Rupert Mayer, a faithful Catholic priest in Germany during the reign of the Nazi Party, was an outspoken defender of the Church during a time when preaching Catholic moral teachings from the pulpit was an open invitation to arrest and imprisonment.
Planting Stooges in the Pulpit
Nazi stooges were planted in Catholic congregations throughout the country to monitor and report on any criticism of the government or its policies.
In a sermon he gave in May of 1937 Father Mayer publicly stated that no one could be a member of the Nazi Party and also a Catholic in good standing. Shortly thereafter, officials of the Nazi party notified Father Mayer that he was banned from preaching. When he ignored the ban and continued to preach, Father Mayer was arrested by the Gestapo in June of that year, and he spent most of the World War II years either in a concentration camp or under house arrest. Father Mayer was beatified in 1987.
Father Mayer’s experience was not an isolated incident, but was only one of countless examples of official government suppression of the Catholic Church in Nazi Germany. In Cologne during 1933, Herman Goering banned all Catholic newspapers and publications, declaring that “political” Catholicism (commentary on or criticism of government policies) would not be tolerated.
Fast forward to the present day.
Groups who oppose the teachings of the Church are attempting to intimidate bishops and priests who preach traditional Catholic doctrines by threatening to pull their tax-exempt status. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has filed a request with the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Colorado Springs Roman Catholic diocese. The offense? They claim that Bishop Michael Sheridan’s recent pastoral letter regarding Catholic politicians and the reception of Holy Communion was “electioneering.” In his letter, Bishop Sheridan echoed the sentiments of Father Rupert Mayer when he stated, “Anyone who professes the Catholic faith with his lips while at the same time publicly supporting legislation or candidates that defy God's law makes a mockery of that faith and belies his identity as a Catholic.”
Bishop Sheridan never mentioned any politicians by name, nor did he endorse any candidates or political party. He only clearly articulated traditional Catholic teaching regarding abortion, same-sex “marriage,” euthanasia and embryonic stem-cell research, and he admonished those Catholics who might mistakenly believe that they can support these practices and remain in faithful communion with the Church. Regardless, Americans United for Separation of Church and State is determined to silence him.
Elsewhere, a group headquartered in Kansas calling itself the Mainstream Coalition, claiming to be committed to the “separation of church and state,” would make Herman Goering proud. During the recent presidential elections, Mainstream Coalition leaders claimed they were sending their members into Catholic and other Christian churches to monitor homilies for “political content.” This clandestine planting of stooges in congregations was initiated after a local minister spoke out against same-sex “marriages.” Any further sermons the Mainstream Coalition considered offensive would result in a request to the IRS to pull the offending church’s tax-exempt status. So much for freedom of speech.
Thumbing Their Noses at the Church
And it isn’t just non-Catholics who are participating in the intimidation. Congressman William Lacy of St. Louis, who supports abortion on demand and claims to be a Catholic, recently suggested that the Catholic Church should have its tax-exempt status revoked. Congressman Lacy was offended when his local archbishop, Raymond Burke, said that politicians who publicly support abortion should not be given Communion. Lacy’s threat of IRS action against the Church, and his blatant attempt to silence Archbishop Burke, should raise the ire of every faithful Catholic in the country.
But the worst betrayal of the Church took place recently when 48 Roman Catholic members of Congress, all of them Democrats and all but three pro-abortion, released a statement warning of “great harm to the Church” if bishops refuse them Communion. These arrogant politicians used their positions of power to wag their fingers in the face of Church leaders and say, in principle if not in so many words, “Don’t you dare presume to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong!” Filled with their own self-importance, and believing themselves to be safe from any backlash by Catholic voters, these so-called “Catholics” thumbed their noses at the Church.
There’s a sad truth here. The sad truth is that these politicians are confident that a backlash from Catholic voters is highly unlikely. The sad truth is that all too many Catholics want “victory” for their political party more than they want to stop abortion or embryonic stem-cell research or human cloning or euthanasia or same-sex “marriages.” They’re willing to compromise their adherence to Catholic teachings for political power. They adopt the “I’m personally opposed but support the right to choose” credo that they mistakenly believe absolves them from any complicity in the offense itself.
But they are complicit. Church teaching is very clear on that issue.
Catholics Are Extremists?
Regardless, the sad fact remains that all too many Catholics continue to vote the party line instead of the Church line. And pro-abortion politicians, increasingly emboldened by the absence of a Catholic backlash, now use threats and IRS intimidation to suppress the faithful Catholic voice.
Keep in mind that over the past sixty years Catholics have been the traditional backbone of the party of the Left. But something’s changed. Campaigning in New Hampshire in early October then-presidential candidate John Kerry flatly stated that opposition to embryonic stem-cell research is “an extreme, right-wing ideology.” Suddenly, Catholic beliefs are considered “extremist,” and the platform of the party that has traditionally depended on our support now promotes practices and behaviors that are in direct opposition to our faith. And when we object they call us names like “extremists” and threaten our parishes with revocation of their tax-exempt status.
How long will this go on?
How long will Catholics ignore the holocaust of abortion and continue to support pro-abortion candidates?
How long will Catholics continue to argue that “other” issues are just as important?
How long will we allow our political party to define the issues that are important to us?
How long will we allow the politicians who have depended on our support to bite the hands that feed them?
Blessed Rupert Mayer pray for us!
© Copyright 2004 Catholic Exchange
Joe Pacuska is a Catholic apologist, writer and businessman whose career has spanned senior management positions in the Internet and telecommunications industry. Joe currently resides in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.