Christian Courage

George Weigel's conclusion from an article about the communist war against the Catholic Church (First Things, April 2011): "The communist war against Christianity was a bloody affair, in which Christian martyrdom reached new heights of sacrifice. That war also involved billions of man-hours of work and billions of dollars of public expenditure and was thus a form of theft form civil society. Deeply committed and politically shrewd Christian pastors and laity eventually won out over communism. The blood of martyrs, however, was the seed of the Church's victory. Their sacrifice and what we can learn from it about the cardinal virtue of fortitude--courage--must never be forgotten."