Pimp My (Free) Ride

Secular shoulders are being shrugged around America just as rapidly as documents of resistance are being penned by our bishops and congressional leaders. The suggestion that contraception coverage will be mandated to include Catholic institutions has put a finer point on the paradigm, but the American taxpayer has long subsidized many unhealthy rites of passage that are now commonplace.

Sacred, life-giving milestones in the Catholic faith are called Sacraments, outward signs instituted by Christ which point to inward reception of God's grace. Reciprocally, secular society has milestones to which many people feel great loyalty and expect unfettered access. Certain restrictions exist to protect public money from funding violations of human dignity still viewed as illicit, but many of them are practically de riguer in adult life.

Let's be intellectually honest and recognize the tenets of the American Left as the framework of a nihilistic faith tradition. Through this lens it becomes clear that our federal government, which must remain secular in order for our republic to survive, has its disciples well-trained by age eighteen and expecting no less than utter redemption through good service.

It's worth mentioning that many Christians suffer the delusion that elements of their lifestyle should be on the dole, and plenty of hardcore liberals live self-sufficiently off the grid. American people are not a one-size fits all populace, which is precisely why we must unite to confront this overreach --- to restore personal liberty. The MTV generation occupies the vast middle, and we risk too much by continuing to feed their superficial accessories and unexamined pursuits with the hard-earned income of good men like my husband.

Pastimes, medical care and education are personal decisions with complex factors, and criticism of neither is my goal. Clarity is my goal. Catholics have been carrying on for milennia without need or desire of our sacramental lives being funded by anyone but ourselves; we wouldn't consider it. And we give.

Nanny-state tyranny, however, demands ever-increasing public dollars for the narrow agenda of its lobbyists and death merchants. Here are the broad strokes of such an egregious presumption, contrasted against the Sacraments of Initiation, Healing and Communion.