Grieving for the Truth in the Church of Pope Leo XIII

Today's first mass reading (Nehimiah 2) not only allows me but directs me to grieve, like Nehimiah over the collapsed walls of Jerusalem. The Persian king asks his cupbearer why he is so sad. With fear, Nehimiah answers that it is the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem. Compassionately, the king asks what could be done. He asks to rebuild the walls of the city. Not the temple itself, but the walls.

Just Sunday past we heard Amos condemn Israel for failure to grieve over the collapse of Joseph. In both these readings, I hear the Lord directing us to grieve over our Church.

Yesterday I was grieved to read Pope Leo's response to the crisis in Chicago. Cardinal Cupich decided to give Senator Dick Durbin a lifetime achievement award for his work on immigration. Durbin has long been forbidden to receive communion by his own Bishop Paprocki of Springfield. For decades Durbin has advocated for legal abortion, including even partial birth abortion. The policy of the American bishops for many decades has been to not publicly honor staunch defenders of legal abortion. In this decision, Cupich disrespects the college of bishops and his own neighbor bishop. About 12 bishops have spoken out against the award; none have spoken in favor. Durbin finally declined the honor, thus ending the controversy.

Walls

Walls, boundaries, definition, rules...are essential for us in many ways. Today's patron Saint Theresa of Lisieux, lived her short life behind the cloistered walls of a convent. Those are very important for this life. They mark a place of prayer, separate from the world, where the souls of the elect unite with God.

Psychologically we all need walls, boundaries: to define ourselves, to defend our dignity and integrity, to elucidate our mission and responsibilities. 

A nation needs boundaries. Our country is in crisis now because for four years our territorial integrity was not defended. Indeed, the open border policy incentivized the poor to send their children here alone or to place them with gangs and human traffickers. This unwise policy did immense harm to our common good and to many who were motivated to violate our laws.

Our Church needs walls: clarity in belief, practice, and worship. It is especially the task of the Pope to provide this definition in Truth.

Pope Leo on the Durbin Scandal

Pope Leo: "I think it's important to look at the overall work that a senator has done...in 40 years of service...I understand the difficulty and the tensions. But I think...it is important to look at many issues that are related to the teachings of the Church." He then went on to say that a prolife position on abortion but in favor of the death penalty is not prolife; and prolife on abortion but in favor of inhumane treatment of immigrants is not prolife. He of course ended by calling for mutual respect.

This can only be read as support for Cupich: that he may indeed prudentially reward a prochoice Catholic politician if his record on other issues warrants it. This is, however softly, a correction to Paprocki and a contradiction of the policy of the American bishops.

Back to Ratzinger and McCarrick

In 2004, then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a private letter to the gathered American bishops in which he directed that a Catholic politician who persists in advocacy for legal abortion after being spoken with is to be denied Communion. Then-Cardinal McCarrick ran the meeting. Astonishingly, he kept the letter private, did not at that time read it to the bishops, but paraphrased it as saying that the matter was a prudential one at the discretion of the particular bishop. 

We see that the spirit of McCarrick and Ratzinger are still at war in our Church. Paprocki is loyal to Ratzinger; Cupich and apparently Leo to the McCarrick misinterpretation.

A Church in Actual Schism

Durkin cannot receive communion in Springfield where he lives; but next door in Chicago he is given the highest imaginable honor. Gays can get blessing of their unions across the West but nowhere in Africa. A divorced-remarried-without-annulment spouse is welcome to communion in Germany, but not across the border in Poland. 

We are now clearly two distinct Churches; a Church in schism.

Durbin has apparently said that he considers Cardinal Cupich to be his bishop. Wow! Cafeteria Catholicism on steroids! We can choose our own bishop! Ok...I live in NJ but my bishop of choice is Cardinal Burke in Rome...or whoever. This is insanity!

Challenging Ecclesiology

We are, of course, ONE, holy, catholic, apostolic Church. But we are in reality two distinct Churches in significant aspects of practice, belief and worship. The Church of Ratzinger and that of McCarrick; that of John Paul and that of Francis, and now of Leo. This is difficult: as we differ gravely on matters of Truth we need to maintain our bonds of love (as Leo knows so well), our institutional unity and loyalty, our unity in works of mercy and so much that is good and beautiful. And yet we cannot abandon the Truth as we have received it. Difficult!

Leo Unveiled

These remarks about the Durbin affair were just a few sentences but his response was spontaneous, genuine, unscripted, from the heart and the intellect. We have been wondering and waiting. We should have seen this coming. He said from the start he would continue the papacy of Francis; and he meant it. He is still, in many ways, a refreshing break. He is a man of prayer and of the Church; a man of love for the people and especially those who suffer; he is an institutionalist who will steady the bark of Peter; he is a reconciler who will try to unite all of us.  All of this is good.

But now we know him theologically: he is Francis II. He grew up in the American Church immediately after Vatican II; went to college and seminary in the 70s when the Church was at its very worse low point catechetically and theologically. It is clear he imbibed the soft, sentimental progressivism that pervaded our Church at that time. His short comments showed confused, fuzzy, sentimental thinking on many levels about moral theology, doctrine, abortion, politics, death penalty and immigration. All of this is just too familiar. He lacks the intellectual depth and clarity to resolve our crisis in accord with the Tradition we have received. We will continue in the fog of synodality and sentimentality. He is a man of charity and prayer; a capable administrator; he is not a theological teacher.

