Are you willing to "rock the boat"

Are you willing to “rock the boat”

An age old idiom that has been around to the chagrin of many people in self-established positions.  The origin is attributed to an  American statesman, lawyer, and politician William Jennings Bryan, who was famously quoted “The man who rocks the boat ought to be stoned when he gets back on shore.”  This was in 1914 and was referring to those who stir up trouble.  

The question in the heading should wake up the many who are comfortable in their manner of allowing things to just want to let things alone if any disturbance would affect their status, or what that essence represents.  On the other hand, there is an element of need within the legal and moral portion of society where speaking out on the crisis in too many areas of life that are circumventing the morals of a free society are missing.

Watch the news and hear about the whistleblowers in politics and other socialized elements and see the problems that lead many into court or congressional hearings that confront them as turn-coats against our constitution.  What we are experiencing are attacks on people who know undisclosed information about secret events that the government does not want revealed.  However, many of the hidden elements are not anti-American or classified information that would create a situation that could upset our nation’s security.  It appears that a lot of these so-called secrets contain truths about things that the people of our nation are responsible for;  the citizens of the United States.  Remember, the citizens are the ones that our government officials work for, not the other way around.  We elected them to lead our nation, but not to make us subservient to them.

Allow me to reiterate one incident that I may have included in one article.  On a particular Sunday, one section in the Pittsburgh Press ran an article regarding a Catholic institution of religious members supporting the pro-choice members the freedom to purvey their right to abortion.  Now the religious members did not approve of abortion, but felt the pro-choicers should be allowed to express their opinions.  

When I preached that Sunday I was determined to mention when a religious group of the Catholic Church supported in any manner another group in their speech, it gave the church an open question as to how they saw this permission which would confuse the people in the pews.  

As people were leaving Mass one man told he didn’t like my homily.  When I asked him why, he said; “I’m pro-choice.”  I rocked the boat!

Later that morning my pastor called me saying in all his years as a pastor he never got phone calls about his homilies.  He continued saying the phone hadn’t stopped ringing with people asking about the article, my homily, and perhaps how the church looked on this article in the press.  When I told him what the man told me about his being pro-choice, the pastor was in disbelief.  I told him these people also attend Mass here.  I was told to never preach about that anymore as I was rocking the boat.  

One other time at another Church in our diocese, I preached again regarding abortion and pro-life issues.  I was told here to not rock the boat, as we don’t preach about these things.  Yes, I again rocked the boat, and I said to the pastor, yes we do.

Back to the many issues we are facing in society through politics, church issues, and the attack on Mothers of Liberty fighting for the right to be informed about what their school-age children are being taught.  Each time a far-left group wants to control anything the rest of us knows is wrong, the devil and his cohorts are literally tearing down our freedoms, and inserting evil proponents into our vulnerable children.  

Elections will be coming soon and we have the civil duty and mandated by God to put people in office who are Christian and right-to-life adherents back to close the door to the evil that is growing in our nation.

Be willing to stand for freedoms, moral integrity, and do not be afraid to rock the boat for what is right.

Ralph B. Hathaway