It boggles the human mind that the high-profile, perverse-homosexual-predatory clerics Maciel and McCarrick were able to sever their sexual depravity from their enormously successful ecclesiastical lives. It is surely the outstanding Church disaster of our time. There seems to have been an absolute splitting off of their sexuality from the rest of their careers, prayer, friendships and outstanding achievements. Additionally, they successfully shielded their lust life from the entire Church and so many who trusted them deeply. It boggles the mind!
It is even more astounding that an analogous and related "severing" of chastity from Catholic faith is being advanced at this time at the highest, most powerful levels of the Church. And this in the immediate aftermath of the McCarrick scandal!
Fr. James Martin S.J. is probably the most well-known, well-liked and influential Catholic figure in our country. He touches 300,000 through social media. He is a rock star. Too shrewd to directly contradict longstanding Church teaching, he has victoriously implemented a brilliant strategy: "sever" chastity from Catholic life, marginalize and minimize it, focus on other more important issues. He stresses love for the homosexual...love understood as acceptance and affirmation, free of moral judgment...and pushes the moral questions to the side. In this re-gestalt, he entirely inverts the tradition such that any clear, strong affirmation on the sacred, grave nature of sexuality as unitive-fruitful is construed as homophobic, judgmental, legalistic and hateful. This is theological Jiu-Jitsu at its very highest level.
As an ecclesiastical and cultural operator, he is may surpass Maciel and McCarrick. He has the full support of Pope Francis. He has an avid collaborators in Cardinals Tobin, Cupich and others. And now, a powerful ally in Bishop Robert Barron, surely the most popular, respected and influential bishop in USA 2020. Barron has written a book blurb for Martin's new book on prayer. He describes Martin as a "winsome guide to the spiritual life." On a recent Bishop Barron podcast he responds to a question from Fr. Martin: "How do we respond to someone who engages deeply with the Catholic faith in all aspects except the sexual?" The bishop responds that we have made too much of sex (the Francis effect) and that we need to refocus on more significant realities: the Trinity, prayer, the sacraments, service of the poor and such. In short: lets sever sexuality; lets push it aside; let's not worry about it!
It is not reassuring that the Bishop chooses the word "winsome" to praise the Jesuit. The word means: charming, attractive, appealing, and pleasing. In normal usage it would imply romantic energy: in a man's world we don't often refer to each other as "winsome"...even in the more refined arenas of religion and academia. To be fair: Barron is the premier evangelist, catechist and bishop-theologian of this time, our own Fulton Sheen. His particular gift is to engage Beauty as the iconic passage to the Divine. He surely used this expression in the way he might describe the prose of Newman or Ratzinger as "winsome." Furthermore, Barron's sound pastoral, Catholic-catholic instinct is to affirm all that is good-true-beautiful. My impression of Fr. Martin: he is intelligent, gracious, refined, accommodating, and no doubt winsome. I don't doubt that the book in question...standing by itself... is brilliant inspiring, and again winsome. But it doesn't stand by itself! Recall: the writings from the likes of Maciel, McCarrick, Vanier, and so many others have been treated as spiritual classics...until we knew about the part of their lives that had been severed and shielded. Whatever his grace, intelligence and gifts, Martin is known for one thing: the moral normalization of homosexuality in the Church, the severing of chastity from Catholic life.
He has a huge following. He has, with Francis, accommodated Catholicism to Cultural Liberalism. Like Chamberlain in Munich, he has formed an alliance: we will not bother you about chastity; lets work together on global warming, economic equality, immigration and the death penalty. And so the Church in our time has made peace with the two diabolic global principalities: Chinese Communism and Western Cultural Liberalism.
This "severing of chastity" is widely supported in society and the Church well beyond the militant liberators: there is (normally commendable) modesty and reticence, among many Catholics, especially older ones, about things sexual. They hold chastity dear to their heart but don't want to talk about it...and surely don't want to publicly advocate it. And so, fully half of American Catholics sever their vote from issues of tax-payer-funded abortion, mandatory contraception coverage, compulsory placement of children with gay couples...and righteously vote for ecology, health care, immigrants, et.al.
We are a beleaguered minority, those of us who hold clearly, confidently, passionately, calmly to the sacral nature of sex as unitive and procreative. We are despised as hateful and ignorant when we assert that violations of the sixth and ninth commandment are not minor, but gravely sinful...that they destroy the soul of the actor, the family and community, the Church and the nation, and gravely offend God Himself.
However the Truth is Inevitable. The nature of reality will assert itself...in the long run. In the short run, the uprooting of sexuality from its source, meaning, nature and purpose will prevail, surely in elite Western culture. It may eventually destroy the entire understructure of society. Or we may see resurgence(s) of fruitful chastity across society. For sure, however, the severing of chastity from Catholic life will not succeed. This "Francis moment" is passing. Sexual purity, the integrity of the family, fidelity and fecundity of life...these are iconic of God's very self and constitutive of the Church in her bridal splendor and her maternal extravagance. The sad sagas of Maciel, McCarrick, Martin and the rest are a contamination of the Church, but the love affair between the Divine Bridegroom and his Bride is indissoluble.
No comments:
Post a Comment