Dysfunctional Dad

I feel like a bright 12-year-old who has always loved and adored his father but has just discovered: Dad is a drunk; or is unfaithful to Mom; or is prejudiced and ignorant; or is a workaholic; or cannot keep a job. This is a sadness. It cannot be avoided. It must be grieved. But we still love Dad. We honor him as our father. And we love him the more in his weakness. We pray for him.

What Do We Look For in a Pope?

Four things: holiness of life; a heart of charity; competence in governing the Church; and theological wisdom in teaching. Pope Francis gets good grades for the first two; poor grade in the third; failing grade in the last. Popes John Paul and Benedict get superb grades in all except the third where Benedict scores higher than John Paul. John Paul's mission included so much that he gave little attention to steering the bark of Peter except by his sterling example. Pope Leo looks like he will do very well in the first three. But poorly in the last. Hopefully, better than Francis. But the signs are not good.

We Always Have John Paul and Benedict

These two are really one-but-dual papacy in that they worked together and their combined theological legacy (even as enlarged by adjacent thinkers) is a unity. It appears that Francis-Leo will also be a one-but-dual papacy in that their thinking forms a unity. And so, the deficiency in this second dual papacy is not catastrophic as we lean always into the thought of the prior two. Most of our young priests are John-Paul-Benedict-priests. We do not have, we will not have Francis-Leo priests. Not that they were not good men, but they were weak theologians. The legacy of John Paul/Benedict will stand with that of Augustine/Aquinas, Francis/Benedict, and the fathers and doctors.

Where Are The American Bishops?

This dispute between Paprocki and Cupich can be resolved by the Pope in Rome or the American bishops. Pope Leo has avoided direct definition but clearly sides with Cupich. From the American bishops we have a dozen clear voices. There are 430 American bishops, including retired. That is less than 3% of our bishops. Cupich directly violated episcopal policy and insulted his brother bishop and less than 3 out of 100 bishops have anything to say about it. Is this intellectual confusion? Or moral cowardice? Or a combination?

Church Honoring Politicians: BAD Idea!

Aside from Durkin's depraved advocacy for legal abortion, it is a  terrible idea for the Church to honor any politician. Even an ideal Catholic politician should not be honored publicly by the Church. 

Politics and religion are two different spheres and must be kept separate. This is like the NBA giving MVP award to the outstanding NFL quarterback of the year. Or the Nobel Prize Committee giving an academy award.  Nonsensical! Generally, conservatives understand this intuitively: politics does not belong in Church, or at the NFL, or the Academy Awards, or Disney World. Progressives have already sanctified their politics and politicized their faith. And so, even Pope Leo is confused: he conflates the prudential and varying judgements that Catholics entertain about immigration with abortion, an inherent, always-and-everywhere evil.

Additionally, politics is always complex, multi-valued, and polarizing. So, to honor any politician is already to alienate those opposed to his politics. In a 2-party system, to honor someone from one party is to offend the other. The Church unites us around the person of Jesus, the Eucharist, our legacy of belief and practice. It unites those of all races, classes, and politics. We as Church have no business honoring someone in the name of the Church because we like their politics. That applies to Cardinals especially!

What are We to Do?

1. We grieve. We are sad and disappointed. We hear Amos and Nehimiah: we mourn for Jerusalem, for Joseph, for our Church.

2. We refocus, as always, on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He, not the Pope, is head of the Church. We renounce remnants of ultramontanism or hyper-papalism; we detach in love and renounce lingering co-dependency on the papacy.

3. We maintain our loyalty to him; we pray for him all the more, aware that he is weak; we strive with him for the unity of the Church, in all that is good, beautiful and true.

4. We continue in the Culture/Theological War: we witness to the Truth as given. We do so zealously, respectfully, peacefully, confidently, compassionately.

5. We look elsewhere for teaching, direction, shepherding, guidance. We have good shepherds among the priests and bishops, but not many of them. We are blessed with Spirit-filled laity who receive and protect the Deposit of Faith as they respond to new initiatives of the Holy Spirit. These include prominently theologians, leaders of the lay renewal movements, and thinkers within strong Catholic institutions. We are in the age of the laity. With the hierarchy and even the priesthood in crisis, our brightest intellectual light today comes from the laity.

6. As mentioned, we drink deeply from the legacy of John Paul, Benedict, their companion theologians of the Vatican Council (DeLubac, Danielou, Congar, Boyer), Balthasar and those that continue their work. 

Conclusion

We love and accept Pope Leo as he is; we pray for him.

We love and accept the Church for who she is. She is Jerusalem, walls in ruins. 

We pray that we may, like Ezra and Nehimiah, restore our city and its temple!

Grieving the Collapse of Joseph: The Seven Sorrows of Mother Church in our Time (1945-85)

 "Woe to the complacent in Zion...they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph." Amos 6

On Sept. 15 we celebrate our Lady of Sorrows and specifically the seven sorrows of Mary. (Surprise quiz: can you recall, from memory, dear Reader, the seven sorrows? For extra credit of course!) It occurred to me: every woman especially, but each man also, has seven sorrows. Yes, seven. Not five or ten or twelve. Why seven? Because Mary had seven and she is the exemplar, the prototype for all of...nature's solitary boast. Review your life, dear Reader: infancy, childhood and right up to today. Your challenge, should you accept it, is to identify the seven significant, defining sorrows of your life. Do not settle for six; do not go for eight. Seven it is. You will sigh with relief as you identify them. And bring them to prayer. And conversation with others. And you will find peace. Consolation. Even fruit from them. I did it for myself and it worked. But it did take a little time. 

