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Opinion: We are living in a “No Catholics Allowed” society

With fewer and fewer exceptions, Catholic perspectives on life, morality, virtue, culture are barred from the public arena, mainstream platforms, and artistic channels.

(Image: Lee Scarratt/Unsplash.com)

Imagine a restaurant with a sign on the entrance that reads: No Catholics Allowed. However, the restaurant has a take-out window in a back alley where Catholics can pay full price for leftovers.

Is this akin to today’s reality with the great majority of companies, filmmakers, TV and streaming programs, mainstream publishers? I think so. For all intents and purposes, no Catholic perspectives, themes, or ideas are welcome. Increasingly, such perspectives are shamed.

In fact, this trend has accelerated in the past decade to the extent that many Catholic beliefs are equated with bigotry and misogyny. Can you imagine a faithful Catholic being a Disney executive today without hiding their beliefs? This reminds me of how people once justified discrimination against blacks because they judged them to be untrustworthy and immoral, or why discrimination against the Irish was okay because they were superstitious drunkards. That’s how the game’s always been played, and today’s No Catholics Allowed instigators are no different, in spite of the virtuous airs they affect.

With fewer and fewer exceptions, Catholic perspectives on life, morality, virtue, culture are barred from the public arena, mainstream platforms, and artistic channels. Yes, the rare John Krasinski or Patricia Heaton breaks through, but could an emerging Flannery O’Connor, Paul Horgan, or Gene Wolfe find a mainstream publisher today? Or could an emerging Alfred Hitchcock find a major studio to produce his films? Could Dean Koontz find a mainstream publisher if he were starting out today with no canon of successful works behind him? Could the provocative Walter M. Miller’s classic, A Canticle for Leibowitz, find a mainstream publisher?

Lest some think this is exaggeration, just consider the transformation of Disney, once an icon of family entertainment, in the past several decades. The rapid rise of transgenderism has turned tyrannical, and the goal of trans-activists is, as Abigail Shrier explains, is chaos, social upheavel, and undermining stable families.

I can think of a few prominent newsmen, newswomen, and journalists with Catholic perspectives but even they have to be exceedingly careful in these times. Apart from big moral issues like abortion and marriage, even the use of “he” and “she” are considered bigoted by the advanced guard of the new culture. Meanwhile, while Catholic beliefs are considered to be beyond the pale by many companies, they are only too happy to do business with torturers and murderers in the Chinese regime.

Hyperbole? Paranoia? Rather, year by year evidence and experience. To deny this is to have one’s head buried in the sand.

Is there an answer? At this stage, with hostility toward Catholic perspectives so far progressed, numerous measures are needed, none of which have been seriously pursued thus far.

When marshaled, the economic power of Catholics is still massive. Even if done imperfectly, Catholics can have a big impact. Look at how impactful organized environmentalists have been. Catholics should seriously consider turning away from—stop purchasing, stop viewing, stop reading, stop vacationing—programs, films, news, theme parks, companies, publishers, etc., where No Catholics Allowed is practiced. Take the money we’re spending on streaming services, music and audible book subscriptions, movies, cable TV, apparel, and use it to support institutions and programming that are open to a Catholic perspective—a perspective that delights in beauty, joy, truth—or at least perspectives that respect traditional virtues. This will take discipline and sacrifice because many of us have become addicted to the bad food the No Catholics Allowed restaurant has been feeding us.

However, retreating into “safe” Catholic echo chambers and ignoring what’s going on in the wider world isn’t the answer because such attitudes do an injustice to our children, grandchildren, and society at large. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, Merry the hobbit sounded the horn of Rohan to rouse the beaten-down hobbits of the Shire to resist the persecution and degradation they were experiencing: “I am going to blow the horn of Rohan, and give them some music they have never heard before.” We need such clear and compelling horns today to rouse Catholics to action. I’m far from an exemplar but am determined to be more committed to this mission going forward.

