Guest Opinion: Are You Really Catholic?

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - �Today more than ever, our nation is in need of Catholics who know their faith deeply and express their faith, with integrity, by their daily living.� Archbishop Raymond Burke

After reading His Excellency�s outstanding address at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and studying the current state of affairs in our nation, I�m prompted to ask a personal question:

Are you really Catholic?

Are you Catholic because your parents were Catholic, because their parents were Catholic because their parents were Catholic? Is it your culture or your faith? Is it your present choice or your history? Is it your conviction or a �hat� you put on for baptisms, weddings and funerals?

The evidence clearly shows that too many �Catholics� in America are Catholic for reasons other than a conviction of faith. And that�s just not going to cut it any longer. Our culture and our country are flying at warp speed into a black hole of godlessness, and I am increasingly flabbergasted at the sheer number of Catholics who are helping to fuel the descent.

Shamefully, the fact is that Catholics are largely responsible for electing our current government. That means that the majority of Catholics in America either don�t truly know their faith and what it means, or they don�t care, or they lack the courage to make their choices in properly informed by their faith.

It�s pathetic that so many who say they belong to Christ are so easily beguiled and deceived.The sacrifice of the Cross must not mean very much to many of us because we�re willing to sell it real cheap in exchange for the good opinion of those who would silence Christ. Precious Blood was spilled for our sins. Today our leaders and our culture want to wash away Its saving stain, and the majority of Catholics are quietly watching them mop� even handing them a bucket.

It�s not enough to be culturally Catholic, a holiday Catholic, or Catholic by ancestry. It is certainly not good enough to profess a Catholic faith in church, and then deny it by our life�s choices. Hear these words from our faithful Archbishop:

�In a culture which embraces an agenda of death, Catholics and Catholic institutions are necessarily counter-cultural. If we as individuals or our Catholic institutions are not willing to accept the burdens and the suffering necessarily involved in calling our culture to reform, then we are not worthy of the name Catholic.�

It is our Christian duty to call our culture to reform. We�re not supposed to blend in and �adapt� our faith to the changing times! We�re supposed to be showing our lost culture the way of true and lasting peace, which can only be found in Christ. It is our responsibility to be firm in defense of the natural and moral law even when it makes us unpopular or hated. If we�re not willing to do that are we worthy to be called Catholic?

Our Church is far from perfect. There will always be mistakes, even travesties that we will weep over and work to correct with God�s grace. As long as people are flawed, there will always be problems to overcome. But Jesus has promised us that even the gates of hell will not prevail against us. He has given us His body for food and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and our Blessed Mother to aid and comfort us. We have everything we need, if we will only be true to Christ instead of this world.

You are free to decide where and with whom you stand. You do not, however, have the right to try to change the Catholic Church to suit your opinions or wishes. No matter how brilliant you are, you are not above the Magisterium. No matter how persuasive the political position, you cannot ignore the law of the Church and the Natural Law. Doctrine and Orthodoxy may be distasteful words in this age of personal freedoms, but if you call yourself Catholic, you need to know what Catholic doctrine actually says and follow it. All of it � not just this or that particular idea that suits your preferences. The Church is not a cafeteria. You are not free to take some things and leave others.

If you are pro-abortion (also dishonestly known as �pro-choice�), you are not a faithful Catholic. It is never okay to kill an unborn human being. There simply is no way to reconcile support for abortion with authentic Catholic teaching which is based upon the simple foundation of true human rights beginning with the Right to Life.

If you are in favor of gay �marriage�, you are not a faithful Catholic. The defense of marriage between one man and one woman is not about denying anyone equality. Marriage is not a right that every person is equally �entitled� to the same as free speech. The union of man and woman is the only solid foundation on which to build a ...

Kaylan is right- some of the comments on here reveal what a sad state our religion is in. It's sad that her comments reveal this more than some of the others. I think the "real" Catholics are the ones full of pride. They are the ones massaging their egos while putting others down. I'm not saying you should approve of something if you think it is truly a sin- but you should definitely show some compassion.

How easy it is for heterosexuals to tell their gay brothers and sisters in Christ to "offer it up" in regards to their sexuality. The APA no longer characterizes homosexuality as a disorder. And the homosexuals on here are not prideful people looking for affirmation for their "immoral" acts. None of them even said they were sexually active. People may say they "love the sinner but hate the sin", but calling someone's sexuality "immoral" or an "abomination" must cut to the core of their very being.

