Almost a decade ago, I visited a close Catholic friend and his wife and family in one of the charming bedroom communities outside Boston. The highlight of the evening was a dinner that my friend hosted replete with fine food, delightful wines from a well-stocked cellar and rich conversation. Sitting next to me on that occasion was my friend and American Catholic man of letters Thomas Howard. 

My 86-year old joyful and faithful father has a cheeky toast that he likes to trot out once in a while. With glass raised, he proffers “Death to temperance!” It’s witty and always gets a laugh from family and friends. Yet, the wittiness of the toast draws back the curtain on our present societal stage more then one might expect.

The supreme virtue of our secular culture is progressivism. To be a progressive is to be enlightened, tolerant and woke. It is to be on the right side of what are determined by secular elites to be the most important issues of our times.