I was once with a non-Catholic,Christian friend who was expressing his admiration for Pope Francis because of how wonderful and humble he is. I was delighted that he had such positive views.
A few moments later my friend said that he and his wife would consider becoming Catholic too and asked if "outmoded beliefs" were still adhered to. I asked what he meant and surprise, surprise, contraception came up as a one of these "outmoded beliefs."
In a sense, it would have been easier to have avoided the subject, obscured or watered the teaching down, especially as I was feeling tired at that time. A fleeting moment of weakness flashed through my mind, before I challenged myself:
"Who am I to fudge?"
As a Catholic, it is my mission to bring people to Jesus Christ and His Church. This means the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. Some teachings may be less palatable for some but the Truth nonetheless. I capitalise "Truth" as Christ is Truth and when we deny a part of our faith - by our words or in our behaviour - we deny Christ.
Thankfully I explained as best I could the Church's teaching on love, on welcoming life, on marriage and yes, contraception too. I explained that despite what he might have heard in the press or from dissenters that thousands upon thousands of people follow this teaching and that it isn't so much about a "no" but a "yes" to love, to life and to Christ Himself. My friend had never heard anyone defend this teaching positively and with passion and saw that it made sense.
My friend didn't immediately ask how he could sign up and become Catholic but I realised that he is genuinely seeking Truth and authentic witness had an impact. If I had fudged the issue or changed the subject he would have had less respect for me and the Church. Please spare a prayer for a married couple who are discerning whether they are called to join the Church that Christ founded.
My suggestion to you is that when you are next asked about your faith and are tempted to avoid the question or compromise you might ask yourself one thing:
St Patrick, an Englishman, was kidnapped and enslaved to work as a shepherd in Ireland. Tending the sheep he discovered the Good Shepherd looking after him.
In the solitude and prayer of the green Irish hillsides, he heard the call of God to shepherd his people. He escaped and went back to England, where he studied for the priesthood, and was ordained a bishop. Sent back to Ireland he converted the entire nation quickly by a very strategic approach: he converted the chieftains, bards, and poets, the political and cultural leaders - from the top down.
It is a great mystery to be sent as a missionary. For God so loved Ireland that he sent his beloved son Patrick. God loves you and sent you into your family relationships, your workplace, your school, your particular sphere of influence. Each baptised person has a missionary vocation. Each baptised is sent by God to spread the Gospel.
There are more fruitful mission fields, or arenas upon which we will have a very fruitful harvest:
Conscience-We must live the teaching of the Second Vatican Council to end the dictatorship of relativism that sits upon the throne of many consciences like a tyrant, destroying the potency of the Catholic faith, and making many people who sit in the pews, unbeknownst to themselves, worshipers of relativism. The teach of Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Human Freedom is:
"This one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of spreading it abroad among all men...
"On their part, all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know, and to hold fast to it...
"Government is to assume the safeguard [NOT VIOLATOR] of the religious freedom of all its citizens, in an effective manner, by just laws and by other appropriate means...
"The disciple is bound by a grave obligation toward Christ, his Master, ever more fully to understand the truth received from Him, faithfully to proclaim it, and vigorously to defend it.
To sum up: we owe each conscience He for whom it was made - CHRIST! We are bound in conscience to proclaim Christ as the Truth for which all men are created and bound to follow once they see it, especially in the proclamation of the lives of the disciples. N.B. THIS is the real teaching of the Second Vatican Council. No one can say in the name of conscience to be a relativist catholic, worshiping the idol of self in place of the only King who should sit on the throne of man's inmost sanctuary, Jesus Christ the Lord.
The violation of the conscience which the Obama administration attempts in its HHS healthcare, in which it seeks to force Catholic institutions to go against the natural law in providing abortions, contraceptives, and sterilizations is not fighting the Catholic Church. Let's be clear: Obama fights God. Bring it! We know who is going to win.
Family Life - There needs to be a clear proclamation of marriage as a one-man one woman covenanted union which is meant for the procreation and upbringing of children. Same-sex unions can never match the same psychological health, wholeness, and blessing of marriage between one man and one woman. For more info, read here.
The UK attempting to redefine marriage between same sex partners is ludicrous and the first consultation showed this. 70% said no and 78% said it's not a priority. However, the government has discarded the first consultation for redefining same-sex marriages and made up a new three month long one, or they need to "redefine consultations before they redefine marriage." Clearly this is so they can try to shake the tree until the fruit they want will fall from it. Not going to happen. Time for Catholics to sign the petition to stop this madness and write their MP's. Please do this now if you are reading this. It is so easy. Just a single email with a few lines. Click here for a directory.
There has to be a very clear proclamation from every Catholic Church and the life of every Catholic about the culture of death and the lies of contraception, abortion, sterilization, in vitro fertilization, same-sex unions, cohabitation, and everything that attempts to present itself as a legitimate form of family life that is really the seed of destruction of human civilization.
Digital Arena- You can watch live the Holy Father on a digital device. You can know the teachings of the Church in a few clicks. You now have no excuse to not know the Church's teachings. You are not alone. There is so much help for you and so much encouragement online to preach the Gospel. The Holy Father said in his Message for World Communications Day a few years ago that especially priests, but all need
"to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis. Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ."
Social Teachings of the Church - The teachings of Christ about economics, politics, and civic life need to be lived and shared by Catholic to the world that is in desperate need of reordering. The collapse of the economic order is because it is now based on materialism and greed, when it needs to be based on charity and solidarity. There is an excellent online resource, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.Read it!
May Our Lady help us to answer the call from our baptism to spread the Gospel with maximum fruitfulness.
Suppose that the whole world, or at least a significant proportion of it, decided that in order to curb the excesses of the human senses, it was necessary to go around blindfold, and with stoppers in one’s ears. Before too long there would be a papal encyclical abhorring this unnatural practice, and proclaiming that the ear was made for hearing, and the eye for seeing.
And then the terribly well-intentioned exponents of hearing and sight control would denounce the Church for being opposed to their programme, declaring everyone’s right to suppress their senses. ‘Who are they to tell me not to wear a blindfold?’ they would self-righteously proclaim. ‘They’re my eyes, and I’ll gouge them out if I want to!’
After a period of normalisation, hearing and sight control would become almost universal, with the Church alone maintaining the natural law, the necessity of using the senses that were given to us. And the practice of gouging out one’s eyes or slicing off one’s ears would become increasingly widespread, with the procedure being provided by the NHS. Any doctor or nurse who refused to become involved in the mutilation would find it increasingly difficult to work in this culture, with many cases of unfair dismissal for those who were pro-sight and hearing.
How many years of this madness would it take before humanity returned to the natural use of the bodies which God gave them?
(I am indebted for this idea to the late Archbishop Sheen. You can find twenty-four wonderful hours of his talks here).
