RANT - COUNTER RANT: WHAT EVERYBODY NEEDS IS A GOOD HOBBY

So I am driving yesterday and hear a story on NPR about how some investigative effort uncovered the fact that Hobby Lobby’s pension fund has a small investment in a company that owns a company that makes some of the drugs and devices that are the cause of Hobby Lobby wanting an exemption from paying for through the government health care plan.  My first thought was, “Ooooooh!  That’s not good.” 

 

Now, the thing about NPR is that they always brag (here I am going to do the same thing that I am accusing them of doing) about how they just report the news, they have no agenda.  They like to drag this statement out particularly during fund raising time.  It may even be that they believe it.  But I do not believe it; this segment being one example of why.  The questions being asked by the interviewer were so incredibly leading as to be humorous.  “So do you think that Hobby Lobby is being hypocritical?  Do you think they know and don’t care?”  The idea is to place Hobby Lobby in as negative a light as possible.  If this were a court of law I would think some wise lawyer would stand up and say, “Objection your Honor.  Leading the witness!”  If they were really interested in just reporting facts, a better question for the interviewee who can have any opinion they want would be, “What do you think this means about Hobby Lobby?” or some such thing.  There were a few more underhanded and double standard tactics that they took that really made me steam the inside of my windshield, but that’s for another day. 

 

An interesting questions that keeps coming up however is can a corporation have religion?  NPR would say, “Of course they can’t.”  Adam’s Ale and its staff, contributors, executive board, foundation, and chaplain (all of whom are me) say, “Of COURSE the can and do.”  Our government has religion and right now it wants to pass on that new part of its religion that it holds most dear.  (I know I’ve said this before, please put up with me.)  There is no such thing as a neutral position.  There is no natural state that includes everybody.  If you actively remove God from the government, from schools, from business, from public life, from everything outside the four walls of a church, synagogue, or temple, that too constitutes a set of beliefs with its own vision of what man is, his purpose and meaning, what the foundational rules are, its own set of presuppositions, beliefs, and rules that creates its own world view and way of living.  That is not some vacuum in which tolerance reigns and we can all get along.  If we say, “Okay, Hobby Lobby, as a business you cannot have religion,” what we are really saying is, “You cannot have your religion.  You must have ours.”

 

Everything and everyone has a religion cleverly disguised as a set of beliefs and standards to be imposed in areas they find very important.  Right now we are asking the question, “May I exercise my strongly held beliefs in my own house, or does the government have the right to come in and establish its religion.”

A-THEISTS POINT OF VIEW

There are those who believe (and I use the word “believe” very deliberately since it comes with its own set of un-provable presuppositions) that there is no God.  The theory of “no god” is also associated with the idea that there we are an accident of the universe with no meaning and when we die we cease to exist.  Period.  If this is so, then there really is no basis for a universal morality because there is no basis for absolute truth.

 

Some will argue that a basis for morality might be found in nature (natural law.)  There is small grounds here.  We might, for example, figure out through natural law that without clean water it we cannot survive and therefore it is good to have clean water and bad not to.  But what about people living in a desert?  Should we give them some of our clean water?  What if it places our access to clean water at risk?  If there is no real meaning to life why not let the people in the desert die?  If you give them water they will only increase in number and then we will need to send more of our limited supply of water.  But if they died, that would be the end of a problem.  There is no heaven or hell so there are no consequences and for the people who live, life on this meaningless planet just became more tolerable.

 

If, on the other hand, one would say that there is in natural law a basis for morality that says life has meaning and that we should take care of the people in the desert; that means that life and the universe have meaning and purpose.  If it has meaning and purpose that means there is an intelligence behind it and we get right back to some form of god.  But even if one argues otherwise, how do you enforce this concept of natural law other than to say, “This is my idea!” followed by a meaningful lump on the head with a club to the one who disagrees?

