I have a confession to make. When the storm broke out over the article written by Daniel Panneton in the Atlantic at first titled, “How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol,” then changed after the backlash to, “How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-opt the Rosary,”[i] I didn’t really feel the urge to write anything about it. First, it was an American article. Living in the UK as a newly ordained priest I simply felt that other good Catholic writers could make a better contribution than I could. I clearly had more important things to do with preparing for my new life as a priest. I also felt that it was just another mainstream media hack job on the Catholic church. Being that there are plenty of those in the UK and Canada, the last thing I wanted to do was to give this man even more of a platform. So, after giving the article a quick glance, I rolled my eyes, tweeted a picture of one of my many rosaries with our Lady of Perpetual Help and tried to move on.

I started to change my mind when some Catholics started to come out to defend Panneton online. The defense varied, but it mostly ran on a common theme of, “The church should not get involved in politics,” which I find normally applies only to the politics they don’t agree with. When the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England criticised a plan to deport channel migrants arriving in the UK to Rwanda,[ii] he was attacked by many commentators making the exact same claim.[iii]

This motivated me to take a closer look at the article. The thing that struck me was just how little understanding Panneton has of the role of the rosary in the faith. My impression, even though he doesn’t say it, is that he would be happy with a church which is tame, emasculated and not really willing to challenge the status quo. Panneton bemoans the rise of “combat rosaries”, or sacramental boxes made to resemble ammunition cans, or “concealed carry” permits for rosaries or pictures even of people having their rosaries around various firearms. I have no doubt he would be more comfortable if the church was only open for an hour on Sundays and the rosary recited by little old ladies after mass and closed the rest of the week. In other words, he does not want a church to challenge the world if it does not fit with his point of view. However, the church was never built to be a tame pussy cat in the world, it is meant to make people uncomfortable by telling the truth and fighting evil. This is why many tyrants have persecuted it through the century’s, from the Caesars in ancient Rome to the communist regime in China today. Jesus himself said he did not come to bring peace but the sword (Matt. 10:34). He also ordered all his disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Mk. 16:15). This means that all members of the church have an active duty to work for the salvation of souls. This mostly involves spiritual combat but there are times and places that it can involve combat in this world as well. Our brothers and sisters in Africa fighting Boko Haram, as only one example, can attest to this fact.

This brings to light an uncomfortable truth for people like Panneton who want a docile church; while he complains that “These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.”[iv] It is the simple fact that the rosary is a weapon against evil and the enemies of the church in a very literal form.

When naval forces of the Holy League and the Ottoman Turks gathered on 7 October 1571, Pope Pius V ordered churches opened day and night to petition for the intersession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The victory of the battle of Lepanto inspired Pope Pius V to establish 7 October as the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. When the Protestant English tried and, after petitions to our Lady failed, to take the Catholic settlement of Quebec in 1690 and 1711, the church in the lower town of the city became Notre-Dame-des-Victoires (Our Lady of Victory). These are just two examples of our lady portrayed as a warrior maiden. St Louis de Montfort in his instructions to Priests is more direct in the power of the Rosary:

            “Almighty God has given it to you because He wants you to use

            it as a means to convert the most hardened sinners and the obstinate

            heretics. He has attached to it grace in this life and glory in the next.[v]

The rosary and combat, both spiritual and temporal, are closely linked making it impossible to separate the two.

In his attack on the use of the Rosary as a weapon, Panneton, argues that the use of Catholic symbols with their, “constellations of violent, racist and homophobic online milieus are well documented for providing a pathway to radicalization and real-world terrorist attacks.”[vi] To provide proof of the so called “well documented” pathway, he gives a link to an article from the New Yorker magazine. This article gives information on online groups that the mass shooters from Buffalo and El Paso got their political formation from. The article fails to make even a single link to Christianity, this is simply because none exist.[vii] Setting aside the fact that the Church has never supported any of the above, he is desperately trying to link the actions of devout Catholics to a religion where its radicals have links to real terrorist attacks, Islam. While violent actions from the extreme political right that are not linked to the Christian faith, are not unheard of, they simply pale in comparison with the terrorist attacks perpetrated in the name of Islam. The attack on Salman Rushdie is only a recent example of this. Rosaries are weapons used in defense of the Church and for conversion of its enemies in prayer and devotion. Panneton is just plain silly to link devotees of the Rosary to the submit or die version of religious violence.

The last point in the article that makes for deeply troubling reading was Panneton’s statement that the traditionalist use of the rosary is a link to a militarism which:

“glorifies a warrior mentality and notions of manliness and male strength. This conflation of the masculine and the military is rooted in wider anxieties about Catholic manhood—the idea that it is in crisis has some currency among senior Church figures and lay organizations.”[viii]

What he is criticizing here is the concerns that many Catholics have over the attack of masculinity in the wider culture. There is no doubt that the concept of masculinity is under attack with terms like, “toxic masculinity” often thrown about. What Panneton fails to understand is that masculinity itself is not toxic, but the lack of it is. What the faithful are seeing are young men with no involvement in something bigger than themselves. Supporting God, their nation, and their families has always been the mainstay of masculine virtues. When people in a society, but men especially, start moving towards self-centredness this is where problems begin.

The problems from this type of self-centredness can express itself in several ways, ranging from infidelity to abuse. The military has traditionally served the role of bringing young men out of their self-centredness to think of others, their immediate comrades and their nation. The church, in its fight against evil, has understood from its early days the importance of these virtues. The masculine virtues of protection, performing one’s duty to God and nation and honouring all human beings made in the image and likeness of God.

There is nothing wrong with some members of the church using military terminology to rebuild masculine virtues. Encouraging more men to pray the rosary, which is desperately needed, assists in this. There is no more powerful symbol when groups of devout men kneeling, start reciting the rosary on a street, in front of an abortion clinic, or standing between a church and an angry mob. You’re simply not going to get them to do that by giving them more feminine style rosaries. In fact, most of my rosaries are made from wood or stone, along with a few blue and white plastic ones to give away to others. The rosary serves as an important reminder to all men that the first and most intimate link they have are with their mothers, and no mother is more supreme than the mother of God!

The Church should never remove itself from society or politics to make others feel comfortable. The primary reason for the Church’s existence is to save souls. The rosary is an important weapon in that fight. So how should Catholics react to the article? By praying all five decades of the rosary for Panneton’s conversion to the truth.

[i] Daniel Panneton, How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-op the Rosary, The Atlantic 14 August 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/

{ii} The Guardian Newspaper, Rwanda plan is ‘against the judgment of God’, says archbishop of Canterbury, 16/4/22. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/16/rwanda-plan-is-against-the-judgment-of-god-says-archbishop

[iii] Express Newspaper, Archbishop of Canterbury receives backlash after attack Rwanda Asylum Plan, 18/4/22 https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1597313/Archbishop-of-Canterbury-Boris-Johnson-Rwanda-immigrants

[iv] Panneton, How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-op the Rosary.

[v] St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, https://www.ecatholic2000.com/montfort/rosary/rosary.shtml

[vi] Panneton, How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-op the Rosary.

[vii] Kyle Chayka, The On Line Spaces that Enable Mass Shooters, The New Yorker 19 May 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/the-online-spaces-that-enable-mass-shooters

[viii] Panneton, How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-op the Rosary.