Ocasio-Cortez’s visit to All Saints Catholic Church was part of a political project intended to increase turnout among inactive Democratic voters. WRVO reported the purpose of the appearance directly. (WRVO Public Media)
Then came the Catholic setting.
LifeSite reported that AOC spoke from the pulpit and accused conservatives of encouraging Catholics to turn against “our trans brothers and sisters and neighbors and siblings.” (LifeSite)
Catholic charity demands respect for every human being.
It does not require surrendering Catholic anthropology.
The Church teaches that sex belongs to the created reality of the human person. The vocabulary of contemporary gender ideology carries assumptions about identity, body and sexual difference that conflict with that understanding.
Yet here was a Catholic church placing one of the most recognizable progressive pro-abortion politicians in America at the pulpit during a partisan voter-mobilization event.
That physical image is key.
The pulpit is not merely furniture.
For centuries it has signified the teaching office exercised within sacred space. Catholics hear Scripture and doctrine proclaimed from there. A Catholic church giving that position to a politician campaigning to reactivate Democratic voters is already an extraordinary symbol.
Then the rhetoric becomes about transgender identity.
Sacred space becomes political stage.
And apparently nobody sees an emergency.
The parish itself provides context.
This same church has generated controversy for overt LGBT advocacy. LifeSite reported earlier this week that an LGBTQ task force at All Saints was attacking the Diocese of Syracuse for restoring a Courage apostolate, which teaches chastity to Catholics experiencing same-sex attraction. (LifeSite)
So AOC’s appearance did not descend from the sky.
It fits a recognizable parish culture.
That makes the episode more serious.
At some point “welcome” stops describing the Christian duty to receive sinners with charity and starts functioning as an ideological solvent. The Catholic doctrine remains technically printed somewhere, while the parish culture communicates something very different through banners, platforms, invited speakers and institutional sympathies.
No one formally announces that Catholic anthropology has been repealed.
They simply allow another anthropology to occupy the room.
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