The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 8: Conclusions

The Great Catholic Retreat can be interpreted as the fulfillment of the vision of Pope Leo XIII in 1884 when he saw Satan being given power over the church in the next century. In the Retreat, the Church actually retreated, but employed the “two steps forward, one step backward” approach. This strategy was used by Communists in the 20th century, with the one step backward a true retreat.

The step backward resulted in the trimming of many weak Catholics from the tree. [This historian believes the views of Fr. Origen Templeton of the Candlelight Society oversimplify the situation of that time. Fr. Templeton is well known for his belief that the Church should have issued and enforced strict edicts against heresy in the early 1970s when the rampages of Modernism became highly visible.]

The strategy of "two steps forward, one step backward" was employed successfully in the Great Catholic Retreat (although perhaps unintentionally). Previous condemnations and actions against Modernism, the synthesis of errors affecting Christian belief, were not effective. The defeat of Modernism came only after the 100-year reign by Satan when virtually all remaining Christians could finally recognize they were now living in the Belly of the Beast.

By all measures, Modernism was thoroughly defeated and no longer posed a threat to the Church after 2030. Secularism remains a threat to Catholic action in the U.S., but has been mitigated by the increasing threat of a all-out worldwide Jihad.

The reunion of the Western Church with the Eastern Churches slowly proceeds in 2098, and is being advanced by the new invigoration of the Western Church. Russia has been able to restore its population to levels of 2000, but remains at war with some of its southern neighbors.