Dear Liddy, You shouldn\u2019t be surprised at running into opposition from fellow Catholics.\u00a0 We are all sinners, and the Church has suffered from internal strife since the very beginning (wasn\u2019t Jesus\u2019 betrayer one of the Church\u2019s first bishops?).\u00a0 Our Lord told that parable about the wheat and the weeds growing up side-by-side and only being separated at harvest time, and he told it for a reason.\u00a0 You just continue along your path of virtue, prayer, and apostolic action, collaborating with all those who love God and his Church, and don\u2019t let petty intrigues sidetrack you.\u00a0 God will take care of the rest.\u00a0 He may even use your example of patience and charity to win some of his rebels back into the peace and fruitfulness of obedience. Today\u2019s saints had to suffer a similar difficulty.\u00a0 They lived in North Africa at the time of King Huneric, who was an Arian (the Arian heresy spread far and wide in the early years, and for a long time threatened to destroy the Church entirely).\u00a0 He attempted to forcefully remove true Catholics from his entire realm.\u00a0 To this end he destroyed churches, burned books, and imprisoned those he could not convert through fear or bribery.\u00a0 St Laetus was a faithful bishop who infuriated the king, and suffered for it by being cast into a foul dungeon, only emerging in order to be burnt alive.\u00a0 Donatian and four other bishops loyal to the true faith were driven out of the city and left to survive on their own in the wilderness.\u00a0 During a journey King Huneric ran across them, and they denounced his heresy and cruelty.\u00a0 On the spot he ordered his mounted soldiers to ride them down.\u00a0 They were driven into the desert like cattle, mutilated, and left to die of exposure and starvation. So you see, my faithful niece, you are not alone in facing opposition from those you thought were \u201con the same team.\u201d\u00a0 But just as Arianism was defeated by the fidelity and charity of ancient saints, so you can win over your detractors by prayer and virtue \u2013 just never let them stop your efforts to spread the Kingdom. Faithfully yours, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Liddy, You shouldn\u2019t be surprised at running into opposition from fellow Catholics.\u00a0 We are all sinners, and the Church has suffered from internal strife since the very beginning (wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n