Archbishop Fulton Sheen On Conscience vs. Liberal Apologetics From The New York Times: "In Most Species, Faithfulness Is A Fantasy"

The New York Times doesn't exactly share Archbishop Fulton Sheen's perspective.

Here's the story: In Most Species, Faithfulness Is a Fantasy

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2380 Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire. The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely. The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery; they see it as an image of the sin of idolatry.

2381 Adultery is an injustice. He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury to the sign of the covenant which the marriage bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse, and undermines the institution of marriage by breaking the contract on which it is based. He compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of children who need their parents' stable union.

My thoughts:

Just because something is common doesn't make it okay.  Lots of people have murdered one another for ages.  Does that mean murder is "old news" and not worth dwelling on,  or that the expectation that people not murder one another is "a fantasy"?

The actions of irrational animals are frequently cited by progressives to explain and/or justify the moral choices made by rational human beings with a free will, who can choose to act above or beneath their created nature.

Although the Times article ends with reports of animal vindication for "adultery" in the animal world, the article, as a whole, seems indifferent to the genuine pain inflicted on families due to marital infidelity.

Adultery causes spouses and children suffering, and society suffers, as well, because of the breakdown of the family.  I can't provide a link to a scientific article that explains the pain inflicted on families due to the selfishness and infidelity of an adulterous spouse.  Betrayal of that magnitude essentially produces a lifetime of grief for the spouse who remained faithful and the children who deserved so much better than that from their parent.  How sad for a parent to think so little of their spouse and their children by choosing to give them such a cross!

I've had friends share with me the pain caused in their own families by the infidelity of one of their parents.  The faithful spouse and the children now realize the adulterer can never be trusted again, and while the adulterer may see that as a punishment, the reality is that it can't be helped.  It's a natural reaction and essentially reflects an unwillingness to allow the adulterer to humiliate them again through further abuse of their trust.  Unfortunately, there's no protection from the mental images that come from this revelation.  These images involve imagining the unfolding events of the the betrayal, as well as a continuous succession of memories wherein they try to fill in the gaps and understand what happened.  They re-examine and re-experience the past through the lens of this new insight, this new knowledge, sometimes looking for answers and sometimes because something triggers a memory, an insight, or a realization.  Again, this isn't a punishment of the adulterer, though the adulterer's selfishness may incline the adulterer to see it that way.  It's actually more of a punishment for the innocent victims and a natural, human reaction.   Thoughts of this nature haunt the faithful spouse and the children and very likely never go away completely.  How does one "get over" the realization that their love for and trust in the adulterer was not important to the adulterer and that any love the adulterer professes for them wasn't enough to prevent the adultery?

I can't help reading "scientific" articles (like the one in the Times) and thinking they are really just elaborate rationalizations for sinful behavior, which reminds me of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans:

“...the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.”

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all (kinds of) unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, and malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, implacable, unmerciful. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.” (Romans 1:18-32)

Any thoughts?

Comments

[anon]

...which is why I won't vote for John McCain ...