If you are a regular viewer of our CTG show on EWTN, you have heard all of the team members on numerous occasions mention the importance of men belonging to small groups. (Workout Groups)

Recently, I was reading the scripture passage, Mt. 4:18-22, where Jesus was calling Peter, Andrew, James and John to come after him and he will make them “fishers of men.”  Reflecting on this passage, I came to realize that Jesus, by initially calling the original 12 disciples to follow him, was establishing the first men’s small group. As a result of that first small group, the number of followers of Jesus Christ has now expanded to over a billion.

Once again, I believe that Jesus is calling more men to become “Fishers of Men.” Yes, common, ordinary guys like you and me—just like the first Apostles who were a group of fishermen.  It’s time to open our hearts to God’s calling and begin to form small men’s groups (workout groups) in parishes throughout this world so that we can become “Fishers of Men.”

Many of you might be saying to yourself that I am not worthy or I don’t have the time, etc. That’s hogwash! First of all, none of us are worthy and secondly, we have all kinds of time to watch sports and spend time on the computer or listen to our IPods—but we don’t have time for the Lord? If Jesus is a high priority in your life, you will find the time and the courage.

Each week or so, we will begin featuring, in the “Coaches Corner”, different men who listened to God’s calling and who found the time to either start up or join a spiritual workout group in their parish. Hopefully, these testimonies by men like you and me will encourage you to start or join a workout group in your parish.

If you are interested in learning more about these “Workout Groups”, you can find more information by clicking here or on the “Workout Groups” tab on the homepage.

God bless,
Coach Danny

by Peter Herbeck

“If I take the Catholic out of me, which is hard to do, then absolutely they should have these rights.”

These are the words of Senator Mark Grisanti of New York, as he cast his vote in favor of the Marriage Equality Act, the bill that legalized Same-Sex Marriage in the state of New York this past June. Senator Grisanti’s vote contradicted his campaign pledge in which he had unequivocally stated that he would not support any law legalizing same-sex marriage. Besides being terribly disappointed in the senator’s decision, I found his reasoning revealing. To cast his vote in favor of same-sex marriage he had to disregard his faith, in his words, “If I take the Catholic out of me…” What he once opposed with certainty, he now promoted with absolute certainty. He made it clear that he didn’t change his mind for political reasons, but because of his newfound “personal belief.” Up until the day he cast his vote, he publicly held his original position and stated, “Marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s been a term…that has been around for thousands of years.” (The New York Observer, retrieved June 25, 2011)

Prior to his vote, the senator recognized that marriage has had a precise definition, one that was based on the commitment of one man and one woman, on the complementarity of the sexes, and on gender differentiation, which made marital union possible. Marriage, by definition, implies the kind of bodily union of persons that make reproduction and the begetting of children possible. The state has always recognized the utterly unique contribution that the union of man and woman in marriage has made to society and regarded the family as the fundamental building block of every society.

Previous generations of leaders recognized that the social goods which arise from the family need to be promoted and protected, for the benefit of the wider society. Historically the state has also recognized that marriage is pre-political, not something that the state created, and therefore has a truth and integrity of its own which the state acknowledged in its laws. By supporting the traditional definition of marriage, the senator was not denying fundamental rights to same-sex couples, because it is impossible for such couples to express the kind of bodily union that is ordered, in principle, to the begetting of children, an essential aspect of marriage.

At some point, the senator and his new “personal belief” led him to conclude that his religion prevented him from seeing and defending the basic rights of same-sex couples. How could same-sex couples be denied marriage rights if, by definition, marriage includes one man and one woman? Isn’t this the truth about marriage that the senator once recognized? The crucial mistake the senator and many Catholic politicians make today is to think that the traditional definition of marriage is only religious. Same-sex couples who oppose the traditional definition of marriage argue that it is a religious imposition which denies gay couples their fundamental rights. And, since we are a secular, pluralistic society, religiously informed beliefs are private, personal and have no place in the public arena. What Senator Grisanti failed to recognize is that the traditional definition of marriage is not simply a Catholic or a religious idea. The Church’s teaching doesn’t create the truth about what marriage is, it simply recognizes it.

