+AMDG
TRANSCRIPT
CCRPod S01E00: What is the Point of the Confraternity?
Released:  14 April 2024

Hello, and welcome to CCRPod, the official podcast of the
Confraternity of Christ the King.  This is Season 1, Episode
00:  What is the point of the Confraternity?

As a decidedly non-Christian author once said, “These are
the times that try mens' souls.”  Everywhere around us, the
world is crumbling.  Our communities are falling apart; the
state has abandoned even the pretense of religious duty, and
in fact actively opposes and even suppresses the precepts of
the true Faith.  The Ten Commandments cannot be publicly
displayed; statues of saints and heroes are torn down, by
mobs which the state does not bother to oppose, or even by
the state itself.  In our courts of law no one swears upon
God; our courts explicitly forbid any practice of ruling in
accordance with moral precepts.

The family, as an institution, has all but collapsed.
Children are farmed out as much as possible to
“professional” caregivers:  as early as six weeks old,
babies are torn from their mother's breasts (if they were
even fortunate enough to have that) and entrusted to
day-care centers and babysitters, where they remain for the
vast bulk of every day until they can be safely turned over
to the public schools.  The foundational relationship of the
family, marriage, has been torn down and mangled nearly
beyond recognition.  The frustration of the end of marriage
is enshrined as a constitutional right; when that
frustration itself fails, the murder of the resulting
children is sanctioned and encouraged.  More and more, our
people take pride in failing to marry, and then in failing
to bear children; truly, in our age we say “Blessed are the
barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that
have not given suck.”

Even the Church herself gives all appearances of having
fallen.  The ancient liturgy has been actively suppressed;
priests and bishops, and sometimes even the pope himself,
publicly oppose the perennial doctrine of the Catholic
Church.  We know that the gates of Hell will not prevail
against her; but Christ would not have reassured us this,
unless it might at times *appear* that the gates of Hell
have, in fact, prevailed.  The faithful Catholic, who
“hold[s] to the traditions which” he has “learned” through
the Church of Christ, all too often seems to have no safe
harbor.

Times of unprecedented chaos; the collapse of institutions;
the apparant disappearance of all that we hold dear.
In these times of anarchy, apostasy, and strife, *we need
Christ the King*.

Christ, of course, is our brother.  He is one of us, like us
in all ways but sin.  He has led the way for us, asking
nothing from us that he did not perform, and indeed endure,
far more himself.  He will lead us on through the chaos to
eternal life; he will lead us to the Father through all
obstacles, if we only follow.  His example is always before
our eyes.

But Christ is more than our example; His rule over us is
more than just the loving care of a firstborn for His
younger siblings.  Christ is our brother; but He is also our
captain, and He is also our king.  He leads us not only by
example, but by command; we follow Him not only as children
chasing our older brother, but as soldiers rushing into
battle behind our war-captain.  And He leads us not only as
our war-captain, directing us into the fray; but as our
king, making us laws, judging our performance, and leading
us all as a body to the end of our existences:  an eternity
of happiness with Him, in His heavenly kingdom, forever.

We will always need to continue to follow the lead of our
Brother; but now, when even the most basic precepts of our
nature are under relentless attack, we must also follow our
captain.  We must also follow our King!

The Confraternity of Christ the King is here to help us do
that.

What is the Confraternity of Christ the King?  An
association of Catholic faithful dedicated to the
restoration of the social reign of Christ the King; first of
all, in our own lives, and then throughout the whole world.

Like all confraternities, the CCR has obligations associated
with membership, depending on the grade of membership
possessed.  The lowest grade, the comes or comrade, is open
to all Catholics, both male and female; it merely requires
us to pray and fast, and we in turn are prayed for by all
the other members of the Confraternity.

The next is the miles, or soldier, of Christ the King.  The
soldier must pray, but also work; the soldier is entitled to
wear the insignia of Christ the King, and must labor for His
triumph in his own life and in the world.

Lastly is the eques, or knight, of Christ the King.  The
knight must pray and work; the knight is entitled to the
insignia of Christ the King, and must also labor for His
triumph in his own life and in the world.  But the knight
consecrates his whole life to Christ the King; he prays the
Divine Office, or a near substitute, each day for that
triumph.

The Confraternity, for all members regardless of their rank,
is a *brotherhood*, a group of men united by a common
understanding and dedicated to a common end.  We are here to
support one another in our goals for our lives and for the
social reign of Christ the King.  We do this by prayer,
first and foremost; discussion; writing; meeting; and
working together.

Pius XI, when he established the great feast of Christ the
King for the universal Church, said that “the faithful
[must] generally understand that they must serve as
soldiers, perpetually and bravely, under the signs of Christ
the King”.  The Confraternity strives to be just those
soldiers, to advance behind our captain and King with
courage, with fearlessness, with faith.  As Prosper of
Aquitaine said, “Why should lasting values tremble if
transient things fall?”  Won't you join us, to serve our
brother, our captain, and our King?

Christus vincit!  Christus regnat!  Christus imperat!