The Catholic Cyber Militiaman

By CCM Guest Contributor Ivan Opinion

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…” [Jeremiah 1:5]

Coincidence… I think not. Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Across the Catholic Church in America, our lectionary prescribed for our First Reading, passages from the First Chapter of Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. Our lectionary is set years in advance so today’s first reading was not a ‘reaction’ to recent events.

Consider the outright assault on the pre-born over the last two weeks. First, New York’s Catholic Governor Cuomo signed into law the most egregious law yet in our nation promoting abortion to the point of infanticide. Then Virginia’s legislature attempted to follow suit; and now Rhode Island’s Catholic Governor, Gina Raimondo is promoting a Bill that would mirror that signed by Andrew Cuomo in NY. And still, our prelates remain largely silent, and we wonder why our collective morality is all but vanished on the issue of abortion.

Today’s reading from Jeremiah presented the perfect opportunity to preach on the holocaust of innocents. It could not have been more perfect, it was tantamount to permitting Babe Ruth to come to the plate and hit from a five-year-old’s tee. He would’ve crushed it.

While our pastor did preach in reference to Jeremiah, he took a completely different angle. I kept waiting for him to make the connection, but he spoke not a word about the sanctity of life relative to life in the womb. I’ve no doubt that had he crushed it like Babe Ruth and hit one out of the park in reminding the flock of the sacredness of life, our local ordinary would have crushed our pastor doubly hard. Sadly, our pastor did not want to upset the apple cart and instead chose to remain silent and allow the flock to continue in ignorance. In light of what Governors Cuomo and Raimondo are pushing, no one should presume Catholics inherently know to protect the pre-born. It simply isn’t preached in most parishes.

Too many of our priests cower in fear of complicit bishops while hoping they do not come eye-to-eye with God on this day to face His judgment. Perhaps they think, tomorrow; yes tomorrow, that is when I’ll teach the hard truths. How far must we fall, before they understand their spinelessness has resulted in a society wrought in moral decay. It is an abrogation of responsibility of such enormity that it exacerbates the crisis in the Church to a point I did not think possible. When Christ ordained the Apostles, His instruction was clear, He did not say to them, only tell the people what they desire to hear, don’t say anything that may upset them.

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words, go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” [excerpts from Matthew, Chapter 10]