MAYBE THE CULTURE WARS ARE NECESSARY? POPE FRANCIS?

Under Popes St. John Paul II and Benedict, the American bishops were very much a part of the culture wars in this country. Politically they didn't succeed in persuading very many Catholics from voting for pro abortion politicians such as President Obama. They couldn't change the judicial manipulation of this country when it came to same sex marriage. They may well fail at protecting the religious liberty of the Church when it comes to President Obama forcing the Church's insurance companies to provide birth control and abortion services. Even Cardinal Dolan who once fought the city on forcing the St. Patrick's Day parade to include gay groups capitulated in a magnanimous way because he was on a losing trajectory. I think this was due in large part to the "Francis effect." If Pope Benedict was still in place, I don't think he would have capitulated.

But isn't speaking the truth in charity and rallying the faithful a part of the Church's mission. Do we throw in the towel because it is humiliating to be crucified and defeated? Thank God Jesus Christ didn't throw in the towel or else where would we be?

And now Pope Francis seems to hint that he's getting a sense of the bigger picture of how the dictatorship of secularism as Pope Benedict accurately described it, is trying to get the Church to eat pork.

This is John Allen of Crux assessment of things and the paradox of Pope Francis when it came to Pope Francis' Good Friday Prayer at the Way of the Cross at the Roman Coliseum:

 Faith in the public square

O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in those who wish to remove you from public places and exclude you from public life, in the name of a pagan laicism or that equality you yourself taught us.--Pope Francis

"In general, Francis is seen as a pope on friendly terms with the secular world, chatting amicably with left-wing atheist journalists, calling up radical politicians when they’re sick, appearing on the cover of pro-gay magazines, and generally playing well with the lapsed and unchurched.
His Good Friday language, however, was a reminder that Francis is not a naïf when he looks at secularity, grasping that there are situations in which its alleged neutrality to religion shades off into overt prejudice.
Spaniards, for instance, heard his language as a reference to a recent dust-up in Madrid, where a new left-wing mayor this year overhauled an annual civic parade celebrating the Epiphany, marking the Biblical story of the three kings, known as the Cabalgata de los Reyes. Changes included adding an homage to Mother Earth, a DJ truck and dancers and musicians from Africa and the Arab world, and having a woman play one of the kings.

Critics saw it all as an attempt to de-Christianize the festival. That perception was reinforced by a recent push in Seville, which ended up failing mostly because of its impracticality, to eliminate religious references in all street names, in a city where half its avenues and boulevards are named for saints.
Similar trends are evident elsewhere, including the United States, and the kinds of Christians most likely to be outraged — those who see secularity as potentially menacing, and who for whom defending the faith from its encroachments as a priority — aren’t necessarily accustomed to thinking of Francis as their strongest ally.
On Good Friday, however, Francis hinted that he sees the lay of the land, too, and perhaps may become more outspoken."

Fidelity and fruitfulness

O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in families that live their vocation of married life in fidelity and fruitfulness.--Pope Francis

As the Catholic world awaits the impending release of Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, drawing conclusions from his two tumultuous synods of bishops, concern continues to be palpable that Francis is so focused on broken and “irregular” situations, such as the divorced and civilly remarried or people living together outside marriage, that he may end up discouraging Catholics who are trying to live the full truth of what the Church teaches on marriage and sexuality.
In that context, it’s striking that his one clear reference to the family on Good Friday accented precisely the qualities he’s often accused of playing down:

• “Fidelity,” meaning, in part, marriage as an indissoluble lifetime commitment.
• “Fruitfulness,” which is often a sort of Catholic code for openness to new life and adherence to the traditional ban on artificial contraception.

Using those two keywords was a way for Francis to signal that he’s not jettisoning the Church’s traditional understanding of family life, whatever he may end up doing on specific points in his document.

My final comments: Truly I believe Pope Francis is trying to win the world, meaning secularism, to the Church by being nice to them and not portraying himself as a culture warrior. Of course history will have to tell us which of the two methods of promoting the teachings of the Church work, anathemas or  appeasement, backbone or spinelessness.

I think we all know that progressive liberalism is a secular religion and its crusades and inquisitions against the true Church will be like nothing we saw during the actual crusades and inquisitions.

Nice guys, like Jesus Christ get crucified, died and buried. The same may well happen to the Church under this pope. The question is, will the Church rise again on the Third Day. If the Church is who she says she is, Jesus Christ's crucified and risen body, with He as its Head and we as His body, well yes, the Church will rise again gloriously triumphant.

But Jesus Christ rubbed His enemies and the true enemies of authentic Judaism the wrong way and He had harsh words for them.

Pope Francis must be more Christ-like in this way if He is to succeed in being crucified. He has to stop equating believing, practicing Catholics in the clergy and laity as Pharisees and name the true enemies of the Church both inside her ranks and outside. That will get His Holiness crucified like it did Pope Benedict XVI!