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Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy | Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel

God Is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins | Thomas Crean, O.P.

Socrates Meets Descartes | Peter Kreeft

Sermon in a Sentence: Saint Thomas Aquinas | John McClernon

New Outpourings of the Spirit | Joseph Ratzinger

Meet Henri De Lubac | Rudolf Voderholzer

Marian Devotion in the Domestic Church | Catherine & Peter Fournier

Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology | Maximilian Heinrich Heim

The Greek Fathers: Their Lives and Adventures | Adrian Fortescue

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Letter to the Hebrews | Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch

Chastity, Poverty and Obedience | Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.

The Blessing of Christmas | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Chance or Purpose?: Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith | Chrisoph Cardinal Schšnborn

Island of the World: A Novel | Michael O'Brien

The Order of Things | James V. Schall, S.J.

The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand | Paul Kengor & Patricia Clark Doerner

Seek that Which is Above | Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church | Pope Benedict XVI

God and His Image: An Outline of Biblical Theology | Dominique Barthelemey

An Invitation to Faith: An A to Z Primer on the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI | Pope Benedict XVI

Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis | Antoinette Bosco

Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age | Vincent Twomey

Ronald Knox as Apologist: Wit, Laughter and the Popish Creed | Fr. Milton Walsh

Christians in China: A.D. 600-2000 | Jean Charbonnier

 



When the Media Decide
What the Church Should Teach 

by James Hitchcock

In Virginia a bishop announces that those who hold office in the Church should adhere to Catholic doctrine, and he dissolves a diocesan committee which dissented from the Church's teaching about homosexuality. A newspaper editor chastises the bishop and asserts that all such questions need to be kept open.

In St. Louis the archbishop requires that the only parish that owns its own property, independent of the archdiocese, should cease that arrangement. The media scold the archbishop for "legalism" and "rigidity."

In New Jersey a girl with celiac disease cannot digest Communion hosts made from wheat. The diocese suggests that she receive Communion by sipping from the chalice or receiving a tiny piece of the sacred host. Her mother asks the Church to authorize hosts made from rice flour, and the media make it a major issue.

Also in St. Louis the archbishop receives the vows of several women who have committed themselves to live as consecrated virgins. This event, seemingly quite minor amidst the day's news, merits a front-page article in the local newspaper, setting the stage for a cartoon ridiculing the practice.

A syndicated national columnist who is not a Catholic wants to "send the Vatican hearing aids" because a recent Vatican letter fails to endorse the complete feminist agenda. We are so used to these media blitzes that we scarcely think twice about them, but in reality they involve something quite troubling. Although in each case those who criticize the Church do so in the name of "freedom," their own agenda is actually a threat to religious liberty.

There is much controversy over the policy of some bishops that pro-abortion politicians should not receive Communion. Here there is an at least apparent excuse for the media 's interest - the claim that bishops should not "interfere" in politics. But the other side is the refusal to acknowledge that the Church has the right, indeed the obligation, to set its own conditions for membership.

The Catholic Church holds that women cannot be validly ordained to the priesthood, that homosexual activity is morally wrong, and that valid Communion hosts must be made from wheat flour, to take three of the currently disputed issues. But in effect the critics of those positions, even if they are not Catholic, claim the right to determine who should be admitted to Communion, who should be ordained, what kind of Communion hosts we should use, and what kind of sexual activity is moral. Ownership of parish property is not a matter of doctrine, but it is basic to the Catholic governing structure, and those who think the St. Louis parish should keep its property are in effect claiming that we should be congregationalists.

The fact that some of those who criticize the Church are Catholics does not change the situation. The Church has always arrived at its teachings through hierarchical authority - popes and general councils - not by popular vote, and dissident Catholics are simply demanding that the Church undergo a revolution.

At work here is the self-defined "enlightened" class who claim the right to judge other people's beliefs, even when they do not understand those beliefs, a claim which clearly contradicts the same enlightened class's constant sermons about "respect" and "understanding," Their favorite cause is "sexual freedom," and nothing sets off their alarm bells faster than the suggestion that chastity may have some value, hence the attention to consecrated virgins. Religious believers are continually accused of trying to impose their beliefs on others, which in reality means resisting having secular beliefs imposed on them.

A recent article relates how "Wiccans" - self-described witches - are now demanding and receiving respect in society. I assume the reporter is not a wiccan, but the article was elaborately respectful and it is inconceivable that any mainstream media organ would criticize something like Wicca, no matter how absurd some of its beliefs might be.

The enlightened class obviously does not understand Catholic teachings about many things, nor does it wish to, and it gives itself license to trash those teachings. Ellen Goodman thinks the Vatican needs a hearing aid because the pope does not listen to her, not that she needs to listen. If consecrated virginity, or the required use of wheaten bread, were beliefs of a Native American tribe, the enlightened class would be very severe in cautioning us to respect precisely what we do not understand, and to learn from it.

There is an important issue of religious freedom here. Some legal commentators have pointed out that it is not entirely clear whether religious liberty as such exists any more, or whether freedom of belief and worship are forms of freedom of expression. If there is such a thing as religious liberty, then it must apply to churches as a whole, not just to individuals. But that is precisely what the enlightened class now denies.




Dr. James Hitchcock, professor of history at St. Louis University, writes and lectures on contemporary Church matters. His column appears in the diocesan press. He is the author of several books, including The Recovery of the Sacred, What is Secular Humanism?, and Years of Crisis: Collected Essays, 1970-1983. His two-volume book on religion and the Supreme Court was recently published by Princeton University Press.

He is also a regular contributor to many Catholic periodicals, including Catholic World Report.

This article originally appeared on September 6, 2004 on the Women for Faith & Family website. It is reprinted by permission of the author.



   
















G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the finest Christian authors and apologists of the past two hundred years. Raised as an agnostic, he embraced Christianity as a young man, ultimately entering the Catholic Church in 1922. He wrote hundreds of essays, as well as novels, short stories, poetry, apologetics, literary criticism, and nearly everything else imaginable. Dale Ahlquist, president and co-founder of the American Chesterton Society and author of G.K Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, writes, "Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper." Read more about the life and work of this remarkable thinker, author, and apologist.



Confessions of an Ex-Feminist
by Lorraine V. Murray


Confessions is the honest and heart-rending account of a woman who was born into a Catholic family, attended parochial schools and fully embraced the beliefs of her faith, but ran into major roadblocks in college. Amidst the radical feminist college environment of the 1960's, she lost her faith, and her morality, jumping aboard the bandwagon of "free love." She indulged in a series of love relationships in college, all of which crashed and burned. Despite the obvious contradiction between feminist teachings and her own experience, Murray still believed she had to free herself from the yoke of tradition. Attaining a doctorate in philosophy, with an emphasis on the feminist writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Murray taught philosophy in college. For many years, she launched a personal vendetta against God and the Catholic Church in the classroom, trying to persuade students that God did not exist, mocking values Catholics hold dear, and touted feminism as the cure for many social ills. When she discovered she was pregnant, Murray followed the route that feminists offer as a solution for unmarried women. Much to her surprise, her abortion was a shattering emotional experience, which she grieved over for years. It was the first tragic chink in her feminist armor.

Read more about Confessions of an Ex-Feminist, or read an excerpt from the book.










 
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