Post-war American Catholicism...homogeneous, miraculously expansive and prosperous, and (we know in hindsight) shallow in its intellectual and spiritual roots...fell apart immediately and catastrophically after 1965 as the Church "opened its doors" to a world that was turning away from its Christian heritage. The result was a diverse, fascinating Catholic universe of distinct, often conflicting pathways. It may be helpful to identify six major paths and six minor ones.
1. Generic, moderate, parish-based Catholicism is the direct heir of the ethnic "ghetto" parish. It is a congenial "co-habitation" of the faith with contemporary, mostly middle-class life. Due to a seminary system that is generally uniform, steady, moderate, tolerant but conservative in a mellow way, the contemporary parish is largely predictable in inviting participants to communion with a loving God in a life of prayer, sacraments, and generous, virtuous living. It's genius is the catholic, maternal impulse to include and embrace all. Normally non-partisan, it welcomes those from all points on the political spectrum. It largely avoids the heated issues of the day: neither endorsing nor condemning contested issues. The pro-life movement is tolerated but not vigorously engaged by most clergy. The same applies to other movements: the Latin mass, charismatic prayer meetings, social activism and so forth. Contraception, pornography/masturbation, and LGBT concerns are not mentioned. To be sure, wholesome families and even holy lives flourish here, but there is a weakness. While it succeeds in offering a respite from the political battlefield, it tries to ignore the Culture War that exploded in 1965 and so leaves the young open to the attractions and temptations of the three competing liberalisms (described below) so that there is a powerful tendency to become NONEs or anemic, assimilated Catholics without heart or fire or backbone or a distinctive intelligence.
2. Political Liberalism is a continuation of an earlier Catholic social heritage that supported labor unions, state assistance for the poor and neglected, and a strong government that regulates the market and distributes wealth and power in an equitable manner while rejecting socialism and allowing for free enterprise. It maintains a strong sense of social solidarity and political compassion. It largely lost the tradition of subsidiarity as it accepted the reality of large corporations which it contravailed with strong unions and an expansive federal government. Philosophically, this "solidarity" liberalism has less in common with cultural liberalism than does the more individualistic, economic liberalism of the right. But through a strange and striking quirk of history...and mostly because Catholic liberals were so feeble, inarticulate and indeed clueless in defense of their sexual and family ethos...plitical liberalism found an impure alliance with the cultural liberalism that came to dominate the DNC and elite culture after 1965.
3. Cultural Liberalism is a celebration of the Sexual Revolution and specifically an embrace of contraception, the disconnect of sexuality from child-bearing, and so a rejection of St. Paul VI's historic Humanae Vitae. The embrace of sterile, non-uniting sexuality leads inexorably to co-habitation, abortion, gay sex, pornography, and easy divorce. By 1973 (Roe) Cultural Liberalism was firmly in charge of all elite institutions: entertainment, higher education, media, law, medicine. It enlisted the support of Catholic political liberals, feeble and confused about their own sexual ethos, against the Republican right. Catholic Cultural Liberals were already energized in the 1970s in their demands for women priests, approval of contraception, and a "new paradigm" for sex, family and gender. They were the resistance against John Paul and Benedict but have been given new hope and energy by Francis.
4. Economic Liberalism is what we would call political conservatism: enthusiasm for free markets, low taxes, enterprise, and a minimally intrusive state. It can be associated with a strong nationalism and a hawkish attitude towards enemies such as communism and Islam extremism. Under Ronald Reagan, it experienced a surge of energy especially in so far as he was seen as partnering with John Paul in the downfall of Communism. In its purest form, it is currently in decline in the face of a surging Trumpism that accepts only portions of its ideology.
5. Traditionalism is the concerted effort to strengthen or restore late-Tridentine (1950s) Catholicism in its clarity, confidence, and continuity. This faction, seen in the Latin Mass community in a pure form, was entirely marginalized in the aftermath of the Council but found encouragement for a while under Benedict. It seems to be strengthened by young people who know a chaotic, disorderly world and cherish the structure, certainty and safety of dogma, ritual, authority and tradition. An inordinate number of our younger priests come from this relatively small community. Some of the newer, flourishing religious orders also exemplify this movement. While small, its vitality, natality and love for priesthood and religious life lend it a hope going forward.
