Schism in the Church

Quoting from the English translation of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, copyright 1994 paragraph 2087 on “Faith”: Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the “obedience of faith” as our first obligation. He shows that “ignorance of God” is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations. Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him.

Paragraph 2088: The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:

Paragraph 2089: Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. “schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

President Barack Hussein Obama is to be the featured speaker at this year’s commencement ceremonies at Notre Dame University as well as receive an honorary degree. One of the leading and probably the most visible Roman Catholic institutions of higher learning not just in North America but the world. Take a moment and examine President Obama’s record over the first one hundred days and where it stands in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. 

First was the rescinding of the Mexico City policy which forbid the use of United States foreign aid to fund abortions. Then the endless number of appointments of individuals absolutely opposed to the teachings of the Church on the matter of abortion. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton within the last week affirmed her unabashed support of “women’s reproductive health care”. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano labeled “anti abortion groups” as domestic terrorists. (This would include the Roman Catholic Church in this group, by the way.) Additionally, the Vatican has rebuffed three, not one, not two but three candidates to be the Ambassador to the Holy See because of their weakness on pro life issues. Secretary of Health and Human Services appointee Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of the State of Kansas, accepted tens of thousands of dollars directly from George Tiller who is quite possibly the most notorious baby killer since Josef Mengele of Auschwitz infamy. She also received money from his political action committee, ProKanDo PAC to further fund her campaigns.

This is a president devoted to removing the last vestige of protection for the unborn. When pressed during a Q&A prior to his election about when he thought life began, his response was, “That’s way above my pay grade.” Well that begs the question that if there is any question about when life begins then maybe we should err on the side of life. Does that make sense to anybody else but me? But I digress.

Fr. John Jenkins in conjunction with the board of trustees at Notre Dame has obstinately defied the guidance of the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In so doing Fr. Jenkins is leading the souls of many faithful into tacit support of grave evil. His actions have created a “schism” within the faithful of the United States. It is high time that our Bishops hold these rogue priests accountable. A nationwide boycott of Notre Dame by all catholics should be held until Fr. Jenkins publicly apologizes or is removed from his position. We don’t want excuses as to why he was invited or what it really represents. We don’t care what his reasoning was because it was flawed and irresponsible. If he disagrees with the Church maybe he should look into a new vocation like, say, social work. Fr. Jenkins  profanes his position by his disobedience to the Church.