Desmond Tutu: ‘I Would Refuse to Go to a Homophobic Heaven’

Interesting remarks by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, demonstrating how important it is to use precise language, not the buzzwords of the day. "Homophobic" has taken on the connotation of any attitude that falls short of complete approval of homosexual sexual acts. If he's saying that he would separate himself from God for eternity if he found that God displeased him in this way, that's pretty shocking for a churchman. Another black mark against the confused mess that is mainline Anglicanism.

A solution for the Romeikes?

I've written before about that unfortunate German family, the Romeikes, who fled Germany and sought asylum in the United States. The parents were criminals, admittedly: they were — brace yourselves — homeschooling their children, which has been illegal in Germany since Nazi days. Initially granted that asylum during the Bush presidency, the family later saw it revoked by the Obama administration, and is facing deportation back to Germany, where the children will be forced into state schools.

The Home School Legal Defense Association is trying to get the case to the Supreme Court, but it's a long shot.

I have a modest proposal.

If it appears that deportation of the Romeikes is imminent, they should flee to Mexico or Canada, and from there enter the U.S. illegally. Since the Obama administration has already declared it impossible to find all the "undocumented" immigrants we now have, or to prevent more from entering by securing the border, and since it has offered a path to citizenship for those "undocumented" immigrants they do become aware of, this seems the path of least resistance, with a reasonable chance of achieving the protections of citizenship as well. 

Yes, I'm being facetious. But I hope the plausibility of this absurd tactic will illustrate how unfair the administration's policies are. Sneak across the border to get a better job, and as long as you haven't had more than a couple of DUI's and a handful of criminal convictions while living here, you can stay and become a citizen. But flee to the U.S. openly just to be able to escape the tyranny of enforced state indoctrination, and it doesn't matter how upright and law-abiding you are: out you go.

Maybe rescuing the Romeikes is a job for the Catholic Church...? We're a world-wide organization, and we've helped rescue the persecuted before. I'm just sayin'.

A Rush to Sainthood?

Don't get me wrong; I think that both John Paul II and John XXIII bore the great burden of the papacy honorably and skillfully. But the move to canonize both of them now may someday come to be seen as shortsighted and unwise.

It's good for Catholics to remember that when the Church recognizes a person in its Canon of Saints, it's doing nothing on its own. Canonization isn't an award that the Church confers for what appears to have been exemplary service, like the Congressional Medal of Honor is for military heroism. It's just a recognition of something that has already happened.

The Church has always understood that it has no power to "make" a saint. Only God, out of His great mercy, can admit a soul to full communion with Himself — that is, to true sainthood. And when He does, he doesn't post about it on Facebook or put it up in lights somewhere.

Instead, the faithful discover, over time, that when they ask in prayer that a person of extraordinary holiness who has died would intercede with God for them, sometimes the result for which they ask comes to pass. And it comes to pass in a way that can't be satisfactorily explained by naturalistic causes. In other words, by a miracle. After a sufficient number of such miracles and much skeptical investigation, the Church may conclude very cautiously that that person's soul must have come into such a state of the purest communion with God that he or she must have actually interceded with Him; that is, has become what we call a saint.

But whether the Church ever takes that step for any particular person, the actual spiritual state of that soul doesn't change.

I worry, then, that Pope Francis is taking an unwise risk by announcing the imminent canonization of these two very recent popes, and especially by waiving the requirement for a second miracle in the case of Pope John XXIII. Unless he explains that latter decision very carefully and effectively, he may end up giving the impression that sainthood is, indeed, like a military decoration — a mere acknowledgement of extraordinarily good works, which can never "earn" Heaven for anyone.

Bob Schieffer's blind spot

This post from Deacon Greg Kandra's blog takes note of the surprising ignorance of veteran reporter Bob Schieffer of the coercion that's already taking place against those who don't support soi-disant gay marriage.

So if you've encountered growing support for the redefinition of marriage among your Catholic friends, you might ask them whether they know about it, too. Because this isn't a fight about freedom; it's a fight about coercion in support of a lifestyle, and making that coercion acceptable in the public mind.