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.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress