Several media outlets have touted the significance of the Catholic vote in propelling President Donald Trump to victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. PJ Media’s report accurately suggested that it should have been a given that Catholics could not vote for Harris:

“It turns out that skipping the Al Smith dinner, touting no exceptions for abortion, and insulting Jesus Christ were not good campaign strategies for Democrat VP Kamala Harris. Exit polls indicate Donald Trump might not only have won the Catholic vote but won it by a staggering margin. Harris did everything she could this campaign season to belittle Catholics and emphasize her total disregard for freedom of religion. From locking up pro-lifers to breaking a years-long tradition of presidential candidate attendance at a major Catholic dinner, Kamala made it perfectly clear that she did not respect American Catholics nor believe they have a right to disagree with her views in the public square.”

Despite all of this, it appears that roughly 41 percent of Catholic voters may have voted for Harris. The real story here, then, should be that there is a sizable portion of the voting population that is incorrectly identifying as Catholic — while Catholics might have abstained from voting for Trump in good conscience, no Catholic could have voted for Harris in good conscience.

The persistence of this tragic situation is attributable to the even more tragic reality that the majority of the ostensible Catholic hierarchy has been infected with this same malady of Cafeteria Catholicism.

So how did we reach this point at which 41 percent of self-identified Catholic voters demonstrate by their vote that they are not really Catholic? The answer to that question would be the same as the answer to countless other questions we could ask, such as:

• How is the pro-LGTBQ Fr. James Martin such a prominent influencer in the Church?
• How did we get Francis as the reputed pope, who embraces all religions other than actual Catholicism?
• Why does Rome persecute those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass?
• How did the Synod on Synodality last three years without the majority of bishops condemning it?
• Why do the majority of American Catholics appear to approve of contraception and divorce?

The answer to all of these questions is that the revolution carried out by Vatican II has reshaped how millions of self-professed Catholics view the Faith — they have become so-called Cafeteria Catholics who erroneously believe they can pick and choose which tenets of the Catholic religion they will accept. The persistence of this tragic situation is attributable to the even more tragic reality that the majority of the ostensible Catholic hierarchy has been infected with this same malady of Cafeteria Catholicism. If we instead had a truly orthodox Catholic hierarchy, all of these misguided souls would be told that they must abandon their errors.

The evils of this situation go well beyond the fact that the Cafeteria Catholics are offending God and on the path to damnation. There is a concomitant set of consequences that combine to seriously impair the ability of Catholics to spread God’s truth and goodness throughout the societies in which we live: 

• Cafeteria Catholics enjoy neither the spiritual nor the intellectual gifts that God wants to give them through the practice of the Faith. As a result, their contributions to society are far less beneficial than if they actually adhered to the religion they say they profess.
• Their identification as Catholic creates a false impression about the Catholic Faith in the mind of non-Catholics. As a result, many intelligent non-Catholics are effectively turned away from Catholicism by its false representatives.
• Despite the fact that these Cafeteria Catholics have abandoned the Faith, they can still misappropriate the good reputation of the Church in support of their anti-Catholic beliefs, thus confusing and scandalizing the unwary.

As a result of all of this, the overall Catholic influence on society is weakened, distorted, and even hijacked by those who detest what the Church teaches. Who can blame our non-Catholic leaders for dismissing true Catholic teaching when the most vocal ambassadors of the Faith are the Cafeteria Catholics who have abandoned it?

“To desist or keep silence in the face of such a clamor against the truth, is either a pure weakness or a hesitation in the faith... because there is nothing that so encourages the audacity of evildoers, as the weakness of good people. . . . Let us add: Christians are born to fight.” - Pope Leo XIII

In light of these evils, the most pressing need in the world today is the same as it has been since the Council: we must defend the immutable nature of the Catholic Faith and insist that those who distort the Faith are in error. In his Liberalism and Catholicism, Fr. A. Roussel quoted two great champions of orthodoxy on what we must do:

Pope Leo XIII: “To desist or keep silence in the face of such a clamor against the truth, is either a pure weakness or a hesitation in the faith. In both cases, one would greatly dishonor God. The salvation of one’s soul and that of others would be put in grave danger since such an action would be to work for the enemies of the faith, because there is nothing that so encourages the audacity of evildoers, as the weakness of good people. . . . Let us add: Christians are born to fight.” (p. 131)

St. Pius X: “The duty of every Catholic is to unquestionably and religiously fulfill, firmly safeguard and profess without timidity, both in private and in public life the principles of Christian truths taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church . . . [Persuaded that] error is approved by non-resistance, and truth is suffocated by not defending her.” (p. 131)

If God has granted us a reprieve from the evils that Kamala Harris’s handlers wanted to inflict on us, surely we must show our gratitude by trying to fulfill God’s will to the utmost of our ability. We do this by renewing our efforts to combat the greatest evils afflicting the Church and world today. Failing to do this would, to repeat the words of Leo XIII, be a sign of “pure weakness or hesitation in the Faith.” May God grant us the wisdom and fortitude to instead fight for the immutable Catholic Faith He gave us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

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