connection that values and virtues do.

For most of my life, I considered myself disconnected from my Igorot roots mainly because of my complete assimilation in America. After both my parents died in 1995, I visited our hometown in the Philippine Cordillera Mountains. The reunion sparked an interest in my heritage. I started embracing it by learning about our traditional practices, adding traditional attire to my wardrobe, re-learning our indigenous language, eating more traditional foods, etc. I even became the president of our local Igorot association in Illinois, and led other Igorots in the nationally televised Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parades. “I was connected!” so I thought.

It wasn’t until I began writing my novel about our Igorot heritage that I realized my connection to it was very weak – at best. I caught myself focusing on the superficial things instead of its deeper essence – its values and virtues. I realized that one can possess all the exterior traits and features, but still remain disconnected if one loses touch with their good ancestral values.

After connecting to my Igorot roots, I connected with the Sacred Traditions of my Catholic roots, particularly the Traditional Latin Mass – the Mass of my parents before they came to America. These Traditions are part of what is commonly known as the Old Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. When we left the Philippines and arrived in America, the landscape of Catholic America was already infected by Leftism, especially in our new home Chicago. All one has to do is watch the 2016 EWTN documentary movie, “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” to know that Leftism has infiltrated the Catholic Church and is still a threat, especially in America. Also at the time, the new Mass had just been promulgated and unprecedented reforms in the Catholic Church were at full steam. The Traditions of the Old Rite protect me from the influences of Leftism in the Church. More about this will be discussed in a future article.

Suffice it to say; when I connect to my earthly roots of my Igorot heritage and my Heavenly roots of my (Old Rite) Catholic Faith, Leftism stands an infinitesimal chance of prevailing over me.

Note: Future articles (parts II, III, IV, etc) will discuss how my Igorot and Catholic roots specifically tackle the Leftist dogmas mentioned in this article (socialism, egalitarianism, environmentalism, racism, etc.).

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Notes:

[i] “Still the Best Hope” by Dennis Prager, ISBN 978-0-06-198513-3, pg. 21

[ii] “Still the Best Hope” by Dennis Prager, ISBN 978-0-06-198513-3, pg. 38

[iii] The Anti-Christ sermon by Ven. Fulton Sheen – Audio video here.

[iv]America as the “last best hope of earth” was part of Abraham Lincoln’s message to Congress (Dec. 1, 1862): “ In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth.”

[v] “The Big Lie” by Dinesh D’Souza , ISBN 9781621573487

[vi] “Still the Best Hope” by Dennis Prager, ISBN 978-0-06-198513-3, pg. 23

[vii] Summa Theologica, Part I, Q. I, Article 1

[viii] Summa Theologica, II-II, Q. lxxxi

[ix]  “Introduction to the Science of Mental Health” by Fr. Chad Ripperger (Part II Practica, Chapter 1: Prudence)

[x] Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 47, a. 4 and 8: “applicatio rectae rationis ad opus.”

[xi] Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 57, a. 5, De Vir., q. 5, a. 1 ad 3 and In Ethic. VI, I.7: “recta ratio agibilium.”

[xii] Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 61, a. 2

[xiii] St. Thomas observes in III Sent., d. 33, q. 1, a. 1b that prudence makes right reason.

[xiv] Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 47, a. 1, ad 2

[xv] The Lewiston Daily Sun, July 14, 1973