YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES TOO

Recently on the news someone pleaded with our newly elected president not to reverse the progress that has been made in our nation against global warming.  (Don’t worry, this is NOT a post about the president nor is it about global warming.)  In support of his position he said that it would be a moral failure not to do so.

Interesting position in our politically correct atmosphere and further points out that it is impossible to have a morally neutral position even in national politics.

In the name of tolerance, could we not say that if I don’t “believe in” global warming, (or if I am looking forward to it) then I should be able to live my life as I wish as long as I allow you to live life as one who believes in it?  Or could I say as a politician I personally believe in global warming but I don’t believe I can force my view on the world on others and so reject passing bills outlawing open trash burning?

“Of course not,” many would respond, “because this is something that effects all of us and science has proven it.”  And so there is a perceived moral imperative that overrides individual’s strong desires and beliefs.  

Or suppose I am all about being able to drown kittens if I have too many of them.  “They are mine and my property.”  The moral outrage would be great.  Laws would be enforced - cruelty to animals.  My idea (not really mine - but you get it) belief that animals are here to serve us and I should be able to do with them as I want is suppressed.

We make moral laws all of the time: This is right and protected.  This is wrong and punishable.  On many such topics, there CANNOT be a morally neutral position and moral positions are imposed or lifted by law all of the time.  

Often Catholics are harried into leaving their faith at home when it comes to involvement in politics as if it is an unfair thing to bring to the table or that it would be the same as forcing faith down someone’s throat.  This is unfair.  It instantly negates anything oppositional to popular culture which is making moral imperatives all of the time.  It forbids the idea that a topic of faith may actually offer a moral truth.  If this idea is fully realized it makes Christians in general and Catholics in particular second class citizens.  This epitomized Pope Emeritus Benedict’s comment that we are experiencing the tyranny of tolerance.  It is as inequitable as it is unAmerican.

ARE POLITICIANS ON THEIR OWN NOW?

A new crop of elected officials are now going to go to work.  You elected them.  Don't abandon them.  Please keep all of them in your prayers.  They are charged with working on your behalf (whether it always feels that way or not) and they deserve and need your prayers.  It is a rough job.  I woudn't want it. 

 

May the Holy Spirit guide you and let all that you do bring true glory to God and benefit to your brothers and sisters.

PUTTING YOURSELF OUT THERE

If you are looking to get married you don’t hide things about yourself in order to lure someone into marrying you.  One of two things might happen as a result: 1) You will be somewhat unhappy hiding something for the rest of your life or 2) Your spouse will be feel angry and betrayed when whatever it is you are concealing becomes exposed.

 

For some reason (and I occasionally fall for it myself) preachers do the same thing in trying to “keep the numbers up.”  Dicey and controversial topics are not brought up in homilies, prayer services, or classes because we might lose people.  So leading up to the last election much of the Catholic Church was caught with its pants down trying to proclaim a message but unfortunately for much of the Church it was too late: Catholics did not need to be reminded about what our faith says about many of these touchy topics, they needed introduced to a mindset that produces these beliefs.  A pamphlet or a homily one week before the election aint gonna cut it.

 

There is a gentleman who works at St. Sebastian who happens to not be Catholic.  One day he stopped me and presents me with a list of topics ranging from abortion to health care.  “When was the last time you preached on any of these topics?” he asked me for he was greatly saddened that he had not heard any of this talked about at all at his church ever.  “Our faith is supposed to help us understand these things.  If we don’t hear about them at church there are plenty of other people out there working hard to have us think the way they want us to think about them.”

 

Now I admit that I am intimidated to speak on some of these matters.  But they are what they are – they are who we are.  It is not matter of politics – it is Catholic 101.  That some of these topics happen to line up with hot button issues going on in politics is just happenstance.  And we must be honest about who we are for we are in covenant together and that means full disclosure as one would hope a future spouse would offer.

 

Just one last note: I know there is some amount of wiggle room in some of these topics.  I am just saying we must talk about them as Church.  Only then can someone make a clear, full, and free decision if they want to be part of (or leave) this intimate Communion of people.

