Posted on 03/22/2009 4:01:27 AM PDT by GonzoII
.- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput delivered a speech on Saturday reflecting on the significance of the November 2008 election. Warning that media narratives should not obscure truth, he blamed the indifference and complacency of many U.S. Catholics for the countrys failures on abortion, poverty and immigration issues.
He also advised Catholics to master the language of popular culture and to refuse to be afraid, saying fear is the disease of our age.
The archbishops comments were delivered in his keynote address at the Hands-On Conference Celebrating the Year of St. Paul, which was hosted at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
Having been asked to examine what November 2008 and its aftermath can teach Catholics about American culture, the state of American Catholicism and the kind of Pauline discipleship necessary today, Archbishop Chaput said:
November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected. Or to put it more discreetly, the November elections confirmed a trend, rather than created a new moment, in American culture.
Noting that there was no question about President Barack Obamas views on abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research and other problematic issues, he commented:
Some Catholics in both political parties are deeply troubled by these issues. But too many Catholics just dont really care. Thats the truth of it. If they cared, our political environment would be different. If 65 million Catholics really cared about their faith and cared about what it teaches, neither political party could ignore what we believe about justice for the poor, or the homeless, or immigrants, or the unborn child. If 65 million American Catholics really understood their faith, we wouldnt need to waste each others time arguing about whether the legalized killing of an unborn child is somehow balanced out or excused by three other good social policies.
Offering a sober evaluation of the state of American Catholicism, he added:
We need to stop over-counting our numbers, our influence, our institutions and our resources, because theyre not real. We cant talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what weve allowed ourselves to become. We need to stop lying to each other, to ourselves and to God by claiming to personally oppose some homicidal evil -- but then allowing it to be legal at the same time.
Commenting on societys attitude towards Catholic beliefs, Archbishop Chaput said, we have to make ourselves stupid to believe some of the things American Catholics are now expected to accept.
Theres nothing more empty-headed in a pluralist democracy than telling citizens to keep quiet about their beliefs. A healthy democracy requires exactly the opposite.
Noting the 2008 presidential campaigns revealing focus upon the candidates narratives, he said the campaign seemed not to involve facts, but rather story-telling.
Of course, theres nothing intrinsically wrong with story-telling -- unless the press and other news media themselves become part of the story-telling syndicate; in other words, peddlers of narratives in which facts are not told because theyre true, but rather become true because theyre told by those who have the power to create an absorbing narrative, the archbishop explained.
In such a state, he warned, real power does not rest with the people but with those who shape the structure of our information. He linked this situation with Pope Benedicts critique of the dictatorship of relativism.
The archbishop also connected this relativistic spirit to St. Pauls appearance at the Aeropagus, recounted in the Book of Acts. At the Areopagus, a prestigious place of debate for Greek philosophers, Nearly anything was tolerated, so long as no one claimed to have an exclusive and binding claim on the truth, the archbishop explained.
He then quoted Acts 17s description of the Areopagite mindset: All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Its worth paying attention to that description. Theres no mention of truth, he commented, noting that when St. Paul preaches the truth hes mocked and despised and his preaching is a failure, at least in the short term.
Pauls failure at the Areopagus is a good lesson for the times we face now in America, the archbishop said. When Catholics start leading their daily lives without a hunger for something higher than their own ambitions or appetites, or with the idea that they can create their own truth and then baptize it with an appeal to personal conscience, they become, in practice, agnostics in their personal lives, and Sophists in their public lives. In fact, people who openly reject God or dismiss Christianity as obsolete are sometimes far more honest and far less discouraging than Catholics who claim to be faithful to the Church but directly reject her guidance by their words and actions.
Noting that Paul mastered the language of the popular urban culture of his time and used every technical resource, tool and environment at his disposal, Archbishop Chaput extensively quoted Pope John Paul IIs 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio, which also discussed St. Paul at the Areopagus.
If Paul felt so fiercely compelled to preach the Gospel -- whether timely [or] untimely -- to a pagan world, then how should we feel today, preaching the Gospel to an apostate world? he asked, answering that the love of Christ must impel Catholics forward.
