The politicization of the Mass—what does that look like? How about a parish refusing to allow a Mass intention for a politician? We’re called to not let party politics trump charity. Yet, at least one parish, (not mine, praise God), has recently done just that.
Prayers–Not Politicization of the Mass
Jesus Christ commands us,
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Mt 5:44-45).
In Luke’s Gospel, we read “…bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:28). These are not, “you ought to think about doing this” statements. The Lord is telling us this is what we must do. We must love others, even those we find hard to like or with whom we disagree.
Just What Is Love?
Love is willing for the good of the other. It’s an act of the will, not a feeling. What is the best and highest good for another? That they make it to heaven at the end of this life. Conversions, and turning back to God, will be necessary for that to happen. In fact, we all need to live lives of continual, deeper conversion, to ever more closely conform ourselves to Jesus. This is true for you and me, and everyone else, including politicians. So, if we believe someone is far from God, we need to pray for them–especially for them–that they might repent and return.
What about those negative thoughts toward others? Consider taking this to prayer, and asking God why you harbor the thoughts and feelings you have for them. Ask Him to enlighten and guide you to, to help you to grow in virtue. Resentment, unforgiveness, uncharitable thoughts–these all block God’s grace.
Conformity with Christ
Would Jesus have refused to pray for a political opponent? Well, what does He say at Calvary about the people who’ve tortured and crucified Him? “Father, forgive them…” (Luke 23:34) No—He’s not one for letting party politics trump charity. And He’ll have some hard questions to ask of all of us. One question might be, “Why didn’t you pray for your enemies as I commanded you?” Or, “Why did you try to stop others from praying for your enemies? Why did you allow the politicization of the Mass at your parish? After all the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the highest form of prayer.”
The Root of the Problem
From the beginning of the Church, Christians were known for the care and the love they showed for others. Can non-Christians still identify each of us by the love we show for others, inside and outside of the parish? How does it happen that we have so much division today among U.S. Catholic Christians? The problem is far greater than one parish, perhaps more than one, choosing not to allow Masses to be said for politicians. It has not just bubbled up overnight. We’re all in a spiritual battle, where the stakes are high. Some people are better prepared than others to face the challenges.
Everyone needs to be held accountable for their own behavior, to be sure. But, inadequate formation of adult Catholics, whether through religious education and/or preaching, also seems to be part of the problem. How many Catholics have read the Catechism or taken classes to better understand the Church’s teaching and reasoning behind it? How many key moral issues do they hear about at Sunday Mass or in bulletin messages?
Why Don’t We Hear More About Key Moral Issues?
On many moral issues, the worldview of a majority of Catholics aligns with that of the general population as a whole, instead of a biblical worldview. Why is this? As I’ve previously noted, money talks. Because of this, some topics seem to be off-limits as far as preaching is concerned. Unless and until we get over “protection of the collection” fears and the full truth is preached to catechize and help individual Catholics undergo a change of heart in these matters, nothing is going to change. It seems that many of our bishops are silent or tepid in their responses to the culture. Some, unfortunately, even kowtow to the culture.
Leaders Set the Tone
We’re called to change the culture, not to change with the culture. And, as with any organization, the tone is set at the top. The laity needs to hear the truth from the top. From the ambo, we frequently hear that Jesus loves us. We also need to hear and interiorize the truth, that He wants us to repent and “not sin again.” (Cf. John 8:11)
We all need to hear the hard truth, ponder it and make the changes it calls for in our individual lives. All of us need it. Will our shepherds provide it? Will we respond to grace if they do? If we don’t, will we experience a denouement similar to Sodom and Gomorrah’s because of the sins of commission of so many, and the sins of omission on the part of the rest? Tempus breve est.
[The words of Mt 28:19–20 point out] “the obligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise of Christ’s continual assistance to his Church. You cannot be faithful to our Lord if you neglect these supernatural demands…” St. Josemaría Escrivá
24 thoughts on “The Politicization of the Mass”
Only 0.4 percentage of abortions are done for rape.
