It's encouraging to see the U.S. bishops put their faith into action and give some life to one of those Top Ten Reasons for Hope as they make headway with their bulletin insert on abortion funding in health care. Even our local liberal parish included the information requested by the bishops and discussed here. Perhaps the information will be a gentle reminder to those 54% of American Catholic Obama supporters that they voted not only for the most "pro-abortion president in U.S. history," but for a president who stands in contradiction to one of the most fundamental teachings of the Catholic faith.
Do the shepherds look for the lost sheep, or the sheep for the lost shepherds?
ReplyDeleteMost of the shepherds have been 'gone' so long.... will the sheep still recognize the shepherds' voices when they call now?
It's been a long time of wandering in the post VatII secular desert ... ~50 years.
Yes, interesting point. There probably will be those sheep who don't recognize the shepherd's voice, but if the shepherds continue calling, consistently and faithfully, maybe the wayward sheep will quietly leave the fold.
ReplyDeleteAs Pope Benedict said regarding the so-called priest shortage, we don't need a lot of priests, we need good priests. Similarly, we don't need a lot of people claiming to be Catholic (when they are really more like Protestants), we need Catholics who profess the faith as stated in the Catechism.
I realize that there should be "one fold and one shepherd", but how is that to be achieved? Will we really have one fold if people can define the faith however they choose?
Perhaps I'm being shortsighted, but I sometimes find it disappointing to be a Catholic convert and feel that I may have converted to simply another branch of Protestantism.