PRO-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-trans ideology Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the future of the Catholic Church, according to America’s national Catholic newspaper, because “kind”.

The National Catholic Reporter made the claim this week after AOC gave a speech calling for politicians to treat each other with dignity and respect.

The speech was a rebuke to Republican Congressman Ted Yoho who had allegedly called her a “f-ing bitch”. Congressman Yoho denied he said that.

AOC told Congress it was time to treat “women with dignity, respect and civility”.

Under a headline “AOC is the Future of the Catholic Church” NCR executive editor Heidi Schlumpf wrote:

“Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly railed against the ‘dehumanizing’ of others and instead called for treating people with dignity and respect. These are themes often repeated by Pope Francis…

“If there is to be a future for the Catholic Church in the United States — it must resemble Ocasio-Cortez in her passion for justice and human dignity, and in her courage and integrity, even in the face of vulgar attacks.”

The National Catholic Reporter apparently doesn’t mind that AOC supports abortion, which is contrary to the Bible’s teaching on the sanctity of human life, because kind.

The National Catholic Reporter doesn’t seem to care that AOC supports homosexual marriage, which is contrary to the Bible’s teaching on marriage, because kind.

The National Catholic Reporter doesn’t worry that AOC supports trans gender ideology, which is contrary to the Bible’s teaching on human sexuality, because kind.

The National Catholic Reporter doesn’t raise an eyebrow at AOC’s Marxist leanings, which always result in some form of oppression of the church, because kind.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and bet that 99% of the world’s population believe others should be treated with dignity and respect. So maybe we are all the future of the Catholic Church!

If Jesus arrived in New York today, rather than in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, the National Catholic Reporter would insist he turn up as a non-binary bishop driving around in a hybrid Toyota Prius with a “Coexist” sticker on His way to an interfaith dialogue with a Wiccan and a couple of imams where he would tell everyone “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to cheer for you as you discover your truth”.

The NCR have reduced Christianity to “be kind” which sounds noble and makes for a great Hallmark greeting card. But jettisoning all doctrine in exchange for a mushy “just love everyone” harms rather than helps, as GK Chesterton pointed out in his book Orthodoxy.

“The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues,” Chesterton wrote.

“When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. 

“But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. 

“The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.”

This is exactly the trap the NCR seem to have fallen into. While the Bible says that “God is love”, our secular societies have reversed that statement and declared that love is god. It’s a clever sleight of hand that allows one to crucify God whilst simultaneously claiming the higher ground.

It is true that Jesus said we must love our neighbour. But it must not be forgotten that He said this was the second most important duty of man. The first duty of a man was to love God. And there is good reason for this.

If people are made in the likeness of God, as the Bible teaches, then we cannot properly know each other unless we first know God.

It’s in understanding God that we rightly understand one another so as to be able to love our neighbour well.

Replacing the absolutes of Scripture with a cover-all call to “be kind” does not produce the promised river of love but a bog of sentimentality.

A church that can’t preach truth because it might come across as unkind to those not wanting to hear it is a church with nothing to say and nothing to offer beyond “arms are for hugging”.

The National Catholic Reporter would neuter the church with kindness and “love everybody” to death – which is neither kind nor loving.

As for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call to treat others with dignity and respect, when one of her colleagues last year called the President a “mother-f***er”, AOC dismissed the resulting upset as “faux outrage” and said she backed her colleague. 

So if indeed AOC is the future of the church, at least critics of the church will be pleased that she seems to have hypocrisy down pat.