Hildebrand was discussing the quietism that occurred during Hitler's Germany. Actually, he was discussing the years before that too, which led to Hitler's Germany, by which time any kind of "noise" would have been drowned (and certainly was) by Hitler's even louder thunder.
The quietism we're experiencing is toward liberalism and mulitculturalism. I think we still have some chance to out-perform it with our noise. The recent Republican victory in the US is an example of that.
But, the "pietistic quietism" that some take on, through some kind of false modesty (is it fear, complacency, lack of faith that God will stand with us) that we can address things through loving our neighbors will realize too late that such neighbors have no softness in their mission, since it is a mission that they are on.
Below is the paragraph, at the very end of that chapter, where Hildenbrand discusses this. And it was at these very last pages (pages 279-283, and the book ends at page 332) that I found this call to reclamation, if I can use that word. My idea of this active behavior, of reclaiming what we have lost or are about to lose, was not a cry into the void after all. Several decades ago, another person, who professes to be a lover of beauty, decided that this battle (and eventually the war that he had to fight) required an active participant , and called out to others to do the same.
Thus "Catholic Action," in accordance with the intentions of the Holy Father [Pope Pius XI], is indeed apolitical in the sense that it must not be understood as a political party or engage in party politics itself; but it certainly extends into the political sphere, since Catholics who are active politically have the same obligation to carry the spirit of Christ into this domain that they have with regard to any other sphere of life. Anyone who does not admit this is not thinking as a Catholic, but in the manner of pietistic quietism. This is undoubtedly a danger today... [From the Chapter, "The Danger if Quietism" from My Battle Against Hitler, By: Dietrich von Hildebrand]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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