Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Only Answer to Same-Sex "Marriage" is Caritas in Veritate
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| Fr. Robert Behnke |
You probably are aware that, at the end of last week, the state senate of New York passed, and the “Catholic” governor of New York signed, legislation which makes same sex “marriage” legal in the state of New York. Early this past week I received a news article by email, the headline of which stated The majority of New York bishops praise state passage of same gender marriage. The article said, in part….At least one…Church bishop in the state of New York has said that clergy in his diocese may solemnize same-gender marriages as soon as the state's recently passed Marriage Equality Act goes into effect…The Bishop…of Rochester said in a statement…that he would soon set up a diocesan task force…to help us chart our course to engage this journey reverently, deliberately and in congruence with church law….(The bishop)....had actively campaigned for at least two years for passage of the law….Bishop Mark Sisk said in a statement that…the legislation, as enacted, appears to be closely aligned with the long standing views of this diocese that the civil rights of all people should be respected equally before the law….Sisk noted in his statement that the new law…does not determine church teaching about the nature of sacraments….That is our continuing work, he said. However, nothing in the unfinished nature of that work should cause us to hesitate to give our most profound thanks for the step that has been taken in affording equal civil rights for our brothers and sisters….Sisk had written to the New York Times in May to note his and the diocese's long-standing support of allowing same-gender couples the right of civil marriage.
You have probably figured, by this time, that these are not Catholic bishops (they are bishops of the Episcopal Church, the USA version of the Anglican Church). The Anglican Church has been fighting within itself for a number of years about this and other issues relating to the nature of human sexuality and of marriage, and they are sharply divided, on these types of issues, into opposing camps.
This Sunday, the ordo for the extraordinary form of the Mass allows for a choice—an unusual situation for the extraordinary form. The priest is free to choose from among three celebrations: the Mass for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, the Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart—last Friday’s feast—or the Mass for the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul—last Wednesday’s feast. I chose Ss. Peter and Paul for several reasons. The feast of Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29th is one of the four universal holydays of obligation which, by indult, have never been observed as days of obligation in the United States (the others being Epiphany, St. Joseph, and Corpus Christi). Ss. Peter and Paul is by far the more ancient of the two feasts. But, more significantly, we here at St. Thomas More have just this past week, in union with the Church throughout the world, had sixty hours of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in observance of the 60th anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of Pope Benedict XVI on the very day of this Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul. Today we should—and every day we must—give thanks to God for the gift of the papal office to the Church; likewise, we must give thanks to God for our current Holy Father. We have been blessed in all our lifetimes to have holy popes at the head of the Church, and Pope Benedict continues that succession of holy popes. We can be thankful today, now, here, in the United States, in 2011 and onward, that we will never awaken to a news headline stating, with any accurate meaning, The majority of Catholic bishops praise same gender marriage. In giving the Church this guarantee of faithfulness—this needed authority—Our Lord makes it possible for each of us to know and to believe what is true, in spite of our own sinful inclinations caused by the sin of Adam—our inclination to believe as true what we would like to be true, what would appear to suit our own needs. The essential, the core, the substance, of our Catholic Faith is “apostolic,” meaning it comes from the apostles who received it from Our Lord Himself. The Church’s teaching, its sanctification, and its governance, have been passed on to us in an unbroken Tradition from the apostles over the past 2000 years. On this Independence Day weekend, it is particularly important to observe this, because the United States in its current perilous moral state can only be saved by the truths of Christianity, and all the truths of Christianity have been preserved perfectly and fully taught only by the Catholic Church.
The only answer that will move society away from the acceptance of homosexuality and thus same-sex “marriage” is–caritas in veritate–love in truth; the title of Pope Benedict’s most recent encyclical. And it is up to the Church fearlessly to preach this difficult, but beautiful message. It is not love to allow your children to rampantly misbehave without correcting them. It is often easier to turn the other way and purposely fail to notice misbehavior. But out of love, parents must correct and discipline their children, lest they come to harm. So too the Church, and especially her shepherds–the fathers of souls—must feed the flock, must teach the truths however difficult and politically incorrect. That is true love. The Holy Father has instructed bishops and priests to do exactly this, again and again. Perhaps some priests and some bishops shy away from this because of the reaction they know they are certain to get: from those in the pews, from other priests, from ecclesiastical superiors, from the media. It is easy for me to say these things here; I have found, in only one of my past pastoral assignments, that whenever I would speak about the Church’s teaching on practically any moral issue, opposition would come from a loud vocal minority, but one with some serious powerful connections. So I appreciate the difficulty other priests may have. It believe it was St. John Vianney who said something like…there are no bad priests, only priests for whom not enough people have prayed enough….