95% of all abortions are done for convenience sake.
We must be careful with talk of such propaganda. Sure, it’s a heavy issue to deal with.
Trump may have erroneously spoken but I wonder if the one who says “they are both pro-choice” has themselves ever voted for pro-choice opinions.
Democrats, historic home of the Klan are into Infanticide, let’s not confuse issues
#1 no one, especially Catholics, can vote for assassination of babies born and unborn
Joan,
Now that Trump has become pro-choice I guess you’re not voting for either candidate,
Wow, does Cato compare the historic home of the Klan, party of infanticide so lightly as if they are equal? A lot of states have made it illegal. I think that is what many want. For the states to decide. There’s a degree of pragmatism involved in the struggle against evil. Have you ever voted for a pro-choice? I voted for Dukakis way back when. Things have changed a lot. Look up Klan Parenthood, one of the puppetmasters of the Democrat party.
How flippant your statement is to this life and death struggle.
Dear Capt. Crisis,
Please allow me to say the following as respectfully as possible. If I have mistaken what you have said in any way, please let me know. I want to comment on the following:
1. Homosexual…
I can only imagine that it is a terrible cross to bear for those who have this inclination.
I would hope that those who promote and encourage others to live this lifestyle would realize how harmful it is physically, especially to men, and spiritually to anyone.
Instead, why not help a person to heal from the hurts that may have contributed to this condition and help them come to know and love the mercy God offers and love God has for all of his people.
2. Transgenderism: Again, help a person to find out what contributed to this temptation they have and turn to God for his healing and mercy. If we separate ourselves from God, we can never be truly happy.
3. Abortion: The guilt of having taken a human life is something that is hard for someone to forget. If they haven’t availed themselves of God’s mercy and returned to him, their lives are destroyed. I have seen young men who have had serious depression they will have serious depression, suicidal
tendencies…. . Do you realize that abortion causes breast cancer? There is a physiological reason for this. Women that have been raped and have aborted their children have described the abortion as being more traumatic than the rape.
4. Women as priests…well if you don’t mind a little humor ..” Bad idea all around! A woman could never keep the seal of confession.
5. Contraception: many are abortifacients.
The most beautiful and stable marriages I have seen are between those couples that are open to life.
6. Those couples that use contraceptives often divorce.
I would have loved to go into more detail on each topic but this is pretty long already. I hope you will take into consideration prayerfully but I have said. It’s not in a spirit of condemning anyone. God bless you!
1. Homosexuality: with it now legal (and no longer stigmatized as dysfunctional) it is apparent that gay people are as normal and as happy as anyone else, as partners, spouses, and parents. It doesn’t seem to be the result of any trauma (certainly not in the case of my gay sister).
2. Transgenderism: our culture is still sorting this one out. There is nothing in the Bible that discourages blurring of gender, unless you extrapolate from some sayings of Paul, and he is not infallible.
3. Abortion: I know women who have been raped and it is far more traumatic than an abortion that they freely chose. I agree that it is a wrong thing; the difference is, I want the number of abortions to go down, and making it illegal won’t do that.
4. Women as priests: I don’t know if it’s a joke but I’ve never heard that as a reason. The multifarious reasons invented over the centuries for keeping women out of the priesthood (most are now discredited as misogynistic) are simply manifestations of the Church’s view that men should lead and women follow. As far as what you said, the Bible is full of women who knew how to keep their mouth shut (Ruth, Esther, Mary) and these days women are often in positions of confidentiality with no problem. I spent ten years in human services (which is mostly women) and I never heard of anyone leaking secrets told in therapy, except when required to by law.
5. Contraception: that has not been my observation. Even some bishops have called the Church’s teaching “incomprehensible” and using NFP — where couples are instructed to have sex only during times when women naturally least want it, and abstain when they want it most — is likely to cause frustration and unhappiness. And no, except for morning-after pills, contraceptives are not abortifacients.
6. “Orthodox” Catholic couples, who do not use contraception, are obviously not going to divorce as much, given Church teaching. They are more likely to stay married for life, no matter how unhappy.
