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PDF versionA gut check for American Catholicism
by John L Allen Jr on Jul. 17, 2009
Also: A good run for Vatican PR, Obama's Catholic roots and the 'economy of communion'
A broken wrist notwithstanding, Pope Benedict XVI is relaxing in Valle d’Aosta in northern Italy from July 13 to July 29, winding down after the exertions not only of the past year, but just the week before his vacation began. In fact, when the definitive history of Benedict XVI’s papacy is written, the first week of July 2009 might well deserve a chapter all by itself.
Twice in that short span, Benedict propelled himself into the thick of global debate by offering his slant on two of the hottest topics on the planet today: the economic crisis and Barack Obama.
Both the pontiff's long-awaited social encyclical Caritas in Veritate, and his July 10 tête-à-tête with the American president, generated an avalanche of comment and analysis. (My own coverage can be found in both the on-line and print editions of NCR). Rather than rehash the details here, I'm going to try to answer just one question: Did we see or hear anything that poses a direct challenge to the American Catholic church?
I think the answer is "yes," and the fact that it hasn't quite registered yet tells us something important about where things stand.
* * *
During the July 7 Vatican press conference to present Caritas in Veritate, it fell to Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi of Trieste, Italy, former secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to say whether the document contained anything new. In truth, there wasn't much. Most of its economic and political analysis recapitulated points already made many times in social encyclicals, beginning with Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum in 1891.
(The astonishment unleashed by Benedict's rejection of laissez faire capitalism, or his call for a "true world political authority," thus goes to show that Catholic social teaching may indeed be the church's "best-kept secret." Nobody familiar with it should have been surprised.)
Crepaldi did point to one original aspect of Caritas in Veritate: Benedict's insistence on holding anthropology and sociology together -- or, to put it differently, his insistence on treating the pro-life message of the Catholic church and its peace-and-justice concerns as a package deal. This is the first papal social encyclical to so thoroughly blend economic justice with the defense of human life from conception to natural death.
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"These indications of Caritas in Veritate don't have value merely as exhortations," Crepaldi said. "They invite a new way of thinking, and a new praxis, that takes account of the systematic interconnections between the anthropological themes linked to life and human dignity, and the economic, social and cultural themes linked to development."
Benedict XVI's handling of his predecessor, Pope Paul VI, reinforced the point.
Impressions of Paul VI have long been "exhibit A" for the phenomenon of cafeteria Catholicism. Conservatives tend to hail Pope Paul's birth control encyclical, Humanae Vitae, as an act of courage in the teeth of tremendous pressure, but regard his other social teaching -- especially the 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio -- as an embarrassing concession to the radical political currents of the late 1960s. For liberals, it's precisely the opposite. Populorum Progressio stands as a high-water mark of progressive papal thought, but Humanae Vitae looms as a critical failure of nerve by the "Hamlet pope."
In Caritas in Veritate, Benedict not only defends both encyclicals, but argues that one can't be understood without the other. He hails Populorum Progressio as "the Rerum Novarum of the present age," and says that reading it in tandem with Humanae Vitae underscores "the strong links between life ethics and social ethics."
Of course, the idea that defending unborn life and defending the poor go together is not terribly revolutionary at the level of principle. It's been repeated so often in official Catholic literature that there are probably T-shirts someplace emblazoned with that mantra.
Statements of principle, however, often fail to account for the gap between what we say and what we do. In that sense, Caritas in Veritate amounts to a direct challenge to the sociology of American Catholicism.
Both at the grass roots and among the chattering classes, the American church is often described as split between its pro-lifers and its peace-and-justice contingent. More accurately, it's divided between those who see Catholic teaching as a useful tool to support their partisan preferences, whatever they may be, and those for whom the faith comes first and secular politics second.
Put differently, the real "losers" from Caritas in Veritate are Catholics who operate as chaplains to political parties, cheerleaders for political candidates, and spin doctors for either the Bush or Obama administrations, cherry-picking among church teachings to support those positions. Needless to say, the American Catholic landscape is dotted with prominent examples of all the above.
Recent years have seen some noble attempts to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. When the U.S. bishops produced their most recent version of "Faithful Citizenship," a statement on faith and politics, they styled it as a joint project of their pro-life and peace-and-justice committees. At the time, it seemed a tribute to a unified Catholic vision, though some of that synthesis seemed to unravel under the pressures of the '08 campaign. A second example is the annual Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, again under the aegis of the U.S. bishops, which has become a laboratory for a consistent life ethic. It's sponsored by both the conference's pro-life and social mission structures.
