https://onepeterfive.com/gaia-church-love-the-earth-heaven-can-wait/
While I agree with the author that Pope Francis is not the Anti-Christ, I also agree that he could do so much more to focus on eternal things such as getting to heaven and less on the temporal and transient things.
To often, I think that there is a related problem. I also strongly believe that Pope Francis and even some of our bishops are too worried about politics and not enough about getting people to heaven. I honestly think that they try too hard not to be a church of "no". They are afraid to point out our sins such as homosexuality and abortion, maybe because the people in the pews are experiencing those things. Instead of pointing out those sins, I think that too often they look the other way when Catholic politicians are not faithful and support those sins. The focus should be on getting to heaven. We do that by repenting of our sins and asking for forgiveness, not by sweeping them under the carpet and hoping that nobody notices them.
Back in June about 6 weeks before President Biden dropped out of the Presidential race, I sent the following letter to Archbishop Cardinal Gregory, the Archbishop of the Diocese of Washington DC, calling him out for looking the other way when, Biden, a Catholic supported abortion and transgenderism.
June 7, 2024
His Eminence
Wilton Cardinal Gregory
Archbishop of Washington DC
PO Box 29260
Washington, DC 20017-0260
Your Eminence,
I am a 5th Grade PSR (CCD) teacher in the Diocese of Wichita.
When we studied the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the following questions came up...
"For what reason should a Catholic not receive Communion? Why is this appropriate? What must a person in this state do in order to receive Communion again?"
The answer that our workbook contained was...
"Because they are in a state of mortal sin. If we are in the state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist, we commit sacrilege, treating a sacred object unworthily, as if we don't care. Confession restores grace to the soul and purifies the soul for the Eucharist."
That goes with what Cannon 915 teaches...
"Can. 915 ...and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."
What should I tell my students when they find out that you don't actually enforce this? In fact, you look the other way when Catholic politicians obstinately support abortion, same sex marriage, contraception use, and transgenderism.
What am I talking about? President Biden who ran for President on a pro abortion platform. The record shows that he is the most pro abortion president ever. Most recently at State of the Union he invoked the name of God when he said...
"My God, what freedom else would you take away?"
Then he made a promise to restore Roe v. Wade when he said... "If you — if you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again."
More recently he declared Easter Sunday to be "Transgender Day of Visibility." During a recent pro abortion rally in Florida, Biden blessed himself making the Sign of the Cross (What a slap in the face.) and then doubled down on his promise to make abortion the law of the land. He has also campaigned with the promise to reinstate the Contraception mandates, and is also requiring any insurer or physician receiving federal financial assistance to cover or provide sex-reassignment surgeries and therapies on the grounds that refusal to do so would constitute discrimination based on sex.
And your response, Cardinal Gregory...
To go on the CBS news show "Face the Nation " and assert
that President Joe Biden “picks and chooses” elements of the Catholic faith to follow, that he is “sincere” in his faith but he refuses to engage with some of the “challenging” aspects of it.
Did you go far enough? Probably not. You could do more.
In May 2022, Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone decided to bar Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from Communion in the San Francisco Archdiocese. Cordileone invoked canon 915 writing that a "Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others.
Your silence and inaction are scandalous.
You have two jobs here:
1. You must protect the Sanctity of the Holy Eucharist. By looking the other way, you bring scandal upon yourself and upon the Church. That's because Biden is obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin by supporting procured abortion. Jesus didn't look the other way when he told a woman accused of adultery: He told her... "Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more."
What are faithful Catholics sitting in the pews supposed to think when you look the other way? What are faithful Catholics supposed to think when you ingore Cannon Law?
Can they "pick and choose" what they want to believe? Looks like they are already doing that!
While the Catholic Church itself holds that abortion is wrong and should not be legal, 6 in 10 U.S. adult Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a newly released profile of Catholicism by Pew Research.
Pew reports that many U.S. Catholics would welcome more change. Some 83% say they want the church to allow the use of contraception, 69% say priests should be allowed to get married, 64% say women should be allowed to become priests, and 54% say the Catholic Church should recognize same-sex marriage. No wonder only one third of Catholics believe in the Real Presence. What are they supposed to think when the leaders of their church fail to defend the Eucharist?
2. Your other job is to get to heaven and take as many people who you can with you. How are Biden (and all of those other Catholics who are picking and choosing) supposed to get to heaven when they are allowed to receive Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin? Are they committing sacrilege as my workbook suggests?
What a teaching moment, Cardinal Gregory! You need to do the same thing that Nancy Pelosi's Archbishop did with her. Invoke Cannon 915. Once Biden has made a good Confession and promised to avoid the near occasion of sin, he could receive Communion again.
In the meantime, what am I supposed to tell my 5th graders?
Sincerely,
Terry Brennan
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