Did you hear that? Me neither. And I’ve been listening. History is re-written. Science is a crestfallen punchline. Truth is dismantled. Up is down. Right is wrong. President Joe Biden is a good Catholic. All the while a heavy blanket of silence has fallen across much of the nation’s traditional leadership, and with the mute approval of society in the name of equity and justice. How just and true this silent slumber. And how treacherous. Fear, through all of time, remains a most powerful tranquillizer providing the firmest test of a soul’s integrity.
Let’s keep this simple.
What is a Catholic? This definition is, after all, the reason our country is falling apart at the seams. We’ve lost meaning. Catholics are not alone. We’ve also momentarily lost—after millennia—the definition of a woman, a man, of life, a citizen and an immigrant. In fact, a fallacious version of truth is now the latest glistening construct from the sands of modernity, having existed for all of 5 minutes (further testament that the devil cannot create). The practice of religion and its traditions are collapsing, accelerated by a test run of state power to mute Constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties. And because the world does not long tolerate voids, Christian truth, beauty and reason are most expeditiously being replaced by moral relativism, self-gratification and, well, ugliness. Catholicism is not a spectrum, though it is momentarily cast as such in the public forum.
We are in an epic battle where one side believes tradition must be dismantled. Anything resembling a moral order must be shattered and control of the language is the key. Dissention will not be tolerated.
Where’s our first line of defense? Our political leaders, church leaders and those sworn to defend our faith, laws and Constitution. Because the world does not long tolerate voids, the leadership vacuum is slowly being filled by everyday citizens and by the faithful. Those educated with Judeo-Christian reason, resolved to follow truth, tradition and natural law. Catholic doctrine is immutable and empowering and conservative Catholics know it.
A group of us put our faith into action with the formation of an organization that we named, Catholics for Catholics. Our primary goal is to educate society and draw the culture back to its Catholic-based principles—the same doctrine at the heart of the world’s most prosperous civilization. Throughout our nation’s history, and that of the world, Catholic principles have elevated scientific discovery, case law, economic theory and nearly every other pillar supporting this great nation.
Our most pressing path to this goal: the upcoming elections and the unchallenged campaign platforms of those claiming to be Catholic but espousing contrary principles.
Pope Benedict XVI was firm on this point when he spoke of an “anonymous power” that fell to the whims of modernity. As to the betrayal of Jesus, Ratzinger said, “Judas is neither a master of evil nor the figure of a demoniacal power of darkness but rather a sycophant who bows down before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashion.”
Then Cardinal Ratzinger also wrote in a letter to U.S. bishops regarding Holy Communion and Catholic politicians who cooperate in grave evils (including abortion and euthanasia), as well as in accordance with canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, “Those… obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
When excommunicating Nancy Pelosi in May, 2022, and referring to other gravely errant politicians, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Diocese of San Francisco restated from his previous pastoral letter, “by their false witness, other Catholics may come to doubt the Church’s teaching on abortion, the Holy Eucharist, or both.”
The contradictions within the church couldn’t have shown more brightly than when Pelosi received Holy Communion in Rome just a few short weeks after Cordileone’s notification of her excommunication.
Catholics for Catholics stands firmly on Church doctrine.
I was raised with saints. There’s a saint for every day, every malady, every life event. It’s the way of the Catholic. We love our heroes. They remind us of the importance of truth. They teach us courage. Mostly they remind us that following our God can get rough when we speak truth to power.
Catholics know this. People who know Catholics know this. We were raised knee-deep in critical thought, natural law and ancient reason. Catholics are taught, made, mandated to follow truth at all cost. It’s written into our doctrine. It’s etched in our hearts.
Did you hear that?