Latest / The Catholic Current / Will Europe Survive? (Drieu Godefridi) 9/1/26

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Will Europe Survive? (Drieu Godefridi) 9/1/26 · The Catholic Current

0:00
This is The Catholic Current with Father Robert
0:03
Mattheig. 17th century Scottish statesman Andrew Fletcher said,
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let me make the songs of a nation and I care not who
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makes the laws. How might we have to update it for today?
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Well, I think the best way to update that is to use the words of
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a 21st century Irish statesman, another Andrew, Andrew Breitbart.
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He said politics is downstream of culture, and he's absolutely right.
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And if we think the way to win is to walk away from the fight,
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well, then you end up with the kind of society we find ourselves in.
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Praise be Jesus Christ. This is Father Robert McTeague of
0:36
the Society of Jesus, your daily host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ
0:39
to the world and the world to Christ. You're listening to us on the Station
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of the Cross Studios, your local radio station, the iCatholic Radio mobile app.
0:45
We proclaim the fullness of truth with clarity and charity.
0:49
As always, let's start with prayer. In the name of the Father, Son, and the
0:53
Holy Spirit. Almighty God, through the intercession of Saint Ignatius Loyola,
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we ask that you pour forth your Holy Spirit upon us, a spirit
1:00
of discernment that might hear your voice and obey your command. In the name of
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the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Friends, I have been watching
1:08
Europe with a close interest for many years and
1:11
not liking the direction that it's going. I think Europe
1:16
is in trouble. I wonder if it's reached the point of no return.
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And I'm not the only one to think that. My new
1:26
guest here has written about that, and he raises
1:30
a very challenging question. He said— it's not even a question,
1:33
it's a statement. He says, Europe may not survive.
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It may not pull through. And he's basing this not merely on perceptions,
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but on mathematics and careful collection
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of evidence. He's a philosopher.
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He's a jurist. He's an entrepreneur.
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He's a writer. And he is a new guest here. Drew Godfrey,
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welcome to The Catholic Current. Thank you so much for having me.
1:59
Drew, you raise some very sober challenges
2:04
to the future of Europe, especially Western
2:08
Europe. I still have my fingers crossed perhaps for Poland and
2:11
Hungary and maybe Czechia. But let's start with the statement,
2:15
demography is destiny. How does that
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apply to Europe's present and near future? I think it
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does apply to Europe, but to the whole world, because we are
2:27
watching demographic collapse in the whole world,
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except in some zone in Africa. But for the rest, like South
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Korea, even China, Japan,
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they are dying societies. It's the same in Europe.
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The native basis of the population in Europe
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is vanishing before our eyes. So we are
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entering— we've been entering many decades ago, in fact, as you were stating,
2:54
demographic winter.
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And now we have this other phenomenon, which is
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the replacement of the native population
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by newcomers from the Third World.
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That is the current situation in Europe. And despite the
3:12
speeches and the political evolution at the national level, nothing changes.
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I mean, the borders are still wide open
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in Europe. You are trying— and when I say you, it's in the US— you
3:25
are trying to close it and to remedy to the situation
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in the USA. But in Europe, nothing is done
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beyond words. Nothing is done. We don't have currently borders
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inside of the EU. That's the Schengen Agreement,
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but also outside of the EU, because when
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someone is caught in the, in the sea, there is an
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obligation to bring him to the shore
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of Europe. And those people, they know that. So they just want
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to get caught because they know that as soon as they are putting a foot
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in Europe, they are going to stay there forever. So the situation currently
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is not changing in Europe. What puzzles me
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is the enthusiasm for the European
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politicians and especially the European Union for bringing
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in very large numbers of military-age
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men from sub-Saharan Africa who are sometimes not
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literate even in their own language. They're not bringing women and children
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and families with them. They're not highly skilled,
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and yet they're given priority in housing,
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they're given priority in medicine.
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And yet you use the word replacement.
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But I know that in polite society in Europe, if you say replacement
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theory or replacement of indigenous Europeans, you're considered
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a madman and worse. Why is that?
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You're considered a Nazi if you are using— I mean, if you were
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using that, because now you see even on the left side of
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the political spectrum, some politicians are recognizing the
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fact we are assisting to a replacement of the native population
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by newcomers. From the Third World. Now it's a fact.
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I mean, it's like, it's a fact. But to complement what you
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were just saying, there is a document that was leaked today
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stating that 80% of the asylum seekers from the
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Maghreb, Northern Africa, coming to Switzerland are committing crimes.
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80%, not 18%, 80% of them
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are committing crimes on the territory of
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Switzerland after they've been, like, you know, received in this
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glorious and very beautiful country, 80%. And just
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to compare, when you look at the asylum seekers
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from Ukraine, it's 2%. So 2% against 80%.
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And nonetheless, I mean, Switzerland are trying to do a few things because,
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as you know, Switzerland is not in the EU. So they are still able to,
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to do a few things. But for the rest of Europe, you are saying that
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maybe we can still keep some hope for Poland,
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of Czechia and so on. And I agree with you, maybe up to a point.
