Anyone wishing to understand why the American Catholic Church is in such shambles need only look at its current poster politician, Nancy Pelosi.

Growing up in Baltimore’s Little Italy, Nancy Pelosi is the product of Catholic elementary and high schools and a Catholic college as well. Anyone with even a faint idea of what is happening to Catholic education in this country should not be shocked that any product of that system could stray from true Catholic teaching and doctrine.

However, one must remember that the Catholic education that Pelosi experienced in her youth was much more true to core Catholic beliefs than that which we find today.

Given the fact that today’s Catholic education more closely resembles public education with a crucifix somewhere in the room than any legitimately true Catholic teaching, we can only imagine what kinds of “Catholic” leaders we will see in the future.

Certainly, Pelosi is not the only Catholic in Name only (CINO) in American life and politics, but she is certainly one of the best known and, perhaps, most blatant and influential. Given her stance on abortion and family issues plus other liberal positions, it is clear that Nancy Pelosi’s claim to be a true, sincere, practicing and loyal Catholic is either pathological deception or pathetic self-delusion. I opt for the latter possibility.

We have all heard the famous question “What came first, the chicken or the egg?”

I add my own query “What comes first, open defiance of Church teaching or pathetic leadership opening the door to such defiance?” Somewhere along the line, Nancy Pelosi developed her defiant positions regarding Church teaching. Somewhere along the line, she realized that she could openly express those defiant positions without much fallout, personal or political. Somewhere along that line, she encountered enough clueless and cowardly shepherds willing or wanting to ignore her defiance and even heap praise on her despite that defiance.

When Pelosi first took her seat as Speaker of The House, Jesuit Father Robert Drinan noted that she was the first mother to hold the seat. He should have noted that she was the first mother who supported the murder of unborn children to hold the seat. You will have to excuse me, but I still have trouble saying “mother” and “support the murder of unborn children” in the same sentence without wondering if I am in some moral limbo.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, said he has known Pelosi in his role as a member of the bishops' Committee on International Policy since she first came to Washington. He said he's always found her to be "a very thoughtful and committed defender of human rights." I guess that does not include the human rights of unborn children.

Archbishops Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and George H. Niederauer of San Francisco, supposedly Pelosi’s spiritual shepherds, have exhibited no problems with continuing to give her Holy Communion despite her public stance in defiance of many core Church beliefs, most notably abortion.

Speaking of why she has not gotten any flack concerning her public support of abortion when it comes to receiving Communion, Pelosi noted “I think some of it is regional…it depends on the bishop of a certain region and fortunately for me, communion has not been withheld and I’m a regular communicant so that would be a severe blow to me if that were the case.”

Imagine if whether or not murder or rape was a crime was a “regional” issue. Try to envision a society where the determination of right and wrong depends on what “region” you live in. That, my friends, is the pathetic state of American Catholicism today.

It is a moral weather map, where morality and immorality depend on the winds of whim and subjective rationalization.

I have been a parent and educator for many years, and one of the key lessons I have learned is that children and students need strong, clear and decisive leadership.

Our young people may not always like rules and codes of conduct but, in the end, they respect and admire leaders who enforce them a lot more than pathetic wimps who employ a bullfighter approach, waving the red flag like a revolving door allowing everything to go by in the interest of avoiding confrontation or protest.

American Catholicism today is a pathetic moral cafeteria, complete with buffet practice where each person is allowed and even encouraged to pick and choose what to believe in, what to practice and what to accept. In its sad attempt to appease and please all, this diluted faith has increasingly lost credibility, respect and faithful. Like the ridiculous parent or teacher who loses control of the household or class while trying to be everybody’s friend, American Catholicism is ducking under the desk as moral spitballs fly overhead.

It is truly sad and tragic to see this development, but what hurts the most is how we see every hypocritical and deceptive politician daring to woo a Catholic vote which they should have no business even dreaming about. This is a vote that many argue could determine elections, and if Catholic leaders had the guts to properly enforce and defend the faith they are supposed to represent, that vote could guide this nation to greater moral heights. Instead, we find clueless cowards running from their duty and delusional sheep rationalizing a subjective morality.

Nancy Pelosi may be one of the most famous CINOS in American life today, but she is certainly not the only one. Scores of politicians and celebrities play make-believe Catholic every day, taking pot shots at the faith they claim to represent or declare to have rejected as ignorant or hateful.

If truth be told, Pelosi is nowhere near the cause of this problem. Rather, she is a very clear symptom of the malady that presently besets the American Catholic Church.

As a practicing Catholic trying my best to be true to my faith, I see the present storm as God’s way of setting the stage for the darkness before the light. I hope and pray that, one day, we will once again see the Church that has given this world so much good, and blessed people with so much hope.

Like America, the Catholic faith is presently under attack from enemies outside and within its borders. Both are being betrayed by traitors beyond and inside their doors. Enemies bash each for their foibles while ignoring their greatness. Hopefully, one day soon, we will see both America and American Catholicism make a comeback from the ashes of dilution, betrayal and defiance. Until that day comes, we will continue to see people like Nancy Pelosi swimming in their own moral fantasy, smiling confidently in the soup of their subjective, rationalized and very sad self-delusion.

Copyright by Gabriel Garnica