Jennifer Hartline over at Catholic Stand speaks from her heart... and speaks for me... in a beautiful piece that too many will, so very sadly, see as completely radical:
You may hate me and hate my Christian values; you may despise the Church and all Her teachings; you may be certain that if only the old-fashioned notions of marriage and sex could be jettisoned, and if God could be adapted to your enlightened, modern sensibilities, then “equality” would win the day and everyone would be free and happy.
But I know you are wrong. I know it because nothing good can possibly come from eviscerating
marriage of its meaning, or of distorting and twisting human sexuality into a pretzel of fabricated varieties and initials, or of wrenching innocence and modesty from our children in the name of sexual freedom and autonomy. Nothing good will ever, ever come of the brutality of abortion.
Love will never be found in the sexless manufacture of children, or the selfish denial of their right to their mother and father.
Love is “willing the good of the other, as other” the great saint Thomas Aquinas said. If I love you, I will want and do only what is for your good, even if it costs me. If you love me, you will do the same.
The signs all along the road our culture is currently speeding down do not point to love at all. They point to hedonism, nihilism, and despair. When sacrificial love is no longer the guiding principle, we are hopelessly lost.
The plans and vision you wish to bring about in our country are loveless, empty, and hopeless. You may very well be gaining ground, and you may win a few battles, thanks to decades of a lackluster witness and worse, friendly cooperation from Christians who should have known better, and should have done better.
Even so, the Church will survive you. She has watched as every major world empire has ended up on the ash heap of history. She will survive you. But not arrogantly, and not due to any cleverness or merit of Her own, but only because Jesus Christ has promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail.
Read it all for context.
The faithful will increasingly be seen as pariahs, as radicals, as the odd and archaic, as those who should be shunned and even ridiculed.
Black sheep if you will, as I touched on last week.
We will have to steel ourselves. We will have to face the music.
We will have to persevere.
Humbly. Faithfully.
We are the Church.
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