Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Today’s world certainly fails to reflect 2,000 years of Christianization. As a secular society, we Americans are beset with numerous moral challenges, i.e., abortion, drug abuse, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, child and spouse abuse, homosexuality, promiscuity, the attack on marriage, racism, slavery, etc. The list seems endless.
An examination of the daily news media will suffice to show the rampant moral decline existing in the United States. Our political leadership not only condones the above atheistic materialism, but it also allows it to be broadcast on network television, screened in Hollywood movies and the advertisements for such are created on Madison Avenue. The majority of our current political leadership, duly elected by the will of the American people, have supported and defended the wanton destruction of tens of millions of innocent victims on the altar of abortion as well. U.S. foreign aid to third-world countries is contingent upon the sterilization of their populace.[1] Deviant sexuality is flaunted in gay-pride parades and, pornography, which dominates the Internet and is sold openly, is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The state and federal prison populations are overflowing and the criminal justice system is overloaded.[2] Abortion, usury, divorce, drug abuse, child abuse, gang-warfare, drive-by shootings, murder, theft, white-collar crime, racial and religious hatred, euthanasia, and, in my opinion, the greatest threat—unnatural forms of birth control, are all indications of the secularization of America. The failure is not found in Catholic moral teaching, but in the loss of the missionary spirit, which, a long time ago, both permeated and invigorated the Church.
“There are those who say that the moral teaching of the Church contains too many prohibitions. In reality, however, her teaching is based on the recognition and promotion of all the gifts which the Creator has bestowed on man: such as life, knowledge, freedom and love. Particular appreciation is due not only to man’s intellectual activities, but also to those which are practical, like work and technological activities. By these, in fact, he participates in the creative power of God and is called to transform creation by ordering its many resources toward the dignity and wellbeing of all human beings and of the human person in his entirety. In this way, man acts as the steward of the value and intrinsic beauty of creation.”[3]
The Catholic Church’s doctrine on the sanctity of life is expounded with clarity:
“For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore, from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes. The sexual characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life. Hence the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honored with great reverence. Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced. Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.”[4]
[1] The premise is that if families are kept small they will have disposable income to spend on U.S. consumer goods.
[2] The number of prisoners held by state and federal correctional authorities on December 31, 2014 was 1,561,500. The number of women in prison in 2014 was 106,200 in 2014. At year-end 2014, an estimated 4,708,100 adults were either on parole or probation. The reincarceration rate among parolees at risk of violating their conditions of supervision remained stable at about 9% in 2013 and 2014. The total Federal, State and local adult correctional population – incarcerated or in the community – is over 7.1 million. About 2.9 % of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 34.4 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole at yearend 2014. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2015, U. S. Department of Justice.
[3] Pontifical Academy for Life, Declaration on the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells, August 25, 2000, 36.
[4] Gaudium et spes” (1965), para. 51 § 3; cf. para. 27 § 3
The State of the Church in the United States
Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Today’s world certainly fails to reflect 2,000 years of Christianization. As a secular society, we Americans are beset with numerous moral challenges, i.e., abortion, drug abuse, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, child and spouse abuse, homosexuality, promiscuity, the attack on marriage, racism, slavery, etc. The list seems endless.
An examination of the daily news media will suffice to show the rampant moral decline existing in the United States. Our political leadership not only condones the above atheistic materialism, but it also allows it to be broadcast on network television, screened in Hollywood movies and the advertisements for such are created on Madison Avenue. The majority of our current political leadership, duly elected by the will of the American people, have supported and defended the wanton destruction of tens of millions of innocent victims on the altar of abortion as well. U.S. foreign aid to third-world countries is contingent upon the sterilization of their populace.[1] Deviant sexuality is flaunted in gay-pride parades and, pornography, which dominates the Internet and is sold openly, is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The state and federal prison populations are overflowing and the criminal justice system is overloaded.[2] Abortion, usury, divorce, drug abuse, child abuse, gang-warfare, drive-by shootings, murder, theft, white-collar crime, racial and religious hatred, euthanasia, and, in my opinion, the greatest threat—unnatural forms of birth control, are all indications of the secularization of America. The failure is not found in Catholic moral teaching, but in the loss of the missionary spirit, which, a long time ago, both permeated and invigorated the Church.
“There are those who say that the moral teaching of the Church contains too many prohibitions. In reality, however, her teaching is based on the recognition and promotion of all the gifts which the Creator has bestowed on man: such as life, knowledge, freedom and love. Particular appreciation is due not only to man’s intellectual activities, but also to those which are practical, like work and technological activities. By these, in fact, he participates in the creative power of God and is called to transform creation by ordering its many resources toward the dignity and wellbeing of all human beings and of the human person in his entirety. In this way, man acts as the steward of the value and intrinsic beauty of creation.”[3]
The Catholic Church’s doctrine on the sanctity of life is expounded with clarity:
“For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore, from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes. The sexual characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life. Hence the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honored with great reverence. Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced. Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.”[4]
[1] The premise is that if families are kept small they will have disposable income to spend on U.S. consumer goods.
[2] The number of prisoners held by state and federal correctional authorities on December 31, 2014 was 1,561,500. The number of women in prison in 2014 was 106,200 in 2014. At year-end 2014, an estimated 4,708,100 adults were either on parole or probation. The reincarceration rate among parolees at risk of violating their conditions of supervision remained stable at about 9% in 2013 and 2014. The total Federal, State and local adult correctional population – incarcerated or in the community – is over 7.1 million. About 2.9 % of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 34.4 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole at yearend 2014. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2015, U. S. Department of Justice.
[3] Pontifical Academy for Life, Declaration on the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells, August 25, 2000, 36.
[4] Gaudium et spes” (1965), para. 51 § 3; cf. para. 27 § 3
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The United States has 3,144 counties and county-equivalent jurisdictions, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Today, more than 180 U.S. counties lack a resident Catholic priest. Go to: https://glenmary.org/ You can help by donating: https://glenmary.org/donate-to-catholic-missions…/
The Call Behind the Door
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