 

“But wait!” one might argue, “I know plenty of moral and good atheists!”  I agree.  So do I.  They are some of my favorite people.  They are also some of my favorite people in history.  People of towering (what Christians even would call) virtue.  But in the end it can only be fashion.  There is no absolute by which it can be enforced save for “Might Makes Right,” whether that be army, popular vote, control of resources, or other such means.  When the benevolent believer in a god free universe is no longer in control, to what can we appeal to continue his ideals against a contradictory force other than to raise our own force for our preferences?

 

It is often brought up that religion has caused so much war in the world.  From the Catholic perspective, it is exactly when we were NOT living up to the call of our faith that the worst in the world has been committed; when God is used as a false rallying cry and not to move people more deeply into the Gospel message. 

 

For the radical separation of Church and state (which I would argue does not state nor mean that the faith of many of the very people that they government is supposed to represent may have no sway in political activity) opens the door to those with power abusing those without power.  The worst in ourselves will come out over the (not so) long haul.

DANCE STEP

“The Church is out of step with modern society.”  Can anyone deny this?  How many times might this have been said since the day after the Resurrection?  It is said like a reprimand.  “If you want the Church to have any sway in modern culture, it has to become more like modern culture.”  Which, when you think about it, is a little like saying that the only way Church can speak to moderns is to have nothing new or interesting to say to it.  It would be just another “Aye” to whatever is going on even if what is going on is radically different in Maine than it is in California.

 

The problem really is that modern culture is out of step with the Church.  There has been any number of modern cultures these past two thousand years and there are any number of modern cultures alive today.  Modern culture in Japan is different than modern culture in Iraq or any other two countries or parts of two countries that you might want to pair together.  The one common thread is the Church.  It remains constant for 2,000 years and across borders.  It would be less of a logical thing to make Church psychotically run around approving of every apparition of “modern culture” that may exist on any particular square mile of civilization than to unite all of humanity under one banner of Christianity that can speak to them all.

 

That the Church is out of step is no wonder.  It never changes it step.  It is hard to keep in step with someone who keeps changing the dance without notice and fumes because not everybody is falling into step.

WAKE FROM YOUR SLEEP

 

It may be that the HHS mandate is one of the best things that ever happened to the Catholic Church.  That is not to say that it is a good thing, but that it might end up having been a good experience for the Catholic Church.

This past Tuesday we had a holy hour for the Fortnight for Freedom to pray and learn about what religion in the United States is up against with the HHS mandate.  There was a favorable turnout, more than we had anticipated, and then Fr. Pfeiffer packed up all the stuff and we went on with the rest of our evening.

But the people who attended did not.  As it turns out a good number of them went to a coffee shop to continue the discussion.  (When was the last time Catholics spontaneously got together after Mass or a prayer service to talk more about the homily?)  One of the gentlemen with whom I spoke told of a feeling of camaraderie, unity, and the energy that one receives when bonded in a common cause with one’s brothers and sisters.  So as it turns out, history is rhyming once again.  Under persecution (and this is persecution under our Constitution) the Church unites and grows stronger.  Such as always been her history. 

When asked what he was going to do about the Catholic Church problem Napoleon is reported to have said, “You cannot destroy the Catholic Church.  The Catholic clergy have been trying to do it for over a century and a half and they are getting nowhere.”  This is a Church that has faced the cruelest governments and has always come out stronger for it.  But it has happened that the faith of a nation has, from time to time, almost died out.  One need just cast a furtive glance to France once known as the backbone of the Church to see that this is true.  In order for that to not happen here we must wake to the challenge.  The lion has been stuck with a stick.  He needs to wake up.

MONDAY DIARY: WHEN YOU SUDDENLY FIND YOURSELF A SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

FRIDAY A fax was sent to the parish today from our bishop. It stated that “This week the federal government’s Department of Health andHuman Services issued a mandate which requires religious non-profits to cover sterilizations, contraceptive services, and some abortion-inducing drugs as part of their employee’s healthcarebenefits.” It went on to say that a letter was attached that was to be read at all Masses and stuffed into each bulletin.

Wow.

