By Judie Brown
Saint Paul taught the Corinthians, “The wisdom of the world is folly to God.”
Various events during the past few days lead us to believe that there is a great deal more folly in the world today than ever before. Starting with Pope Francis and culminating with the actions of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, it seems that human beings are awash in a mess!
Catholic Culture’s Dr. Jeff Mirus recently wrote in “Francis, False Hopes, and the Church’s Divine Constitution”:
It is one of the ironies of Christian fidelity that a pope can do a great deal to weaken the faith of Catholics while being unable to make fundamental changes in Catholic doctrine, the administration of the sacraments, or the Church’s hierarchical structure. As a result, popes who constantly appear to be very “progressive” are doomed to disappoint the secularized Catholics whose hopes they raise.
The very term “secularized Catholic” is an oxymoron. Clearly someone who is proud to be Catholic is not someone who embraces a world that despises Truth. In fact, at times like this we are reminded of the words of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) who wrote, “It is not Christians who oppose the world, but rather the world which opposes itself to them when the truth about God, about Christ and about man is proclaimed. The world waxes indignant when sin and grace are called by their names.”
Moving beyond the Catholic question, we run right into the city of New York, where rats get birth control pills, which prompted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to comment, “Hats off to the council for taking this big step to save lots of precious little lives. PETA pushed the city and its self-described ‘bloodthirsty’ rat czar to prioritize effective control methods like trash mitigation and birth control over cruel, lethal methods such as poison and suffocation.”
A rat is precious, but a preborn baby is disposable!
Oh yes, and in Georgia—the peace state—Fulton County Superior Court judge Robert McBurney ruled against a law recognizing that preborn children with heartbeats deserve protection.
A spokesman for Governor Brian Kemp said in response to this inane ruling, “Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge. Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities.”
The world is full of such contradictions, especially in our day. But not all is lost quite yet. In Virginia, the West Point School Board has agreed to pay $575K to Peter Vlaming, a teacher who was terminated because he refused to use transgender pronouns. In addition, the school board
changed its policies to conform to the new Virginia education policies established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that respect fundamental free speech and parental rights. The settlement follows last December’s landmark Virginia Supreme Court opinion in Vlaming’s favor affirming that the Virginia Constitution contains robust free speech and free exercise protections for public employees.
With all the foolishness in our midst these days, it is heartening that courageous men like Bishop Joseph Strickland continue to teach the truth. Strickland recently wrote:
As this final session of the Synod on Synodality takes place, I call out to those participants who are walking with the world, who dwell in Babylon, and who are striving for harmony with the world rather than Christ. We cannot abide by a process of synodality that usurps authority that is rightly possessed only by God, and we cannot strive to walk in harmony with those who are on a path other than the true path set by Jesus Christ.
Let us pray that such wisdom infects every person, thwarting the evil one who “was a murderer from the beginning.” That is how we overcome this world’s foolishness.
