On Wednesday February 27, 2008 at 8:33 AM Warren Kinsella, a well-known and oft-quoted Toronto author, blogger, columnist and Canadian liberal political strategist, published an online article titled The Numbers Game that included the following quote about a recent television interview he did:
“I think [the] producers were interested in the fact that an aging punk rocker – who favours gay marriage and reproductive choice, among other things – could be a regular church-goer, as I am. Steve asked me something or the other about the propagation of the faith, and I told him the truth: I could be in church by myself, and I would be just as happy as being there with hundreds of others. With the exception of the obligation I feel I have to expose my kids to the values that Christianity espouses, I feel no obligation to convert others, at all.”
Now as far as I can discern, there’s rather a lot to like about Kinsella. He seems to be a devoted family man, a hard worker, an entrepreneur and a pretty intelligent and savvy fellow all round. I am not writing here about any of these fine attributes.
I am writing about Kinsella, the heretic.
Yes, I used the “H” word. It’s a tough word to use, I know. It conjures up images of the Spanish Inquisition and immediately labels the one who uses it as some kind of intolerant, religious zealot who passes the time burning young women at the stake. Readers may be forgiven if they forget that the word has an actual definition: a person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the teachings of their Church, in this case the Roman Catholic Church. Kinsella writes that he “favours…reproductive choice.” If by this he means that he favours a woman’s right to choose whether or not she engages in sexual intercourse, there would certainly be no heresy in that. But I rather suspect that what he means is that he favours a woman’s “right” to have an abortion – in other words, to separate the consequences of her previous actions from the choice itself. If this is what he means, then he is certainly a heretic: In 1995 Pope John Paul II declared that the Church’s teaching on abortion is:
“…unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors . . . I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by the Church’s tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church” (Evangelium Vitae 62).
On the issue of gay “marriage”, the Church teaching is set out in a letter Kinsella’s own Archbishop sent to all Catholics in his charge back in November 2005:
“In recent years, there have been calls for the public acceptance of actions and lifestyles which the Church cannot condone. One of them is homosexual activity. Let us be clear on the distinction between person and behaviour. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches clearly that homosexual acts, being intrinsically disordered, can never be approved. It affirms at the same time the love of God for every person. Each one must be treated with sensitivity, compassion and justice. “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” (Catechism, 2359). The Church continues, and will always continue, to teach and to celebrate marriage as the union of a man and a woman, as a lifelong commitment for the mutual love of the spouses and open to the creation and rearing of children. This is our duty as well as our right in accord with our freedom of religion. As responsible citizens we have the duty to make our views known in the service of the common good. It is by no means the first time that the Church’s voice will be written off, laughed at, or even persecuted for proclaiming truth and simple human dignity.”
The reader will note that neither official teaching is nuanced in any way. There are no wiggle words, no exceptions, no way any Catholic could ever support either abortion or gay “marriage” and in the same breath assert that they are anything other than heretics.
Kinsella also states that one of the reasons he attends Mass is out of the “obligation I feel I have to expose my kids to the values that Christianity espouses.” Now, Kinsella either means to say that he supports exposing his children to at least some values he doesn’t personally share, or that he only wishes to expose his children to some Catholic values, but not all of them. People throughout history have always found this teaching or that teaching inconvenient to them, so some of them set off to either create a new church for themselves (there are over 60,000 Protestant denominations; now you know why) or knock down the teachings of their own to give themselves permission to do what is wrong:
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.” (2 Timothy, 4)
The problem for Kinsella and others of like minds is that Christ founded only one Church and gave it very explicit authority and leadership. This authority and leadership continues today. There is no Catholic cafeteria – you can’t just pick and choose the parts you like, and leave the rest. If you’re in, you’re eating the whole meal.
So when prominent, public Catholics like Kinsella casually backhand the Church’s teachings on important matters, the result is often scandal – another loaded word meaning simply to lead others to sin. It is possible that Kinsella’s Catholic readers may infer from his careless dismissal of Church teachings that it is somehow permissible to be pro-abortion or gay “marriage”, when it is not.
What do we do about Kinsella and other heretical Catholics with public profiles who use their bully pulpits in such scandalous ways? We pray for them. We hope our Bishops will rebuke them if they feel doing so is necessary to counter any scandal raised. Their Pastor (the priest personally charged with the spiritual well being of Catholics residing in his Parish) should catechize his wayward sheep, in the hope that they will return to the fold. Of course, if they persist in their heresy, it just becomes that much graver – for the sheep, not the Church. And we pray for them some more.
Oh, and we publish our own articles pointing out the heresy. No matter how loaded the word is.
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
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