Yet such efforts remain rare. Under the lure of partisan politics, pro-life and peace-and-justice Catholics in America too often move in separate circles. They read their own journals and Web sites, go to their own meetings, and have their own heroes. Pro-lifers tend to be drawn into the Republican orbit, while peace-and-justice types are usually more comfortable with the Democrats. As a result, they travel down separate paths, having separate conversations and investing their time and treasure in distinct, and sometimes even opposing, efforts.
In turn, those patterns reflect deep currents in American sociology, which work against any effort to transcend divisions. Journalist Bill Bishop calls the accelerating tendency of Americans during the past 30 years to retreat into like-minded tribes, both physically and virtually, "the Big Sort," and says the results are obvious: "Balkanized communities whose inhabitants find other Americans to be culturally incomprehensible; a growing intolerance for political differences that has made national consensus impossible; and politics so polarized that Congress is stymied and elections are no longer just contests over policies, but bitter choices over ways of life."
(As a footnote, if I had the authority to decree a reading assignment for every Catholic in America, it would be Bishop's 2008 book The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. His observations about broad trends in American society can be applied almost point-for-point to the internal life of the church.)
Thus the question implicitly posed by Benedict's encyclical: Can the church in this country develop a new way of "breathing with both lungs," bringing its pro-life and peace-and-justice energies into greater alignment? Or are we fated to continue the present pattern of "Big Sort Catholicism"?
Can American Catholics evangelize the country's politics, or are we content to be evangelized by it?
That, in any event, seems to be the gut-check posed by Caritas in Veritate.
* * *
To say the least, the first half of 2009 was not exactly a banner period for the Vatican's communications operation. In the spirit of giving credit where it's due, however, it's only fair to point out that the Vatican lately has been on a PR roll.
The turnaround began with Pope Benedict's surprise announcement on June 28 that carbon-14 testing supports the tradition that the remains under the main altar of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls are indeed those of St. Paul. (To be precise, tests show that micro-fragments of material extracted from the sarcophagus in the basilica date to the first or second century; as a Vatican scientist put it, that result "doesn't make certain, but also doesn't exclude," that the remains are those of Paul.)
As the story unfolded, it became clear that the Vatican had been aware of these results for more than a year, but Benedict XVI wanted to save the announcement until the end of the "Pauline Year" he opened last June. The fact that the news didn't leak out, stealing Benedict's thunder, has to be rated as a minor PR miracle. In the end, the pope got the round of headlines he wanted, extending the buzz around Paul beyond the formal close of the year marking the 2,000th anniversary of his birth.
Next came the remarkably well-timed release of Caritas in Veritate. Benedict originally intended to publish the text in 2007, in order to mark the 40th anniversary of Populorum Progressio, but slowed things down in order to reflect on the global economic crisis. In theory, therefore, the encyclical could have appeared pretty much anytime.
By waiting until the eve of a much-anticipated G8 summit in Italy -- a summit called precisely to ponder reforms in the architecture of the global economy -- the Vatican got maximum bang for the buck. In part, that's because throngs of journalists in Italy, looking for a curtain-raiser story before the summit opened, seized upon the encyclical like manna from Heaven.
Naturally, the fact that the encyclical came out just three days before the meeting with Obama didn't hurt its news value either.
Then came the Obama meeting, and once again the communications dimension was handled artfully. On one small point, Benedict's symbolic touch even seemed to trump that of the always communications-savvy Obama.
An exchange of gifts is part of the ritual when popes meet heads of state, and in the carefully parsed language of international diplomacy, these choices can sometimes be meaningful. Obama presented Benedict with a stole that had been draped around the body of St. John Neumann, a 19th century missionary and bishop in Philadelphia. Neumann was the first American bishop to be named a saint, making Obama's gift a bit ironic in light of the mixed reviews he's drawn from some of today's American bishops.
That choice might have raised more eyebrows if it hadn't been so clearly overshadowed by what Obama got in return. Earlier in the week, Benedict XVI had been handing out autographed copies of Caritas in Veritate to visiting dignitaries. For Obama, however, Benedict pointedly added a copy of another Vatican document -- Dignitas Personae, a treatise on bioethics, the opening sentence of which reads: "The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death."
More basically, by placing the life issues front and center, Benedict avoided any impression of undercutting the American bishops. By repeatedly praising Obama's openness, and putting a positive spin on his pledge to try to bring down the abortion rate, the Vatican still got credit for graciousness.
