"My kingdom is not of this world..." John 18:36
If there ever was a Christendom it has long sense crumbled. But there has always been the Church and it will prevail until the Lord Jesus returns to complete His work of redemption, to judge the living and the dead and to sort out those who are saved and those who are damned and why.
Our world is secular and secularism isn't always bad for it presents the sinner with choices, life or death. We are taught by God Himself not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but it is there looming large for anyone to be tempted and to think that eating it will make them like God. Many choose that path and orient themselves to themselves and away from God and ultimately toward Satan and hell.
Today's forbidden fruit that remains in the open for us to choose are mostly the fruit of sex and its results (which is the closest we humans come to being like God in terms of the procreation of new life) and our desire to control what God has created and manipulate it for our own purposes. So the Church acting in the Person of Christ forbids artificial birth control and guess what, artificial birth control is used by the majority of Catholics and others for they are tempted by the easy path to becoming like God, orienting themselves toward themselves and ultimately toward Satan and hell.
Once the gift of the marital act is manipulated simply for personal pleasure without the power of pro-creation to hinder the fun, sex becomes an end in itself and the goal is pleasure not pro-creation in a stable marriage between one man and one woman. That then legitimizes the other forbidden fruit including multiple sex partners or spouses, homosexual acts, necrophilia, bestiality and the other sexual "philias" since every act of sex is placed on the same footing through its sterility created by man not by God.
Then the next thing you know marriage is redefined by man since man thinks he is God. The next thing you know, government is forcing the Church to provide the forbidden fruit of artificial birth control and abortion to the Church's adherents, or so-called adherents and it is called "preventative medicine or health care."
So if God created the forbidden fruit and placed it in plain view and only demanded that Adam and Eve not eat of it, but did not force the issue by taking away the tree, thus making it possible for them to be disobedient as they try to become God and thus orient themselves to the kingdom of Lucifer and hell, should the Church act any differently than God?
It seems to this poor, humble priest that in a few years same sex marriage will be the law of the land and possibly polygamy and that the Church will have to make available through her insurance programs "preventative health care."
But can Catholics who are given these things refuse them? Yes. And can the Church still make clear that disobeying God and corrupting His natural law orients one towards Lucifer and away from God and possibly for eternity? Yes!
Can Catholics make a decision of the will, knowing what is wrong but doing the wrong nonetheless as Adam and Eve did when tempted by Lucifer? Yes! And will they suffer the same fate as Adam and Eve? Yes!
So in an era where same sax marriage is legally possible just as marriage after a civil divorce, the Church will simply have to say that the Sacrament of Matrimony is governed by the Church and is between one man and one woman, for a lifetime and for the begetting of children and the propagation of the Catholic Faith as well as family life.
So, since it is important for the Sacrament of Marriage to have civil law recognition, the Church requires that the civil law aspect of what we will now refer to as a "civil union" must be obtained prior to the celebration of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Church and this will be viewed as the "marriage license." This will then prevent the priest or deacon from signing any official civil documents concerning the civil legality of the Sacrament of Matrimony.
The Church will make clear that it will recognize as the Sacrament of Matrimony, those civil unions entered in by Protestants and other Christians not in full communion with the Church who are male and female and believe what the Church believes about the Sacrament of Marriage especially fidelity and lifelong purpose.
Now isn't that simple?
And if Catholics choose a civil union outside of the Church, they are considered as living in sin, mortal sin, and they are censured and not allowed to receive Holy Communion or the other sacraments since they have of their own free will chosen to orient themselves away from the Church and Christ in their disobedience.
UPDATE: Cardinal Dolan's letter of congratulations to President Barack Obama:
Dear President Obama,
In my capacity as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I write to express my congratulations on your re-election as President of the United States.The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility.The Catholic Bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America.
In particular, we pray that you will exercise your office to pursue the common good, especially in care of the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant.We will continue to stand in defense of life, marriage, and our first, most cherished liberty, religious freedom.We pray, too, that you will help restore a sense of civility to the public order, so our public conversations may be imbued with respect and charity toward everyone.
May God bless you and Vice President Biden as you prepare for your second term in service to our country and its citizens.
Sincerely yours,
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
17 comments:
Very clearly delivered. An often times unwanted message, necessarily given in a time of challenge and disaffection. Thank you.
What are we going to do when the state forces churches to marry gays? That's next.
I suspect that bishops will go to jail before we provide artificial birth control and abortion in our church health insurance--that looms very possible and we may well have to close down hospitals and social service agencies and the like.
the same would hold true if the government forced the Church to have gay marriage--there should be outright rebellion and civil disobedience as well as martyrdom.
I do have to say that the Lesbian brides do have modest wedding dresses compared to some I have seen!
I see it this way. Obama got reelected because of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane is an act of God. God essentially interceded so Obama would get reelected. But why? I'm at a crossroads now. Is God telling us the liberals are right? We should be more open to alternate lifestyles and sexual individualism? Is He telling the bishops they are wrong, and the path they are leading the Church is wrong? Is that why the "Spirit of Vatican II" happened... God willed to happen? I honestly don't know at this point. Very confused in faith right now.
God might also be testing the fidelity of Catholic and finding that for some their religion is politics not the true faith and keep in mind that Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle.
"It seems to this poor, humble priest that in a few years same sex marriage will be the law of the land and possibly polygamy . . ."