6:15
Because they are still members of the EU. And so
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they still have to comply because,
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as you know, in the EU, when they make a regulation,
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no national parliament can do anything about the matter.
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So yeah, the situation is really difficult in Europe in that regard.
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Well, I have been following Britain because I lived in London for 2
6:37
years back in the mid-'90s, and it has a special place in my heart.
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And the new prime minister has said that, you know, we've got
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our newcomers, our cultural too concentrated
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in major cities. We need to start moving them out into rural areas. So I
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know there's some small villages in Wales that might have a native
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population of 500, and then one day 1,500
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military-age men from Africa just
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show up, and it's considered hateful to
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say, I didn't vote for this. I didn't ask for this. Is this
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really good for us. And I'm trying
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to understand, we've only got 3 minutes left in this segment. What is the
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motivation of the politicians? I know that part of it is the
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claim was, well, we need workers to contribute to the tax base for our
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ongoing welfare state. But obviously,
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that's not happening. The newcomers tend to
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commit crimes out of all proportion to their numbers, and they stay on welfare
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for generations. But what do you think is the deeper motivation
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of these politicians? I think that in the past,
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I have like a personal explanation about that. But I think based in
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facts, in the past, the left was embracing Marxism.
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Now Marxism as an ideology is dead. And so now the
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left has no real ideology. They're just embracing a few topics like open borders
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and gender and genderism. You know, my— the
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word I use, you know what I mean?
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Yeah. Yeah, exactly. A few topics like that, and they're becoming extreme
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about those topics and are making it a question of principle.
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And they refuse to— I mean, you are— if you disagree with them about
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open borders, you are literally a Nazi. I mean,
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that's what they say. It's not like just a joke that you can make on
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Twitter. And it's very funny. It's not funny anymore in Europe because they really think
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that you want to kill these people. You, you, you have no
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heart. You are like an enemy of democracy. You are like an enemy of
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the rule of law. When you think of it, the people at the person on
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the territory of Europe with no right to be there is like
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by definition the negation of the rule of law. So I think this
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fanaticism from the left comes from the fact, partly at least,
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that they are orphans, ideologically speaking. And so they are embracing
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a few topics and they make them extreme and radical.
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Well, I think a good deal of it has to do with Marxism
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and critical theory. And there is a lust for
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revolution, for destruction. I've read in
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Western Europe, they talk about the red-green alliance between the
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leftists, the Marxists on the one side, and the Muslims on the other.
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And then I see people carrying signs to say things like, you know, Queers for
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Palestine, and so on. And I said, do you know what Islam
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says, for example, about homosexuality, what Islam says and does
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to women and children, etc.? And isn't it the case that
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the birth rate of the newcomers very dramatically exceeds
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the indigenous population. And have you heard, correct me if I'm mistaken, that for
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the past several years the most common, uh, baby name for boys
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in, in Britain is, is Muhammad? Yeah, in some cities at
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least it's true. But you also have to know that like 50% of the males,
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you know, named Muhammad. So of course the name Muhammad comes
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very often in those statistics. But nonetheless, it's of course a fact and it's
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like completely coherent with the Right. And, you know, I know
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that in most of British major cities,
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the mayors are Muslim. And I know we've had that
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horrifying recent report from Parliament finally about the
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grooming gangs and the rape gangs in Europe. And the very idea that
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the mayor of London, for example, did not know about this for years and years
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can't be taken seriously. And, you know, even now,
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Britain has just released pamphlets for newcomers and cultural
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enrichers, you know, please don't rape because it might,
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it might get you in trouble and it might,
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it might affect your claims for asylum.
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And when a government says something like that, I don't know how it can survive
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and I'm not sure that it deserves to survive. Friends,
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when we come back, we're going to continue our conversation about the survival of
11:00
Europe. My guest today is Drew Godfrey. He's calling in from
11:04
Belgium. Remember, our rallying cry here at the Catholic Current is Christus Mundo,
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By subscribing to iCatholic Mobile, you help fund programs that defend
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our Catholic faith. I'm asking the question, will Europe
12:58
survive? My guest calling in from Belgium, scholar Drew Godofredi,
13:01
says maybe not. Drew, one of the
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things that concerns me about Europe, and it's a problem in the United States
13:09
to a lesser degree for now, is energy.
13:12
It seems that Europe, especially Germany,
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has a death wish regarding its energy policies.
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And Germany has been renowned for industry and
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technology for over 100 years.
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And so many of these great industries are either closing down
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completely, or they're moving
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overseas. What's going on here? I mean,
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just to summarize the situation, it's very easy.
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The price of energy as a whole, I mean, gas, if you like, if you
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make an average, electricity is 4 times higher in
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Europe in comparison to the US. Oh my, 4 times higher.