The Vatican also benefitted from the fact that the White House media operation had to depart the field, since Obama left Rome immediately for Ghana. As a result, the only public comment came from the Vatican side, with the papal spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, making himself available for a live briefing with reporters shortly after the meeting. That's not normal practice after the pope encounters a head of state, when the press is typically dependent upon a brief and anodyne written statement.
That meant the Vatican was in an unchallenged position to shape the story, and Lombardi seemed to have a clear strategy: No playing down the life issues, but styling Obama as a conversation partner rather than a cultural enemy. The result was more or less exactly the coverage that a communications consultant for the Holy See would have wanted.
To be sure, none of this necessarily means a new era of media savvy has dawned.
After Benedict's announcement about St. Paul, for example, it took almost a full week to arrange a briefing with the scientists who did the tests, spawning a predictable cycle of speculation and conspiracy theories in the interim. With Caritas in Veritate, an overflow crowd of reporters at the press conference was treated to two hours of listening to lengthy prepared statements, all in Italian, followed by a brief and largely unenlightening period of Q&A. During those rare occasions when the Vatican has the attention of the world's media -- on its own terms, and in a moment of its own choosing -- that's probably not the best way to exploit the opportunity.
Nonetheless, the last two weeks offered much to build upon in terms of envisioning a communications strategy better able to ensure that what the pope pitches is also what the world catches.
* * *
While there are many ways to frame the July 10 meeting between Obama and Pope Benedict XVI, here's one that may not have occurred to many people other than the president himself: A former employee of the Catholic church dropping in on his old boss.
Obama's roots as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago are the stuff of legend, but what's less well known is that much of this work was performed on the payroll of the Catholic church. The story is fleshed out in the booklet "The Catholic Case for Obama," written during the 2008 campaign by Patrick Whelan, founder of the group Catholic Democrats.
Whelan was in Rome both for the release of Caritas in Veritate and for the session between pope and president, meeting with Vatican personnel and reporters.
As Whelan tells it, the young Obama was hired by a community development project launched by a consortium of eight Catholic parishes in Chicago, and funded by the U.S. bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Obama worked out of an office in the rectory of Holy Rosary church. Though it takes some connecting of the dots to get there, one could therefore loosely say that Obama's ultimate employer during this time was the pope. (Back in the mid-1980s that was John Paul II, not Benedict XVI, but why let details get in the way of a good story?)
More proximately, of course, Obama's Catholic point of reference wasn't the pope so much as the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Thus when Obama talks about his admiration for Bernardin, he's not speaking simply as a Chicago politician, but as someone who actually drew a pay-check because of the cardinal's social vision.
If Obama's savvy about church affairs sometimes seems surprising for a non-Catholic, this experience may help explain things. It also may help explain why Obama's Catholic critics worry, in the language of George Weigel, that the president may end up challenging the country's bishops for control over the Catholic "brand." Obama may not be Catholic, but he certainly knows the kind of Catholic he likes.
* * *
One final bit of insider Catholic baseball from Caritas in Veritate.
I referred above to "losers" from the encyclical, but among the winners, a clear example would be Focolare, one of the new lay movements in Catholicism created during the 20th century. Focolare's "economy of communion" project, which claims to link roughly 750 firms worldwide in a more humanistic way of doing business, is the lone initiative singled out for praise by Pope Benedict XVI in the document.
(Oddly enough, Benedict XVI cites the "economy of communion" but doesn't explicitly mention Focolare, making the question of whether a reader automatically caught the reference perhaps the best recent test in papal literature of true "Catholic insider" status.)
The pope hailed the economy of communion as a promising form of intermediate activity between for-profit business and non-profit institutions, rupturing what he called an "exclusively binary model of market-plus-state" which is "corrosive of society."
Commonly reckoned to be among the largest and most influential of the new movements, Focolare was founded in 1943 by Italian Catholic laywoman Chiara Lubich, who died in 2008, to promote the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood. Today Focolare claims to be represented in 182 nations, reaching millions of people.
During a 1991 trip to Brazil, Lubich challenged Focolare members to launch businesses that could create jobs and opportunities for the impoverished city of Araceli. Various firms resulted, including a plastics manufacturing business, a clothing company, and a pig farm.
Building on that impulse, the Focolare movement developed what they describe as a new approach to business activity. Profits from "economy of communion" firms are pooled to fund development programs, charitable activities, and programs of formation and education in disadvantaged areas.
