12th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2013
June 22, 2013 Father De Celles Homily
(First Sunday of the Fortnight for Freedom)
June 23, 2013
Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
In 1875 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,
James Blaine, of Maine,
introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution
that would specifically ban state governments
from providing any funding for schools run by religions.
It was part of a response to the influx of Catholic immigrants from Europe,
who, instead of sending their children to public schools,
were opening their own Catholic schools.
Blaine and many others thought this was very bad for the country, divisive,
especially in the aftermath of the devastatingly divisive Civil War
ended just 10 years before.
After defeating the moral evil of slavery that had divided the nation so long,
there was a strong desire among many to unite the country,
based on one set of common moral values.
And they thought one key to doing that was through public schools,
which would teach from one moral perspective.
Unfortunately, that one perspective wound up
reflecting not merely the morals but the religion
of the majority of Americans—Protestantism.
And that was exactly why Catholics started their own schools:
to avoid having their children indoctrinated with
the Protestantism presented in public schools.
So that Speaker Blaine’s amendment was essentially, knowingly, anti-Catholic.
It eventually failed, but it wound up inspiring a rash of amendments
to state constitutions, and eventually an large majority of states had them.
And in many of those states the amendments were pushed through
by one of the strongest openly anti-Catholic organizations of the day:
the Ku Klux Klan
What started out with an apparently good intention,
to be one united people, with one common set of moral standards,
very soon became corrupted by imposition of one religious perspective.
Or, to put it another way, unity was sought at the expense of Religious Liberty.
Today these laws still remain on the books: and they are still anti-Catholic.
While no one would argue that today’s public schools are Protestant,
they are still religious: following the religion of “secular humanism.”
A religion with an understanding of morality that is very different from Catholicism
and that teaches that Catholics are immoral because they disagree.
This secular humanism is, effectively, becoming our nation’s dominate religion
—even among many who still think of themselves Christians,
or even Catholic.
And it increasingly imposes itself on us through our government,
as it tries force us by law to adopt this new unified morality.
It’s rather strange, however:
the same folks who promote unified morality
also embrace “diversity” and “toleration”
as the greatest theological virtues, as goods in themselves.
But they make two exceptions:
there can be no diversity of thought about good and evil, right and wrong,
and no toleration of those who do not agree with that one morality.
So that now, Catholics who are faithful to Catholic morality
are tolerated only if they don’t “impose” their beliefs on others
by even simply talking about those beliefs,
much less actually defending or proposing those beliefs to others.
And Catholics who are not faithful,
–who reject Catholic morality and embrace secular humanist morality,
including its culture of death and perversion,
–these so-called “Catholics” are celebrated
as “enlightened” and “truly moral.”
One can almost see the patronizing hand of secular humanism
petting them on the head and cooing: “good little Catholics.”
This last week our president reminded us that he is a disciple of this religion,
and it’s anti-Catholicism.
Speaking to an audience of school children in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he said:
“If towns remain divided
— if Catholics have their schools and buildings,
and Protestants have theirs
— if we can’t see ourselves in one another,
if fear or resentment are allowed to harden,
that encourages division.
It discourages cooperation.”
Some say he was just encouraging cooperation
and tearing down walls that divide.
That he was talking about the 15 year old peace now in place
after decades, and really centuries, of violence
between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
If that was what he was talking about, then he’s very ignorant:
“the troubles” were always about politics, not religion or morality.
And they in no way sprang forth from Catholic schools and churches,
which had always soundly condemned the violence.
But the President’s solution to division is the same as Blaine’s and the Ku Klux Klan:
send all the children to government schools,
where the government can teach them the one right way to think.
They say it’s not anti-Catholicism—it’s just about unity.
Catholicism just happens to get in the way of unity,
because it dares to reject government approved morality.
Government approved morality, government approved values.
Think about that.
In the last month it’s been revealed that the Internal Revenue Service
has been targeting groups that have values that are different
than the leaders of our government.
That—along with news about the government’s vast intrusions on our privacy, and targeting of reporters who waiver in support of
the values of our leader—
has sent a chill down the spine of many thinking Americans.
And into the hearts of many Catholic Americans.