13:54
And it's a structural thing. It's like not like for a few months
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or like a crisis or like Ukraine or the COVID or whatever. It's like
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structural. It's 4 times higher. There is, of course, no— because
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all industries in Europe compete with the industries not
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only in the US but also in the US. No industry can survive such—
14:14
I mean, such a price, 4 times higher. Like the
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chemical sector is strong for many, many years in Germany, as you said,
14:22
but also in Belgium. They are using a lot of energy to produce their
14:26
thing. When the energy is 4 times higher, the price in
14:30
Europe than in the US, what they do is they die. In fact,
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they do not die. They relocate to the US, just to
14:38
take an example, but they are leaving Europe. And so the industry is
14:43
in question and many others is dying in Europe.
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That's a fact. Now, if you want to talk about the cause, I'm totally prepared
14:50
to do that. Yes, please. Because that is the next step.
14:53
Because German industry makes
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very, very fine world-class products and it keeps a lot of people employed.
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It helps to keep the German economy afloat.
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Why are they killing the goose that lays the golden egg? Ideology.
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Ideology. I mean, the Germans, they like ideology. You see that
15:13
in the past. They're very rational when it comes to the
15:17
means to embrace their objective. But when they are fixing their objective, they are purely
15:21
romanticist in politics. Lack. And so now for
15:24
30 years, they have been— I mean, 20, 25 years, they have been embracing the
15:28
green ideology, environmentalism, as we say in English, we say
15:32
ecologism in French. So this green ideology,
15:35
they've been embracing that. And in the name of that,
15:39
they've been killing fossil fuels, but also the
15:42
nuclear energy. And so they want to— they want the energy to
15:46
be the wind and solar, sun, the sun, for those of you
15:50
who know, Germany, there is no sun in Germany. I mean,
15:53
it's like, I know, but there is no sun in Germany, basically. So they want
15:57
to replace coal and, you know, everything and nuclear. They've been closing
16:01
down all the perfectly functional nuclear
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reactors, all of them, not one of them like the French did.
16:08
That was a mistake also in Fessenheim a few years ago, but all
16:12
of them. And they want to replace the whole shebang by wind
16:16
and solar panels. It does not work. The result of
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that is that their energy, as I said, is for 5,
16:23
sometimes 6 times higher in price in comparison
16:27
to the US. But the Germans, if you look at the history,
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they go to the end of the story when they are embracing an ideology
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that they go to the ends, they go to the real collapse.
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You know, every time in history, it's always like that. And the trouble is
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that they are dominating the European Union because they are much more numerous
16:47
than even France and Italy and Spain and other countries.
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Ursula von der Leyen is, uh, is a German.
16:54
So they are dominating the, uh, the, the people there at the
16:58
EU level, but also, I mean, the, uh, the ideology.
17:02
And so the EU today has been taking from
17:05
Germany this green ideology. I mean, what is the raison
17:09
d'être, if you understand the word, of the EU, uh, historically speaking?
17:13
It's the common market. It's to facilitate the economy,
17:17
I mean, the economy, uh, the exchanges commercial
17:21
exchanges between the countries. Now, in the name
17:24
of this green ideology, they are doing exactly the opposite.
17:28
You know, there is a carbon tax. There are so many regulations.
17:32
It's even forbidden in Europe to look in the ground to
17:36
see if maybe we would have some shale gas. I mean,
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one of the reasons in the US you are rich— I mean, you know
17:43
what it is— is shale gas. In Europe, it's not that we cannot exploit that,
17:47
but we don't even have the right to look in the ground to check
17:51
if Maybe there is something there that we could be using. And the result—
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I mean, all of that is pure, purely— it's not rational, like, at all,
18:00
because we are importing this shale gas in question from
18:04
the US to Europe because we have no choice. In the end, we need some
18:07
heat, we need some energy just to survive.
18:11
So, yeah, this is the situation of, of the
18:15
EU. But you have to understand that some of my— I
18:19
have many American friends. And notably
18:23
at the Gatestone, they think that the EU is like the federal— the US federal
18:27
government. But not at all. The EU is a bureaucracy.
18:31
Just to give you one real example, because otherwise it's only words.
18:34
Example. Yes, there is a European Parliament, but it's not the
18:39
name. It's Parliament. It's not a parliament because they cannot initiate any
18:42
law. The European Commission, Madame von der Leyen and the
18:46
others, they have to say we need a new regulation, we need a—
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and then the this so-called parliament have the right to discuss the details
18:54
of the regulation in question. So it is a bureaucracy.
18:58
And when you look at the result, the political result in Europe,
19:02
the Greens are making 5% at the national— between
19:06
5, sometimes 6 or 7, which is like almost nil. But at
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the same time, they are dominating with their ideology, thanks to the Germans,
19:14
the EU level. And so this is the ultimate key of
19:18
the evolution or maybe the revolution, if it's
19:21
still possible in Europe. It's at the EU level, because nowadays
19:26
they are deciding things, they are taking, they are adopting regulations at that level.