The present reality of No Catholics Allowed should be clearly and forthrightly articulated by Catholic clergy and prominent Catholic laypeople in very direct language. Again and again, as warranted by a threat of this nature. This shouldn’t be a subject that’s danced around or accepted as inevitable, because No Catholics Allowed increasing entails discrimination and persecution.

Catholic businesspeople and entrepreneurs should consider investing in existing and new businesses, platforms, and forums, even if not explicitly Catholic, that welcome Catholic and traditional Christian perspectives, with funding via Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), philanthropic ventures, crowd funding (as Dallas Jenkins is courageously doing with The Chosen) and the like, with emphasis on perspectives and art compatible with Catholicism and that’s accessible to the public at large. Individual Catholics should consider doing likewise as they are able.

Prayer is needed, always mindful that this mission isn’t about casting stones but leading others, including instigators of No Catholics Allowed, to the truth—prayer for courage, fortitude, repentance, conversion.

I worked on environmental projects for decades and am committed to environmental stewardship, yet I believe the No Catholics Allowed threat is more worthy of Catholics’ attention and commitment than climate change because a No Catholics Allowed worldview degrades the human spirit and human culture. Further, this mission isn’t just a matter of giving Catholic perspectives a voice in the public arena. More importantly, this could be a powerful tool for evangelization, because the truth is beautiful and liberating. If Catholics don’t recognize this, the No Catholics Allowed instigators certainly do.

Are Catholics satisfied with paying the No Catholics Allowed restaurant full price for scraps and the back of the restaurant’s hand? If Catholics don’t take action, this is what they will continue to get, and worse.


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About Thomas M. Doran 84 Articles
Thomas M. Doran is the author of the Tolkien-inspired Toward the Gleam (Ignatius Press, 2011), The Lucifer Ego, and Kataklusmos (2020). He has worked on hundreds of environmental and infrastructure projects, was president of Tetra Tech/MPS, was an adjunct professor of engineering at Lawrence Technological University, and is a member of the College of Fellows of The Engineering Society of Detroit.

39 Comments

  1. Yes, the rare John Krasinski or Pamela Heaton breaks through

    I’m guessing you mean Catholic actress Patricia Heaton, best known for her role in “Everybody Loves Raymond” and spotlighted in Catholic media a couple of years ago for her sitcom “Carol’s Second Act” (2019–2020).

  2. The author may well be right, but Catholics are the authors of their own demise. They were the ones who denied access to churches at a time of need. It was a catholic and a bishop who reported the nun in Tyburn. If reports coming out of Malta are true the Pope declined to have a cross in the background out of deference to muslims. It is just too depressing to contemplate.

    • I do not believe that Pope Francis would decline to have a cross on display. Yes, some rad trad sites may have suggested that. But notice the big cross that he is boldly wearing as he addresses the crowd?
      NCr writes: “Pope Francis told the migrants at Hal Far that his visit with them “makes us think of the significance of the logo chosen for my journey to Malta.” That logo depicts hands lifted upwards toward a cross as they emerge from a boat being hit by waves. He brings to their attention the CROSS on the logo.
      Then he quotes Jesus. As the article tells us: “Yet, on every continent, there are individuals and communities who take up the challenge, realizing that migrations are a sign of the times, where civility itself is in play,” he said. The Pope added that, “for us Christians, too, in play is our fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus, who said: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me’ (Matthew 25:35).” https://www.ncregister.com/cna/pope-francis-reminds-migrants-in-malta-of-his-closeness-on-last-day-of-visit

      • Mal,

        You write “Yes, some rad trad sites may have suggested that.”

        A cheap and unsubstantiated shot at a group that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic. You reveal both your heart and the limit of your thinking, sir.

        • He is a she, most likely. But spot on about heart and mind and implied intent of most of her posts. There is a name for such an animal: Supercalifragilisticexpealadocious or HyperpapalistculticidolatrousFranciscusultramontanist.

