THE RISING MILITANCY OF LANGUAGE

Here's a case where parishioners have turned the teachings of Christ upside-down, and are upset because the Church is actually in line with those teachings. G.K. Chesterton said "The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right." This is an example.

Charlie Angus and Celina Symmonds had their lives turned upside down when they were told by their parish priests that they could no longer take communion because their stands on social issues conflicted with church teachings.

Angus, a New Democrat MP who represents a northern Ontario riding, ran afoul of the Roman Catholic church over his support for the federal government's controversial same-sex marriage bill.

"It's quite disturbing,'' said Angus, pointing to what he called "the rising militancy of language within the church. I went to Ottawa feeling that I would be speaking as someone rooted in a faith tradition and rooted in a justice tradition.

The rising militancy of language? For too many, the Church is simply a building to hold social functions.

Symmonds, who once managed the now closed Planned Parenthood office in Medicine Hat, Alta., had to find another place to be married about a month before her wedding in September 2002 after her priest discovered from a newspaper article that she was pro-choice on abortion.

"I was shocked,'' says Symmonds. "When you grow up Catholic you grow up awaiting the day where you can walk into that great big cathedral with your husband. It's something you dream of as a little girl.

"And it got crushed within seconds."

Perhaps they could cross the border and attend St. Joan of Arc's in Minneapolis, as chronicled by Mark Shea. Unbelievable.

It's a beehive of activity at St. Joan's. No pro-life work, adoration, or ordinary Christian prayer, of course. But there is the neo-pagan eco-spirituality task force, the ingenious readings from Anne Morrow Lindbergh or somebody named Megan McKenna substituted for Scripture during Mass, the weekly guest homilist, the Hatha Yoga in the sanctuary, the staff bursting with gay pride, the mission statement indistinguishable from a Unitarian committee on Spelling Reform for Guatemala, the lectures asking "Is Jesus God?" with the refreshingly straightforward condescension of the apostate:

Our tradition teaches that Jesus was God come down to make up for and overcome this inaccessibility. Jesus "won back" for us that which was lost due to Original Sin. Jesus, therefore, has to be more than human...for if He is not actually God, then we are not really saved. But the images of our childhood can no longer always work within our faith. The Roman Catholic "institutional leadership," however, continues to uphold these images.

And let's not forget the Confirmation graduates who boast that their faith is "a mix of Eastern Religion and Christianity. My beliefs and I have found a home. I am so proud that I was confirmed at SJA!'"