Will the Church Burn Incense to False Idols?

A friend sent me this report of a homily given yesterday, Sunday, January 22.

Yesterday was the third Sunday after Epiphany in the old calendar, and the Gospel reading for the EF Mass was Matthew 8:1-13, concerning two men who approached Jesus - the observant (but leprous) Jew and the humble Gentile (and servant of Caesar). The homilist began by highlighting these two men.  He went on as follows (my paraphrase of his homily):

In the days leading up to this Sunday, the Church commemorated four martyrs: St. Fabian (pope and martyr), St. Sebastian (martyr soldier), St. Agnes (child virgin and martyr), and St. Vincent of Saragossa (deacon and martyr). The priest presented brief sketches of their deaths in the historical context of their refusal to bow to Caesar's demands to offer sacrifice to false idols.

From there it was a relatively easy step to "connect the dots" (which the Lamestream Media assiduously refuse to do) between today's Caesar and his demands that the Church once again submit to "burning incense" to his own false idols: Universal Health Care and her two viprous daughters, Contraception and Abortion. By "connecting the dots" I mean outlining the historical record of the last few months (at least):

• the recent US Supreme Court decision in the Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC case, in which Caesar's advocate argued that the government's "general interest in eradicating discrimination in the workplace" wasn't sufficient (for now, at least) to justify forcing the Catholic Church to change its doctrine in regard to ordaining only men to its priesthood;

• the recent decision by Caesar's political appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services to pass over the second-placed USCCB grant application to continue programs to combat human trafficking, in favor of lower-ranking (and non-qualifying) applicants who would also offer abortion and contraception to the victims;

• Caesar's shocking announcement on Friday last that he would make no exemption for non-church, religious employers when it comes to requiring all private health plans to provide access to contraceptives (including abortifacient contraceptives), despite the assurances he'd earlier given to Archbishop Timothy Dolan (New York; President of USCCB) that "he [Dolan] would like his answer";

• and the National Defense Authorization Act that Caesar quietly signed into law on New Year's Eve, empowering him to kidnap, arrest, detain, interrogate, imprison, torture, and execute - without warrant, without charges, without judicial process, without habeas corpus, without trial - even American citizens - so long as he subjectively deems them a threat to The State (i.e., domestic terrorists).

And then the homilist read Pope Benedict's Address to the US bishops of Region IV on their ad limina visit to Rome - given only 24 hours before Caesar's announcement on Friday. You can read the whole thing at the link, but here are some key phrases:

 ...that would curtail the proclamation of these truths...constricting it...suppressing it...political power or majority rule...they represent a threat...reductionist and totalitarian readings...extreme individualism...notions of freedom detached from moral truth...grave threats...radical secularism...the seriousness of these threats...attempts...to limit...the freedom of religion...to deny the right of conscientious objection...cooperation in intrinsically evil practices...signs of the times...

You could hear a pin drop.