Putting people first, huh?
Catholic Spirit printed an article lamenting that voters went against nearly all the initiatives backed by Catholic leaders. WTH?
It's never good enough for these people.
Fr. James Martin, the day after the election posted about anger over the Trump win. That was essentially his focus. Where was the expression of gratitude, or at least hope, that now maybe SCOTUS may swing more pro-life? Or that a solidly pro-life platform finally won the presidency and both houses? Instead it is anger and rejection of the democratic process. I don't get it. I don't get Catholics. I don't get Catholic leaders. I don't get Catholic pundits. It's never good enough. Ever.
You are always, always - damned if you do, or damned if you don't.
Where are their priorities?
The following is my comment on the Catholic Spirit article - I would never have seen it if a friend hadn't sent it to me. It's an innocent enough column - but it hit me the wrong way:
So voters reject ballot measures of Catholic concern? Really?
Many people voted for Trump and a Republican platform out of a major sense of urgency and concern for preeminent pro-life issues related to Supreme Court judges and major religious freedom issues, such as those which affected the Little Sisters of the Poor. Do you even realize what kind of sacrifice many voters - including Catholics - made in voting for Trump? - Me
Seriously. What do they want from people?
Do these diocesan functionaries even know the turmoil Catholic leaders put ordinary people through? Do Catholic leaders even know the confusion they sow?
One tells you you can do this or that, and the other tells you you are going to hell if you don't do this or that. You can't be pro-life if you don't do this or you're in favor of the death penalty or gun ownership. And besides, it's charity to be pro-choice - you know, on account of those women without college degrees who don't accept the notion abortion is sinful - as Catholics teach - but that it is her choice, no matter what. What an elitist bunch, if there ever was one.
What?
...reading your 'rant' I began to hum Suberranean Homesick Blues. You are right though, entirely: it is no rant, it is the truth.
ReplyDeleteIt really Is crazy. I stayed up All Night checking it out, the election. Now I am in a self-imposed news-blackout. I ended up at the liquor store, where I bought a big, big black box of Pino Grigio. I'll need it: a fragment of my hyper-liberal family come tomorrow, they are all 'stunned', 'shocked', 'shell-shocked', I could go on but won't. I will have to concentrate on keeping a somber demeanor. I hope the wine helps with that. ?
I am tickled pink. I cooked a quiche : mushroom stew: left to do is an apple cake and an old-fashioned onion pie. If only I were tecnically well-equipped like Fr. Z., I'd find a way to send tantalizing photos.
I like Donald Trump. "Time will tell", as they say, Terry.
Anyway, at least it is over, sort of, for now. Wish I could feed you some pie and mushrooms, and pour you a glass of wine. My family has as hard a time with me, as I, them.
I like your reply, as well.
God Bless !
Oh I do feel your pain! My eldest son and his wife and devastated - gutted! - that Shrillary didn't win. I have decided not to visit them for quite some time. I think 6 months after the inauguration might (might!) be long enough for some of their 'hurt feelings' to die down. How on earth did I ever raise a liberal child??? And the crazy part is we aren't even American! Why do we care so much about what happens in another country? With prayers for a peaceful visit, Angie.
DeleteOh, Consolata, what you need are tequila shots! What?
DeleteAngela M, I overheard a guy last night telling people his daughter was crying after the election and that her friend is worried about being deported...the response was clearly, she's illegal or she'd have nothing to worry about!
"Many people voted for Trump and a Republican platform out of a major sense of urgency and concern for preeminent pro-life issues related to Supreme Court judges and major religious freedom issues, such as those which affected the Little Sisters of the Poor. Do you even realize what kind of sacrifice many voters - including Catholics - made in voting for Trump?"
ReplyDeleteI remember in the beginning of this campaign vacillating back and forth between the two since I disliked both from the start. It was "well, Trump has a list of solid judges for a seat on the Supreme Court." I would pray about it.
hen it was, "well, Shrillary has experience and I can always just turn her off when she comes on the news to speak much like I've done Obama." I had to pray about that.
After the last debate, I pretty much had made up my mind after Trump spoke about partial birth abortion and she defended it with a weird smirk on her face. Not once did she acknowledge the ugly truth of defending a law that allows a woman to abort her child one day before the baby is born. She could not bring herself to say the word abortion either.
