By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
To a long and growing list of terrorist attacks on churches and prolife pregnancy centers, we now add one in my own Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a cause for rejoicing, we learned that evil individuals were threatening violence in response. This violence soon found its outlet in attacks that included vandalism of pro-life centers all over the country and the burning of a historic West Virginia church to the ground, among others.
In the week in which I am writing this, someone broke on a Saturday night into a Catholic parish in the D.C. suburb of Bethesda, turning over statues, tearing down Stations of the Cross, setting pews on fire, and, worst of all, breaking into the tabernacle and scattering the Hosts in an act of desecration offending our Lord Himself.
The newly ordained parochial vicar of the parish spent his very first Sunday of his first parish assignment picking up the Hosts in the first stages of the cleanup after the fire was put out. Masses were held in the parish hall.
The pastor, Fr. Samuel Giese, offered stirring and encouraging comments to his shocked and bewildered parishioners. “We are the Church, we are the living stones,” he said according to a report by Catholic News Service.
The mute stones mined from the Earth and the wood of the church building in which they were accustomed to worship, usually thought strong and protective, proved vulnerable to evil men. But flesh and blood are not the defense in a war against evil.
He offered his own suspicions as to the cause for the attack. “I believe that this is because of the Church’s stand on the issue of life — when it begins and that it should be protected — and that this is one of the manifestations of the deep divisions right now within our country, that there are those who believe that we do not have even the right to practice our faith.”
“I’m sorry to share this news with you. However, this is the important thing to remember. We are the Church. We are the living stones. We are the Body of Christ. We are the ones who have been nourished by God, consecrated by God. We are the ones called by God to be the light…to the world, and the salt of the earth.”
See the CNA report on p. 4B of this week’s issue for more details.
We all need to be encouraged and encouraging in these very difficult days, as are Fr. Giese and those like him around the country who shepherd their flocks in these days of terror. But our fight remains as it has been for 50 years, the defense of every human life, inside the womb and out.
The evil individuals who attack the defenders of life, whether in our homes our churches, as well as the child in the womb, are being consistent in their hatred for God. Those who attack His image in the womb in its most innocent manifestation will certainly not shrink from attacking Him in others already born.
This terrorism manifested against human life both in the womb and outside the womb has its ultimate source in the Evil One. Our fight is against principalities and powers.
Chapter six of Ephesians is helpful for meditation in these times. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
“Put on the whole armor of God,” St. Paul urges us. And he lists the first element of protection as the truth.
While so many in the Church play fast and loose with the truth — lying about the Church in China, lying about the evils of abortion and contraception, about the sinfulness, uselessness, and sacrilege of receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, lying about the evil of sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman, lying about the evil of trans ideology — we must stand strong in the truth. We must stand strong in the truth before we propose to fight any battles for the Lord and the Church, for without it we enter the fight unprotected.
Righteousness is the second element of armor for the soldier of Christ. We must ourselves follow the Gospel of God, obeying the Commandments and faithful to the proper celebration of the sacraments. The Gospel must be the sword of truth by which we defend ourselves and those most vulnerable. But we do all first for the salvation of souls. Our Church is also under attack from within. The shock we suffer results also from attacks on the living stones of the Church by those who profess to be her own members.
Catholic News Agency also recently reported: “A leading laywoman and co-president of the German ‘Synodal Way’ has demanded a ‘nationwide provision of abortion’ across the European Union’s most populous country. Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), acknowledged that abortion should not be considered a ‘regular medical service,’ CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported. Stetter-Karp continued: ‘At the same time, a nationwide provision of the medical intervention of abortion must be ensured. This is not the case at present because gynecological care is lacking in rural areas in particular’.”
As Pope Benedict warned, the very worst attacks on Christ and His Church come from within. What this member of the German synodal way, and those like her, proposes is worse than any church vandalism, which can be repaired. We can even do reparation for the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament and we should. But for baptized and confirmed Catholics to propose evil as good is a scandal and betrayal of the first order that puts many souls, as well as their own, at risk.
The shepherds must stop the work of these wolves and soon, or they cooperate by their silence in the slaughter of the lambs in a new and horrific “abortion” of souls.
May God have mercy on us!
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