This is an interesting Catholic orthodox look at the decay of Western culture.
The Fifth Column uses the imagery of Madonna and child, coupled with a quote from Mother Therea and looks at residual culture.

“When a mother can kill her own child, what is left of the West to save?” -Blessed Mother Teresa

When Judge Tim A. Duket, Marinette County Circuit Court became aware of this quote, he responded:
“With your cite to Mother Teresa ‘what is left of the West to save?’ you are starting to sound like Osama bin Ladden. I’m sure if you look hard you can find some good things worth saving ‘of the West’ “.

Residual Culture

The good judge appears to miss the point. There is such a thing as residual culture. That is, some good things can continue to happen in a culture even though the rationale for the good thing no longer exists because all the support has been cut away. For instance, men are still compelled to pay child support in this country even though it is logically absurd, given the logic put forward and the laws passed and interpreted on abortion.

He carries the discussion through with the understanding that a man is still responsible for child support and ends with anti-americanism.

And this explains the entire anti-American attitude of the intellectual elite. You see, they really, truly, finally understand this link between Western culture and the Madonna and Child - they understand it in their gut to an extent we simply don’t realize. The absolutely accept the logic of the relationship, they simply deny the premise. They have never believed in the Madonna and Child. Thus, they can’t believe in Western culture either. If Mary and Jesus didn’t really have that divine relationship, then of course Western culture is built on a lie and worthy only of destruction. The logic is flawless and strikes at the very heart of the matter.

Anarchism has a long and sordid history in Euro-American affairs. Anarchists are always atheists, and they have tried all kinds of assaults on Western culture, assaults meant to demonstrate that Western culture is a facade, a Potemkin village on the verge of collapse. None of the assaults ever worked, until they finally hit on what the heart of Western culture really is: the relationship between mother and child. Destroy that relationship, destroy the divine image of that relationship, and Western culture must inevitably collapse. You know what? They are right. They instinctively understand Christianity better than most Christians.

The abortionists, the Moslems - these people are the new anarchists.
As I said, anarchism has a long and sordid history in Euro-American affairs.
Most of the time, they lose.

This time, they are winning.

I don’t know that I can agree that anarchists are winning, but I understand the feeling. An old Mayan proverb essentially says that a mother is responsible to hold the child close and teach it human intimacy, while the father’s role is to take it to the mountain top and show him/her how big the world really is.
Link via Fructus Ventris

I like this observation on political labels (and others) by Fructus Ventris.

I am not really fond of labels. One of the things I remember about this morning’s homily was a plea to forget the labels and pay attention to the person inside. What Father didn’t tell me was how to deal with those who demand that they be known and treated according to their labels rather than their humanity.