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And after that, the real parliament in Europe, which are the national
19:34
parliaments, can't do anything about it. It's too late.
19:38
Yes, yes. There's a facade of democracy and
19:42
popular participation, but it's only a facade. Friends, we're talking about the fate of
19:46
Europe. My guest today is calling in from Belgium, scholar Drew Godofredi.
19:50
Drew, I want to shift and talk about agricultural policy. I know
19:55
that in Holland, for example, and I think maybe to a lesser degree in France
19:58
and Britain, they're discouraging farmers from
20:02
planting crops and raising livestock
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because of environment and et cetera concerns.
20:11
Don't they know? I mean, Europeans have a great history of food.
20:14
Don't they know that they still need to eat? What's— this seems to be suicidal
20:18
to me. It's suicidal. And they're going to remember
20:22
that if war comes to our shores, because in
20:25
time of war, you need your national farmer
20:29
just to survive. And what you just said is
20:33
completely right. And again, it's in the name of this green ideology.
20:37
Those people, they hate the farmers because they think that what
20:41
they do and the pesticide and all of that, it's against nature,
20:45
they are poisoning nature, and that it's for man. But you have
20:49
to understand that in their ideology, man is just a creature
20:53
among other creatures. And so if we are taking measures and regulation
20:57
against the interest of man, but in their mind, in the interest of nature,
21:01
that's all fine for them. It's great for them. You know,
21:04
it's not like, it's not important to, it's not
21:08
even like justified to be talking and thinking about man
21:12
as the first creature in the creation.
21:15
No, it's one among the others. And we are taking steps
21:19
against the basic interests of the human population in Europe.
21:23
But so be it. For them, it's completely That's what
21:27
they want, and that's what they do. So what you are describing is happening not
21:32
only in Holland, in France, in all of them. And you were quoting—
21:35
I mean, mentioning the UK, which is very unfortunate for them
21:38
because they have been exiting the EU. And so you would have
21:42
been thinking that they need to change, you know, their policy. But no,
21:46
that's the force of ideology. I mean, we know that as Catholics.
21:50
We know that in the name of, you know, the history of Marxism is 100%.
21:55
People, they have been killed. That's not interest. That's not economy.
21:59
It's ideology. In the name of ideology, people are ready
22:02
to kill and are ready to do like, I mean,
22:05
take very like stupid steps. That's what we are seeing
22:10
now in Europe. Since we're talking about food and we're talking about
22:14
industry, I think we should talk— we just have 3 minutes left— about war.
22:18
So they're destroying their population base,
22:22
their energy resources, their food resources, their history. And yet
22:26
they seem to be talking about looking forward to war with
22:31
Russia. I mean, right now the British Navy has more admirals than
22:34
it has seaworthy ships. Is this another
22:38
form of madness? Do these European bureaucrats really believe they
22:42
can wage a war? And, uh, no,
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I don't think so. I, I think they know nothing about war,
22:49
most of them, and are not really interesting. But I think Russia,
22:53
for them, it's a little bit the same for the American
22:57
left. It's more like an opportunity because if we are in
23:00
Europe in a state of war or quasi-war
23:04
with Russia, it's giving them— I mean, at the EU
23:08
level, those politicians in general in Europe, a new
23:12
legitimacy. We need them because we need them to organize the society
23:16
in order to defend ourselves against the Russian aggression.
23:20
Now, that being said, there was a Russian aggression in Ukraine.
23:23
I mean, for me, that's, that's something real. We can speak
23:28
about the context and responsibility of NATO, but there was an
23:31
aggression. But to think now, and you know,
23:34
the European guy at the head of NATO said that
23:38
a few months ago, that we are in a state of war with Russia
23:42
is madness because Russia does not have
23:46
the military means in the current situation to
23:49
invade Europe. That's, that is a lie. It's not true.
23:53
But I am observing, observing in the European,
23:56
I mean, the, the press, I say the paleo press,
23:59
that dislike this idea of we are in a state, it's like receding
24:04
a little bit. So I'm not sure that they are still convinced themselves that
24:07
they can use these arguments to mobilize the population.
24:11
Well, I know enough of history to know that as empires
24:15
begin to stagger, their economy
24:19
goes sideways, their population
24:22
becomes restive, and eventually to hide inflation
24:27
and starvation, you start a war to distract
24:31
people. And that makes me very anxious about
24:35
the future because we have weapons of destruction
24:38
that were inconceivable even a generation ago.
24:42
And I would like for there to be moral leadership. I want
24:46
there to be statesmen and churchmen together who say,
24:50
please, let's stop
24:54
stop the madness and walk away from the cliff while there is still time.
