April 3, 2008

Some years ago a very holy priest explained that once the door was opened to contraception, all manner of sexual sins would flood the culture. His name was Father John Hardon, SJ, and I cannot tell you how much I miss his wise and courageous guidance. In one of the many articles he wrote on this subject, he said:

The spectacle of broken families, broken homes, divorce and annulments, abortion and the mania of homosexuality-all of this has its roots in the acceptance of contraception on a wide scale in what only two generations ago was a professed Catholic population.

Father Hardon's point that contraception is fatal to our moral code applies not only to Catholics but to all human beings. The reason is simple:  The natural law is written on the heart of every man, and when a person can justify the use or promotion of contraception, which denies God's involvement in the procreation of children, it becomes easy to accept all manner of sexual transgressions, including abortion and homosexuality.

Because we Catholics have a special gift of faith, we are able to move mountains when our faith is strong. As a result, I think we have to examine the latest news from McDonald's from an introspective perspective. When McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner told the world that "McDonald's will aggressively promote the homosexual agenda," he was reflecting what has become acceptable policy for major corporations, especially one that has been at the forefront of pandering to the culture of death.  McDonald's, like Disney and so many other companies, has its finger on the pulse of American attitudes and is convinced, I am sure, this type of policy shift will not hurt their bottom one bit.

The goal of this latest announcement from McDonald's is, according to their spokespeople, to provide support for "gay and lesbian business ventures." Further, McDonald's is listed on the website of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as a "corporate partner and organization ally."   You will find many upstanding companies on that list, including UPS, Xerox, Hyatt and Cisco Systems. Each is a mainline, large corporate entity that has decided that joining the team established by the NGLCC is a noncontroversial move.

But for the purpose of this BLOG, let's stay focused on McDonald's. The company was founded by a man named Ray Kroc.  After his death his foundation contributed funds to research that used fetal tissue from aborted babies in an effort to discover a cure for diabetes. It was Dr. Bernard Nathanson who brought this grisly fact to the public's attention in 1987-American Life League assisted Dr. Nathanson in exposing the truth. McDonald's denied their association with the Kroc Foundation, even though several Board members sat on each entity's governing body-eventually the company made a half-hearted apology. But that was then and this is now. Today's public announcement from McDonald's is simply out there. Take it or leave it, that is what McDonald's has chosen to do.

Now remember I suggested that we take this latest news in while being somewhat introspective about it. As I pointed out in the first paragraph, the acceptance of contraception has brought us to a point  where very little is considered taboo. When Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae in 1968, many Catholics, including many, many priests and bishops ignored it, pooh-poohed it and contradicted it publicly. That is why Catholics today accept contraception in the same numbers as those in the general population.

And as Father Hardon taught, this acceptance of contraception leads to the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality.

But if the majority of Catholics were steadfast in defending and living the teachings of our Church-if we insisted that public policy reflect the truths contained in the natural law instead of the lies of the culture of death-we probably would not be reading this report about McDonald's today.

Why? Because if we were living our faith in action, evangelizing and spreading the good news, so many families would be appalled by what McDonald's announced today that the outcry would be deafening! Such families would rise up and protest in large numbers, and would effectively boycott McDonald's, forcing this company to reverse its policy.

This would be so because it would be incomprehensible to use contraception, and the majority of Americans would not accept abortion or any of the other atrocities that defile the human person.  And of course, if that were the case McDonald's would be scared out of their wits at the thought of making such an alliance.  It just wouldn't be good for their bottom line.

That is what would happen if Catholics throughout the nation were living their faith.

You see I am naïve enough to believe that if the vast majority of Catholics stood up and proclaimed the truth, our world would be free of an awful lot of publicly-accepted sexual deviation. If that were the case, even a Big Mac would taste better.