WAS IT FAITHFUL CATHOLICS WHO HELPED TO SAY NO TO THE NEW GODLESS, SECULAR RELIGION AND ITS DOGMAS PROMOTED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AND WHO HE THOUGHT WOULD CONTINUE HIS DOGMATIC NEW RELIGION, HRC?

 His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington issued a pastoral letter to his parishioners about "Being Catholic Today: Catholic Identity in an Age of Challenge." It was issued about three or four years ago.

It turns out that what the Cardinal says in chapter 7 and 8 of his pastoral helps us to understand the backlash against the Obama Administration and his hoped for successor, HRC!

The odd thing is that I have been doing a series of Sunday morning Coffee and Conversation programs between our two Masses and I had scheduled for today, chapters 7 and 8 on the challenges to Catholic Identity and the new bigotry against the Catholic Church by the three challenges to our Faith today:
SECULARISM, MATERIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM!

Providentially with so many having raw nerves since the horrible election season and its shocking result (for many, not all), I can address some of what so many Catholics may be feeling during this morning's Coffee and Conversation.

Here are some excerpts from Cardinal Wuerl's pastoral letter, Chapters 7 and 8:

Sadly, it is not unusual to

encounter Catholics who were

raised in Catholic families,

educated at institutions that identify

themselves as “Catholic,” and who

may attend Mass regularly, yet do not

necessarily know or understand their

faith or believe it.

Consequently, in

the last decades some have chosen to

leave their Catholic home; others have

just sort of drifted away. Some may say

they are “spiritual,” but not “religious,”

and therefore not affiliated with the

Church.

What accounts for this demise

or decline in faith? Why has this

happened? Partly it is due to certain

social, cultural and political trends,

which have been identified by a

succession of popes under the heading

of secularism, materialism and

individualism.

Two generations of secularization have

fashioned this time when some do not

even know the foundational prayers, or

understand the most basic of Catholic

devotions. Still others do not sense

a value in Mass attendance, fail to

avail themselves of the Sacrament of

Penance, and have often lost a sense of

mystery. (My comment: It is here that the hierarchy must, I mean must, look at

its complicity after Vatican II, where the Catholic Faith was called into question

as it was believed and liturgically celebrated for about 1500 years. We need not point to outside forces alone, but direct some of this to the Magisterium. )

The attempt to recast human sexuality

as casual and entirely recreational has

led to an untold weakening of and

continued assault on marriage and

family life.

These contemporary views of life

discussed here often seek to bleach out

recognition of God and marginalize

the Church and limit her freedom and

ability to function and live out her

Gospel mandate. Added to this are

the challenges of direct government

interference as well as in some parts

of the world, social violence and

persecution.

One new effort to abridge religious

freedom is the legislation that would

require Catholic schools to retain

teachers who by their words or actions

publicly contradict the teaching of the

Church. Some now wrongly claim it

is discrimination for the Church to

insist that those who teach in Catholic

schools present Catholic teaching in

word and in witness.

In according with religious freedom

guaranteed by the First Amendment,

Catholic organizations should be free

to operate by the tenets of the Catholic

faith, should not be forced to accept the

government’s moral views, and should

not be required to provide a platform

for persons who oppose in both word

and action the mission of the Church. (My comment: I think this observation explains so much about Trump's election and that many think he will not continue to do what Obama did in this regard. Trump will dismantle the dogmatism of Obama's secular church.)

Other factors undermining our

Catholic mission and identity come

from within, either through explicit

dissent, miscatechesis or personal

conduct that tends to draw people

away from the communion of the

Church. (My comment: Amen to that! And this is where the Magisterium needs to wake up, especially in Rome!)

 We encouraged civil rights

laws to promote equality and unity

in society. More and more, however,

measures passed in the guise of

“anti-discrimination” are being used

divisively to favor one group over

another and deny equality to others.

Suddenly terms like “discrimination,”

“freedom of choice” and “human

rights” have been distorted and turned

upside-down to restrict religious

freedom.

 With belief in God sidelined,

the recognition of an objective truth

and common moral order is no longer

held by many. We are increasingly told

that what we hold is irrational and

to disagree with the new culture is

“discrimination.”  (My comment: This is the dogmatism of the new religion of secularism!)

In December 2014 the District of

Columbia passed two pieces of

legislation that directly challenge the

ability of Catholic institutions to live

out their Catholic identity. The first

act called the Reproductive Health

Non-Discrimination Amendment

Act (RHNDA) would force religious

institutions, faith based organizations

and pro-life advocacy organizations

to hire and retain individuals

whose public speech and conduct

defy the mission of their employer. (BINGO!)

 The second law called

the Human Rights Amendment Act

(HRAA) repeals the 1989 amendment

to the District of Columbia Code

that protected religiously affiliated

schools from having to endorse, fund

or provide other assistance for the

promotion of sexual conduct contrary

to their faith and moral beliefs. Some

writers have referred to this as the

imposition of a state enforced sexual

morality on Catholic institutions.

This too is done in the name of “anti-

discrimination.” 

(My Comment: And Finally, I think this last paragraph presages the future election and  is what forced the silent majority of Catholics and other Christians to vote against HRC and President Obama's secular, dogmatic Church, the marginalization of true believers by calling them bigots in order to silence them in the public square! I don't think we can underestimate the resentment this has created among orthodox, believing Christians and they retaliated last Tuesday in the voting booth! And good for them!) :

It has become increasingly acceptable

– in the media, academia, and even

the courts – to disparage as bigoted

and mean-spirited anyone who seeks

to uphold fundamental truths about

the human person that have been

recognized throughout history. In

a time when for many the supreme

civic virtue is “tolerance,” the Catholic

faith is considered intolerable. In a

time when prejudice has been all but

outlawed, anti-Catholicism gets a pass.

It is, as more than one scholar has

observed, the one remaining acceptable

prejudice.

An aggressive secularism and

relativism assert a new morality.

Those views that do not follow the

new “moral” order are effectively

“outlawed.” Anyone who challenges

the new order as false is branded as

“intolerant” and pressured to remain

silent.

Claims of discrimination should not

be allowed to become the new weapon

for diminishing religious freedom

and outlawing institutional Catholic

identity (

Evangelii gaudium

, 55).