San Francisco, London, Ephesus, and Catholic Relevance

Catholic Culture ^ | 10/5/12 | Dr. Jeff Mirus

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“The man who chained me up seemed sorry he had to do it, but I did not feel the least bit sorry for myself. Quite the contrary I became very happy—so good is God to the least of His servants. To recompense the man for his good turn I gave him a little money and told him that it was no punishment to suffer in such a good and noble cause.”

Thus wrote John Gerard, SJ in the account of his life as a missionary in Elizabethan England, serving always under a sentence of death. “Everyone” in England thought Catholics should give up the “old religion”, worship according to the new Anglican interpretation of the Faith, and honor the spiritual predilections of the Queen.

Now fast forward several hundred years and read the remarks made by the Episcopalian bishop of California on the installation of the new Catholic archbishop in San Francisco:

The recognition of the dignity and rights, within civil society and the Church, of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered people, and of women, are as core to our proclamation of the Gospel as our solidarity with the poor, with victims of violence and political oppression, and with the Earth…. Some Catholics may find themselves less at home with Salvatore Cordileone’s installation and they may come to the Episcopal Church.... [W]e will not be silenced in our proclamation of God’s inclusion.

Then there was the advice of a former Catholic Charities director that the incoming Archbishop must not, in San Francisco, stress the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.

In a very similar vein, an Illinois newspaper editorial excoriated Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield for issuing a statement on the moral responsibilities of Catholic voters: “Poll after poll has shown that lay Catholics nationwide reject their........

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“Poll after poll has shown that lay Catholics nationwide reject their church’s teachings on certain issues, particularly the prohibition against using birth control and gay marriage. Statements like Paprocki’s will only serve to increase that divide.”

Circa 600 B.C. - "Poll after poll has shown that Jews nationwide rejected God's teaching on many issues, particularly the prohibition against child sacrifice, idolotry and worldliness. Statement's like Jeremiah's will only serve to increase that divide."