I really never wanted this meager little blog to become political, although events over the past year have made it more and more difficult to avoid. Admittedly, I have allowed myself to descend into politically-oriented commentary on a few occasions, where there seemed to be a clear intersection between matters of traditional Catholicism and contemporary secular politics, but these are supposed to be rare exceptions. My purpose here is to discuss the Faith as handed down from Christ through the Apostles.
An item at Crisis Magazine’s website yesterday, however, pushes me once again over the brink. Written by Deal Hudson, the esteemed former publisher and editor of Crisis, it points out that a reliably uber-Leftist publication that still has the gall to call itself Catholic, and which I will not even name here in my little corner of the blogosphere, has issued what he terms a call for reprisals against Catholics who support Donald J. Trump, who many people seem to have forgotten is still the President of the United States for nine more days. Please do read Mr. Hudson’s piece, as it is quite enlightening and does a good job of skewering the hollowness, as he puts it, of the offensive publication’s editors. The notion, put forth by this chattering crew of leftist pretenders to the Catholic faith, that any supporter of Donald Trump is by definition in serious sin, is so absurd, so offensive to all right reason, as to suggest either complete ignorance or actual demonic influence on the part of its proponents. Please pray for their souls as often as you pray for your own and those of your loved ones, both living and dead (which should be every day, by the way!)
I could stop right there, but this brings to mind something that has been a major irritant to me ever since I entered the Church almost sixteen years ago: the utter incongruity of people advocating things that are clearly, obviously, manifestly in complete violation of God’s Commandments, Natural Law and the perennial dogmatic teachings of the Church, and still publicly calling themselves faithful Catholics. They unashamedly and persistently advocate for unlimited abortion, the redefinition of marriage to include “unions” between sodomites, denial of the truth of God’s creation of mankind as male and female, contraception, reception of Holy Communion by persons openly living in mortal sin, and other offenses against God, all the while pretending they really love and follow Christ and His Church. And now, thanks to an election fraught with, shall we say, irregularities, one of the worst offenders is about to ascend to the office of President, something that would have been impossible under any circumstances without the support of millions upon millions of voters who claim identity as Catholics.
How pathetic a job of teaching Catholic, Christian truth must have been done for generations by the so-called shepherds, the bishops of the Church, whose only job is to pass on the one, true faith to their flock, for this to have occurred! How sad it is for the many whose greatest desire it is to do their fallen, human best to live out the true Catholic faith for themselves, their families and their neighbors, in accordance with the clear guidance of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the perennial Magisterium of the Church, the only Church founded by Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for a young father and mother today who are trying to raise children as faithful, Truth-loving Catholics, when the public examples set by many bishops and putatively Catholic politicians are so awful, they defy adequate description.
Please pray every day in reparation, the Rosary if possible. Fast, offer sacrifices, give alms, live every day as if it were your last before facing the Just Judge. His great mercy is beyond our comprehension, but so is his eternal justice, and one cannot exist without the other. We face dark times, as foretold repeatedly by Our Lady at Fatima and elsewhere. While most of the visible hierarchy of the Church behaves as if there is nothing beyond this life, we know better. And we do not know the day or the hour.
Laudatur Jesus Christus
In Ministerium Maiorum 