Charlie Kirk Inspired Millions. Have "We got it from here?"

Did you watch the memorial to Charlie Kirk yesterday? I did -- all of it. And what struck me the most was the disparity between the message I heard over and over again from the speakers about the love of God and the reign of Jesus Christ and the message we get day after day from the Vatican and our bishops. 

Did I agree with everything Charlie Kirk said or did? No. I can think of a number of subjects I would have gladly argued with him. But he spoke with clarity, not ambiguity and confusion like we receive so often from the pope and bishops. Jesus said to say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. How much of that do we get these days from the curia? The latest confusion is about the possibility of changing doctrine. Here's what Pope Leo said recently in an interview with Vatican reporter Elise Allen:

Pope Leo offered his most comprehensive thoughts on how he will approach the pastoral outreach to LGBTQ Catholics, saying that “everyone’s invited in” to the church, but adding that it is “highly unlikely, certainly in the near future, that the church’s doctrine” on sexuality will change. [This, of course, implies that changing doctrine on homosexuality, transgenderism, and other sexual issues is a possibility in the future. It is one more example of confusion being fostered in Rome where those attending the Traditional Latin Mass are relentlessly criticized while homosexual-promoting priests like Fr. James Martin are honored.]

Speaking to Vatican reporter Elise Allen for her new book about Leo, a portion of which was published today on the Catholic news site Crux, Leo suggested that he would try to seek unity in the church rather than focus on “polarizing” issues. [Can you think of anyone more polarizing than Jesus Christ? In whose footsteps is the pope called to walk?]

“I confess, that’s on the back of my mind, because, as we’ve seen at the synod, any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing within the church,” Leo said. “For now, because of what I’ve already tried to demonstrate and live out in terms of my understanding of being pope at this time in history, I’m trying not to continue to polarize or promote polarization in the church.” (This is likely the first time that a pope has used the term “LGBT” or “LGBTQ”, a term that was the source of controversy at the Synod.)

In all his talks this past week about martyrdom the pope said not one word about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Read Hireath in Exile about that.  

And then there was the memorial for Charlie Kirk in a packed arena with an overflow crowd of tens of thousands and TV viewers in the millions where speaker after speaker gave testimony to the reign of Christ the King!

I mourn as a Catholic to see more zeal for Christ from an array of mostly Protestant speakers than I receive from the pope and bishops of the Catholic Church. Think about it. Of all the speakers at the Charlie Kirk memorial not one roman collar or pectoral cross at the podium. Was not one bishop invited? Did not one bishop ask to speak?

Larry Arn from Hillsdale College gave a touching testimony about Charlie and their relationship. Did Charlie not have a relationship with even one Catholic college president? Thank God for J.D. Vance, a Catholic, who said he had spoken more about his faith in the past two weeks, inspired by Charlie Kirk, than he has in his entire political career. "Jesus Christ is the King of Kings," he said, and went on to proclaim Charlie's message:

Charlie showed the importance of strong, Christian fatherhood.... America was his home and he was willing to die for it....In Charlie Kirk we found a great American leader....He treated everyone with grace....It is better to face a gunman than to live your life afraid to speak the truth. It is better to be persecuted for your faith than to deny the Kingship of Christ.

The vice president's speech is worth watching in total. It was powerful and heartfelt. But I could say the same about all the speeches. The impact Charlie Kirk had on so many inspired awe!

Remember the days when people would say in response to an obvious statement: "Is the pope Catholic?" I haven't said that in a very long time. Charlie's assassination seems to have triggered a revival among Christians. The memorial, as one speaker said, was like a tent revival. It even included an altar call with people invited to stand if they wanted to give their lives to Christ. When will we see such a revival in the Catholic Church? The crisis continues and those with the responsibility to defend the faith, the pope and the bishops primarily, seem to be missing in action. 

Which reminds me of the priest who witnessed our marriage who said the laity always bring the Church back. It was also the message of Fulton Sheen:

Who’s going to save our Church? It’s not our bishops, it’s not our priests and it is not the religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that the priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious.

Speakers at the memorial urged the audience to fight, fight, fight to save our country. It is even more important to fight, fight, fight to save our Church. With the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of our 12-star general, the Blessed Mother, "We've got it from here."