First, I have absolutely no problem with telling anyone who would ask me that I approach my salvation with “fear and trembling” every day of my life.
Second, it amazes me how many supposedly learned people, especially Catholics, think that calling evil “sinful”, “wrong”, “a violation of Church law or teaching” is somehow being “judgmental”. Do these people REALLY not know the meaning of “being judgmental” the way that Christ taught? If I say that someone is going to hell, I am being judgmental. If I say that someone is committing a serious sin or is violating Church teaching, I am simply providing a private opinion of someone’s acts. If one would carry this “remove the plank out of your eye before you talk about others” “logic” with no end in sight, we would end up abdicating our CHARITABLE responsibility to not only correct our fellow man, but we would never be able to correct our children when they err against God. If someone wants to call me “judgmental” when I say that someone like Nancy Pelosi will have some “explaining to do” before God, based on her unabashed support of abortion on demand AND her outright distortion of Catholic teaching when she said that it was not until relatively recently that the Catholic Church determined when an unborn child had a soul and thus was a person, then so be it - I AM JUDGMENTAL!
Third, the biggest problem that arose in the Catholic Church in America started in the 1960’s and really “matured” in the 1970’s. Some of you may remember, a priest was actually elected to, and served, in the US Congress before his bishop demanded that he not run again. By being born and raised in America, I see a great many Catholic priests and bishops “adopt” a uniquely American stand when it comes to moral issues. They are raised from young believing that the law of the land is the US Constitution (which, civilly, it is), but they often forget that Holy Mother Church “trumps” the US Constitution and any other law that might be enacted in America. I find that our republican form of government has a huge influence on the USCCB and the way that many of what some call “liberal” bishops conduct their business. South American, African, and European Catholics, on the whole, do not have an “American history” of voting and dissent that is virtually “bred” into our native sons.
Finally, one need not look too far back in time to see the hubris and, yes, I will say “arrogance”, when one begins to thumb one’s nose at Rome and think one does not have to play by the rules of the Catholic Church simply because one wears a red hat in America. When a Cardinal such as Cardinal Law permitted Teddy Kennedy to serve as a Eucharistic Minister at the funeral of his mother, Rose, it was only a matter of time before such permissive behavior caught up with him.
Cardinal Law now resides at the Vatican and probably will until the end of his life . . .
P.S. I have always viewed JPII’s Evangelium Vitae, No. 73, as a “voting guide” for Americans (cited in pertinent part below):
"73. Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to
legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead
there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious
objection. From the very beginnings of the Church, the apostolic preaching
reminded Christians of their duty to obey legitimately constituted public
authorities (cf. Rom 13:1-7; 1 Pet 2:13-14), but at the same time it firmly
warned that “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). In the Old
Testament, precisely in regard to threats against life, we find a significant
example of resistance to the unjust command of those in authority. After
Pharaoh ordered the killing of all newborn males, the Hebrew midwives
refused. “They did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live” (Ex 1:17). But the ultimate reason for their action
should be noted: “the midwives feared God” (ibid.). It is precisely from
obedience to God – to whom alone is due that fear which is
acknowledgment of his absolute sovereignty – that the strength and the
courage to resist unjust human laws are born. It is the strength and the
courage of those prepared even to be imprisoned or put to the sword, in
the certainty that this is what makes for “the endurance and faith of the
saints” (Rev 13:10).
In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion
or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to “take part in a
propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it”.
By all means, pray for people like Pelosi, Biden, the Kennedys, Leahy, and other so-called “Catholics” who actively not only vocally support abortion, but vote for and sponsor laws permitting abortion on demand. But just as the Carmelites are a contemplative order of nuns whose calling in their vocation is constant prayer, we have Mother Teresa whose calling resulted in an order whose vocation was devoted to active participation in the community to help people IN ADDITION TO prayer.
I mean no one any disrespect, but if the ONLY response to politicians listed above is “let’s pray for them”, then we shirk a duty that Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said many years ago:
"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops., not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church.
Your mission is to see that priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and your religious act like religious. [emphasis mine]
It IS up to us laymen to demand action by our priests and bishops with respect to so-called “Catholic” politicians who make a mockery out of our faith. For those who think we have no business commenting on such issues and that it is better left between the bishops/priests and the politicians, well . . .
