The Catholic problem of being un-Catholic

The Problem. Is it any wonder that fewer and fewer people are attending church and more and more young people abandon their Catholic faith? Especially young people? Questions need to be asked. What does it mean to be Catholic? What is the purpose of the mass? How do we express proper respect for the Sacred Liturgy? Do we properly acknowledge the authority of the Catholic Church? There are many things that have become fashionable in the age in which we live and many ways that we have become prone to the dictates of political correctness and so-called tolerance. But how have some erred? And do we run the risk of becoming ostracized for speaking the truth in the face of error? It is not orthodoxy that has driven people from the Catholic Church and caused such a shortage of priests and religious but modernism and liberality. When the shepherd appears to lose his sense of direction, the sheep will wander and become lost and become prey to the dangers of the world. At the heart of these issues is the Catholic mass and critical to this discussion is the understanding that the mass and the liturgy are not forms of entertainment. We are not customers and neither are we an audience. But also we understand and accept the moral precepts of the Catholic Church, even when we may seem to be at odds with the modern world in which we live. Let us examine some of common stumbling blocks that Catholics encounter in the world.

Adherence to the Magisterium. We proclaim and embrace a Creed in the Catholic faith and we should not say this lightly. There are things which we say we believe because we know they are true, even when we do not fully understand them. We acknowledge as Catholics that the Holy Father has absolute and binding authority in matters of faith and morals. We as Catholics do not have the right to choose which things we believe and which things we will not. The Catechism teaches, The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed and that the authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation. In recalling the prescriptions of the natural law, the Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they should be before God.

The Sancticty of Marriage. Marriage is between one man and one woman alone. As Catholics we do not accept divorce as an acceptable way out from marriage. We reject adultry as something sinful. We acknowledge that sex is something reserved for the sacrament of marriage and for the sacrament of marriage alone. The Catechism teaches, The married couple forms "the intimate partnership of life and love established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent." Both give themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two; from now on they form one flesh. The covenant they freely contracted imposes on the spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique and indissoluble. "What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." Living together unmarried for a man and women is something which is considered sinful and should be rejected by Catholics. Catholics who enage in this behaviour should refrain from approaching the altar of the Mass and should not receive at any time Holy Communion until such time a proper general confession is made and the sinful behaviour is corrected either by ending the relationship or properly approaching the sacrament of marriage.

Homosexuality. The Catholic Church recognizes that same sex attraction, so-called homosexuality is a seriously disordered condition. The Church calls people who experience to abstinance and chastity. As Catholics, we must not recognize as valid so-called "gay marriages", same sex or civil unions. We have the obligation to instruct our young people that homosexuality is not simply another equally valid lifestyle or way of loving. The Catechism teaches, Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Abortion. As Catholics we understand that every abortion is a grave evil. No abortion is permitted or excusable according to the Catholic faith. We as Catholics cannot support public funding for abortions or support organization that either fund, provide or make referrals for abortions. We certainly must never provide for any organization which may portray itself as Catholic which either supports abortion or provides abortion funding. While abortion is not the only "issue" in national elections, the right to life, to be born is the principal right upon which all other rights must be founded. If children are not defended in the womb, there is no other provision for the poor that could be deemed appropriate or timely. Candidates for elected offices who specifically espouse the right of women to procure abortion as a right, should be roundly rejected. The Catechism teaches about abortion and has much to say:

Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.

Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation: "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."

Birth Control and Contraception. Married Catholics should know and be aware that marriage should always be open to the gift of new life. The use of birth control and contraception is considered gravely disordered. God's first command to man and women in Sacred Scripture is to be open to life. Birth control rejects life and rejects the whole person in the sexual act. Forms of birth control diminish respect between the married man and woman and it is also a precursor to abortion. The Catholic Catechism teaches, The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).

Confession. Many Catholics today reject the Sacrament of Reconcilliation, what we often call confession. The Catechism teaches, "Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness:

The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."

Proper Respect for the Mass and Liturgy. The Catholic mass and liturgy are under assault across the nation and around the world. Too often the mass has become what the people want the mass and liturgy to be, which is to be about themselves. The mass too often has become more a form of entertainment, even competing with non-Catholic, non-ecclesial services. Often people speak of what they get out of mass rather than what the give or bring to mass. We come to mass to offer ourselves to God before His Holy Sacrifice, to receive the Living God in the Holy Eucharist and though unworthy, we must not present ourselves unworthily We must not cause any opportunity for scandal for the church through the course of the mass either through action or inaction. Those who participate in the Sacred Liturgy must be in good standing with the Catholic Church and not stand opposed to the teachings of the Church either in word or action. They should not engage in scandalous behaviours or live lifestyles contrary to Catholic teaching such as in homosexual relationships or unmarried cohabitation. Our conduct should be prayerful and reverential because even before and after the mass itself we stand before God in His Holy dwelling and before Jesus Christ, who resides in the Tabernacle. The Catechism teaches, It is this mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy so that the faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world:

For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that "the work of our redemption is accomplished," and it is through the liturgy especially that the faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church.

Sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a dialogue, through actions and words. Admittedly, the symbolic actions are already a language, but the Word of God and the response of faith have to accompany and give life to them, so that the seed of the Kingdom can bear its fruit in good soil. The liturgical actions signify what the Word of God expresses: both his free initiative and his people's response of faith.

The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental celebrations. To nourish the faith of believers, the signs which accompany the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a lectionary or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles), the place of its proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and intelligible reading, the minister's homily which extends its proclamation, and the responses of the assembly (acclamations, meditation psalms, litanies, and profession of faith).

The liturgical word and action are inseparable both insofar as they are signs and instruction and insofar as they accomplish what they signify. When the Holy Spirit awakens faith, he not only gives an understanding of the Word of God, but through the sacraments also makes present the "wonders" of God which it proclaims. The Spirit makes present and communicates the Father's work, fulfilled by the beloved Son.

And so we must treat what is God's as Holy, which is our Catholic faith through the name of Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord and Saviour. And so we hear said in Revelation: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."