Politics from a TRUE Catholic Perspective ~ A Post-Election Analysis

I woke up on Wednesday morning grieving the death of my country. I actually felt as though the country had lost its' soul. What has troubled me the most was seeing many nuns, priests, and well-informed Catholics with Obama buttons, bumper stickers,hats,'Catholics for Obama' yard signs,etc. This created confusion among Catholics, despite the valiant and most forceful vocal efforts of many wonderful Bishops across the nation who CLEARLY and ARTICULATELY reminded Catholics that we cannot vote for a pro-abortion candidate, period. It is against the teaching of the Catholic Church. What part of "Thou Shall Not Kill" don't people understand? The point is they chose to REJECT the teaching of the Catholic Church. After this experience, one thing remains abundantly clear: at least we know now where people stand.
This election afforded the opportunity to not only talk politics, but also, about morality. From my personal experience, conservative Catholics wanted to talk about both; liberal Catholics didn't want to talk about either.
Archbishop Charles Chaput points out in his book Render Unto Caesar,
"Limited government is also "under God" because the political realm must find, in its own perfect manner, ways to bring about as much justice, peace, and order as circumstances allow. To do this, the secular depends on virtues that it cannot generate from within itself. In this sense, Christianity must stand above and in tension with democracy while respecting the properly political. By forming people in virtues the world cannot, the Church provides a vital public service, especially in democracy."
Chaput reminds people about "The role the church has played throughout history in shaping the public square." He says, "For Catholics, politics--the pursuit of justice and the common good--is part of the history of salvation. No one is a minor actor in that drama. Each person is important."He quotes Paul Johnson in his classic, A History of Christianity, "It was the Christian spirit of mutual love and communal charity which most impressed pagans."
He points out American Social Scientist Rodney Stark's conclusions of how the Church conquered the Roman Empire in The Rise of Christianity, "Christianity did not grow because Constantine said it should, by celebrity conversion, opportunism or coercion, but because Christians practiced what the church preached. It was mainly by the force of her beliefs and teachings." Christians lived their faith as the most important factor in their daily choices and actions. And that active witness of faith had revolutionary consequences.
Obviously many Catholics freely chose to ignore and reject the teaching of the Catholic Church, no matter how clearly it was presented to them. The economy is what drove these catholics to leave their faith at the voting booth door.
It is what drove many Catholic Priests & nuns in prominent schools to falsely teach our young kids that it is ok to vote for Barack Obama.
Here is what St. Paul tells Timothy about "False Teaching and True Wealth" in Timothy Ch.6 v.3-10,
"Whoever teaches something different and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the religious teaching is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes. From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions, and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds, who are deprived of the truth, supposing religion to be a means of gain. Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains."
So how do we recover what we, as Catholics, have lost?
Phil Lawler, author and director of the Catholic Culture Project, referring to the Catholic vote, clearly concludes, "To repair the damage, we must recognize that the problem is not restricted to abortion, nor to defense-of-life issues. Indeed it is not, strictly speaking, a political problem. To restore the integrity of the Catholic vote, we must first restore the integrity of the Catholic faith, and rebuild the foundations of a Catholic culture."
"Ultimately," Chaput poignantly states, "I believe that all of us who call ourselves American and Catholic need to recover what it truly means to be "Catholic." We also need to find again the courage to be Catholic Christians first--not in opposition to our country, but to serve its best ideals."

I have mourned and grieved, and now, more than ever, I am ready to join the front lines and to put my faith into action.

In closing, I recall the book of Timothy 2:18,19:
"Through them may you fight a good fight by having faith and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith."


God Bless!
~Georgia