Msg. Pope on Spiritual Warfare

"Some years ago I wrote a blog post, Is the Church a Cruise Ship or a Battleship? I was surprised at the amount of negative commentary I got. For example, 'How dare you compare the Church to an instrument of war!' Other comments lamented recourse to any violent imagery, ever. Still others called for bans on songs such as 'Onward Christian Soldiers,' 'I am On the Battlefield for My Lord,' and so forth. You might say that the response from the anti-military group was 'militant.'” I certainly wasn't feelin' the love! Most of those comments I didn't publish because I didn't want 'war' to erupt in the combox.

"Of course the reference to a battleship was by way of analogy, not literal. No one is insisting that the Church should actually use sixteen inch guns against unbelievers or purveyors of sin. The battle is a spiritual one requiring spiritual weapons. This is why we call it spiritual warfare!

"It is important in our times that we recover some sophistication when it comes to language and how people use it. Analogies, similes, metaphors and the like are not to be interpreted in a crudely literalistic way. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on what spiritual warfare entails and on the role of the rosary in spiritual warfare.

To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:

Community in Mission: Hail Mary Full of Grace, Punch the Devil in the Face: A Meditation on Spiritual Warfare (4 JAN 23)