From our "Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right" Department...

Mark Shea reminds us why an overwhelming number of muslims throughout the world are Fools stuck in the middle with all of us. He sighs over the understandable, yet regrettable, anger and distrust many Catholics show when Episcopals like Cardinal McCarrick offer praise to muslims. He notes that while this reaction may satisfy some Catholics political perspectives, it has no roots in the Tradition of our Faith:

Now here comes the problem: Catholics determined to find people like the Cardinal (or Councils like Vatican II) guilty of heresy or apostasy will say things like, "We believe in a Trinitarian God--Three in One. You cannot separate Christ from God the Father in any meaningful way that would enable you to claim that we worship the same God that Islam worships."

The problem with this approach is that it inevitably means we must also commit ourselves to the proposition that the Jews are also idolators worshipping a false god. For they too reject the proposition that God is Trinitarian and that he has a Son.

Some few Catholics (thosee of the Rad Trad persuasion) simply shout "Amen!" at this, since anti-semitism and Rad Traddery are like peas and carrots. All the more reason to reject Nostra Aetate and Vatican II, say they.

The majority of Right Wing, but not Rad Trad, Catholics are however, not in this camp. Many of them are simultaneously supportive of the Jews and cognizant of the long miserable history of anti-semitism in the Church. Indeed, not a few are of them say that Israel must be supported at all costs, precisely because they are allies in the war against Radical Islamic Terror. And because many Catholics view their Faith through the lens of American politics in this way, they find themselves acutely uncomfortable with the bind they place themselves in with the impossible proposition that the Council was wrong about Islam, but right about Judaism.

It works this way: "Oh, Muslims worship a false god. The Council Fathers were idiots and ecumenical squishes to write: "these (Muslims) profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and *** together with us adore the one, merciful God ***, mankind�s judge on the last day." When we read that in the Catechism, we can safely sneer, "And we all know that the Council was inspired and guided by the Holy Ghost, don�t we?" But when the Council says that Jews and Christians also worship the One God, that's A-OK, because we've treated Jews badly and besides Israel is the Ally of America.

Sorry, but the Church isn't interested in who is the ally of America. The Church is interested in expressing it's own tradition of the hierarchy of truth. And in the hierarchy of truth, the basic idea at work is the one articulated by C.S. Lewis long ago when he said that, as an atheist, he was committed to the proposition that 99.9% of the human race was completely wrong about the thing that mattered to it most. But when he became a Christian he was freed to say that *every* religion, no matter how queer, had at least grasped a small bit of the truth. A pagan who admitted that there was something supernatural behind the universe knew more than an atheist. A monotheist knows more than a pagan. A Jew knows more than a Muslim. And the Christian knows more than the Jew. And the Catholic saint knows more than all because she (I'm speaking of Mary, the greatest saint) is completely united with the Blessed Trinity in all his fullness.

Amen, brother! Preach it. Not because Mr. Shea can turn a phrase like a Ferrarai can corner, but because he speaks the Truth. Either the Second Vatican Council was an Ecumenical Council protected by the Holy Spirit or it's not. Either its constitutions and declarations affirm the Catholic Faith or they don't. We don't have the liberty to pick and choose which documents best express the truth of Revelation. Especially if our political beliefs are the sunglasses through which our conscience looks at the documents in question! No, Catholics do not hold to the misleading doctrine of private judgement. At least five Popes and the college of Bishops called into the council by two of them have affirmed the Council, regardless of the effort of misguided zealots to falsly interprete it.

This means that Nostra Aetate is either right or wrong. If it's right, then how can a Cardinal, a prince of the Church, fail to honor it's clear teaching on Islam? Note what NA has to say on muslims:

The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.(4)

The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.

3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.

Has Cardinal McCarrick done this? If so, then why call him a heretic for witnessing to the Truth? I thought heretics denied the truth!

Some readers may recall that I've had this conversation before. I may not win friends and influence people by repeating myself. As a suburban New Yorker who watched the second tower get hit live on ABC, and saw them both fall, I understand the rage and hurt of many Roman Catholic Americans--particularly from the NY Metro area. That said, rage is rarely a wise replacement for reflection. While some of us argue that Cardinal McCarrick--and any other prelate--have no business praising those heretical apostate murder-lovers, we foster this attitude at our peril. Two of the Enemies deadliest legions of agents flank us while we bicker:

The Dictatorship of Relativism stalks us on one side while the Fanatic Islamo-fascist terrorists strike on the other. Whether we like it or not, all who honor God find ourselves together facing two relentless enemies that will stop only after they've destroyed the last of us. While Jews and Muslims of good will may not enjoy the fullness of revelation that Christians--and Catholics most of all--do, they take revelation as they understand it seriously. That makes them our brothers not only in God but also in this war for existential survival. The soon we all realize what Fools we are, the the sooner we truly bear the light that drives off the darkness. Can we afford to keep turning on one another while our mutual enemies close in? Only if we're prepared to lose everything.

The clock ticks on. More souls fall before the onslaught. Shall we bear the light as we're all called to in our way? Or shall we continue to put our agendas before God's? I know who benefits from the latter strategy. It sure ain't us!