SHOWING CHARITY BY INTOLERANCE

A MESSAGE FOR THE 13th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

One of the last things Christ did before his Ascension into heaven, was to order, order, the Apostles to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  It has always been the greatest task of the Church to bring all nations to the truth of Jesus Christ.  For two thousand years we sent out missionaries to baptize the pagans, we did our best to preserve the souls of the faithful from the deceits and errors of Protestantism and other heresies.  And we were always ready to welcome with joy all converts who wished to be members of the Catholic Church and avail themselves of the graces of her sacraments.  Compare this attitude with Pope Francis, who actually said (and this is a direct quote): “The worst thing you can do is religious proselytizing.”  Proselytizing is the new-fangled Vatican II word meaning “convert”.  He’s telling Catholics that the worse thing they can do is try and convert non-Catholics.  He’s telling us to disobey Christ’s commandment to teach and baptize.  Unbelievable.

After all, what did Christ do with the lepers?  Did he “dialog” with them as Pope Francis would have us do?  Did he pat them on the back, and commend them for being “good lepers”? Did he congratulate them for their diversity, welcoming them into society so that they could infect the healthy? Did he apologize to them that they had been marginalized from the rest of society?  No.  He healed them.  And our mission as Catholics is also to heal.  To instruct the ignorant.  To rebuke the wicked.  To convert the sinful.  Christ never told us to just “be nice” to non-Catholics or fallen-away Catholics by lying to them.  Certainly, we can be charitable to them, we can be polite and civilized, tolerating to a certain extent their error.  But not by lying to them and telling them their error is on an equal level as the truth of the Catholic Faith.  It’s not“nice” to lie to them as Pope Francis would have us do.  It’s not “nice” to tell them that they should continue in their lack of faith, or in their sinful way of life, or in their disobedience to God’s law.  I cannot stand here and lie to you and tell you that there will be no consequences when you die.  Nor should we lie to our neighbor.

On the contrary, to allow our neighbor to remain in this kind of blissful ignorance is a sin on our part againstcharity.  How can we truly love our neighbor as ourselves if we just abandon them to their fate?  Love of our neighbor demands that we strive to bring them into the arms of their merciful Saviour, repentant for any sins they have committed, and eager to make up for lost time by leading a life of renewed virtue and a burning love of God.