Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Anthony Brankin
You see how all this about Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher is so modern—is not just about kings and princes and Bishops—long ago. It is about our own families and our own husbands and wives who are all struggling to stay together and to be holy and even happy and follow the teachings of Christ.
The story of Thomas More and John Fisher is the story of how only the true teachings of Jesus that come from the Bible and are taught by the Church can help husbands and wives stay together and raise their children. This is the story of how errors regarding love and life, marriage and children—the ones that come from the media and the politicians and even the judges—only bring heartaches and tragedies and tears. We know things are not as they used to be in families and among men and women and between husbands and wives—where even something as abnormal as males marrying males is promoted and defended by the law. But the solution is not to change the teachings of the Church regarding marriage and divorce but to change the world by offering the world the teachings of Jesus—pure and unadulterated. And that is the lesson taught by saints like Thomas More and John Fisher. They offered up their deaths for the life of the family. Oh my do our families today need their intercession.
We will have a choice to make
I am not telling any secrets when I mention that the same choices and affirmations about marriage that defined the heroism of Thomas More and John Fisher are going to be our choices. It is our chance now to follow Christ or follow the king. Now that the Supreme Court has made the marriage between any two people regardless of their gender a constitutional and civil right we Catholics are in trouble. One Bishop told me, “This is big!” And the more I thought about it the more I realized he was right. The fascist gay establishment will not stop until they have crippled the Catholic Church—and without any counter-balance of a strong Church we will soon have legalized polygamy and incest.
I read this morning where Justice Kennedy (the Catholic) declared that no longer can the right of same sex people to marry be denied. I wonder if he means it. Will they try to force us to perform these ceremonies? A month ago the Obama Justice Department promised that the Churches might lose their tax-exempt status as a penalty for denying rights to citizens. If it is a right—it is a right—I don’t know how they could allow us to refuse to perform what they say is a civil right. Maybe they will make us start paying property taxes and corporation taxes. Maybe they will forbid us from applying for grants and benefits. If they do—we will be drained dry in a matter of months. We would certainly have to close our parishes, our churches and schools—even our cemeteries. We will lose our hospitals and nursing homes and day-care facilities. We just will not be able to afford any of it.
We will be forced into the streets and into the alleys to preach and teach. We will be herded into basements and kitchens and homes of other believers for Mass and the sacraments. We won’t be able to do anywhere near the amount of things that we used to do. And that is not good. Sure in some sense it will free us up and we won’t have to worry about saying anything wrong for fear we would lose our tax exempt status. But it is just the first step to eventually outlawing us—and that will be even less fun! Oh I guess we could sign on with the King. We could be like the English nobles and bishops. We could say that it is the government—not Jesus—that now defines what we believe about love and marriage— But if we have any guts—if we have any faith left—we will pray to be as strong as Thomas More and John Fisher. And if to be friends of Jesus we must be enemies of the state—then so be it. If they want our heads— we will be ready.