The Presidential mandate, forcing Catholics to pay for immoral medical procedures and his compromise offer, signal a major shift taking place in this nation from a Judeo-Christian culture to a godless secularist one. While no society is ever fully a reflection of the Gospel, in America there was a broad consensus across the mainstream ideological spectrum regarding important Christian values such as the right to life, the nature of marriage, modesty and the meaning sexuality. That is no longer so. Godless secularism is emerging as the predominant culture in America.
Christianity and godless secularism cannot co-exist without constant conflict because they hold opposing views. For example, while one defends life and family, the other defends the “right” to choose (death) and to re-invent the meaning of marriage. The two camps have a very different understanding of men and women, relationships, sexuality, the body and many other fundamental realities.
Increasingly, the prevalent cultural view is that pregnancy is a disease that must be prevented with contraceptives or cured with abortion. It claims freedom for each person to do as they please, but in reality the Christians are forced to adapt to immoral behavior. Laws that regulate jobs, schools, education and other areas of society reflect the views of the prevailing culture. This is happening now.
Religious liberty regarding issues of life and sexuality cannot be confined to hospitals and clinics any more than slavery could be confined to cotton fields. The whole society is affected. Catholics, for example, demand religious freedom for hospitals and medical personnel to defend human life. The godless secularist culture, on the other hand, demands that the same hospitals and medical personnel be required to perform or cooperate with abortions. Now the government wants to force all to pay health insurance policies that cover a disease called pregnancy. Not to cover it is perceived as denial of a fundamental right to health. Christians already find themselves in a bind and this is just the beginning.
What we are seeing is a profound culture change towards a godless society. The structures that we have relied on (schools, courts, government, etc) are rapidly becoming enemies of the fundamental Christian values. Religious freedom is being reduced to a mere freedom to worship. That means that Catholics will find it increasingly difficult to live their faith in the world, but for a time are still allowed to worship (pray inside their homes and places of worship). Even freedom of worship is threatened. For example, already in some parts of Canada and Europe it is considered a “hate crime” to speak the truth about marriage from the pulpit. There are already initiatives to establish the same law in USA. It is ironic that, at this time, Islamic groups are demanding the introduction of Sharia law into the courts in the state of Kansas.
The President is boldly going forward in his offensive against Christian values. His so called “compromise” was a political ploy to make himself appear magnanimous without changing course. It uses the old tactic of stealing a mile and yielding an inch. Now the media can say: “See, the President tried to accommodate Catholics but the bishops are intransigent.”
The bishops have already said that the President’s compromise is unacceptable; but before their statement was public, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) and Catholic Charities USA, had released their own statements expressing their satisfaction with the Administration’s “compromise”. Thus, the President got what he wanted: influential Catholic voices (two of the largest Catholic employers in the country) to support him thus causing a split among Catholics.
The bishops know that if they insist in defending religious freedom they will have plenty of opposition, even from within the Church, but they must stand firm to fulfill their duty to defend the rights, not only of Church institutions, but also of all people. Just as the Church defends the poor and the unborn, it must defend the rights of those who do not want to collaborate with immoral practices.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote in 1992 in this regard:
Where a matter of the common good is concerned, it is inappropriate for Church authorities to endorse or remain neutral toward adverse legislation even if it grants exceptions to Church organizations and institutions. The Church has the responsibility to promote family life and the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values, not simply to protect herself from the application of harmful laws.
How then can it be that major Catholic institutions ignore Catholic principles and don’t even bother to wait for guidance from the bishops? This reflects a crisis of faith. Catholics and Catholic institutions have, in large numbers, capitulated to the prevalent pagan culture. Archbishop Chaput lamented the state of many in the Church (Paris, March 4, 2011):
“They don’t love the Church as a mother and teacher. And they settle for an inoffensive, vanilla Christianity… This is self-delusion, the worst kind of phony Christianity that has no power to create hope out of suffering, to resist persecution, or to lead anyone else to God.”
What is the answer? As Catholics, we must continue to defend religious freedom against the incursions of government, but at the same time, we need to realize that the root of the problem is that many Catholics, instead of being the salt that influences the culture, have become themselves part of the problem. We need a renewal of faith based in a personal relationship with Jesus and a commitment to be His Body willing to die with Him. Benedict XVI has said:
“The essence of the crisis of the Church… is the crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other reforms will remain ineffective,” Dec 22, 2011.
We must know that there are issues that cannot be compromised because they are grounded upon moral principles established by God and we must be capable of witnessing and evangelizing based on those principles. We must wake up and realize the sign of the times. These are very difficult times but also times in which the Lord is pouring His Holy Spirit to strengthen us for the battle at hand. Therefore, these are times to grow in holiness and to evangelize with the power of the cross. History shows that in time of persecution there are initial protests, but when things get real rough, few stand at the cross and bear the price of martyrdom. Let us beseech the Lord that we be in that number.
Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Rm 13:11-14).
