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Jamberry77
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| Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 11:03am | IP Logged
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An article about how Catholics may suffer martyrdom by means of money. A good, quick read if you have a minute.
Steph C posted this on the CCM Yahoo group. I apologize if she has already posted this elsewhere on this forum.
Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 88 | October 12, 2007
.......................................................http: //www.hli.org/
Green Martyrdom
Several months ago I heard a provocative description of martyrdom from Fr. Robert Cook, President of the new Wyoming Catholic College. His idea was that martyrdom in the modern age is not necessarily one of bloody (red) martyrs who die violently for the Faith. Neither is it the daily, silent and sacrificial (white) martyrdom of humble believers. He says that modern martyrs will manifest their heroic courage economically; that is, we will be called to pay dearly for our principles, not necessarily at the cost of lives, but at the cost of dollars. This is "green" martyrdom, and it has nothing to do with the environmental movement.
The pagan enemies of Christianity today are not honest enough to put a gun to our heads and demand that we renounce Christ, even though they often express their unmitigated contempt for us in various ways. One has
only to witness the blasphemy of the recent Fulsom Street homosexual festival in San Francisco to know that vitriolic hatred for Christianity is alive and well in our society. Our enemies know, however, that even though many Catholics would undoubtedly give up their lives for Christ, people find it much harder to give up their jobs for Christ. When faced with a choice between fidelity to a clear teaching of the Faith or compromising on that principle for the sake of "keeping peace at home" or saving one's reputation, etc., the pagans know that it takes a heroic person to choose the abstract principle. Yet, a sacrificial commitment to principle is where the call to martyrdom lies in the modern age, and increasingly so, for Catholics and all men and women of good conscience. Standing on principle costs us dearly.
Nowadays, Catholics are facing all types of persecution of our values:
Catholic healthcare professionals are being intimidated into cooperation with intrinsically evil practices in medical facilities; Catholic pharmacists are being run out of their profession for refusing to dispense abortifacient contraception; Catholic businessmen are being asked to look the other way when certain immoral practices are standardized in their workplaces, and they feel that they can't object without serious repercussions. Catholic parents not towing the line on
sex education programs in the schools fear that their kids will be the ones who are ostracized and ridiculed, and Catholic married couples are roundly mocked for having more than the culturally-acceptable number of children in their families. These situations are just the tip of the iceberg and are only going to get worse.
Even the bishops are not safe from values coercion. The Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case of the Archdiocese of New York seeking to avoid paying for contraception for its employees. They have now been ordered by a court to pay for other people's immorality, and to disobey that order is going to cost them. I also noted when the Connecticut bishops agreed to allow Plan B in the Catholic hospitals that from the top of the hierarchical ladder on down we must be willing to fight our pagan persecutors if our values are to mean anything. That will sometimes mean bleeding green in lawsuits, financial losses, firings and confiscations for the sake of the Kingdom. So be it. Doesn't the Lord say that it is "better to lose part of your body than to have it all cast into Gehenna"? Well, Gehenna is here, and we have to choose.
In a time of economic prosperity, the pagans in charge of our society's institutions only tolerate us, but ultimately, they will not allow us to stand in the way of their agenda to remake the culture in their image and likeness. The heroism of our modern-day martyrdom will be found in our willingness to sacrifice, even financially, to preserve the integrity of our values. We will be tested, but the rewards promised to the faithful will be ours: "Everyone who has given up home, brothers or sisters, father or mother, wife or children or property for my sake will receive many times as much and inherit everlasting life."
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
<http://www.hli.org/>
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Copyright 2007 - Human Life International
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
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florasita
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| Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 12:18pm | IP Logged
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This sounds very fear based and hateful I would personally stay away from it 
we have to remember ones religion does make make people evil . There are many many wonderful pagan peoples many horrid catholics etc.. I for one will not forward this to anyone .
also there are catholic hospitals that perform abortions . My abortion was performed in one .
This message is like I said fear based and hatefelt .
Maybe you even want to remove it
Much Love , Roxie
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kingvozzo
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I don't think it sounds fear-based or hate-filled. I think that the examples given are factual. Perhaps "secular" might have been a better word choice than "pagan," but I think the points still stand. How many of us ARE willing to make the sacrifices required of us by our faith? How much easier it is to be faithful when it isn't going to cost us economically, socially etc.
The tragedy of abortions in "Catholic" hospitals, or performed by "Catholic" doctors can't be used to justify the fact that they're done. It's still wrong, and is an example of caving in on a moral issue.
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stefoodie
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I humbly disagree. I'm not sure I see the fear or the hatred in Fr. Euteneuer's letter -- just that there's a price to pay, sometimes financially, to stand up for what we believe as Christians/Catholics....
We're not being called to hate pagan people. To me it's more like a reminder/warning that pagan practices/beliefs will naturally contradict many of ours; it WILL cost us to fight against theirs.
Just my .02,
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Jamberry77
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| Posted: Oct 15 2007 at 5:33am | IP Logged
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Dear Roxie,
I'm so sorry this article caused trouble for you. In my mind, while reading it, I was inserting "anti-Christian" in place of the word "pagan." You are true in stating that many pagans are good people and that Catholics can be great sinners, too. I think the author really meant "enemies to our Faith," and of course, those can be found within our own Church, as the Church is perfect, but we are not.
