What's the Pope Really Up To?

Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba and America has dominated the news for the past couple weeks.  Everywhere he went he was cheered by tens of thousands of admirers.  People from both ends of the political spectrum have welcomed his message of peace, love, and hope.  The secular media has been almost giddy about things said by Pope Francis.  One ABC national news correspondent described Francis as “the first Progressive, Liberal pope, who is finally modernizing the Church”.  Similarly, Bernie Sanders described the pope as a “very progressive”, citing his remarks about climate change and immigration.  Hilary Clinton and President Obama agreed with the pope’s “liberal views” on Cuba, the Iran agreement, and climate change.  Republican leaders cited the pope’s conservative views on marriage and family, but cringed at his comments about global climate change and his opposition to the death penalty.  For the most part, unless you took the time to read the full text of his remarks to congress and the U.N., this would be the impression you got from the media coverage, and if you are a devout Catholic (not a Nancy Peolsi-Catholic) you might be wondering, “What is Pope Francis up to?”

The impressions cited above are all based on political views.  There is a tendency to interpret the pope’s words and actions as if he too were a politician, advocating specific political strategy, and promoting an agenda in which one side is right, and opposing views are wrong.  The problem with this interpretation is that the pope does not take political views, but rather speaks what he believes to be the Truth about the human condition, and the problems faced by society.  He favors neither liberal nor conservative views, and he has not yet changed any of the Catholic Church’s long standing teaching about the basics of our faith with regard to the dignity and sanctity of every human life, marriage, family or the priesthood.  What the pope IS advocating, is a way of life, rooted in authentic Christian faith as taught by Jesus Himself to his apostles and disciples, and handed down through the centuries to the successors of these same apostles.  Unlike politicians, who are polarized to the point of hatred for their opposition, Pope Francis enters into the fray without condemnation of those who might disagree with him.  He speaks openly and clearly about the issues of the day, ranging from climate change and immigration to marriage and family.  Because he has engaged in the hot button issues of the day, people look for specific words or phrases uttered by the pope to cite the fact that he agrees with them on a particular point, but then overlook the full context of his remarks, and choose to ignore whatever they disagree with.   The pope’s actions, such as riding in a small car, also reflect the way of life he espouses.  For example, immediately following his visit to the White House, Pope Francis visited the Little Sisters of the Poor whose religious freedom is under attack by the Obama administration; and after his UN speech to the most powerful political leaders in the world, he visited the poor in New York City. 

Here are some of the quotes you did not hear from the media coverage of the pope’s visit to Congress. After citing the important accomplishments of famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton, the pope said, “It is important today that the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is the voice of fraternity and love.” Remember, it was religious groups whose voice was heard clearly after the Dredd Scott decision, igniting the Civil War and the end of slavery; and the religious views of MLK that led to the success of the Civil Rights movement.  In contrast, at the White House the day before, President Obama boasted about religious freedom in America, which he described as the “freedom to worship,” but denying the rightful place of religious views in public dialogue or in action.  Knowing that the president and Congress overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, and the Supreme Court has redefined marriage, the pope said this: “How essential the family has been to the building of this country, and how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement.  Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family which is so threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without.  Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family.  I can only reiterate the importance and above all the richness and beauty of family life.”  He was referring of course to the traditional definition of family: father, mother, and children. 

These points were made even more clear in the pope’s remarks to the UN.  Referring to his encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis said, “We Christians believe that the universe is the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator, who permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellow men.  Our world demands of government leaders, concrete steps  and immediate measures for putting an end to human trafficking, the marketing of human organs, sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave trade, including prostitution, drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime.   This presupposes and requires the right to education, ensured first and foremost by respecting the primary right of the family to educate its children as well as the right of churches and social groups to support and assist families in educating children.”  Here the Pope was referring to a UN resolution passed just a few weeks before his visit. The resolution, called The 2030 Agenda, cites the importance of the right of parents to be the primary teachers of their children.  However, the USA and several Western European nations voted against the resolution, which passed only because Moslem, African, and Eastern European countries had enough votes to get it passed. 

