December 15, 2013 – 2 Chronicles 26 – 27

Uzziah and Jotham are both described as good kings.  Uzziah falls at the end because power gets to him, but Jotham seems to reign well the entire time.  What struck me is 27:2 “the people, however, continued to act sinfully.”  I first thought about if we ever had a orthodox Catholic President and what that would mean for the country.  But that is so far beyond comprehension, I started thinking about our new pope.  There are so many “verge” catholics that are excited about what they hear the pope saying.  Granted they are not actually reading the pope’s words but someone else’s interpretation, but some of what he has said, I think, can be interpreted in some harmful ways.  The Pope has talked a lot about priest and leaders focusing on love and charity to people and not focusing so much on the hot button issues like abortion and contraception.  The idea is easy enough, more people will feel included if you stop talking about issues that upset them.  And that idea might work out well for bringing some into the Catholic Church or easing ties with others.  But that isn’t the way verge Catholics I interact with are taking it.

There is a large number of Catholics that feel very strongly they can believe whatever they want to, Church teaching or not, and still be good Catholics.  When they hear the Pope say, “stop focusing on hot button issues”, they hear him say “those issues aren’t hard and fast teachings of the Church” or “As long as you’re a good person you are fine”.  I don’t know if the Pope realizes this (I would think someone would have to be in his ear), but telling those that feel strongly about certain hot button issues and have given much of the their time and talent and sacrificed for them, that they need to hold back a little, cuts their feet out from underneath them.  And the Pope hasn’t said that these things have changed.  He has said that issues like abortion are so firmly embed in Catholic teaching that we don’t have to harp on them.  But that just isn’t the case when I am talking to fallen away or Cafeteria Catholics.  I wish the Pope would be a little bit more careful when speaking about this.  I love what the Pope has done and he seems very humble and good for the times, but even if the Pope is great, “the people, however, continue to act sinfully” and will use anything thing they can to support their sinful lifestyles.