Great Stuff — There is a benefit to so few Lutherans in politics. . .

Another great article found over on Pastoral Meanderings:

 

nancypelosi1Though for a long time I have lamented the lack of Lutherans in the public square, at least officially as elected members of Congress or in the White House, I am not so sure it is as big a problem as I once thought.  I do believe that Lutherans, specifically LCMS Lutherans, have much to bring to the public square both as people inside as well as outside of government, there is a dilemma faced when those who claim to be Lutheran speak and act in ways that contradict that Lutheran confession.  Witness the specter of the Roman Catholics abundantly in politics but less abundantly in step with the doctrine and witness of their own communion.

No less than Nancy Pelosi, sometime Roman Catholic, has contributed much to my growing ease at the fact that we have too few Lutherans among the ranks of senators, congressmen, and presidents.  Recently she suggested that the her bishop, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, cancel his attendance at the June 19 March for Marriage in Washington.  To be truthful, she did much more than that.  Pelosi compared those in favor of traditional marriage to bigots and hatemongers who confused vitriolic hatred as virtue.  She insisted that her church leaders should have nothing to do with such people.  The Archbishop responded in a nuanced, reasoned, and yet forceful rebuttal of Pelosi’s charge and insisted that his office compelled him to march for marriage.

The Archbishop insisted that his responsibility as a shepherd of souls required his involvement in the event.  He stated that the “intrinsic human dignity of all people” not only required him to defend the sanctity of all human life, but “to proclaim the truth — the whole truth — about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing.”  “I must do that in season and out of season, even when truths that it is my duty to uphold and teach are unpopular, including especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. That is what I will be doing on June 19th,” he stated emphatically.

The Vatican’s chief justice, Cardinal Raymond Burke, said the California Democrat should no longer receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, according to CNS News.

You know, now that I think about it, we have enough Lutherans embarrassed about their Lutheranism, without giving them access to a national microphone and the full media to disown the faith they claim.  It is almost a relief to know that there are so few Lutherans among the ranks of elected officers or representatives of our government and they are generally so hidden from public view that we seldom face the kind of heresy and apostasy Rome faces from its very visible and vocal politicians.  Why, just maybe there is a blessing to be hidden among the hills in the ethnic and cultural ghettos of the Midwest and generally small towns across America.  Our people may not be much more consistent with their faith than these Roman Catholics but at least the news media does not throw it in our face day after day.  I almost sympathize with Rome in this regard.  It is clearly one aspect of their life I do not envy.

An update even before posting:

The Vatican has finally had enough of U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi illogically insisting she’s a “good Catholic” while consistently supporting unrestricted abortion.  Burke-iv-195x300“Certainly this is a case when Canon 915 must be applied,” Burke in a Sept. 5 interview with The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly, CNS News reported Monday. “This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion — and still professes to be a devout Catholic.”
Burke emphasized that Catholics have to at least attempt to live their faith.

“This is a prime example of what Blessed John Paul II referred to as the situation of Catholics who have divorced their faith from their public life and therefore are not serving their brothers and sisters in the way that they must — in safeguarding and promoting the life of the innocent and defenseless unborn, in safeguarding and promoting the integrity of marriage and the family,” the cardinal said.

While I am glad somebody finally told Pelosi that publicly opposing core church teaching does not make you a good Roman Catholic, it might come as a bit of relief to those charged with ecclesiastical supervision in the LCMS that we have enough on our plate with those teaching and preaching and, sigh, do not have to deal with politicians presuming to be theological spokespersons for their church and opposing what their church believes, confesses, and teaches…

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