On Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 a blogger posted a response to Jimmy Akin on the President Obama health care reform with regard to contraception. Jimmy Akin on Healthcare:
Will the 98% of American Catholic women who use artificial contraceptives understand the reasoning if the church makes the choice to end all health insurance coverage for their employees rather than cover contraceptives and sterilization procedures?
Guttmacher Report on Contraceptive Use
"Church officials try very hard not to understand that most Catholics have simply moved on with this issue . . ."It's a tough and weird problem because the church has doubled-down on it, while simultaneously ignoring all the 1, 2 and 3 child and childless families that have become the norm in parishes over the past fifty years . . .
I believe that blogger @cowalker makes a point that deserves everyone's attention, including the Catholic Conference of Bishops. I lived for years in the 'church of the pew', that kind of Catholic that has a life and goes to Mass on Sunday because that is what his or her parents did. I didn't want to be this way and I searched high and low for certainty and truth until God in His beneficence showed me the way.
Now the answer becomes the question. What do we do about it? @cowalker suggests that it is a done deal. The average American adult has responded and the response is not in line with Magisterial teaching. That answer, however, is of the world. The Church is not of this world. Jesus showed us the Way. He is the Way for He is the Word. The Word is Truth, so there is a certainty to it.
The predicament in the modern church is dire, but it is never hopeless. We are called to be missionaries of the Gospel, even in today's civilized world. Joseph Ratzinger, in the homily he gave before the enclave in 2005, said that we "need a mature faith, deeply rooted in friendship with Christ" (4/18/05), and not one tossed about by the winds of whatever seems to be right on any particular day. We need to recollect ourselves so to speak, before growing anew in a more beautiful way. How well we do depends on how well we respond to Jesus' call, through the Church, to evangelize.
It is a difficult situation we are in. There is only one way out and each of us is called to it. Blessed Pope John Paul II introduced us to the New Evangelization. Its mission is to announce the Good News in today's words so that those ears that hear can understand. Focus on Christ with your whole heart and mind and body. Christ is the Word. He has the answers, even if they do not resonate in our modern ear, doorway to the heart. Trust. Dialogue with Jesus in prayer. Ask Jesus to transform your heart. Tell Him you don't understand, but you want to make the effort to try to understand. Step out of the boat. Tell others this is what you have done. Live charity. Speak well of others or say nothing at all.
Get involved in the New Evangelization. Support the teaching of the magisterium. See beyond the doors of your parish and discover the true beauty of a life well lived. it is not easy. But it is a way that leads us beyond understanding, for His ways are not our ways and it is a beauty that is not discoverable anywhere else.
One last thing. I taught at an evangelical Christian high school for several years. I was recently speaking to a fellow Catholic about the numbers of Catholic kids who attend this school in their search for truth. I stated and I believe it, that if twelve, yes twelve, young Catholics ablaze with faith and love of the Lord were to sign up at that very excellent school, they could convert it. Bring its denizens to the sacramental life that is Jesus' gift to us. They can convert our parishes, they can convert the world. We have the model. Faith in the power of Jesus Christ. Faith in the New Evangelization and stepping out into the deep to help is all we need do. En avant!
Michele Coldiron
Executive Director
1 comment:
The basic problem here is people not understanding what obedience is.
Our Lord delighted his father by his obedience to his will which he accomplished in becoming man and dying for us all. The Father so loved the world that he gave his son.
I was a very basic Catholic when I met my ex-wife Martine for the first time. I just knew that it was important to be faithful in one's relationship with God. We lived together for two years before knowledge of my sin akindled in me the desire to set things right some how. We got married in less than ideal conditions.
We had a conflict over contraception. This was after our second child. Martine wanted to get off the pill which is not good for health and which she had been taking for ten years. I did not want to use a condom and she wanted to use an IUD.
This was a very painful conflict for her and I. She loved me and did not want to separate from me though she thought I was too Catholic. I loved her and our two children but I did not want to use an IUD which is abortifacient.
As a result we stopped having marital relations. Strangely this improved somewhat our relationship which had been conflictual for many other reasons including my temper and her lack of desire for transformation.
Eventually we split up. My contact with my children was restricted. One died eventually at age 19 in France. I suffer from the lack of communication with the other one.
Does this make me change my mind. No it does not. We are what we believe. What we believe is what is closest to our core. Belief is not simply the verbal assent of the lips but a deep movement that reflects our being and is reflected in all of our actions. Belief is a moment of love that fills the soul. And only human beings can believe, not angels or animals.
Belief is not obedience already. Belief is the disposition of the heart and will to obey. When the intellect struggles with the belief because it conflicts its own understanding we have doubt. We can never doubt in God or in His Holy Church who can neither decieve or be decieved.
People that are in favor or use contraception do not understand the lives of those that have made the opposite decision. They should try harder. I saw a family of three children with Down's Syndrome, Daniel (18), Alexander (16), and Simon (12). Their nurses names were Cindy and XXX. They were not Catholic but they were filled with joy to take care of these children.
When we think like the world we think that this family is cursed. When we see things in the light of Christ we realize that this cross is a great blessing. Chastity in marriage and indeed in all aspects of human life is a great struggle. But it brings us closer to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Family.
And that is the only place we want to be.
May God preserve a pure heart in our children in California and throughout the world.
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