
Pope Pius XI and the future Pope Pius XII warned Germany about this madman.
Will Catholic bishops warn America about the madmen running for office this November?
Before November, America Needs It’s Own “Mit Brennender Sorge”
Or is Tax Exemption the New Thirty Pieces of Silver?
by Dr. Peter Frey
(Posted August 28, 2008 http://www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Throughout history, there have been repeated clashes between the Catholic Church and secular governments of one form or another. In several cases, priests and bishops stood up courageously to challenge an all-powerful despotism. Two English bishops, St Thomas Becket and St John Fisher, did this at the cost of their lives: Becket for defending the temporal rights of the Church versus King Henry II, Fisher the lone prelate to oppose the usurpation of Church power by Henry VIII by opposing his adulterous marriage. In the twentieth century, a similar clash developed between the Church and Nazi Germany.
The venerable and courageous Pope Pius XI drafted an encyclical with the title “Mit Brennender Sorge” (“With burning concern”) addressed to the German episcopate. The actual author was the then Secretary of State, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII. Written in German, rather than Latin as was customary, the encyclical condemned the racist and pagan atheism of the Nazi regime, and the exaltation of the state or the “Volk” above God and Church. The document was smuggled into Germany and was read from the pulpit of every German church at Mass on Passion Sunday, 1937. Thus the Pope’s views on the totalitarian state were made known PUBLICLY. No German Catholic could claim ignorance of the Church’s teaching, nor did it leave any “wiggle room” for equivocation or “misunderstanding.” Reading it at Sunday Mass was a dramatic method to inform German Catholics. It caused a huge reaction across the country, and quite obviously enraged Hitler and his regime, which then began an intense persecution of the Church.
Today in the United States, there is another conflict between the stated views of society on important issues, the most important of which are abortion and homosexuality versus the teachings of the church. Ever since the Roe vs. Wade court decision, American society has created a “right” for women to “choose” an abortion. Several states have passed laws changing the concept of holy matrimony beyond its God-defined end as between one man and one woman. In Catholic moral teaching, NO ONE, and no state has any authority over the moral order or the natural law. Thus American society and the Roman Catholic Church are on a collision course.
What is most alarming is the fact that, unlike Nazi Germany, we live in a free society, where the citizen can exercise his rights, where open elections are held, and where civic responsibility is part of our national heritage. With the Church’s teaching being very well known, with instant media access, no one in America can claim not to know what is going on concerning these important civil and moral issues.
Submitted by Doria2
September 1, 2008
Categories: Doria2, Events, Human Rights, Politics . Tags: abortion, Adolph Hitler, Catholic bishops, Catholic politicians, Church teaching, Nazis . Author: Doug Lawrence . Comments: Leave a comment