Today Focolare claims some 750 business around the world as part of the network, including 36 in North America. According to Focolare materials, the firms range from cottage industries to multi-million dollar enterprises.
Information on the "economy of communion" can be found here: http://www.focolare.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id...
John, This article is a great
John, This article is a great and journalism of this high quality it is what always brings me back to NCR! Thank you!
Let's hope that the rabid,
Let's hope that the rabid, fundementalist prolife fanatics can see that the peace and justice issues are most important to those who have already been born. There is life beyond the womb and that life must be nurtured and protected.
This certainly isn't a
This certainly isn't a helpful reply. Demonstrates perfectly what John Allen was talking about.
John, your analysis in this
John, your analysis in this column is masterful even by your already very high standards. I am afraid that American Catholicism will not do the gut check you describe. American Catholics, especially the loud ones, have invested so much in their own version of Catholicism they never hear anything they do not want to hear. A perfect example is George Weigel's analysis of Caritas in Veritate. He went through and highlighted the socially conservative parts with a gold highlighter and the social justice parts with a red marker. He embraced the gold parts as the voice of Benedict XVI and the red parts as the work of a sinister left-wing cabal at the Vatican. He clearly rejects social justice as un-Catholic.
American progressive Catholics will continue to read NCR, watch Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman on MSNBC and listen to Air America. Right-wing Catholics will continue to read Our Sunday Visitor, watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on FOX "News" and listen to Relevant Radio.
It is quite ironic that Barack Obama, a non-Catholic, has such an eloquent Catholic voice when his own predecessor as Democratic nominee John Kerry, a Catholic, could not find a Catholic voice. I am sure one of the reasons Republican Catholic bishops despise Obama is that he can discuss Catholic issues in a much more intelligent manner than they can. In addition to political differences, there is also rhetorical and oratorical jealousy.
Steve
As I was reading through the
As I was reading through the comments following John's article, I was struck in this comment by the number of Catholics in the media who are mentioned. Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are very up front about their Catholicism. I was wondering if Keith Olberman might also be Catholic, though I don't know and have not heard him speak of his faith tradition.
True, True Steve
True, True Steve
John Allen always stokes my
John Allen always stokes my optimism. My point being, John Allen gets a wide reading among American bishops, and his articulation of what element makes this encyclical different from Benedict's predecessors' is helpful to the bishops as well as you or me in creating a constructive centrist position. So I am more optimistic about America taking a gut check. Example, Fort Worth's fairly cautious, conservative Bishop Kevin Vann quoted John Allen in his first diocesan encyclical (No One is a Stranger in Christ, 2007)in a section deploring attack polemics as contributing to a dysfunctional Church rather than to the ideal of "Communio." The bishops are not unintelligent, to quote an elderly lady in a local reform group; Allen's respected analysis serves to change the tone of the rhetoric and to build Church.
Try not to predict from the
Try not to predict from the edges Steve. Neither MSNBC or Fox capture the attention of serious, thoughtful Catholics in this country. For myself, I'll continue to read America Magazine, watch PBS and listen to NPR. In between I'll read the Journal and my local paper.
Try not to predict from the
Try not to predict from the edges Steve. Neither MSNBC or Fox capture the attention of serious, thoughtful Catholics in this country. For myself, I'll continue to read America Magazine, watch PBS and listen to NPR. In between I'll read the Journal and my local paper.
Pro-life Catholics are
Pro-life Catholics are looking more at Obama's actions and not so much at his rhetoric. His words may sound Catholic, but his policies are not; that's the problem. That fact that his speech writers put in quotes from the sermon on mount is nice, but it does not give him a free pass. There are irreconcilable differences between the Catholic position on the dignity of human life and the Obama policies. Even he admitted this at Notre Dame.
Overall, good article by John Allen. We really do need more discussion in this country among people of all groups. That's why we need to get rid of all popular notions of political correctness which prohibit any honest debate.
Great column. Nevertheless,
Great column. Nevertheless, casting Pope Benedict and President Obama in a "one-up" context, as he appears to me, really plays into the hands of the very scenario of division which Allen cited as deliterious.
To say that Benedict trumped Obama with his gifts and post meeting pr is as valid as the primacy of the "Big Sort" characterization in describing contntemporary catholicism in the US. It makes catchy reading, is a useful conceptual schema to understand what "has happened" and could be the basis for understanding what "is happening". As a non-USA'er, my observation may be questionable, but as an outsider it just might represent a contribution of objectivity.
