did the values and morals in continental europe begin fading there in the 60’s and 70’s, like they did in the u.s.?
European decadence in Continental Europe began much earlier, with the dawn of the French Revolution, which was completely different from its American counterpart. The French did fought for social revolution, for the extermination of the rulling classes, for a complete and total change on the patterns of political power. In other words; it was a rupture with all of the past. That brought free masonry, anti-clericalism and many other jacobinist ideals to every land (once again, only on continental Europe) the french armies marched on.
Later on, after Napoleon was totally defeated (thank God!), Europe experimented a very long period of peace and colective security, through the union, in one Alliance, of some very powerful countries, at the time (Austria, Prussia and Russia), arround the sharing of common values and points of view - among them, monarchy, legitimacy and religion; very conservative ideals, as you can see. This Alliance, called the Holy Alliance, with it’s main objective being to ensure the French Royal House and Monarchy as political rullers of France, and to contain France, just in case the french expansionism returned sometime later, managed to keep conservativism, industrial and economic development and, above all, peace in Europe, since 1815 until the Crimean War, on the mid-19th Century.
Secularism started with the French Revolution, but was far from being completely ended, even with the Holy Alliance’s eyes upon every revolutionary ideal arround France or Europe. Marxism came in the mid-19th Century, and the Russian Revolution of 1917 was its culmination. Even before 1917, by the very end of the 19th Century, there were already some communist coups and temporary governments being installed, a little bit all over Europe - for instance, the Paris Commune of 1871, a sad example of it. Republicanism, associated with Socialist ideals, tended to flare all over the Iberian Peninsula, for example, and over other mediterranean countries, like Italy, for instance. In fact, these political movements were supported by Free Masonry and by other anti-catholic secret societies like the Carbonary (originated in Italy) and so on.
In Portugal, Republicanism won over the Monarchy in 1910, initiating a period of religious persecutions to Catholics. Thousands of Catholic clergymen were arrested, mocked, persecuted, humiliated and then, killed. Lay people were persecuted, too. Countless Church’s properties were confiscated by the State, who was the very leader of all these anti-clerical persecutions. It seemed like that the Catholic Church had been banned from Portugal. The same thing happened in Spain, 20 years later, ending up in a terrible civil war, which, thank God, ended up with the victors being the protectors of the Catholic Church.
But in fact, the last stab on the back of Europe, in what concerns to the dawn of secularism, was done after the end of WW2. The 50’s, starting with Elvis Presley, and then the 60’s, with the hippies, the so-called sexual revolution and the “drugs, sex and rock n’ roll” culture, were inevitably felt over Europe, too, specially on the democratic countries, like France, Britain, and so on. This couldn’t be avoided, since the western world was, from the end of WW2 until now, guided and leaded by the American model and influence. This was mostly felt on culture, rather than on politics or on economy (and it was preferable the other way round, in my personal opinion), as we europeans, in fact, keep our very “socialist” Social State as a social-economic model, which is, trully, one of the things which makes us unique in the World, today, for example.
i am also afraid, that the more technologically advanced we get and medically advanced and scientifically advanced, that people will become more secular. they don’t realize, that even though the world changes, we still remain human beings, with souls, and we still have the choices of good and evil, to sin or not to sin and that we still need God in our lives and in the world.
You would have reasons to be afraid, had we not the Church. But we have the Church, and Christ, really and substantially present, is among us. So, nothing to fear. We just have to reorganize the resistance!
