You Can Change Minds

Mary Kochan

Take all the evil things that detractors and critics say about Pius XII and the role of the Catholic Church in WWII. Add to them every complaint justified, exaggerated or fabricated that was or remains part of the most wild-eyed fundamentalist aspect of Protestant Reformation and Restoration polemics seasoned with Da Vinci-style conspiracy theories and wrap them all up in a neat bundle of resentment and disdain. What do you have?


You have what I used to think about the Catholic Church: the Whore of Babylon, the leader of the World Empire of False Religion, voracious for power and money, corrupt in nature and the most virulent enemy of human freedom, progress and salvation on earth, hand-in-glove with every dictator and friend of Hitler.

To say that my mind has been changed is understatement being reticent. The pertinent question is how did that occur, and the answer is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5, where the Apostle Saint Paul discusses the success of his evangelization work thus: “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ….”

In short, I believed a pack of lies, and over time those lies were, one by one, revealed to be just that. As my mind was disabused of each lie, a little more truth appeared until gradually a correct picture of the Christianity, history and the Church developed in my mind.

Saint Paul knew this process himself from inside. He had been at one time a man thoroughly convinced that Christians were a pernicious threat to the True Faith — the pharisaical Judaism in which had been raised. He believed that the fledgling Church was such a cancer upon the social order that entire families of Christians deserved imprisonment and even death for their blasphemies. His own change of mind was sudden — so sudden that it threw him to the ground. The Truth revealed Himself to Paul, in an instant overturning the lies in his mind.

Today on Catholic Exchange, our lead spaces, the Edge and Today, feature articles that tell the truth about the questions of what Pope Pius XII did during WWII and what the response of the Catholic Church was to the Jewish Holocaust at the time it was happening. Every Catholic reading this has family, friends and acquaintances who are misinformed on these issues.

Won’t you do something today to destroy these arguments and proud obstacles to the Catholic faith, to defend the reputation of Pope Pius XII, a Holy Father of whom we all should be proud? Won’t you do something today to take the thoughts of your fellow men captive for Christ and knock down mental barriers to the truths of the Catholic faith?

I urge everyone reading our website today to forward these articles to everyone you know. Also, please place within your own mind at least one brief quote, maybe that of Albert Einstein or Golda Meir, so that the next time you hear the Church slandered, you can come back with some defense.

You might not knock anybody off his horse, but as one who has been there, let me assure you that every truth you utter, every email you send out, every article you copy and hand out, has the power to knock down one more proud obstacle against the truths taught by the Church. The obstacles might be proud, but they are erected in the minds of humble people, who, once free of lies, may gratefully join our family of faith.

© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange


Mary Kochan, Senior Editor of Catholic Exchange, writes from Douglasville, Georgia. Her tapes are available from Saint Joseph Communications.