DC Archdiocese priest-blogger:
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 29, 2012 (LifeSiteNews) An influential priest
in the Archdiocese of Washington has warned that Christians are pretty well
set for outright persecution in the wake of affronts to religious freedom like
Obama?s HHS mandate and the forced closure of Catholic adoption agencies.
Msgr. Charles Pope, the pastor of Holy Comforter - St Cyprian Parish who
runs a blog on the Archdioceses website, warned last month that Americans are
much closer to persecution than many may realize.
If current trends continue, Christians, especially religious leaders, may
not be far from enduring heavy fines and jail, he wrote.
Pope Benedict XVIs nuncio to America had made similar warnings earlier in
the month. In a Nov. 4th talk at the University of Notre Dame, Archbishop Carlo
Maria Vigan said the persecution of Christians is a reality even in America,
though it can present itself in forms that are not immediately obvious. The
nuncio charged, in particular, that dissident Catholic professors and public
officials represent a grave threat to religious liberty.
Msgr. Pope, in his blog post, offered an overview of the five stages of
persecution recognized by social scientists. He says it is important for
Christians to become familiar with them because it would seem that things are
going to get more difficult for the Church in the years ahead.
The five stages, as he lists them, are: (1) Stereotyping the targeted
group; (2) Vilifying the targeted group for alleged crimes or misconduct; (3)
Marginalizing the targeted groups role in society; (4) Criminalizing the
targeted group or its works; (5) Persecuting the targeted group outright.
According to Msgr. Pope, the stereotyping stage began in the 1960s and 70s
when Christians were caricatured in the media as Bible thumpers, simpletons, as
backwards, mentally simple, haters of science, hypocrites, self-righteous,
old-fashioned and so forth.
But, in his view, the culture has now reached stage 4 with the state
beginning to criminalize Christian beliefs. Stages one through four are
pretty well in place. One may wish to whistle past the graveyard but it looks
like were pretty well set for Stage V, he writes.
The priest highlights President Obamas HHS mandate, which forces employers
to cover abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraception in their
health insurance plans.
But prior to this egregious attempt to violate our religious liberty there
have been many other times we have had to go to court to fight for our rights to
openly practice our faith, he says. Some jurisdictions have sought to compel
Catholic hospitals and pro-life clinics to provide information or referrals for
abortion, to provide emergency contraception.
Several branches of Catholic Charities have been de-certified from doing
adoption work because they will not adopt children to gay couples, he adds,
among other examples. Many of these attempts to criminalize the faith have been
successfully rebuffed in the courts, but the frequency of lawsuits, and the time
and cost involved with fighting them is a huge burden.
It is clear that attempts to criminalize Christian behavior is a growth
sector in this culture and signals the beginnings and steady erosion of
religious liberty, he says.
Related Stories
Submitted by : Claire Golaszewski
No comments:
Post a Comment