Dear fellow Catholics,You count. Your thoughts matter. You are not an anomaly. You are a United States citizen and your beliefs on how the country should governed are just as legitimate as anybody else’s. There is no such thing as some neutral belief system that is open to all. All positions have a mandated way of living that comes with it’s own set of theological presuppositions that in the public realm are no less tenable than your own. You are not betraying an American ideal by voting, living, promoting what you believe true even though it stems from your faith.
A news program recently on public radio made the distinction between acceptable public opinion verses privately held beliefs. This distinction is a fallacy. You are the public and you have an opinion. This subtle distinction makes it appear as though there are generally acceptable beliefs one may have as a p
ublic figure and other views which must be held privately in your own little corner of the world. Poppycock. The reason you believe as you do is because you believe that there is a right way to live that will bring the most benefit to those around you. That your beliefs run along the lines of the Catholic Church makes your stance no less tenable. It is either right or it is not. (You either really believe it or you do not.)If someone challenges your position as being from a privately held belief, challenge them on that statement. First, since when is it wrong to have strong convictions about how the country should be run? Secondly, that the statement was made shows that they have theory of how the country should be run that mimics very much a religious standpoint which then should be deemed every bit as unallowable. There are no “neutral” standpoints. That is a fallacy.
any other voice in this democracy. Do not be intimidated into thinking that you are somehow intruding on the American game with your active vote or that your belief system is any less worthy than those who think otherwise. Challenge that sentiment! In this land you have a vote – YOUR vote – and it represents what you believe. Don’t be talked out if it!
8 comments:
Wow.. a contemporary priest with two fingers on the pulse of a very pale Catholic America -- are there more like you? :-)
Thank you for this truth; politically speaking, we are indeed treated like saps for voting/advocating toward what is our duty to God and man (not just held beliefs), primarily for wanting wars stopped, first and foremost that utterly diabolic war on occupied wombs (the poorest of the poor!) and also on the overall poor who are drafted (so to speak) into war upon war. Man is not a machine made for work or war, and he is not dispensable even when fatally ill, disabled, or two days older than Moses.
Politicos really should be thankful for the Catholic voice among them. It is a voice of wisdom in its compassion for all, but a voice of true Americans for wanting to lift this country from the gutter--and for believing it can still be done. Indeed, our view is not on the fringes of validity, but right in the heart of it. But bottomline, yes -- ours is as validly American a view as anyone else's in this democracy.
We "counted" a great deal, back when folks were courting our vote in their icon-staged photo ops and breakfasts..
If anyone needs food for thought, one might look into Ron Paul. If one likes him, one would have to work hard for him and cough up some change, for he's one of those decent ones who isn't afraid to call a spade a spade, and we in these days must buy the best president we can
It's not often that I pass around someone's blogpost widely, but this one's going for a ride out in the country.
Amen! Why be ashamed of the most wonderful thing going on this worn out old planet. I've been writing similarily on my own blog the past few days.
O
luminousmiseries.ca
onionboy.ca
Amen, Amen,
I am so happy this is being said by a priest. Would that be true in my own diocese or parish.
Nothing makes me crazier than when I hear the "I'm personally opposed to XXX (fill in sinful behavior) but I won't impose my religious views on others" like that would be a bad thing to do? Honestly, I am sick of being told what I believe (such as you hate gays) by people who have no understanding of the faith. I've often gotten the impression from progressives that my religion is suppose to be something that I take out of the closet and wear only when it isn't going to offend anyone. It isn't some set of clothes i take off when I don't want to play anymore....it is what I am. Thank you Father for your encouraging and thought provoking words.
PAX
Great post, well said, and AMEN!
It is our RIGHT AND OBLIGATION to "force our values" in the political arena and everywhere else!
That's what the left is doing...rather, they're enforcing their lack of values with a puppet supreme court.
It's an affront to society for us to live out our deepest beliefs...why? Because society has a guilty conscience, both individually and collectively, and we (Christians of all denominations who are convicted by our faith) hold a mirror up to them just by trying to live our lives in a holy manner, and by refusing to back down when they try to drown us out.
Thanks for saying it all, but much more nicely than I ever would.
I find your point that "[b]eing Catholic is not something you do, it is who you are" to be critical. It is not merely that people are asking us to work in a certain moral framework - they are asking us to go against our very selves. It is like asking me to vote as a blind person even though I have my eyesight. This is a fact that cannot be stressed enough - Catholic isn't just for Sundays any more.
Secular humanism is every bit as much a “religion” as Catholicism. I am tired of those weenies ramming their agenda down our throats. All of this ranks up there with the stupid statement, “you can’t legislate morality.”
Maybe what we all need to do when confronted by secular humanisim is to adopt their own responses:
"Quit rammimg your ideology down our throats!"
"Keep your forceps off our ovaries!"
"I'm not going to accept any {left-wing, secuarlist, humanist, atheist, agnostic, etc} rhetoric! You can't use your values to dictate to me how to live!
Or the famous Bart-ism:
BITE ME.
ROFL!!
Truly, for so long I didn't know how to say it well - that there is no American section in Heaven that will have accepted qualifiers like, "But it was a 'right'!" etc. God is God even of Americans.
Adoro, you're hilarious, and right on. I'll have to go with the Bartism -- I'll never remember any of the other retorts and might just blend some most painfully.
Post a Comment