By Judie Brown
The topic of whether a Catholic can opt to obey certain Church laws but not others has been in and out of the public eye for years. One of the most helpful instructions for Catholics seeking truth comes from Pope Pius X, who issued a decree on frequent reception of Holy Communion.
In the document, he wrote that “confessors . . . must take care not to dissuade anyone from frequent or daily Communion, provided he is found to be in a state of grace and approaches with a right intention.” This simple guidance affirmed what the Church has long taught regarding reception of the Eucharist.
Time went by, though, and some teachers in the Church began the slow walk toward dilution of doctrine. In some circles the entire concept of someone being in a state of grace crumbled under the weight of social pressures and false concepts of acceptable sin.
The most recent example of this is Melinda Gates’ claim. She explained, “Because of a man-made rule in the church that I am in—the Catholic Church—we’re not allowing women to have access to contraceptives. And so talk about an incongruency, right? And I had to really then reckon with my faith.”
Influenced by the writings of a progressive Catholic priest named Father Richard Rohr, OFM, Gates concluded that her belief in contraception and her relationship with her Catholic faith were compatible. In her case, truth took a holiday.
While Gates may be the most public dissenter in our midst these days, her ideas are trounced by truth in other arenas. For example, in the nation’s capital, Congressman Eric Burlison, who identifies as a Christian, has recently introduced H.R. 722, known as the Life at Conception Act. The text of this act states: “The terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.”
So while Catholic-light Gates is degrading Church teaching, the Christian Eric Burlison is striving to defend truth in law and in life. In our confused age, this dramatic contrast between Gates and Burlison underscores society’s ongoing battle with truth versus cunning.
Just consider the role that dissenter Cardinal Roger Mahony played in the funeral of the late Pope Francis. Even though Mahony was implicated in a sex abuse cover-up in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he apparently remains untouchable in some Catholic circles.
This begs a couple questions for inquiring minds like mine. Whatever happened to Catholics in the public eye who, like Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Cardinal Raymond Burke, never waver from evangelizing their fellow human beings in the hopes that souls will be touched and subsequently saved? Why aren’t those who care about eternal salvation elevated to the highest levels of media coverage? If this were the case, the maximum number of souls could be reached by love, truth, and hopefully the salvific nature of grace.
Saving those souls is the most urgent priority to a Godly teacher, while for those not so inclined, the immersion of unsuspecting minds and hearts in a sea of fallible disharmony grabs the headlines.
To put it in plain English, lies sell and truth bores.
Modern-day orchestrators of fallible disharmony need to take a gut check before they stand before the throne of God. I doubt that He will ask why such folks were allergic to His divine teaching. Rather, I believe He will feel sorrow in His Sacred Heart because so many souls were misled due to their fraudulent foolishness.