“Bishops are attacking bishops, cardinals are attacking the cardinals. We even have whole bishops’ conferences seriously disagreeing with each other about very fundamental issues of morality,” he said.
“We have the German Bishops' Conference really dead set on accommodating the faith to the secular culture, deemphasizing our teaching on sexual morality … then you have the Polish Bishops’ Conference and Ukrainian Bishops’ Conference saying to the Germans, ‘please stop’.”
Martin also pointed to the challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including the closing of schools nationwide and an increase in diocesan bankruptcies.
He proposed that the pandemic is an opportunity for people to realign their priorities.
“I think the Lord is allowing this to happen to get people to stop straddling the issue. You’ve got to get with the Lord or not. You’ve got to make a decision. Lukewarm Catholicism isn't an option,” he said.
“The culture is going to really test us right now, and we really need to know who we stand for, who we believe, who we're going to trust.”
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Helen Alvaré, a law professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, talked about the importance of sexual integrity in the modern world.
In a society that emphasizes sexual freedom, she said, progress is measured by how much the culture transcends sexual taboos.
It is important for the Church to defend sexual morality and be a source of light to counter the confusion in the culture, Alvare said.
“As teenagers, as young adults, as newly[weds], we cannot forget that the radical love requirements of the Christian way are fundamental justice to our nearest neighbor,” she said.