Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

Confronting The Continuing Crisis

September 19, 2020 Frontpage No Comments

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

In Veritatis Splendor, his 1993 encyclical, St. John Paul II echoes St. Paul, calling us to “obedience to truth” and to “turn to God from idols” (1 Thess. 1:9).
The Latin title invokes “the brilliant, bright light of truth,” the Truth Who is Christ, the Light of the World.
St. John Paul doesn’t mince words. He forcefully defends “fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which, in the present circumstances, risk being distorted or denied,” not only in the culture but “within the Christian community itself” (emphasis in the original).
“We are facing what is certainly a genuine crisis,” John Paul concludes.
This chilling charge was written almost thirty years ago. Has the “Christian community” recovered in the years since?
Unfortunately, the chaos has not only continued, it has intensified. Today it has reached the breaking point. For the first time in history, attendance at Holy Mass has been forbidden for months. Now, as churches slowly reopen, pastors wonder, how many will return?
Clearly the virus lockdowns wrought serious damage. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared abortion to be “essential,” while Mass was deemed “nonessential.” He received precious little pushback, even from Church leaders.
Northam’s views were no secret. A pediatrician, he had already declared his support of infanticide for children who survives late-term abortions. During the pandemic, many more secular Caesars exploited the virus to deny eternal truths as well as fundamental, inalienable rights. For them, immorality was an asset, not a liability. And most of them got away with it.
They cannot be trusted. They must be confronted with the truth. No compromise.
But who should do the confronting?

Stonewalls And
Throwing Stones

Our first, last, and always line of defense should be the Successors of the Apostles, our Catholic bishops. But in the First Battle of the Pandemic, they surrendered without a fight. For months they complied with Caesar’s shutdown of the sacraments. The fruits of that failure, more evident now than ever, are foul indeed. Spines that were weak before are now anaesthetized, if not euthanized. Early on, secular governors cautiously challenged them: “Don’t worry, we’re keeping you safe, this won’t last for long.”
Instead of rising to the occasion by confronting the hypocrisy (“abortion essential, Mass not essential”), bishops across the country folded.
Secular rulers, silently amazed at their success, quickly raised the ante. Two weeks to “flatten the curve” became six months and counting. “Safety measures” now included bizarre and bigoted strictures that applied only to religious gatherings. Rioters had more rights than Roman Catholics.
As some restrictions were eased, even unelected bureaucrats got into the act. Bowing to the powerful anti-Catholic school unions, they harassed private and parochial schools as they opened in the fall.
And where were the bishops? Instead of condemning anti-Catholic, pro-abortion agendas of Democrat candidates nationwide, they bravely condemned “racism!!” Instead of defending the rights of the faithful, they sought more federal money (at press time they were still pleading for another round). Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that, as of July, the Catholic Church had already received more PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) funding than any other U.S. organization, some $3.5 billion.
So throughout the summer, while the faithful demanded the right to return to Mass, the bishops were busy seeking taxpayer cash.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the USCCB Communications Committee, refused requests for information regarding the collapse of the conference’s efforts to make abortion the “preeminent issue” in this year’s elections. In fact, few bishops would dare answer any questions — about the missing McCarrick Report, the pro-homosexual Jesuit Fr. Martin’s celebrated tour of dioceses around the country, or Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden’s blatant outreach to Catholic voters.
The stonewall was bad enough, but the Stasi-style guards at some chancery parapets were even worse. While St. John Paul had warned of the “genuine crisis” facing the Church, our shepherds were supine. Most ordinaries were satisfied ignoring the abortion issue while kneeling before the anti-Catholic, anti-family Black Lives Matter crowd. Some priests complained that they had been instructed not to preach about abortion and the election at all.
Aghast at the apparent duplicity, several pastors around the country pulled back the curtain on “Catholic Joe” Biden’s advocacy of taxpayer-funded abortion until birth. Predictably, their bishops immediately stirred to life, not criticizing Biden but instead, attacking the pastors.

Compromise, A False Idol

After Vatican II, the crisis identified by John Paul was evidenced by the bishops’ virtually unanimous collapse on the teaching of Humanae Vitae.
No document better cast the “brilliant, bright light of truth” on the squalor spawned by the sexual revolution than the encyclical of St. Paul VI. Yet three generations of bishops have stuffed this prophetic document securely under a bushel basket. Today, vast realms of moral teaching, especially on sex, marriage, and family, are “Off Limits” from the bishops’ public statements.
What has the American Catholic hierarchy done instead?
Well, since the 1960s, federal social programs have propagated a massive amount of funding. As these programs grew, the bishops’ conference settled into a comfortable accommodation with government that includes a handsome financial component. Was there a price to pay? Of course. The bishops paid it. After all, it was, apparently, an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Even then-Cardinal McCarrick once intimated that bishops couldn’t be too harsh on the pro-abortion pols because of their financial support for the bishops’ institutions. And Cardinal McCarrick was running the show. Cardinal Bernardin’s “seamless garment” has triumphed, and bishops have fashioned this sturdy fabric into a vessel for federal cash that today’s lockdown generation of bishops needs more desperately than ever.
The deal is shrouded in a code of silence, but it’s no secret. Nothing will change between now and November 3. If Joe Biden “wins,” bishops will wince as he attacks the Little Sisters of the Poor, commits U.S. funds to abortion worldwide, and declares Roe v. Wade permanent federal law. But they will recognize this as the price they — that is, the faithful — have to pay.

Standing Our Ground

Where does this leave the laity?
Whatever happens on November 3, the chaos will increase.
Our shepherds are distracted. Indeed, as John Paul warned, confusion reigns “within the Christian community itself.”
But we are not on our own.
The crisis that John Paul describes is dire indeed, but we cannot solve it by negotiating with the Culture of Death. St. Paul calls us to “turn away from idols,” not reach a “compromise” designed to weaken our resolve and dilute our faith for the sake of a false sense of security. (“OK, I’ll take this idol but not that one.”)
We have to live this admonition in our own lives. Yes, we are “facing a genuine crisis.” The forces of darkness fight hard not only to drive the light of truth out of the public square, but to extinguish it altogether.
John Paul’s contemporary, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, put the problem bluntly: “Men have forgotten God.”
Well, we cannot forget.
In Ephesians 6, St. Paul gives us our marching orders: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Let us pray that we can bravely make the light of Christ shine before men in these dark days.

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)