Obama and the ‘Real’ Catholics

NRO ^ | May 18, 2009 | George Weigel

[livius]

Passionate debates over doctrine, identity, and the boundaries of “communion” have been a staple of the American religious landscape for centuries: Trinitarians vs. Unitarians in 19th-century New England; Modernists vs. Fundamentalists in early-20th-century Presbyterianism; Missouri Synod Lutherans vs. Wisconsin Synod Lutherans vs. Other Sorts of Lutherans down to today. Yet never in our history has a president of the United States, in the exercise of his public office, intervened in such disputes in order to secure a political advantage.

Until yesterday, at the University of Notre Dame...

[livius]

This is a very interesting analysis of the rawly political nature of Obama's actions on Sunday and that it was, in many ways, a power grab from the bishops, who were unprepared for it.

[livius]

What the bishops of the United States have to say about this usurpation of their authority will be very interesting to see. Whether Obama’s Catholic acolytes will recognize a genuine threat to religious freedom in what they are already celebrating as their Notre Dame victory over the pro-life yahoos and reactionaries will also be instructive.

I thought Weigel's take on this was right on target. Even leaving aside the specific abortion issue, Obama (and Kmeic, who no doubt wrote the speech) was essentially defining what the Church was in the United States and, sadly, had thousands of its members cheering for him.

[Darkwolf377]

the president of the United States decided that he would define what it means to be a real Catholic in 21st-century America

As a former Catholic I found this line particularly apt. I think Obama knew precisely what he was doing, and conservative Catholics have to realize Obama landed a blow for the "pro-choice catholic" faction, which is well prepared to take advantage of it.

[livius]

I think he knew what he was doing, too. For one thing, he has a whole staff full of treasonous "insiders," modernist Catholic intellectuals such as Kmeic and politicians ranging from the idiot Biden to more sophisticated relativist Catholics such as Kennedy, who have spent decades defining their own version of the Church, which was defined and given the seal of approval by Obama this weekend.

Several people posted before Sunday that they thought that Obama might withdraw because of all the controversy, but there was no way he was going to do that. This was a vitally important battle in his war, and he knew he could win it and he did.

[Darkwolf377]

sophisticated relativist Catholics such as Kennedy, who have spent decades defining their own version of the Church,

I've had arguments with these folks, who always say "Well, you're an atheist, what do YOU care?" and I always tell them the same thing--you don't get to CHOOSE what being a Catholic is, and if you don't like what that means, you don't stay in the church! People like Kennedy wear their Catholicism like a badge of honor without pausing for a second to violate the meaning of BEING a Catholic.

So many "believers" just happen to belong to religious faiths which just happen to coincide with how they feel like living, and to heck with those pesky "rules".

If you don't want to be a Catholic, don't be one--don't just use the label.

[markomalley]

Rather like Napoleon taking the diadem out of the hands of Pope Pius VII and crowning himself emperor, President Obama has, wittingly or not, declared himself the Primate of American Catholicism.

The most disturbing part of this is not that he has done so, but that American Catholics have embraced him in doing so.

Trouble is, the battle being waged is not the political battle that is being reported, it's not even the cultural battle: the battle being waged is an intensely spiritual battle.

The outcome of this immediate battle is that pro-life, conservative Catholics are going to be rendered irrelevant in the political and cultural spheres as shown in most public discourse and especially through the media (which will aggravate the former). The danger is that many currently culturally conservative Catholics will start to see the "reason" advocated by Jenkins, McBrien, McCarrick, and Obama and will apostatize.

[SkyPilot]

Hey, these folks are "real" Catholics. Just ask them. And, they have every right to crow about it.

Has anyone excommunicated them? Has the church disciplined them?

Nope.

[livius]

That’s the problem. They’ve gotten away with it for so long.

The bishops, even the good ones, have been too timid to do anything, and every time they even make a gesture in that direction, shrieking voices arise from WITHIN the Church accusing them of bringing back the Inquisition, etc. Well, if that’s what it takes, bring it back!

The sad thing is that the bishops - and Rome - have given away so much of their authority by inaction that I’m not really sure how they’d go about getting it back now.

[FES0844]

Bring back the fire & brimstone!

[livius]

It is a spiritual battle, because Marxism is essentially a spiritual problem. Communism - and I think Obama is a full-fledged Marxist, although many of the people around him are simply fellow-travelers or useful idiots - is essentially the religion of man. It has had numerous different forms in the past, ever since Lucifer, and this is its current one.

Everything is relative,and man, through the State, which of course is run by special men who are particularly committed to the revolution, makes all the decisions based on relativistic motives of self-interest. The Church, on the other hand, holds out for absolutes, for man as created by God, and for the striving for conformity with the will of God as being the goal of human life.

Clearly, the Church is a hindrance to the implementation of the Marxist plan, which is not only a matter of economic structure, but a spiritual reordering of the world to eliminate God and set the State (the expression of man) at its center.

[livius]

I think they’ll get their fire and brimstone at some point in the future, but in the meantime, I wish we could do something about them!

The only positive aspect of this is that maybe some of the bishops will wake up and remember their teaching authority. Maybe.

[FES0844]

I pray that they do. Keep up the good fight!

[markomalley]

Marxism is essentially a spiritual problem.

Marxism is essentially a spiritual problem: a problem of idolatry.

The point is that fighting Marxism, as an end, is going to miss the mark. Engaging the devil and concerning ourselves primarily with the salvation of souls has got to be the ultimate end. Debunking the lie of Marxism is one step in a long, long road.

[Northern Yankee]

Whether or not President Obama knew precisely what he was doing — and I’m inclined to think that this politically savvy White House and its allies among Catholic progressive intellectuals knew exactly what they were doing — is irrelevant. In order to secure the political advantage Obama had gained among Catholic voters last November, the president of the United States decided that he would define what it means to be a real Catholic in 21st-century America — not the bishop of Fort Wayne–South Bend, who in sorrow declined to attend Notre Dame’s commencement; not the 80-some bishops who publicly criticized Notre Dame’s decision to invite the president to receive an honorary degree; not the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which explicitly and unambiguously instructed Catholic institutions not to do what Notre Dame did. He, President Obama, would settle the decades-long intra-Catholic culture war in favor of one faction — the faction that had supported his candidacy and that had spent the first months of his administration defending his policies.

This is exactly why the Bishops need to respond to Obama, and respond quickly.

They need to define to their parishoners what is Catholic in today's world.

[Tax-chick]

I agree.

[livius]

I think the bishops have a very brief window of opportunity to get their church back. They have to do something soon and not fiddle around for months just issuing statements or trying to come up with a new policy (they already have one, issued in 2006). They’ll be totally irrelevant if they do that.

[Northern Yankee]

Exactly right!

Not only do they have an obligation to do so, they are commanded by God to lead souls to Heaven. This can only be accomplished by bringing absolute moral clarity to the faithful.

That's why having Obama not speak there would have been critical in aiding that clarity. Unfortunately we have too many that are willing to sell their souls in order to bring about compromise in a secular world. Tragically it doesn't get anyone any closer to God or to Heaven.

[livius]

The bishops blew it during the Henry VIII challenge, and they have a long track record of wimping out and doing the wrong thing or doing nothing at all when confronted by the governing powers. We can only hope that the US bishops have learned from the dreary historical lessons of their predecessors in other countries.

[Northern Yankee]

We’ll keep praying!

[windsorknot]

What we need is St.Paul’s epistle to the U.S. churches to shake things up a bit.