Posted on 06/07/2010 1:34:03 PM PDT by NYer
Some will say it's already here, and I wouldn't argue with them. The first gusts of the anti-Catholic storm have already been resisted, thanks to the courageous vigilance of Bill Donohue at the Catholic League. Now we have The New York Times' relentless barrage of reporting and opinion designed to force the type of "reform" in the Church urged by dissenting groups like Voice of the Faithful and Call to Action.
Those vestiges of the old Catholic Left barely exist anymore -- but why should they, when their cause has been taken up by the mainstream media? The continuing drama of the sex-abuse scandal in Europe -- six years after the U.S. bishops faced the problem squarely -- has provided Catholic bashers another opportunity to denigrate the Church on the grounds of its "patriarchal" condemnation of abortion and same-sex marriage.
In the United Kingdom, what should have been regarded as a crank call for the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit there later this year has mushroomed into speculation as to whether the trip should be cancelled altogether. That the legal system of the International Criminal Court could be used to threaten a world leader for being ideologically out of step is precisely why it was opposed by the previous administration.
The use of courts and commissions to harass and threaten Catholics and other Christians has already been auditioned in Canada. And the expansion of hate-speech laws signed by President Barack Obama last October sets the stage for similar tussles here when a minister, priest, or voluble layperson too heatedly denounces homosexual sex.
The Catholic Church is not the only institution to insist upon objective and universal moral standards, but it's certainly the largest. As such, the Church stands in the way of postmodern ideologies achieving complete dominance in the West. Naturally, those who believe that all truth is defined by power (as postmoderns do) don't hesitate to use the power of the media, government, and the courts to attack any institution thwarting their influence.
Muslims outnumber Catholics by a growing margin, but almost no one among the anti-Catholic elites in the media or the academy speaks an ill word about Islamic beliefs or customs, either out of PC deference or fear of a fatwah. The ongoing cleansing of Iraqi Christians by Muslim terrorists -- only the most egregious instance of such hate -- receives occasional mention in the same newspaper whose reporters dig through Vatican documents hoping to link the present pope with some instance of priestly sex abuse.
Meanwhile, on the political front, donors with no love for the Church (such as George Soros) combine resources with labor unions -- whose relation to the Church was once vital -- to create and support faux Catholic groups that provide cover for Catholic politicians who don't vote Catholic. Those same groups -- clearly allied with the Democratic Party -- beat their chests about the supposed partisanship of Catholics who support candidates that oppose abortion and same sex marriage. But whose fault is it that 90 percent of these candidates are Republican?
The betrayal of Sr. Carol Keehan and the religious orders aligned with NETWORK in supporting Obamacare only emboldened the media critics of the Church who extolled them as heralds of the Church to come. Thus, when the Archdiocese of Phoenix announced the excommunication of Sr. Margaret McBride, a Catholic hospital administrator who had given counsel in the procuring of an abortion, the media howled as if the Church had suddenly reversed the course set by Sister Keehan and NETWORK.
(No one need worry about Sister Keehan. There are enough Jesuit schools, like Gonzaga, to keep her busy accepting honorary degrees and making speeches declaring her "agreement" with the bishops.)
The coming anti-Catholic storm will be linked, sadly, to the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama. He may be out of favor with the far Left at the moment, but they, along with the Catholic Left, will quickly recover their lost enthusiasm in the face of a GOP opponent (no matter who he or she is). There will be a furious and well-funded effort by Catholic Obama supporters to keep Obama in office. By 2010, the storm will be felt throughout the Church, and those who blithely claim that the Church and politics are not connected will be as helpless as a fallen leaf caught in a tornado.
With a name like that, I am not the first and won’t be the last.
cretin
You are the first person I’ve ever heard mention that; you don’t know much about him, I guess. His name is pronounced Har-den.
I don’t see Obama being reelected.
When they were in high school, I might as well have had a dozen kids, they were here all the time anyhow. We turned the extra bedroom into a bunkhouse.
Things have quieted down with one in the Marines and one just back week before last from college. But her friends have started showing up again. Which is fine with me, because we were rattling around in this house all by ourselves.
I led a somewhat misspent youth, but it never occurred to me either.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
You got that right. FR is a hive of Roundheads, snake-handlers, and Rapture jockeys these days.
Laughed right out loud! ... still chuckling...
Our Byzantine parish distributes the annual church calendar (always with a gorgeous icon on it) with all the Daily Readings, as well as the Cycle, and what the "Tone" (musical set) is to be for that date. Along with all the other Catholic stuff, like the fish on the Fridays, Holy Days, Solemnities, etc.
Can you please cite a reference for that? That would be a great statistic if true.
You don’t think we need one?
It was back in documents after the election of Obortion O. I don’t have the reference. I just know it is wrong.
Well THANKS to a certain oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, Obama is done.
No, Fr. Hardon.
I guess that an old person like me can still be blissfully naive.
I think I’m happier for that.
Cretins around the world will be demanding an apology, if they ever figure out you just insulted them.
It is.
What’s wrong with it? This one looks pretty good to me:
Teach me, my Lord, to be kind and gentle in all the events of life, in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of others, in the insincerity of those I trusted, in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.
Let me put myself aside, to think of the happiness of others, to hide my pains and heartaches, so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.
Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it that it may mellow me, not harden or embitter me; that it may make me patient, not irritable; that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, proud and overbearing.
May no one be less good for having come within my influence. No one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow traveler in our journey toward eternal life.
As I go my rounds from one task to another, let me say, from time to time, a word of love to You.
May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity. Amen.
What’s wrong with it? This one looks pretty good to me:(My comment wasn't clear ... sorry.) That was "Grunthor" that was laughing in regards to Fr. Hardon, not me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.