Now, the rage is out in the streets. I read that 48% of these so-called "peaceful protesters" never bothered to vote and some are not yet eligible to vote. In my opinion these folks have lost all credibility since they have resorted to violence, destruction of private and public property and DISRESPECT for the rule of law and democracy at work as the election was won fair and square without Banana Republic tactics.
Speaking of which ... were we a Banana Republic these rioting folk would already be dead. Shot on site, sniped or taken into custody and tortured and never heard from again.
Latin America is famous for that as is Africa, the Middle East and other dangerous parts of the world.
As a Catholic I listened and read what the Bishops had to say. I prayed about it and in the end, voted my conscience. Now, I am tasked with praying for the new president-elect as well as the one who lost.
Is she so busy that she can't go on national tv and ask her "constituency" to stop with the destruction and disrespect towards the rule of law? Is she so distraught/bitter that she can't bring herself to ask them to respect the voice of those who voted, that the people have spoken?
Her silence speaks volumes ... ironically, from now on, everytime she is spoken of or remembered, the ugly mob tactics will be forever linked to her name/person.
Yaya I finally replied to your suggestion that I join you in prayer for Trump and for the m.s.m; and I will, indeed.
ReplyDeleteMostly: I do plan to include the Clinton's - for who prays for this family ?
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DeleteGreat! Remember what our Lord has promised us, "where two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be." So when we pray for Trump, the Clintons, etc, let's pray for each other too. ^^
DeleteYour menu sounds way yummy. I would have to invite myself over were I your neighbor. I would bring a sleeping bag too since I would be two sheets to the the wind after so much wine. Buen provecho!
P.S. This video was just great ... passing it along!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9ldUHSgjs
Typos show no mercy! >x<
I guess it is a rant of sorts. I suppose it may be a variation of post election PTSD.
ReplyDeleteTo go along with the two years of pre-election PTSD?
DeleteMercy Wins!
ReplyDeleteAcross the headlines there have been a lot of words about who won and who lost the recent election. In all of this are little seeds of division, a summation of differences, reasons why we are not unified. This causes me to think of unity and the source of unity.
With a little more than a week left of the Year of Mercy left, I am left reflecting on what this year has meant to me but also beyond me, to all the souls I love. I woke up this morning asking myself the question how I would live this last week. I look back on all the encounters of this last year, of the so many who consecrated themselves to Mary, who faced suffering in their families, who sought forgiveness and reconciliation in their families. All the healing that the Father allowed was also so closely tied to the cross. It was not Hallmark Channel healing, it was healing that looked in the face of pain, of division, of wounds and brought a Love that was greater, a love that was beyond all the messes in our lives. Gratitude flows from this perspective, there have been miracles, difficult miracles yes, but miracles non the less. All miracles, all healing all good things are to bring us back to the same place. The Year of Mercy brings us back to each other because it brings us back to God.
At the beginning of His Pontificate a reporter asked Pope Francis “ Who are you?” His response was “A sinner.” Francis the sinner is our Pope. Is that alarming? If we are true, it shouldn’t be. Why? Because this is who we all are. Sinners. And this is why we were given a Year of Mercy. But is our identity more than that? Perhaps we need to ask ourselves in this last week: “ Who am I?”. Standing in truth we might find a lot of answers, a wife, a mother, a spouse, a husband, a daughter…The answers could fill pages. We could our political party there, our skin colour, our nationality, our gifts, our talents, but in the end the answer at its deepest level is the same. We are sinners. But even before that, lest we become discouraged, we are beloved sons and daughters of the Father. In a way this year has been the Year of the Father in the same way as it has been the Year of Mercy. We have a Father who knows and loves us so well that He sent his only Son to die for us that we might receive from His pierced side the healing of our identity and also the unity we all long for.
What is unity? Sure there is unity of ideology, of morality, of political party but the Father desires to bring us to the source of unity. If we seek for unity in the wrong categories we cause more division, we have people screaming hate on our streets, we have silent, cold judgments beneath our smiles. Only a unity based on our identity will bring us truly together.
