These are indeed troubling times for orthodox Christians of whatever theological flavor - faced with assault by Islam - the Father of the Lie - on their home grounds and wracked by dissention within their own ranks from socialist schismatics, to whom Christ is viewed as some bizarre proto-communist activist instead of the Son of God and Saviour Whose Kingdom was “Not of this earth”.
God willing, let it be so!!! The Church is already in de facto schism. It has been for decades now. One hopeful sign is that Pope Benedict was the mortal enemy of liberation theology as it was practiced in the 80's. That strain in Roman Catholic teaching will abide in the pontificate of Benedict. In that sense, among others, Benedict's pontificate is a scholarly extension of Pope John Paul II's. Oh holy men!! May Benedict live to be 100 years old.
Regarding the Church in America, I was cheered to see the bishops speak against abortion more concertedly than ever before. The bad news? Obama got more Catholic votes than any democrat candidate in years. Oh well, these things take time. Someday, faithful Catholics will be as reliably republican as their grandparents were reliably democrat. If the bishops keep speaking the truth, their efforts will bear fruit, God willing.
It's a time to separate the sheep from the goats, as the Lord put it in his Galilean idiom. If we lose contributions for a while, so be it. The gates/jaws of Hell will not prevail. From a mustard seed will grow the greatest tree on the plain, where many can find refuge. God's mills grind slow, but sure.
It strikes me that everything above can be written off as sing-songy truisms. But the thing about truisms is, they are true!! One of the deepest needs of our time is the straightforward proclamation of the simplest, deepest truths.