In the first reading at mass this morning (Sept. 28, 2025; 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time) we hear Amos scourging Israel for its complacency and "failure to grieve the collapse of Joseph." Like the gospel about Lazarus and Dives, the mortal sin is passive, not active; negligence; indifference; complacency. The poor and lowly are suffering; but the affluent are relaxed and carefree. 

Why the grieving about Joseph? What/who is Joseph? Joseph represents the two tribes descended from him, part of the ten tribes of Israel Amos was chastising. They were indifferent to the sufferings of the poor. It calls to mind, also, of course Joseph the Patriarch. His brothers, after casting him into a well, sat down to eat. They were complacent. They did not grieve him.

I wondered: what is it about which we are called to grieve? Then I remembered the seven sorrows and asked myself: What are the seven sorrows, in our age, of Holy Mother the Church. These  would also be the sorrows of our Mother Mary who is herself the center of the Church.

I identified these seven:

1. Priest Sex Scandal. This is a sorrow of immense gravity, on many levels. It is violation of the innocent, the young, the vulnerable. It is a desecration of the priesthood, a most trusted and holy reality. It was, in addition, covered up by Church authorities, compounding the suffering of the innocent. 

2. Persecution of the Church Globally. At the hands of communism and Jihadist Islam there are massive persecutions and killings across the globe, recently in Africa. Our mainstream press has little interest so this is widely unknown.

3. Loss of Faith By So Many. Starting in 1965, after the Council, there has been a massive exodus out of the Church. We boomers are the "lost generation" in that so many of us have left the Church. This has been followed by our children and their children.

4. Division of Church and Rejection of Faith Within. Again, since about 1968 (Humanae Vitae) we have a divided Church, a schism with a progressive wing that embraces the Cultural Revolution and rejects fundamental Catholic teaching and practice around family, sexuality, unborn life, gender and other. This has caused immense confusion and a weakening of our Catholic life for those who remain.

5. Destruction of Family Life.  Divorce, children separated from parents, loneliness, babies conceived outside of marriage, widespread fatherlessness.

6. Violation of Femininity and Maternity.  This takes many forms around the world: Islamic polygamy and honor killings, abortion itself as violation of the mother, pornography, faux feminism, adultery.

7. Decline of Virility and Paternity.  The masculine role...in family, Church, society...is always to image the paternity of God. The assaults on masculinity are intended to render the world Godless.

The readings from Amos and about Lazarus are not a call to action. It is a Word to the heart. A call to open our hearts in compassion. To renounce complacency. To see the suffering, near to us and around the world. And to join our Mother the Church and our Mother in heaven in prayer to heaven. And then to do what we can, even, especially when it is small. Because we are small. But God is great! And he lifts up the poor.

Fascism in Perspective; 10 Most Underrated Dictators

When Lefties call us Righties '"fascists," I don't get upset, defensive, angry. I do not blame "the left" for the assassinations.   First, "sticks and stones can break your bones but names can never hurt you." Also, they have freedom of speech; as do we. I can, if I want (but I don't want to) call them Pinkos or Commies. But more important, fascism is not such a bad insult. Fascists are bad, but not THAT bad! Yes, they are authoritarian, but at least they are not totalitarian, like communists, Jihadists, Cultural Marxists!

Fascism is not Nazism.  Fascism gets a bad wrap because we think of Mussolini's alliance with Hitler. But Nazism is itself far worse than fascism. Fascism has more benign forms: particularly Spain's Franco and even more Portugal's Salazar. Nazism is fascism transformed into a different, far darker reality. It became a religion of the race, a genocidal force. And it targeted, not by accident, God's own chosen people. For a Christian, it may not be possible to imagine a worse ideology. 

Violent Language.  Language can be violent: an assault upon the dignity of the person. There are lines that cannot be crossed: crying fire in a movie theatre, insults to ones masculinity, disparaging the body or appearance, cursing one's mother, threatening real harm, racial/ethnic slurs, slander, public humiliation. Calling, for example, ICE agents (who are enforcing our laws) "Nazis" or "gestapo" is verbal violence. But calling a person, party or policy "fascist" is not violent because fascism is not THAT bad.

Catholic Social Teaching Does Not Baptize any Ideology.  No, not even Western, liberal, constitutional, rule-of-law, human-rights-respecting, free market Democracy. In World War II the Allies opposed the imperialistic, fascist Axis so we American Catholics were coherently defending our nation, our political ideology and our faith. Even more so during the Cold War. After 1989, with the alleged "end of history" we enjoyed the illusion that the "right system," ours, had prevailed over all competitors. We live in a different world today. Democracy is not looking so good: in our recent election it offered us crypto-fascist Trump and softly-totalitarian Harris. It is widely accepted that we are now "post-liberal," whatever that means. With Vatican II's statement on religious liberty, we widely assumed that the Church effectively baptized the American experiment in liberty and pluralism. That honeymoon period of our Church and state is now over. In fact, the Catholic Church has a long history of working well within a wide range of political systems. Coming out of medieval Europe, and until recently in Latin America, the ideal system was to be a polity in which the state deferred to the teachings of the Church. And so the Church has done well with many monarchies and dictators. Catholic social teaching is fluid, flexible, prudential as it can be applied to all systems, appreciatively and critically. And so, in the new emerging global order another look at "fascism" from a Catholic perspective is warranted.