Catholics in America, at least the many good Catholics who yearn to live their faith honestly and deeply, can easily feel tempted to hopelessness, he concluded. It becomes very burdensome to watch so many persons who call themselves Catholic compromise their faith and submit their hearts and consciences to the Caesars of our day.
But Archbishop Chaput closed by encouraging Christians to remember the words of Jesus:
In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Thanks for posting this, G. Every so often, when I begin to believe that it might be a good thing if the Latin Church were to reunite with Orthodoxy and that I might live to see it, I read an article like this one with the inevitable “EXCOMMUNICATE THEM” responses, an article which says so much about Latin theology and ecclesiology, and am reminded why the Orthodox laity, monastics, most hierarchs and the lower clergy want little or nothing to do with formal reunion.
I believe most of those have gone.
My pleasure.....I think.. ;0)
Excellent
Sad but excellent
bump
Our nation is so far gone with abortion and gay rights, will God lift His hand of Grace away from America???? I think He is....
Therein lies a portion of the problem.
Please note: This is not intended to bash Catholics in anyway.
“We do know that those oppose the teachings of the church publicly have excommunicated themselves from the church already.”
Catholics on FR know. But the vast majority of US Catholics don’t know. Why would they? That’s the problem.
Freegards
in due time.....this is a new era for Catholics, with our new Pope...now is the time for correction and, hopefully, repentance for those souls....most likely you can expect teddy to die before they get to him...do not be fooled by the northeast liberal priests when they give him a church mass and burial.....it is still the Lord himself who judges, despite us here on earth. start praying for their souls, they need your prayers now more than ever.
I think most Catholics, at least those in my city, Pittsburgh, are sons and daughters of folks who grew up thinking that “Democrats are for the poor people, Republicans are for the rich people.”
There used to be a Monsignor Rice who exemplified this kind of thinking. He even praised Clinton. He wrote a weekly column in “The Pittsburgh Catholic,” often praising Dems and slamming Repubs.
The Church has never addressed how Democrats are anti-life, yes, even anti-poor.
Who in Chaput’s Archdiocese are you alluding to?
Something is happening. Our sermon this morning was a no-holds barred, knock-down politically incorrect, come to Jesus moment about our Catholic politicians and laity who back everything evil in the form of immorality and especially abortion, infanticide, and the destruction of embryonic humans for experiements.
“I think most Catholics, at least those in my city, Pittsburgh, are sons and daughters of folks who grew up thinking that Democrats are for the poor people, Republicans are for the rich people.
True. Where I grew up, up Northeast, Catholics were not allowed to join the country clubs or other organizations that were run by Protestants who by and large were Republican. That was a long time ago and the attitude that the democrats are for the poor and helpless has to be overturned.
The democrats are for themselves, for power, and for greed. The days of “No Catholics, Jews, or Blacks” is over.
Archbishop Chaput eventually stopped employing Fr. Bob Whipkey, the internationally famous naked jogging priest. Note that I said "eventually".
Go ahead. Send him a list of people in his diocese who need to be excommunicated. You could post it here, too, so othr FReepers (including myself) can join in the campaign.
Archbishop George Niederauer
Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 614-5500
Re Kennedy, contact:
Sean Cardinal O'Malley
Archbishop of Boston
66 Brooks Drive
Braintree, MA 02184
Telephone: 617-254-0100
Go on ahead. Tell these bishops their duty. Post your letter and I'll copy, sign, and send them, too.
To protest (and surely, to prevent) this travesty, go HERE.
. We're already on the march. Our excellent ally, the Cardinal Newman Society, has already launched a well-organized campaign to stop this rubbish from ever happening. HERE ARE YOUR MARCHING ORDERS. Get on task, my friends.
Yes, a sickening, stomach-churning scandal: too many, way too many bishops gave the predatory pervs a couple months at the Therapy Spa, and then a pat on the head and a hush-up reassignment; but it wasn't all the bishops. All the Apostles weren't Judas.
Striving to be accurate even when angry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.