24:57
But I don't see anyone on the horizon right now who
25:01
is able to give that call. Friends, we come back and continue our conversation with
25:05
scholar Drew Godofredi. He is calling us from Belgium. We're talking
25:08
about whether Europe can survive. After the broadcast today,
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26:51
My guest today is Belgian scholar Drew Gottfriedi. We're talking
26:55
about whether Europe will survive. Drew, in the United
26:59
States, we have this— I call it an illusion— that if we
27:03
just vote harder, if we just vote the scoundrels out
27:07
of office and vote the right people into office,
27:11
things will get better. There may be
27:14
a small grain of truth of that in the United States. My perception
27:19
is that the European Union has its hand on the throat
27:23
of the European population, and it will never let go.
27:27
In other words, democracy can't fix this.
27:31
What is your evaluation? I'm afraid that you are right.
27:35
If you look at the 2 countries dominating the EU,
27:39
it's France and Germany that are dominating the EU.
27:42
And you have Marine Le Pen at about 40% in those polls.
27:46
And then in Germany, we have Alternative für Deutschland at about 40%
27:50
in some lander and then about 30%
27:55
nationally. And the following parties like
27:59
CDU/CSU I mean, so-called conservative, they're not conservative anymore nowadays,
28:04
and about 20%. And then the socialists lag far behind.
28:08
But so the democratic logic would be Marine
28:12
Le Pen president of France and the Alternative für Deutschland in the new
28:16
federal government, next new federal government of Germany.
28:20
Is it going to happen? Because that's the first question. The democracy
28:23
is clear. I mean, in France in particular, the democracy is just obvious. When you
28:27
are making 40%, the next is like at 20% or 16%. Yeah, it's okay.
28:31
You know, normally you are becoming president and you have a majority. Is it going
28:34
to happen? I don't know. We have, you know, it would be arrogant to
28:38
say yes or no. I mean, black or white. But what I know is that,
28:42
yeah, we are— we talk about the deep state in the US, the deep state.
28:46
I mean, we can say bureaucracy. It's only a choice of words.
28:50
Deep state is even bigger, more obese,
28:54
and more deeper in countries such as Germany Germany
28:59
and France, they are going to do whatever they can imagine
29:03
to stop Marine Le Pen from reaching power. And the
29:07
same in Germany. And in Germany, they are saying that they do that because the
29:10
AfD is the new Nazism, which is like, I mean,
29:14
gross. It's false. The woman
29:18
leading the AfD currently, Alice Weidel, is a Hayekian.
29:22
Friedrich Hayek, that you may know, of course, is a great author.
29:26
I have all his books here in my library.
29:29
And he's is not really like, I would say, like a Nazi author,
29:33
like at all, you know. So to say that, it's like,
29:37
of course, like an obvious lie.
29:41
But they are going— I mean, I think that they would prefer
29:45
like a real coup instead of seeing Le Pen or the
29:48
Alternative für Deutschland reaching power. And it
29:53
was very interesting because last week I was reading in the German press,
29:57
in the national German newspaper on the
30:00
left, that if the AfD is reaching power,
30:04
even if one lander, that's like a state, as you would
30:07
say in the US, then violence, but by which they
30:10
mean physical violence, becomes legitimate. But political
30:15
violence, that's kidnapping, murder. I mean, as a
30:18
system, it's when violence is like to go against that,
30:22
that's a system, that's murder. So in a national German newspaper,
30:26
they say if the AfD is reaching power, murder becomes
30:30
legitimate. So that's the situation we're having now in Europe.
30:34
That is absolutely shocking. It's staggering.
30:39
And it's a betrayal. Well, it's betrayal of
30:43
natural law. It's betrayal of human dignity. Now, I know
30:47
there's some movement to talk about we have to
30:52
reconsider migration policy. There's even people who talk about
30:55
remigration. Taking the, the millions who've
31:00
come into Europe in recent years and sending them back home. I know Pope Leo
31:04
says remigration is not a Christian concept.
31:08
There is a Dutch woman, I can picture her face, and I know for
31:12
sure I cannot pronounce her name, but she is part
31:16
of the remigration movement, and they've been
31:19
getting hundreds of thousands of signatures for
31:23
But it seems to me to be too little,
31:27
too late. Is, is there a realistic
31:31
future for Europe that doesn't end in tragedy?
31:34
Yeah. Again, it would be like arrogant to say yes or no.
31:38
If I had to make a prognosis, it wouldn't be optimistic,
31:41
but not for the demography, not because of those political,
31:45
you know, blockage and, you know, murderous murder attempts
31:49
and this or that, but mostly economy. Because just to give you
31:53
like a real example, Europe does not exist at the level of the
31:57
artificial intelligence. You have like great companies. I mean, I'm not like saying
32:01
that everything is fine in the US. Not at all. That would be ridiculous to
32:05
say that. But you have like so great companies creating new things. Artificial intelligence is
32:09
not only the future, but it's like the basic of the economy of
32:13
the future. And so this is— this, this, this competition is between
32:16
the US and China. That's another
32:20
topic. That's not the topic of the day. Europe does not exist there.
