Cardinal George warns US secularization is more serious than elections
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Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has said that the “secularizing” of American culture is a “much larger issue” than political causes or the outcome of the presidential elections, warning against a rise of anti-religious sentiment and restating his fears of a future persecution in the United States.
“The world divorced from the God who created and redeemed it inevitably comes to a bad end. It’s on the wrong side of the only history that finally matters,” Cardinal George said in his Oct. 21 column for the Catholic New World.
He said the 2012 political campaigns have brought to the surface “anti-religious sentiment, much of it explicitly anti-Catholic, that has been growing in this country for several decades.” Secularism, he said, is just “communism’s better-scrubbed bedfellow.”
Cardinal George also touched on reports that he believes a successor of his will be martyred. Those stories came from his remarks to a group of priests several years ago.
“I am (correctly) quoted as saying that I expected to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square,” the cardinal wrote.
However, he said the reports left out his last phrase about the bishop who succeeds a possible martyr: “His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often in human history.”
The cardinal said he was trying to express “in overly dramatic fashion” what the “complete secularization” of society could bring.
“What I said is not ‘prophetic’ but a way to force people to think outside of the usual categories that limit and sometimes poison both private and public discourse.”
Cardinal George said his predecessor Cardinal George Mundelein acted similarly in his 1937 criticisms of Adolph Hitler, whose Nazi government had dissolved Catholic youth groups, silenced the German bishops in the media and tried to discredit the Church’s work through putting on trial priests, monks and sisters accused of immorality. [More]
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12 Comments
I agree with Florian. The RC church’s return to the middle ages and the right wing evangelicals have produced the growing population of people who want nothing to do with church and, for some Christianity. The “secular” people referred to are often more spiritual and more Christ like than those leading the RC and the right wing evangelicals. Pew sitters are often unreflecting sheep.
All secular means is not following or imposing any religion, which is exactly what the government should be (unless you want to pick a religion that every American is forced by law to follow – which doesn’t seem very American, does it?).
The Roman Catholic hierarchy is both the originator and the agent-in-chief of secularism. It started with “Catholic” marriage back in the XVI century and has all but destroyed Western Catholicism. We’ve already passed the point where our hierarchy actually serves its true and spiritual purpose of sanctification of its membership and the world at large. In fact, the hierarchy is an obstacle and impediment to holiness, especially if you take a look at these modern mediaeval princes robed like royalty! Cardinal Martini of Milano said as much while he lay dying, but the bishops just weren’t listening. Sorry ’bout that!
Well said Florian. I think this Cardinal is part of the problem, definately not a part of a solution.
Too bad the Cardinal couldn’t present a more positive, hopeful statement. The Bishops have shown no leadership skills, they have participated in the intrinsic evil of child abuse and cover up, causing untold distruction of healthy life.
Weinberg the American church are like sheep without shepherds.
We in the American Church are like sheep without a shephard.
How pathetic and tragic that so many of my brothers do not have for themselves a sense of personal responsibility! The Church has its Shepherd and He is Christ Jesus. He speaks to us at every mass and when we read His word. Most Bishops and Priests are wonderful men of the Lord and His true servant. That there were some Bishops and Priests tragically guilty of very serious crimes does not change that but reaffirms the constant teachings regarding our fallen state and our need of reconciliation! There is no American Church. There is only One Catholic Church and it is His Body, the Body of Christ!
Too bad that one Catholic church systematically shuffled abusers around at the expense of the dignity and rights of minors around the world. You speak of good men and reconciliation as if that absolves them of all crimes they committed – it does not, and yet the Catholic church fought against lengthening the statute of limitations in Boston, USA. The Catholic church is all for justice, except when they are the defendants. And all of this from an organization that claims moral superiority over other religions and divine inspiration. The hypocrisy is so thick I can cut it with a butter knife.
History appears to be repeating itself. Look at Russia with the raise of socialism leading to atheistic communism. Religion had to be taken out of power and was. Germany, with its socialism,and raise to power and how religion and the Catholic church was taken out of power. Today we in America have Obamaism with his socialism aganda. His telling the Catholic church what they will do. The sad reality is that more than half of Catholics (Catholics in name only) aggree with him. If Obama is re-elected again, we will see a more violant attack on the Catholic church. Put on your seat bealts, Obama isn’t finished.
Socialism/communism is an economic theory that was attempted in Russia. Atheism is the lack of belief in any supernatural god. How you try to conflate the two is beyond me, as they have nothing to do with each other. There were (and are) many religious communists and many atheist capitalists, because economic theories are independent of religious beliefs.
Furthermore, it was not atheism that allowed Stalin to murder his people, as atheism implies no morality. His personal philosophy (which does imply morality, and can be faith-based or logic-based) drove him to do those things, and that is what you should be worries about. Same story with Hitler, although there is some good evidence that he was religious enough to believe in god (and hence not atheist), and he was certainly willing to use the German people’s religious beliefs to manipulate them into supporting the Nazi party.
Why should employers dictate the medical coverage of their employees? If they did not cover medical insurance, the employee would have to out of their pocket, but that money would still come from the employer! Medical coverage under Obamacare is an employee benefit so people can go to the doctor that they choose, and have medically necessary procedures that they choose, and not what their employer chooses for them. There is no place in the doctor-patient relationship for the employer, period. Nobody is being attacked unless you want to include Scientology, Christian “Science” , and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the list of organizations that are not allowed to dictate to their employees what medical coverage they are allowed to receive.
Until you give me a good reason to think that the employer has a say in their employees medical benefits, I don’t have a problem with Obamacare in terms of religious organization employee benefits. Until then, I would not judge the Catholic laity by saying “Catholic in name only” because you do not know what they believe – there could be plenty of people who are devout and faithful Catholics that only disagree on the one issue.
Thank you blag; We have Ontario Hospital Insurance in my part of Canada. To my knowledge it does not cover drugs purchased from the pharmacy. Some people carry Insurace which does infact cover a portion of their eye care, dental care, hearing aids, drugs etc.- sometimes their employer contributes to this extra insurance – Even with all this coverage it can still be a financial hardship to one who is fighting a dreadful desease but it is unlikely that they will lose their home because of illness. As a Catholic there are many things that I judge imoral and so do not partake – As a citizen of Canada I do not have the right to restrict others from making their own choices, even if I believe them to be making a mistake (or sinning) – Canada is a Democratic Country!
Catholic Lady – thank you for understanding that you cannot/shouldn’t force others to follow your belief. I with more people in the world followed your example on that and didn’t try to enforce their religious beliefs through the US government. You have my respect and admiration.