Let' Be Frank II

A while back, a reader named "Frank" made the accusation that the church's unwavering opposition to pro-abortion Catholic candidates (e.g. John Kerry and Ted Kennedy) was simply a ploy to support the Republicans in national elections.

People like Frank, who are die-hard stuck in support of the party of their choice, have a hard time seeing that it might be the other way around - that many Catholics choose their party because if its respect for life, rather than choosing their view on life because of their party.

Another thing that Frank might have a hard time explaining is, if the pro-life stance is little more than a straw man for supporting the Republican party, why do so many pro-life Catholics want to have nothing to do with the Republican Rudy Guliani (click here), who shows some of the greatest promise for keeping a Republican in the White House.

A political party is by and large defined by the most prominent member of that party, especially if that person happens to be in the office of president, which is why we hear reference to Reagan conservatives so often. If a pro-abortion (his donations to planned parenthood rule out the "pro-choice" label) and gay-rights candidate like Rudy happens to get into the white house, it is going to be awfully hard for Republicans to consider themselves the pro-life party anymore. That line will have been officially and irrevocably crossed.

A lot of conservatives, such as Sean Hannity, have sold out on this issue and seem comfortable with suggesting that we have to start looking beyond abortion and gay rights and consider the big picture, most of which is filled (in their minds) with national security. Unfortunately, this seems to be the game plan for much of the Republican agenda in recent years, to "look beyond" one issue after another until it has become a party that nobody recognizes anymore.

The same thing happens often in our churches. In a desperate attempt to attract members, churches (Catholic and Protestant) begin secularizing their services and trying to make them "hip" to bring in a crowd (especially a younger one). The doctrine and practices become so watered down that these churches lose the identities that defined them in the first place. In addition, their short-term gains turn into long term loses because it is simply impossible for churches to compete with the entertainment and social atmosphere of the secular world. Once they have trained their members to feel that worship is about external stimulation, those same members eventually drift to where that external stimulation is stronger and less contrived.

I genuinely believe that people generally want their worship to be an experience that is distinct from their worldly lives. Music in church shouldn't sound like what we can find on the radio on the way home. Worship shouldn't be so saturated with fellowship that it resembles a class reunion. The homily shouldn't be replaced with a motivational speaker. We want to be transported, during the Mass, to a place that no human-devised gimmick can take us. The fact that this isn't happening in many of today's churches can be seen by the trend for people to seek "communion" through holding hands and sharing doughnuts, overlooking the fact that the most miraculous communion takes place during the reception of the Eucharist, and nothing can come close to competing with that.

Not to downplay the Mass by returning to the metaphor, but as long as the Republican party continues to water-down its positions, trying to compete with the political correctness and feel-good politics, it will slowly see its conservative base drift away to other "churches", so to speak. Being Republican will no longer carry without it any sense of identity, other than one of impotence. If the Republican party says it is okay to be pro-choice, one might as well side with the party that has been doing it longer. If the Republicans continue to allow the government to swell out of control, one might as well switch to a party that does this as a matter of philosophy. If the Republicans continue to edge toward a welfare state, one might as well edge to the other side of the fence.

Luckily for Republicans, there are candidates out there who are remaining true to the conservative values (and have been for more than just the last couple years). If we are truly pro-life, we cannot let this issue be reduced to a peripheral issue on the political radar. And we cannot let a pro-life party be redefined by a man who