6. Evangelical, Renewal Catholicism is the most vigorous, hopeful current in the Church. (Disclosure: I am an avid participant!) It is evangelical in its simple, profound focus upon the personal relationship with the (divine-human) person of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. All elements of tradition...liturgy, dogma, moral law, etc...find their meaning and purpose in Jesus and Jesus alone. This pathway finds expression in the lay renewal movements: cursillo, marriage encounter, charismatic renewal, Communion and Liberation, the Neo-catechumenal Way and others. It is communal in that it builds small, intimate groups for support, prayer and accountability. It carries no specific political ideology but is open to moderate expressions of political and economic liberalism as well as anarchism. It is articulate and fervent in its advocacy of a revived Catholic ethos of sexuality, family and "state of life" (religious, ordained and married) as it draws from John Paul's Theology of the Body, tradition and contemporary scholarship and it fiercely resists Cultural Liberalism and the culture of abortion. It is energetically ecumenical as it partners with evangelical and pentecostal Churches and benefits from the riches of those traditions. It comfortably allies itself with Catholic Traditionalism but differs in focus and emphasis: for example, the flood of non-practicing Catholics in Latin America into the evangelical Churches would be perceived in a more positive manner by the evangelical Catholic. It found a profound, fruitful expression in the theology of John Paul and Benedict.
This list is hardly exhaustive and could be expanded. However, six smaller, significant movements deserve attention.
1. Catholic Anarchism or Localism can be understood as a rejection of both dominant political ideologies: the Left's confidence in large government and the Right's trust in free, globalized markets. This group prefers small, local, concrete communities of support. A classical, radial expression is Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker. Current discussion largely revolves around Rod Dreher's Benedict Option. A philosophical rooting is provided by the Communion school of theology of David Schindler in DC.
2. 12-Step Spirituality is hidden, modest and anonymous but immensely fruitful and promising. It distances itself from any specific piety but is congenial with the most rigorous religions as well as the many who resent established religion and favor of a more vague 'spirituality.'
3. Zen-Therapeutic Catholicism is a search for personal integrity and serenity by a relative retreat from the passions and conflicts of the political, theological and cultural wars in favor of non-traditional practices of meditation, natural wholeness, and private therapy. Typically, there is interest in yoga, Zen, alternate diets and exercise programs. This approach is not congenial with the enthusiasms of traditional and evangelical Catholicism as it prefers the relative solitude of "spirituality" to the bonds of "religion." It is compatible with moderate forms of political and cultural liberalism, generic Catholicism and 12-step rehabilitation.
4. Pro-life Movement. The most spiritually energized event since Martin Luther King, this has engaged a coalition of generic, traditional and evangelical Catholics, with others, in a life-and-death struggle with Cultural Liberalism. The Kavanaugh hearings highlighted: for better or worse, this cause is allied in the Republican Party with Economic Liberalism and its Trumpist distortion; there is a desperate, apocalyptic hysteria on the part of the Left; and slowly, incrementally the right of the unborn is prevailing. When eventually, the draconian Roe decision is overturned, this culture war (THE defining moral issue of our time) will decline in intensity and be taken up locally and legislatively, by each state and the binary (red/blue) structure of our nation will be all the more pronounced.
5. Intimacy with the Poor. The towering heroes and great saints of our time all achieved close, concrete intimacy with the poor: St. Theresa of Calcutta, Dorothy Day, Catherine de Hueck Dougherty, Jean Vanier, and Kiko Arguello with his gypsies. The dramatic kenosis of these exceptional figures is a special grace not granted to all, but surely each of us can identify in some manner including prayer, alms and social advocacy. It is classic Catholic holiness in practice. It is more desperately needed now as our society is more polarized between "winners" and "losers." The redeeming feature of our current papacy is his heartfelt call to move our of our comfort to be with those who suffer.
6. Eccentrics and Oddballs. Our litany would be incomplete without mention of the delightful, serendipitous and creative ones who defy and shatter typology. My daughter reminded me of Eve Tusnet, who confidently idenifies as lesbian as she is fiercely faithful to orthodox Catholicism in her practice of celibacy. Ivan Illich, the hero of my young adulthood, was recklessly anarchistic in his rejection of bureaucracy, technology and modernity as he practiced a profound, ancient Catholic asceticism. My dear, dear friend John Rapinich was a 50s beatnik who converted to Catholicism in Mexico: he told Alan Ginsburg who flew into demonic rage; he told Jack Kerouac who hugged him and sadly said "I cannot go to Church with you; I am dirty." When I met him he was a fanatic pro-lifer and an obnoxiouly loud charismatic but also an artist, a mystic, and an intuitive, brilliant, widely-read auto-dictat.
I myself am a fervent evangelical-renewal Catholic with strong sympathies with tradition, the poor, anarchism, and the 12-steps. I have strong interest in psychology but none in the meditative traditions of the East. I have problems with political and economic liberalism but am fiercely against cultural liberalism. My children, for the most part, have their own distinctive mixtures of evangelical and generic Catholicism with an aversion to Cultural Liberalism.
