I grew up in Augusta, Georgia, where Catholics are a minority and I have experienced first hand what the non-Catholic world in the south in the late 1950’s and 60’s and even today think about the pope, the Church. We were marginalized. Southern non-Catholics were not fans of the pope or his Church and often called her the Whore of Babylon.
They certainly didn’t think Catholics were going to heaven either. It was up to them through their political and religious prism to convert us to them and their way of doing things.
I am scandalized, though, when I hear Catholics more a fan of Donald Trump than of of the Pope.
What rubbish and may God have mercy on them! To think that Catholics who should know better have become know nothings!
If you don’t know about the Know Nothings and their current poltical party in the USA, here is an AI synopsis of the Know Nothing Party’s platform:
- Papal Conspiracy: They believed Catholic immigrants were loyal to the Pope, not the U.S. government, and intended to take over the country.
- Political Threat: They argued that Catholic voters were controlled by bishops, leading to fears of a voting bloc acting against Protestant American interests.
- Nativist Supremacy: The movement promoted the idea that the U.S. was designed exclusively for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, seeing Catholicism as a foreign, corrupting force.
- Religious Prejudice: They labeled the Catholic Church as "anti-American" and often used violent, inflammatory rhetoric, including accusations that convent life was immoral and that Catholics were conspiring to end religious liberty.
- Political Exclusion: They advocated for a "None but Americans for Office" policy, aiming to keep Catholics and immigrants from holding public office.
- Violence and Vandalism: Supporters engaged in rioting, such as the Cincinnati Riot of 1853, and the burning of Catholic churches.
- Social Ostracization: They spread propaganda aimed at creating a climate of fear and suspicion around Catholic practices and institutions.
12 comments:
Trump denigrated Western Easter last week, and he denigrated Orthodox Easter yesterday.
Our Patriarch's Paschal Encyclical, like Leo's Easter message, was one of hoping for peace in the world. As Christians, it seems obvious that we should stand for peace rather than war, especially needless war.
Everyone needs to disengage at this point. DJT went too far but the "Three Amigos" on 60 minutes last night should get back to their knitting as well and the Holy Father should probably be a little more even handed in parsing out criticisms. None of this public back and forth helps at all. There will time enough when the guns go silent, to look back and reflect. On immigration, the same.
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to realize that the reason Obama henchman David Axelrod met with Pope Leo last week was to coordinate a media propaganda blitz and quasi-color revolution designed to separate faithful American Roman Catholics from support for the MAGA agenda.
No TJM! One has to be a breaker of the 8th Commandment to bear false witness about the pope and conspiracy theories which are M
AGA
talking points! SHAME ON YOU. FOR SPREADING GOSSIP AND LIES ABOUT THE POPE! SHAME!
Here's a quotation from the encyclical mentioned above that seems highly relevant to me, especially for those who might wish to elevate the so-called MAGA agenda over fundamental Christian principles:
"One of the most striking examples of such a reality is this: the consequences of today’s global crisis are, tragically, measured by cold economic indicators, by the standards of earthly merchants (cf. Rev. 18:3)—financial losses, disruptions, and declines in markets and exchanges—while in the deep shadow of such calculations remain human tragedies: the death of the innocent, the suffering of children, and the misery of millions. Such a perspective, in which material gain is placed above human life, has not only led to wars and injustices—it is strengthened by them. This is a great defeat for us as human beings.
The world in which we live grows ever more unstable, and man ever more fearful. Systems of values are being deliberately and forcibly changed, and in the direction of anti-values. Promises and covenants once solemnly made are trampled without shame. The awareness of such betrayals gives rise to violence and ever greater divisions among nations, while political and cultural divisions deepen. Upon the ruins of dying civilizations there flourishes a spiritual uncertainty and a loss of meaning."
Christ is Risen!
The writing may already be on the wall. Apparently, in an unprecedented move, the Pentagon held only a Protestant service on Good Friday and did not permit a Catholic service to take place:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/hegseth-holds-protestant-only-religious-215153009.html
Perhaps this was payback because “Archbishop Timothy Broglio — the head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services — [had] just publicly criticized the administration’s posture surrounding the Iran war.” Or perhaps it was because the head of Hegseth’s denomination (The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches), Pastor Doug Wilson, whom Hegseth had invited to lead prayer services at the Pentagon in February, “has advocated for a vision of Christian governance that would ban public Catholic rituals, including Masses, Marian processions, and Corpus Christi devotions.”
So much for the Trump Administration’s vaunted championing of religious liberty. Thankfully, we have a Supreme Court, with several Catholics, who would not stand for this gross violation of the First Amendment religious clauses.
Mark J.
Trump is bringing conservative and liberal Catholics together! https://www.ncronline.org/news/backlash-grows-religious-and-political-leaders-criticize-trumps-comments-pope-leo-xiv
Hegseth’s evangelical pastor wants to outlaw Eucharistic processions!
It boils down to the question : are you for Christ or are you for Donald ? cf 1 Cor 1: 18 - 25
https://thenewamerican.com/us/culture/hegseth-pastor-would-ban-public-displays-of-catholic-devotion/
The obvious unconstitutionality of things doesn't seem to factor into the administration's decision making.
I thought about the Know Nothings last night in the following context:
When the Know Nothings were in place...
During times when the KKK had prospered...
When the Ecumenical Movement had yet to appear...
When Thomas Nast's vicious anti-Catholic cartoons abounded...
When a President could have done so without worry...had any President ever launched a public verbal attack against a Pope that approached the level of President Trump's vicious verbal public assault against holy Pope Leo XIV?
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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