Thank you for the recommendation.

Isn’t he just doing his job?

Father, I believe that it was providential that he met you. I hope he will listen to you. Certainly now he has ears to hear all those things that he wouldn’t have heard before even if told a thousand times. I hope you can direct him to somebody who can take care that he won’t travel again down the dead-end roads. People tend to resort to prayer after they looked for answers to their problems in all the wrong places. Only then are they willing to open their ears to the Church and finally benefit from all Her spiritual riches.

Father Justin Federick actually wrote a pretty nice piece on his blog on this topic.

It is – and was always – a canard. The law, by definition, proscribes certain behaviors. What is particularly galling is the degree to which the Left has abandoned any pretense to that position (except when it comes to abortion); it has been trying to legislate a incredibly wide range of behavior – including those grave threats to civilization: incandescent light bulbs, toilets that actually work (if it takes three flushes to accomplish what one once did, does it really save water?), and now high volume shower heads. Clearly, these require legislative action. God forbid we let the market address these issues. Isn’t it ironic that we can’t be allowed to choose a light bulb, toilet or potentially (if passed) a shower head, but we “must” protect by all possible means the “right” to choose to terminate a life? (O.k., I’ll turn the sarcasm “off” now.)
The romance with government coercion rather than moral suasion is beyond me – yet too much in the political sphere seems unsatisfied withe the latter and focused on the former. (Of course, demanding things is what entitled folks do.) Spot on, George.

Also, while in office this pro-choice Governor received the endorsement of the Right to Life Committee for his work in reducing abortions through parental consent, informed consent, banning partial-birth abortion, and ending Medicaid funding for abortions. As Governor, he supported every piece of legislation offered by the Right To Life Committee.

For him, it seems that the conviction against abortion isn’ so much faith value but that it’s not something the “state” should be undertaking.

I’ll be the first to admit I need correction. Keep it coming 🙂

Dibs on the “Break the Equivocation” T-shirts!

Very important point, Harry. One the one hand, you can’t “impose morality” – only compliance with a particular behavior. One the hand – and far, far more important – our goal is the healing and transformation of the person. This prohibits “imposing” anything. Communion (the ultimate goal) is always and only an act of love, requiring the free and full offering of the self. So, when we see groups “demanding” or imposing a particular behavior, we can immediately know that they are after compliance, not communion. It may lead to many beneficial things, but not salvation.

Of course, you are also right, that Father almost certainly meant that he is calling people to a clear, unequivocal – and narrow – path, which is also necessary for transformation and salvation.

Corrected 😉
The government imposing morality and equivocation, bad. A pastor teaching and imposing the morality of the Church, good. An Orthodox Priest writing about it and breaking the equivocation, priceless!

Here’s the problem. There is almost two decades of teen-age rebellion hardened into deep habits of thought that war against that realization. This might take a while. Still, God is patient and sooner or later this man might end up serving the God now calling him.

Here’s the good part (it’s all good but this is the really good part): I told him God was calling him, and when he is ready he has to check out the Orthodox Church. Turns out his uncle started going to the Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee, and even though a lot of the service is in Greek and he doesn’t understand it, he goes because “it’s serious stuff.”

I said maybe he has to get knocked off his horse like St. Paul was. He told me he has already been knocked of his horse. So I said, well, check out the Orthodox Church here then. It’s Fr. Peck’s parish. I’m not sure if the man is ready for this yet, but I do know that if he takes my advice and attends, he’s not going to hear any equivocation from the priest he meets there.