      • There are pictures of the place. There’s a horrible sculpture made with recycled glass and no Catholic symbols

    • Don’t forget the diocese (a very few, I think, but that any of them would do such a thing) that mandated the SC2 vax as a requirement to attend Mass; or require it off all priests or employees; or forbid their priests from helping with a religious exemption, etc

    • The cross also offends Jews of various sorts, as does the Christian religion in general. Here is what the Talmud (Babylonian version) says, “Christians are allied with Hell and Christianity is worse than incest.” (Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 17a)….”Going to prostitutes is the same as being a Christian.” (BTAvoda Zarah)….”Those who read the Gospels are doomed to Hell” (BT Sanhendrin 90a)….”When the Messiah comes he will destroy the Christians.” (BT Sanhendrin 99a) (from Michael Hoffman’s book, “Judaism Discovered.”) I bring this unpleasant subject up because Muslim have little impact on US and Western society compared to those of Jewish ancestry.

      • Some Christians too, prefer their Christianity without a cross. They favor the version which they have scrubbed clean, confined to the deep-freeze section of historicism, and reformed. The rationalist likes the version which represents strict objective reality–wafers and juice. The naturalist enjoys his feast of bread and wine with gusto; necessarily he is a vegetarian. There is no real blood, no real flesh at his meal. The words of Jesus at the Last Supper? Mere metaphor. It’s all about theology, see?

        I bet we all know people who think and believe things like that. Some are Protestant. Others call themselves Catholic.

  3. If anything, Mr. Doran, you’re understating your case.

    As to remedies, you know of course that if all Catholics voted the Church’s teachings in even one national election, every abominable, horrific leftist policy — from abortion to CRT to the abolition of women — would be instantly and summarily defunct.

    Because any candidate who espoused even a single one of them would fear being swept away by a margin of 20 percent.

    Yes, Democrats are responsible for this diabolical, delusional agenda.

    But Catholics who ignore the truths of their faith and vote for Democrats regardless of the satanic policies they stand for are just as responsible.

  4. You haven’t convinced me. I think one element that is getting criticized in society, and in Catholics, is the bully culture. When people complain about tyranny in your linked context they and you don’t understand the term. If someone forced you to change your marital status, or your sex organs, or your pregnancy, that would be tyranny. Check China, from whom many Catholics happily buy things to fill their houses.

    Asking someone to address another person politely, as they wish to be addressed? This is courtesy. Just be polite to others: it costs nothing, concedes nothing, and only recognizes the respect we have for other people.

    I think Thomas Aquinas has the measure of where we should be heading:

    “To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.”

    If Catholics really wanted to find the way ahead, it would be to endorse and support BLM and metoo. It would be to welcome refugees from abroad and make room in our communities and homes for them. When we mewl about being wronged, our complaints too often ring as self-serving and immature, at least compared to the real tyrannies suffered by people in our own country, let alone in Easter Europe.

    In the 60s, many Catholics were at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. We advocated for the rights of workers, education for the poor and needy, reaching out to migrants, natives, and black people. There’s a reason Pope Francis has generated good will. We do well to follow his example.

    • It’s curious, so to speak, that everything is a one-way street and a one-trick pony with your comments. You keep saying that nobody but yourself understands what “tyranny” is, yet you never actually engage with the arguments or facts presented. Ever. For you, it’s always about “bullying”, as if that single issue explains the host of openly supported and promoted evils of our day, such as the current administration promoting falsehoods about men, women, and sex under the banner of transexual/transgender “rights”. Speaking of which:

      Gender theory, he said, has a “dangerous” cultural aim of erasing all distinctions between men and women, male and female, which would “destroy at its roots” God’s most basic plan for human beings: “diversity, distinction. It would make everything homogenous, neutral. It is an attack on difference, on the creativity of God and on men and women.”

      Pope Francis said he did not want “to discriminate against anyone”, but was convinced that human peace and well-being had to be based on the reality that God created people with differences and that accepting – not ignoring – those differences is what brings people together.

