Bishop Thomas Paprocki is not the kind of Catholic
leader who minces words. The prelate, who presides over the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, warns that anti-Christian bigotry in the U.S. is on the rise and that the media is to blame.
Paprocki shared his concerns about the growing hate and hostility for Judeo-Christian values in the U.S. and the attacks on Pope Francis and the Catholic Church in general.
“We [Christians] have to mentally adjust. I know it is an adjustment for me because – and I assume for many other people as well - because I grew up in this country at a time when the values in our secular world mirrored the values of the religious world,” Bishop Paprocki said.
“And I think what’s happening now is that relationship – that symbiosis between our culture and the church -has been ruptured.
Paprocki compares today’s situation in the U.S. to Christians being persecuted under Communist regimes and even in ancient times.
“We [Christians] find ourselves now – just in this short period of time - where the early Christians found themselves in the Roman Empire. So the church in 2,000 years, we started out as being a persecuted faith, with Constantine being an accepted established faith, then for centuries, kind of moving in that direction that had this close relationship between the secular world’s values and Judeo-Christian values,” Bishop Paprocki said.
“And now I think we are moving in a direction that – not only is it more than secular – it’s a rejection. It’s an outright rejection [of Judeo-Christian values]. It’s a pagan kind of a culture.”
“The reality is that – ironically, it is becoming more like the Church was in the time of John Paul II in Poland under Communism where you [Christians] lived in a very hostile environment. We still have the First Amendment of our Constitution but that is being sorely tested. “
Under Communist rule in Poland, Catholic schools were closed and children were forced to enlist in Communist Youth organizations. Crosses were confiscated from hospitals and classrooms. Social organizations with church ties were dissolved. The brutal government regime targeted parishes and monasteries and members of the clergy were recruited, arrested, or murdered by the Communist secret police.
But the terror-filled reign had the opposite of its intended effect on Catholic laity and clergy; thirteen million turned out in the streets to greet the new Pope John Paul II in 1979, who defiantly said, “Today, here in Victory Square, in the capital of Poland, I am asking with all of you, through the great Eucharistic prayer, that Christ will not cease to be for us an open book of life for the future, for our Polish future.”
Paprocki also had some choice words for late night comedian David Letterman, who has used the Catholic Church as his nightly punching bag.
So, in Paprocki’s opinion, are media and entertainment industries actively promoting hate and bigotry against the Church?
“I think it is more acting out of ignorance. They think they [the media and celebrities] are being funny perhaps. They think this is where our culture is at. I don’t know if it is overt hatred for the Church but it is probably an unconscious hatred for the faith,” Paprocki said.
No stranger to controversy, Bishop Paprocki has been outspoken on a range of controversial issues, including same sex marriage and Obamacare. Last fall, he criticized portions of the Democrat party platform that “explicitly endorse intrinsic evils” and warned Catholics against supporting political candidates who promote those evils.
“A vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy,” said Paprocki in September.
Bishop Paprocki was appointed as the bishop of Springfield by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and is the author of the new book, “Holy Goals for Body & Soul: 8 Steps to Connect Sports with God and Faith.”