The Kennedy Funeral and Social Justice: Where Are Our Bishops?

This past weekend saw the Archdiocese of Boston--indeed the whole American Church--demonstrate the lack of backbone that has plagued American Catholicism for far too long. American Bishops knew the Kennedys and what they did to American Catholicism, but seemingly remained silent. Why must Catholics lie down and accept that no one wants us in the public sphere? All this accomplishes is to make Catholics and the Catholic Faith an unknown quantity. I was not in favor of denying Senator Kennedy a funeral, as were some outraged bloggers and writers, but a public funeral? A funeral with literally dozens of Kennedys parading around the altar could not be the best way to promote Catholicism. Senator Kennedy was diametrically opposed to some core teachings of the Catholic Church, all in the name of his own visions of social justice; yet Cardinal O'Malley allowed these positions to be defended at the funeral! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lg1g5yimqU
Why was no-one praying for the repose of the Senator's soul? Senator Kennedy was made a saint for his social justice efforts, but no one begged mercy for him. In all this, I have not heard a word from the Bishops of the United States. Where are our Teachers, our Shepherds? We need them to proclaim the truth. The Church must not become the platform for any ideology or false truth, especially the artificial social justice promoted by today's Democrats. We cannot have our Bishops allow such a travesty of the liturgy and our faith as the one that took place on Saturday. The social justice of the Kennedys is death to the soul, and to anyone inconveniently in the way of it. Belief in mercy is not enough to earn it, and I pray that Senator Kennedy prayed for it, and prayed to avert the justice that we all must face. May God have mercy on him, and all of us.

-Amator

Homeschooled Christian Needs a "Religion to Suit Her Needs"

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=5050#

A new Hampshire Court recently handed down this court brief described above, wherein they recommend that a homeschooled child, who meets or exceeds their every standard for social and educational progress, be enrolled in Government-run schools. The court saw that she held her religious beliefs strongly, and decided that this was not correct for a ten-year old. She needs--in the court's view--to be confronted with multiple religions, so that she can decide which one is best for her.
Besides being an obvious overstepping of government authority, the whole situation is a ridiculous (but scary) example of judicial activism. One judge decides that a young girl, though perfectly normal in every other way, is too Christian for her age, and rules she should go to public school. How twisted is that? If a judge can decide that, then a judge could find that I am too firm of a Catholic teacher, and have to teach more alternate religions. The possibilities are--scarily--endless. I am not sure this brief would hold up in a higher court, but I am seriously disturbed by the thought that such a judge is in a position of power at all. This whole situation arises from a divorce case, which in New Hampshire involves a government employee, called a "Marital Master." The Marital Master is the point of contact for divorce or custody decisions by courts, and has a significant influence on court decisions. That a court would accept such an opinion as the one expressed above, and attempt to enforce it, should make any person of sincere belief concerned. According to the report, the guardian ad litem of this child (whose parents are divorced) was not happy with the strongly held beliefs of the child, and the Marital Master thus made the recommendation to the court to have the child placed in public school. So much for allowing parents to be the natural educators of their children, or for freedom of religion, or freedom of speech, or freedom of most kinds. Licentiousness is the norm, but moral or ideological conviction is a bad for us.

-Amator

How the Kennedys Fell

This is a fascinating article giving inside information on some of the mechanisms behind the Kennedy switch to supporting abortion. The part describing the work by a council of liberal theologians to provide justification for abortion support is especially scary.

-Amator

The Arts Have Been Corrupted

The Andrew Breitbart-led blog, "Big Hollywood," has a rather disturbing piece about the blatant mis-use of position by the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). In the name of promoting change and social growth, as well as other euphemisms for political activism, they actively supported Obama's presidential campaign. So much for the integrity of the arts. I recommend the read. The blog seems to be more thoughtful than many.

