60 Years Of Church Silence

 From The Federalist:

How did we end up here, with an ostensibly Catholic politician leading a ticket that is openly hostile to even the most basic, “non-negotiable” teachings of the Catholic Church? How are there more Catholics in public service, but less Catholic influence over public life, than ever before?

The early days of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s career, when he was a pro-life senator are long gone, as are the days of Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey, who stood against the left wing of his party for the sanctity of life, even butting heads with fellow governor and presidential candidate Bill Clinton. In today’s Democratic Party far more than even then, it is a serious liability to stand for any kind of Catholic understanding of morality beyond stewardship of the earth and the welcoming of foreign immigrants.

Yet through it all — the campaign, the running mate, the platform — the bishops dared not utter a word of criticism. Not content with silence, many even publicly endorsed the Biden candidacy. Worse still, some actively worked to target and silence those Catholic priests who dared speak out against what has undoubtedly been the most anti-Catholic platform and ticket in modern American history. Of the entire American Catholic Church’s leadership, only Bishop Joseph Strickland spoke out on the Biden campaign’s open assault on Catholic moral teaching.

This is sadly unsurprising. For more than half a century the bishops have skirted their role in public life, leaving the faithful to fend for themselves. A deeply misunderstood moment in this slow march took place in September 1960, when then-Sen. John F. Kennedy promised a hostile audience of Protestant ministers that no man of God will advise his actions, that public funding for Catholic schools is unconstitutional, that decisions “on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling, [and] any other subject” will be made “without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates,” and that “no power or threat of punishment [will] cause [him] to decide otherwise.”

It’s a major speech in civic history, credited with going a long way toward ingratiating American Catholics into elite society acceptance, but far from the examples of American Catholic heroes like founder Charles Carroll of Carrollton, or Fr. William Corby of the Irish Brigade, Kennedy achieved this not by embracing his faith, but by shedding it. (Read more.)

From Life Site:

Mary Eberstadt felt vindicated by last night’s 2020 presidential election results. Why? She has been saying for years that, “The sexual revolution is now having system-wide political consequences.”

Eberstadt, who has authored numerous books and essays on the impacts of the sexual revolution, joins The Van Maren Show to discuss how the sexual revolution, the breakdown of the family, and identity politics have brought us to where we are today.

“Social unraveling” is what Eberstadt says is happening across the U.S. She highlights the source of this unraveling as the degradation of the family – specifically, the increase in fatherless homes. (Read more.)

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