Thursday, May 10, 2012

Profoundly Unchristian

Jeanne Flavin (source)
With or without support from home, many students will seek out the contraception they need. Still, the ban contributes to a climate of shame and stigma surrounding sexuality that -- as we learned from victims of the widespread priest sex abuse scandal -- can be incredibly harmful. Fear of disclosure and shame, in turn, can lead to difficulty finding information and services, and the avoidance of needed health care and support. If universities are to succeed in the mission of educating and graduating the students they admit, they must fill in the gaps in care left unmet by dysfunctional or struggling families, not deny that such dysfunction exists. To do otherwise is to fail our students.
 The principle of cura personalis (or "care for the whole person"), central to the mission of Catholic schools, does not come with a qualifier that says "unless you are sexually active" or "except if you are a woman." While Catholic social teachings communicate powerful and uplifting messages about the dignity of the human person, the contraceptive coverage ban (not to mention the Vatican's recent rebuke of the American Catholic nuns for not promoting the "Church's biblical view of family life and human sexuality") shouts volumes about women's second-class status in the Catholic Church. 
This disrespect for the women who are here -- in our midst, on our campuses -- being shown by a powerful minority of conservative Catholics in favor of purported concern for the unborn must be called out for what it is: profoundly unchristian.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeanne Flavin is a hero. Thank goodness she has the sense to speak up and protect her students and all the women in the world. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Holy Mary Mother of God pray for J. Hardon, a sinner. Amen

dagger john said...

Thank St Ignatius for " leftist professors " at Fordham some are women some are Nuns and others are actual Jesuits- this is why the Old Maroon has such a vast array of talented Alumni and 40k applicants
hail rams of Fordham Hail .....

true women and men for others ...........

A M D G

Maria said...

CHRISTIANITY MUST BE RESTORED

All that we have said so far leads to a sobering conclusion. The propagation of Christ’s teaching in today’s world is imperative as never before.

What am I saying? I am saying the day is gone when we can think of evangelization as something merely good. Oh no! Evangelization of the world, including our own American world, is a dire necessity.

GOD IS NOT MOCKED. WHEN HE BECAME MAN, HE DID NOT LEAVE US THE PLEASANT OPTION OF EITHER PROCLAIMING HIS GOSPEL OR NOT. HE SAID, IN THE *IMPERATIVE* MOOD, *** “PROCLAIM THIS GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS--TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.”***

With the spread of the contraception plague and its murderous consequences, we see something more evil taking place in our day than ever before. We see whole nations losing their grip on sound morality, and even the rudiments of the natural law.

Whole countries are going morally insane in their ethical thinking, as seen in the irrational laws they make to bind their people contrary to the most elementary prescriptions of the living God.

In the early Church, Christianity was given a name that is all the more meaningful today.

“Christians,” it was said, “are the soul of the world.” In Latin, Christiani sunt anima mundi. So we are. And we had better wake up to our God-given responsibility.

That is why God became man, as St. John tells us, He is the light of the world. He is the life of the world, He is the truth without whom the world is walking in darkness and the shadow of death.

But Christ tells us that we are to bring His light to the world. We are to provide His life for the world.

If we do, and in the measure that we do, we shall restore stability and peaceful unity not only to our families, but to our parishes and dioceses as well.

***WHERE A PERSON STANDS ON CONTRACEPTION IS A GOOD TEST OF HIS AUTHENTICITY AS A CATHOLIC.***

The reason, as we have seen, is that at the root of the evil of contraception is selfishness. But the foundation of Christianity is the love of others out of love for God.

I am almost finished, but not quite. All of us, young and old, bishops, priests, clerics, religious and the laity have one basic obligation in life: to grow in the likeness of Christ by following His example of selfless charity.

But selfless charity is impossible without the cross. Love and pain go together as condition and consequence. If I really love someone, including the unborn children that I can bring into the world, I am willing to pay the price of my love, which is pain. That is why, over the years, I have come to define paganism as “Christianity without a cross.”

We are truly followers of Christ, as genuine disciples of His Gospel, as really in love with Him – as we love the crosses He puts into our own lives, which generally have people’s names!"

--Servant of God John Hardon SJ

Anonymous said...

"We are truly followers of Christ, as genuine disciples of His Gospel, as really in love with Him – as we love the crosses He puts into our own lives, which generally have people’s names!"

How I wish Fr. Hardon had not put crosses in the lives of sexual abuse victims.

Maria said...

"Teach me, my Lord, to be kind and gentle in all the events of life, in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of others, in the insincerity of those I trusted, in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside, to think of the happiness of others, to hide my pains and heartaches, so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it that it may mellow me, not harden or embitter me; that it may make me patient, not irritable; that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, proud and overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence. No one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow traveler in our journey toward eternal life.

As I go my rounds from one task to another, let me say, from time to time, a word of love to You.

May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity. Amen."


Servant of God John Hardon SJ

Anonymous said...

Fr. Hardon needs our forgiveness.