THE CHURCH (ESPECIALLY THE BISHOPS) DOESN'T KNOW THEIR ENEMY

George Offerman

Bishops Loverde of Arlington and DiLorenzo of Richmond put out a joint letter that was read from every pulpit at every mass in Virginia this past weekend decrying the Obama administration’s ‘mandating’ that all faith based organizations cover sterilization, birth control and abortifacients regardless of conscience and moral belief systems.  In this letter, both bishops spell out the problem, and somewhat address the underlying issue, but the action steps suggested in the letter seemed to be vague and weak, and seemed to encourage the laity to do the bulk of the work, as it left out what the bishops themselves were going to do about this.

The more time that goes by without precise and decisive action by the bishops only plays to Obama’s favor.  Since the bishops seemed to have had ‘no moral objections’ to the initial healthcare passed two years ago, and seemed to have had ‘no moral objections’ to the secular insurance companies being forced to provide sterilization, birth control, abortifacients and funding legalized child killing, Obama most likely presumed that the Church didn’t really mean what they claimed to believe, by seeing all of the above ‘services’ as intrinsically evil, due to the complicit support given by the bishops silence on the matter.  The bishops cut a ‘deal with the devil’ and looked aside when given the assurance from a man who has a crystal clear record of lying to get what he wants of giving them an ‘exemption’ based upon faith and conscience.

There were many of us that openly warned the hierarchy, and specifically Bishop Loverde and Archbishop Wuerl about the evil nature of Obama and how he would break his word to the Church.  We asked and pleaded with these two Bishops to do something about the wayward ‘Catholic’ politicians who continually mocked and openly rebelled against established Church teachings on matters of legalized child killing and homosexual marriage, and were derided, and some of us arrested on orders by these prelates themselves because of our strong stance and subsequent actions.  For those who were paying any kind of attention, this move by Obama came as no surprise, and we are not ‘shocked’ over this turn of events.  This was in full view four years ago when this man came onto the scene, and openly discussed keeping the ‘rule of law’ of abortion, taking over health care, and expanding healthcare services to include ‘reproductive rights’.  That the Church believed Obama would not target them is irresponsible and nearly delusional thinking.

As has been proven by the ‘cave in’ by the Susan G. Komen fund, these people do not believe in ‘incrementalism’.  The enemies of life mercilessly went after this organization with all guns firing, and WITHIN TWO DAYS, the Komen fund did a 180 and reversed their position in totality.  The enemies of life focused on TOTAL VICTORY, they used every weapon they have, AND THEY WON.  No equivocation, no apologies, no taking prisoners and no placating the enemy.  Whether we like it or not, believe it or not or saw it or not, these people in two days handed us our rear ends, and this is the way it’s been for decades now.  What we call tolerance is seen as weakness by these people, and they play for blood.  Until we get that, we are going to get creamed every time.

The bishops need to understand the nature of the fight they are in.  And the first step is to admit they have been ‘played’ by Obama and his ilk, and have by their complacent attitudes, allowed for unchecked murder of the unborn and use of birth control to go on unchecked as long as it did not violate the “Not In My Back Yard’ (NIMBY) syndrome. Because the Bishops showed little to no faith in the core church teachings, Obama gave them, and to us, in effect what we deserve, and is making us do what we have turned a blind eye to for decades (sins of omission).  Yes, Obama is the man in charge who is implementing this hellish stance, but the ones who are ultimately responsible for GIVING OBAMA THE PLATFORM OF PRESIDENCY TO BEGIN WITH was derelict in duty four years ago when this man ran on a campaign promising these changes, and the Bishops stayed silent, and put out a very confusing voting guide that basically permitted 54% of Catholics to vote for this man in supposed ‘good consciousness’.

The ultimate enemy is not Obama.  The ultimate enemy is not the Bishops either.  The real and ultimate enemy is FEAR.  Fear of offending others, fear of fickle Catholics leaving the pews if the Word of God is actually preached, fear of the loss of money if the church ‘teaches too zealously’, fear of losing ‘status’, fear of taking the message to the streets and to the enemy, fear of persecution, fear of being disliked, fear of losing the coveted 501 c 3 status, and ultimately the fear of possibly having to stand alone in faith.  John the Baptist lead by example and lead with great authority.  John the Baptist had the Spirit of God in him, and as such could not fail.  Our Church has the same promise given by God.  We simply need to believe it’s true, and then act on it.

I had a mentor back about twenty years ago challenge me on my fears, and what he told me is something I will never forget.  His response to me when I made an excuse as to why I did not act on what I knew to be right due to fear was: “George, I hear you are afraid to act, but think about this.  You can be afraid and do nothing, or you can be afraid and do something.  Now that we established you will be afraid no matter what, the real question is, will you do something or not?”  Courage is not waiting until one is no longer fearful, courage is when one does what is right, despite the fear.  Courage is the answer to the greatest enemy we have, and courage is what we must strive and pray for in this very real and bloody war.