But none of this should be a surprise to us.
Anti-Catholicism has always been around in America.
It’s ebbed and flowed in our history,
but it’s been on a steady rise for the last 5 decades
—in our laws, our art, our entertainment and in our classrooms.
And we’ve seen it especially in last five years as values that had been
truly common American values since before our founding,
have been thrown aside, and their moral opposites installed
by our government as now “sacred” and truly moral.
From the embrace of the gay culture and lifestyle,
to the celebration of abortion as a good thing,
to the promotion of sexual promiscuity and perversion,
to the attack on the freedom of religion.
But it came to a head in January of last year
as our current president and his Secretary of Health and Human Services
—one of those “good little Catholics” I mentioned earlier—
issued regulations to implement Obamacare.
Regulations that would force
Catholic business owners,
and Catholic charitable organizations,
and Catholic schools and colleges
and even, in many cases, the Catholic Church itself,
to provide all their employees with health insurance that covers
not simply contraception, but also sterilization
and abortion-inducing drugs.
And then having the audacity
to tell Catholics they needed to change their ancient moral teachings,
and then contemptuously bragging about all this
in their election campaigns.
It’s the same old anti-Catholicism,
this time not presented with the moral authority of mainstream Protestantism,
or dressed up in the white sheets of the Klan.
But wearing the same old mantel of moral self-righteousness,
and preaching the same old Gospel of unity.
But all this is lie: it is a false idea of America, and a false of idea of good and evil.
And it is truly anti-Catholic.
And it is not a matter of politics
—it is about how we live our lives according to our faith and our morals.
And it’s not about political parties.
In 1875 Speaker of the House James Blaine
was a member of the Republican Party,
as was the vast majority of the Congress and the President.
The party that was founded just 20 years earlier principally to abolish slavery,
and took our country into civil war to end slavery.
But that party,
that fought so nobly to end the oppression of people of different races,
then went on to promote the oppression of people of different religions.
In 2012, President Barrack Obama,
his administration and so many in the Congress,
are members of the Democrat Party.
The party that not so long ago was the main party of faithful Catholics,
fighting for the average joe, and for equal rights for Catholics,
And eventually, after finally shedding its pro-slavery and racially bigoted past,
it became the champion equal rights for all races.
But now, it has followed the way of Speaker Blaine,
and become the champion of immortality
and the oppression of faithful Catholics.
And make no mistake—all too many Republics join them in this anti-Catholicism.
Again, all of them wrapping themselves in the flag, and calling for “unity.”
But unity with what? and with whom?
St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading:
“Through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.
…you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek…for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
I love America, and I am a proud American.
But for Catholics, baptized and clothed in Christ,
when it comes down to our faith in Christ and following him,
we can neither be Republican or Democrat,
American or Un-American.
We should proudly waive the Stars and Stripes,
but we must truly “clothe” ourselves
in the teaching of Christ and His Church.
This means standing opposed
to those who demand we deny our ancient Catholic moral values
and embrace the government approved values of secular humanism.
To those who demand that we forfeit our God-given religious liberty,
the very first liberty guaranteed and protected by our Constitution.
Standing opposed to them, and standing with Jesus,
who reminds us in today’s Gospel:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests,
and the scribes.”
It may mean we will rejected by the elders of our government
and the chief priests of our secular culture.
It may mean we will be mocked and hated;
it may even mean confiscation of our property and even imprisonment.
But as Christ goes on to remind us:
“If anyone wishes to come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
My friends, our bishops have called on us to defend our Religious Liberty
at all times,
but especially during these 2 weeks between June 21 and July 4:
this “Fortnight for Freedom” between
the Feast of St. Thomas More
—the great Catholic Martyr who was
“the King’s good servant, but God’s first,”—
and Independence Day
—when Americans declared war
to defend our God-given liberties.
Let us stand up as Americans in word and deed
against those who would oppress us,
even as we kneel down as Catholics in prayer and adoration
before the God who would set us free.
Let us waive the flag of freedom,
but let us do so as we take up our cross and follow Christ.
Let us pray for national unity,
but let us pray first for Catholic unity,
that Catholics may be truly “one in Christ.”