Addressing the issues of marriage and family again, he said, “Man does not create himself.  He is spirit and will, but also nature.  The misuse of human beings begins when we no longer recognize any authority above ourselves.  Creation is compromised where we ourselves have the final word.  Consequently, the defense of the environment demands that we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman, and absolute respect for life in all stages and dimensions.  Without the recognition of certain uncontestable natural ethical limits, the idea of saving succeeding generation becomes an unattainable illusion, or worse, idle chatter which serves as a cover for all kinds of abuse and corruption, or for carrying out an ideological colonization by imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles which are alien to people’s identity.”    In other words, unless we face the Truth that God made men and women different and complementary, we risk the degradation of human dignity and further undermine the safety and security of future generations.  The pope’s words should serve as a warning against the ideological war being waged against Christianity.  Sadly, people deeply immersed in their own political agendas are likely to overlook this stern warning, much like the so-called “cafeteria Catholics” pick and choose which of the Church’s teachings to ignore.

C.S. Lewis once said, “The important thing about religion is not whether or not it makes you feel good, but whether or not it is True.”  In my view, much of the progressive, liberal agenda is aimed at wanting to feel good.  Liberals feel good about assisting the poor, offering legal status to illegal immigrants, along with welfare benefits, free health care, free education, free food, easy credit for student loans, and legitimizing gay marriage.  But the truth is, these programs often do more harm than good by creating a welfare trap and running up unsustainable debt.  They undermine marriage and deny children their natural right to be raised by both father and mother.   One of the reasons people love the pope is that he exemplifies a way of life that is authentically Christian.  By his words and actions, he demonstrates compassion, love, and forgiveness which is very attractive, as should be the witness of every authentic Christian.  He also speaks the Truth about our human and spiritual nature, the importance of religious freedom, and the essential nature of marriage and family.   By engaging wholeheartedly in the hot-button issues of the age, hopefully his full message about these natural and moral truths will be heard by more people, and perhaps even acted on by our governments.

 

Human Nature Hasn't Changed Much in 2300 Years

Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, after conquering most of the Middle East and Eastern Europe.  In doing so, he attempted to destroy the cultures and religions that resisted, and replace them with the Greek language, religion, and customs.  About this time, an unknown author wrote the Book of Wisdom which was to become part of the Old Testament.   Sunday’s reading from Wisdom recounts the persecution of those who opposed the adoption of Greek paganism:  “The wicked say, ‘Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us, he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law… Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.  For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hands of his foes.  Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”  (Wisdom 2: 12,17,20)  People who insisted on adhering to their faith in One True God, were dealt with severely by the Greek and later Roman overlords.  These words of scripture are eerily prophetic about the life and death of Jesus.  They also describe the persecution going on in the Middle East and Africa where Christians are tortured, beheaded, pillaged, and run out of their homes and country, fleeing for their very lives, rather than abandon their faith. 

Alexander, and later the Roman emperors and statesmen, lusted for power and control over all people.   Sunday’s second reading from the letter of St. James, describes what happens when human ambition is driven by the passion to control and exercise power.  “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.  Where do the wars and where do the conflicts come from?  Is it not from your passions that make war among your members?  You kill and envy but cannot obtain, you fight and wage war.”  (James 3:16, 4:3)  This quote describes the polarization and outright hatred that makes up the political landscape of America today.  Those in power, in both parties, seem more intent on retaining and gaining power, than ensuring the common good which is supposed to be their charge.  Blinded by political ambition, many on the Left refuse to confront the truth and consequences of their political agenda.  Rather than acknowledge the harvesting of body parts from aborted babies, even those born alive, they seek to discredit the authenticity of the recent videos, while refusing to even consider the heinous acts they are determined to defend.   Many on the right refuse act on measures aimed at addressing our monstrous national debt, for fear of losing votes based on polling data.  Republicans, despite majorities in both houses of Congress, refuse to take action against violations of first amendment rights, breaches of immigration laws, and even violations of Obamacare, which the President has unilaterally amended at least a dozen times without benefit of congressional approval.

