Archbishop Urges Abandon of "Cafeteria
Christianity"
San José's Archbishop Hugo
Barrantes told Costa Ricans in his Easter message to embrace the faith
without conditions or shortcuts and to defend the life of the unborn
against efforts to legalize abortion.
The archbishop warned that "based on a relativistic understanding of the
Christian faith and a conditional adherence to the Church, some
Catholics seek to construct a Christianity and, consequently, a Church
to their own liking, unilateral and outside the identity and mission
that Jesus Christ has fundamentally given us."
"We have been witnesses of the emergence of what some call 'cafeteria
Christianity,' which is nothing more than the intention of having one's
'own church,' constituted according to the dictates of one's religious
understanding," he noted.
Archbishop Barrantes underscored that the Church is not a "simple human
creation" and that Catholics are not free to arbitrarily alter her
essence by accepting what they find comfortable and rejecting whatever
is challenging and difficult.
The archbishop also pointed to an increasing openness to unions and
expression outside of marriage as major difficulties and obstacles for
families.
He also decried the abortion mentality which ignores that all human life
must be absolutely respected and protected from the moment of
conception. "From the first moment of his existence, man's rights as a
person, among which is the inviolable right off all innocent beings to
life, must be recognized," he demanded.
In this sense, the archbishop called on Catholics to "choose a culture
of life, which means not only the denouncing of violence and , but also
the announcing and cultivating of life as the supreme value desired by
God."
"Imitating the example of St. Paul, I exhort all the faithful of the
Archdiocese of San José to assume the work of the Gospels, facing the
battle of the faith based on the joy of the Resurrection," he concluded.
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