I don’t know what stuns me more right at this moment – the blatant violation of the Constitution of the United States which is only a thinly veiled attack on the Catholic Church, or that our bishop is speaking out so boldly and quickly! I must say that it fills me with a bit of pride and excitement That he has done so.

This past weekend we celebrated the feast of Saint Sebastian and I warned the congregation that someday their faith might be put to a similar trial – particularly those who worked in the medical fields.

That day came more quickly than I anticipated.

How big will this be? Will it go out in a puff of smoke? Or will this be the beginning of a war on the Church? Will a bishop end up in jail? Will we have our tax exempt status taken away from us? (Given

in to this mandate is not an option.) I imagine much of it depends on the reaction of the populace that understands that any violation of the Constitution places the whole Constitution in jeopardy.

Wanting the parish to know that their pastor is also taking this seriously I yearned to make a statement right away. I went over to the church and said a prayer before the painting of Saint Sebastian. Tonight (around 7PM) before my next appointment, I copied and blew up the pertinent parts of the bishop’s letter, “We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law . . .” put it on parish letter head and stuck it to all the doors of the church.  I call the bishop and leave a message that the letter is great.

This comes to mind tonight: The Chicago Archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, remarked, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

SATURDAY I woke up this morning with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. The excitement is that there is something happening that could galvanize us as a Church. There is a cause for which we can all unite. The nervousness was about what could be in store for us if

this remains the law of the land.

Fr. Pfeiffer came home late from his retreat last night and the morning was the first opportunity to talk. How seriously do we need to take this? We don’t want to be reactionary but neither do we want to think that missed the opportunity to help bring strike down this unjust law.

It is time for the homily at the 4:30 Mass. I point to our patron Saint Sebastian and remark, “Last week we talked about how our patron stood up to a corrupt government and remarked that we should be ready to face such opposition if we encounter it. That day has come!” Then I read the letter sent to us from our bishop. “We cannot – we will not” conform to this unjust law. At the end of the letter the organ stuck up “Faith of Our Fathers” and we sang.

Faith of our Fathers living still
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.
O how our hearts be high with joy
When ere we hear that glorious Word
Faith of our Fathers
Holy Faith!
We will be true to thee to death!

A Man for All Seasons (St. Thomas More)  52 seconds.  Watch it!

SUNDAY I wake up and go downstairs to read the letters to the editor of the Plain Dealer. (There is nothing in the Beacon Journal) They basically told the Catholic Church that it needs to buck up and get over it. Nobody sees that this is a blatant attack on the Constitution of the United States. They do not see that once part of the Constitution can be ignored it all can be. They feel safe because

they don’t mind this action, but what about when it recoils on them? Why is this not emblazoned on the front page of my newspapers? Have they fallen so far?

The letter was read again at the 9AM, 11AM, 1PM, and at the 5PM Mass the people clapped. One man from out of state said, “I realize that you were only reading your bishop’s words, but that was one of themost stirring homilies I have ever heard! I am taking this letter to my bishop!”

I read that in one diocese they have instituted praying the St. Michael Prayer. I write my representatives in congress. At the Chesterton we are reading book two of Napoleon of Notting Hill. The topic turns to this legislation for a while.

MONDAY I take Sebastian for a walk. We come across a man with a dog who is a regular playmate of Sebastian. He asked me how things are going and I tell him about this legislation. He states that he is for, at least in part, all the things that are included in that package. “It is about pooling money.” I state that it has little to do with any of those things. This is a blatant attack on the Constitution of the United States! Everyone no matter what they believe on reproductive rights should be screaming angry! That the conversation kept turning to contraception, abortion, and sterilization was unnerving. In this case these are all moot topics.

The point is, if you remain silent while this is done to the Catholic Church, then don’t be angry, surprised, or resentful when the government comes into your religion and passes laws and imposing

penalties forcing you to act against your core beliefs. That is what this is about.

I stand in awe that this is happening and happening so easily. We wonder how such things happened in other countries throughout history?

Like this.