The document did not change Church teaching, but many Catholics had been misled into believing that Paul VI was poised to relax the prohibition on artificial contraception. When Paul VI dashed their hopes with Humanae Vitae, many of these Catholics left the Church and, as Reese observed, many others became “cafeteria Catholics”:
“It is uncertain how many Catholics left the church over this teaching, but it is clear that even more stayed, continued to go to Communion, and simply ignored it. This was a remarkable change for Catholics who had deferred to the clergy on moral and doctrinal teaching. It gave rise to the concept of ‘cafeteria Catholics,’ Catholics who picked and chose which teachings they would accept.”
God alone can judge whether it is better for a particular soul to be a “cafeteria Catholic” — which often means a person who falsely considers himself to be a Catholic — rather than deliberately leave the Church, but it is evident that many cafeteria Catholics pile sacrilege upon sacrilege by receiving the sacraments while ignoring the Church’s teachings, including on birth control. Whether it would be better for these souls to break from the Church or not, we can say with certainty that cafeteria Catholics (like Fr. Reese) cause tremendous scandal by continuing to identify as Catholic.
The catastrophic effects of this scandal are far-reaching, with each cafeteria Catholic perpetuating the tragically mistaken belief that we can pick and choose which Church teachings to follow. Whereas the Catholic Church should be spreading immutable Catholic truth throughout the world, these apostles of heresy and apostasy convince rational non-Catholics that the Church does not really have binding claims to preserving and teaching God’s truth. All of this is exacerbated tremendously by the scandal of the ostensible Catholic hierarchy condoning cafeteria Catholicism.
The greatest source of offenses against God today is the failure of Catholics to follow the immutable Catholic Faith. In this light, one can make a reasonable argument that the most pressing need in the world today is for Catholics to rediscover the beliefs that (a) they absolutely must accept what the Church teaches, and (b) Catholic truth does not evolve with the times.
So instead of Catholics spreading the truth and grace God wants them to spread, many (perhaps most) of those who identify as Catholic spread lies and evil instead. If the Catholic Faith is truly from God, what do we expect would happen as a result of this monumental catastrophe? Surely the entire world would suffer, and the forces of evil would grow ever more powerful. This is what we see today.
As a result, the greatest source of offenses against God today is the failure of Catholics to follow the immutable Catholic Faith. In this light, one can make a reasonable argument that the most pressing need in the world today is for Catholics to rediscover the beliefs that (a) they absolutely must accept what the Church teaches, and (b) Catholic truth does not evolve with the times.
Unfortunately, the entire Vatican II revolution is predicated on the evolution of the Faith to fit the modern world. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed it, Vatican II assimilated the “purified” values of liberal culture into the Council’s documents:
“The problem of the 1960s was to acquire the better of the values drawn from two centuries of ‘liberal’ culture. There are in fact some values which, although born outside the Church, can find their place purified and corrected in its vision of the world. This is what has been done.”
Most Catholics who unquestioningly accept the Vatican II revolution have become so inured to constant change in the Church that they can scarcely relate to the “unshakable Faith” common to all the saints. Defenders of the Vatican II revolution may try to argue that the unshakable fidelity to the popes remains — but this argument falls flat once it is acknowledged that most of those who abide by infallible papal teaching on contraception also question at least some novelties of the Vatican II revolution; whereas those who reject infallible papal teaching on this subject tend to fully embrace the Vatican II revolution.
Against this backdrop, how do we expect Donald Trump to react to Catholic calls for him to accept Catholic teaching on abortion, contraception, and IVF? Trump knows many Catholics, including: Pelosi, Francis, Macron, Fauci, AOC, and Biden. Many of the most important Catholics he knows are cafeteria Catholics who reject what the Church teaches on contraception, abortion, and IVF. The fault for that belongs entirely with those who have carried out the Vatican II revolution, not Trump.
We can, of course, extend the same analysis to the LGBTQ agenda. A large number of the bishops of the Catholic Church are reportedly homosexual and, with Fiducia Supplicans, Francis has authorized the blessing of same-sex unions. How, then, are we to blame Trump for not following Catholic teaching on this subject?
These problems in the Church are not new. Indeed, they began before Roe v. Wade and have outlived it. Thanks to the Catholic pro-life movement and Trump, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Deo Gratias! Millions of babies will be saved by this blessed victory. But as they grow up in the world that has not seen a truly Catholic hierarchy in sixty years, it seems that they would have also benefitted from fervent Catholics combatting the evils of the Vatican II revolution.
If we want to convince non-Catholic politicians to support Catholic morality, we should first persuade Catholics to support Catholic morality.
If we want to convince non-Catholic politicians to support Catholic morality, we should first persuade Catholics to support Catholic morality. It is not merely a matter of fixing our own house first: combatting the errors of the Vatican II revolution is vital if we want to restore the conditions that are conducive to spreading truth and grace throughout the world.
Once we convince those who identify as Catholic to become Catholic again, we will have a better chance to convince the overall voting (and donating) population to support pro-life issues. Until we do that, it is completely unreasonable to think we can pressure a viable candidate to adopt platforms that will alienate the voters (and donors) he or she relies on to get elected.
In the meantime, American voters may soon have the opportunity to choose between a presidential candidate who is running on an overtly anti-Christian platform and the candidate who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. Many sincere Catholics are divided on this issue, wondering how they can possibly support a man for president who is truly more Catholic than Francis and so many of the bishops. To preserve a “clean conscience,” some of these sincere Catholics would rather allow Harris to win than vote for Trump, even though they have every reason to believe that a Harris presidency would increase the evil and sin in America — every reason, in other words, to know that their decision would lead to great offenses against God and more reason for God to punish us. This does not seem to be Catholic or pro-life. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Latest from RTV — DON’T BACK DOWN or YOU'LL LOSE! A Pro-Life Message to Trump
