By JOE SIXPACK
As Benedict XVI said in a homily at a funeral Mass in 2017, the Church is on the verge of capsizing. We’re in terrible shape in the Western world, not just the United States. One of the biggest reasons for the Catholic Church being in the shape she’s in is because after the Second Vatican Council (but not because of the Council), saboteurs within the Church wanted to “fundamentally change” the whole Church. (Sound familiar?) And boy did they ever!
Contrary to the Jesus of the Gospels and the documents of Vatican II, these traitors watered down catechesis, flat-out denied some dogmas and doctrines, and attempted to transform Jesus from the Incarnate Word of God to Jesus the Warm Fuzzy. Consequently, what we have is a litany of problems that have caused a crisis of faith for millions — demonstrated by the fact that 6.5 people leave the Church for every one that joins.
Thanks to this “nice Catholicism,” where we now have Jesus the Warm Fuzzy, here are some of our problems:
A whopping 84 percent of Catholics no longer believe in Satan or objective sin.
70 percent no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Most Catholics don’t even realize it’s a mortal sin to not participate in Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of obligation.
Communion lines have grown longer (almost everyone goes) while Confession lines have become almost nonexistent. As St. Pope Paul VI said, we’ve lost our sense of sin.
Beyond the occasional rosary (maybe), who prays anymore?
Few Catholics know what is really taking place at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass anymore, and view attending Mass as a social activity.
I’m not pulling these things out of my hat. Some of these facts come from bona-fide polls and surveys, while the rest come from 30 years of experience in evangelization. And this all results from “nice Catholicism.” What is nice Catholicism? Well, it’s a belief that we have to avoid offending people at all costs, while maintaining a gooey, sickening sweet way of conveying the faith so we can “be like Jesus.” The biggest problems with this approach are, Jesus wasn’t like this at all, and truth by its very nature offends those who violate it.
Jesus, when He walked among men on Earth, was not nice…at least, by our modern definition of nice. He drove the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip, publicly called people liars and hypocrites, insulted them by calling them white painted sepulchers full of dead men’s bones, and told us He would vomit us out of His mouth for our lukewarmness. I don’t know about you, but that certainly doesn’t match up to my idea of being nice.
Why was Jesus this way — not nice? Because He came into the world to tell us God’s truth; His truth. Truth is not nice. Truth offends our sensibilities when that truth is contrary to what we want. People not liking truth leads to one of the most idiotic yet common statements I’ve ever heard: “What’s true for you isn’t necessarily true for me.” Really? Think about that silly statement for a moment and you’ll realize just how impossible it is. Is two plus two equals four true for me, but not true for another person? How is that possible? What’s true for me must by necessity be true for you. That’s the nature of truth — it’s immutable.
The best working definition of truth is when the mind conforms to reality. People get offended by truth because they refuse to allow their minds to conform to reality. There is nothing subjective about truth. God gave us an objective set of moral norms to live by — called the Ten Commandments — and then gave us a divinely appointed interpreter (the Church) to tell us how to apply those laws. And those laws are really nothing more than the natural law divinely codified.
You can stand on top of a 40 story building and shout, “I don’t believe in gravity!” Then you can jump off the building and repeat that ridiculous statement all the way to the ground. Sometime between the time that you jump and the time that you land on the ground 40 stories below, your mind will conform to the reality that gravity works. Your subjective opinion that gravity doesn’t work in no way alters the objective reality that it does.
What’s the point to all this talk about truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Truth is the only avenue to Heaven, and all religious truth resides in the Roman Catholic Church. So there are two things we all need to do. First, think about all the things the Church teaches as truth that you’ve chosen to disagree with because these truths cramp your lifestyle — remarriage after divorce, artificial contraception, the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the need for Confession, etc. Then renounce your subjective opinions in favor of objective truth.
(If you need to have any of these truths proven to you, email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com and ask me about them.)
Next, quit worrying about offending people with the truth. You have a moral obligation to always proclaim the truth, no matter how well it’s received. Speak the truths of Christ as taught by His holy Roman Catholic Church, and don’t worry about the consequences. By doing this, you’ll be living like and imitating Jesus…which is exactly what we’re supposed to do.
If you feel the need to discuss this or any Catholic topic, feel free to contact me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com. BTW, I offer a free email course about the faith that will be delivered to your inbox every three days. Let me know if you want it.
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