I'm not sure I agree with the polygamy part--at least in the near future--and the reason is very important. Until now, all cultures have intrinsically viewed marriage as defined and governed by natural law in that something objective and not subject to human control has been accepted as a sine qua non for marriage--i.e. at least one male and at least one female. Now we are suddenly legislating that requirement away, and sometimes nullifying it by judicial decree. In most of these cases, the pro gay marriage people are claiming that this new concept of marriage is based on "human rights" (the modern lampoon of natural law). But in practice, these "human rights" are actually being determined by public opinion. Thus, if there isn't a big enough lobby for polygamy to become legal, then polygamy won't be seen as a "human right."
Why is this important? Because it shows the hypocrisy of those who claim gay marriage to be a "human right." In other words, "human right" is thus revealed not to be some objective truth, as the gay marriage lobby claims, but simply a matter of what the gay lobby wants and can muster enough political clout to gain, and to heck with other groups like polygamists. It also shows how internally inconsistent the gay marriage arguments are. If we're going to remove the male/female requirement, why not remove other requirements like monogamy, incest restrictions, and age restrictions?
Fr. McD,
I wish I shared your belief that bishops will go to jail before providing birth control and allowing gay marriage. Perhaps a few will. I think that most won't. Given how accommodating most of them have been to secular society since VII, I would hope and expect them to fight it legally, but then if/when they lose in court, to adopt a "render unto Caesar" attitude. The Church has seen this sort of mass capitulation before; I'm thinking of when England's Catholic bishops (except for St. John Fisher) threw their lot in with Henry VIII. The fact that they will receive little support from the laity (to judge by the numbers of so-called Catholics who voted for Obama and his campaign against Catholicism) will do little to encourage them to resist.
I do predict that if the courts rule against the Church we will see formal mass apostasy (as opposed to the de fact heresy/apostasy that has existed within the Church for the past 40 years) and we'll see a much smaller but much more orthodox Church emerge. The price will be ongoing persecution of Catholics.
Anon,
Please don't be confused. God has ordaining will and permissive will. His ordaining will is what He wants to happen, His permissive will is what He allows to happen as a result of our free will.
Those who support Obama refuse to listen to reason. They refuse to believe that the outcome will be bad until they see it for themselves. God in His permissive will, will allow them to suffer the consequences of their bad decision, knowing that a few will repent in the end and seek-out His mercy. God also knows that those who already follow Him will become stronger during this time of trial.
I am not happy with the results of the election, but I am at peace with the knowledge that all things work together for good for them that love God. We will not bow down to the winds of change, but rather take up the banner of Christ and stand firm as a beacon of light as the world falls into darkness, and follow the example of the saints who came before us.
Anonymous, this is an example of God's Permissive Power (instead of His Sovereign Power). His sovereign power is excerised when He wills things into being. His permissive power is exercised when He allows us to make decisions on our own free will or when He permits storms to occur, people to die in accidents, etc. We can't say He causes these things, because then we would be saying He is the author of sin. This is contrary to what we know about God. Instead, he permits these things to happen as a way for us to grow in holiness and to grow closer to him through difficult challenges.
Anon 5
Although the fact that all the English bishops bar one followed Henry VIII into schism is useful when their modern counterparts need reminding of their duty, to be fair to them they probably believed that the schism would be temporary. They supported Mary I when she restored England to the Catholic faith. In view of what eventually happened, one of them remarked ruefully "would that I had stood with my brother Fisher!"
I think this is a good discussion.
I think these "troubles" will help Christians rediscover the true meaning of Christianity. So often, we Christians focus on forcing others to believe our dogmas, doctrines, and views, without taking into consideration many unknown factors.
It seems that Western rite Catholics need to focus firstly on worshiping God and then living an apostolic life, which will then give opportunity for others to see (and live) the Gospel message.
I would like for my Government to reflect Christian values, if not doctrine. I do not, however, want them to establish any method of approving anything I do if I would be willing to did even if they did not approve it. It creates the sort of conflict we have right now.
I would be very content with a couple marrying within the Church and ignoring any Government licensing. I am also comfortable if they do the opposite. I will resist any link that allows the Government to determine what goes on in our Church.
If the bishops give in and "allow" birth control and gay marriage (perhaps under "render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser's"), then, damn it, I want adult entertainment to be allowed!
Three short comments:
(1) It is surely good and right that the Church be permitted to exercise Her freedom to define marriage for Her members as She believes is in accordance with Divine and Natural Law, however the secular State may choose to define it.
(2) It is gratifying to read Cardinal Dolan’s gracious letter of Congratulations to President Obama, just as it was gratifying to hear the tone of Mitt Romney’s gracious, magnanimous, and gentlemanly concession speech. I hope and pray that President Obama and our other national leaders will now reflect the spirit of both, respect the legitimate freedoms of the Church, and work together to address our common problems.
(3) Mitt Romney called on all of us in our respective stations in society to do our part and to work together in the same way. I hope that this call will also be answered.
I recently renewed my health insurance coverage from my employer and found out big changes.
Effective January 2013, due to the Healthcare Reform (Obamacare), just to name one, oral contraceptives and devices are 100% covered. And I don't have a choice even if I want to opt out since you either get or drop the plan. You can't even get another plan from other private insurance companies since this is a MANDATE. Everybody has to have it in their plan. On top of that, I will be paying more!
Talking about religious liberty. This is just the tip of the iceberg ladies and gentlemen. Totalitarianism, socialism, statism, whatever you wanna call it, here it comes in the USA.
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