The Truth Hurts

The most outrageous story for me in the past week has been this story of the St. Thomas student condemned for the speech he gave at graduation ceremonies.

Video Here *caution for language*

Lets see...

Catholic School
Catholic Student (who wants to become a priest)
Catholic Teaching

Whats the problem?

The problem is the inconvenience of the truth as taught by the Catholic Church shared by this brave student to those in attendance.

I suppose they were interested in hearing the typical hackneyed talking points that are normally heard at graduation speeches. They usually involve talking about how great the college experience was or how they are going to miss their friends or how the student plans on changing the world for the better. These are the staples of graduation speeches.

Instead they shockingly heard about the evils of selfishness and birth control. Instead of talking about making the world a better place, this young man was acting on making the world a better place.

I can be fair. I can see non-Catholics and liberal Catholics being upset at hearing this, and hearing this from someone so young. Youth and conviction is traditional teachings can be frightening to the liberal and irreligious. The fact remains this is a core teaching of the Catholic Church and this was a Catholic school.

I can only imagine the kind of courage it took for him to write this speech and to continue to give it despite the rude comments being made and the jeers. I never would have had the courage to do so.

I'm disappointed in the reaction of the school, disappointed but not surprised. Catholic schools don't try to stand up for Catholic teachings, or at least they don't stand up for the ones that are inconvenient to their liberal ideologies.

According to some Catholic commentators, the reaction of objecting students and parents indicates that such frankness about Catholic moral teaching is overdue at the school.

Domenico Bettinelli, editor of Catholic World News wrote, "Kessler was preaching the Gospel and if those students had heard a smidgen of that Gospel during their 4-years at the college perhaps it wouldn't have come as a shock during commencement."

You can say that again.

I wonder how many of them even knew about Catholic teaching on birth control. How many ignorant Catholics have lax parishes and liberal Catholic schools produced in the past 40 years? I'm sure only God knows, I can only imagine. Although I don't have to imagine too hard, I see it nearly every day in my friends, school, and parish.

I think its time for a wake up call.

God bless him, and I hope he continues his frankness and forthrightness for the rest of his life, it is sorely needed.I hope this young man enters the seminary and becomes a fine priest. It is this coming generation of priests, sometimes called John Paul II priests, I place my hope for the future in.