Somewhere, Over The Rainbow ... Lies a False Pot of Gold

In my last contribution, I discussed the response of the “average, rank-and-file” Catholic, and a significant showing of apparently approving, even celebratory, responses to the Obergefell decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June of this year. I asked the reader if, this was, in fact, their viewpoint, could it be considered compatible with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, to which I responded in the negative. However, what happens if you are a holder of a position of trust, and are placed in a position of compulsion to advocate for a position contrary to faith and morals? What if you willingly embrace such positions, because it is what your constituents want?

In recent times, we have seen many purportedly “observant” Catholics act contrary to Church teaching. For example, Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have openly adopted and promulgated positions favorable to abortion and LGBT marriage; Justice Anthony Kennedy disregarded almost 6,000 years of salvation history rooted in biblical precepts in his desire to establish a judicial legacy for himself, all at the expense of a citizenry, despite the imperfections and missteps of adultery and divorce, who largely believes that marriage was established by God for the propagation of human kind in a relationship ordained by His vision. To be sure, from this point on, heresy and confusion will reign as the new “normal”, while adherents to orthodoxy are cast away as if some cheap trash (kind of like what we do to aborted fetuses).

So, while this avalanche of error threatens to overpower and bury the righteous, what do some of our supposedly “Catholic” politicians, judges, etc. do? Not only do some stand by and do nothing, some actively relish the chance to “make names” for themselves, bolstering their own public image for temporal gain. So, I have a question? Where are our priests? Where are our bishops? Where is our Pope, to remind these people that they embrace and persist in scandal and sin, and promote it through their actions? Where is the Magisterium of the Church to publicly call upon these individuals to repent of their errant ways, yes, even upon pain of the embarrassment of public excommunication and the penalties that go with it? Certainly, as I said in my last piece, one cannot be Catholic, and then pick and choose what elements of faith and morals he or she wishes to observe. And, may I humbly point out to our blessed clergy – if you don’t call out and sanction the openly rebellious, how can you go to the “average, rank-and-file” Catholic, and preach morality to them, along with the consequences for non-adherence? Is it any wonder that many have left, or are contemplating, leaving the Church? Moral relativism and minimization of sin serves no one’s interests well, and this failure to call certain public servants to task smacks of a hypocrisy that may well soon be our undoing.

God bless …