First of all, it seems that the campaign and election of Obams, as it reflects the church is that extreme politicization (Democrat/Republican) seems to follow extreme religiosity, within the catholic church and, I might conjur among religious denominations generally is at once becoming more radicalized (fundamentalist) as it is becoming less influential and smaller.
The corallory, I suggest, is that the coterie of the middle, the moderate, the less judgemental, the more inclusive, the more educated (in the sense of being aware of and willing to apply their own intelligence and awareness)is growing. That, for me is good news. The even better news, is that Pope Benedict seemed to reinforce this reality by behaving like a real savvy, nice Christian who did not compromise his firm belief, in private or public yet acknowledged goodness, intelligence and good will in the powerful human before him and the world.
Whether prevented by schedule or equivalent savvy, Obama let it ride, gave Benedict his due and went off to Africa to note obliquely later the church that sat over the dungeons, the slave pens and to reflect on the distinction between words and mission with actions. The radical fundamentalist in each camp might meditate on how Benedict and Obama treated each other.
People of good will and love of truth will see the truth within the other no less than the differences and in the exploration and sharing of each, all become the better and God smiles. Christ's utterance that when two or more are gathered in my name He is with them, I believe was offered not only for Himself but for the trinity: which is the good, the true, the beautiful, the one. The spirit is working, not in spite of men but within the good will of men.
Perhaps "the idea that
Perhaps "the idea that defending the unborn and defending the poor go together is not terribly revolutionary at the level of principle", but it can and should be "revolutionary" at the level of PRACTICE. It can be argued that an absolute "right to life" as a premise leads logically to an embrace of some form of socialism as a conclusion as it would lead to an absolute right to adequate food, clothing, housing, health care, and education (insofar as human beings, according to Aquinas following Aristotle, are essentially "rational animals").
Perhaps "social justice Catholics" ought to openly embrace the "absolute right to life" position, and then challenge the single issue anti-abortion "Republicatholics" to put their money where their mouths are.
I wonder, Mr. Allen, if
I wonder, Mr. Allen, if another "winner," albeit a posthumous one, from Caritas in Veritatem might be the late, great Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, who was an articulate and passionate advocate for the "seamless garment" approach to life issues. The Cardinal's vision of a "consistent ethic of life" has been dismissed (and, in some cases, damned) by many of my sisters and brothers on the Catholic right. How reassuring it is that the Pope has so eloquently argued for the wisdom of the unified approach in his most recent encyclical. Reflecting, I think, our domestic political polarization, it's easy to cast Cardinal Bernardin as the steadfast liberal and the then-Cardinal Ratzinger as the adamantine conservative. What brings me up short is the realization that if cancer had not taken Cardinal Bernardin so prematurely nearly thirteen years ago when he was only 68, he and Pope Benedict would only be a year apart in age today! Also, whatever his reputation might have been (or might still be) in some circles of the American Catholic Church, Cardinal Bernardin enjoyed the trust and respect of the Vatican until his untimely death.
John, you apologize here for
John, you apologize here for your cuteness (in writing that Pres. Obama once "worked for the pope"). But not really. 'Twas Cardinal Bernardin, you say, who worked the pope and Obama who worked for Bernardin.
In my ecclesiology, bishops do not "work for the pope." Many of them act, no doubt, as if they did. But their thinking reflects a pre-Vatican II mindset (which I hope is not yours). After the Council, the best bishops we have "work for their people." This in the spirit of Luke 22:26.
Kaiser
Actually some of the more
Actually some of the more prominent flame throwers nowadays seem to work for themselves under the direct sponsorship of the Republican Party.
John Allen's analysis is a
John Allen's analysis is a good one on the whole and certainly an appropriate if not original call to Catholics on both "sides" to come to see that "justice" and "the right to life" are not separable causes. I demur only in one small but significant respect. Evidently, justice is an absolute. We can never say, I think, that injustice is sometimes the difficult choice in a situation of conflict. Especially not if we identify justice with caritas rather than simply "rights." But I am not sure the right to life works in quite the same way, not even sure that we oughtn't to prefer a term like "care for life" over "the right to life," because we certainly--as a tradition--do not hold that the right to life is absolute. We legitimate killing in war-time, as self-defense and even in the minds of at least some bishops and many Catholics, as punishment for premeditated murder. Indeed, if we have to discriminate on these issues, and perhaps even on abortion, prudence dictates seeking out what course of action is called for by the absolute demand of justice, understood as caritas rather than rights. This is not a pro-choice argument, though I think most if not all people would recognize some extreme situations in which abortion might be the lesser of two evils and, if they can imagine such a situation, they would probably be thinking of caritas, in all its messiness and sometimes pain and suffering, rather than "rights." So, I would contend, the dialogue that John Allen rightly calls for here in America is best conducted on the assumption that even if we disagree vehemently with the other person and think s/he is plain wrong, there is still something to talk about (which seems to be what the Vatican thinks is the case when dealing with President Obama). The pope seems to recognize that beyond pro-choice and pro-life positions there is a deeper agreement that might be possible, based on caritas in veritate, of course. And the pope's approach on this score is definitely a model for American Catholics in general and American bishops in particular.