It’s analogous to the confusion surrounding the Church’s teaching on abortion. Many Catholic politicians “personally oppose” abortion because their faith tells them it is wrong, but they end up publicly promoting because they don’t want to “impose their private, religious beliefs” on others. The Church says abortion is wrong because it recognizes the undeniable, biological fact that the product of conception is a human being. The direct killing of an innocent human being is always wrong. Abortion kills an innocent human being, therefore it is always wrong. The humanity of the child is not true because my faith tells me so; my faith tells me so because it is true. You don’t need faith to recognize the humanity of the child.
 Both Senator Grisanti and Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also a Catholic and the driving force behind the Marriage Equality Act, could have made powerfully compelling arguments in favor of the traditional definition of marriage that did not depend on faith. As with other states that have put the issue to a popular vote, their leadership in favor of a traditional definition of marriage would have garnered wide popular support throughout New York. But they didn’t.

Dictatorship of Relativism

Both the same-sex marriage and abortion issues are concrete examples of what Pope Benedict XVI calls the “dictatorship of relativism,” the prevailing political ideology of the first world. It is the denial of moral truth, to which all people are subject. It is an absolute insistence that everyone has the right to define their own truth. This worldview was perfectly articulated in the majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Catholic, in the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey decision: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” In other words, freedom means defining reality on our own terms. It’s a dictatorship because the powers that be insist this is the only acceptable public view of reality.

Governor Cuomo and Senator Grisanti pushed this worldview to its logical conclusion. There is no absolute truth about marriage. The religious idea of marriage is nothing more than a personal perspective, and to see it as anything more than that is to impose one’s narrow viewpoint on others, thereby denying each person the right to make up their own truth about marriage.

In this case, the homosexual community decides to redefine marriage, to make a break from the received understanding of those who have gone before us. Essentially they are saying, “It’s our right to define our own truth about marriage. And it is the state’s responsibility to protect that right.”

The failure of our elected leaders, especially our “Catholic” leaders, to make a coherent case in the public square for the fundamental truth about marriage is a scandal. The decision to “take the Catholic out of me” is not simply a decision to not impose a personal religious opinion on others. It’s the acceptance of a particular worldview, which ironically, is nothing more than the unbending, unrelenting, self refuting, absolute truth claim that there is no truth. It’s a concession to the spirit of the age, to a relativistic worldview that is aggressively demanding center stage.

Our country was established with an entirely different worldview that was simply taken for granted up until the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. It had the humility, reverence and intellectual honesty to recognize the truth of real things and the design and purpose in nature. C.S. Lewis said the wise men of old sought to “conform the soul to reality” but today we seek “to subdue reality to the wishes of men.” (Abolition of Man)

Senator Grisanti had a chance to stand on the shoulders of the “wise men of old.” But in the end, like so many in our day, he bent the knee to the spirit of the age. He bought the lie, not just about marriage, but about reality itself. He crossed over to a worldview that ultimately affirms nothing beyond the human will, the power to define reality on our own terms. The decision to enthrone the dictatorship of relativism as our public philosophy has unavoidable, devastating consequences. The legalization of abortion in 1973 began with the same logic. Now, fifty million dead babies later, the consequences are undeniable.

It’s time for Catholic politicians to stand up! They must wake up to the battle and understand what is really at stake. St. Paul, in Romans 1 identifies what might be the fundamental temptation of the human heart, the desire to “suppress the truth,” about God and his claim over our lives. Truth–the way things are, reality as it unfolds itself to the humble heart–is simply an expression of God, of his design and purpose in creation, the work of his hands. Marriage is a revelation of God and his design.

The redefinition of marriage is not a victory for human rights, it’s one more act of suppression, the attempt to subdue reality to man’s wishes. Catholic politicians should know better, “they are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20)