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*Image: The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, c. 1760 [National Gallery, London]

By David Carlin, The Catholic Thing, Oct. 13, 2023

David Carlin is a retired professor of sociology and philosophy at the Community College of Rhode Island, and the author of The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in AmericaThree Sexual Revolutions: Catholic, Protestant, Atheist, and most recently Atheistic Humanism, the Democratic Party, and the Catholic Church.

Note: A new podcast from Rome: Cardinal Pell—The Synodal Dream as Toxic Nightmare. Fr. Robert Sirico and Robert Royal discuss a new book of essays by and about the late great Australian Cardinal Pell Contra Mundum, and his view of the synodal process as a “toxic nightmare” from which the Church must awake. Watch at The Vatican Thing. And, also, we launch today a new series by Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, Symptoms of the Synod, that you’ll also find in The Vatican Thing.

 

In the discussion among its citizens just outside the walls of Troy, there were various opinions as to what to do with the strange “gift” that had been left by the departing Greeks.  “I don’t trust Greeks,” said some, “even when bearing gifts.”  But others, and they proved to be the majority, said, “What harm can it do?  After all, it’s only a wooden horse.  Let’s bring it into the city.  It’ll serve as a trophy of our great victory.”

And when the little Dutch boy had his finger in the dike, some passing adults, amused by his efforts, said to him, “Son, there’s no need to do that.  It’s only a small leak.  It will do no harm.  Go home and clean your father’s wooden shoes.”

And when, more than a half-century ago, college boys and girls started going to bed with one another, many Americans, especially younger ones, said, “So what?  It’s only a minor sin.  It’s not as if it will lead to truly dreadful things like abortion and same-sex marriage.” …

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