My two brothers are strong economic liberals, adverse to both political and cultural liberalisms, with sympathies for traditional and evangelical Catholicism. My mother is a profoundly pious, traditional in an open and non-nostalgic manner, but fiercely liberal (political, Democratic) with the strongest working class aversion to economic liberalism and a puzzling tolerance for cultural liberalism. Five of my sisters mirror that strong Catholic social ethic with a fierce political liberalism that despises the economic form and anything that smacks of arrogance, privilege and indifference to the poor. Two of the five are Cultural Liberals. My sixth sister is different: she shares the social compassion even as she seamlessly merges the instincts of the generic, evangelical and traditional Catholic. We were a paradigmatic Catholic family of nine in the 1950s: Irish, liberal, Democrat. Today we reflect all the diversity, antagonisms, chaos and dynamisms of Catholicism! James Joyce said it: "Here comes everyone!"
Pope Francis is a complicated and puzzling case. He is traditional in many ways but despises any rigidity, moralism, exclusion, indifference, superiority, exclusion or indifference to the poor. He can be dismissive of dogma and law. He is certainly generic Catholic in his passion to include and invite, especially those who are away from the Church or at the margins of society. His enthusiasms seem to be with a political liberalism that works for open borders, climate control, wealth distribution and an end to the death penalty. He despises economic liberalism but seems to have allied himself with ecclesial cultural liberals in so far as they support his political agenda and his outreach to those distant from the Church.
These are, of course, ideal types and in real life each of us is a combination of at least two even as we oppose one or more.Any genuine Catholic is at least partially a generic, parish Catholic as we realize that our own preferences are particular and finite and the Mystery of Christ that binds us together vastly exceeds our own limited convictions and passions. In this unusual time of conflict and polarization, Truth demands that we wage a fierce culture war but Love requires that this occur with deepest mutual respect, empathy and admiration. The marvelous De Lubac spoke of "The Man of the Church" as one whose heart and intellect opens out infinitely to the Splendor of the Church in all its depth, dimensions, tensions, and Mystery. May we all break out of any confining models and be captivated by the Beauty, Truth and Goodness of the Church!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
The Catholicism of Brett Kavanaugh
I was immediately charmed by Judge Kavanaugh and his family and especially by his proud, vigorous Catholicism. Happily he spoke of CYO basketball, Jesuit education, serving meals to the poor, mass on Sunday and prayer. Rarely in public life do we see such an unabashed, genuine expression of our faith. Subsequent revelations amplified the depth and richness of his faith: his respect and advocacy for women, rigorous work ethic, happy family life, exceptional judicial record, and especially his reputation for valuing input from liberal as well as conservative clerks. This last especially impressed me a an important and rare Catholic virtue: a strong moral framework that welcomes a diversity of viewpoints on prudential issues that are complex, ambiguous and multi-faceted. He is an almost ideal candidate! I have been, and still am, delighted and thrilled with the thought of him on our Court.
But he is not perfect. His testimony is rightly criticized because he presented himself as almost perfect, a "choir boy."
His yearbook was an embarrassment for all of us. That the faculty allowed such a celebration of teenage inebriation shows a profound blindness. He redeemed himself by his expression of sincere sorrow for the hurt to his female friend from the implied contempt and misogyny even as he denied the most obvious interpretation of that odious attempt at humor.
His "yes I like beers bravado" can be understood at different levels. As Irish Catholic myself, I heard an echo of our ancient culture war against the puritan prohibition and its contemporary refiguration as political correctness and liberal righteousness. With him I silently boasted: "Yes, I like beers too, three or four a year in my case. Do you have a problem with that?" Clearly, in adolescence he was a jock, a drinker, a "frat boy!" In my own youth I did not like the type. But I don't hold it against him because, happily, we have both outgrown our male insecurities.
I see a deeper, more subtle problem, however, related to the Catholic and especially Jesuit education he received in the 1980s. Just before that time, the widespread motto became: "Man for others." This proposed a high moral ideal: that of a man who cares for others generously, even sacrificially; one who serves those around him and reaches out to the least, the poor, the marginalized and suffering. This is, of course, the ideal offered by Jesus in the Gospel. However, less happily, this message came also with a high optimism about our capacity to be such and a implied, if not articulated, neglect of traditional understanding of our sinfulness, weakness and need for God's mercy. There was little attention to sin, concupiscence and the need for confession, repentance and absolution. The ultimate result of this, of course, is an unrecognized but oppressive guilt as the student (if he is conscientious) expects and strives for moral heroism but is, at least semi-consciously, aware of his weakness and (often camouflaged) failings.
Hidden in this ethos of altruism and generosity is a subtle but toxic pelagianism (heresy that denies depth of original sin and need for grace) which expects moral heroism without explicit awareness of sin and weakness, without contrition, without dependence upon grace from above. Missing here is the traditional Catholic sense of sin, the 12-step experience of powerlessness, the evangelical longing for a Savior. Imagine this scenario: A Catholic school conference is dealing with the pressures upon our youth (internet, social media, peer culture, bullying, pornography, etc.) when a talented young educator recommends access to the sacrament of confession as a valuable resource; he is basically dismissed and even shamed. This incident unveils the hidden pelagianism prevalent in Catholic education.
