Thoughts on "Thoughts and Prayers" and Catholic Action
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Separation of Soul and Body
(This recently rediscovered, unpublished article was written in the early 1990’s. However, readers will likely note the eerie similarities to today’s challenges for all Catholics and other persons of strong belief in God.)
Is the United States Constitution dying? Sin, weighted by the thick veneer of "enlightened freedom" threatens to suffocate its spirit. Shrewd masters at manipulating words and the Word are crushing this once noble body of inspired text.
As a result, we may be headed in a downward spiral to tyranny. (Of course that has occurred whenever man crawls to safeguard the ground rather than soar in reverence of Heaven.)
And we cannot even claim ignorance. In this century alone, man has been duped numerous times by his own inclination to self. As the esteemed and spiritually gifted late Archbishop .J Fulton Sheen repeated throughout several works: totalitarianism takes root whenever man attempts to detach the soul from conduct; remove God from public recognition and worship; destroy the sanctity of person (personality); and establish not social unity, but uniformity. The Communists declared religion the opiate of the people and submerged the individual in one 'class'. The Nazis proclaimed its perfect race 'god', and attempted to destroy anyone who did not ideally fit the description. Other frauds like Mussolini emphasized nationalism over any man.
Three common developments in any dispiriting movement are the revision of history to accomplish the aforementioned goals, while stroking and satiating the populous ego; the emergence of creative legalese to justify public policy (reinventing the rules to suit the end); and a period of chaos characterized by propagandized enemies of the common 'good'. Afterwards, people seek a common corral, typically forfeiting genuine freedom for it.
How does this relate to the United States of America?
First, what are its most cherished documents of purpose and being; their foundations built on traditional Judeo-Christian theology: The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
First the attack on God.
The constitution of the United States explicitly states a position with respect to religion (the worship of God). Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. A dual concern pervaded, the latter more specific than the first. The founding fathers, despite divergent views (or maybe because of them) repelled the notion of another monarchy using civil authority to impose matters of (one) Faith. In fact they feared not just a tyrant but someone or power gone berserk.
Yet, our founding fathers foresaw, if not experienced, that tyranny may only start with one, but spreads! Thus the strengthening and clarification: 'or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Government, then, was actually charged with caretaking this precious freedom granted every citizen. This was never more evident nor reinforced than with the infamous Madalyn O'Hair case against prayer in public schools. So precious was the individual's (non)relationship with God that government could not infringe even in the given absence of deity recognition and worship. In fact, even opponents of traditional religions describe their altered or non beliefs as 'religion', too. (The ACLU has asserted this in communications and the Supreme Court has recognized that humanism is the religion of secularism).
Today, though only one facet of one side of the constitutional argument is ever sufficiently aired: that the Church will not impose itself on the state.
Worse, though, in this day, the godless or the self-made gods have been given ever wider berth en masse above any individual traditional Christian (those persons with common beliefs about the immorality of disordered sexual behaviors)
Thus, the expression of even historically recognized religions is being forced further and further back into the recesses of the most hidden chambers of our lives in these United States.
Next, the platform for the ultimate common cloning.
There are the combustible issues of rights and privacy, both skewed, not to protect the individual's inherent Creator-endowed dignity as initially intended, but to inexhaustibly exhume every conceivable and perceived injury on all levels of human existence, inclusive of behaviors formerly considered incongruent with the spiritual welfare of man.
The result has been a twisting of laws; the development of new ones; and interpretive judgments which ignore or deny the the soul as Divinely endowed for His purpose. Instead we would become a humanistic glob of extended dirt (of the earth), superiorly evolved to Reason and self-determination. Of course, no Godless nation can function in this manner. That is where tyranny looms, although often disguised as 'good'. Ironically, fragmentation of self mandates a community identity.
In the United States this identity might well be the blurring of genders, whereby the mutually dependent yet distinct natures of man and woman become indistinguishable apart from each other. (Plato's ideal society?) Taken to the extremes, all sexual identities become equally empowered. Sexuality, itself, devolves to man’s dominion and twisted depravity. Ultimately, politically and economically, as chaos ensues, this unisexual classification would become subservient to a cloistered group of the formerly disenfranchised. (When the soul is chained and all personalities branded alike, mankind grazes downward; it does not gaze upward).
Based on the women's strident movement in areas of rights and equality as evidenced on the home front and in the office and manifested in sexual liberation and abortion, this era might will be flown under the banner of gender uniformity.
Totalitarianism by any other name is still totalitarianism.
Still, one hope remains: Revolution. Unlike Europe and Asia, the birthplaces of past totalitarianism, the United States is the spew of such madness. Our strongly independent, but spirit-filled natures, simply can't 'stomach' such blind slavery to self (or others).
Too many of us are fighters!
It does not matter whether the right is taken away from a church going monarch or a pluralistic, elected body. When any governing power disrespects the most intimate relationship between God and any one, dissent seethes; when it affects a significant portion of the population, eruption occurs. Recall that no more than one-third of the people supported the American Revolution. Thomas Paine in "Common Sense" attacks the presumption of the King of England with respect to acting on behalf of God. Yet, one suspects, that was primarily due to the king's disrespect for beliefs which he nullified, than the actual monarchy, per se.
