Would it be a form of Martyrdom?

      It is said that the church is built on the blood of the martyrs. From ages past to the present day Catholics have been killed for thier faith. Murdered in terrible manners because they would not surrender their faith in Our Lord, Jesus Christ. To my mind, one of the most touching scenes in "For Greater Glory" is when the young martyr, Jose Sanchez del Rio looks to his mother and says, "I love you. Vivo Cristo Rey" and is brutally murdered. With his last breath and his own blood he carves a cross in the dirt next to his grave.

     And so it is with some wonder that I see people telling me that the church cannot take an actual stand because of their tax exempt status. I know, I know, the church does great work with it's charitable monies. Believe me I know. I have been both a receipient and a person who has seen some of the reports of what is done. Yet, because the bishops are not taking the stand they need to take and not performing the actions they need to perform people are dooming themselves to hell. And please, make no mistake about it. People will be going to hell after future elections. Not just the one upcoming, but the one after and the one after, etc. They will vote for an economic plan doomed to failure over the lives of children because they will be concentrating on the now instead of the forever because they have not been well instructed by their shepards.

     Three scriptures come to mind. Ezekiel 3:16-18, ¹⁶ At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. ¹⁸ When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for^[b] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.

     Mark 12: 13-17 ¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[b] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.

     Matthew 9:36 ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

     My point is that now may be the time for a new martyrdom, a green martyrdom. Yes, I know that we can administer the money better than the government. By we I mean the church, through the Bishops. But is it worth the souls of those in jeopardy to save a few coins? We need clear, decisive teaching. We need public excommunications, not for the blood in the water, but for the example to shake up some of the sleeping laity. We need guidance and shepherding from our priests and bishops that is unequivocal We need priests and Bishops who are ready for the modern martyrdom, not guns and swords, but words and beliefs standing forward for Christ. If the Catholic vote goes the wrong way, if it supports murder of children in the womb over some economic plan, who is to blame? Is it the shepherd or the sheep? Probably a bit of both, but how much goes to the shepherd?