And so we witnessed the good judge vigorously affirming his moral righteousness: family life, volunteer activities, and impeccable record with women. This was understandable and largely appropriate. First of all, it was a job interview and we customarily present our strengths, not weaknesses in such a forum. Secondly, the Democrats were out to destroy him at any cost so acknowledgement of weakness of any sort would have been disastrous for him. He did, after all, admit to drinking too much and expressed regret. He denied any black out or loss of memory but not drinking to excess.
Nevertheless: we all would have benefited from a sense of contrition; a sense of himself as flawed and sinful even as he is a basically good man and exceptional jurist; and even some empathy for his accuser in her evident distress, even if it is a false accusation.
He is only human. He showed us his vulnerability and fragility. He stands, alongside of all of us, at the foot of the cross as a sinner in need of Mercy! We all of us need to surrender our pelagian ideals, our oppressive moral idealism; and fully own our own need for Mercy. God bless Brett and his family and God bless Dr. Ford and hers and God bless America!
But he is not perfect. His testimony is rightly criticized because he presented himself as almost perfect, a "choir boy."
His yearbook was an embarrassment for all of us. That the faculty allowed such a celebration of teenage inebriation shows a profound blindness. He redeemed himself by his expression of sincere sorrow for the hurt to his female friend from the implied contempt and misogyny even as he denied the most obvious interpretation of that odious attempt at humor.
His "yes I like beers bravado" can be understood at different levels. As Irish Catholic myself, I heard an echo of our ancient culture war against the puritan prohibition and its contemporary refiguration as political correctness and liberal righteousness. With him I silently boasted: "Yes, I like beers too, three or four a year in my case. Do you have a problem with that?" Clearly, in adolescence he was a jock, a drinker, a "frat boy!" In my own youth I did not like the type. But I don't hold it against him because, happily, we have both outgrown our male insecurities.
I see a deeper, more subtle problem, however, related to the Catholic and especially Jesuit education he received in the 1980s. Just before that time, the widespread motto became: "Man for others." This proposed a high moral ideal: that of a man who cares for others generously, even sacrificially; one who serves those around him and reaches out to the least, the poor, the marginalized and suffering. This is, of course, the ideal offered by Jesus in the Gospel. However, less happily, this message came also with a high optimism about our capacity to be such and a implied, if not articulated, neglect of traditional understanding of our sinfulness, weakness and need for God's mercy. There was little attention to sin, concupiscence and the need for confession, repentance and absolution. The ultimate result of this, of course, is an unrecognized but oppressive guilt as the student (if he is conscientious) expects and strives for moral heroism but is, at least semi-consciously, aware of his weakness and (often camouflaged) failings.
Hidden in this ethos of altruism and generosity is a subtle but toxic pelagianism (heresy that denies depth of original sin and need for grace) which expects moral heroism without explicit awareness of sin and weakness, without contrition, without dependence upon grace from above. Missing here is the traditional Catholic sense of sin, the 12-step experience of powerlessness, the evangelical longing for a Savior. Imagine this scenario: A Catholic school conference is dealing with the pressures upon our youth (internet, social media, peer culture, bullying, pornography, etc.) when a talented young educator recommends access to the sacrament of confession as a valuable resource; he is basically dismissed and even shamed. This incident unveils the hidden pelagianism prevalent in Catholic education.
And so we witnessed the good judge vigorously affirming his moral righteousness: family life, volunteer activities, and impeccable record with women. This was understandable and largely appropriate. First of all, it was a job interview and we customarily present our strengths, not weaknesses in such a forum. Secondly, the Democrats were out to destroy him at any cost so acknowledgement of weakness of any sort would have been disastrous for him. He did, after all, admit to drinking too much and expressed regret. He denied any black out or loss of memory but not drinking to excess.
Nevertheless: we all would have benefited from a sense of contrition; a sense of himself as flawed and sinful even as he is a basically good man and exceptional jurist; and even some empathy for his accuser in her evident distress, even if it is a false accusation.
He is only human. He showed us his vulnerability and fragility. He stands, alongside of all of us, at the foot of the cross as a sinner in need of Mercy! We all of us need to surrender our pelagian ideals, our oppressive moral idealism; and fully own our own need for Mercy. God bless Brett and his family and God bless Dr. Ford and hers and God bless America!
Sunday, October 14, 2018
The Hysteria of the Left
The defining crisis of our age is the failure of masculinity as: paternity, quiet strength, commitment and fidelity, courage, chastity and protection. The disordered male psyche moves in two opposite directions: violence, rage, lust, egotism, assault or weakness, indecision, discouragement and impotence. You end up with Donald Trump or Woody Allen! The understandable feminine reaction is anxiety, hysteria, and suspicion of men.
The "Me-Too Movement" is, on the whole, a just and reasoned response to men as aggressors. But the liberal response to the Kavanaugh hearings is something else: hysteria!
