I have received many responses to my somewhat tongue in cheek article last week, “Mom’s Home,” imploring
my fellow Conservative Catholics to stop disrespecting the Pope. The responses were all over the map. I thought it would be well to offer a window into
my strategic thinking. This post should help you understand what I’m trying to do. Although I am largely speaking with my fellow Catholics, the proper
response to Pope Francis concerns everyone who cares about the future of marriage and family. Let us begin with what we know, and reason from there to
what tactics make sense. What we know about the Catholic Church:
- The office of the Papacy is bigger than any man who occupies it.
- The Pope will not change the doctrine: he does not have the authority to change doctrine.
- However, he can change the practices surrounding the implementation or promulgation of the doctrine on marriage, divorce and the family that serve
it more or less well. - The Pope can err on prudential matters, and frequently does. For instance, the track record of Vatican diplomacy over the centuries is not particularly
stellar.
What we know about this particular pope:
- The Pope knows he does not have the authority to change Catholic doctrine.
- He is charming and exuberant and spontaneous. Many people love him and find him attractive.
- He loves Jesus and hates the devil.
- He is not executing his teaching office regarding marriage as well as the world needs him to, and certainly not as well as his remarkable predecessors.
If the students are confused, the teacher is not performing well. - He has left room for interpretation on some points, and has not clarified some issues.
- We do not know what he is thinking or planning by this lack of clarity. He may have some wise hidden plan. He may have some nefarious hidden plan.
He may just be careless. The fact is, we do not know.
What we know about the advocates of the Sexual Revolution:
- They have had the Catholic Church in their crosshairs from the beginning. Going all the way back to Margaret Sanger, advocates for the deconstruction
of marriage and of gender, have recognized the Catholic Church as their largest and most significant opponent. - They alternately attempt to discredit the Catholic Church and to co-opt the Catholic Church. As an example of the former, Margaret Sanger stoked anti-Catholic
prejudices as part of her campaign to promote birth control back in the 1920’s. As an example of the latter, John D. Rockefeller “invested” in
Notre Dame, in the 1960’s by holding his Population Council conferences there. These events were geared toward moving Catholic intellectuals away
from the Church’s position on contraception and toward Rockefeller’s position on population control. - The advocates of the Sexual Revolution today hold commanding positions in the Elite institutions of the United States, Western Europe and beyond. Acquiescence
or outright advocacy of the Sexual Revolution is the default position in the professions of law, medicine, politics, media, entertainment, academia
and business. - The Sexual Revolutionaries have lots of money to spend. Warren Buffet has reportedly spent over $1 Billion on abortion over the past 15 years. Republican
Wall Street billionaire Paul Singer, is heavily invested in the politics of redefining marriage. George Soros is an advocacy industry unto himself.
What are strategically sound tactics for us to adopt, in the light of the above?
- We should not disrespect the Pope, either the man or the office. We need this office intact, when this particular man leaves it. If we have points
of disagreement or concern, we can express ourselves respectfully. Cardinals Burke, George and Pell are outstanding models of this. - We should not do anything to assist the Sexual Revolutionaries. We should refrain from repeating their talking points. Even when we are in the process
of refuting them, we should give as little air-time as possible to restating their positions. - As a specific instance of this general principle, we should avoid giving unnecessary attention to the ambiguous remarks Pope Francis is sure to continue
to make. We should put the best possible interpretation on his words and actions. Not only is this the charitable thing to do, it is also the prudent
thing to do. The Sexual Revolutionaries would like nothing better than to capture the moral authority of the papacy for their side. I do not think
it is wise for us to assist them. - When the Pope says or does something unambiguously pro-life, pro-marriage, or pro-family,
we should give these statements and actions as much publicity as we possibly can. We can be sure that no one in the Elite Media will do so. If
you have so much as a Facebook page, you are part of the Alternative Media. You can publicize actions like these.
Please note: there is nothing dishonest about offering a corrective or balancing interpretation of the Pope’s statements. When the Main Stream Media
gives a headline like this, “Pope seeks to pacify Church’s
base on family values,” they are pretty clearly being manipulative. You are not somehow sugar-coating or providing “cover” for him when you share the text
of what he actually said with your readers. The world is going to pieces, literally. Millions of people are suffering from their participation in the hook-up
culture, the divorce culture and the contraceptive culture. Millions of children are suffering from the loss of their parents through divorce, through
third party reproductive technologies and through the instability inherent in non-marital childbearing. We are living in the richest civilization in material
terms that the world has ever known. Yet we cannot our sustain ourselves: every modern industrialized country has below replacement levels of fertility.
The world needs what the Catholic Church has to say. That means we, Catholics faithful to the Church’s teaching, together with our non-Catholic brothers
and sisters, need to do our work well, faithfully and prudently. If you have a Facebook page, you are part of the Alternative Media! Go “like” the Ruth Institute and share!