The Holy See has specifically warned against silence on the hard truths of homosexuality. The man who is now our pope, while he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a letter directed to the bishops, stating that silence about the Church’s teachings regarding the spiritual harm of homosexual acts stems from a false charity which he states is …neither caring nor pastoral…. There is no real choice but to speak out, with conviction and love, the truths of Christ, especially in these hard areas of human sexuality. Priests will be criticized for it, but they must trust that God will see to it nonetheless. And it is important that Catholic faithful support priests who speak the truth especially in places where that message is opposed or ridiculed. As I said, it is easy to speak thus here; for that and for you, I am grateful. But in every Catholic parish church, love demands it and the future of the Church depends on it, because in this battle of homosexuality, a time of persecution of the Church is near at hand, and indeed, in many parts of our own country it has already arrived.
A few weeks ago, Malawi’s Ambassador to the United Nations said privately that the Obama administration had threatened to withhold $350 million in aid unless Malawi’s government struck down its laws on sodomy. Among Malawi’s roughly 16-million inhabitants, the life expectancy is a paltry 51.7 years, which is the 211th lowest life expectancy in the world. Malawi has the eleventh highest infant mortality rate in the world. And 44 percent of the population does not have safe sanitation, meaning they very well might be peeing where they drink. Malawi is also among the poorest countries in the world. A $350-million aid package goes a long way there, yet here are President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holding Malawi hostage to the new U.S. homosexual agenda. Make sodomy legal or your people can twist in the wind. Within days, Malawi’s government committed to changing Malawi’s sodomy laws. President Obama hailed this as a great victory. Yes, you can usually get your way if you are strong by threatening the world’s weak. And take note that this story was characteristically overlooked by the media.
The successor of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, in an address given only 18 days prior to his election as pope, and one day prior to the death of Pope Blessed John Paul II, then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger said…Very soon it will not be possible to state that homosexuality, as the Catholic Church teaches, is an objective disorder in the structuring of human existence…. As so many of our modern popes—as Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae—Pope Benedict has proven himself prescient. The time may be coming shortly when we are forbidden to state the basic truths of the Church. Will we then have the courage to proclaim Christ’s truth with the possibility of losing our jobs, our homes, our friends, our freedom, or perhaps even shedding our blood? If we choose silence now because of cultural pressures, the loss of human respect and political calculations, how can we imagine that when the penalties are increased to include imprisonment, and possibly even torment and death, we will dare to speak the truth of Christ? Our Catholic Faith is not a religion that provides a formula for not sinning. Rather, it teaches If you do sin – and you will – repent, get up, and then go on. Our Lord knew we needed doctrine, grace, habit, purpose of amendment, penance, and forgiveness. And He knew we needed certainty and assurance. That’s why He gave us Peter, then Linus, then Cletus, then Clement—all the way down to our own Benedict.
Especially in America, too many ministers and purveyors of religion tell the world in every way that everything is fine, especially themselves – just do what others do. Do not judge. Do not distinguish. If something is wrong, it is not your fault. It’s the system. It’s no one’s fault. You are ok. Don’t worry. Be happy. Who needs God in all that, let alone penance and change of heart? That’s why all this is not the work of God; it is the work of the Enemy, the Devil. The successor of Peter is not pleasing to the Enemy. He speaks caritas in veritate—truth in love... The devil hates all that. That’s precisely why our prayers for the pope must increase in our lives, in the life of the Church. The Enemy just hates Peter and his successors; that’s why we must love him, and never cease to pray for him.
Fr. Robert Behnke
The External Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul
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