      Expressing concern about this cultural and political tyranny is in complete accord with what Pope Francis has been saying for years re: gender ideology. You would do well to follow his consistent example on this particular topic, especially as it reflects clear Church teaching re: the human person, sexuality, and related matters.

      “If Catholics really wanted to find the way ahead, it would be to endorse and support BLM and metoo.” And this, in a nutshell, is the problem with your shallow sophistry: it is simply thinly veiled capitulation that is constantly asking how Catholicism can curry favor with those who would, in an instant, destroy it. (For example, it is well known by people who actually bother to study these things that the BLM leadership is ideologically committed to destroying the traditional family and marriage.

      I’ll bet money here that if you respond to me you are going to reference “bullying,” “biology”, and “genes”…

      • “… yet you never actually engage with the arguments or facts presented. Ever.”

        Well, when commenting on other people’s websites, I keep comments to a minimum. You could invite me to write a piece and assign a topic, and I’ll comply with a full engagement.

        As for the “No Catholics Allowed” meme, I think it’s an exaggeration. Maybe it’s there in China and Russia. Not in the West. While I have no doubt some Catholics feel persecuted, sometimes it’s just for being a jerk. And sometimes, truly, it’s an unjust reaction against the faith. I think Fulton Sheen had the measure of it in the 50s when he said there were only a hundred or so anti-Catholics in the US. The thousands of others he said were just against the caricature of Catholics as presented by misunderstanding, lies, and such. I suspect the same is true today.

        How we treat trans people has nothing to do with our beliefs about the individual or collective condition of people. Case in point: one of my Jewish aunts converted to evangelical Christianity when I was a teen. She could get pretty confrontational about it. Some of my relatives thought her a crackpot. Various reasons, both because of religion and also how in-your-face she could be about the faith. My dad tempered his few comments in private. My mom never uttered a bad word about it, though I think they both disagreed with her conversion and/or her choice of Christianity, and certainly her intensity about it. She was still welcome in our home, however. My mom made sure of that. Conversations were polite. I had some of them. I didn’t tell her she was crazy for not being a Catholic. Or a calmer Christian. Neither did my folks.

        If a trans person wants to be called by a different name or pronoun, it’s not relevant to me if they are truly seeking peace or significantly misguided. I refer to them as they wish without snark or protest. If they become a friend close enough to have a conversation, maybe I would comment on their path, if I had evidence it was really going a bad way.

        If we Catholics can’t make authentic friends with people with whom we disagree we don’t have a prayer of influencing them. And when they go their own way, and look for laws and lawyers to reinforce a better level of comfort in their lives, I’m sorry it has come to that, but I can see their point. They aren’t tyrants. They are just trying to avoid persecution–as they see it.

        Drop me a line if you’re serious about wanting more in-depth writing from me.

    • Genuine Christians would do none of the things you suggest. Calling people by their “preferred” names, genders, or pronouns means participating in and endorsing their lies and self-deception. That is unacceptable behavior for Christians. No genuine Christian would have anything to do with a racist, Marxist organization like BLM, for obvious reasons. True Christians support the rule of law and a legal process of immigration and citizenship. People here illegally should be deported immediately. And, lastly, no one in the United States is suffering under tyranny. That’s too ridiculous to merit a comment. The 60’s are over. Get with the times. You have some serious reflection and repentance to do. Get to it.

      • Christians certainly are polite in addressing other people. I’ve had friends who used nicknames instead of their given names. When a person adopts a nickname or a married name, it is neither a lie nor a self-deception. They are identifying with a new stage in life, as Mike, or Cat, or Mrs Smith. My mom used to sign my report cards Mrs with my dad’s name.

        BLM is not an organization. It can’t be racist because it doesn’t enforce an institutional prejudice against people who aren’t black. Individuals here and there might be prejudiced against white people, but there is no enforcement against their salaries, profiling them for arrests, deflating the value of their homes, and the like.