Hysteria (a recklessly non-PC-term) is the tendency of the feminine psyche in its essential openness, receptivity, and vulnerability (to invasion or hostile penetration), to a pervasive, internal, diffuse and profound anxiety. Undefined, crippling anxiety is the consequence of a woman being unprotected...by father, husband, etc...and therefore vulnerable to assault.
For example, in my line of work, (boarding home) I cannot mention the b-word to most women ("b-d b-g") because it immediately elicits spasms of hysteria; by contrast, the male response is to crush, exterminate, and annihilate because of the underlying anatomical structure of protrusion, extension, donation. Men are, of course, capable of anxiety and women of aggression but fundamentally they differ in their psychic dynamics.
And so we see that the left's response to the new justice is entirely disordered and reflective of a deeper, primal suspicion of virility itself. We know that the Supreme Court is all about the right to a legal abortion. The "right to chose" is itself rooted in distrust of men: the anxious conviction that the father (of the child, of the mother) will not provide for mother-with-child but having violated the woman will abandon her and the new life.
I challenge anyone to find another accomplished man who equals Brett Kavanaugh in his tenderness and reverence for his mother, wife, daughters, basketball players, clerks, woman friends and co-workers! He is a paragon of masculine virtue in regard to women...except for the alleged assault.
Unfortunately, the hysteria of the left is fueled by the opposite pathology: our President's infantile machismo, bravado, bullying, egotism, and crudeness. We have the worst of both worlds: a caricature of vile, belligerent, narcissistic, dysfunctional masculinity; and anxious, frightened, irrational femininity at the other end.
The narrative presented by the accuser, Dr. Ford, is (to my mind) entirely probable as an event, not of deliberate sexual assault, but of intoxicated, immature male stupidity and insensitivity: some kind of crude, mindless and heartless prank or horseplay. It is typical of the adolescent male propensity for idiotic, aggressive discharge of libido, anxiety and hormonal energy. Unknown to the aggressors, the attack had a grave and lasting impact on the sensitive, fragile 15-year-old girl. The incident is iconic of male crudeness and female sensitivity! It is a tragedy about which the assailant had and has no clue! Somehow, I suspect that if anyone understood the entire Drama it was his wife Ashley, sitting behind him during the hearing...sad, somber, pensive. It was Ashley who prayed with their daughter for Dr. Ford. It is probably Ashley...almost a modern Pieta...who understands the real suffering of the victim even as she loves the assailant precisely in his own masculine weakness.
For me, the real take-away is not political but moral-spiritual: we men have failed our women...violated them in our lust, selfishness, insensitivity...in our rage and aggression...in our impotence, infidelity, and cowardice. We men desperately need to admit our sins against women, repent, seek God's grace and mercy, support each other in our tender care and reverence for our women!
The "Me-Too Movement" is, on the whole, a just and reasoned response to men as aggressors. But the liberal response to the Kavanaugh hearings is something else: hysteria!
Hysteria (a recklessly non-PC-term) is the tendency of the feminine psyche in its essential openness, receptivity, and vulnerability (to invasion or hostile penetration), to a pervasive, internal, diffuse and profound anxiety. Undefined, crippling anxiety is the consequence of a woman being unprotected...by father, husband, etc...and therefore vulnerable to assault.
For example, in my line of work, (boarding home) I cannot mention the b-word to most women ("b-d b-g") because it immediately elicits spasms of hysteria; by contrast, the male response is to crush, exterminate, and annihilate because of the underlying anatomical structure of protrusion, extension, donation. Men are, of course, capable of anxiety and women of aggression but fundamentally they differ in their psychic dynamics.
And so we see that the left's response to the new justice is entirely disordered and reflective of a deeper, primal suspicion of virility itself. We know that the Supreme Court is all about the right to a legal abortion. The "right to chose" is itself rooted in distrust of men: the anxious conviction that the father (of the child, of the mother) will not provide for mother-with-child but having violated the woman will abandon her and the new life.
I challenge anyone to find another accomplished man who equals Brett Kavanaugh in his tenderness and reverence for his mother, wife, daughters, basketball players, clerks, woman friends and co-workers! He is a paragon of masculine virtue in regard to women...except for the alleged assault.
Unfortunately, the hysteria of the left is fueled by the opposite pathology: our President's infantile machismo, bravado, bullying, egotism, and crudeness. We have the worst of both worlds: a caricature of vile, belligerent, narcissistic, dysfunctional masculinity; and anxious, frightened, irrational femininity at the other end.
The narrative presented by the accuser, Dr. Ford, is (to my mind) entirely probable as an event, not of deliberate sexual assault, but of intoxicated, immature male stupidity and insensitivity: some kind of crude, mindless and heartless prank or horseplay. It is typical of the adolescent male propensity for idiotic, aggressive discharge of libido, anxiety and hormonal energy. Unknown to the aggressors, the attack had a grave and lasting impact on the sensitive, fragile 15-year-old girl. The incident is iconic of male crudeness and female sensitivity! It is a tragedy about which the assailant had and has no clue! Somehow, I suspect that if anyone understood the entire Drama it was his wife Ashley, sitting behind him during the hearing...sad, somber, pensive. It was Ashley who prayed with their daughter for Dr. Ford. It is probably Ashley...almost a modern Pieta...who understands the real suffering of the victim even as she loves the assailant precisely in his own masculine weakness.
