A few days ago, two of my colleagues at the Catholic Media Coalition, Alice Grayson and Stephanie Block, wrote their own critique of this program. It appears on the Spero Forum site and is entitled "The Poverty That Is The Vatican's New Sexual Education Program". I encourage its study. It points out (among other things) that with this program the Vatican just spit in the eye several of the previous pontiffs who upheld the role of the parents and decried sex ed in classroom settings.
The article calls this "Meeting Point" thing a poverty. The authors are spot-on correct, and I believe they've discovered a word that is very descriptive of both this pontificate and the "social justice" crowd in general.
Just recall some of Pope Francis' comments during his pontificate so far.
- He said that the biggest problem young people face today is unemployment - not lack of teaching about Jesus and the Church, not unbridled and perverted sexuality, not a solid family life - but poverty.
- He has characterized many terrorist acts as stemming from economic pressures, refusing to acknowledge that Islam is a murderous and barbaric ideology.
- In the most recent "pope video", he didn't once mention the Name of Jesus, but engaged in glorification, if not idolization of sports.
- I'm sure there are others, but these are what come immediately to mind.
Today's Gospel reading was from Luke 12:32-48. One line in that is "where your treasure is, there also will your heart be". Take a look at the bullet points above in light of that passage. Does anyone think that our Church hierarchy is focused upon saving souls from hell and helping them toward heaven?
Now consider the "social justice" crowd and their mindsets as displayed by the programs they emphasize. Two of the biggest such culprits organizations in the US Church are Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Campaign for Human Development. For more background information on them, you need only put their names in the search box at the top left on this blog to read many accounts (I do suggest that you look at the linked material as well). The Lepanto Institute has done a lot of research as well; please look at their site.
Both these organizations (CRS and CCHD), under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, disregard the central mission of the Church for ancillary matters. Jesus Christ founded the Church to save souls from hell and to give them the means to obtain eternal salvation. That's it. Any other concerns such as meeting physical needs, good though they may be in and of themselves, must be subordinate to that main God-given mission - not vice versa!. Else they inflict upon the Church a deadly spiritual poverty in their mistaken pursuit of eliminating temporal poverty. When Judas complained to Jesus about the woman's "waste" when she anointed His feet with oil, Jesus reminded him that "the poor you'll have with you always" as He upheld the woman and her worship of Jesus. As an aside, the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen once quipped that Judas was the "patron saint of social justice".
Judas' example is being emulated. When CRS officials are caught with facebook pages stating "I stand with Planned Parenthood", Judas is being emulated. When Ralph McCloud, who worked for Wendy "Abortion Barbie" Davis' reelection campaign, is still retained as CCHD's director, Judas is being emulated. I could go on and on but don't want this post to get too long. The point is that these outfits, while ostensibly existing to eliminate temporal poverty, are depriving souls of what they need for eternal salvation and are actually impeding their access to these graces. In other words, they are deliberately foisting upon Catholics spiritual poverty - the kind that can starve souls to damnation. Pope Francis said in the beginning of his pontificate, "I want a poor church". Well, he got it alright: with his dopey plane interviews, his decimation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, with his mockery of Catholics offering him spiritual bouquets, etc, he has helped cripple the Church's mission of saving souls.
At any rate, these beasts (CRS and CCHD) need to be starved of Catholic cash. Many parishes in the Archdiocese of Washington had their second collections today taken on behalf of what they call "Communications and Human Development". That's simply a disguise for the CCHD. At least one parish, St. John Neumann in Gaithersburg, will have theirs' next weekend. I urge them to boycott this collection. See yesterday's post for more details.
Most dioceses will have their CCHD collections in November. I'll be putting out boycott reminders until then.
Both these organizations (CRS and CCHD), under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, disregard the central mission of the Church for ancillary matters. Jesus Christ founded the Church to save souls from hell and to give them the means to obtain eternal salvation. That's it. Any other concerns such as meeting physical needs, good though they may be in and of themselves, must be subordinate to that main God-given mission - not vice versa!. Else they inflict upon the Church a deadly spiritual poverty in their mistaken pursuit of eliminating temporal poverty. When Judas complained to Jesus about the woman's "waste" when she anointed His feet with oil, Jesus reminded him that "the poor you'll have with you always" as He upheld the woman and her worship of Jesus. As an aside, the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen once quipped that Judas was the "patron saint of social justice".
Judas' example is being emulated. When CRS officials are caught with facebook pages stating "I stand with Planned Parenthood", Judas is being emulated. When Ralph McCloud, who worked for Wendy "Abortion Barbie" Davis' reelection campaign, is still retained as CCHD's director, Judas is being emulated. I could go on and on but don't want this post to get too long. The point is that these outfits, while ostensibly existing to eliminate temporal poverty, are depriving souls of what they need for eternal salvation and are actually impeding their access to these graces. In other words, they are deliberately foisting upon Catholics spiritual poverty - the kind that can starve souls to damnation. Pope Francis said in the beginning of his pontificate, "I want a poor church". Well, he got it alright: with his dopey plane interviews, his decimation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, with his mockery of Catholics offering him spiritual bouquets, etc, he has helped cripple the Church's mission of saving souls.
At any rate, these beasts (CRS and CCHD) need to be starved of Catholic cash. Many parishes in the Archdiocese of Washington had their second collections today taken on behalf of what they call "Communications and Human Development". That's simply a disguise for the CCHD. At least one parish, St. John Neumann in Gaithersburg, will have theirs' next weekend. I urge them to boycott this collection. See yesterday's post for more details.
Most dioceses will have their CCHD collections in November. I'll be putting out boycott reminders until then.
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