2010 Deacon: March 2012

This is the homily I gave at 3 Masses yesterday and today (10 & 11 March 2012 ).

“I, the Lord, am your God...you shall not have other Gods besides me.”(1) There is only one God.

I think it is fair to say everyone has heard of the recent HHS mandate concerning the rejection of Catholic’s, indeed, other peoples of faith, religious liberties.

In our first reading today we hear of the giving of the 10 Commandments. Those rules have been a bedrock of Judeo-Christian belief for centuries.

They have been discarded. In fact, our government just took away our guaranteed 1^st Amendment rights under our Constitution. Our government has just substituted human law for Divine law.

The first commandment says: “… You shall not have other gods besides me.” Our government says it is a god. It amends Divine Law to make itself the god who dispenses law.

God says keep holy the Lord’s day. The government says you can’t practice religion as you choose.

God says honor your father and mother. Government says you don’t need a father and a mother. Remember the Defense of Marriage Act, the law of the land that defends marriage as between a man and a woman. Remember, the Attorney General of the United States came on TV (23 Feb 2011) (2) and all of the media and said the government would not defend lawsuits against that act: the law of the land would not be defended by the officers of the government that had sworn they would defend the laws of the land. They, the government, acting as god, said they were changing that law by attrition.

God says you shall not kill. Government says you can kill your unborn baby anytime you want. There are some “intellectuals” that are now advocating there is right to kill a baby just born (3). In some states and countries you have a legal right to kill yourself. (4) Once again, the government substituting human law for Divine Law.

God says no adultery. Government says we can do anything we want, with anyone we want, married or unmarried, and we’ll mandate employers, or insurance carriers (you pick which definition you would like to use), to provide the means to make sure there are no consequences for your act. Shoot, we won’t defend the marriage act so basically, we say, there is no morality. And, oh!, if you get pregnant we’ll just abort the baby, no harm, no foul.

God says don’t steal. The government says we’ll steal your tax dollars to give to irresponsible banks, irresponsible companies and individuals.

God says don’t lie. The government gives us lies and says it’s the truth because I say so.

God says don’t covet. The government encourages coveting in the form of class warfare. If you have it, I’ll take it and give it to someone who wants it.

So, the government has set itself up as god and now tells us - don’t listen to your conscience or your bishops (our rightful teachers and direct descendants of the Apostles) - listen to me. I’ll tell you what to think and do.

Our government has just abolished our 1^st Amendment right to religious liberty. Our founders left countries to come here and found this one because of their former country taking their religious liberties. Our government has just said we’ll tell you what your religion will consist of. We’ll tell you what commandments this religion will consist of - not God. If your conscience won’t let you, as an individual with God given rights, do what we dictate - too bad. We’ll fine you or imprison you or both.

If our government can abolish our God given right to religious liberty, what will they decide we need or don’t need next? After all, they have declared themselves to be a god.

Let’s look at what they have done recently: taken our money as I mentioned earlier, then they took our ability to choose our own medical care, now they have taken away our religious liberty. Notice a pattern here: our government has declared the 10 commandments null and void. In the place of Divine Law we get mere human law.

This is not about contraception, as many TV outlets, newspapers, TV pundits, internet sources would have you believe. This is about our religious liberty, guaranteed by our Constitution and God himself. This is about our ability to worship our God as he has commanded us to, and not what the government dictates to us.

What do we do?

Cardinal Dolan has asked us all to get involved in the political process. We need to inject our catholicity into the public square. We still have a representative government. Write or call your elected officials and let them know what you think. This is an election year and they’ll be more sensitive to our thoughts and desires.

Speaking of elections, we have a monumental national election coming up in November and a local election coming in two weeks. We must be informed voters. Elections are not popularity contests or about who has the best hair, who is the best looking candidate or the whitest teeth.

Elections mean things, elections have consequences and we have a duty to be informed voters. Pope Benedict has stated “It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States comes to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness.” (5) Another quote from our Pope: “threats to freedom of conscience, religion and worship need to be addressed urgently so that all men and women of faith, and the institutions they inspire, can act in accordance with their deepest moral convictions.” (6) There are numerous avenues of information available to us: internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, radio talk shows. All of these are windows of opportunity to find out where candidates stand on the issues.

We can’t fall for the touchy, feely slogans. We have to ask what do they mean, now and in the future.

In WWII, when the Nazi party set itself up as a god for the German people and the German intellectuals said nothing as groups of people and institutions were targeted purged, group after group (and we are targeted, as the Amish are free and clear under this mandate (7)), Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller coined this:

First they came for the communists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.(8)

(1) Exodus 20:3

(2) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20035398-503544.html

(3) Francesca Minerva, from Melbourne University and sometime of our very own Oxford, and her colleague Alberto Giubilini, argue in the British Medical Journal that 'after-birth abortion' should be permissable in all cases that abortion is. As 'potential persons', newborn babies share the same moral status as foetuses, which are not 'actual persons', in that they have no sense of their own existence.

(4) http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html

(5) Columbia, front cover

(6) http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1200971.htm - 0420, 11Mar2012

(7) http://usccbmedia.blogspot.com/2012/03/amish-ok-catholics-no.ht…mail&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsccbMediaBlog+%28USCCB+Media+Blog%29

(8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came…