For me, the real take-away is not political but moral-spiritual: we men have failed our women...violated them in our lust, selfishness, insensitivity...in our rage and aggression...in our impotence, infidelity, and cowardice. We men desperately need to admit our sins against women, repent, seek God's grace and mercy, support each other in our tender care and reverence for our women!
Saturday, October 13, 2018
A Church in Crisis
A few months ago I dismissed as alarmist voices that claimed our Catholic Church was in deep crisis. The events of this past summer have convinced me that I was wrong: that we are possibly facing the deepest ecclesial catastrophe since the French Revolution or perhaps the Reformation. It is not one scandal but a "perfect storm"...a convergence of at least 10 crises which have infused each other in a synergy of evil.
1. The basic priest scandal was an epidemic of primarily homosexual predatory abuse of adolescent boys and erupted in the specific time frame of 1965-85 immediately following the sexual revolution.
2. The episcopal cover-up whereby these abusers were protected and moved from place to place and so allowed to molest more victims. This scandal infuriated many Catholics more than the first.
3. A new wave of abuse was unveiled this summer: that by bishops and even cardinals. McCarrick is one of many but he is a blatant example because he was not just protected by a coalition of ranking hierarchs, but he was promoted to Cardinal, disciplined (albeit informally it seems) by Benedict, and then rehabilitated under Francis. It is now undeniable that at the highest levels of the Church there is an alliance of power-brokers who protect homosexual predators.
4. The financial crisis in the Vatican continues. Vigano found $50 million in hidden funds during his short tenure at Vatican City and was then removed to the USA lest he find more. The thorough audit ordered by Francis was aborted for reasons unexplained. Clearly the financial corruption at the heart of the Vatican is untouchable.
5. The China pact of this summer between the Vatican and Peking effectively gave control of the Church there to the communist, atheistic, totalitarian regime. The contrast is startling: if John Paul undermined the Soviet Empire, Francis is giving the Church over the the Party!
6. Institutionally the Church is in trouble. It is clear that bishops and pope are really not accountable to anyone so that they can do what they want. The Vatican has remained largely silent and not felt obliged to offer the slightest explanation for the McCarrick debacle. Clearly we need something like constitutional controls within the Church to check abuse by papacy and episcopacy. More profoundly, however, it is clear that the non-essential Church institutions...schools, hospitals, social agencies...have expanded into huge bureaucracies such that their maintenance has become a priority and threatens the primary Church mission: holiness, worship, truth. For 50 years I have been resisting Ivan Illich's proposal that the Church de-institutionalize itself in order to preserve itself. This summer I have finally surrendered: the ministerial Church must surrender to the laity the secular enterprises that are essential but complex and demanding. Part of the reason McCarrick was promoted was surely that he was a sharp administrator and an outstanding fundraiser. EWTN, our own little Magnificat Home, and the many initiatives coming out of the ecclesial movements are all examples of the wave of the future: all are independent of pope and bishop.
7. A grave crisis of Truth is apparent in the theological confusion and incoherence flowing from the Vatican. A blatant example is the "death penalty correction" to the Catechism in which a prudential, actually sentimental and emotional, subjective judgment has been elevated into a allegedly-permanent moral absolute, casually dismissing tradition and natural law and without any consultation with the broader Church. In general there is an emotivism, a sentimentality and an anti-intellectualism operative at the highest levels that dismisses the brilliant retrieval, under the previous two popes, of a "Splendor of Truth" that yearns to unveil to faith-and-reason.
8. Politicization of the hierarchy has compromised the Church as specific political, ideological agendas (climate control, immigration, death penalty, equality) have become the primary concerns of our current leaders. We as a people become polarized and divided as the Church mimics a political party. Under current leadership our Church is mimicking Trump-era American politics in which rage and resent reign and we demonize and despise each other. In living memory we have never seen cardinals and bishops insulting each other!
9. Acceptance of evil has become fashionable as some of our leaders explicitly reject the simple but profound adage "hate the sin, love the sinner" in favor of an "accompaniment" that makes everyone feel accepted and cherished and eschews a harsh, demanding, paternal love.
10. The crisis of the papacy is the hard reality that Pope Francis, an admirable and gifted man in many ways, himself embodies and intensifies all of these problems, except the first. He is impulsive, incoherent, emotional and basically incompetent as Pope. He clearly is listening to the wrong people as he is intensifying all of the deplorable dynamics identified above.
