Spiritual Warfare and Catholicism Under Attack.

I want to share with you a presentation I gave recently to the Christian Men's Breakfast Meeting Group at the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Providence RI:

Good morning. I want to begin our discussion about the attacks on our faith with some examples from my own experiences. As some of you know, I have written quite a few letters over the last few years to state, and federal leaders and to the news media on topics such as gay marriage, abortion, and in defense of our Bishop. What you may not be aware of is the disturbing reactions and backlash I have gotten from these letters. Many times people have written back to the Providence Journal and left comments on their website viciously attacking our faith and me personally. I have been called a hater, bigoted, sexist, racist, a closet homosexual, and a dangerous fanatic. I have also been accused several times of brainwashing and psychologically abusing my children because I dare to teach them the truths of our faith such as homosexual behavior is disordered and abortion is murder. Even my wife has been harassed. Several months ago, during the time that the civil unions bill was being rammed through the state house, my wife was driving home from work when another driver started yelling and cursing at her. Why? Because she dared to have a bumper sticker on her car that displayed our support for traditional marriage.

I could go on, but all this pales in comparison to the way other Catholics, our Church and even Bishop Tobin have been attacked for preaching the truth. It goes far beyond just a disagreement or a difference of opinions. There is a feeling of darkness and evil behind the open hostility shown toward Catholics and even Christians in secular world and especially in the media. Just a couple of weeks ago, a Catholic writer in Massachusetts who writes for the Diocese of Worcester’s newspaper, wrote an article on her own website about how she was not comfortable taking her young children to a local park because of the open display of affection she had seen there between two gay men. Being a devout Catholic mother, she only wanted to protect her children from inappropriate behavior. She ignited a firestorm of hatred from athiests and gay advocates because of this article. She and her family were viciously attacked on-line when gay advocates found her article and spread it to other gay friendly websites. They somehow found her street address and phone number and actually posted it online and encouraged people to contact her at home and harass her. It got to the point where she actually received a death treat and finally contacted the police. The police investigated the matter but as you would guess, they never classified it as a hate crime. As in the norm in our society, hate crimes don’t matter when they are against Catholics because it seems this is an acceptable form of bigotry.

Bishop Tobin: "The Sky is Falling! Really?"

I want to share with you this really inspirational column written by Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence. It was in response to the recent article by the Providence Journal with seemed to gleefully predict the demise of the the Catholic Church. I greatly respect Bishop Tobin because of his orthodox beliefs and his willingness to speak up in defense of the Church.

The Sky is Falling! Really? 

For reasons that will become obvious, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the parable of the farmer walking down a rural road who came across a tiny sparrow, lying along side the road on his back, with his little feet up in the air. 

“What are you doing?” said the farmer to the sparrow. “I heard that the sky is falling and I want to do my best to hold it up,” responded the little bird. “That’s ridiculous,” declared the farmer. “First of all, the sky isn’t falling . . . And secondly, even if it is, your tiny feet won’t help very much.” “Well,” said the sparrow with determination, “One does what one can.” 

I feel a bit like the sparrow these days, bombarded as I am with the daily reports about the decline and fall of the Catholic Church. “The sky is falling,” reports seem to confirm. 

“Catholic weddings drop 71 percent in R.I.” announces one local headline, with the story not bothering at all to document a similar decline in weddings in other denominations and across the nation. 

A letter from an individual in New York, sent to all the bishops of the United States, proclaims that “No intelligent Catholic can deny that there is a serious crisis in faith and morals in the Church. The lack of faith being shown here is frightening.” To document his argument, the letter writer points to the planned gathering of religious leaders in Assisi in October, “where false gods will be invoked,” and the fact that some priests fail to genuflect during the consecration at the Mass. 

A letter from a friend in Pittsburgh laments the development of a Church that is peopled by, “a large contingent of secretive, sometimes power-hungry, reactionary cardinals and bishops; and a lower clergy increasingly enamored with its own exalted position who with many in the hierarchy are regressing to a former triumphal, controlling, irrelevant, pietistic, fundamentalist state.”

Bishop Tobin concluded his column with this great thought about the past, present and future of the Church and its mission:

A famous theologian wrote this assessment about the Church: “People look upon the Church and say, ‘She is about to die. Soon her very name will disappear. There will be no more Christians; they have had their day.’”

 Now it’s instructive to note that this rather dour prediction came not from the scribes of the “National Catholic Reporter” or the “New York Times.” This description of a dying Church was referenced by St. Augustine, 1600 years ago – a rather compelling reminder, I think, that the Church in every age has known its struggles and failures.

Does the Catholic Church of today have challenges, problems and failures? You bet. But I love this Church, I’m enormously proud of this Church, and despite my own limitations, imperfections and sins I’m going to work very hard to support its mission and ministry for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Why? Well simply because “one does what one can.”

Click here for the rest of the column.

Thank you Bishop Tobin for being a true shepherd to the people of our Diocese. May God bless you and guide you in your ministry.

Bishop Tobin also recently did an interview with The Catholic World Report titled "Rediscovering Courage and Conviction where he discusses the problems of our culture and also the importance of truly living our faith in our daily lives. Below is a brief excerpt where he discusses authentic faith:

 If our faith is authentic, it is effective and makes a difference in our daily lives. We can’t compartmentalize our lives, going to church for an hour on Sunday and then acting like pagans for the rest of the week. If our faith is authentic, then it touches every part of our lives: our work, our family lives, our community involvement, and the activities with which we entertain ourselves.

That has been one of the great failures of many of us in the Church—we do not incorporate our faith into our daily lives. Jesus said Christians are the salt of the earth and light of the world [Mt 5:13, 14]. As the Second Vatican Council taught, our faith is supposed to transform us, and then we move out into the secular world and transform it into the Kingdom of God.

It is an outstanding interview and well worth the time to read it. After reading this interview and his column above, you will understand why shepherds like Bishop Tobin are a blessing to our Church.