Please forgive me, Roxie, for causing you pain with this post. I didn't mean it that way. My feeling after reading it was, wow, some of us may have to decide to either have a job or serve God (reminds me of St. Thomas More) and it reminded me of the persecution of Catholics in England for many years, and that a scenario like that may someday happen on our soil.
With Love,
Kelly
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Patty LeVasseur
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I just spent this morning reading an article about Patricia Heaton (she played the wife on Everybody Loves Raymond). She is Catholic and spoke out against embryonic stem cell research. She also has been the honorary chair of Feminists for Life for nine years. Her speaking out for her beliefs have cost her a lot as Hollywood in general has very different views. She is in a new show with Kelsey Grammer only because he said he wouldn't do it without her being in it.
So I think what he said is very real and is truly already happening.
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lapazfarm
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I agree that many are asked to sacrifice financially for our faith. Most of us are doing that by bucking society and staying home to raise our children, at the cost of a second income.
However, I think Roxie has a point about this being fear-based.I also take issue with the way the term Pagan is used for 2 reasons.
First, as Roxie said, being a Pagan does not make one evil.
Second, "the pagans in charge of our society's institutions..." is a huge assumption. From what I understand, there are people of many faiths running our institutions in this country, Protestant Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, and Catholics to name only a few. Perhaps they may not be in agreement with us on exactly what constitutes ethical business practices, but to call them all Pagans in just unfair, and inaccurate.
So, although I agree with the premise of Green martyrdom (an odd term,I think) I do not care for the letter itself as a whole. I think it has potential to cause greater division than any benefit it may cause.
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Oct 15 2007 at 4:36pm | IP Logged
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florasita wrote:
This sounds very fear based and hateful I would personally stay away from it ...
Maybe you even want to remove it
Much Love , Roxie
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*Moderator Note*
Hi Roxie, I agree that the specific language in this article is strong, possibly imprecise, and may be disturbing to some readers. We'll let this topic stand because many families will identify with the persecution described in general in it and may take courage knowing that they are not alone in their suffering and that their suffering is purposeful. If anyone would like to contact the author of this article directly with your concerns, you can contact Fr. Thomas Euteneuer here.
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SallyT
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| Posted: Oct 15 2007 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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Hm, well, there are lots of self-described "pagans" around, who have appropriated what seems like a useful term to describe themselves as "not Christian but subscribing to some kind of vaguely -- very vaguely -- historically-based spirituality." Whether or not their philosophies are truly pagan, in any kind of classical, historical sense, is debatable.
Here's how my dictionary defines "pagan"
1. one of a people or a community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans or Greeks.
2. a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.
3. an irreligious or hedonistic person
4. pertaining to the worship or worshippers of any religion that is neither Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
5. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of pagans.
6. irreligious and hedonistic
The origin of "pagan" is the Latin "paganus," literally meaning "civilian." In its original, metaphorical, religious meaning, a pagan is one who is not a soldier for Christ.
This letter could be using "pagan" legitimately according to several different official definitions. I'm almost certain that the intended meaning is not "people who subscribe to Wicca or entertain warm goddess-y feelings or have lots of crystals," but some amalgamation of meanings 2 and 3. Maybe even meaning #1, suggesting a certain kind of secular polytheism (worshipping money, success, and so forth, as gods in one's life).
And he's right. I received an email just today from a cousin who's not Catholic, but is still disturbed by rampant, sneering anti-Christian sentiment, and specifically anti-Catholic sentiment on campus (she's finishing a very late-life degree at a big Eastern university) and in society. She said that a neighbor had told her that in their local public high school, in honor of "Gay Pride Month," some administrator had been coming over the PA daily to profile some prominent gay person -- and that last week they had done a series on "gay Catholic Popes." Again, my cousin's not even Catholic, and also not given to paranoia, but she has been increasingly scandalized by things like this.
My husband is an academic theologian, and I can tell you that it is pretty darn hard to land a fulltime academic job if you are an openly orthodox Christian of any kind. I'm not sure we've quite achieved martyrdom (that would imply a lot more virtue than we possess!), but it's kind of heartening to think that four years of surviving on part-time adjunct teaching work is a real sacrifice we can offer! Meanwhile, we have one friend teaching in a local college here who literally has used two resumes: one which lists publications in magazines like Touchstone, and one which doesn't. He teaches in the religion department of his college, as a New Testament scholar, and went with his department last spring on a tour of the Holy Land, where he witnessed his colleagues' openly making fun of religious sites like the Church of the Sepulchre and -- within earshot -- of people who had come there on pilgrimage.
So, um, what do you call that? "Pagan" seems kind of apt, if not downright charitable . . . Again, in the letter at issue here, I really don't think "modern pagans" are being targeted spitefully, or even at all. And I don't think that this letter is spouting either paranoia or hatred -- it's just rather bluntly accurate about the state of the world.
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Mary G
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Green martyrdom, IMHO  , means that we also avoid buying from China because of their labor practices, we spend more to send out kids to Cathoic schools rather than public (if that's what works best) and we sometimes have to boycott or shun the acceptable (and often cheaper) because of who is backing it.
I think Fr. really meant that "pagan" applies to all those who don't really ascribe to any set religion and instead "make it up" as they go along ... those who would rather say "well, for me, right now, this is truth" ...
We always need to remember that we are a group of Catholic families who believe in the magisterial teachings -- sometimes that means bucking the pc way or paying more or speaking out .... but our focus needs to be on what the magisterial teachings would say in such a case ... we have to accept that we do honestly have the TRUTH and anything that disagrees with that, we need to teach and explain the right path.
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