How does that relate to us today? Everywhere, in every corner of government, as well as in private circles, we are being affronted by singularly positioned idealists, albeit sometimes even disguised as religious forces (New Age). Government support and monies are actually being funneled into these forces in mockery of centuries' rooted faiths.
It is ironic that arising from a nation's sensitivity to this issue in the form of perceived forced prayer in school thirty years ago, we have now arrived at this turnstile of events. The very notion that we cannot bring religion into public debate excludes the individual BEING whose integral existence relies on what he or she believes to be indisputable TRUTH through FAITH.
Specifically, for miliions of persons, throughout our history, they began as a thought by God, were physically conceived in cooperation with Him (by a man and a woman) and developed to physical maturity. To them, the soul does exist; was fused to their corporal selves at conception; is superior to the body; and its destination exceeds other priorities in this life. Moreover, as human beings, they possess intellect (the ability to know superior truths) and free will (choice over all conduct). For many of them, the act of sexual behavior apart from matrimony between a heterosexual man and woman constitutes a death blow to the soul as does abortion (and contribution to it), spiritual neglect of children, and failure to worship God as a way of life. For them eternal reward or damnation is real and an inherent motivator in conscience. Moreover, the spiritual heights to which one can attain given appropriate guidance outweighs any loss or denial of earthly goods or pleasures. Finally, the regimens of that Faith include civil disobedience when government defiles, instead of protects life, as is its first, if not only, substantial duty.
Even liberal thinkers like Mayor Edward Koch concede this last truism. In dialogue with Cardinal O’Connor (from His Eminence and Hizzoner), he wrote: "And on those issues, no one can demand you surrender your morality because you are a minority of one or because the opposition is militant. On matters of morality, you should be prepared figuratively, and in some cases, literally, to go to your death in their defense."
And it does not matter if even the majority of people deny this possibility. The state exists to protect each whole person, not only one, a few or even most of one’s spiritual needs. Conversely, the person does not exist to serve a state, especially a degenerate one. (We are only as strong as our weakest link.)
Furthermore, any incidental emotional motivation (i.e. homophobia) is also merely incidental. As with the removal of prayer from school, if even one person is deeply and violently affected (in a religious practice) by public policy, then the government's first duty is to protect that freedom of worship (or in the case of atheism not be forced to worship). It is no secret that public prayer was removed by an individual representing no more than 10% of the population at the time, and that this person was (is) hateful of religion (religphobic).
Therefore, the doctrine of some belief systems cannot be sufficiently underscored to illustrate the effects of imposing the contradictory public policy that sexual activity in various forms is acceptable outside of marriage, or that with respect to family types and procreating, 'anything goes’ yet ensures government tax support and legal impunity. Worse for government to actually affront and persecute the many persons practicing traditional religion is, in essence, to say that these belief systems are merely opinions and rejected ones at that.
Yet, for these persons who know the Real Presence of God; enjoy a relationship with Him; sexual activity outside of marriage is NOT simply an alternative lifestyle; it is an excruciating and deliberate assault by evil on those intended to be (and made to be) good. In other words, it is not ok to say as a matter of public policy that this behavior is 'ok', or even benignly accepted as 'natural'.
The impact is torturous. The person battered by such public policy is no less abused than a person molested. In this case it is the soul being violently pierced and imprinted by undesirable 'hands'.
Thomas Jefferson, in his writings, presented the following as a point in law: "that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."
Obviously this covers a multitude of offenses already in place against the faithful Christian. It definitely prohibits passage of a federal law such as the Freedom of Choice Act which supports murder in many minds; directly impedes many persons' freedom of worship which has included the duty to protect the preborn since the origins of mans' relationship with God; and ultimately will increase forced monetary support of this heinous act. (We already unconstitutionally fund these transgressions).
Even when government must move to override belief systems (such as human sacrifice or illicit drug use in ritual ceremonies), it must only act for goodness sake always weighing in favor of the nurturing and preservation of life itself and all its dignity, and ONLY if such intervention is necessary to actually (not hypothetically) save lives in the absence of private means.
Some may argue that this is a fallacious argument; hysteria to ensure that rigid moral codes remain intact to satisfy outdated bigotry. Yet, history disputes this contention. Every single totalitarian case has had its roots in all the capital vices: pride, avarice, envy, jealousy, anger, sloth, gluttony and lust. Without exception, the sub-sequential eradication of the Ten Commandments in any given society disrupts moral nature followed by domino consequences outside the control of (wo)man'. More than a mere theory; it is the law of the Universe: (wo)man cannot rectify what God does not recognize.
With specific regard to the United States, the predictable is occurring, although also predictably denied (distorted).
