Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco offered this homily during his Mass before the Walk for Life West Coast Jan. 22, 2022. California Catholic Daily has excerpted the following:
In our own time, secularism has become a sort of religion of its own, one that takes a hyper-aggressive, anti-Christian tone. This is all around us nowadays, and this kind of secularism has all the marks of a religion: infallible dogmas, rituals, saints, creedal statements and condemnation of heretical teachings along with punishment of the heretics who hold them and dare to speak them in public, index of forbidden books, even sacraments. On this last point this new religion mirrors the pagan, which is to say demonic, religions of the ancient biblical world, religious practices to which even God’s Chosen People succumbed.
“They sacrificed to demons their own sons and daughters, shedding innocent blood, the blood of their own sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,” we read in Psalm 106. The words “demons” and “idols” here are the same word in the Hebrew language: idols, that is, false gods, are demons. And what is meant by “the idols of Canaan”?
The Lord warns His people in the Book of Leviticus: “You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord” (Lev 18:21). Molech was the god of the ancient Canaanites, inhabitants of the same land as the Israelites, to whom they sacrificed their children. Later on in the Book of Leviticus, the Lord admonishes His people even more harshly: “Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives offspring to Molech shall be put to death. The people of the land shall stone that person. I myself will turn against and cut off that individual from among the people; for in the giving of offspring to Molech, my sanctuary was defiled and my holy name was profaned” (Lev 20:2). Sadly, many of God’s people did not listen and went over to this horrendous practice of their pagan neighbors.
The new secular religion of our own time takes on this practice in an almost sacramental way: indeed, abortion has become, for them, their blessed sacrament, what they hold most sacred, the doctrine and practice upon which their whole belief system is built. That is why we see such visceral and violent reaction to any even minimal regulation of abortion in the law, regulations that even those who believe it should be kept legal would see as reasonable, such as informed consent and parental consent. It should come as no surprise that the first to challenge the Texas Heartbeat Bill was the Satanic Temple, and precisely on the grounds of deprivation of religious liberty: they need abortion to carry out their religious rituals.
Full story at National Catholic Register.
I feel like Archbishop Cordileone should get out there and actually meet the women who are struggling with the decision to abort.
It is not a blessed sacrament.
The doctrine they believe in is not abortion. It is the freedom from the government getting into your intimate business.
70% of abortions are had by women who feel like they have no choice but to abort.
Try compassion instead of judgement.
The pro-life movement used to demonize women who have abortions and it is starting to go back to that, and it is a shame.
Stick to the value and dignity and sacredness of human life.
Stop vilifying the people you were sent to save.
“Stick to the value and dignity and sacredness of human life” Precisely. That is the underlying philosophy of the pro-life movement. You argue well for it.
I guess what is also needed is an explanation of why it is the duty of the state to protect the life of the unborn, even though to them it seems a violation of privacy and freedom which they feel the Constitution guarantees them.
Thank you for your respectful comments.
Also, more talk about the ideal of having every child conceived being wanted and loved.
People have forgotten the expression “There but for the grace of God go I.”
that means there’s no freedom because God’s grace controls every outcome. if there but for the grace of God go I, then there’s nothing I can do to change my circumstances. either God gives the grace or he doesn’t.
People can or can not co-operate with God’s grace.
then it’s not there but for the grace of God go I… it’s I’m so glad I cooperated with God’s grace because if I hadn’t I would have ended up like that person.
There but for my cooperation with God’s grace go I, is more like it.
He deserves it because he didn’t cooperate with God’s grace. That’s what it really ends up meaning.
God does not give the same graces to everyone.
Nor does he give the same sufferings to everyone.
I believe that he would give the grace of telling someone not to abort their baby, but unless you really become aware of how God speaks you will not understand that it is coming from God.
The people outside the abortion clinic are there to be the voice of God but maybe you listen to the boyfriend who keeps saying “We can’t have a kid right now. We’ll have another one in a couple of years.”
St. Augustine is very explicit: “Both (our believing and our doing good) are ours because of the choice of our will, and yet both are gifts from the Spirit of faith and charity.”
Taken from Catechesi Tradendae
Given what the archbishop says, exactly what more is needed for him to apply canon 915 to the very prominent catholic politician in his diocese who vigorously promotes the “sacrament” of abortion?
I know that your ministry as Bishops is growing daily more complex and overwhelming. A thousand duties call you: from the training of new priests to being actively present within the lay communities, from the living, worthy celebration of the sacraments and acts of worship to concern for human advancement and the defense of human rights. But let the concern to foster active and effective catechesis yield to no other care whatever in any way. This concern will lead you to transmit personally to your faithful the doctrine of life. But it should also lead you to take on in your diocese, in accordance with the plans of the episcopal conference to which you belong, the chief management of catechesis, while at the same time surrounding yourselves with competent and trustworthy assistants. Your principal role will be to bring about and maintain in your Churches a real passion for catechesis, a passion embodied in a pertinent and effective organization, putting into operation the necessary personnel, means and equipment, and also financial resources. You can be sure that if catechesis is done well in your local Churches, everything else will be easier to do. And needless to say, although your zeal must sometimes impose upon you the thankless task of denouncing deviations and correcting errors, it will much more often win for you the joy and consolation of seeing your Churches flourishing because catechesis is given in them as the Lord wishes.
Pope St. John Paul II Catechesi Tradendae
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