I came to he Church through apologetics 11 or 15 years ago, depending on how I count, and I have not lost an ounce of faith in the Church but being one who knew no other pope than jp2,this is a jolting time.

While many "conservatives" have praised the Pope for his supposed support of traditional Catholic morality, the network of friends that I talk to has warned that this is just more Vatican smoke and mirrors. For whereas the moral conclusions of the Church may, for the time being, remain apparently the same, the traditional Catholic theological premises to reach the conclusions are being changed to accord to the secularized new order.

This has already happened in the case of Catholic marriage, in which the personal satisfaction of the parties has been so elevated over the primary purpose of the raising of children that the Church has engineered a system of rampant divorce (which it calls "annulment," so as not to appear to violate Our Lord's own words and so as not to disturb Catholic sensitivities). In 1968 there were 338 annulments in the U.S.; in 1991, there were 63,933. Obviously, the Church has changed its theology, whatever the pope appears to say.

Then, just as the network of friends that I talk to predicted years ago, as soon as the Church equated the life of a criminal justly subjected to capital punishment with the life of a fetus in abortion, the anti-abortion movement would collapse. In fact, for all intents and purposes, this issue has fallen off the political agenda. Yes, it gets lip-service, but little else, whereas in past years outraged citizens marched and cajoled their governmental representatives.

Then there was the scandal about the Church "gay" seminaries, about which the Pope did essentially nothing and so disappointed the "conservative" Churchgoers that they actually, for the first time we can remember, attacked the pope as not Catholic.

Now three Canadian Members of Parliament who identify themselves as "Catholic" have cited Vatican II as the justification for their supporting the change in law identifying homosexual unions as "marriage" in Canada. the Church M.P. Tony Martin stated that his support for "gay" marriage came out of the Second Vatican Council, saying that it was "all about tolerance, openness to the world, and social justice." the Church M.P. Charlie Angus stated that it was specifically Catholic [the Church] teaching that inspired him to defend "minority rights" in supporting the "gay" marriage law. the Church M.P. Joe Comartin concurred: "What my faith taught me was his Christ's love for humanity was an absolute fundamental, in many respects overriding all other considerations." All three of these "Catholic" M.P.'s have been long-time supporters of unlimited abortion on demand as part of their "absolute fundamental" commitment to minority rights. [Source: Life Site News]

What is the point of trying to deny the Blessed Sacrament to such "Catholic" politicians? The Church has lost any such authority as it admonishes the Church politicians to allow their religious beliefs to guide their public decisions. Well, the Pope has gotten what he asked for, since these "Catholic" M.P.'s are quoting his Vatican II against him. And remember that it was the Pope himself who was a major force in imposing Modernism on Vatican II!