
A Non-Catholic President

Puts
American Catholics to Shame
President Donald
Trump,
a non-Catholic Christian with a Catholic
wife, defies the “Culture of Correct” — and puts the cowardly and disgraced
Episcopacy of America
to shame by officially “proclaiming December 29, 2020, as the 850th
anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket”. A
NON-CATHOLIC
PRESIDENT is courageous enough through the grace of God to declare
that “our freedom from religious persecution is not a
mere luxury
or accident of history, but rather an essential element of our liberty.
It is our priceless treasure and inheritance.
And it was bought
with the blood of martyrs.”
When would you hear that from a Catholic pulpit or an American bishop
or cardinal? Never! It is not “correct”, and is ...
“insensitive” ...
to atheists and other malcontents who detest both America and the authentic
Teaching of Holy Mother Church. Here in Boston, our not-
so-bold Cardinal O’Malley
... says nothing about
this historic act by a sitting American
President.
2,559
years ago Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, issued an edict freeing
the Jews from Babylonian Captivity and commissioning the rebuilding
of their
Temple. He, too,
was not from the true House of God, but nevertheless acted under the
express command of God and the impulse of grace. Alas ... here
in Boston, we have
no Cyrus; only a feckless O'Malley and a virtually pagan pope. But,
for a while, we have Trump to champion the cause our own
shepherds have abandoned.
God bless President Trump. If that offends your “sensitivities” ...
tough!

Proclamation on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of
Saint Thomas Becket
PROCLAMATIONS
Proclamation on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom
of Saint Thomas Becket
Issued on: December 28, 2020
Today is the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket
on December 29, 1170. Thomas Becket was a statesman, a scholar, a
chancellor, a priest, an archbishop, and a lion of religious liberty.
Before the Magna Carta was
drafted, before the right to free exercise of religion was enshrined
as America’s first freedom in our glorious Constitution, Thomas gave
his life so that, as he said, “the Church will attain liberty and peace.”
The son of a London sheriff and once described as “a low born clerk”
by the King who had him killed, Thomas Becket rose to become the leader
of the church in England. When the crown attempted to encroach upon
the affairs of the house of God through the Constitutions of Clarendon,
Thomas refused to sign the offending document. When the furious King
Henry II threatened to hold him in contempt of royal authority and questioned
why this “poor and humble” priest would dare defy him, Archbishop Becket
responded “God is the supreme ruler, above Kings” and “we ought to
obey God rather than men.” [Ed. Acts 5:29]
Because Thomas would not assent to rendering the church subservient
to the state, he was forced to forfeit all his property and flee
his own country. Years later, after the intervention of the Pope, Becket
was allowed to return — and continued to resist the King’s oppressive
interferences into the life of the church. Finally, the King had enough
of Thomas Becket’s stalwart defence of religious faith and reportedly
exclaimed in consternation: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
The King’s knights responded and rode to Canterbury Cathedral to deliver
Thomas Becket an ultimatum: give in to the King’s demands or die. Thomas’s
reply echoes around the world and across the ages. His last words
on this earth were these: “For the name of Jesus and the protection
of the Church, I am ready to embrace death.” Dressed in holy robes,
Thomas was cut down where he stood inside the walls of his own church.
Thomas Becket’s martyrdom changed the course of history. It eventually
brought about numerous constitutional limitations on the power of the
state over the Church across the West. In England, Becket’s murder led
to the Magna Carta’s declaration 45 years later that: “[T]he
English church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished
and its liberties unimpaired.”
When the Archbishop refused to allow the King to interfere in the affairs
of the Church, Thomas Becket stood at the intersection of church and
state. That stand, after centuries of state-sponsored religious oppression
and religious wars throughout Europe, eventually led to the establishment
of religious liberty in the New World. It is because of great men
like Thomas Becket that the first American President George Washington
could proclaim more than 600 years later that, in the United States,
“All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship”
and that “it is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was
by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise
of their inherent natural rights.”
Thomas Becket’s death serves as a powerful and timeless reminder
to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not
a mere luxury or accident of history, but rather an essential element
of our liberty. It is our priceless treasure and inheritance. And it
was bought with the blood of martyrs.
As Americans, we were first united by our belief that “rebellion
to tyrants is obedience to God” and that defending liberty is more
important than life itself. If we are to continue to be the land of
the free, no government official, no governor, no bureaucrat, no
judge, and no legislator must be allowed to decree what is orthodox
in matters of religion or to require religious believers to violate
their consciences. No right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous,
and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions.
As I declared in Krasiński Square in Warsaw, Poland on July 6, 2017,
the people of America and the people of the world still cry out: “We
want God.”
On this day, we celebrate and revere Thomas Becket’s courageous stand
for religious liberty and we reaffirm our call to end religious persecution
worldwide. In my historic address to the United Nations last year, I
made clear that America stands with believers in every country who ask
only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their
own hearts. I also stated that
global bureaucrats have absolutely
no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that wish to protect
innocent life, reflecting the belief held by the United States and many
other countries that every child — born and unborn — is a sacred gift
from God. Earlier this year, I signed an Executive Order to prioritize
religious freedom as a core dimension of United States foreign policy.
We have directed every Ambassador — and the over 13,000 United States
Foreign Service officers and specialists — in more than 195 countries
to promote, defend, and support religious freedom as a central pillar
of American diplomacy.
We pray for religious believers everywhere who suffer persecution for
their faith. We especially pray for their brave and inspiring shepherds
— like Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and Pastor Wang Yi
of Chengdu — who are tireless witnesses to hope.
To honor Thomas Becket’s memory,
the crimes against people of
faith must stop, prisoners of conscience must be released, laws restricting
freedom of religion and belief must be repealed, and the
vulnerable, the defenceless, and the oppressed must be protected. The
tyranny and murder that shocked the conscience of the Middle Ages must
never be allowed to happen again. As long as America stands, we will
always defend religious liberty.
A society without religion
cannot prosper. A nation without faith cannot endure — because justice,
goodness, and peace cannot prevail without the grace of God.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 29, 2020,
as the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. I
invite the people of the United States to observe the day in schools
and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies
in commemoration of the life and legacy of Thomas Becket.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth
day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
forty-fifth.
DONALD J. TRUMP
www.WhiteHouse.gov
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
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Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com

Totally Faithful to the Sacred
Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse
3.8)
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