Cashelguy2 states: "American
Cashelguy2 states: "American progressive Catholics will continue to read NCR, watch Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman on MSNBC and listen to Air America. Right-wing Catholics will continue to read Our Sunday Visitor, watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on FOX "News" and listen to Relevant Radio."
Where does that leave the silent majority? I am a very progressive Catholic but am conservative in my politics. Maybe you describe the 15% of "orthodox Catholics and 15% of "liberal Catholics", both groups entrenched in their ideology, but that doesn't describe the remaining 70% in the middle, the "moderate Catholics". We are prolife but support the death penalty for those who truly deserve it. We believe in assisting the poor but through moderate capitalism. We read All Things Catholic and Essays in Theology but skip The Peace Pulpit and On the Road to Peace columns in NCR. If you don't believe me look at the number of comments in each column. I find "moderate Catholics" to be most reasonable in their approach to hot issues facing us today.
Dear Dr. Dale, Social Justice
Dear Dr. Dale, Social Justice are two words which have different meanings to most of us. Looking at business, how can anyone accept the Chairman at Exxon-Mobil a few years ago receiving a retirement package of Four Hundred Fifty Eight Million Dollars?? Look at how that package footballs-how much better use could that money be given way into the future! One could cite thousands of such instances in the past decade. When Jesus Christ walked the earth He commanded us to "Love One Another". Of course all in the world are not Christian however I am certain that there are many who feel that super gifts as noted above are wrong as these affect the Social Fabric of a country as they occur! You are right in the fact that most Catholics are in the middle seventy percent and lean towards moderation. Too bad the Stockholders and the Board of Directors at Exxon-Mobil didn't feel the same when this retirement package was awarded!!
Wow, well, I read this
Wow, well, I read this article and the comments over and over again, because then you really understand it and, in this case, all the comments were so good.
John Allen always makes you understand everything, but the comments, like sitting quietly at the end of the table listening to some pretty smart interesting views. This was a good day.
I think Knights of Columbus
I think Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson's comments to the effect of, do not read Caritas in Veritate to affirm parts of one's worldview, but rather read it to learn what parts of one's worldview need amending, as quite apropos. I share Allen's well articulated concern that too many will not do so.
Americanism -- the religion
Americanism -- the religion of "Non-Serviam!" -- has had a stronger hold on most American Catholics, over the last forty-five years, than Jesus and Mary's -- Serviam! Which is why the United States is awash in religiosity (good for business and politics) but spiritually is more like a bunch of dried twigs (fewer vocations).
Even as some praise John's
Even as some praise John's balance & insight, they are only hearing half of what he and the pope have to say. To be sure, George Wiegel has been very disappointing in his treatment of the new encyclical--if only he would try living in the midst of grinding poverty or hear refugees & their stories for even a few months before writing again about captalism in its present form. Sadly, however, the Christian left can be every bit as dense and entrenched in its own worldly logic as the Christian right. To be uncritically star-struck by Obama is every bit as enslaving as believing that the GOP is the party of God. Wake up, brothers & sisters! Who has divided you but the devil!
a REALITY CHECK for American
a REALITY CHECK for American Catholics:
If noty now, soon the majority of practicing Roman Catholics within the USA will speak a language OTE (Other Than English) and thus will have no idea what our abusive right-wing Republican ENglish-only bishops are saying, DEO GRATIAS! As it should be . . .
Let us give thanks and praise to Almighty God meanwhile that such a great Roman Catholic scholar as Dr. Miguel Diaz will be apporved this Wednesday 7/22, to travel to Rome as our Ambassador to the VAtican. Let us read in joy and in thanksgiving his excellent work on Rahnerian theology in the US Hispanic context entitled On Being Human, and let us all, everyone, including the English crowd, learn to Be Human for once and forever. Amen.
