The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) recently published an editorial castigating the Church for teaching that procreation is by its very nature linked to the morality of sexual intercourse.
The editorial amounts to a challenge to the Church for a “change in the teaching on sex and sexuality”. The article demands that the Church change its “moral norms” on contraception, sodomy, masturbation, and in vitro fertilization.
“Today, the procreative norm is one of the fundamental reasons the Church remains opposed to same-sex relationships. But, in reality, this doctrine has far-reaching consequences for all Catholics, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” the editorial advises.
“The institutional Church’s vocal objections to same-sex marriage often mask the fact that Church teaching is fundamentally opposed to sexual acts that a majority of human beings participate in. The church condemns any sex acts — including those engaged in by married couples — that do not respect the procreative norm. Therefore, in reality, few Catholics ever live up to the church’s moral norms governing sexual activity,” it adds.
“This work has largely been stalled by the hierarchy’s unwillingness to loosen its rigid interpretation of millennia-old ideas about natural law and the procreation norm,” the editorial states.
Once again, yes once again, the NCR reveals its willful (how often I find myself using this word lately) ignorance of the basis of this and all the doctrinal and moral teachings of the Church, that is, the revealed Word of God.
The fact is the Catholic Church has never wavered in her constant teaching that the sexual act is morally ordered to take place between one man and one woman joined together in marriage. This teaching is rooted in Genesis, reaffirmed by Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and ratified time and again by official Church teaching throughout the ages.
The NCR is willful and accountable in its refusal to accept these simple facts.
Yet, this is only the most recent in a long list of calls from NCR for the Church to change her sexual morality.
The local bishops of this Missouri-based rag of religious yellow journalism have repeatedly condemned the news service, asking it to remove “Catholic” from its name, but to no avail.
And how have the Missouri Bishops been supported in their efforts by their brothers in the Episcopacy?
The NCR has been legitimized by receiving press credentials at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican, and through frequent interviews with influential Bishops and Cardinals.
While Colorado Bishop Michael Sheridan called the NCR in 2013 “an embarrassment to the Catholic Church,” numerous Bishops continue to give the paper exclusive interviews about Pope Francis’ agenda for the Church.
Such high-ranking Prelates include, but are not limited to, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, and San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy.
Other influential Clergy connected to the Vatican frequently post NCR content on their social media accounts.
The Catholic laity are not only scandalized by such behavior, but are terribly confused by it as well. I suggest that they cannot be held accountable for their attitudes nor their behavior in matters pertaining to human sexuality because of such confusion.
The Bishops themselves are responsible for not condemning such attacks upon the doctrinal teachings of the Church. They are accountable for supporting those who not only refuse to accept those teachings but encourage others to do so as well.
The NCR needs to be unequivocally and unanimously condemned by the Bishops for this editorial and the historical animosity this poor example of self-proclaimed Catholic media has shown over the years.
Shame on the NCR and shame on those who support it and contribute to its content.
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