There is no conclusive evidence or even reasonable indicators that sex education/contraceptive distribution/homosexual information centers (along with acceptance of such behavior); no-fault divorce laws and promotion of fractured families; and unrestricted abortion has led to any good, let alone the saving of lives; the OPPOSITE in soaring youth pregnancies and teen suicides is clearly seen. Homosexuals rage. Single- parent families cannot compete with the track records of stable intact families. Abortions are in the millions and currently done for unimagined and beastly reasons (sports figures becoming deliberately pregnant and then aborting to gain a physiologically competitive edge). --His Eminence and Hizzoner.
Also the argument that family cannot address these issues according to individual concerns disrupts--no corrupts--the core source of self-government upon which this nation and every healthy nation was founded.
However, in spite of these obvious constitutional violations and critical consequences, a blind eye persists to two other obvious effects of trying to destroy the tenets of major religions vis-a-vis pseudo individualism (selfishness) and these, unchecked, loom, in and by themselves to signal the erosion of a once growing and great culture.
Also as in other totalitarian headed societies, the movement hurts most those it purports to attend.
Witness the declining esteem of womankind and motherhood so essential to a fruitful nation. While we once condemned permitting any young women to be used sexually (statutory rape), we now surrender to the wanton behavior by both genders. Where once (young) men realized the risk of premature/amarital sex, we now hand even boys condoms with the wink of an eye at the front door. At the back door, when our novel social policy fails, we hand him a bill for $100,000 (or misery from knowing his child has died in an abortion mil) with a kick of our self-righteous foot. If they contact HIV, we outrageously blame those who would have prevented the disastrous behavior at the gate, rather than deceitful and deadly policy which encouraged 'Russian Roulette'.
We hand comic books to high school students to explain legal aspects of bearing children, because our social engineers claim they wont' read anything else. At the same time, we even encourage sexual expression based on other expert opinion that asserts these young minds are sufficiently cognitive to make such decisions.
In fact, we have so diminished the worth and dignity of our youth by these social and moral re programmings that the only wonder is why they have not risen in revolution! (or maybe they are)
Secondly, the sole reliance on external prostheses, or increased dependence, rather than genuine freedom to make healthy choices and prosper as individuals has ben proven historically time and again, unworkable and even counterproductive. The users of saccharine, the cabbage smokers, the non-alcoholic beer drinkers and condom users have all fallen into the same rationalization of imagined victory over self. In the end, many have actually gained weight, smoked more, drank themselves into graves and simply slopped their way to both spiritual decay and bodily death.
Is there any hope? Yes!
What is the ultimate Fact of history, the continuous unshredded strand in our relationship with God. Ironically, it is revolution, according to Archbishop Fulton Sheen, but not the useless murderous battles of history. No the revolution must begin and triumph ini the souls of each man and woman. This is where we become masters over ourselves by once again recognizing the Master; by denying self, embracing authentic Love, and becoming other-centered. Being blessed by an intellect (reason) and will (choice), we can once again (note the emphasis on these two words because they echo throughout mans' history) choose a life of grace, truly free of self-destructive behaviors; a life of joy, filled with the knowledge of soon possessing and being possessed by Perfect Knowledge.
If we don't act soon, however, the proponents of anti-religion and flatline living will have their way for sure. Unlike our human peers throughout history, let us not be fooled. Today’s fiends have falsely inserted an ’r’ for ’ruse’ between ’f’ and ’I’. They do not seek to safeguard our lives by the separation of Church and State. That is only prime and plush posture given our nation and times.
No, like any and all totalitarian movements this is actually a struggle between God and Satan; Light and Darkness; Goodness and Evil. Look at its horn marks. Where virtue dissipates, a black hole mushrooms and overcomes its victims. This may even be the ultimate Battle, as Satan strives to, once and for all, separate the body and soul. Sadly, for many it will mean the eternal damnation of both!
Sources for "Separation of Body and Soul"
1) Works by Fulton .J Sheen (1940's-50s) including Way to Happiness; Life is Worth Living (series); and Peace of Soul
2) Beyond Good Intentions by Doug Bandow; 1988; Crossway Books
)3 Under God- Religion and American Politics by Gary Wills; 1990; Simon and Schuster (includes Jefferson's 'Protection of Religion' writings)
4) His Eminence/Hizzoner (a dialogue between Cardinal O'Conner and former New York Mayor Koch); 1989; William Morrow and Co.
5) Common Sense, Thomas Paine
Patricia Hershwitzky, a three-decade educator, holds a degree in Political Science, minor journalism; a Masters in Education and an Educational Specialist degree. Since the early 1990's, she has published numerous articles and letters, along with four books, including:: "Teaching the City of God in the City of Man: Pursuing Salvation Education." Her background includes advocacy for children in the womb. pregnant mothers in crisis, the mentally challenged and emotionally ill. As a breast cancer survivor, Patricia has encouraged women to embrace Catholic responses--meditations and prayer-- during treatment. She is a member of the Guild of St. Benedict Joseph Labre and recently made her promise to the Secular Order of the Servants of Mary. Her most recent work, "Speaking One's Soul: Magnifying God's Word in a Madly Godless World," co authored with Mary Sobel Ott, is now available through Enroute Books and Media. A current focus is finalizing a Catholic parental guide through the maze of mental illness.
