The Church and politics

The Holy Father has asked there to be Catholic churches throughout the world that stay open for 24 hours for Confession preceding the Fourth Sunday of Lent, which is next weekend,  as a special initiative for Mercy during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.   I am happy to say that Saint Joseph the Worker Shrine will be one of the churches doing this.   There will be at least one priest available to hear Confession from 4pm Friday 3/4 through 4pm Saturday 3/5.   (So yes, this means you could walk in the Shrine at 3am Saturday morning, and a priest will be there to hear your Confession!) 
In addition, there will be Eucharistic Adoration throughout this time.   If you are in the Merrimack Valley, please consider coming and receiving the wonderful Mercy of God during this time, and spending time with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  This "24 hours for the Lord" can be wonderful for not just our own souls, but for the souls of countless many whom we pray for during this especially graced time during this Year of Mercy.   Pray many souls come home to the Lord during this special event next week throughout the Catholic world.

As a Catholic, it has been discouraging watching this election so far.   I am disappointed that the men and women I respect have done not (or did not do) better.   The leading candidates of both major parties, in my opinion, cannot be voted for in good conscience by any faithful Catholic.  Faithful Catholics may be forced to turn to another candidate, or not vote all together, which means one of those two individuals will be elected President, which does not bode well for Catholic interests to be represented in our government.

We have never been called as Catholics to put our ultimate faith and hope in any political system.  However, we are called to be participants in the political process.  Why?  Because we are called to "proclaim the Good News" (Mark 16:15)  by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This "Good News" embodies the full truth about God, and man.  Man has an exalted heavenly dignity because Christ Incarnated Himself, and died and rose for our salvation.  We need to ensure then, that people in power respect this dignity of the human person that is revealed in nature, but only fully revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the "Good News".

What has gone wrong where we have reached the point where it is looking so glum that there is a real chance that neither major party candidate can be counted on to respect that human dignity, so fully revealed and dignified by Christ who took on human nature and become one of us?   Why have we reached that point?

I think the answer is this:

The fullness of Catholic truth is not being pursued in the political process.  Both major political parties are guilty of this. This is why we are where we are today.    

Here is some proof of this, in my opinion.

• We are willingly or unwillingly practicing the heresy of Americanism, which promotes separation of Church and state, and individual initiative over obedience.  America may be the greatest nation on Earth, but it is far from the glory that is the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church is the only major religion that has condemned this heresy.  Many other religions seem to put love of God and love of country on the same level, even if they are not intentionally doing this.  No, God must be first, and men must be clearly second.  The separation of Church and state is not necessarily a good thing.   The word catholic means "universal", which means it is for all people.  The Church exists for the salvation of all men and women.  The Church teaches the truth about every human person on the face of the Earth.  If this is true, why do we fear so much a closer alignment between the Church and the State?  A monarchy, for example, ruled by a faithful Catholic person, could work just as fine as a democracy.  All human rights would be respected, and the common good would be pursued.   This is a shocking proposition, I am sure to many, but the fact that it is shocking, even to many Catholics today,  just shows how defensive and compromising we have become in our beliefs, which leads to the next point.
• We love to compromise and make deals.  We say things like "OK, I am willing to accept an exception to an abortion ban in the case of etc.   Think how one of the two leading candidates often talks about "making deals"; people are loving it.  This is reflective of the condition of our nation today.  The Catholic Church in her teaching never compromises truth. (Contrast this with Christian denominations who have accepted things like birth control, ordain women, or even accept actively homosexual persons as leaders.)   Jesus Christ never compromised truth either.   When his followers began to walk away after He proclaimed Himself the "Bread of Life" (John 6:35) He  I am sure was sad, but He did not compromise on this truth.    The more Truth is compromised, the worse things become. 
• We look to the past, rather than to the future.   One of the leading candidates says he will make America "great again."  This statement resonates with a lot of people.  Other candidates talk about a past political revolution.  Our Lord, however, warns us about being nostalgic when He says “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)  Many like to render the "glory days of America".  They are dead, however, if they ever existed.  Only the Church is glorious.  Everything fades with time, however, and we cannot "go back". 
• We are seeking to end abortion, but not contraception.   Many religions, and some secular groups as well, are "pro-life", and wish to end abortion, but only the Catholic Church holds that contraception, which proactively ends a human life, is evil, as well.  Only when the full truth and dignity of the sexual act is proclaimed, taught, understood, and accepted, do we have any chance of winning this battle.  Right now, it is not being any of those things, by either sides of the debate, and thus, abortion doesn't stand a chance of becoming illegal.  We have been fighting this battle with one hand tied behind our back.  It is easy to see why so many are discouraged, and have given up.   It is easy to see why so many now do not seem to consider this issue urgent or important, based on whom they are backing.  We are where we are today with this issue because people do not understand and accept the fullness of Catholic teaching on this matter, in large part because we have failed to teach it.
• We are going totally opposite of the four "marks" of the Church.  "Marks" are the defining characteristics of the Church. They are traditionally four; one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.  We pray this in the Nicene Creed every Sunday at Holy Mass.   While no government could ever be 100% in any of this as the Church is, for a government to be fruitful for everyone, it should strive to emulate those four qualities.  It should seek to be one unified body.  Its members should seek to be holy.   It should seek to be universal, for all people, and build bridges with all countries, and not become closed in on itself.  Finally, it should seek to hold firm to the teaching about God and the human person that have been handed down through the centuries.  Can anyone say that our current government or our current political system is reflective of these qualities?   Can we not say that we have become just the opposite?  We are not one, not united.  We are not holy.  We have become closed in our ourselves.  We have no regard and respect for traditional teaching.

So, if society and government is to be saved, it needs to be more permeated with Catholic truth than it is today.  Yes, we will never find our ultimate hope in society or government,  but we have a duty to try to influence society and government based on Our Lord's commands to spread His Good News.  Let's pray we can start doing a better job than we are now.

Joseph, glory of home life, pray for us.