From the Pastor
May/04/2010
Irish journalist, David Quinn, recently came out with an article on why he views the current and ongoing attacks on Pope Benedict as attacks on the Catholic Church itself. Acknowledging his better journalistic abilities, I present some of his thoughts, edited and co-mingled with mine.
Although Pope Benedict XVI was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II just five years ago, he already has become a controversial figure. He has gone on to become the “hate figure” in certain media and other circles -- a sort of replacement “target man” for George W Bush. Those circles include aggressive secularists, angry ex- Catholics, and even some within the Catholic fold itself, who live in denial, and still suffer from the delusion that the purpose of the 2ndVatican Council was to turn the Catholic Church into another form of failed liberal Protestantism.
Pope Benedict is obviously in the news more than ever now because of the scandals and the ongoing and ratherunfair attempts to implicate him in the mismanagement of those scandals. But, even without the scandals, Benedict XVI was and is a ‘hate figure’ for some. He’s been attacked often without any proper justification. For example, in December 2008, he was widely condemned for allegedly comparing homosexuality with the destruction of the rainforests - except that he did no such thing. In that given speech, he never even mentioned homosexuality.
A few weeks later, on his way to Africa, he defended the Church's opposition to condom promotion in fighting the spread of HIV/Aids. He was excoriated for this and blamed for helping to cause the deaths of millions. But none of his critics paid any attention to the actual scientific evidence, which shows that no condom promotion campaign aimed at general populations has ever succeeded in reducing the spread of HIV/Aids. What does work, according to the evidence, are fidelity campaigns!
The attacks on Pope Benedict are, actually, a more subtle attack on the Catholic Church, and they come from many directions. The Church is attacked over its supposed attitude towards Jews, Protestants, Muslims and thevother religions, generally; and Pope Benedict and the Church are attacked for their attitude towards homosexuality and human sexuality. They are attacked over their defense of the right to life of the unborn, the elderly and the sick.
They are attacked over their defense of marriage. But in a way, all these attacks are an attack on the same thing, namely the Pope’s and the Church's defense of objective truth and morality --the belief that certain things are right or wrong in and of themselves, regardless of opinion or circumstance. In an age of moral relativism, nothing is more offensive than the person who says, however calmly, that morality is simply a matter of opinion, that religions are all equally true or equally false, and that all lifestyle choices are
equal.
With regard to sex, for example, the Church says that sex has an objective meaning and purpose, and that one such purpose is procreation, intrinsically linked to heterosexuality. This is connected to the defense of marriage. One reason the Church says men and women should marry before they have sex is because it believes children have a right to be raised by their two married parents. But many people, especially cohabiting couples, single parents and homosexuals, find this offensive, and it leads them into a denial that children have any need for, or right to, a married mother and father. But, the Church cannot go down that road! Nor can the Church say all religions are equal, because then it would have to deny that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yet, it doesn't mean the Church
wouldn’t treat other religions with due respect. So, why is all this so difficult to grasp?
Presumably we're all able to treat most of the people with whom we disagree with respect. And the Church does the same thing, contrary to popular prejudicial opinion. The paradoxical problem of relativism is that it claims to treat all points of view equally but, in fact, it condemns those who deny relativism. In other words, relativists defend their point of view as trenchantly and aggressively as the worst fundamentalists and will allow no opposition.
The Pope calls this ultra-aggressiveness the 'dictatorship of relativism.' And the main reason these liberal fundamentalists spend so much of their time and energy attacking the Pope and the Church is because these are the foremost defenders of objective truth and morality in the world today. Destroy Benedict, damage or co-opt the Church he leads, and you go a long way towards destroying opposition to liberal fundamentalism. This is a cataclysmic battle between those who believe in objective morality and those who think morality is relative. Pope Benedict is smack in the middle of the hottest part of this battle! In this Year for Priests, please remember to pray for our Chief Priest, Pope Benedict XVI. As leader of Christ’s Church on earth, he is in great need of our prayerful help.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Although Pope Benedict XVI was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II just five years ago, he already has become a controversial figure. He has gone on to become the “hate figure” in certain media and other circles -- a sort of replacement “target man” for George W Bush. Those circles include aggressive secularists, angry ex- Catholics, and even some within the Catholic fold itself, who live in denial, and still suffer from the delusion that the purpose of the 2ndVatican Council was to turn the Catholic Church into another form of failed liberal Protestantism.
Pope Benedict is obviously in the news more than ever now because of the scandals and the ongoing and ratherunfair attempts to implicate him in the mismanagement of those scandals. But, even without the scandals, Benedict XVI was and is a ‘hate figure’ for some. He’s been attacked often without any proper justification. For example, in December 2008, he was widely condemned for allegedly comparing homosexuality with the destruction of the rainforests - except that he did no such thing. In that given speech, he never even mentioned homosexuality.
A few weeks later, on his way to Africa, he defended the Church's opposition to condom promotion in fighting the spread of HIV/Aids. He was excoriated for this and blamed for helping to cause the deaths of millions. But none of his critics paid any attention to the actual scientific evidence, which shows that no condom promotion campaign aimed at general populations has ever succeeded in reducing the spread of HIV/Aids. What does work, according to the evidence, are fidelity campaigns!
The attacks on Pope Benedict are, actually, a more subtle attack on the Catholic Church, and they come from many directions. The Church is attacked over its supposed attitude towards Jews, Protestants, Muslims and thevother religions, generally; and Pope Benedict and the Church are attacked for their attitude towards homosexuality and human sexuality. They are attacked over their defense of the right to life of the unborn, the elderly and the sick.
They are attacked over their defense of marriage. But in a way, all these attacks are an attack on the same thing, namely the Pope’s and the Church's defense of objective truth and morality --the belief that certain things are right or wrong in and of themselves, regardless of opinion or circumstance. In an age of moral relativism, nothing is more offensive than the person who says, however calmly, that morality is simply a matter of opinion, that religions are all equally true or equally false, and that all lifestyle choices are
equal.
With regard to sex, for example, the Church says that sex has an objective meaning and purpose, and that one such purpose is procreation, intrinsically linked to heterosexuality. This is connected to the defense of marriage. One reason the Church says men and women should marry before they have sex is because it believes children have a right to be raised by their two married parents. But many people, especially cohabiting couples, single parents and homosexuals, find this offensive, and it leads them into a denial that children have any need for, or right to, a married mother and father. But, the Church cannot go down that road! Nor can the Church say all religions are equal, because then it would have to deny that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yet, it doesn't mean the Church
wouldn’t treat other religions with due respect. So, why is all this so difficult to grasp?
Presumably we're all able to treat most of the people with whom we disagree with respect. And the Church does the same thing, contrary to popular prejudicial opinion. The paradoxical problem of relativism is that it claims to treat all points of view equally but, in fact, it condemns those who deny relativism. In other words, relativists defend their point of view as trenchantly and aggressively as the worst fundamentalists and will allow no opposition.
The Pope calls this ultra-aggressiveness the 'dictatorship of relativism.' And the main reason these liberal fundamentalists spend so much of their time and energy attacking the Pope and the Church is because these are the foremost defenders of objective truth and morality in the world today. Destroy Benedict, damage or co-opt the Church he leads, and you go a long way towards destroying opposition to liberal fundamentalism. This is a cataclysmic battle between those who believe in objective morality and those who think morality is relative. Pope Benedict is smack in the middle of the hottest part of this battle! In this Year for Priests, please remember to pray for our Chief Priest, Pope Benedict XVI. As leader of Christ’s Church on earth, he is in great need of our prayerful help.
Very Rev. Canon Tom