When you call your apostolate ?The Catholic Truth?, there are times that you need to speak the truth about the Catholic Faith even though you know that some people are going to get annoyed. This is nothing new. The prophets, the apostles and even Jesus all went through the same thing. Unfortunately, many people don?t like to be told that their behavior is sinful?especially when they are really enjoying themselves. What I am about to say may offend some people, but sometimes the truth hurts (Mt 10:34-39).
I don?t normally like to give publicity to groups who claim to be Catholic and openly dissent from the teaching of the Church, but from time to time I make exceptions. If you ever hear of “Catholics For Choice”, please disregard anything they say as these folks completely distort the teaching of the Catholic Church in almost every area imaginable, from abortion to contraception.
For the record, this is what they state on their website:
At CFC, we strive to be an expression of Catholicism as it is lived by ordinary people. We are part of the great majority of the faithful in the Catholic Church who disagrees with the dictates of the Vatican on matters related to sex, marriage, family life and motherhood. We are part of the great majority who believes that Catholic teachings on conscience mean that every individual must follow his or her own conscience ? and respect others’ right to do the same.
The problem with this group and all of the other Catholics who promote ?freedom of conscience? is that they always state (correctly) that we must obey our conscience, but they always seem to leave out one important fact: that our conscience must be INFORMED. How? By following the teachings of the Church!
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. (CCC 1790)
Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings. (CCC 1783)
In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path; we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church. (CCC 1785)
The Church teaches that abortion, artificial contraception, premarital sex, homosexual sex, in-vitro fertilization, missing Mass on Sunday, and many other things are gravely immoral acts. If you are Catholic and dissent from these teachings based upon ?freedom of conscience?, I urge you to study what the Catechism says about informing your conscience. If someone you care about is in this situation, please do them a favor and make them aware. Jesus still speaks through His Church and, personally, I don?t want to ever be in a position where I have to explain why I didn?t listen.
Kudos my friend! Excellent post. When a group states that they are with a "Majority" in regards to any group but are in contrast to the teachings of such group – they are by their own admittance are stating they are not in fact part of the group at all.
(CatholicForLife)