TRANSCRIPT
Belgium used to be one of the most Catholic countries on earth — specifically, the northern part which shares a border with the Netherlands, the region known as Flanders. But like so many former Catholic bastions, Belgium — Flanders — has fallen prey to the hopelessness and despair that come with modernism and Marxism. However, one strong young man is not only pushing back, he’s also trying to help others see and reclaim the Catholicity of the once very Catholic region.
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Dries Van Langenhove is Belgium’s leading activist. He came to his choice after being the youngest member of the Belgian Parliament, which he has since resigned from, believing that politics in and of itself is insufficient.
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At the young age of 29, Dries has correctly identified the root cause of his nation’s descent into immorality. In fact, it was not only his arriving at the truth of the matter but then voicing it that got him kicked off the University of Ghent Board of Governors and out of the school, very close to graduation.
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It was after being kicked out, essentially for his political views — greatly shaped by the Catholic faith — that he ran for and won his seat in Parliament. But having tossed in the towel on politics, he now focuses more on his own growth and doing more grassroots activism. He’s opened a gym and uses it as not only a physical training ground for young guys but also, more importantly, as a way to open their minds.
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Dries is, easily, the most famous conservative activist in Belgium, commanding a massive following on social media, with up to a million views each week. He is of the mind, as we are at Church Militant, that some people who are of goodwill and, as a result, open to the truth, will listen when you present it to them unvarnished and begin to embrace it. They just have to hear it, which means someone has to say it.
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Of course, he’s not naive about being the one saying it, telling the truth. Like those of us here at Church Militant, he has had first-hand experience of what happens to you when you get on the radar of those who oppose the truth. Nevertheless, Dries has a small piece of advice, rooted in the necessity of the Catholic faith.
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Keep Dries and his developing Belgian youth movement in your prayers. The fight is real — it’s intense — but it contains within itself its own reward and glory. Thank you, Dries, for your work. Keep it up, brother, and when the inevitable discouragement begins to encroach and hem you in on all sides, remember your original zeal and tap back into it as often as need be.
Wherever you are in your faith, grow even stronger. The Faith is not a weapon for just changing the culture, which is, of course, a noble goal in and of itself, but Catholicism is an end in itself, changing men. It is changed men — changed from sinful creatures into fully alive sons of God — who will change the culture.
Even in an intense struggle for the country, it must always be faith first. It is faith that changes nations. Nations and their citizens cannot simply use the Faith. In the end, God will judge us on our unfaithfulness, not our patriotism. Country? Yes — but God first.
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