        Christians accept the prescriptions of the commandments, including Leviticus 19:33-34. Especially if you adhere to verse 22 of the previous chapter. Law, tyranny, or not, to cherry-pick through the Bible is hypocrisy. And Christians shouldn’t be hypocrites.

        The most generous definition or tyranny you could be alluding to is this: “a rigorous condition imposed by some outside agency or force.” It’s a pretty open thing. Our kids have probably thought us as tyrants. Does it affect the practice of our faith–going to Mass, feeding the poor, catechizing our children, fasting, praying in our churches and homes at quiet moments? Granted, during the pandemic, we shared the restriction of our Catholic public activities with Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and others. But not all, and never permanently.

        If the extent of tyranny is to protest in favor of vexing other people, no good Catholic is going to be on board with that. We don’t need to act like jerks, showing off our superior morality. Calling a guy a piece of sound equipment, or a woman a species of feline doesn’t harm our soul. Our proper focus is always outward, to spread the Gospel as Jesus mandated. The Lord wasn’t bothered eating with tax collectors and sinners. If we have faith, neither will we be.

        • Your remarks about BLM are well off the mark. They were the agitators among the many who helped burn down the country and the stores belonging to small business owners during the 2020 riots. They are the ones who took money they extorted from large corporations who should know better and used it to buy a $6 million dollar mansion, as reported in the news today. I will not allow myself, a white person with no racial animus, to be defined by these people. Being a willing victim is the pathway to destruction, whether that is by unregulated illegal immigration ( which by the way allows free passage of drugs, thugs, and sex traffickers into the country), or the chaos supported by the no-police-woke-ism crowd. . Being a Christian does NOT mean you have to be OK with the garbage they are selling. Render to Caesar, you know? In a civil society EVERYONE should obey the law and EVERYONE should be treated the same. No two-tiered justice system, no double standards. No holding whites accountable for deeds they did NOT commit that happened 150 years ago. As for transexuals and gays, etc. I have no issue with them as people, although I doubt their clarity of thinking. However I have fierce objections to allowing them to MANDATE what others can say about them or have to accept as their “equal treatment”. This is the absurd reason a 6 foot 4 inch man is pretending to be a female swimmer while those in charge, too frightened to speak out for reality over delusion, nod in agreement that so it must be.It is not especially christian to “go along” to allow a delusional person to force their sexual distortion on others at the penalty of the other losing a job, being painted some sort of criminal, or being canceled. That is in fact, extortion and blackmail. THAT is NOT harmless, and the rest of us need not go along with it.

        • Todd,

          I’m not sure about your call to action here.

          Are you saying that Catholics should take part in the charade that some women have penises because not doing so would be discourteous?

          And that we shouldn’t speak up about the sexualization of third graders in public schools? Because objecting to it is somehow discourteous?

          And that we should embrace BLM because objecting to the vilification of police and the burning down of buildings is likewise discourteous?

          And that we should support the MeToo effort because granting those accused of sexual crimes due process is discourteous as well?

          Finally, are you saying that people who have opinions like mine should shut up because expressing any opinion other than yours is… wait for it… discourteous?

          I find it odd that you are saying that I should ignore truth in favor of mannerliness, yet you have the audacity to call me a hypocrite! Amazing!

          You ought to read an Edith Wharton novel. A recurring theme with her is the utter vacuity and falsity of a society whose supreme value — above honesty, virtue, generosity, everything — is good manners.

          • brineyman, your questions indicate you have not really read my “call to action” as you express it. We should be unfailing courteous and polite, especially to people who aren’t like us because our mission isn’t to be correct, but to spread the Gospel of Christ through charity and accompaniment, as Jesus illustrated consistently in the Bible narratives of his mission.

            I think people can object to trends in education without being jerks about it.

            I think we can support police by calling out bullies in their midst, and suggesting that criminal behavior against citizens has consequences.

            I think we can listen to women, as well as men and children who have been victimized by powerful people (often white men) and hold bullies and predators accountable for their actions. Nothing in my posts here suggest I want to support a lynch mob against anyone.

