Did they awake a giant?

Yesterday, a large array of plaintiffs filed 12 lawsuits in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the now infamous HHS mandate. I am very proud of my bishop for standing up and defending the church. He has been given an unfair reputation by many for their misunderstanding of his take on liturgical translation, but I would be hard pressed to find many men as passionate as he is in defending the church.

There has been a lot of commentary on the significance of this movement of our bishops and the church at large in not going silently into the night on this issue.

One thing I have read a lot is the idea that the Obama administration has awakened a giant; that the Obama administration has underestimated the Catholic Church and Her response.

I wrestle with whether or not this is the case...

I find it very hard to believe that anyone involved with drafting this legislation overlooked the fact that it was going to settle like oil and vinegar with the church. With the intensity of the debate over contraception and abortion over the past few decades, it is impossible to think that the administration was blindsided by this.

Secondly, I don't think there is any person who can honestly say that the administration is a friend to traditional, orthodox, sound, family - centered Catholicism. At most you can site placated rhetoric at campaign events or intense news conferences or speeches, but there has been nothing to suggest otherwise. To think that any legislation was crafted to uphold a biblical view of humanity is just naive.

The art of war involves two essential elements: a strategy and an assurance of victory. I believe both are at play in this latest drama of American politics.  What better way to win sympathy...and votes... if you're viewed as the underdog - the victim! I don't know what news outlet you watch, but everything I see presents the church as old-white men in dresses who want to oppress women and harbor pedophiles. Whereas the federal government is shown as a bullied kid with a scraped knee who's crying for his mom to protect him from the aggressive church. The more this image is played out, the more they can play on the emotions of uninformed individuals and thus (in their thinking) win!

I really think they foresaw this and knew it was going to be met with opposition. They most likely foresaw lawsuits, but are relying on the hopes of the cases falling on the desks of the many liberal judges throughout this land. I am awfully sure they had no intention to uphold the dignity of the human person, but indulge the appetite in this culture for licentious promiscuity and 'freedom from God'.

I don't think it wise to adopt a Catholic maverick mentality of "we outsmarted the administration". I think we need to remain faithful, prayerful and dedicated to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ if we truly want to transform the culture and the government.

Next post, I want to talk a little about the culture that is wanting to be created by those in opposition to the church.

Washington Distgust

This most recent bout of political posturing in Washington has got me truly wondering 'where have we come to'?

I am young, I cannot honestly testify to anything other than what I have known in the few years I have been of intelligence to follow and understand the game of politics and the art of government. I can only give witness to the yearning of times when statesmen carried a highly sought status and dignity, a nostalgia for something I have never experienced. I look and listen to these men who hold the highest offices in our country and the president of the this nation, at one time considered the most powerful moan on the planet, succumb to petty ideological stalemates.

I used to be a boy who admired and looked up to the image of the statesman. I admired the dignity, the reprehensibility, the commitment, the status and the power to effect so much - all for the promotion of people and the good. Now, all I see are politicians who effect for a reelection bid, who are in office to seek personal gain, who desire to make the other look bad by childish antics and immature and unintelligent, if at all, debates.

Where has the era gone where men went to Washington to debate, talk, dialogue and work to get problems and challenges met?

I never knew of a time in my life where this was executed, but I know as a boy, I admired a generation that did execute such dignity in their office. I still do admire that image and wish it was the image that populated our capitals. I have just become disappointed and disgusted with how these men, the highest and most noble in our nation, portray themselves and execute the offices they have been given.

This is an issue that I harbor a lot of opinions on and it will be something I will comment on as time goes on.