“Because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love (2 John 1: 2-3).”
“If I am delayed, they will know how to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Timothy 3: 15).”
“With malice toward none and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in … (Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address,” March 4, 1865).”
Throughout the centuries the Catholic Church believed what it taught and teaches. It did and does so because those teachings are true, not because they are easy or pleasing. Truth is true, not because we believe it; truth is true whether we believe it or not.
Our Catholic moral teachings and our understanding of the sacraments are among the many examples of what the Catholic Church believes to be true. Their truth does not depend upon civil legislation, judicial pronouncements or the opinion, vote or rejection of people — no matter how pervasive or widespread or popular — to be true. We cannot redefine or change truth. It neither needs nor requires it.
In the face of rejection, the Catholic Church continues to hold as true what it believes and teaches in freedom. In the face of rejection, the Catholic Church continues to love, respect and reach out to those who reject it, in freedom. In the face of rejection, the Catholic Church, seeks to find new ways to proclaim truth to those who find truth difficult, even painful to accept and believe, in freedom.