            In Luke 4:16-21, Jesus outlined his public ministry. Good Catholics do well to adopt his attitude toward the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the blind, and those unfree. Generally speaking, these categories do not include rich white men who bully and intimidate women, black people, children, trans persons, and the like. We also know Jesus came to call sinners, not the righteous. We can have whatever view of Christianity we might like, or that our gurus promote. I think we veer closer to the Lord’s desires to chum not with Pharisees, but with those vilified by the Pharisees.

            And yes, I’ve read Edith Wharton. She’s excellent. I’ve also read Luke 19:1-10. Saint Luke is great too.

        • Responding to your comment further below which has no reply button: Lumping “rich white men” together as those who “bully” when you don’t know them personally, is slander, and thus a sin a bad as the one you accuse them of.And it is stereotyping. I will hazard a guess that you are taking a swipe at Trump, a man who is a blunt talker, as is many a New Yorker. In his private life he has been known to do many charitable deeds in secret, not unlike tough talking Frank Sinatra (another New Yorker) did during his life.I do not agree that the homes of blacks have had their value consciously deflated, that they are “targeted” for arrest etc. That many blacks of PREVIOUS generations have grown up in poverty and the drug use, criminal behaviors and broken homes that situations produces is true.Poverty, regardless of race, produces results like that. Today, with affirmative action, college quotas, hiring quotas, legal “racial equity” initiatives, it is quite the opposite. To the degree that some white students were applying to colleges while pretending to be a person of color to try to snare an equal opportunity of admission. Figure it out. As for arrests, it is a known statistic that a black man is apt to be shot to death by another black man. NOT a white man. I have a great deal of contempt for professional victims who in fact have NEVER been victims, but have made a cottage industry out of wresting cash from guilt -ridden and not too bright white liberals and corporate executive with no spines, based on what happened generations ago. Jesus called for treating people fairly. Not to replace one form of discrimination with another.

          • “Lumping … is slander”

            Well, no. The qualifier was for those who bully. To be sure, women also bully people, but the #metoo movement is focused on mostly men who abuse women. It’s not stereotyping either. I get that it pushed your button.

            White people have abused drugs at slightly higher rates than black people in the US. Poverty has been enforced, sometimes by mob violence in the South, and sometimes by redlining mostly in the North. Many people of color have raised themselves out of poverty, true, but often with higher hurdles than white men.

            Yes, I tire of the attitudes of people who paint themselves as victims: sore losers of elections, wealthy celebrities who have a bad turn in life, Catholics who think the world is against them and it’s time to lawyer up. It’s self-sabotage, non-productive, and a drain on their loved ones and friends.

            Yes, Jesus called for fair treatment. He called for us to be fair in the treatment of others. He conceded we wouldn’t always get it in return, and his solution was to stand up for other people who didn’t get a fair shake. Sorry/not sorry, but it’s in the Bible: black print on white page.

            Over the years, I may have lost a job or a smaller gig now and then to a woman or person of color. If I had the opportunity to meet them, I’d look them in the eye, shake their hand, and wish them the best. Then I’d move on. My parents raised me to be a courteous and respectful gentleman, a good sport, and when I had to lose, to take it with dignity, not excuses.

            Being from New York, I can also tend to be blunt in my speech and writing. That seems to bother some people here. And by the way, Frank was from Hoboken NJ–close to NY, but not quite.

  5. The problem is that Catholics– even otherwise good, orthodox Catholics– always have an excuse why the enemies that they help fund and support have to be an exception. Or they just give up and say that the battle is lost and that nothing they do will help. Or they say that since they can’t boycott every company with the “No Catholics Allowed” sign out, they may as well do nothing. We need to stop making excuses and just do it. No more Amazon. No more Facebook. No more Google or YouTube. No more Disney. We need to put our own sign out: “No Immoral Companies Allowed.”