"Or die apart as fools . . . (MLK)"
"May we all get there together (St. Benedict)"
B16 links the anti-choice
B16 links the anti-choice positions and the social justice positions. He does it under the principle that we are called to care for our brothers and sisters for their entire life.
But claiming that the prohibition on contraception belongs in this continuum is the same old Vatican nonsense. Humanae Vitae was the point where the Church stopped thinking. Until the Vatican rescinds that muddle-headed doctrine, their standing to speak on the important issues of the day and their credibility will always be in question.
An outstanding piece of
An outstanding piece of writing, but . . .
The most salient characteristic of the new encylical goes unmentioned by the author. It is the statement that "without truth charity is mere sentiment." And of course the Truth lies in Jesus Christ and His gift of the Eucharist.
Has anyone noted that the sweeping and unequivocal binding of the two (charity and truth) by the Pope pretty much eliminates the validity of any claims so often put upon us by the "social justice" types inside and outside the Church that (plug in whatever the cause) is a stain on the body politic that requires immediate government expenditures?
Too often the social concerns so earnestly expressed are a masquerade for pimping public employee and private sector unions, the former having succeeded to date in achieving levels of pay and benefits unknown to average Americans and in the process bankrupting virtually every government entity from cities to counties to states. No truth here.
The second important aspect of the encyclical, which did catch the attention of the author, is the Pope's recognition of the critical importance of advances in anthropology. I gather his interest stems from his readings of Hans Urs von Balthasar (sp?). No matter, it is welcome.
I agree. John Allen is one
I agree.
John Allen is one of the few reasons I bother with NCR; in fact, the only reason. His analysis is invariably fair, balanced, grounded in fact and a deep knowledge of Church history... the very opposite of the partisan nastiness and shallowness typical of editor Joe Feuerherd.
If Feuerherd had his way, the NCR would be reduced to nothing more than a party organ of liberal Democrats and prolifers would be dismissed as nothing more than "fundamentalists" and "right wingers."
I've always felt that John Allen at the NCR was a lot like having Nat Hentoff at The Village Voice: How was such a calm voice of rationality smuggled in among the ranting lunatics?
Keep up the good work.
Exceptional analysis of the
Exceptional analysis of the challenges to Catholics to integrate the pro-life and social justice aspects of our belief in our political life. As someone who tries to be a faithful Catholic and who is a political junky, I have no comfortable home in either party. As a political animal, I must be content for the moment to accept that discomfort. As a Catholic, I am disturbed at how many look at Bush as a greater teacher than Agustine or who regard Obama's soundbites as more enlightening than Jesus's gospel. The situation is not improved by the tendency to equate the obligations of a society with the obligations of its government. What gets lost is the basic understanding that society is an essential good and government a necessary evil.
Of course we Catholics are
Of course we Catholics are very happy this meeting took place and went so well. However, it did not leave a good taste. We want everything to go well, we want our government involved in the good of all people.
What Benedict says Benedict means and what Benedict means Benedict says. This makes a person, me, feel good, even when it isn't what I kind of wanted to hear. This is sweet and comforting.
On the other hand, sugar coated lies are bitter when you realize what you have just swallowed and they give you pain, more so when you remember you voted for this man.
As usual, Allen is a great
As usual, Allen is a great reporter, though he's gotten pretty "romanized." He imagines that "Caritas in Veritate" provides a common ground for pre-rational conservative Catholics and post-rational post-modern Catholics. It is a pipedream but probably accurately reflects the views of the bureaucrats in Rome. Just shows why Church continues to decline all over the West. Rome hasn't a clue as to what is going on -- and neither does Allen.
Mr. Corde: Count me as
Mr. Corde:
Count me as "pre-rational," I guess.
As far as the two sides
As far as the two sides coming together ... uhhhh, I don't know. For the Dems to embrace a true anti-abortion policy would cost them votes. For Republicans to embrace social justice would cost them money. For each side, that's their path to power and nobody in this world (not even the Pope) gives away power. It's not like it's a new thing for the poor and the powerless to be caught in the middle when the rich and mighty clash - been going on forever. Sometimes the Church is part of the problem -sometimes just a silent bystander - never, as I can discern, part of any kind of solution. Rome is beginning to try to broker some kind of deal now. The American Church will have none of it. People would have to admit that the other side isn't 100% wrong - and what's the chance of that?