BECAUSE I THINK IT TRUE

In a discussion about being pro-life, a Catholic asked me recently, with sincerity, whether we have the right to force our religion on other people when working for national policy. The question was asked with genuine concern. It is easy to lose nerve in this political climate and to think that we are trying to make the world Catholic.

Of course we have the right to do everything in our power to bring such ideas into law in our country. Don’t be cowed in the least in this regard. Are you not an American citizen? Do you not believe that what we teach we do not because it is Catholic but it is because we believe that it is the very best way that people and societies can live? That it would be healthiest for all? Of course. We do not want to make Mass attendance mandatory for everybody – but we want to stop what is destructive to the society in which we live and imbue our nation with all that is noble in mankind.

Those who would accuse Catholics of forcing their faith on others do so out of the mistaken idea that there is some sort of neutral or natural way of being. There is no such thing. Everybody worships at some altar whether it be in a sanctuary or at the altar of man or what have you. For some inane reason even Catholics are buying into the notion that being pro-life is a hard line Christian position. It is not. I would say that it is more pro-human that so called humanists.

Your position on such topics as life are just as valid as anyone’s in a democracy. They are not invalid because they also correspond to your beliefs.

SOLID MAHOGANY vs VENEER

To be a man or woman of faith means that belief in God has something to do with the kind of person that you are, not simply what you do. It is not an external activity like skiing or baking, it is part of your essence like being male or female. This in turn effects how you see the world and how you react to it.

For example, if a person understands faith as something he does rather than who he is, he might be more inclined to pick and choose from the things that Christians do rather than buy they whole enchilada and “go native” as it were. “Church” then becomes like joining the last gym at which I was a member. There was a basic membership. From there you could get extras such as entrance to the executive dressing rooms where there was a sauna and whirlpool. You could get towel service. You cold have appointments with a masseuse. But even if you did not do all of those things you were still a member of the club. You were in. You picked what you wanted and what you wanted to sacrifice for.

Such a person then might say, “I am Christian, but I do not believe that it should interfere with politics or the bedroom. I am an adult. I can decide what is good for me. I love this woman and having relations with her is my way of expressing my affection for her. Who is the Church to tell me to do otherwise?”

Now, if a person sees faith as something as intimately tied to who he is like being male, he is far less likely to be a cafeteria Catholic. Even if he have other predilections, opting out of being a man is not in the cards save through complicated and expensive illusion. The same should be said of the man or woman of faith. He would say, “I am Christian and that is the lens through which I see life and therefore effects even my politics and what I do behind closed doors. It is like being a gentleman. If I am pleasant in public but rude in private, I am not a gentleman but a rude person who has moments of acting like a gentleman. So if I love this woman, it is more important for me to say no to carnal relations even if I really want to have them because it will be more important for me to see the one I supposedly love get into heaven than it would be for me to demand this action of her for my benefit. We love each other more in saying, “No,” (even though it may not feel like it) than in giving in to what I want.

God and His commandments to love are the very air we breath and must influence every aspect of our lives or our faith is inane. As the devil said in the C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, “A moderate religion is as good as no religion at all – and much more amusing.”

Here is a poem that gets the same point across using being a gentleman as its theme:

THE GENTLEMAN:

To look at him
a person would see
a man with gentlemanly grace:
the finest of clothes
and goodness knows
a very distinguished face.

He’d sport with the men
and bow to the ladies
with an aristocratic air.
He’d mount a horse
and jump a course
yet never muss his hair.

Of worldly things
he’d quite a grasp
and could converse on every topic;
of Church, state, and sport
and news of all sort,
but would never, ever gossip.

But late at night
once out of sight
his own true nature arose:
He’d burp a lot
and scratch his butt
and pick buggers out of nose.

Too lazy to clean
he’d watch T.V. all day
and he often peed in his sink.
And week old Spam
in an open can
began to horribly stink.

Why does he lead
this two fold life
which to us appears so queer?
The role he would play
was for public display;
his gentlemanly way: A veneer!