32:24
We have like 2 companies, Mistral in France and ASML,
32:28
great company in Holland. And that's about it, you know. So we
32:32
missed that train. We missed that station.
32:35
And the next station is— it's going to be decades in
32:39
the future. So for that, even if the rest was not there,
32:43
for that reason, I wouldn't be so optimistic. There was a tweet
32:47
of Elon Musk the other day. He was saying that he would see like
32:51
a growth economy, economic growth in the US 10 times
32:55
higher. Now you have like 2.5% per year. I don't want to
32:59
say that numbers are everything, but when you are talking about the economy, numbers are
33:03
important. I mean, it's like 2.5% per year. And in Europe
33:06
we have like zero, like for like 10 years. And so in the end it
33:10
adds up. And he was saying, I can see that it's going to be 10
33:13
times higher, this growth in the USA in comparison to Europe and also
33:17
in comparison to other countries. I mean, yeah,
33:20
okay, that's bad luck for them too. But it means
33:23
that Europe, it's, it's clearly entering
33:27
not only dire straits, but the second— I mean, the second—
33:32
I mean, class competition. We missed that train and I'm
33:36
afraid it's now too late. You know, I cannot see with like the EU blocage
33:40
that we have, I cannot see big companies tomorrow
33:45
building the bricks of tomorrow's society.
33:49
That's going to happen, not in Europe. And that's a
33:53
big, huge evolution. Because like until
33:57
10 years ago, we were in the same league. In fact, we were in the
34:01
same— we had like great companies and like in Germany and everything.
34:04
Now they are receding and collapsing, some of
34:08
them, including Volkswagen, including like great companies of
34:11
the past in Germany, they are collapsing in a few months
34:15
in front of our eyes. And yeah, so I would be
34:20
probably more pessimistic than optimistic. Well, it makes
34:24
me very, very sad, because in many ways, you know, Europe really is the
34:28
cradle of Western civilization.
34:31
It's the birthplace of Christendom.
34:35
And I can't imagine a world or a
34:39
church without Europe being Europe. And it
34:44
seems that ordinary Europeans want to be and remain
34:49
European, and which is not a bad thing.
34:53
But it seems that the people responsible for guiding
34:57
and protecting Europe are not interested in Europe remaining
35:01
Europe at all. So I think
35:05
we're at a point where human remedy will
35:08
not be sufficient. I don't know where you are in terms
35:12
of faith, but could you address the
35:15
European crisis as a crisis of faith,
35:19
that if there's to be any remedy at all, it involves
35:23
a returning to Christ? Yeah, I think that it's
35:28
maybe possible for some Europeans to rediscover
35:32
the roots of our civilization, and Christian faith
35:36
is like very much part of that. It's like a huge chunk of
35:41
the roots of our civilization. It's possible. For the time being,
35:44
you still have many people believing in God in the USA,
35:48
not so many of them in Europe. Oh, there are Muslims. Muslims, they do believe
35:52
in their God. They do believe in their scriptures and everything. But Christians, I mean,
35:56
not only Catholics, you have Protestant people, you have all those Protestant
35:59
churches in the USA, as you know. But all of that in Europe has vanished.
36:03
I mean, I'm from a country, Belgium, where Catholics were— it
36:08
was obvious to be a Catholic. I mean, it was not even thinkable
36:11
not to be. But I'm talking about the generation of my grandparents.
36:15
That's, that's, yeah, I mean, yesterday. It's not such
36:19
a long time ago. And then you had Holland. They were all Protestant.
36:22
My wife is Dutch, so I have many links to this country.
36:26
I also have like a daughter who is 2 years old
36:30
and Dutch. So I may still have some hope. Otherwise I wouldn't make children,
36:34
you know, if I was without hope. In this country,
36:37
to be a Protestant person was totally obvious.
36:40
It was part of the national identity. And in 55
36:45
years, I've been seeing that completely vanishing.
36:49
It does not exist anymore. So the church, they are still there.
36:52
The Catholic school— I've been attending many Catholic schools and universities.
36:56
But they are not Catholic anymore. In fact, you can go and attend some
37:01
Mass at some point, generally like once in a year, but there is nothing Catholic
37:05
there anymore. Or they are just retaining the, you know, the far-left
37:10
interpretation of the scriptures, and they are
37:14
just far-left, you know, militant. They are not really Christian anymore.
37:17
That's what remains of the Catholic faith mostly,
37:21
and in many parts of Europe, with great exceptions, of course,
37:25
I know. And when you go to Rome, you see many people,
37:28
the real Catholics beyond politics, because not everything is politic
37:33
in the Catholic faith. But mostly I would say that
37:37
for the time being, it's not there anymore.
