Yet again, the fort's "been betrayed even by those who should have defended it."

When Henry VIII ascended the throne in the 16th century, Christopher Check tells us that

"the faith was vigorous in merry old England. Whereas heresies had brought war to France and Bohemia, and clerical scandals had plagued the whole continent, Henry inherited a country with a thriving Catholicism. The English nobility supported hundreds of monasteries that looked after the corporal needs of the poor and the spiritual needs of all English souls....All this, Henry would destroy."

While reportedly a seasoned adulterer, Henry had remained in communion with the Church.  In the midst of his affair with Anne Boleyn, however, he decided that his marriage to Catherine (Katharine) of Aragon could not be valid.  The Holy Father stood firm and did NOT grant Henry an annulment!  Not getting his own way, Hank decided to have himself declared "Supreme Head" of the Church in England.  Check rhetorically asks,

"How could Henry, a man of such learning, fail to see such obvious contradictions in his own schemes? The answer is in St. Thomas Aquinas, who reminds us that lust darkens the powers of reason: 'Unchastity's firstborn daughter is blindness of the spirit' [Translation: "Sin makes you stupid."]"....

Check continues....

"to get the pope's attention, Henry, with a complicit Parliament, attacked the whole English clergy....Charged with praemunire, a kind of treason, the clergy were forced to pay Henry a sum of 100,000 pounds to purchase a pardon for the imagined offense and were forced to acknowledge Henry as the 'protector and Supreme head of the Church in England'....[Later] came the Submission of the Clergy....The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham, prepared a stirring rejection of this suppression of Church authority, but he failed to deliver it in Parliament, prompting Bishop Fisher [i.e., Saint John Fisher] to tell More [i.e., Saint Thomas More] that the 'fort had been betrayed even by those who should have defended it'... [In the end,] More than one thousand monasteries and convents were destroyed and monks and nuns turned out into the street....Once, the poor were cared for in dignity and charity by men and women religious....The suppression of the Church in England was the dress rehearsal for the French Revolution, the Italian Risorgimento, the Mexican Revolution, and the Spanish Civil War. Henry VIII's divorce is the reason America is a Protestant country."

Jumping "across the pond" and fast forwarding a half millenium, the institution of marriage is about to take another hit, with incredible acquiescence from Catholics....

Anticipated Betrayal of the Fort by Catholics on the U.S. Supreme Court

Of the nine justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, six are identified as "Catholic" (i.e., Samuel Alito, David Kennedy, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas).  Are four of those "Catholics" paving the way for an abandonment of marriage?  As reported today by the Courier Times, 

"The Supreme Court is inappropriately signaling it intends to clear the way for gay marriage across the nation, Justice Clarence Thomas complained Monday in a stinging dissent to the court's refusal to block the start of same-sex marriages in Alabama....


"Thomas filed a dissenting opinion after his colleagues rejected Alabama's plea to put a hold on same-sex marriages in the state until the Supreme Court resolves the issue nationwide in a few months....

"many legal commentators have predicted not only the case's outcome this spring (in favor of same-sex marriage), but the vote (5-4) and the author of the majority opinion (Justice Anthony Kennedy).....

"since October, the justices have repeatedly turned away state requests to keep same-sex marriages from taking place until appeals are resolved....

"When the court struck down part of the anti-gay [sic] marriage federal Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also dissented.....

"the absence of Roberts and Alito from Thomas' dissent Monday suggests those justices could be part of a broader majority in favor of same-sex marriage this year, with Roberts the more likely candidate."

Kudos to Justices Clarence Thomas for dissenting and to Justice Antonin Scalia for joining him:

• "The Attorney General of Alabama asked us to stay a federal injunction preventing him from enforcing several provisions of Alabama law defining marriage as a legal union of one man and one woman.... When courts declare state laws unconstitutional and enjoin state officials from enforcing them, our ordinary practice is to suspend those injunctions from taking effect pending appellate review....[In this case,] the Court looks the other way as yet another Federal District Judge casts aside state laws.... This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court’s intended resolution of that question. This is not the proper way to discharge our Article III responsibilities. And, it is indecorous for this Court to pretend that it is."

Anticipated Betrayal of the Fort by the House Speaker (a Catholic) and Others in Congress

"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) [another "Catholic" who seems poised to betray the fort]...said it is unlikely House Republicans would weigh in on the same-sex marriage bans out of  Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee to be considered by the Supreme Court....Democrats in both chambers of Congress are expected to file a brief urging the Supreme Court to legalize marriage equality nationwide” (MetroWeekly, 2/9/15).

Surely, We Can Count on the USCCB and the Pa Catholic Conference, Right?

So, I guess the USCCB and the Pa Catholic Conference has plenty to say about the aforementioned recent developments, right?  TRAGIC to say, but no political action defending authentic marriage/family is currently among the USCCB's "Action Alerts" or the Pa Catholic Conference's "Current Alerts"(I am absolutely NOT saying that the other alerts are anything less than worthy.)!  It's just so hard to believe that we are in the middle of the USCCB's National Marriage Week!