They’re Coming for Traditionalist Catholics

Back in 2017, when Amy Coney Barrett was undergoing confirmation hearings for her nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed concern about Judge Barrett’s devotion to her Catholic faith. “The dogma lives loudly within you,” Feinstein said. Two years later, Brian Buescher, a nominee to the federal bench in Ohio, faced criticism from Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono for his membership in the Knights of Columbus. Then, an article in the Atlantic magazine argued that the Catholic rosary symbolized religious radicalism and had become a “weapon” for those dangerous white Christian nationalists. The author of the article, Daniel Panneton, wrote that “rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture.” Most recently, a former FBI special agent produced an internal memo from the FBI’s Richmond office that characterized as a domestic threat “Radical Traditionalist Catholic ideology.” The memo even created a new acronym for this threat group — RTC (Radical Traditional Catholics). To paraphrase Martin Niemoller, they are coming for traditional Catholics.

Traditional Roman Catholic Church teaching does not fit in well with modern progressive wokeism. The Church teaches, for example, that marriage is between a man and a woman; that men and women are defined by biology, not choice; that unborn children are human persons who should be protected by law; and that there are only two genders — male and female. The Church’s positions on these matters were once considered mainstream, but no more. The woke agenda seeks to ban traditional Catholics from the public square. It says to traditional Catholics: quietly practice your faith, but leave your faith at the church door when you discuss public issues and enter the public arena.

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