Editor’s Note: Are you interested in finding a Christmas gift for someone who has everything, except a knowledge of the Catholic faith? Why not give this person one or more of our books? The books available are Catholic Replies and Catholic Replies 2, All Generations Will Call Me Blessed, Who Do You Say That I Am?, Catholicism & Reason (Apologetics), Catholicism & Scripture (Salvation History), Catholicism & Society (Marriage and Family), Catholicism & Ethics (Medical/Moral Issues), and Catholicism & Life (Commandments and Sacraments). They range in price from $10.95 to $17.95, but may be purchased at a special Christmas discount of $5.00 each, plus $10 shipping for up to five books and $15 for more than five books.
All orders must be paid by check. You can learn more about these books by visiting our website at www.crpublications.com. Don’t order from the website, however, since it automatically charges full price. Get your order in by December 15, and you will have the books before Christmas.
Q. What did Jesus mean when He said of the servant who waited on his master after a hard day’s work, “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do’” (Luke 17:10)? K.R., Virginia.
A. Just as the servant did not deserve special thanks or praise for doing his duty, Jesus is saying that when we have done all that God expects of us, we have done no more than our duty and God does not owe us anything extra. We may not like to think of ourselves as servants or slaves of God, but we are, as St. Paul said on several occasions (cf. Romans 1:1 and 6:22 and Gal. 1:10). Recall, though, that Jesus reversed the situation, going against all customs when He washed the feet of the apostles at the Last Supper. He said, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (John 13:15).
Q. I noticed that the U.S. bishops issued a statement congratulating Joe Biden on being elected president of the United States. That’s all well and good, but did they have to praise him for being a Catholic when he has publicly rejected Catholic teachings on abortion and same-sex “marriage”? — F.A., via e-mail.
A. The USCCB statement was issued by Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the Bishops’ Conference. He said that “democracy requires that all of us conduct ourselves as people of virtue and self-discipline. It requires that we respect the free expression of opinions and that we treat one another with charity and civility, even as we might disagree deeply in our debates on matters of law and public policy.”
He said that “as we do this, we recognize that Joseph F. Biden Jr. has received enough votes to be elected the 46th President of the United States. We congratulate Mr. Biden and acknowledge that he joins the late President John F. Kennedy as the second United States President to profess the Catholic faith. We also congratulate Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California, who becomes the first woman ever elected as Vice President.”
Archbishop Gomez also asked the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary in working together for “one nation under God, where the sanctity of every human life is defended and freedom of conscience and religion are guaranteed.”
Contrast this with the USCCB statement following the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
Then-USCCB President Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., said that “the Bishops’ Conference looks forward to working with President-elect Trump to protect human life from its most vulnerable beginning to its natural end. We will advocate for policies that offer opportunity to all people, of all faiths, in all walks of life. We are firm in our resolve that our brothers and sisters who are migrants and refugees can be humanely welcomed without sacrificing our security. We will call attention to the violent persecution threatening our fellow Christians and people of other faiths around the world, especially in the Middle East.
“And we will look for the new administration’s commitment to domestic religious liberty, ensuring people of faith remain free to proclaim and shape our lives around the truth about man and woman, and the unique bond of marriage that they can form.”
Notice that the Trump administration did in fact meet virtually all the goals that the USCCB expressed in 2016, particularly the protection of human life, the commitment to domestic religious liberty, and the recognition that marriage is a unique bond between a man and a woman. The demands on a Biden administration are not as clearly enunciated.
Could that be because the bishops realize that Biden and his supporters have over the years lobbied vigorously against the sanctity of unborn human life and for same-sex “marriage” and transgenderism? And that they will deny freedom of conscience and religious liberty to anyone who disagrees with their agenda?
But the most telling words in the latest statement are the linking of Jack Kennedy and Joe Biden as Catholics who profess their faith. Both men were Catholics in name only, but Biden is much more strident in promoting anti-Catholic policies. “He is a walking and talking scandal to his Catholic faith,” said Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, “and has rightly been refused the Eucharist because he persists in ongoing mortal sin, thus separating himself from communion with the Church.”
Surely, the USCCB is aware of Biden’s public positions on life issues. For example, Biden has promised to work to “codify Roe v. Wade,” the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, and he has vowed to make baby-killing legal up through the ninth month of pregnancy. He has promised to force taxpayers to pay for abortions, to instruct his Justice Department to do “everything in its power” to prevent states from putting any restrictions on abortion, and to guarantee continued taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood, which kills about 340,000 babies each year.
No wonder PP worked so hard to get Biden elected and was so thrilled at the apparent outcome of the election. Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, said that Biden is “fully committed to protecting access to sexual and reproductive health care, including access to abortion.” She also praised Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as “a steadfast champion for reproductive rights and health care.”
Harris is an even more extreme anti-lifer than Biden, going back to when she was attorney general of California and defended PP when it was charged with selling parts of aborted babies. As a U.S. senator, Harris opposed the nomination of a judge who belonged to the Knights of Columbus because of the K of C’s opposition to abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
During the recent campaign, Donna Toliver Grimes, a USCCB official in the Department of African-American Affairs, enthusiastically endorsed Harris’ selection as vice president as “wonderful” news because she is “really deserving and brings a lot to the table.” Shortly thereafter, James Rogers, chief spokesman for the USSCB, said that the endorsement was just a “personal” opinion by Grimes that “may have led to confusion among the faithful.”
As far as we know, Grimes was not removed from her position, unlike former USCCB spokesman Judy Keane, who was dismissed after tweeting, on her own personal account, her support for President Trump and her opposition to Kamala Harris.
Joe Biden is also far removed from Catholicism in his support for same-sex “marriage.” On August 1, 2016, he even conducted a “marriage” ceremony for two men at the vice president’s residence. He tweeted out a picture of the two men holding hands and said, “Proud to marry (sic) Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”
And then there is Biden’s support for allowing persons to declare themselves a different sex from the one God gave them at birth. “Let’s be clear,” Biden said in January 2020, “transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time. There is no room for compromise when it comes to basic human rights.”
He made this statement at the same time that tens of thousands of Americans were in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, which recognized that the true civil rights issue of our time is protecting the lives of unborn babies.
In a widely viewed video, Fr. Edward Meeks asked the USCCB the key question about Joe Biden: “Where are the bishops who for the benefit of this man’s immortal soul should be thundering with one unavoidable apostolic voice at this Catholic candidate, ‘How dare you! How dare you present yourself so publicly as a faithful candidate while trampling on some of the Church’s most serious and most fervently held moral precepts!’”
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