So immersed in their political ambitions that they cannot discern the truth, and lacking the courage to stand up for what is truly right and just, it’s no wonder career politicians are being rebuked, and the political outsiders are faring so well in the recent polls and debates.   What’s at stake here is nothing less than the basic freedoms we take for granted, the security of our nation, and the economic disaster that looms if we fail to address our mounting debt and lethargic economy.  On one hand we have Progressives who insist that we should continue to expand government and dole out more money for free college education, and more welfare to ‘correct income inequality’, including people who have entered our country illegally, and higher minimum wages.  They insist on this and make it sound compassionate, despite hard evidence that there is no earthly way we can pay for all this without racking up trillions more in debt and hastening an economic disaster.  Study after study demonstrates that increasing the minimum wage will cause at least 500,000 workers to lose their jobs, and millions more will be reduced to part time employment and simultaneously lose their benefits.  College tuition has risen at least twice as fast as the CPI for the past decade and student loans amount to more than $1 Trillion, eclipsing even credit card debt.  Putting that on the taxpayer’s tab will only serve to magnify our debt problem, without addressing the underlying causes for the inordinate increases in the cost of education.  Extending legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants will immediately give them access to social security numbers, welfare benefits, and earned income tax credits, gorging our already bloated national budget and putting downward pressure on low wage jobs that minimum wages are trying to boost.  Carbon credits will very clearly cause the cost of energy production to rise, and in doing so inflate the cost of virtually all goods sold.  The environmental agenda is openly one of slowing down economic growth by removing money that should be invested in capital, and handing it over to the government at the very time we need to boost productivity, not dampen it.    To accomplish all this, the current Administration has been publishing approximately 76,000 pages of new rules and regulations with little or no congressional oversight, every year since taking office. 

Despite these inconvenient facts, all well-documented by our governments’ own auditors, economists, and analysts working at the GAO, OMB, BLS, and CBO, the Left presses on, hoping the general public will be so ill-informed that they fall for the emotional appeal for more free stuff and cleaner air, heedless of the terrible consequences.  And Republicans sit by idly, passing few, if any laws restricting this government overreach.  It’s time to wake up America; time to reclaim our government and take it out of the hands of career politicians.  It’s time to restore Liberty and government of the people, by the people, and for the people, not government for the sake of politicians.

A World at War

War is being waged throughout the world.  ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the many off-shoots of radical Islam are killing, torturing, and displacing millions of people, simply for being of a different sect of Islam, or for being Christian, Jewish, or agnostic.  Eastern Europe has absorbed millions of refugees and is now closing their borders.  The countries in the European Union are worried about the huge infusion of Mid-Eastern immigrants, especially given the very low birth rates among ethnic Europeans.  It’s easy to foresee that the influx of Moslem immigrants could readily become a majority in Western Europe within a generation.  I point this out not to pass judgement on the situation, or the countries receiving them.  Who can blame the refugees for abandoning their homeland under threat of death? 

But all this begs the questions: What brought this about, and what can be done about it?  Liberals blame George Bush for invading Iraq after 9/11 and destabilizing the Middle East.  But it was President Obama who unilaterally withdrew the peacekeeping force, effectively abandoning Iraq to ISIS.  When questioned about ISIS at the time, he dismissed them as “junior varsity” terrorists, and not a threat.  For more than a year now, we have come to realize that ISIS is a very real threat, yet the president has hamstrung our military with rules of engagement that make it virtually impossible to use our considerable military strength effectively.  In effect, we are standing by while ISIS murders everyone in their path and grows stronger, more sophisticated, and more deadly every day.

While our president is unwilling to wage war on radical Jihadist terrorists, he has declared war right here in America, a war for the conscience of our nation.   He is committed to “fundamentally transforming America” and is well on his way to accomplishing that goal.  This is a war of words and values aimed at imposing a liberal secular agenda on the American people.  It is a war being waged in the courts, where activist judges disregard the constitution and the duly passed laws of the States while imposing new values and establishing new societal mores.  It is being waged by the bureaucracy of the federal government where the EPA, Health, and Education departments issue administrative laws by the thousands of pages every month, with disregard to the First Amendment Rights of citizens or the negative effect all these regulations have on the cost of healthcare, energy, and employment.  It is a war being waged in schools where the formation of critical thinking skills and creativity are being replaced by revisionist history and indoctrination in the new morality of gender theory and income equality rather than natural law and human dignity.   It is a war being waged by a president with “a pen and a phone” who selectively decides which laws to enforce, while directing his Justice Department to attack State efforts to protect their international borders or State efforts to improve education outcomes by use of charter schools and vouchers.

