Dei via est íntegra
Our Lady of the Rosary, 144 North Federal Highway (US#1),
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441 954+428-2428
Authentic
Catholic Mass, Doctrine, and Moral Teaching -- Don't do without them --
Don't accept one without the others!
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A sermon given on the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost 1997 Ave Maria! In the best of all possible worlds -- and we do not live in
that world -- societies would be governed by good and just men
who rule with the prosperity and well-being of all their citizens
in mind; rulers diligently striving to keep the laws of their
nations in line with the laws of "nature's God." And the nations
and peoples of this best possible world would be united in their
willing and enthusiastic acceptance of Christ the King, through
membership in the Catholic Church which He established, under the
leadership of good and holy priests, bishops, and popes. We
don't live in that world, and there is probably no nation on
earth that comes close to such a situation. Yet, that is no
excuse for giving up, and allowing the forces of evil to pull us
yet further from the ideal.
Our own nation was founded by men who, for the most part, were
not Catholics (although there were a few). They were at most a
generation or two removed from a European Christendom that was at
war with itself -- not just Catholic vs. Protestant, but numerous
squabbles and persecutions between the sects of the Reformation
as well. Many of the American colonies had been founded to
escape what amounted to a religious civil war. English Puritans
came to New England, French Huguenots to New France, Quakers to
Pennsylvania, English Catholics to Maryland. A strong Calvinist
presence had been established by the Dutch, and, of course, many
of the English colonists were Anglicans. The philosophies of the
"Enlightenment" and Freemasonry were here as well. When the
American revolution came, it was led by men who were tired of
religious strife - as well as being fed up with the excesses of a
foreign king. Not surprisingly, they set up a republic with no
established national church.
While it was clearly not a Catholic nation, it was far better
for Catholics than it might otherwise have been.
A fact which it gives pleasure to acknowledge
[wrote Leo XIII], thanks are due to the equity of the
laws which obtain in America and to the customs of the
well-ordered Republic. For the Church amongst you,
unopposed by the Constitution and government of your
nation, fettered by no hostile legislation, protected
against violence by the common laws and the
impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and act
without hindrance.(2)
If America was not a Catholic nation, it was at least a nation
in which Catholics could take part in the "free market of ideas,"
and hope to win over their fellow citizens on the merits of the
truth that we possess.
Sometimes people mistakenly refer to the situation in America
as a "separation of church and state." That really is not
correct, for it gives the impression that religion is virtually
outlawed in public life, and that morality should not influence
public law. To the degree that such a "separation" exists in
current day America, it is due to the failure of our
representatives to follow the Law of the Land, and to the general
lack of complaint from us citizens about that failure. It is due
in some measure to the propaganda we read and view, telling us
that things are supposed to be that way. And, particularly among
Catholics, it is due to the error of "religious indifferentism"
that has savaged the Church since Vatican II.(3)
If America is not a specifically Catholic country, it most
certainly was founded as a generally Christian country. We may
have had dogmatic differences, but at least until the early
1900s, Christians all understood the need for a society that
recognized Christ's Kingship and kept itself free of evils like
theft, murder, violence, and the things that polite people didn't
even talk about in mixed company.
The Republic had chaplains in its armies, its courts, and in
its Congress. It appealed to "Nature's God" and to its "Creator"
in declaring its independence. The Continental Congress called
for public days of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer," and
imported 20,000 Bibles for its soldiers.(4) Three times, the
U.S. Congress and President Jefferson appropriated money for
missionary work among the Indian tribes.(5) On at least four
separate occasions, as recently as 1931, our Supreme Court ruled
that America is a "Christian Nation."(6) And as recently as
1952, the Court ruled that there was no real separation between
church and state, pointing out that if there were, "the church
and state would be aliens to each other -- hostile, suspicious,
and even unfriendly," an idea that seemed ridiculous or
impossible in 1952.(7)
It was the United States Supreme Court that wrote:
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be
based upon the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It
is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this
sense and to this extent our civilization and our
institutions are emphatically Christian.(8)
Now, why do I mention all of this? The reason is simply that
we in this world must render some things to Caesar and some things
to God. But the two are not totally separate. Caesar and his
government must govern by the principles of morality and justice
prescribed by "nature's God," "the Redeemer of mankind." If
nothing else, failure to do so will cause society to fail --
because society cannot run on "theft, murder, violence, and the
things that polite people don't talk about in mixed company."
And an immoral people cannot expect to enjoy God's continued
blessings as we have in the past.
And if Americans continue to believe, as so many do, that
church and state are truly separate -- that morality has no place
in law and government -- we will continue to see our society fail
as we have seen it fail in the past 30 years or so.
As Americans, every political decision we make and every civic
action we take must be shaped around our Christian heritage. And
all the more so as Catholics, for we claim an even more intimate
relationship with "nature's God," "the Redeemer of mankind." We
may not live in the best of all worlds, but that is no reason not
to try -- it is no reason to give to Caesar what belongs to God!
Notes:
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