Authoritarian vs. Totalitarian.  The former just wants his political power, all of it. He tolerates no opposition, no free speech, no open elections. But if you do not resist him, he will leave you alone to run schools, do works of mercy, worship freely, spread the faith, teach your children, start businesses or nonprofits, create cultural and entertainment events. The later is not satisfied with political power. It is itself a religion which must infuse and control every aspect of life. The major forms in our world are: classic communism (China, North Korea, Cuba, etc.), Sharia Law (in various forms), and Cultural Progressivism or Marxism, what Benedict called the "totalitarianism of relativism." All three are essentially forms of heretical Christianity. Each draws from basic elements of our faith, ignoring some, inflating others, to create a faux-Christianity posing as the real thing. Mohammed mixed Arianism (Christianity with a low Christology) with misogynist polygamy and violence into a potent cocktail. Marxism takes Jesus's love for the poor and makes a new ideology out of it. Cultural Progressivism mixes sexual liberation and identity politics to inflate the "individual" into a God in itself.

What is Fascism?  A form of authoritarianism or dictatorship which revolves around the cult of the "Leader," is highly nationalistic, probably militaristic and imperialistic, often populist in its appeal to the working and lower classes. It can be efficient in modernizing, industrializing, and technologizing society as it can use its monopoly on power to effect social change, for the good and the bad. It breeds corruption in the lust for money and power. It leaves much of society in place: social classes, free markets, activities of the Church and other religions.

The Cult of Personality and the Appeal of the Father Figure.  We saw in the 1930s the emergence of strong fascist leaders; we are seeing the same today across our globe. Psychologically, there seems to be a popular attraction to a strong "father figure," a need that is not satisfied by the impersonality, bureaucracy, and bare protocols of constitutional democracy. In the Catholic Church we recognize this: we are united under the Pope, our father; under the bishop; and the pastor. Some years ago (1970s?) experiments were done in the USA with co-pastors, in which two priests shared the roles and missions. That disappeared almost immediately. Consider: every family needs one and only one father. Do gay couples who adopt share paternity? rotate? How about a transgender couple of two transmen? two transwomen? one of each? No, the Sexual Progressive does away paternity/paternity in favor of androgynous co-parenting. But the communal, personal, interior longing is for a person, a father, who in himself represents the family/community/nation; as he defends and defines it. In our own recent history we have looked to JFK and his family; Ronald Reagan; the Bushes; the Cuomos and others. And so, in a post-monarchy/post-liberal era, we feel the draw to the strong man.

What is Good About Fascism?  Granting that the monopoly of power, the corruption that follows, the suppression of freedom of speech and assembly are evil in themselves, what could be good?

1. Realistically, it may be in some situations the only alternative to totalitarianism in the three forms mentioned. Democracy is preferable, but it can be weak, for many reasons. It requires a deep, broad cultural infrastructure of education, political engagement, civil discourse, rule of law, protocols of decency, etc. It also requires a moral, and I would say religious, basis. A decadent, immoral, secular population will be weak, without resistance to some form of totalitarianism or authoritarianism. Throughout the Cold War we restrained the Soviet Union through a network of dictatorships, some more and some less benevolent.

2. It allows large arenas of freedom within civil society: education, culture, religion, entertainment, and art free from intervention.

3. With the cult of the leader and his monopoly on power, the quality of the dictatorship depends upon  his personal integrity. The norm is that he is corrupted by power and surrounded by sycophants of his ilk: Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Samosa, Battista, etc. But we also find admirable, and even saintly dictators who monopolize power and repress dissent in order to serve the common good and protect basic human rights and values. Here we see that personal and public morality are not separate; they are distinct but mutually infuse each other.

Ten Best Dictators

The following ten were all dictators or "fascists" in that they repressed opposition and free speech in service of pronounced nationalism even as they admirably enhanced basic human values and the common good and renounced totalitarianism.  We will build to the very best:

10. Shah of Iran.  He was overthrown due to his corruption but in retrospect was better than the Ayatollahs.

9. Mustafa Ataturk. He secularized the state and thereby inhibited Sharia Law as he industrialized.

8. Ngo Diem. Devout Catholic and apparently of fine moral character, his regime was ruined by corruption. Again, he is better than communism, even of the heralded Ho Chi Minh. 

 7. Franco, of Spain, was clearly a fascist. He is a hero for defeating the Leftist forces that were martyring our Catholic priests, religious and laity. He did not share power. We know from Picasso's Guernaca that he had German bombers target civilians in that Civil War event. He is perhaps your essential fascist in his moral ambiguity: So good in his defeat of totalitarianism, but so bad in other things.

6. Haile Sellassie, Emperor of Ethiopia for four decades, far from being a fascist, himself battled the invasion of his country by Fascist Italy. He was a practicing Ethiopian Orthodox who later became revered as a messianic figure by Restafarians. Criticized for treatment of some groups, he succeeded to a large extent in uniting the country, including granting rights to Muslims. He was religiously ecumenical, uniting with other Coptic and Orthodox groups and even participating in a Billy Graham rally. He was pan-African even as he maintained connections with the West in the Cold War.  

5. Juan and Eva Peron of Argentina were strongly populist in their concern for the poor and working class. Again, not without moral ambiguity in the wielding of power.

