"Worth Revisiting" Wednesday - We Are Our Own Worse Enemy
Thank you, Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, for inviting an ever-expanding group
of Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles
on “Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.
We Are Our Own Worse Enemy
(Originally posted November 25, 2013)
Far
too many Catholics are not well-formed in the teachings of Christ's
Church. Given this tragic reality, one would expect Catholic media
to only publish the work of individuals and columnists who accurately
set forth
the tenets of the Catholic Church.
Over the years, too many publications claiming to be "Catholic" have consistently demonstrated a preference for doing just the opposite.
Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every
Wednesday) and let these authors bless and challenge you in Faith journey.
During the rest of each
week. visit Allison at Reconciled To You and
Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb.
Here is what I am sharing this week:
Here is what I am sharing this week:
We Are Our Own Worse Enemy
(Originally posted November 25, 2013)
Over the years, too many publications claiming to be "Catholic" have consistently demonstrated a preference for doing just the opposite.
An example of this
proclivity is a column that a local Diocesean newspaper published
wherein its author wrote the following:
“Putting an end to the killing of unborn babies is a priority for me, and it is a priority for the Catholic Church. But it is not the only priority. The concern of Christ and the Catholic Church for the suffering of the world is not limited to any one group of people – born or unborn…So we are not to rank, pro-life, social justice and peaces issues, we are to link them (my emphasis). It’s what the Catholic Church calls the “consistent ethic of life.”
“Putting an end to the killing of unborn babies is a priority for me, and it is a priority for the Catholic Church. But it is not the only priority. The concern of Christ and the Catholic Church for the suffering of the world is not limited to any one group of people – born or unborn…So we are not to rank, pro-life, social justice and peaces issues, we are to link them (my emphasis). It’s what the Catholic Church calls the “consistent ethic of life.”
Sounds
nice but the problem with the columnist’s assertion is that he is simply flat
out wrong.
It
was the late Cardinal Bernardin, not the Catholic Church, who preached “the
seamless garment” doctrine to which this author and so many “social justice and
peace Catholics” subscribe.
An
accurate description of the Church’s position on these issues can be found in
the writings of late Saint John Paul II. Let this one example suffice:
“The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies… (my emphasis again). If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of the person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory.”
“The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies… (my emphasis again). If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of the person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory.”
This prompts me to ask two questions:
Why do Catholic publications choose to print columns such as this?
How many Catholics
who read this piece knew their Faith well enough to realize they were being
misinformed about an essential truth?