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.
Ping.
Archbishop Chaput deserves the RED hat.
God Bless em!
Has he excommunicated any of our so-called Catholic politicians lately. Let the Church show some courage.
Bravo for this brave man!
The Church needs thousands more like him or thousands to follow him.
The Church in the US can start by excommunicating politicians who do not adhere to catechism.
This absolutely needs to be done and soon.
Chaput ROCKS!!!!
Catholic complacency is indeed responsible for most of today’s problems. And to think it took only 40 years of Vatican II to start getting close to the truth! Forty years of teaching do-what-you-want feel-good-ism and (at best) watered-down doctrine.
Thanks and thanks be to the grace of God.
Excommunicate Kennedy and Pelosi? Yes. Absolutely.
I am not a Catholic, but I admire how courageous bishops urge Catholic politicians to follow the teaching of their own church. Imagine that!
So many CINOs in Washington say that’s my personal belief that abortion is wrong but as a public figure I am unable lift a finger to stop a million babies from dying.
Enough of that!
his is a thorough and stinging repudiation of Cdl. Bernardin’s “seamless garment, without naming him.
I only wish Abp Chaput had turned his words on the priests and bishops who gave cover during these years to cafeteria Catholics.
You cannot cover up scandals of Faith.
They should start with the pedo priests.
I concur with you.
Where are the Cardinals and Bishops on these issues?
I appears that the majority of the Cardinals and Bishops are more concerned about getting invited to parties and events with the Politicians. These Cardinals and Bishops are responsible for Obama’s election by their silence which creates a tacit approval of the policies of abortion by Obama!!
It’s time to speak out against Notre Flame providing a forum and an honorary degree for Obama.
We do know that those oppose the teachings of the church publicly have excommunicated themselves from the church already.
I think we are farther along than we have been in quite some time.
I take heart that our dear Lord watches all, and is not fooled by those who pay mere lip service to God and his teachings.
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.
Very good analysis of how the liberals have controlled their opposition forces.
Yeah, especially on the part of the hierarchy who allowed a bunch of faggots to get into the priesthood and molest young boys, thus undermining the entire institution. Clean it up.
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