The always-underlying crisis is that of holiness: we are not close to God the Trinity; we do not trust; we do not surrender and obey. This is the ultimate, defining crisis or drama for each of us...every day of our lives. So we can relax and breathe easy: despite the problems, God is with us. We are His bride and He is our groom. We can rest in this. We can commit ourselves to seek Truth, humbly, as we love each other, even and especially in conflict. We can allow Him to fill us with His mercy and love!
1. The basic priest scandal was an epidemic of primarily homosexual predatory abuse of adolescent boys and erupted in the specific time frame of 1965-85 immediately following the sexual revolution.
2. The episcopal cover-up whereby these abusers were protected and moved from place to place and so allowed to molest more victims. This scandal infuriated many Catholics more than the first.
3. A new wave of abuse was unveiled this summer: that by bishops and even cardinals. McCarrick is one of many but he is a blatant example because he was not just protected by a coalition of ranking hierarchs, but he was promoted to Cardinal, disciplined (albeit informally it seems) by Benedict, and then rehabilitated under Francis. It is now undeniable that at the highest levels of the Church there is an alliance of power-brokers who protect homosexual predators.
4. The financial crisis in the Vatican continues. Vigano found $50 million in hidden funds during his short tenure at Vatican City and was then removed to the USA lest he find more. The thorough audit ordered by Francis was aborted for reasons unexplained. Clearly the financial corruption at the heart of the Vatican is untouchable.
5. The China pact of this summer between the Vatican and Peking effectively gave control of the Church there to the communist, atheistic, totalitarian regime. The contrast is startling: if John Paul undermined the Soviet Empire, Francis is giving the Church over the the Party!
6. Institutionally the Church is in trouble. It is clear that bishops and pope are really not accountable to anyone so that they can do what they want. The Vatican has remained largely silent and not felt obliged to offer the slightest explanation for the McCarrick debacle. Clearly we need something like constitutional controls within the Church to check abuse by papacy and episcopacy. More profoundly, however, it is clear that the non-essential Church institutions...schools, hospitals, social agencies...have expanded into huge bureaucracies such that their maintenance has become a priority and threatens the primary Church mission: holiness, worship, truth. For 50 years I have been resisting Ivan Illich's proposal that the Church de-institutionalize itself in order to preserve itself. This summer I have finally surrendered: the ministerial Church must surrender to the laity the secular enterprises that are essential but complex and demanding. Part of the reason McCarrick was promoted was surely that he was a sharp administrator and an outstanding fundraiser. EWTN, our own little Magnificat Home, and the many initiatives coming out of the ecclesial movements are all examples of the wave of the future: all are independent of pope and bishop.
7. A grave crisis of Truth is apparent in the theological confusion and incoherence flowing from the Vatican. A blatant example is the "death penalty correction" to the Catechism in which a prudential, actually sentimental and emotional, subjective judgment has been elevated into a allegedly-permanent moral absolute, casually dismissing tradition and natural law and without any consultation with the broader Church. In general there is an emotivism, a sentimentality and an anti-intellectualism operative at the highest levels that dismisses the brilliant retrieval, under the previous two popes, of a "Splendor of Truth" that yearns to unveil to faith-and-reason.
8. Politicization of the hierarchy has compromised the Church as specific political, ideological agendas (climate control, immigration, death penalty, equality) have become the primary concerns of our current leaders. We as a people become polarized and divided as the Church mimics a political party. Under current leadership our Church is mimicking Trump-era American politics in which rage and resent reign and we demonize and despise each other. In living memory we have never seen cardinals and bishops insulting each other!
9. Acceptance of evil has become fashionable as some of our leaders explicitly reject the simple but profound adage "hate the sin, love the sinner" in favor of an "accompaniment" that makes everyone feel accepted and cherished and eschews a harsh, demanding, paternal love.
10. The crisis of the papacy is the hard reality that Pope Francis, an admirable and gifted man in many ways, himself embodies and intensifies all of these problems, except the first. He is impulsive, incoherent, emotional and basically incompetent as Pope. He clearly is listening to the wrong people as he is intensifying all of the deplorable dynamics identified above.
The always-underlying crisis is that of holiness: we are not close to God the Trinity; we do not trust; we do not surrender and obey. This is the ultimate, defining crisis or drama for each of us...every day of our lives. So we can relax and breathe easy: despite the problems, God is with us. We are His bride and He is our groom. We can rest in this. We can commit ourselves to seek Truth, humbly, as we love each other, even and especially in conflict. We can allow Him to fill us with His mercy and love!
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
The Kavanaugh Controversy is Simple: It is All About Abortion!
The redeeming moment of the Kavanaugh judicial hearings was when the Judge tearfully spoke of his wife and daughter praying for Dr. Ford, his alleged-victim. That single act of a child-and-mother more than overcame the character assassination, the obnoxious circus antics, the narcissistic hystrionics of Cory-Sparticus-Booker and the cruelty of leaking and outing Dr. Ford.