4. King Abdullah of Jordan is perhaps the greatest living dictator: he rules Jordan with a firm hand but is generally the unusual steadying hand in the volatile area. 

3. Anwar Sadat of Egypt was a vast improvement over his mentor Nasser. He detached from the USSR; made peace with Israel, receiving the Nobel Prize; ruled with a gentler touch; and was assassinated. He is a moral figure of a high caliber. 

2. Antonio Salazar of Portugal ruled with an iron fist from 1932-68, an extraordinary tenure. He distanced himself from contemporary fascists Hitler and Mussolini whom he considered neo-pagans. He kept the military separate from government and so downplayed the military unlike more stereotypical fascists. He assisted Franco in the Civil War; kept his nation neutral in WWII but assisted the Allies; based his "corporalist" ideology largely on papal teaching; presided over the civil war within the Portuguese global empire. A devout, conservative Catholic, he had been a seminarian; never married. Apparently had a series of tender, passionate love affairs with women, some of them married. 

1. Julius Nyrerere of Tanzania is hands down the best dictator ever! A devout Catholic, he is designated a "Servant of God" by the Church and on the path to canonization. He was nationalist but also a pan-Africanist. He pioneered a third way, during the Cold War, between the Soviets and the West; but he had an affinity for Mao and the Chinese way. His was a one-party rule, and therefore a dictatorship; no real opposition. He advocated an African Socialism as alternative to Communism and Capitalism. He was much admired, in the 1960s, by many Maryknoller African missionaries during the time I was in Maryknoll College Seminary. That explains some of my preference for him. 

The best six (Nyrere, Salazar, Sadat, Abdulla, Peron, Sallassie)  here are substantially good in themselves. The last four (Franco, Diem,Ataturk, Shah) have grave deficiencies but are good in contrast to their alternatives, Communism and Sharia Law.

Honor Roll of Non-Fascist Dictators

General Douglas MacArthur. He was certainly NOT a fascist. But he did rule Japan, temporarily, on behalf of the USA, after WWII, as a dictator. He facilitated economic development, unions, women's rights, freedoms and democracy. His was a pure benevolent dictatorship. He was, obviously, an extraordinary and aggressive military man, a conservative Republican, a flaming patriot. No, not a fascist.

Irish Catholic Mayors, (Curley of Boston, Hague of Jersey City, Daily of Chicago) were certainly not fascists but were dictators with their political machines in their big cities. As such, they tolerated no opposition. But they were benevolent in many ways: they "took care of their own," were very good to the Church, "got the job done" in picking up the garbage and running the cities. Some were generous in personal ways and practicing Catholics. We can do worse...for sure!

Most Paradoxical Dictators:

 Donald Trump.  In this his second term, he astonishes with the ferocity of his dictatorial impulses and the vigor and strength with which he pursues them. At the same time, he is our champion in the war against Cultural Progressivism. He has singlehandedly stopped, or at least paused, the "arc of (totalitarian) history," Personally, in his style, speech and behavior he is a moral catastrophe, deeply depraved. He is a force for evil; he is a force against a greater evil.

 Viktor Orban of Hungary presents all the ambiguities and paradoxes of fascism: he defends traditional Christian values as he seems to undermine democracy, run a kleptocracy, and accommodate China and Russia. 

Thought Experiment

Imagine: we live in a country with five distinct political populations, each about 20%: Muslims for Sharia law, Communists for state control of everything, Cultural Marxists, fascists, and a Catholic-Evangelical friendly party supportive of traditional values but also solidarity with the poor, rule of law, and all the freedoms of speech/religion/etc.  (Does this, dear Reader, resemble the world we inhabit.?)

Assume you are, with me, in the last group. With only 20%, how do we safeguard our interests and advance our ideals? Obvi...our best friend is the fascist. He will leave us alone to pursue our way of life. We need to work together to restrain the overreach of the three totalitarianisms. 

We do well, however, to retain some detachment. Sometimes we might ally ourselves with the Muslims in the defense of the unborn, for religious rights, the nature of the family. We might work with Communists at times to improve the conditions of the poor. We might work with Cultural Progressives against the tyrannical impulses of the fascists. This is the famous "Christian Strategy" of Adrian Vermulle.

We live in interesting times! Perhaps liberal Democracy is not as good as we thought through the Cold War. Perhaps dictators aren't always as bad as we thought! Things are complicated! Interesting times!

The Existential Dread...Political-Psychological-Spiritual...of the Left in the Time of Trumph

This is no joke! The suffering is very real. Talk of Trump Derangement Syndrome was funny at a point; it is not funny now. The suffering is real: overwhelming feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, helplessness, hopelessness. Liberal adolescent girls are especially prone to this. Celebrities are leaving the country. We have had a series of assassinations by unhinged young men with little comparable from the right. In some polls close to half of liberals give moral approval to political assassination. This is more than disappointment with a political setback like when your team loses: it is "existential dread" in the sense of anxiety that one's very existence is threatened; a real death.

This is not entirely irrational. It is not psychosis. It is paranoid overreaction. But Woody Allen did remind us "Just because you are paranoid, that does not mean that THEY are not after you!" Trump is a "dictator wannabe" who is reckless in his disregard for our entire constitutional order: weaponizing the DOJ for personal vendettas, muscling the courts and the Fed, etc. I, who am of the Right, do not hesitate to describe him as a crypto-fascist. Beyond politics, in his person he has long been an assault on the moral values that hold our nation together: crude, self-centered, contemptuous and insulting in public discourse, detached from factuality, disrespectful of the person, especially the opponent. 