37:40
It's been part of what we are since— for many,
37:43
many centuries. And now it's been like
37:47
vanishing, basically. Well, you know, I think of people
37:52
who visit the great cathedrals of Europe and
37:55
see them primarily as museums rather
38:00
than places of worship, that they're husks
38:04
of their former selves. You know, the horrible fire of Notre Dame
38:09
in Paris and the restoration, which I think was clumsy,
38:13
and then also just the hideous vestments and behavior
38:17
when they had the rededication of the Mass. But that's another
38:21
topic for another time. You know, you said you fathered children,
38:25
uh, to bring children into the world is, is an act of hope.
38:29
What sustains your hope in, in this difficult time? I know that's a
38:32
big question and we only have a minute and a half left. Well, you know,
38:35
I refuse to, uh, I'm, I'm a fighter, so, uh,
38:38
and I love children. I think they are the future. And so,
38:42
uh, yeah, I'm a fighter. I'm, uh, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm,
38:45
I, I want to see Europe rationally, but also I'm a fighter.
38:49
So you can be both in, in, in the same time. And I want my
38:52
I have a son also, he's 18. My daughter,
38:56
now she's 2. She's only 2 to have this opportunity to grow in
39:01
Europe if they choose to do that, you know, because of course,
39:06
many of my friends, they say we are going to go to the USA,
39:08
we are going to Switzerland, we are going, some of them, to Israel. Yeah,
39:12
great. But I think Europe, we are born here.
39:15
And yeah, I'm a fighter. I'm here to stay. Well, I'm very glad
39:19
for that because, you know, Europe, European civilization,
39:23
and dare I say it, Christendom, really are worth
39:27
fighting for. And Europe won't remain European
39:31
without indigenous Europeans. And I think we need to be
39:35
able to, to say that as well. Uh, Duke Godefroy,
39:38
thank you for taking time to call us from Belgium. I am grateful for the
39:42
conversation today. God bless your good work, and I hope we can talk again before
39:46
long. Me too. It was great. Thank you so much. I'm Jesuit Father Robert
39:50
McTeague, your host every day of The Catholic Current. Today is a Timely Tuesday.
39:54
You know what that means. You want to stay with us for the rest of
39:56
the hour because coming up next, you and me sharing timely thoughts,
40:00
reflecting on what we've heard today. And believe me, I have
40:04
a lot to say. Be part of the conversation.
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Follow what we're following by following us on Gab. That's G-A-B.
40:12
The channel is The Catholic Current, and you can influence the
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40:21
Comments, questions, suggestions, uh, recommendations— we
40:25
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40:29
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40:33
thestationofthecross.com/askfather.
40:36
Back in just 2 minutes. Please do stay with us.
41:01
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Want to suggest a guest
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41:13
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41:21
Praise be Jesus Christ. This is Father Robert McTeague of the Society of Jesus,
41:24
your daily host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ to the world and
41:28
the world to Christ. You're listening to us from the Station of the Cross studios,
41:31
your local radio station, the iCatholic Radio mobile app. We proclaim the
41:34
fullness of truth with clarity and charity. Here we are,
41:38
the last segment of a Timely Tuesday. The question was, will Europe survive?
41:43
The last segment, as always, it's just you and me reflecting on what we've
41:46
heard today. My guest is a new guest, is Drew Godofrede.
41:50
He's a lawyer, a philosopher. We're talking about
41:54
will Europe survive, and I'm not a gambling
41:58
man, but I don't know if I'm ready to take that bet. Why do I
42:01
say that because I just saw something in social media.
42:05
Uh, the European Union president is Ursula von
42:09
der Leyen. I thought she's either Dutch or Belgian.
42:13
And she says one of the trouble that Europe has is
42:16
that people have savings accounts. They put money in
42:20
the bank. And she said this money must be put
42:23
to the service of European companies.
42:28
And she says she has a plan to securitize them
42:32
and supervise them. Well, what does that
42:36
mean? What is she talking about here?
42:40
Basically what she's saying is, um, they're coming for your saving accounts.
42:44
And in the English translation, uh, she says
42:48
savings are idols, but I, I did some checking.
42:51
You know, she spoke French. Uh, which means she's probably Belgian
42:55
then. Uh, the first— the word,
42:58
uh, paresseux means lazy, not idle.
43:02
So listen to what she says. She says,
43:05
the second challenge concerns the financing of our economies.
43:09
In Europe, there's no shortage of technology or savings,
43:12
but there's still a shortage of capacity to scale up Europe's businesses.
43:17
Too many projects stall because the initial investment is too risky because demand
43:22
is too uncertain or because capital is too expensive. Our companies know how to
43:26
get started in Europe, but they also need to be able to grow here.
43:29
Too often they go elsewhere for the funding they need,
43:32
they shift their center of gravity, or they get bought out. Of course,
43:36
this isn't something that we will finance only from the public purse,
43:40
but Europe has savings, but unfortunately those
43:44
savings are lazy or sitting idle.
43:48
Today, there are €10 trillion in household
43:52
savings that are kept in bank accounts, and we have
43:56
to put those savings to work for Europe's companies.