As a member of the
As a member of the Read-the-links Before Pontificating Club (RBP Club):
I appreciate John Allen's gathering of resources/expert opinions in this "American Catholic Gut Check" article.
Actually I could only speed through parts of the references, but hey...at least I'm digging. (Wish others would join me in these postings, so we could get more into the nitty-gritty of this stuff.)
**THE CATHOLIC CASE FOR OBAMA: I only had time for Obama's exact, specific comments on abortion; however, I liked and absolutely applauded what Obama had to say on page 23, and his surprising first sentence:
"Nobody is for abortion."
Works perfectly for me. I can just hear people groaning, that that sentence is some kind of overgeneralization; or some such thing as, "You cannot use extremes like 'nobody, everybody, all, or always' in good logical debate."
But no! That's the charm, and authenticity of Obama. He means most people of any decency--or brains--just do not want abortion as a general principle.
Also on page 23: his short, simple remarks, absolutely emphasizing NOT ENCOURAGING ABORTIONS are so easy and readable....
**CARITAS IN VERITATE....Which leading in from the above on easy readability, leads me to wonder: Why oh why do these encyclicals require a classroom study for us Catholic commoners to be positive we understand them?
Jesus knew how to be short and simple.
**Focolare: Good stuff on the link. Wow! I had forgotten that Focolare people are really into inter-religious dialogue. A MOST HELPFUL LINK FOR ME.
The "economy of communion" info is HUGE, because of the latest economic enigma we are enduring--at a time when we are searching for solid economic ideals, since it feels suspiciously like us peons just got bumped down and ripped off.
**THE BIG SORT: Could NCR do a Cliff's Notes type thing on this, and tell us more on this book? If not I will (dutifully) check with my library. My problem is needing more time. Since, like a lot of Catholic grass roots people right now, I absolutely don't have money to buy the book. I do promise to nag our pastor about getting it though, as a loaner. Luckily he is an avid reader.
**ANODYNE: Soothing, comforting; capable of relieving pain. I was so good, I looked it up. I was looking for an anodyne statement from the press as well, about what went on between the Pope and Obama.
I'm so grateful for this article (John Allen's) filling in so many gaps. For example, even the info on the gifts between the two important world leaders. It seemed like Obama's gift of a relic, was more of a gift, an offering. The Pope's gift of his signed writings, while being a rare collectors item of course, and the Pope's exact words preserved in writing, and his Papal commentary on 2009 world problems; still seemed in one way like a certificate given by the school principal, somehow not a friend-to-friend gift.
Because of time constraints I haven't yet read Caritas In Veritate. It must be available online by now. I have read (all or most of) the other three encyclicals: Rerum Novarum, Populorum Progressio, and Humanae Vitae (from a classroom study, of course)! I know the Popes start out in their own languages, and these documents are to be published in world-wide languages; still they seem so dang formal, long, and cold almost, compared to how Jesus spoke.
Best of all in this article was the information that we ardent Catholics need to know: what's really going on in "our Vatican" and practical things that cannot be ignored, like the discernment of how and when to be news savvy.
Good article, but easier said
Good article, but easier said than done. We would think that American Catholics would be more above politics, and be Catholics first. Unfortunately, most Americans are more faithful to their political parties than they are to their spouses. As some people say that they would rather die than fly, thus, most people in the U.S. would rather sink with their party, than swim towards a better humanity. A better humanity includes humaneness, starting from the bottom up, not vice versa. Many of our social problems are a result, not of broken brotherhood or sisterhood, but of the breakdown of families, which has slowly evolved, or degenerated rather, from the loosening of the wisdom of Humanae Vitae. Someone commented on this blog that the American bishops hate Obama. Statistics suggest that 55% of American Bishops voted for Obama, the pro-choice candidate and the choice candidate of the leaders of the American Catholics. All the well- organized "peace and justice" community organizations throughout our Catholic parishes, funded by millions of dollars from Campaign for Human Development, orchestrated a clear victory for a pro-abortion candidate. Politics is everywhere, even in letters from Heaven, as Henry Thoreau said. The scales have been heavily tilted, moneywise and resource-wise, in favor of the pro-abortion social activism within the church. In places like Texas and California, community organizations wooed Hispanics and first generation citizens to cast their votes for the "Party of the Poor." The pro-life cause played second fiddle. We reap what we sow. Unless there is genuine priority to recognize the humaneness and the inhumaneness within our culture, all social work is pure lip service. Rebecca
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