Amoris Laettia: The Vehicle for the Latest Assault by the Dissenters

Charlie Curran's still in the dissent saddle
 chortlinging, We'll get Humanae Vitae yet!

Remember back in 1968 when the encyclical on marriage, Humanae Vitae, was released affirming the sanctity of marriage and the marital embrace?

Remember the lavish full color booklets dioceses developed to spread the message to the Catholic faithful to help them understand the teaching of the Church and why contraception violated God's plan of love for the family? Remember all those beautiful sermons and conferences with priests and married couples eloquently expressing their appreciation for the document?

No?

You don't remember that?

Not at all?

Right! I don't either. All we heard was the sound of silence.


Well, actually not. There was plenty of noise -- all coming from dissenters attacking Pope Paul VI and the document -- like Charlie Curran who fomented formal dissent with a full-page ad in the New York Times signed by hundreds of clergy and lay professors. It happened so fast the document wasn't even promulgated yet and most of the priests and theologians probably hadn't read it. But that didn't keep them from assuring the world that couples could reject the encyclical and follow their own uninformed consciences making themselves their own pope (or tinpot god). And, since the elevation of Pope Francis to the chair of Peter, the dissenters are regrouping for the next assault on the document. Not content with seducing many Catholics into mortal sin, they want the Church to dismantle the doctrine and bless the sin.

But now we have an Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (AL), that is being treated like it came forth from the mouth of God Himself -- handed to Pope Francis engraved in stone like the Ten Commandments given to Moses. And it is being promulgated with conferences and fancy booklets and many statements about "special circumstances" that should allow those in adultery to return to Communion. Of course, if conscience can allow that, why can't a person in "good conscience" contracept, commit abortion, sneak illegally into another country, etc. "Hey, I had a good reason and my conscience said it was okay. For many conscience is "no more than a kibe (corn) that would put me to my slipper."

In Germany, Communion is also being expanded for non-Catholic spouses in mixed marriages. After all, why should anyone have to become Catholic to receive? Just "follow your conscience."

Cardinal Wuer's pastoral plan:
A little glitz should do the trick

Archbishop Wuerl (along with Cardinal Cupich and Bishop McElroy) is in the vanguard of all this with his glitzy pastoral plan on AL (all 58 pages of it) that, like so many recent documents, includes much that is good mixed in with a healthy dose of ambiguity. just to make it possible for couples to practice situation ethics "in good conscience"and practice cafeteria Catholicism. It reminds me of comedian Emo Phillips' line: "ambiguity -- the devil's volleyball." Amen to that. We've certainly seen the damage ambiguity at Vatican II did to the Church. And these liberal prelates learned the lesson as if it was a "how-to" book. Mix the truth with a heaping dose of ambiguity and the sheep can be led like lemmings into the sea of confusion. My husband and I tread water in that sea for awhile, fortunately only a short while. We read the encyclical for ourselves, recognized the absolute truth of its teaching, and stopped listening to the media canonization of the dissenters.

What must faithful, God-fearing Catholics do? If you have never read Humanae Vitae, remedy that situation as soon as possible. The document was prophetic and predicted many of the societal disasters we are experiencing today. Love the truth. Pray for Holy Mother Church, the battered bride of so many Judases offering smiles and kisses to mask their betrayal. Never give up and above all, never despair.

If you need encouragement (Don't we all?), read a biography of St. Athanasius. Our time resembles the Arian heresy when many abandoned the belief that Jesus Christ was true God and true man. Today the heretics have abandoned the belief that man is made in the image and likeness of God. He's nothing but a brute beast who can't help following his basest instincts. Embrace the true, the good, and the beautiful. You can't see the sleeping face of a newborn infant, or listen to a Bach concerto, or read one of Shakespeare's plays, or meditate on a painting by Caravaggio and think that God has abandoned us. We are nestled in the hollow of His hand always. Love Him and listen. "If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.