Join Us Sunday For a Late Afternoon ZOOM Meeting

By Charlie Johnston

On Sunday, September 20, we will host a virtual retreat via a global ZOOM meeting. It will begin at 5 pm Eastern Time, 4 pm CT, 3 pm MT, and 2 pm PT. So it will be early afternoon on the West Coast and late afternoon on the East Coast.

We will cover many things. Among those will be the status of the CORAC Handbook, which has changed incredibly since I first nearly finished it several years ago. We will discuss what we are called to as this “global civil war fought on cultural lines” fully enters its final state. We will talk about why – and how -we must learn to walk on water to get to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. As Shakespeare once said, “The problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” As Pogo put it in equally blunt and colorful terms, “We have met the enemy – and he is us.”

During the first part when I am yammering on, our Executive Director, Michael Murray (affectionately known here as MP) will scour comments and choose some to bring up and invite into the discussion. We will finish up in time for you to have your Sunday dinner. The link is below. After that, I have a few random thoughts passing through my head:

Sunday, September 20, 2026 

2:00pm (PT/Arizona), 3:00pm (MT), 4:00pm (CT), 5:00pm (ET)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86872716165?pwd=904f9I1yCL37oBDJFAzgdZkmB5u5aW.1

MEETING ID: 

868 7271 6165

PASSCODE: 

723889

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The battle with Iran has become a sort of background noise. I have had several people say they see how things are going by where gas prices are each day. I find it rather interesting that this is the modern version of siege warfare. In medieval times, siege warfare was common. An occupying force would surround a city, cutting it off from all outside contact and supply until it finally surrendered. The advantage of siege warfare was that it resulted in very little loss of life. The problem was that it required a great deal of patience, going on for months…sometimes years before it was finally settled. The besieged waited in hopes that some outside force would appear to rescue it. Those who made the siege worked to prevent that and starve the besieged into surrender.

Right now the U.S. has cut Iran off economically, diplomatically, and physically from most of the rest of the world, after destroying its military capability. Ironically, the forces of tyranny in Iran are hoping that Democrats will win the midterm elections and then lift the siege, restoring them to full power in their much reduced state.

I suspect that, however the elections turn out, America’s role in the battle will be largely over by the end of the year. If Republicans prevail, Iranian despots will know they cannot prevail – or even survive – much longer. Their thoughts will turn to how to get out of the country before the hangman’s noose of a battered, but enraged population finds them. If the Democrats win, the immediate pressure will quickly be off. But that will not be the end of it.

Donald Trump has badly decimated the military capability of the Iranian mullahs, whatever the New York Times and the rest of the Pravda media say. The regime is badly enfeebled. In its efforts to force other Arab nations to support it (by attacking them – a weird strategy to garner support. But hey, it worked with Iran’s unarmed populace) Iran has infuriated other Arab nations, countries who have long considered it a problematic trouble-maker in the Middle East. With its weakened capacity combined with the animus it has triggered in most other Arab and Muslim states, the regime is a dead man walking. Democratic diplomatic appeasement will prolong the battle while changing who will strike the deathblow to the maniacal fanatics who highjacked Persia way back in 1979.

The Islamic regime is reduced to choosing its destructor: a quiet surrender to the U.S., with hopes of getting out before the Persian hangman comes, or destruction at the hands of other Arab states around it – most of which are, indeed, Muslim, but few of which are institutionally and murderously insane. The only reason for them to push for a Democratic victory is to buy more time to get out of Baghdad before doom comes calling.

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One of my least favorite classic novels is Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. The craftsmanship of the novel is spectacular. The choice of words used to describe the action are fully calibrated to match the mood and narrative. Few novels have been so brilliantly constructed. But the characters run the gamut from repulsive to conniving to pathetic. None are very likable.

I have come, lately, to think it weirdly prophetic. First published in 1856 in France, within living memory of the depredations of the French Revolution, it saw clearly the vicious vapidity that increasingly marks our own times. Emma Bovary, the title character, is a vain, silly woman who thinks it is life’s duty to entertain her and treat her as a princess while offering nothing in return. She cheats on her devoted (if mediocre) husband, neglects and resents her daughter, is given to moments of guilty sentimentality without any resolve to reform, and it all ends in disaster for her entire family and herself. Entirely because of her vain romantic fantasies and utter self-absorption.

Though only around 350 pages, it was still a tough read for me because it is so depressing. Yet I think it truly a story for our times. And a big part of what I work at is to try to spare us from the catastrophes which will be the bitter fruit of our own shallow, self-absorbed fantasies.

Vanity of vanities! There is nothing new under the sun.

If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.

Find me on X at @JohnstonPilgrim

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The Corps of Renewal and Charity (CORAC)

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