Somewhere, Over the Rainbow ...

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision affirming the legal (if not moral) right to same-sex marriage, millions of Facebook users took to the site, altering their profile pictures with “rainbow” filters or posting some other affirmation of their apparent support of this ruling. However, as a CATHOLIC, what should your response have been?

Many people I believed were observant Catholics, obedient to the teachings of the Church, were posting just such symbols of approbation of this historically detrimental ruling to the traditional notion of what it is to be “husband and wife”; delving deeper into their profile pages and posts, I found these same people also supported a woman’s right to “choose” (re. abortion), supported euthanasia (in cases of terminal illness) and a whole assorted host of other heresies fully contradictory to the natural laws of morality enumerated by the Magisterium.

Many of these people will argue that they have the “right” to form their own consciences, but conscience is a non-issue on matters where the Church fathers have already spoken with authority and unequivocally about matters of faith and morals, and maybe some of our brethren need to be reminded that the Church is NOT a democracy. Even one of the most unapologetic atheists of our time, Penn Jillette, in a 2013 interview with Piers Morgan on CNN on the night Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI announced he was vacating the Chair of St. Peter, all but schooled Morgan on this point, and effectively told him that one who is a Catholic doesn’t have a right to his or her opinion regarding certain matters, and that you are either Catholic … or you are not, but one cannot pick and choose the elements of faith and morals that suit him or her individually (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtGr0io3NbQ).

Maybe Catholics who are so willing to post these views on social media or in public, generally, ought to examine their conscience with the following proviso: What if your parish pastor saw your posts? What would you say to him if he confronted you about persisting in the sin of holding beliefs contrary to basic Church teachings? What if he told you that your sacramental life and, indeed, your mortal soul was at risk for espousing heresy and promoting confusion? I would suggest that every one of us seek the guidance of the Lord our God, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the whole of the archangels, angels, martyrs and saints in our thoughts, words and deeds. While this is not a license to treat others poorly or not show compassion, we cannot be both profess to be Catholic, and then publicly approve actions that are squarely against God’s law and edict via the Magisterium.

God bless …