If you have read any of my previous posts you should have picked up on the fact that one of my biggest concerns for our country is the creep of secularism. It is out of this concern that this article emanates.
As I have mentioned before we see a continued decline in church attendance, almost entering a “post-Christian” era. You may or may not see this in your own congregation, but statistics tell a dire story. God is no longer allowed in schools and in many cases in the public square. The precedent has been established limited church attendance via government edict. Some of our congressmen no longer know the difference between “amen” and “awoman” and would just as soon eliminate prayer in any public setting.
Add to that the problem the Christian church is facing today. Young people, millennials and even younger, see the church has being hypocritical. Leadership tells their flock to live one way but real life within the church appears strikingly different. Abuse and divorce rates look similar to those of non-Christians. Mega church pastors are continually in the news for their profligate lifestyles. Catholics have their own credibility issues regarding the priesthood.
Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists have been fragmented by their respective liberal wings. Acquiescence to the pressure from the womens’ and LBGTQ movements to have gays and women in positions of leadership has created irrepairable fissures. Non-denomination Christians face the same pressures.
Let me be clear, I am not a Catholic. I want to get that out in the open so you can lower your expectations in terms of my knowledge of the faith. But as God so often does, in his infinite wisdom, he has surrounded me with a lot of Catholics whom I consider friends. Initially this caused me some dissonance. We are most always afraid of what we don’t understand. Not because I thought Catholics had three eyes or something but because Catholics are pretty secretive, okay quiet, about their beliefs. I got over that. I have found most of them to have a solid knowledge of scripture and a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. We may share some doctrinal differences, but I have that same issue with brothers and sisters on the protestant side.
In the world today there are approximately 2.2 billion Christians. Of these “believers” in Jesus Christ some 1.3 billion are Catholic. Almost 60% of all Christians. They may not have asked for it but the Catholic Church has been handed a gratuitous and weighty responsibility. As the largest and wealthiest Christian denomination, they have more influence in Christendom than any other single denomination.
Catholics are somewhat unique within Christianity for a couple of different reasons. One is they have a Pope and the other is their focus on the sacraments. Where their faith is guided by seven sacraments most protestant churches adhere to two, Communion and Baptism. In the case of Catholics they have five additional ones; Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance (Confession/Reconciliation), Anointing of the sick, Matrimony and Holy Orders. But their salient difference is their reliance on one single individual, the Pope, for spiritual guidance and Biblical interpretation with the assistance of the magisterium. But make no mistake it their adherence to church doctrine and scripture that provides the glue that binds them.
If I had to identify the single most identifiable aspect of the Catholic Church it would be their unwavering commitment to and support of the unborn child. As a cause, pro-life is currently front and center in the Catholic Church. A case in point is how Catholics venerate the Virgin Mary and rallied around Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation to the Supreme Court. While the left went apoplectic, Catholics stood firmly behind her. The Barrett nomination was strictly a pro-life issue. While the liberal faction of the church has been relatively quiet during the early days of the Biden administration, there can be no question that they are all in on the side of pro-choice.
With the election of Joe Biden we may see this all change. Joe Biden is now the leader of the free world. He is also openly Catholic, or purports to be. He is the first Roman Catholic President since John F. Kennedy. He prides himself on going to mass regularly and takes part in the sacraments, including confession. He wears a Rosary on his left wrist.
But Biden has frustrated traditional Catholics in many ways but especially with his staunch pro-choice policy. Mr. Biden revoked the Mexico City policy banning foreign aid for abortions abroad; has been a vocal supporter of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, he indicated he would support eliminating the Hyde Amendment and appointed AG Xavier Becerra to head the Health and Human Services Department. Becerra sued the Sisters of the Poor and is an avowed pro-abortionist himself.
Mr. Biden’s most recent effort has been his support of HR-1 named the “Equality Act”. Recently the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had this to say, “Instead of respecting differences in beliefs about marriage and sexuality, the Equality Act discriminates against people of faith precisely because of those beliefs. In the process, the Equality Act codifies the ideology of ‘gender’ in federal law, dismissing sexual difference and falsely present ‘gender’ as only a social construct.”
In an article in the Patriot Post March 5, 2021, Brian Mark Weber makes the point “No wonder the Left celebrates Biden’s version of Catholicism. In its eyes, the only good Catholic is a Catholic-in-name-only who fights against the very principles and values of the church.”
One Roman Catholic priest in Virginia, Father Jerry Pokorsky, wrote in Disrn.com, Feb. 28, 2021, that he felt Biden was the “most aggressively anti-Catholic president in American history.” He also expressed his frustration that some church leaders have overlooked Biden’s break with church beliefs.
Yet in-spite-of this Biden has maintained the support of Pope Francis, “who regularly embraces progressive ideas and has taken issue with the Conference of Catholic Bishops criticism of Joe Biden. In a recent interview with Pope Benedict XVI, who stepped down from the Papacy in 2013 claimed that while Biden regularly attends mass, he has more in common with the Democratic Party than the Catholic Church.”
Given the fragility of our Christian culture today and the importance of the Catholic Church any type of division within the Catholic Church could further blur the lines between Christianity and secularism. It is entirely possible that that Joe Biden, by dragging the liberal arm of the Catholic Church further to the left, could irreparably harm the church. With all the pressures from progressives and secularists it is questionable that Christianity could weather that storm.
But in the end the whole problem rests in the hands of God. We should put our hope in Matthew 16:18. In His conversation with Peter he says “…and upon the rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Let’s hope we are not there yet.
Thanks to my research staff for their keen assistance.