    • The Knights perform due diligence in that regard and do not invest members’ funds in companies that don’t meet the Catholic criteria.

      Have never been on facebook and don’t intend to, but I know our Catholic school is on there. Am on Google all the time.

  6. Superb!
    Past time this topic was front and centre, Bravo!

    For my par, on the matter of retreating into “safe” Catholic echo chambers and ignoring what’s going on in the wider world isn’t the answer because such attitudes do an injustice to our children, grandchildren, and society at large….I disagree but an open to the discussion
    Thank you.

  7. “The present reality of No Catholics Allowed should be clearly and forthrightly articulated by Catholic clergy and prominent Catholic laypeople in very direct language.”

    This is already being done! Francis and Joe implement policies and promulgate documents to further the reality of “No Catholics Allowed.” What more could they possibly do??

  8. Unfortunately, many Catholics are satisfied with the scraps from the “No Catholics Allowed” table. Much of their complacency comes from poor Catechesis and sloth. Too many Catholics want to do whatever they want and give God only one hour a week in pew sitting. I heard from “devout” (think the ilk of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi) Catholics during the last election that voting for Joe Biden was legitimate, even given his disrespect for human life and support of killing those too young and innocent to be able to stand up for themselves. I’ve run into to many Catholics who seem to believe that the other 167 hours in the week belong to them to do with exactly as they wish with no consideration of what God wants from them.

  9. A person does not have to be a baptized Catholic to embody a Catholic view of life. That is, the war against the Church is a war against common sense, if by common sense, we mean that 2 + 2 = 4. The 1950’s film “1984” shows a scene in which the hero, Winston Smith, is forced to say that 2 + 2 = 5. The commie regime is not happy with just a verbal agreement. He must actually believe that 2 + 2 + 5. That exposes the nature of those opposed to the Catholic Church and its adherents. They are not bound by logic and facts. They believe that “reality is socially constructed.” Of course, THEY do the constructing and we are supposed to do the believing. If for example, a court tells us that Bruce Jenner is a woman, well, then, Bruce Jenner is a woman.

  10. The best answer is lawsuits. Injustice against Catholics ought not to be tolerated. It is certainly immoral in the realm of economics.

    However, it would be difficult to make a case to have a Catholic attempt to boycott every company that was immoral. That is why lawsuits are important.

    Personally, I have been called Muslim/Taliban for advocating for modesty in comments. I might have even been banned for from a conservative website for saying that women ought not to be TV anchors due to the possibility of scandal (i.e. of the weak) from even a modestly dressed woman.

    I even advocated for guardianship laws (e.g. for women) to deal with the issue of fornication. (And this might have been another reason for my ban from the above conservative website.) Granted that they have a Muslim connotation, but I don’t believe that they would be unjust.

    Also, it was explicit that in Germanic tribes – before they converted to the Catholic Church – that a woman would need to have a man with her. The reason – apparently – was the practice of honor dueling. A woman couldn’t defend her own honor with a sword against a man.

    It appears that this article struck a nerve with TPTB. I know who they are. They somehow put really effective malware on my computer. And there is evidence that they have subtly indicated their displeasure to me for wanting to comment on this website. I have visual proof.

    I will echo the comment above by brineyman. The only reason that evil politicians who support abortion are in office is that those who identify as Catholics don’t refuse to vote for them.

  11. As an addendum to my comment, I came across some relevant information in a book. During the 1950s it was openly mentioned by a bishop that Catholics could have stopped unjust laws from being passed. The only way that I can see that happening is with the help of initiative and the leadership of priests and/or bishops. The idea that the Catholic Church can’t get involved with politics is manifestly false.

    However, it may be necessary to directly challenge the UNCONSTITUTIONAL and UNJUST “law” that hinges tax exemption status on the silence of any religious institution with regards to politics.

