Boyd Cathey: Christian warrior & mentor

The one and only time I met the warm and hospitable Dr. Boyd D. Cathey was at Confederate Flag Day 2018. We had struck up an email friendship when I had contacted him beforehand about the event’s itinerary. Although I didn’t connect the dots and realize who he was when I first messaged him, I had read much of his work online.

But as is the wont of Southerners (especially of the writing variety), we wear our hearts on our sleeves, so we kept up the correspondence and became fast friends. We talk about our shared interests beyond the South, like our deep love of orthodox Christianity and our admiration for the Russian people.

Today, I am blessed to not only call Cathey a friend but my mentor. He offers advice, listens to my thoughts, and speaks wisdom, of which he is a fount. When I feel defeated, he will share one of his favorite quotes by Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno: “Our life is a hope which is continually converting itself into memory and memory in its turn begets hope.”

Cathey passing on the stories of the Spanish Carlists and their struggle for rural traditionalism over the “contagion” of urban liberalism is not only fascinating European history, but it helps me to understand that I’ve never been alone in my “defense of community.” It’s an ancient story really; it’s simply what people who love their homeland and their folkways have always done.

Amazingly, Cathey’s been fightin’ the good fight for some 36 years now. That’s a long time to remain consistently and unapologetically on fire for your beliefs.

“How do you stay so hot for the cause?” I asked him. “And on those days when you hear about Silent Sam being torn down by anarcho-tyrants who received no punishment or the Pittsboro monument being razed by a governmental entity while in clear defiance of NC law, how do you not throw up your hands and say, ‘Fine, let it all burn'”?

“I would be the first to admit that at times, in the midst of what appears to be an never-ending battle where we seem to be on the losing side, it is tempting to simply withdraw and read a good book from my library, perhaps watch a classic Western, or listen to a symphony by Bruckner or Brahms – just attempt to avoid, to get away from it all,” Cathey replied.

“But that is not what God has called us to do. Each time I read the Parable of the Talents recounted in the Gospel of St. Matthew, I understand and fathom that we are each given certain abilities, certain talents, which we must use. That is a solemn obligation of our Baptismal vows and of our existence as Children of God.”

He continued, “Each day I ask myself: Is this legacy, this heritage, this culture that I have received worth it? And immediately I respond: yes, it is. And with God’s help I look at each day as one more opportunity to use my talents, whatever they may be, for what is right and true.”

The writer George Eliot said, “Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but give me a man who has the pluck to fight when he’s sure he’s losing.” This is Cathey, who has plenty of pluck and his weapon of choice is the pen.

In the closing chapter of his book, The Land We Love, Cathey states, “History is not written by the pusillanimous or by timid souls, but by those, who even woefully outnumbered and seemingly destined for failure, seize the initiative and, like General [Nathan] Bedford Forrest, ‘get there first with the most.'”

“I suppose I shall just stand my ground and die at my post, if it comes to that,” Cathey once told me when I had mentioned fleeing the West. “But I know that God is merciful, if we do our duty!” This pervading sense of duty is in Cathey’s blood. And without complaint, just like his ancestors.

Yes, duty is key, isn’t it? I see Robert E. Lee’s words on my children’s bedroom wall every day: “You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less.” They seem so simple, yet they are honestly quite difficult to pull off in reality.

But our beloved, devout, and fearless Stonewall Jackson (seen at top) lived out the words in all that he did. “Through life let your principal object be the discharge of duty,” he said. “Duty is ours. Consequences are God’s.”

And like Jackson, Cathey is a “man of arms surrounded by tenets of faith.” He is also a “Confederate Joshua,” who like the biblical soldier, believes he is the Lord’s instrument on earth. Jackson fought militarily whereas Cathey takes his stand rhetorically, but the war is still the same.

This is why I suppose we look to heroes like Jackson and Lee, and to great thinkers like C.S. Lewis or T.S. Eliot, and to the saints: because they were real people living in the same fallen world as us. They give us examples of how to be a soldier of the cross, and how to exist with both a confident spirit and a humble heart. They show us how to pursue truth without letting our depraved world of lies devour us. Cathey too is such a hero.

Still, it is hard. Southerners, including myself, have grown soft. We don’t have the mettle of our ancestors or modern stalwarts like Cathey. And even though I know that “Truth crushed to the earth is truth still,” like Jefferson Davis opined, I sometimes wonder if it “like a seed will rise again.”

After all, seeds need care and tending to, but there aren’t many good stewards around today, but Cathey is certainly one. He’s planting seeds.

Politico Michael Malice once tweeted that “A conservative is a progressive driving the speed limit.” Well, Cathey has his pedal to the metal. He’s been driving at top speed for a long, long time and has no plans of letting up. To him, the cause is too important to slow down. And if we aren’t as fast as Cathey, we should back him and his compatriots when they are smeared and censored for wrongthink, or threatened economically (through job loss) or physically (through violent barbarism).

Leftists may shout “Forward!” but it’s only in an effort to conserve the present status quo of post-modernism and government-subsidized secular humanism. So really, Cathey isn’t a conservative if you think about it; he’s quite literally a counter-revolutionary for ancient truths and a prophet for the age.

Cathey is the quintessential Southern gentleman. Smart and fierce, charming and dogged, soldier and poet. Part statesman and part pastor. As we in Dixie know, none of these things are mutually exclusive. And like Jackson, he shouts, “Forward, and give them the bayonet.” After all, it is his Christian duty. Now there is someone I want to emulate.

Be sure to dive into the treasure trove that is Cathey’s near-daily blog, My Corner. Also check out Conversation That Matter’s two-part interview with the sage historian (here’s Part 1 and Part 2). I promise, you will learn something new from Cathey. I always do.