There are valid moral/political reasons to be repelled by MAGA and its master. I share these. But the almost clinical level of stress of the Cultural Left is pathological. Reality: the electorate is exactly matched, 50-50, politically. Trump will be out of office in three years. The Left remains fully in charge of all high status institutions. The crazier things he is doing will be nullified (I expect, trusting in the judicial integrity of Barrett and Roberts especially) by the Supreme Court. No, the sky is not falling!

Trump is not himself the primary cause of this dread. Rather, it is structural, inherent in the inner form, the very nature of the Cultural Progressivism that possessed our elite culture over half a century ago. The formal or structural elements of progressivism that incline to this hysteria include:

1. Godless.  The Left is formally secular. God is not in the game. To be sure, many religious people are leftist for good religious reasons. But on the Left you keep your piety private, not public or political. You are privately opposed to abortion but politically in favor of its legalization. A Catholic liberal may have lawn signs "Love lives here" or bumper stickers "Save the planet" but not  "Jesus, I trust in you." The progressive, obsessed with pluralism of a very specific sort, is always anxious about offending some atheist or Hindu or something!

 Without God and the supernatural, this world is all we have. There is no eternity, no afterlife. And so, severe worldly threats (environmental, fascism, racism, etc.) become ontologically overwhelming. We are facing oblivion. By contrast, the religious conservative always has an eye on God and our destiny: everything else has a tentative, light-hearted, paradoxical-ironic dimension to it.

2. Progress.  The progressive adores...progress. We are moving forward, into a happy and glorious future, due to science, technology and education. We are moving ever away from, triumphing over a past of ignorance, patriarchy, racism, sexism, and oppressions of every stripe. To "go back" would not be to retrieve and revive the legacy of our American founders, of Athens and Jerusalem! No, it would be to plunge back into the darkness. Evil. Death.

From that perspective, consider: Trump has singlehandedly stopped, perhaps paused, possibly reversed "the Arc of History!" He is anti-science, sexist, racist, xenophobic, fascist, capitalist and every imaginable "...ist." He has squelched every secular, leftist hope for the future. He is something like Satan.

3. Emasculated. Of course, many fine men are progressive. But the culture itself is non-or-anti-masculine just like the Marine culture is masculine. The Left is defined by: deconstruction of virility/femininity, abortion as a human right, aversion to patriarchy and toxic masculinity, a faux-feminism of resentment, victimization and envy (of male privilege). And so, masculinity in its full God-created range is canceled. Progressives do not like forceful evangelists, police, military, competitors, entrepreneurs. But the purpose of masculinity is to protect/provide for mother/with/child. The woman, who is unsheltered in some form by the paternal-or-spousal, in her vulnerability and delicacy, is prone to hysteria. And so, we see that the response of the Democratic Party today is one of hysteria: dispersed anxiety, confusion, disorientation, diffused anger, impotency. This is the response of a woman at risk, unprotected, bereft of the good of the masculine.

4. Sterile Sex.  The primary foundation of Cultural Liberalism is sterile sex, the liberation of sexuality from procreation, marriage, family, fidelity. Sexual license. The technology of contraception is what made Cultural Progressivism possible, as an entire civilization, a social order, rather than a minute bohemian subculture. So we have seen the hysteria across the left in the wake of Dobbs. The sexual libertarian knows that contraception is unreliable and so abortion is essential to his lifestyle. To a social order that is essentially sexually-addicted-but-in-denial, the loss of abortion is a loss of life: hysteria and dread!

5. Isolated, Autonomous Self.   The sterile, androgynous Self is the autonomous, isolated agent of its own destiny, its own god. This is a lonely place. Liberalism has deconstructed the family, nuclear and extended, as well all all intermediate organizations (Church, bowling leagues, volunteerism, etc.) to leave the naked self alone with mega-corporations and the the expansive state. And so, the progressive self is alone with career, accomplishments, singular relationships. Deprived of the smaller, intermediate organs of subsidiarity, the self is vulnerable to the power of the state.

 6. Dependence on Mega-State.  The liberal looks to government as a Messiah: the one to save us from all maladies. Politics takes the place previously held by God and Church, family, neighborhood, various communities. The State is the primary force, energizing science/technology/education and overcoming all the oppressions. Great expectations! But if government is so promising, it can also be threatening. That Trump can take over most of the levers of government and wield them so forcefully becomes than an actual existential threat, because those other communities are not there. It is the individual, alone, powerless before the mega-state. The serious conservative prefers small government and expanded intermediate communities; the serious liberal expects great things and invests richly in centralized government. So we see the angst of the progressive in Trump world.

7. Victimology. With identity politics, the Cultural Left imagines politics as the oppression/liberation of dominant and oppressed groups. This replaces the classical economic Left of class warfare between the investor and the worker class. This new paradigm allows the new affluent elite, including the managerial class, to enjoy financial affluence and privilege but claim the high ground morally as they advocate BLM and LGBTQ. Imagine the consternation: the MAGA victory was helped by the flight of black and Latino men to the right. The Left, in BLM and "Defund Police," had attributed a passivity, a victimization and impotency to the black male. Those black males have now exercised agency in voting for Trump. The Left...white, educated, affluent, privileged...now feels itself to be victim, passive, paralyzed, without agency. Existential dread!