Thank you for this conversation, and your respectful tone.
My respectful reply got deleted
It got restored. Thanks!
Aside from the opening few paragraphs, sage advice, reflections, meditative, well done.
Thanks. And thank you for your clarification regarding the NM situation. The subsequent blessing performed by clergy was something that had escaped my attention.
The problem with supporting the Democratic Party in any way, is that they say they are for the poor and that they defend human rights, when instead they create poverty, champion cultural rot, corrupt the youth, exterminate children, and war against the family. It’s as if the party has been possessed. They lie about abortion, cheat in elections, and are driving the world into nuclear war. The group behind the senile Joe Biden is now propping up another puppet.
The democratic party in this country supports abortion; nystate up until 9th month and even when that poor child is born alive! Set aside until he or she dies. that is their platform! And they also support Euthansia; in state of Washington and New Jersey. it is the party of death! Why can’t Christians and Catholics see this! And no one is preaching this …Shame
There was a stir about the blessing of a Marriage of the extremist Governor of New Mexico. They explained it that they were only blessing the marriage itself. That made sense and I am glad a sense of hospitality prevailed. I can sense how it is a sensitive area that I myself do not think can be affirmed with some citation from the good book. As they say in the movie “We’re no Angels” (1989) “What are we? Protestants?” And how did that work out for the John the Baptist?
Thanks for your comment. If this has to do with the VP doing some wedding ceremony for a state governor, it doesn’t seem to be related to the thrust of this article.
The cleric in New Mexico whatever office he held, Blessed the marriage. Sorry if my remark was off the mark. I did not know of anything about the VP, I only know there was a controversy about blessing the marriage of an abortion extremist as that state has among the most lenient pro-abortion laws
But let’s go a step further, a prominent politician has a strong pro-abortion attitude, voting for abortion and funding Planned Parenthood.
The Church, the Priest denies the politician communion. I am all for that.
So, contrasting this with submitting prayer intentions that are refused is curious.
Captain-Get ready. Soon this election cycle’s update will be published-noting all the consummate evil, mendacity, and wickedness of Kamala Harris. You may recall the main point: It is a mortal sin for a catholic with a well-formed conscience to vote for any democrat at any level of government. {note well: this is no way says vote for a republican.}. Guy, Texas
Odd for you to say that Trump — do I have to recite his many sins for which he is unrepentant, and the evil sentiments he inflames? — is less sinful than Harris.
Now that Trump has come out as pro-choice, I guess you’re not voting in the presidential election.
I assume you don’t consider global warming, helping the poor, racial and religious tolerance, easing of suffering of migrants and others, preventing domestic violence, world peace, or public health to be “the key moral issues”. You probably mean:
gay acceptance/gay marriage
transgenderism
abortion
women as priests/deacons
5 contraception
divorce
Except for #3, the reason priests don’t preach those issues (and bishops don’t force them to) is because they themselves do not believe that Church teaching is correct.
If they don’t believe those moral teachings are correct and therefore refuse to defend them, perhaps they need to repent. Or step aside. Faithful Catholics defend the faith “in season and out of season” as St. Paul said.
The Church does change its mind on some things (such as what it thinks about Jews), and also changes its mind on what is important and what is not. Certainly this site’s preoccupation with sex and gender issues is not what one gathers from studying the Magisterium or hearing what the actual Church talks about.
If we had intact families, where children knew their mothers AND fathers, and these parents lived together the Catholic Faith and taught it, there would be less domestic violence; public health could more easily be addressed; the poor would be helped because of the greatest commandment and Mt 25; we would have more vocations to the priesthood and religious life; we could tend the garden Gen 2:15; the race war created by the democrats could be ignored as we simply need to live the 2 Greatest commandments.
World peace? “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
I will not give remote cooperation with moral evil if I can help it.
That is sinful; voting for the abortion zealots like Obama, Biden, Harris, Walls.
These migrants who end up killing Americans, too, is an evil from the Dems for allowing them in, sorry, Pope Francis.