-Amator

Ad Orientam in Oklahoma

Bishop Slattery recently published a column, in which he discusses his reasons for celebrating the Mass "Ad Orientam." Not only does he thoughtfully justify his position (pun intended, sorry) but he provides an excellent meditation on the nature of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Benedictine Reform slowly gathers steam, and the sooner, the better. Bishop Slattery's words, almost undreamed of five years ago, demonstrate a growing renewal of the liturgy, a renewal desperately needed since before Vatican II. Vatican II almost highlighted the problems, rather than fixing them, but, God-willing, such time is drawing to a close and we will enjoy a real "Spirit of Vatican II," a Spirit "ever ancient, ever new," a spirit of renewal and hope, not a spirit of change and self-glorification.

-Amator

Health Care not a Right?

Bishop Nickless of Sioux City, South Dakota weighed in on the Health Care Reform debate. He did so as a Bishop, reiterating the teaching of the Catholic Magisterium. I found this comment in particular to be very enlightening (and long-since forgotten by the public at large): "The Catholic Church does not teach that “health care” as such, without distinction, is a natural right. The “natural right” of health care is the divine bounty of food, water, and air without which all of us quickly die. This bounty comes from God directly. None of us own it, and none of us can morally withhold it from others. The remainder of health care is a political, not a natural, right, because it comes from our human efforts, creativity, and compassion. As a political right, health care should be apportioned according to need, not ability to pay or to benefit from the care. We reject the rationing of care. Those who are sickest should get the most care, regardless of age, status, or wealth. But how to do this is not self-evident. The decisions that we must collectively make about how to administer health care therefore fall under “prudential judgment.”

Finally a Bishop who speaks clearly on this! Check out the rest of his article, equally good.

-Amator

Musings

Catholics everywhere are losing the faith. Why? Because they don't know it. So if you are a Catholic who knows anything at all about the Faith, especially for our reasons for believing, then you need to speak up. The re-evangelization of the Church must be a top priority. I read a study a while back that showed a lot of Catholic converts falling away after several years. Why? They had no-one to uphold them in their beliefs--certainly not their fellow Catholics. Remember: Nerdy Catholics are cool in heaven.

-Amator

The Part and the Whole

The Catholic Thing has a fantastic piece called "The Part and the Whole," which sums up perfectly what we need to say about our Catholic faith to others. "We teach the truth, whatever the cost, wherever we can." As Catholics, we need this identity restored to our own self-consciousness, as well as the conciousness of the world at large.

-Amator

The World is Aging!

An old friend was approached by the Philadelphia Bulletin, to comment on recent reports showing that global aging is increasing at an alarming rate. The mainstream press comes out with these reports, every once in a while, but this one seems to be an accurate report, without the complaining that they often have. I wonder when the Liberal West will sit up and notice what any common-sense person can see?

Anyway, take a peek. (Click on the title.)

-Amator

An excellent observation

Cardinal Pell has an excellent insight, taken from the works of Cardinal Newman, on conscience. He quotes Newman, saying:

Even conscience, therefore, must be ‘judged by conformity to the truth, and to the Word of God.’ As Newman’s Letter to the Duke of Norfolk declares, conscience is in fact fulfilled and completed only when it embraces the Faith and Morals taught by the Catholic Church.

Detached from this vocation to objective truth, Newman knows that conscience degenerates from discerning what is right into ‘the right of self will’. From this flows ‘the dictatorship of relativism’, according to which truth is sacrificed to human passions and opinion.

The conscience as self-will is precisely what we see today in so many controversial "personal" decisions. It is certainly the fraudulent line of arguing used by liberal Catholics to justify their un-Catholic positions. The rest of his address is also excellent. Hat-tip to Fr. Z (WDTPRS)

-Amator

The State of the Church

Two Sundays ago, I listened to the pastor preach about silence in the church, respect for the Eucharist, respect for others at prayer, and prayer after mass. The congregation acted as if they had not heard him, bursting into noisy conversation (over the organ postlude) as soon as the hymn was completed. So much for sermons.

-Amator