The new values they promote are radical sexual autonomy and freedom from any moral judgment.  The forces of Secularism are aided by media bias in their efforts to impose abortion, the redefinition of marriage, and euthanasia.  The use of coercion by executive fiat and administrative law enables the government to levy immense tax penalties on employers who object on religious grounds to the destruction of human life in the womb.  Activist judges impose fines and jail sentences on those who refuse to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies.   As evidence of the success of the Secular agenda, human life is held is low regard; abortion is considered a basic right funded by the government and required in insurance coverage; and marriage is viewed as strictly for pleasure without regard to the rights of children to be raised by both of their biological parents. The procreation of children is becoming a laboratory product; sperm and female eggs are marketable items; surrogate motherhood is readily accepted, and now children can be engineered to have three genetic parents.  Anyone who opposes these efforts is portrayed as intolerant, backward, and uncaring.

This is most definitely a religious war, pitting Secularism against Traditional Judeo-Christian Christianity.  This onslaught of secularism is an overt attempt to remove God from public consideration, or to redefine Christianity so that it conforms to the new social and sexual ethics of our time.   But when God is removed from consideration, purely secular principles reign.  When this happens, people become spiritually empty and everything is permissible as moral relativism evolves to support the human ego and man’s craving for pleasure and self-satisfaction.  One of the many risks of this religious war is that Christians begin to waiver in their beliefs, in an attempt to accommodate our rapidly devolving morals and mores.  There are already Christian sects that accept gay marriage and even abortion, justifying it as compassionate.  Former president Jimmy Carter recently commented in a WWJD moment, that Jesus would approve of gay marriage, because it is the loving thing to do. Numerous high profile politicians and elitists claim to be Christian but condone abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia and more.

All this brings me to this Sunday’s gospel when Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  Each of us must answer this question if we consider ourselves Christian.  Was Jesus merely a gifted preacher and proto-hippie who promoted love and condemned war?  Did he accommodate the culture of His time in order to make people feel good about themselves and gain popularity?  Or was He who He said He was: the Son of God, speaking The Truth about our spiritual and human nature?  When challenged about marriage and divorce, Jesus quoted Genesis, “Male and Female He created them… and the two become one flesh, therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” ( Mark 10 and Gen 2:4)  He did not back down or accommodate the sinful culture of His time.

Christianity is becoming more and more unpopular.  People standing up for their Christian faith and opposing Planned Parenthood have been referred to as ‘terrorists’ by Hillary Clinton and President Obama.  Adhering to authentic Christianity is getting harder to do, and will subject courageous Christians to ridicule, fines, and imprisonment, by an increasingly intolerant government and secular society.  This is the fundamental transformation President Obama has been working toward.  Pray that we remain strong in our faith.  This is now a spiritual war and God is on our side.  Pray hard, pray often!

Here’s why our Nation is in Big Trouble

The world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket lately.  Millions of people have been displaced in the Middle East, Europe is being overrun with refugees fleeing from ISIS, and both Russia and China have been treating the USA as if we were powerless to respond to attacks on our economy, our cyber security, and even our boarders.  Despite our military and economic superiority, the United States has been acting as if we are powerless to respond to these threats.  All this is reminiscent of the late 1970s when Jimmy Carter conceded that the expansion of Communism just south of our boarder in Central America, was inevitable and we just had to live with it.

It’s easy to blame a weak president who is all too willing to stand by as Christians are brutally slaughtered and our national sovereignty is disrespected, but I think the real problem is even more serious, and harder to remedy than by simply electing a new, stronger president.  Last Sunday’s readings stood out for me as a clarion call, addressing what is really contributing to all this calamity and decline.  Moses, speaking to his people said, “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.  Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.   What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?” (Deuteronomy 4: 6-8)

As a nation, we have wantonly and shamelessly added and subtracted from God’s law in myriad ways.  In doing so, we have lost sight of The Truth as revealed by God and by nature, and substituted human laws rooted in lies and false assumptions.  The biggest lie of all is that taking a human life in-vitro is good, and contributes to society.  Sounding very much like Margaret Sanger, Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg points out that abortion reduces the number of ‘undesirables’.  Moreover, we’ve codified this into law, and demand that every tax payer support it, in direct violation of God’s Law: “Thou shalt not kill.”  We treat sex and promiscuity as a basic human right and the basis for marriage, without regard to the consequences to health, pregnancy, family responsibility, or the common good.  Ironically, the further we travel down this slippery slope, the more radical Islamists hate us for being “degenerate.”