Homosexuality is not just about lust and pleasure. It's being attracted to and forming emotional relationships with people of the same sex. If you want to uphold the Church's position you do not have to demean people and say their true feelings are just merely about lust. It's a slap in the face and it shows what little some people know of homosexuality.

I honestly struggle with this issue. I love the Church and God, but I have the most difficulty accepting this teaching, and I'm not even gay. Gay people can most definitely be in love. No they can't have children, but there are many infertile straight couples and we don't forbid them from marrying. When they make love we don't say it's all about lust just because a child doesn't result from their union. I'm offended that people will look down on me. I'm just a heretic, a cafeteria Catholic or not a real Catholic. I am trying to live my life the best I can. I don't think struggling with an issue which deals with love makes someone horrible.

It's these over-zealous "real" Catholics that are destroying our Church. They are the ones pointing fingers and telling people they should leave the Church because it will be better off and more faithful without them. I really doubt that's what Christ would do. Aren't those who are truly struggling and those who have difficulty with Church teaching the ones who need the Sacraments the most?

Myra | 8/11/2009

When I entered college, back in the 1960s, I quickly found that many of my arguments for traditional values would not fly. My opponents seemed to have a censorial response to anything I could come up with. I was well aware that they were intentionally censoring my speech but could not counter their arguments and I simply became � mute. This was exactly what they wanted. For years, their censorship prevailed on me and I said nothing, but I listened until I eventually realized a common flaw in many of their arguments. I noticed that people who attacked traditional Christian values in a way that censored their opponents mostly used premises or arguments that are self-contradictory, but they stated them with such authority, conviction and condemnation that even their opponents would accept these premises and arguments at face value and not question their validity.

To communicate my discovery to my friends, I coined the term �autohypocrisy� (which is still not in any dictionary, but is now the name of a European band). I define an �autohypocrisy� as �a premise or argument that is used to judge others that, because it is given in too general a form, condemns itself�. Because autohypocrisies condemn themselves, all arguments that are based on autohypocrisy are invalid forms of argument. (Please note that the term, as defined, refers to premises or arguments, not actions or values. A person who says that something is immoral but does it himself is guilty of hypocrisy, not autohypocrisy, but a person who condemns another for judging others by saying, �you shouldn�t judge others� is guilty of autohypocrisy because they too are judging others. A person who hates those who defend traditional Catholic values and condemns them for being hateful is guilty of hypocrisy, not autohypocrisy, but a person who condemns another by saying, �you shouldn�t be self-righteous� is guilty of autohypocrisy because they too are being self-righteous. A person who condemns a defense of authentic Catholic teaching because it causes someone �hurt� is guilty of hypocrisy (not autohypocrisy) because they are hurting the body of God by defending sin, but a person who condemns a defense of authentic Catholic teaching because it is �not inclusive� (defined narrowly) is guilty of autohypocrisy because they are trying to exclude the authentic teaching of the Church. A person who condemns a person for speaking out against abortion or gay marriage because they do not bring in other Church teachings is guilty of hypocrisy because they are using these other areas to divert attention away from (and thus ignore) two very important teachings of the Church, but a person who condemns another by saying, �you shouldn�t impose your values on others� is guilty of autohypocrisy because they are trying to impose their value on others. (The premise that �nobody should impose their values on others� is a horrible value statement because it is used to censor good values while bad values refuse to be censored. It is also an autohypocrisy when it is used to bully others into adhering to this value.)

As I read through the responses to Jennifer�s article, I noticed that most, if not all, of those who condemned her are guilty of autohypocrisy, good old-fashioned hypocrisy or obfuscation by diversion. There is a way around autohypocrisy, a way to correct an argument so it is no longer invalid due to autohypocrisy. If a person doesn�t like a particular judgmental statement, they should condemn it specifically and defend why that particular type of judgment is wrong. Instead of condemning someone for being judgmental (which is autohypocrisy), you might say, �I believe it is wrong to judge XYZ because ABC. For example, I personally think it is wrong that some people judged Jennifer as being hateful because I can find nothing hateful in any of her arguments. If Jesus is Christ, and He is, and if the Holy Spirit is leading the Church in areas of faith and morality, which is what Jesus promised, then Jennifer is showing compassion and love by pointing out that we shouldn�t condone sin. There is nothing hateful in that. It is helping people to find God. This is Love.

Jim | 7/3/2009

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