This Is The Church's Bud Light Moment, But Will Catholics Wake Up?
We all know the story, are made hopeful by the story, are sick of the story. I speak of the Bud Light advertising fiasco. In it they put images of TikTok influencer (I need to take a shower after writing that phrase) Dylan Mulvaney, dressed as a girl, on a can of Bud Light (formerly the #1 selling U.S. beer). Further, they had Dylan in a bathtub, dressed in lady's gear, blowing bubbles, laughing like a weird narcissist, and being all-together obnoxious.
The result? It was too much. They pushed it too far. "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!" said the common folk, like the scrappy Yosemite Sam rising in the air, higher and higher, with righteous indignation.
It turns out targeted boycotts do work. Bud Light crashed. Billions in lost revenue. Dust on the blue boxes everywhere, beer gone stale, poured down the drain where it belongs. A lesson hopefully, maybe, probably not, learned.
In my opinion this greatly affected the month of June. Named after one of the seven deadly sins, June 2023 was almost a normal month this year. People, and groups, backed off. All thanks to Bud Light, Dylan Mulvaney, and millions of average people who finally threw down their hats and yelled, "Enough! Don't shove bubble-blowing little twerps in our faces!"
There is a comparison here. At least, there should be a comparison.
The Catholic Church is in trouble. Deep trouble. The Church opened the windows to the breeze of the world back in the 1960s, and has been reaping the reek rewards ever since. The Church is in crisis. And since Pope Francis this crisis is on steroids, with Bud Light injected straight into the veins of the hierarchy. Doctrine, liturgy, and even basic dignity are under assault. It is an embarrassment.
But I believe it's coming to a head.
First, the synod of synods on synodality for synodalness, or whatever it's called. Yes, we must endure another synod. But this one is, I believe, pushing things just too far. Just too much. It's a bubble-blowing group of Church officials lounging in a tub with female clothing on while laughing in our faces. Because they can (or think they can).
Too many examples abound. I'll just leave one.
Behold how to stir up interest in this synod:
Comic Sans and all. Well, I did write a poem:
Make sin okay
Chase Trads away
Boomers infringe
Now everything's cringe.
In fact, I participated in other ways (check them out here). This should be enough to infuriate all Catholics. The juvenile, insipid nature is too much. The talk-down to Catholics, pat them on the head, and tell them to pray and pay, while rotting the Church from within, is getting old.
But wait, there's more.
To lead this charge, Pope Francis just appointed a new Doctrine of Faith to instruct us towards new truth. Who could that be? Archbishop "Heal Me with Your Mouth" Fernandez. Kissy lips himself. The ghost writer of the horrendous papal exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
This man is an embarrassment. He is Dylan Mulvaney in episcopal vestments. Oh, and he's quite the writer too.
But my point is not simply to dwell on these (and other points). It is not to have the usual anger, which like a roller coaster rises and falls daily. No, my purpose is to wake up ALL Catholics who care for what is true, good, and beautiful.
The Vatican is shoving it in our faces right now. Worse than ever. Boldly. Unabashedly. Do we care? Is it worth it to us? Just ignore it, right? Until there is nothing left. Pass the Bud Light, will you?
No. This is our Bud Light moment. There is no waiting. If we cannot stand up now and say, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more," then there will never be a cause which will make us.
I say this to all Catholics: Wake up! Fight back. Stop being passive. Stop being useless. Make a mockery of what needs to be mocked. Call out bishops who push this. Make the Susans of the parish council run home crying because you showed up to raise heck at "her" meeting. Trash what needs to be trashed. Stop funding insanity. Stop acting like it'll all go away with minimal effort. Force them to listen. In short, make a mess. If Bud Light can be forced to think twice, so too can the wolves in the Church.
But if not now, when?
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I empathize with you as a blog author, for my having written over 200 essays published by New Oxford Review with little impact or feedback. Frankly, most cradle Catholics are fast asleep, not awake, to the rapid deterioration of the Church since the 1950s. Or they don't care, realizing not much can be done about gay cardinals who fondle altar boys and seminarians.
ReplyDeletePope Francis is a Stan Laurel reincarnation, making a sick joke of the papacy and decimating the Church. He's as close to the Anti-Christ as I can imagine, and I pray he and his cardinal duplicates are soon replaced by a cogent conservatives. Small chance of that during the next twenty years.
I'll be long gone and out of reach by then.
But we have to understand, though the Church claims to be no democracy, its sheepfold has been has been spoiled by the world, indirectly voting for Vatican II, and relaxing the austerities of ancient times. In the 1950s, for example, when I was a boy, a 24 hour fast was required before holy communion. Now it's down to one hour or less, as if to say, close communion with God is far less expensive that it was 70 years ago.
In ancient times, 100 A.D., if a member committed adultery, he had to PUBLICALLY confess his sin, and his penance was protracted to standing outside for months, SHUNNED as the Amish do today, not allowed to approach the altar. Today, people have a childish idea what true penance means beyond three Hail Mary's and one Our Father.
The Church has the vote of the its majority members but not the stern voice of the Lord God.
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