8. Imperialistic, Totalitarian Compulsivity.  As a form of messianic politics, the Left impulsively infuses all of life with its politics. Disney becomes education in alternate lifestyles. Eating Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream involves us with Israel/Gaza and global warming. The Academy Awards becomes a series of shrill, moralistic, indignant tirades. Football teams need to decide: bend-or-not-bend-the-knee. The conservative sees that politics is not nothing, but it is not everything. Maybe 5-10 % at most. For the real progressive, it is 85%. The conservative would like to eat ice cream, watch the Oscars or football without politics. Not so the Left: you simply cannot watch a movie or game unbothered by sexism, racism and the environment. And so, we have the "totalitarianism of relativism." If MAGA is authoritarian, progressivism is totalitarian. (Read Hannah Arendt on the distinction: the former wants political power but is "live and let live" if you do not challenge him; the later needs to control everything.) Catholic adoption agencies dare not refuse to place a little girl with two gay (or trans?) men! The Little Sisters of the Poor dare not refuse to provide contraception to their workers! That baker dare not refuse a cake for a gay wedding.  Furthermore, it becomes imperialistic as it exports its values around the globe. Cardinals from Africa have spoken about cultural imperialism, for example in the Vatican's blessing of gay relations. The dissolution of AID programs finds some justification in the cultural aggressiveness around these issues. John Paul successfully led a coalition with Muslim nations at UN conferences in Cairo and Bejing against Clinton's crusade for abortion. We see here in the fragility of the Left its dangerous compulsion to complete control. That totalitarian compulsion diminishes the more mundane dictatorial propensities of MAGA.

9. Science as an Idol.  For the progressive mind, science and technology, fueled by big state, will save us. Robert Kennedy now has us in a civil war within the medical world. It is hard to know what to believe. The ideal of science as a pure, impeccably objective, selfless service of the community has now been disabused. But the important figure here is Dr. Fauci, our own Wizard of Oz. He reigned magisterially through the pandemic, transcendent, Jesuit-educated, non-partisan, follow-the-science guy. Now we learn he systematically repressed all evidence that the thing came from the lab with which he had dealings. He closed down our Churches but allowed BLM rallies. He steps behind the veil as pathetic little man in his deceptions. But the real progressive will not tolerate the cognitive dissonance of their idol. As with Martin Luther King and his treatment of women, the Left will keep them both on pedestals, bowing in awe, in deep denial.

10. Nature Mysticism. For many on the Left, global warming is not a problem to be solved politically, scientifically, and technically. It is existential threat. It is the death of God. We conservatives, as theists, receive Creation as a gift from the hand of our Creator: good in itself but also a gesture within a relationship of Eternal Love. Those who do not share traditional belief in a Creator-Father God, rarely, in this country, adapt a strong atheism. More probable is a soft agnosticism. Among women, widely we find an implicit "spirituality" of pantheism: strong sense of the spiritual as immanent in nature and relationships. Interest in Eastern religions, New Age stuff, Enneagram, psycho-spiritualities. For such, global warming is ontologically catastrophic. It is the end of life as we know it. It overcomes all other issues. It is Absolute Death. Angst!

Going Forward

With this Trump administration, we conservatives are on a roll in the Culture War. But we dare not gloat. 

Our current gains may be temporary. The "arc of history" may return after a pause. We do well to play the long game. This Culture War has raged for 55 years. It is getting worse, not better. It will probably be a multi-century war. In a  100 years or so, my great-grandchildren will be engaged with our same four major antagonists: Cultural Progressivism, Communism (largely Chinese), Islamic Jihadism (of various flavors) and your run-of-the-mill nationalist fascists (Putin). 

Seeing at this time the fragility and anxiety of the Cultural Left, we do well to give thanks, for all the riches... of family, Church, nation, cultural/historical...and delight in them. We do well to have some empathy and kindness for those not so blessed. With our legacy, we have great expectations for the future.

At the same time, realistically the diagnosis above is sobering. Cultural Progressivism is not merely toxic, it is fatal. Fatal for those we love. Also for us. It is like an addiction, or mental illness, or moral depravity or an infection...it can pull us in and destroy us. To start, we need to inoculate ourselves. We need to detach, with love, and cut cords of co-dependency: not enabling and cooperating, but not victimized, resentful and angry. Rather, confidently, peacefully, prudently we move ahead; fighting the Cultural and the Spiritual War; loving our enemy; strong, calm in heart, intellect and will.

We are not assured of victory here within history. We may well be overwhelmed by the dark forces. Like Obi Wan Kenobi, we may find ourselves like Jedi in hiding. like Aragon, a King-in-exile. Here we invoke the principle of Chiaroscoro: in the darkness, the light shines all the more. We need not win the Culture War. We only need to fight valiantly, charitably, truthfully. The recently deceased Charlie Kirk, not without flaw, is an inspiration to engage respectfully, charitably, truthfully. 

Charlie and Erika Kirk Revival: The Holy Spirit is Moving Again

 Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the Lost Boys of the West, the young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, no reason to live...the men wasting their lives on distractions and consumed with resentment, anger and hate. Charlie wanted to help them....My husband Charlie. He wanted to save young men, like the one who took his life. That young man. That young man on the cross. Our Savior said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." That man. That young man. I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did in his. What Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love.    

Erika Kirk  Sept 21, 2025 At memorial for her husband Charlie.

