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This week saw a rare victory in the
international battle for truth and religious freedom. You may have heard
that Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, archbishop of Valencia in
Spain, had been threatened with legal action following a controversial
homily he gave some months ago. In the homily, he criticized the
extremely aggressive and overreaching "gay empire" that is attacking the
family. He called Catholics to vigilance and prayer, calling for a
defense of the family.
Attacking the bishop
As
if only to prove him right, homosexual activists brought charges
against Cardinal Cañizares for giving the homily. He was in a Catholic
Church speaking to Catholics, yet he cannot (to listen to these
activists) be allowed to defend Church teaching on marriage and
challenge those who, well, threaten anyone who dare raise a voice in
opposition.
We're well past the point of "You
can't make this stuff up." You don't have to. The sense of entitlement
the "gay empire" (to use the cardinal's term) has to silence all
opposition is limitless and is becoming totalitarian. They've had too
many successes in just such cases, so it is heartening to see a victory
for sanity.
Threatened with three years in prison, Cardinal Cañizares prevailed when
a Spanish judge threw out the charges, finding truthfully enough that
in the controversial homily in question, he was exercising his right to
free speech and had no criminal intent or appeal to hatred or violence.
We have discussed many times in Spirit & Life
how radical gender ideology has infected many institutions here and
around the world, bringing its corrosive anti-reality and anti-God
worldview to corners once thought immune to politics. Since the LGBT
movement cannot defend its views with reason, it must appeal with raw
emotion and project its own hatred onto its opponents and remove their
rights to free speech, and increasingly, to any public endeavor
whatsoever.
Bishops standing together
So
to do what Cardinal Cañizares did takes courage and leadership, traits
he shares with Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pla, who also hails from
Valencia but is now bishop of Alcala de Henares, Spain. HLI awarded
Bishop Reig Pla the Cardinal von Galen award in 2013 for his courage in
defending Christ and His Church. Spain has seen many hardships over the
years, but with leaders like this they have greater hope.
Bishops should dedicate
themselves to their apostolic office as witness of Christ before all
men. They should not only look after those who already follow the Prince
of Pastors but should also wholeheartedly devote themselves to those
who have strayed in any way from the path of truth or are ignorant of
the Gospel of Christ and His saving mercy until finally all men walk "in
all goodness and justice and truth (Eph. 5:9)" (Christus Dominus n. 11).
There are many good bishops out
there, and we need to acknowledge their courage when we see it. All of
our beloved shepherds deserve our love and prayers, and frankly deserve
encouragement when they step into the breach and really lead in a
difficult time.
Sometimes the attack comes from the inside
This
is especially true since there is so much to confuse the faithful
coming from bishops. Last week we heard a bishop insist that the Church
is somehow responsible for attacks on persons who identify as LGBT,
repeating a key talking point of those who attack the Church unjustly
and are trying to change her teaching on sexuality. This is truly
disgraceful and deserves clear condemnation-when the Church is already
under attack from powerful sexual radicals it is devastating to have a
shepherd of the Church give aid and comfort to the enemy.
Yet, just when some are tempted to
despair by such betrayals, we hear from Los Angeles Archbishop Jose
Gomez an eloquent defense of the Church's teaching that life is the most
important among many issues that concern Catholics in the public
square. He has been a leader on many social justice issues for the
Church, particularly on immigration, yet he knows that while some issues
admit of a variety of solutions for faithful Catholics, life deserves a
complete and unqualified defense in law, which is sorely lacking in the
US and around the world today. And it is so for the exact same reason
that a poor migrant family deserves our help: because every human person
is made in the image of God, and deserves to live the life he already
has been given as a gift.
In exercising their duty of teaching -- which is
conspicuous among the principal duties of bishops -- they should
announce the Gospel of Christ to men, calling them to a faith in the
power of the Spirit or confirming them in a living faith. They should
expound the whole mystery of Christ to them, namely, those truths the
ignorance of which is ignorance of Christ. At the same time they should
point out the divinely revealed way to give glory to God and thereby to
attain to eternal happiness. (Christus Dominus n. 12)
Giving Glory to God
Cardinal
Cañizares and Archbishop Gomez are two of many within the Church doing
the right thing by exposing the threat of gender ideology. So many in
the Church are indifferent, which is almost an understandable tragedy
given the many years of poor catechesis and compromise with a culture
that is falling apart. We pray for the conversion of these brothers and
sisters also, as the choices are made clearer by the hostility of the
surrounding culture and a core group of faithful Catholics who remain
strong and joyful. We pray every day that they will choose Christ and
His Church and leave the untruths behind. We pray this for ourselves as
well, since we don't presume to have every answer. We just strive in
love and truth to be faithful in small and large things.
Our shepherds and priests desperately
need the prayers of the faithful. We need the strength to give
ourselves anew to Christ through His Church every day. We can't do it
without your prayers.
Thank you for praying for me and for all priests and bishops, and for standing strong in the fight for life and family with us.
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Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Shenan J. Boquet
President, Human Life International
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