This unity asks us to go deeper into our own hearts, deeper into the truth and deeper into the source of Love. If I am a beloved child of the Father who needs the Son to die for me, I become one with others in the grace of the Holy Spirit. Why is this a difficult journey to take? Perhaps because when I take it, I have to let go of all the ways of judgement by which I silently find myself superior to others. I have to let go of jealousy, of competition, of the satisfaction of self-sufficiency that leads me to believe that I can make my own path to God by my works. The hardest part is that I have to receive the gift of a Son who would die for me. If we are honest we would realize that there is a part of us that does not want the Son to die for us. No, really that is too much and we don’t really need it do we? Perhaps the people around us do, but not us. This is pride. This is the rejection of the greatest gift that we can ever receive. This is a rejection of our Salvation. One might ask himself “ Am I really present at Mass if I do not let the Son die for me?” All the sacrament and the Mass foremost is precisely this. We have to allow the Father to give us the gift that we will give Him. At Mass we are offering the Son back to the Father as the most perfect gift we can give. But what if we still haven’t received the Son, received that he needs to die for me. Are we not just spectators and bored and distracted by all that is around us? If we allow the Father to give us a Son that had to die for us our life is infused by Mercy and we find ourselves at the source of unity, the Cross. When we find ourselves truly at the Cross, receiving the gift given to us than we can fully participate in the Resurrection. We can also see the worth of each person, we can see that we are the same. This is the dream of so many. Unity. But the price of unity is Mercy. If we receive Mercy in our true identity we cannot help but share it because our eyes are open to see others.
ReplyDeleteIn the last week of this Year of Mercy, I pray that we let Jesus die for us. That we allow him to save us because we are beloved children of His Father and Sinners. If we can do this than Mercy wins. And if Mercy wins we will truly be ready to welcome Christ as our King.
I didn't vote for him but I think that comment is spot on. There's a major level of blindness on the part of the Catholic Left here. The USCCB has had their Religious Freedom rallies for years now.
ReplyDeleteThanks - but I'm afraid the comment may have been ill-placed - they don't get it. It's my mistake - it wasn't expressed more clearly. But I am sick and tired of the Catholic Left - as you identify them. It's the same old, same old for them.
DeleteWill the Catholic Left take the high road and ask for calm? Or are they going to stand silent and let the mob mentality be the order of the day?
DeleteFor the first time in a long time I am confused by those people online who write about how 'Trump will be bad for the pro-life movement' and still bash pro-life people as if that is all they think about and, and, and, and......
DeleteI never realized how partisan many Catholic pundits actually are and how everyone and anyone in politics, the public eye, or just on social media is red meat for them to tear apart when things don't fit their Chestertonian smoke ring dreams of fame and fortune.
I'm not in anyone's camp but a lot of people I used to admire online showed me which camp they are in.
Let's pray for everyone going forth. I was telling my mom that right, everyone is talking, talking, talking. That includes me by the way.😆
DeleteI survived eight years of Obama, I know that trusting in God, my family and I will continue to do so regardless of who's in charge.
I will continue to remain alert, praying the whole time I do so.
May the Lord who made heaven and earth keep his people close.
"a lot of people I used to admire online showed me which camp they are in" Yeah, I just didn't get it. I mean I feel like I can go halfway to where they are coming from but the people I am thinking of end up coming to an irreconcilable conclusion and like you said show what camp they retreat to.
DeleteThat guy in the picture? He looks like a bishop except for the gloves and ring. What?
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of a lurker here but I had to find something refreshing other than social media post election. Your comment is spot on. How could a Catholic leader not get this?! There's much ugliness. I feel for all those here who, like me, have such disparity of opinion within our own families. My own daughter is breaking my heart, and is heartbroken over the HRC loss - it would anger me and does except it's not at her; she's only 16 and has fallen hook, line and sinker for the dumpsters full of lies these wolves in sheeps clothing have been feeding her. I think of some of the strongest words of Jesus when He said, "Woe to those who would teach my little ones to sin...it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the river." I honestly know how He feels. The evil forces have preyed on the compassion of the naive, cloaked every evil they promote in moral language, and then they dare to claim the corner on inclusiveness and morality, all while leaving behind a holocost of death and destruction of the unborn- and the souls of lives they ruin by telling them that good is evil and evil is good. I am angry that she and so many feel angry and scared. However, she is a child and I can't even understand how so many fully grown adults are so blind. At any rate, I also am trying not to get too caught up in it all but to just love and minister to the people that God puts in front of me each moment. While there is time let us do good.
ReplyDeleteAmen. I hope you will continue to share your thoughts with the rest of us. Let's hope and pray for beloved nation at this time as it is very distressing to see such chaos.
Delete