The Words and the Fury
Faith, marriage, and family are at the core of American values, but like a vampire sucking the life from its victim, the secularization of our culture has weakened it and threatens to destroy it. Nearly every day some new progressive idea is thrust upon us; defund the police, prosecutors that don’t prosecute, biological males in women’s sports and locker rooms, new pronouns, choose your gender, child genital mutilation, and the ever-growing LGBTQ agenda. The pervasiveness of the progressive ideology can be seen in the backlash against the commencement address given by Harrison Butker.
A devout Catholic, Butker, is also a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. When the president of Benedictine College asked him to give the commencement address he originally refused but later relented. I thank God that he did. A few generations ago Butker’s words opposing abortion and supporting the traditional family would have been seen as ordinary and non-controversial. Now many see his words as a message of hate.
Early in his address Butker spoke out against abortion, surrogacy, and euthanasia and “the growing support for degenerate cultural values in media. He said that all this stems “from the pervasiveness of disorder.” This disorder comes from the top. Butker declares, “Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the Sign of the Cross during a pro-abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”
Mistakes were made during the COVID crisis. One of the worst was the failure to acknowledge the origins of the disease. I’m convinced that COVID was a manmade virus that escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. Butker does not delve directly into this controversy, he states, “As we saw during the pandemic, too many bishops were not leaders at all. They were motivated by fear, fear of being sued, fear of being removed, fear of being disliked. They showed by their actions, intentional or unintentional, that the sacraments don't actually matter. Because of this, countless people died alone, without access to the sacraments, and it's a tragedy we must never forget.” He goes on to say, “We cannot buy into the lie that the things we experienced during COVID were appropriate. Over the centuries, there have been great wars, great famines, and yes, even great diseases, all that came with a level of lethality and danger. But in each of those examples, Church leaders leaned into their vocations and ensured that their people received the sacraments.”
In an age where the reality of gender is often questioned, traditional gender roles are certainly considered an antiquated concept. Butker and his wife embrace their traditional gender roles. He states, “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I'm on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”
The Des Moines Register reports that 190,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding the Chiefs "dismiss" Butker for his “harmful remarks.” The newspaper states his comments have been called sexist, homophobic, anti-trans, anti-abortion, racist, and dehumanizing to LGBTQ+ individuals.” That petition is a sad commentary on our nation and culture. I can’t discuss the entire twenty-minute speech in this blogpost but you can view it above or read it here.
Have you heard the commencement address? Is he expressing Catholic and Christian values or is he propagating hate? Tell me what you think in the comment section below.