In short, the moral underpinnings of our democracy have been undermined and it has led to injustice, violence, and poverty, because the inherent dignity of women and children is disregarded.  Consider the pandemic of human trafficking that is seldom mentioned in the media, the homicide rate, and the push for assisted suicide.  Worse yet, the political pressure to push the abortion and gay marriage agenda is about more than just women’s health and gay rights, it is about the destruction of the family and the implementation of a totalitarian system in which the government, not parents, assumes responsibility for teaching the new morality.  This may sound harsh, but look at what is happening in our schools.  Children are being indoctrinated with this progressive agenda all the way from grade school through college.  Here’s what the Archbishop of Guam had to say, after gay marriage was deemed law:  

 “The next step will be to implement this theory in the educational system of Guam,” said the archbishop. “This means that our children, your children, will be forced to assimilate to this pattern of non-gender; that there is no-such-thing as ‘male’ or ‘female’; they will be encouraged to explore their sexuality earlier, and parents will have no voice in the education of their children.” 

There is no question that parental rights and responsibilities, are being abrogated by government at all levels.  There are numerous stories about schools banning the terms ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ in favor of ‘friends.’  Gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms are being imposed on children despite the objections of parents and students alike.  It’s not enough for business owners to accept the gay lifestyle, they must participate in gay marriages if requested.  The conscience rights of medical and pharmaceutical professionals are being disregarded, and even religious institutions such as colleges, hosptials, and hospices must agree to provide abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization or face catastrophic fines that would cause bankruptcy.

The point of all this is that our government has far exceeded its legitimate authority.  Much of this change over the past six years has come about by executive fiat and court decree, but the democratic process has created this situation by electing people unwilling to choose in favor of The Truth.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that “No society can last unless it is based on a hierarchy of values based on the just ordering of relationships.”  It goes on to say that legitimate authority is that which is in keeping with The Truth of human nature, and works toward the common good.  “No one is obliged to obey laws that are arbitrary and unjust or that contradict the natural moral order.”  The CCC further explains that, “The common good follows wherever the fundamental rights of the person are respected and men can freely develop their intellectual and religious potential.  The common good implies that men can live in society with freedom, peace, and security.  The common good is best served where the good of the individual person and of the smaller units of society (for instance, the family) is central. The individual and the smaller social unit need to be protected and promoted by the stronger power of State institutions.”  During the past six years, our government has done just the opposite.

 

Is it any wonder then, that we have become weak and feckless?  It is as if we are committing national suicide in slow motion, under the auspices of giving people what they want: freedom from responsibility; government funded food, housing, healthcare, pensions, childcare, education, abortions, and contraception.  Does that sound like a recipe for building a virtuous society?  Instead it has resulted in the lowest workforce participate rate in half a century, and the creation of an entitlement mentality, all of which smacks of socialism and is lapped up by the devotees of Bernie Sanders.  People don’t seem to know any better, because they are indoctrinated into this ‘new morality,’ and enticed by all the free stuff.  Our only way out of this is to wake up from this delusional state of self-indulgence and return to our Judeo-Christian roots.  It is God’s Law and the virtues it promotes that made our nation the most powerful, most just, and economically successful in the world.   We are a nation of LEGAL immigrants, who arrived here with little or no money, received no welfare benefits, no food stamps, and no handouts.   Our forebears worked hard because they had to.  They honored their faith and their family responsibilities, and formed a republic based on an honest to God commitment to the common good, and the utmost respect for the dignity of every human life.  They established LEGITIMATE authority, rooted in God’s Truth and the natural order.  Unless we return to this model of personal responsibility and adherence to God’s Law, our nation will continue to flounder and we will suffer the slow and painful death being experienced in the socialist countries of Europe, mired in debt and overrun by Muslim immigrants.  WAKE UP AMERICA !!