You may have seen the images from her wedding a while ago, and you may have read how people reacted to the pictures. Many people called it blasphemous, primarily because of how the image of Our Lady was woven into an indecent dress.
Among some of the posts were the following:
“This is a mockery of Catholicism. / Christianity isn’t a costume. It’s a faith that should be revered especially in the context of a supposedly ‘Christian’ wedding. From Annalulis
“Imagery of Our Blessed Mother (or any Christian imagery and/or symbolism) isn’t a prop to be used on provocative clothing. [Kourtney Kardashian] and [Travis Barker’s] wedding was an example of a perversion and complete misuse of holy images— it was disrespectful and sacrilegious.
“[Chad Veach] should’ve never encouraged or endorsed such a wedding. Please note: This wedding was NOT a Catholic Mass and Chad Veach is not associated with the Catholic Church.”
Nancy Pelosi
Consider the recent incident involving Nancy Pelosi and the Archbishop. I am sure you have also heard this news. Still, I will give you a quick summary: Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of Nancy’s hometown of San Francisco, has banned her from receiving Holy Communion because of her stance on Abortion. He said that her “position on abortion has become more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months.” And the ban would remain in force until she “publicly repudiates her support for abortion.”
Excuses
I believe that the Church no longer asks much of her followers so anyone can feel like they’re Catholics while living proudly as an unbeliever. We believe that exposing our bodies is evil and against God’s law, but only while we are in Church. So we “condone” those behaviors from ourselves, our family members under our care, and our loved ones. We excuse so many people in our lives until that law begins to look like it no longer matters like it is optional. We begin to have “Church clothes” and “circular clothes,” i.e., we learn the art of dividing our wardrobes between decent and indecent attires for Church, work, parties, or casual outings.
Many people pointed fingers at Kardashian, but is she different than us? And at Pelosi, but is she any different? Aren’t we all guilty of cosmetic Catholicism and slapping on this attire or that truth depending on how we look and where we are? Are these people not products of our current culture that celebrates faithlessness and atheism? Or that consider people “sane” when they treat religion as a distant, insignificant part of who they are?
Lukewarmness celebrated
Catholicism is no longer a religion of accountability to the community as it used to be. Of participation, of seriousness as our ancestors saw it. This is why many people spoke as though receiving Communion was somehow the “right” of every Catholic, and denying anyone admittance to the banquet was equivalent to the sin of “judging others.” Everyone had something to say, including non-Catholics who know nothing of our faith and Catholics who somehow knew even less.
It is troubling that the number of lukewarm Catholics has grown so much that the very practice of religion seems to the world as nothing more than belonging to a club, one of little importance or consequence. The part of the religion that keeps people aware of God’s judgment has vanished, and all we have is a collective promise of unreserved, unconditional mercy of God. Mercy so grand he does not care what anyone does as long he is a nice person or simply “spiritual.”
These are emblematic of a terrible failure on the part of the Church to ask more of her children. The Church has over pampered us, and many have found growth difficult to attain. Now more than ever, we need unity and a strict definition of our truths.
We pray that God gives his shepherds the courage to stand up and condemn evil as radically as Jesus did. So that the few who still belong to God will not be led astray or become lukewarm.
May God save our culture and our faith, and may God save our world. Amen.
God bless his servants and keep them straight in his will. Amen.