  12. As a Catholic in the US federal government it the same, maybe worse. I have over forty years and started under Carter. When I started I worked shoulder to shoulder with all religions and had many Catholic supervisors some good friends. Something happened when George H Bush became president in 1989 when suddenly race and sex became a factor in promoting. It really took off when Clinton was elected, continued with Bush. Surprisingly, or maybe not in retrospect, with Bush the gay agenda took over and a good friend and senior executive was “fired” for insisting that diversity of opinion was important than anything else. I watched as Catholic leaders were pushed to the side and unqualified diversity hires became the norm. Once Obama was elected the whole equity agenda took off like a rocket and no practicing Catholic will ever be a senior executive in any agency. The four years of Trump made no difference because the bureaucracy is in charge of the government.
    I don’t know how this all ends but I can tell you your government has been out of control for at least 35 years and to change it will require a catastrophic event.

  13. Responding late but responding I must. Please DO NOT compare with the experience of minorities. Catholicism is a choice that can be walked away from. The color of my skin, and that of my elders and ancestors is NOT. And yes in the early nineteenth century there was catholic bias but we are in the twenty first century where the catholic church as one poster said it has been the “author of their own demise” Catholicism is being associated with bigotry mysogyny and homophobia because that what is being preached from the pulpit by the likes of priests like Fr. Altman, cardinals like Pell and archbishops like Gomez and by catholic organizations like the Catholic Defense League and Catholic Family etc.. These ideas are being endorsed by “true believing” catholics who while spouting love tolerance and compassion at mass on Sunday are the total opposite to anyone who doesn’t look speak think and act according their narrow world view Monday thru Saturday. And those exact reasons are why, even though I was raised catholic as woman of color I no longer consider myself catholic and millions of others are doing the same. I would like to humbly suggest before donning the martyr mantle, the church and the catholics who are clinging to thier faith take a good hard look at themselves and their church.

    • “…cardinals like Pell and archbishops like Gomez…”

      Seriously? If you’re going to toss around big but vague accusations, you best back them up. This is both ridiculous and slanderous.

    • A very sad day when the slogan and “poster” mentality is in charge, and the Church’s defense of universal human nature and the transcendent dignity of each human person is and the universal natural law are “associated with” (airbrushed to look like) “bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia.”

      Yours truly does agree, surely, that formerly enslaved racial minorities (throughout all of human history) are categorically not to be equated to other merely political minorities. But I also struggle unsuccessfully to understand how it is that racial minorities—and the memory of MLK’s real Civil Rights Movement—allow themselves to be used—and again victimized!—as if equivalent to the immoral agenda championed by the anti-binary, heterophobe (!) and even Christophobe demographic.

      Unlike these real bigots and misogynists of today, Martin Luther King still based his message solidly on our innate and universal natural law. As does the real and perennial Catholic Church.

      Check out the opening second paragraph to King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

    • You might follow your own counsel and examine the thoughts and intentions of your own heart. You sound like the very type of person you are accusing others of being. Address the bigotry in your own spirit before slandering people of faith.

    • Jesus Christ and His Church are “walked away from” at your peril. I believe in the ability of men to choose with whom they will associate but not the ‘freedom’ to walk away from the Triune God and His Church.

  14. I think this is very true. I am a GenX Catholic going thru the interview process after a recent downsizing. Since I work within the IT and Business world I’ve had to do a lot more interviewing/ career restarting than my parents ever had. Looking back at the list of the over one dozen or so positions I’ve held in my adult life- all but maybe one were “Catholic hires”– jobs I’ve won only because the hiring manager was a fellow Catholic. I just don’t seem to do well when interviewing with Protestants or other groups and I’m not sure why. I’ve genuinely scrutinized myself over this because I’m not one to blame others for my failure- but the numerous rejections from non catholics really have me scratching my head. Could there be an unconscious bias towards Catholic manners– beyond obvious belief differences? Do Catholics have different ways of describing themselves or their work that puts others off? I know a manager once put me down for “being too meek.” I wish this could be studied moreso- not to blame non-Catholics but to figure out what it might be and make others more aware.

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