Recently, I had some conversations with family members and friends, some who call themselves practicing Catholics and some who do not, about all the hot topics of the day, e.g. contraception, premarital sex, homosexuality, abortion, Catholic politicians. Their general message is that the Catholic Church is being unreasonably obstinate in not "accepting"* those who go against the teachings of the Church in these arenas. They say that people just want to be accepted and the Catholic Church is being ludicrous, resulting in everyone feeling left out.
Excuse me? Who is being left out here? Who is not being accepted? The Church is the Church and She is what She is based on Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium, etc. To change Her views about these topics means She would have to change the Truth, which simply is not possible. Even more fundamental than that, though, why can't people accept the Church for Who She is, whether they agree with Her or not? Isn't that what diversity is all about? Why is the Church made out to be the bad guy? Why can't people accept Her as She is and take Her or leave Her?
The answer is that the secular world is like ProChoicers. They are not truly ProChoice. They are not truly open to celebrating diversity. If they were, they would respect my choice to be ProLife and my choice to oppose abortion, and they would accept my definition of Catholicism and my choice to practice it. But, they don't. They demand that the Church conform to them.
Surprisingly, when I have compassionately pointed out this error in the celebrating diversity application by my friends and family, they have agreed and their hostility has dissipated. That is a good sign.
"St. Joseph, patron saint of the Universal Church, please pray for us. Please pray that more of us find the courage to enlighten others about true diversity."
*"accepting" - I make sure I clarify that the Church accepts everyone. It is sinful behavior that She does not accept. So those engaged in premarital sex or contraception or homosexual acts or political voting counter to the Church are all in the same boat - they are living in sin and it is that that the Catholic Church does not accept. She does not accept it because it goes against Scripture or natural law or some other source of Truth.
.
image - http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/springbrookhs/media/images/diversity.jpg
.
No comments:
Post a Comment