By TOM TAKASH
Often when we think of or speak about deeply dark or wicked societies, Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind. Those two cities have represented all that is evil in our world for thousands of years. Why else would God have directly intervened and destroyed them so suddenly and dramatically? The men of Sodom and Gomorrah continually pursued every kind of degradation, not the least of which was sodomy on a scale that was, until now, unsurpassed.
Had they turned from their wickedness, Lot would not have had to enter a losing bargain with The Almighty, Lot’s wife would not have turned into a pillar of salt, and Lot’s daughters would not have seduced their drunken father. However, it is a sad fact of life that evil inevitably leads to decay and decay ultimately to destruction. So, reluctantly, one might say, they were asking for it. They had it coming!
But if you think that their degradation had earned them the everlasting title of first place in the history of malevolence, a title that could never be surpassed, think again. Beginning in the twenty-first century that shameful title has passed on to none other than the “leader of the free world,” the USA. We’re Number One now.
One might object to my claim, pointing out that governments like the Soviet Union, Communist China, and North Korea have demonstrated evil at least equal to, if not surpassing Sodom’s and Gomorrah’s; and certainly, their deeds place them in contention for top honors among nations that are Satan’s pride and joy.
Obviously, those governments should make a list of “most shameful,” but there is a great difference between them and the United States. None of the evil those governments spread involved the active and continuing approval of the people they governed. Through brutal suppression combined with overwhelmingly aggressive propaganda, their leaders dictated the evil that their nations brought about, and the people lacked the power to bring about positive change.
Not so, with the United States. Our country is a government of the people. We elect our leaders, and their terms in office are limited. They can be replaced.
Through our voting system, we can theoretically replace evil lawgivers. The people supposedly have the power, not the government. So, where have we gone wrong? When and what changed?
Unfortunately, quietly, and almost unnoticed, a different mentality, a narcissistic one has permeated the thought process of many in our country. We have traded love of God, family, and neighbor for adoration at the altar of self-love, a false sense that we need to succeed and be “our own person” dominates the minds of many Americans today. Careers and the desire to answer to no one, have become the yardsticks by which we measure our worth.
But changes like these don’t happen without cause. While post-World War I prosperity, and a carefree “Roaring Twenties” loosened the rules of our society, it took more than a little fast living to achieve first place in this “honor roll” of wicked nations. Our “accomplishments” have taken many years and long hours of Satanic effort to get us where we are today. For many years the Catholic Church in America was the major defense against the collapse of our morality. For a time, she stemmed the tide.
But beginning in 1930 when the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops embraced contraception, their fellow mainline Protestants soon jumped on board. And slowly our defenses began to crumble. As our fellow countrymen accepted the good life, turning to “self-fulfillment,” and severely limiting their families, many Catholics, seeing the material benefits, started to question Church teaching.
It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact time when the Catholic lay community began to think like Protestants. But I can recall a particular time when I noticed a change in thinking among my fellow Catholics. When I was a student in a Catholic university in Chicago in 1959, I was taking a speech class, and one of the students spoke on contraception. His theme was his belief in the inevitability of the Church’s acceptance of contraception, and, particularly, the acceptance of the “pill” as a morally good option for married Catholics.
I remember thinking, “He’s way off. The Church will never approve of contraception. She teaches that natural family planning is the only acceptable method that had been and will ever be approved, and then, only under certain circumstances.” But as time went on, it seemed that many Catholics were buying into his way of thinking, and not just laymen.
Arguments justifying contraception were appearing in magazines and on talk shows, and sometimes Catholic clergy were carefully showing signs of dissent from Church teaching.
In 1963, Pope John XXIII convened the Papal Commission on Population, the Family, and Birth Control. Initially it was composed of six members to study the matter. Upon John XXIII’s death, Pope Paul VI continued it and expanded it to seventy-two members composed of bishops, theologians, medical professionals, sociologists, and other lay experts. It met from 1963 to 1966, and a portion of its report, known as the “Majority Report,” recommending acceptance of contraception, was rejected by Pope Paul VI, who in turn in 1968 promulgated his encyclical Humanae Vitae, which upheld Church teaching condemning contraception.
Unfortunately, the “Majority Report” was praised by the secular press and was immediately defended that same day by 87 Catholic theologians, among them Fr. Charles E. Curran, a noted instructor in theology at Catholic University of America.
(Curran and nine other theologians from CUA worked in cooperation with The Washington Post, who wanted instant criticism and relished publishing dissent in the Church. They had prepared a six-hundred word “Statement of Dissent” and then telephoned colleagues around the country, collecting approval to affix their signatures to the statement.)
And so, with support from prominent Catholic “thinkers,” the slide from faithful support of Christ’s Church accelerated rapidly among Catholics. Quietly, almost conspiratorially, priests in the confessional began tacitly approving the contraceptive pill for confused Catholics who sought forgiveness. Dissent has continued and, in a Pew Research Center survey taken in 2016, supposedly only 8 percent of Catholics in this country now support Humanae Vitae. I saw no evidence that the survey attempted to distinguish between Churchgoing Catholics and others.
Sadly, many who have not succumbed to rejecting Church teaching are not challenging the wickedness that has overtaken our country. It is a battle that most of us just don’t want to be involved in. The consequences of calling out the evil in America could mean being ostracized, financially ruined, and condemned as religious fanatics. Perhaps, it could even lead to imprisonment, to physical injury or worse, e.g., Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, a Catholic priest, will spend six months in prison for obstructing access to an abortion mill, and recently two elderly men were severely beaten for praying outside an abortion mill in Baltimore. Never mind the hundreds of attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers.
The problems posed by the dissent of Fr. Curran and other Catholic theologians has rocked the foundation of Catholic teaching authority in this country. The idea that Catholics can remain faithful members of the Church, while obstinately rejecting the firm teaching of the Church on matters as vital as contraception has led to a general rejection of teaching on other important issues.
While Catholic politicians openly refuse to accept clear teaching on issues such as abortion, and publicly do so, without repercussions, lay members either believe that Church teaching is more advice than instruction, or if they realize that the politicians in question are wrong, they wonder why they must follow a Church that refuses to deal with dissidents.
Recently 30 self-professed Catholic Democrats in Congress, including former Speaker Pelosi, signed a letter supporting abortion and citing their Catholic faith and St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici as reasons for their support. While the U.S. Catholic bishops immediately rejected their absurd position, lay Catholics who support Church teaching want more. If we are expected to respect our leaders and follow their teaching, we want action. If these 30 were told to rescind their support or face excommunication, faithful lay would cheer their leaders.
Is it any wonder that the tragedy of continual weak and confusing responses from our leaders have contributed to the fall of our nation? Priests celebrate “Pride” Masses. Lesbians scream about the all-male Church, and some priests apologize. One U.S. bishop who recently retired told a congregation of children that maybe someday we will see female priests. The L.A. Dodgers reward homosexuals who spit upon our Church and only a handful of bishops condemn their actions. Joe Biden performs a fake marriage between homosexuals, vigorously promotes abortion, supports transsexual surgeries for children, and brags about his Catholic faith, and nothing happens.
It is sad to say, but our position as the number one nation promoting evil could have been avoided, and we could still recover from our fall, but it may take Divine Intervention to turn us around. That could happen through overwhelming graces given to our faithful priests and bishops. Then again, we could retain our spot as most evil nation, and never lose that title. But just so those of you who worked so hard to make us “Number One” don’t get overly excited; please remember that although God promised never to destroy the world by flood again; to my knowledge He made no such promise about fire and brimstone.
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