Hello <<First Name>>,

You are receiving this email because you have signed up to be a member of Church Militant's Resistance.

There are three different categories under which you may have signed up:

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

You could be one of our monthly supporters who donates $25 each month to help with costs. (Donor)

You could be one of the roughly 200 people who expressed interest in being an organizer in your local area. (Organizer)

Or you could be one of the people who could not be an organizer owing to various reasons, but are anxious to help on some level that is less involved. (Helper)

Some Organizers are also monthly Donors, but not all. Likewise, some Helpers are monthly Donors, but not all.

OVERVIEW

So what we want to do with this initial membership email is lay out an overview of The Resistance.

The Resistance will be organized on a local level, diocese by diocese, where there are people willing to help and become involved.

This will allow issues specific to a local diocese to be treated locally, where there is much more knowledge and information about the issue "on the ground."

Some dioceses are in better or worse shape than others depending on a host of factors — and of course the same is true from parish to parish as well. That kind of granular detail is much better handled on a local, grassroots level.

The goal of The Resistance is to present an arena for authentic Catholic teaching to find a home whereby local Catholics can be in touch with one another to learn and deepen their knowledge of the Faith, their prayer lives, and discuss any particular plan of action they think needs pursuing to address problems in their local church.

SAMPLE CASE

For example, and this is just one example - the Archdiocese of Detroit is having a local synod this fall.  The agenda for that synod is being set currently with archdiocesan personnel going to different parishes and canvassing Catholics in that region for their input.

This would be a perfect opportunity for those associated with The Resistance to inform each other of this and then go to the meetings (listed on the archdiocese webpage) and give their asked for input about what needs addressing in the archdiocese.

The "organizational model" for The Resistance follows roughly along the lines of a television network and its affiliates.  The affiliates largely operate independently, doing their own work and connecting with other interested locals.  And then the locals or affiliates stay connected to each other through the network with overall news, information, programming etc.

EDUCATION

The major area where Catholics who still believe the Faith to be most helpful is in the area of educating and teaching others in the Faith, using resources that express the Faith in an authentic way.

A good number of bishops have openly said that the current condition of catechesis is horrendous. They are correct. The problem is that many of the people under their authority are the ones responsible for the situation of poor instruction in the Faith.

We see this in schools, parish youth groups, religious education offices, seminaries and so forth.

A weakened or watered-down, culturally-in-step version of the Faith is what is being transmitted, and this must be resisted. Weak Faith instruction produces weak Catholics.

As an aside, this is not to say that strong instruction automatically produces a strong Catholic, but it will have a much better chance of doing so.

What is needed is a combination of a strong devotional life and strong catechesis, something we rarely see on any official level in the Church these days.

PERSONAL HOLINESS

So the major emphasis of The Resistance will be on resisting evil in our own individual lives. It will not be possible to begin or sustain a movement where holiness and fidelity are being insisted on, if those doing the insisting are not both working on their own holiness and being faithful in their studies and knowledge of the Faith. The old philosophical maxim “You cannot give what you do not have” comes to mind.

The Resistance takes a special interest and care in the area of the clergy and seminarians, where Satan has created so much havoc and confusion. Poor formation and insufficient education are still a problem in the seminaries, as is evidenced by the numerous contacts we receive from seminarians informing us of this.

SEMINARIANS AND PRIESTS

Likewise, many new faithful priests are overwhelmed with the politics and scheming they encounter in the early years of their priesthood and become quite discouraged. They correctly fear that liberal power structures in their dioceses will marginalize them because of their orthodoxy and faithfulness.

So The Resistance will take a special concern with those studying for the priesthood and those somewhat newly ordained who are facing challenges owing to their fidelity to Holy Mother Church.

Church Militant will produce a podcast every other week directed specifically to seminarians and priests. This will be available for all members, but will cover topics specifically related to priests and those discerning the ordained ministry. (We will also be releasing a podcast for the overall membership every other week as well.)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Church Militant is wrapping up reviewing the entire membership list and organizing it diocese by diocese.

Some dioceses have had multiple people come forward and volunteer to be Organizers. Where that is the case, we will be putting you in touch with one another.

Other dioceses have had just one person step forward and volunteer.

Once a person is identified to be the primary Organizer in a given diocese, we will be creating a Church Militant Resistance page on Facebook for that particular diocese. This gives the Organizer a single point of contact on social media for their diocese, where he can post all relevant local information.

So there will be, for example, Church Militant Resistance - Denver, Church Militant Resistance - Miami, and so forth.

The Organizer for that diocese will be the point of contact for the page. We strongly suggest that the Organizer enlist the help of a second man (an assistant) who can help him on a regular basis.

The page will be the "go to" site for anyone in your diocese interested in becoming involved and finding out more information on how they can learn more about the Faith, devotional life, etc.

MEETINGS/CELLS (Affiliates)

Church Militant foresees the success of The Resistance being partially dependent on regular gatherings/meetings/get togethers where local Catholics deeply concerned about the condition of the Church can meet and dedicate themselves to catechesis and evangelization.

We would like to emphasize that these meetings should not be viewed as social gatherings (although there is an obvious social dimension). Their purpose is to pray and learn, and then discuss any pressing concerns that might need addressing in an atmosphere of continuing self-catechesis.