It helps to recall that all this activity is about a single issue: abortion! Everything else is small potatoes! I was reminded: if your defining and consuming cause is legalized destruction of the fragile, powerless human person than why would you hesitate, for a single second, in destroying man's reputation and family as well as violating the privacy of a previously abused woman? The moral rot at the core of the Democratic Party has corrupted so deeply over half a century that it contaminates even the very best and worthwhile elements of the Party. Consider the hypocricy: Bill, almost certainly a habitual abuser, and his enabler-protector Hillary, continue to be luminaries of the Left solely because they are pro-choice! Me-too, identity politics, health care, economic equality, immigration and even dump-Trump all bow to the god, constitution, the soul of the Party: abortion!
If you love legalized abortion, you will hate Kavanaugh! If you hate legalized abortion, you will love Kavanaugh. It really is that simple!
Dr. Ford, by virtue of her sincerity, sweetness, fragility, precision, intelligence, and modest certainty was captivating, endearing, and absolutely convincing. It is, to me, inconceivable that she is lying. It is, to me, overwhelmingly probable that she experienced what she related. During her testimony my lawyer-son texted me: "The nation is literally weeping!" I know that I was. Her narrative was entirely credible: specific, clear, internally consistent and entirely coherent with what we know of 17-year-old Brett.
Her credibility, the seriousness of the matter, the sensitivity of the abuse of women in our society today, and the high bar we set for Supreme Court justices all make a reasoned case against the Judge.
Those considerations, however, do not overcome the case for him. The allegation, albeit convincing, is entirely uncorraborated. The event, as described by her, with the alcohol and laughter, seems not to be a deliberate rape but some kind of prank or horseplay on the part of the alleged attacker. But we will probably never know the full truth. Most importantly, the alleged event is not part of pattern of abuse of women: if it happened, it is an anomaly, an exception, an aberration; an impulsive, intoxicated, adolescent stupidity, albeit with horrendous consequences upon this delicate 15-year-old. By all accounts, he reveres and advances women and is a man of exceptional character and enormous competence.
I am proud that Dr. Ford was given a respectful, gentle hearing. Even Donald behaved (relatively) well! I am glad there is an FBI investigation although I think it will be far less thorough than what has already been done by the media and investigators for the abortion lobby. Unless there is a serious revelation, he should be confirmed. And we would all do well to join mother Ashley and daughter in prayers for the Ford and Kavanaugh families as well as for the good of our country!
It helps to recall that all this activity is about a single issue: abortion! Everything else is small potatoes! I was reminded: if your defining and consuming cause is legalized destruction of the fragile, powerless human person than why would you hesitate, for a single second, in destroying man's reputation and family as well as violating the privacy of a previously abused woman? The moral rot at the core of the Democratic Party has corrupted so deeply over half a century that it contaminates even the very best and worthwhile elements of the Party. Consider the hypocricy: Bill, almost certainly a habitual abuser, and his enabler-protector Hillary, continue to be luminaries of the Left solely because they are pro-choice! Me-too, identity politics, health care, economic equality, immigration and even dump-Trump all bow to the god, constitution, the soul of the Party: abortion!
If you love legalized abortion, you will hate Kavanaugh! If you hate legalized abortion, you will love Kavanaugh. It really is that simple!
Dr. Ford, by virtue of her sincerity, sweetness, fragility, precision, intelligence, and modest certainty was captivating, endearing, and absolutely convincing. It is, to me, inconceivable that she is lying. It is, to me, overwhelmingly probable that she experienced what she related. During her testimony my lawyer-son texted me: "The nation is literally weeping!" I know that I was. Her narrative was entirely credible: specific, clear, internally consistent and entirely coherent with what we know of 17-year-old Brett.
Her credibility, the seriousness of the matter, the sensitivity of the abuse of women in our society today, and the high bar we set for Supreme Court justices all make a reasoned case against the Judge.
Those considerations, however, do not overcome the case for him. The allegation, albeit convincing, is entirely uncorraborated. The event, as described by her, with the alcohol and laughter, seems not to be a deliberate rape but some kind of prank or horseplay on the part of the alleged attacker. But we will probably never know the full truth. Most importantly, the alleged event is not part of pattern of abuse of women: if it happened, it is an anomaly, an exception, an aberration; an impulsive, intoxicated, adolescent stupidity, albeit with horrendous consequences upon this delicate 15-year-old. By all accounts, he reveres and advances women and is a man of exceptional character and enormous competence.
I am proud that Dr. Ford was given a respectful, gentle hearing. Even Donald behaved (relatively) well! I am glad there is an FBI investigation although I think it will be far less thorough than what has already been done by the media and investigators for the abortion lobby. Unless there is a serious revelation, he should be confirmed. And we would all do well to join mother Ashley and daughter in prayers for the Ford and Kavanaugh families as well as for the good of our country!
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