Louie Verrecchio nails it: culture of depravity in US partly fault of Church "that has largely abandoned its Founder and the mission He has given her."

November 15, 2012

Election 2012: A Church gone astray

By Louie Verrecchio

In the days following last week’s U.S. presidential election, a staggering amount of analysis has been focused on Republican messaging, demographics and core constituencies, but it misses the most fundamental point entirely.

If the Second Coming of Obama is evidence of anything it is the godlessness of a nation, the majority of whose citizens worship an idol who not only grants free license to practically every immoral impulse that one can imagine, but who also evidently demands human sacrifice to the tune of more than a million innocent souls each year.

This culture of depravity is the result of an underlying spiritual malady that has been allowed to fester and spread over the last five decades virtually unopposed by the only force capable of overtaking it.

The United States – a land wherein class-envy passes for compassion, same-sex “marriage” is accepted as fairness, and contraception is considered a matter of healthcare - is about to reap the just rewards, not so much of a nation that has abandoned the principles of its Founding Fathers, but of a Church that has largely abandoned its Founder and the mission He has given her.

• When a majority of self-identified “Catholics” (some of whom are priests and bishops, no doubt) vote for a candidate who aggressively promotes objective evil, it is the Church that has gone astray.

• When our prelates speak of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as though it was inscribed by the finger of God on a tablet of stone, it is the Church that has gone astray.

• When the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stands by a 13,000+ word voting guide that provides succor to those who insist upon promoting the “seamless garment” deception, it is the Church that has gone astray.

• When politicians who are waging war against the most fundamental moral precepts of the Catholic faith can skip up to Holy Communion with nary a reprimand, it is the Church that has gone astray.

• When pastors can cause public scandal by preaching in favor of the homosexual assault on marriage and family without any fear of meaningful discipline, it is the Church that has gone astray.

I could go on, but presumably you get the point. The single greatest underlying cause of the nation’s most serious challenges – economic, social and political – is really no different than it was for the people Israel some 3,000 years ago:

“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you,” says the LORD… “He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards; the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (cf 2 Samuel 8:11-18)

In spite of the valiant efforts of Samuel and those other intrepid prophets of old who spoke on behalf of the Lord who said, “I am your Holy One, your Creator, your King,” the people Israel would not listen and the results are well known.

In the present case, the new People of God – with no clear prophetic voice in the Church speaking up on behalf of their King - have abandoned Him in favor of a president who has made clear his intention to persecute the Catholic Church by force of Federal law.

As difficult as it may be to accept, the anti-Christian oppressor and purveyor of evil extraordinaire, Barrack Hussein Obama, is precisely what we deserve. Yes, deserve.

And in that day when the degradation to which this president intends to enslave us becomes more than we can bear, the Lord will not answer our cries because justice demands otherwise. This, my friends, is the price that an entire nation has to pay for the collective failure of the members of the Church – clergy, laity, and religious alike – to dutifully carry out their vocation in answering the call to holiness.

To be clear, while I considered my own ballot for Mitt Romney a vote in favor of a step in the right direction; I do not wish to imply that such a vote was a de facto vote for Christ.

What I do wish to state in the strongest terms possible, however, is that invincible ignorance aside there isn’t one single solitary person who worships the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who cast a vote in favor of Barrack Obama.

At the end of the day, America’s woes can be boiled down to good old fashioned godlessness; either the majority of the electorate is with the Lord or against Him. In the case of election 2012, the latter prevailed and the reason is simple: the Church has gone astray. 

Perhaps the dark days ahead will jolt all of us out of our collective slumber; emboldening all of us – priest, bishops, laity and religious - to set aside all worldly preoccupations; to carry the light of Christ into the world and to proclaim His Kingship once more.
This must be our prayer.

Author and speaker Louie Verrecchio has been a columnist for Catholic News Agency since April 2009. His work, which includes Year of Faith resources like the Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II Faith Formation Series, has been endorsed by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia; Bishop Emeritus Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster, England; Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, IA, USA and others. For more information please visit: www.harvestingthefruit.com