In this manner, The Resistance is organized into "cells," each of which has a social media presence on Facebook to post information, videos and attempts to increase local membership.

The meetings should be organized around some instructional material about the Faith. This could be any of the Premium programming from Church Militant (of which there are hundreds of hours), theological and devotional books, etc.

Church Militant will publish information each week to all local cells on suggested viewing/reading that might be helpful. (These will only be suggestions and not mandatory.)

About every three weeks, there will be a Resistance video made available to all members  touching on relevant themes to The Resistance: current issues, devotional life, etc. They'll be about five or six minutes in length and are intended to help keep focus and give inspiration and motivation.

Shortened versions are planned that could be posted to Facebook pages.

MONTHLY WEBINARS

Church Militant will be hosting monthly webinars from Detroit in which members can participate. The purpose will be to keep updated on activities in other cells, get overviews, answer questions that may arise as a result of local activities, connect one another on more of a network level, and discuss overarching themes or events going on in the Church.

SUMMARY

The purpose of The Resistance is to network Catholics primarily locally and then nationally/internationally in resisting various corruptions of the Faith that have appeared in the Church. The primary means of resistance will be following the universal Call to Holiness presented in the Second Vatican Council, which has in reality been a mainstay of the normal life of Catholics from apostolic times.

WHAT'S NEXT

You should be on the lookout for an email within the week broken down according to diocese, and which will list everyone in that diocese who has expressed interest in being associated with The Resistance.

If someone in that diocese has expressed interest in being an Organizer, it will be indicated on the list.

Once an Organizer has been established for a particular diocese, then a Church Militant Resistance Facebook page for that diocese will be created, and the Organizer can direct other interested Catholics there for local information about planned meetings, etc.

PLEASE NOTE: We are receiving requests to sign up in one capacity or another on a daily and on-going basis, so the lists and activity will be fluid and dynamic. We hope to see the numbers continue to increase, please God.

We are just getting all the public, visible aspects of The Resistance off the ground and hope to have everything firmly in place by the fall so we can have a well-established, functioning network in place.

We will be using the summer to get things going, so to speak, as all of you get yourselves organized locally, meet other Catholics, get to know one another and so forth.

We have been working behind the scenes here in Detroit for about six months nailing down our own systems in support of the effort.

The summer will be the opportunity for all of you to get down the basics in your local areas and see what works best for you.

We will be providing a "suggested guidelines" document in the next couple of weeks to help with planning and meetings, etc.

ADVICE

There are two "tricks" to give an effort like this sustainability on the natural level. First, there must be proper balance between the overall organization and the local affiliates. Church Militant is not the "boss" of the affiliates/cells.

We see our role as providing motivation, inspiration, and guidance on how you as Catholics in your local area can help Holy Mother Church in the work of catechesis and evangelization. By no means should we be viewed as the “top brass” or the ones running your “show.”

We are very busy on a daily basis and have neither the resources nor desire to micromanage any local effort to help improve conditions in the Church.  Catholics in that given diocese have much more ability to accomplish that than we do. We are here to provide support and overall guidance and keep the network in communication.

Case in point: Imagine if The Resistance had been in existence during Obama's trip to Notre Dame in May 2009. We would have suggested it would be a good idea to round up troops from various affiliates/cells and head to Notre Dame for prayerful, peaceful protest. But we would not have been the organizers of the effort. That would have been left to each affiliate to think about, discuss, look into arrangements, plan buses, etc.

One affiliate, for example, depending on its local needs, resources and personality, may want to begin a door-to-door evangelization project. That might work well for them and be somewhat challenging for another one.  One affiliate might be in a college town and want to reach out to young people to enlist them in The Resistance. That might not be possible for another affiliate.

These are just suggestions that are meant to be helpful in developing your own thoughts and plans over the coming weeks as you lay the foundations in your own dioceses.

The second "trick" is to avoid that all-too-human area of conflict of personalities, what is typically referred to as "drama." Satan will try to bring discord among people working for the good of the Church, and this must be watched carefully in the affiliates. We are all working toward the same goal, so egos must be checked at the door. People are going to have disagreements. What matters is that the disagreements don't become divisions that cripple the effort. A great deal of patience and charity must be exercised in this area.

CLOSING

In closing, we want to thank you very much for your support, both spiritual and material. This is a huge undertaking and is a drain on our usual resources (which is why we ask for the $25 per month donation).

We think something needs to be done, however. Too many Catholics are feeling isolated, marginalized and helpless in the face of a modernist juggernaut that seems to roll through the Church, uprooting all vestiges of authentic Catholicism.

So this is our poor offering to Our Heavenly Father, with the protection of Our Blessed Mother, to try to engage the enemy in a collective fashion. It is at its most fundamental level a work to put and keep us all on the road to sanctification.

Conditions in the Church are such that faithful Catholics are on defense. This is an attempt to reclaim the offensive out of love for Our Blessed Lord and His Bride.

GOD Love You,

The Resistance Team

 

Schedule:

- Diocesan List within the week.

- CM Resistance Facebook pages established in the near future on a rolling basis.

- Seminarian Podcast within the week.

- Laity Podcast within two weeks.

- Suggested Guidelines document within two weeks.

- First Webinar within three weeks.

- Next video within the month.

When exact dates are established for the above, members will be notified by email.