44:00
Well, what does that mean? She doesn't like the idea,
44:04
you Europeans, that the money that's yours,
44:08
you do with it what you want, and you're not doing
44:12
with it what she wants. And her solution
44:15
to that is not to sell it to you or to
44:19
pitch it to you, but to securitize your savings
44:24
and supervise your savings.
44:28
Uh, what do you say to— I'm from Newark,
44:31
New Jersey. I have lots of things I want to say, but I don't want
44:34
us to lose our federal license, and I don't want to have to go to
44:38
confession or cause scandal, so I'm not going to say what immediately comes
44:41
to mind, but it would involve Italian and a rude
44:44
hand gesture, and I'll just leave it at
44:48
that. Europe seems to be on a
44:52
very tragic trajectory.
44:55
Large numbers of military-age men are moving
45:00
in who are not native
45:03
to Europe, are not Christians,
45:07
don't speak English or French or German or Italian
45:10
or Spanish, have no inclination to learn
45:14
it. These are men, at least in England, who have to be
45:17
reminded not to rape, and they're ready to collect
45:21
welfare, and they're not interested in becoming Christians.
45:24
So what exactly is the net gain for having these
45:29
military-age men move
45:32
into Europe who have no interest in assimilating or becoming European
45:37
to whatever degree that they're capable? Why is this
45:41
a good thing? And sadly, sadly, sadly,
45:45
even senior Catholic cadres of the people
45:49
who should really know better club don't
45:52
seem to get it.
45:55
Apparently, their view is that All are welcome,
45:59
all are welcome, all are welcome. Todos, todos,
46:02
todos. Free stuff for everyone
46:06
to infinity because Jesus
46:10
or something. You know, look, I'm a humanities major,
46:14
but mathematically, the idea of anything to infinity
46:18
when you're dealing with material is not possible.
46:22
And I know enough about business to know that nothing is free.
46:26
Somebody has to pay for it,
46:30
and we're not talking about that either.
46:34
And when it seems to be impolitic,
46:38
impolite, gauche, a faux pas to
46:42
evangelize, to seek converts— I'm
46:46
even going to use the dreaded P-word— proselytize.
46:51
A member of the senior Catholic cadre of the People Should Really Know Better Club
46:57
referred to proselytism as, and here I quote, solemn nonsense.
47:02
And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Europe
47:07
deserves to be preserved.
47:12
I think Europe, a European Europe,
47:16
is inevitably, inextricably, a Christian
47:20
Europe. Europe, more precisely a Catholic Europe,
47:25
and it seems that the idea of Europe and the faith having some
47:30
kind of connection and Europe and the faith having a blessing to
47:33
offer the whole world— I get the impression
47:37
that the cool kids don't think that way, and the vast
47:41
majority of indigenous Europeans haven't been taught
47:46
to think that for a very long time.
47:51
So, here's the question that I have: Who's going
47:55
to hand on the torches of civilization and the
47:59
Catholic faith in Europe from this generation to
48:03
the next? Who's going to do it?
48:06
Who wants to? Who's capable?
48:10
Who's responsible for doing that.
48:14
I think a lot of people don't want to have that conversation
48:19
at all. And that leads me to a more awkward,
48:22
even more painful question, which is,
48:26
and what happens if we fail?
48:31
If Europe doesn't hand on European cultural
48:35
civilization to Europe and the rest of the What
48:40
happens then? Well, among other things, churches and monasteries
48:45
will become museums and eventually parking
48:49
lots at best, at best.
48:54
And there will be fewer saints from Europe.
48:58
There may be more martyrs, but that's another topic for another time. But there
49:02
will be fewer saints, there'll be fewer vocations, there'll be fewer hymns,
49:06
Do we really, really think the world
49:11
will be a better place when nobody in Europe knows how
49:15
to sing the Salve Regina, who can't tell you what
49:18
Ember Days and Rogation Days are,
49:22
who don't know how to serve a solemn High Mass?
49:27
Is that a desideratum? Is that something that we're striving
49:31
for? Or is it something that
49:35
we are allowing to happen without shame,
49:41
without any sense of regret, without any
49:45
fear of the judgment of history, or whether
49:50
the saints and martyrs that went before us from Europe will point
49:54
at us with accusing fingers and turn away from us
49:57
in disgust? I'm Jesuit Father Robert
50:01
McTeague, your host here every day of The Catholic Current. Join us tomorrow for another
50:05
episode of The Catholic Current. You know the drill, uh, great guests, great topic,
50:09
great conversation, because that's how we roll here every day at The Current
50:13
and The Station of the Cross, where we strive mightily to
50:16
be so much more than merely relevant. After the broadcast
50:21
today, go to thestationofthecross.com, get our resources list down download our
50:24
audio as podcasts. Wherever you can find audio, you can find us.
50:28
Take this to your family and friends. Together we'll take it to the whole world.
50:31
Through the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, may Almighty God bless us,
50:34
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Go in peace, and please do pray for me,
50:37
for I am a sinner.