Time To Pray Unceasingly . . . The Catholic Church Is Under Attack
By FR. MICHAEL P. ORSI
The Gospel reading for Sunday, October 16 was Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow demanding of a corrupt judge that he render a fair verdict on her claim. The judge gives in “lest she finally come and strike me.”
It’s a humorous anecdote which Jesus turns into an illustration of how God answers the prayers of those who “call out to Him day and night.”
A lot of people can identify with that widow nowadays, feeling like the system is rigged against them, and all they can do is keep calling out for justice. That frustration is what has fueled the appeal of Donald Trump.
Catholics, in particular, have come face-to-face with the corrupt nature of our current regime, and of the Hillary Clinton machine that seeks to replace it. The recent WikiLeaks document dump has revealed for them a special store of hatred against the Catholic Church.
Writing to Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta, a political operative named Sandy Newman suggested, “There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church.”
Podesta assures Newman that there are already two faux Catholic organizations hard at work: “We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. . . . Likewise Catholics United. Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up.”
There’s nothing new about anti-Catholicism. It’s often referred to as “the last acceptable prejudice.” And much of it stems from simple ignorance of the Church and actual Catholic doctrine.
I recently wrote an essay calling on clergy of all denominations to take a public stand in the current election, especially as regards pro-life concerns. The piece generated fierce reaction, including this reader comment posted on a blog that reprinted my words:
“DO NOT stand on the high-and-mighty pulpit and defend pregnancies that result from rape as your god’s will. That degrading nonsense won’t get you anywhere with your opposition. Don’t like that? Think ‘they got themselves into this mess and they can get themselves out?’ Well, those women are most likely to get themselves out of the mess by exercising their right to choose.”
Thus speaks someone who has no idea what the Church teaches about rape or unplanned pregnancies, or has any awareness of how much ordinary Catholics do to assist women in such situations. Her bitterness reflects supposition based on ignorance. And her view is very common.
Not all anti-Catholicism can be ascribed to ignorance, however. I’m happy that the WikiLeaks disclosures have highlighted efforts that have been ongoing for some time to intentionally undermine the Church and its doctrines. They’ve been amazingly successful. There are all too many Catholic schools and colleges where you’d be hard-pressed to find Church teaching conveyed accurately or earnestly.
For that matter, there are all too many priests and bishops who have ignored these campaigns of disinformation. They’ve been complicit in letting evil flourish, and they’ll have to answer for that.
But I’m also happy about the leaks because they provide an opportunity to focus on the foundation of Church doctrine: Natural Law, as defined by Aristotle and organized into a comprehensive system of moral theology by the great Catholic thinker Thomas Aquinas.
Simply put, Natural Law is the recognition of reality and the enumeration of certain truths that flow from it — for instance: that people have a right to live; that the human person has an inherent dignity demanding of respect; that there are rights to personal liberty and to holding property that’s recognized as their own by others; and that “the way a thing is made is the way the thing should act.”
This is the essence of Catholic thinking. It is reasonable, and it is true. But it stands as a barrier to the objectives of today’s progressive elites in remaking society. In particular, that last proposition about how things should act is seen as profoundly offensive relative to sex in our current age of “gender fluidity.”
Another Natural Law-related concept seen as offensive is subsidiarity, the idea that needs and problems should be met at the lowest practical level — the family first, than the local community, then up the governmental chain as necessary, with national government considered the last resort. There’s no need to explain why such an approach unnerves an ever-growing bureaucratic “nanny state.”
And so the Catholic Church is under attack. That should be no surprise. Jesus was under attack. The early Christians were under attack. The Catholic Church in the early days of this country was under attack. It’s just that the attack is more insidious now.
The election coming up is crucial. What happens will affect your family. It will affect your faith. It will affect your freedom. As Jesus advised in the Gospel, it’s time to pray unceasingly, “day and night.”
