Anti-Catholicism

It has been called “the last accepted prejudice” and is alive and well in our society.  Anti-Catholicism runs amok in the media and there appears to be no end in sight.

The recent scandal in the Church has given them the fodder they need to proliferate their campaign of bias against the Church – and God - for years to come.  Priests are routinely portrayed as either being clueless and out-of-touch with society or as vicious predators, while nuns are portrayed as oppressed victims of a man-centered Church.

Organizations like The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights fight this war on a daily basis.  They inquire and protest against those in the media who attack the Church with anything from blatant, slanderous campaigns to seemingly innocent comments made on sitcoms or other broadcasts. Motion pictures like, Hail Mary, Dogma and the historically inaccurate, The Da Vinci Code are more overtly anti-Catholic in nature.  Other films like The Golden Compass and the recent remake of Robin Hood are presented in a more benign fashion.

Other faiths and belief systems are frequently spared the indignities and disrespect that is usually reserved for the Catholic Church.  For example, in the recent film 2012, the Vatican is completely obliterated by a natural catastrophe.  However, out of respect for Islam – the filmmaker chose not to show the destruction of the Kabba in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) for fear of offending them.

In Matt. 5:11-12, Jesus says: “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  However, this does not mean that we are to be doormats in the face of blatant prejudice.  We must always stand up and be ready to defend Christ’s Church because it is his Body (Acts 9:4-5, 1 Cor. 12:4-31).

Neither does it mean that we should be on the attack - being overly-suspicious and paranoid of everybody and everything.  Not all non-Catholics are anti-Catholic. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us, “Always have an answer ready when you are called upon to account for your hope, but give it simply and with respect.” 

Jesus said of the Church: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:14).  “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me” (Luke 10:16).  As difficult as it is to do sometimes, we must pray for those who hate us and persecute us (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27-29).