We are in revival. Again. All are invited. Some will come. Most are unaware. Many are critical, resentful, condescending. I am in!

Today's memorial for Charlie Kirk, (after words less nasty than his norm from Miller), was pure Revival. It was not just an extended eulogy. It was not a political rally. Rubio, Hegseth, Robert Kennedy and Vance were all expressions of love for their friend but even more so clear, passionate witnesses to the the love of God in Christ, for all of us!

Rubio was at his very best: Hispanic Catholic sounding like Billy Graham. Hegseth, Secretary for the Department of War, speaking eloquently and sincerely about love. Perhaps most striking: Kennedy, son and nephew of slain Democrat hero-leaders, now gathered with Republicans (!?!) to honor a similar young leader! Vance stepped up a notch and was clearly influenced by Kirk to move beyond tribalism to genuine national leadership.

Erika was the high point. Passionately emotional in a feminine way, she was composed, articulate, clear and passionate:  about love of Christ, love of family, love of each other. When she spoke of Charlie's love for young men, she included his assassin, Tyler Robinson, "that young man." You will notice grammatically she conflated "that young man," initially meaning Tyler, with "that young man on the cross," meaning Jesus, crucified and forgiving. In her mind, she was conflating Jesus and Charlie and Tyler. Those few words might be the most beautiful, inspired and inspiring, I have heard in any speech in my entire life. She expressed nothing but love, for Charlie, for Christ, for her family, for her country. No mention of MAGA, of politics, of culture war.

We watched it on CNN. Their coverage was appreciative and reverent. There was an Afro-American conservative and a few seemingly-moderate-liberals. Their comments were correct, appreciative, respectful. These progressives were participating in the mourning and honoring of a political opponent. Very impressive! Peace prevailed.

It was classic Billy-Graham-style, middle America, Evangelical revival: God, Family, Country.

As an urban, ethnic, working class Catholic, it was not exactly my flavor. But as a charismatic-evangelical Catholic it was. I am in!

We Catholic don't talk "Revival!" We do missions, retreats and renewal. I will assume revival and renewal are almost synonymous.  I know a lot about revival/renewal. I was born and raised in the Great Protestant/Catholic Revival after the war.

We were praying  the Family Rosary of Father Patrick Peyton. The nine of us prayed 5 decades, and about 25 intentions afterwards, with our parents every night. At that same time Fulton Sheen on the Catholic side and Billy Graham on the  Evangelical were spearheading Revival. In a lower key, more intellectual, but close to revival, was a Catholic renaissance in literature fueled by Sheed and Ward and the availability of inexpensive but outstanding Catholic literature of an impressive litany of outstanding thinkers (Chesterton, Knox, Dawson, Houselander,  Connolly, etc.)

In my adolescence, 1960s, we were all swept up in the multiple, converging renewals that flowed into the Council: ecumenical, biblical, liturgical, lay activist, return to sources, dialogue with culture, etc. 

In the 1970s we saw the pro-life movement, the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Movement across the Churches. 

In these same decades our society benefited from a series of secular political-cultural movements which drew from religious sources to renewal the broader society. These were analogous to revivals: labor movement, civil rights, farm workers, anti-war. 

Through these decades, the most deeply spiritual but not explicitly religious "revival" was spreading quietly, underground, anonymously: the 12-steps of the Anonymous Groups. These united compulsives across all religions and social groupings in their shared, desperate need of help from above and support from each other. 

Over the last 50 years or so, revival has enflamed randomly, unpredictably: Evangelical-Catholic fraternity, home schooling, lay renewal movements, new religious orders, flourishing of "deep Catholic" schools, the theological legacy of John Paul and Benedict, devotion to Divine Mercy, Marian piety, The Latin Mass. 

You see I have had the best of both worlds. On the one hand "based": rooted steadily in the rock-solid institutional Catholic Church, within a close extended and immediate family, within a constitutional democracy and a world order mostly at peace and thriving through free markets. On the other hand, moving fluidly in the currents of revival/reform, one after another, like an eagle soaring with wings full, moved by currents of wind.

This morning I read Peggy Noonan's recent article in the Wall Street Journal and then I heard her concern repeated on phone calls with my son and son-in-law: with this death, the times are turning dark; on both sides,  hysteria and rage are flaming. I live in my little world and do not presume to take the pulse of the nation. But my view: an event like this provokes the bad and the good. The fear and hatred may well be increasing. But on the other hand, the memorial for Kirk today can only move both sides to reconcile. The example of Charlie will inflame love of God/Family/Country but also in a way that engages respectfully the opposition. 

We are in Revival!

Keep your eyes on Erika Kirk and Turning Point USA!

Let's pray especially for our young men, including Tyler Robinson!

I never saw a revival or a renewal I did not like!

I am in!

  

Thanks Be To God For INSTITUTIONS!

Since reading Yuval Levin's A Time to Build (2020), I am a fervent institutionalist! I am a flaming believer! It is institutions that transcend the finite individual and all the vagaries of time and change to preserve, for all of us, and our descendants, the embodied-stable- reliable-promising presences of the True, the Good, the Beautiful!

Additionally, we are ourselves, in our loyalty and service to institutions, shaped, disciplined, purified, transformed into disciplined-generous-sacrificial-noble-humble-collegial-sometimes-heroic moral actors.

Institutions are under assault in our time from many corners. First, we have fluidity and constant change and a dreadful sense of inevitable impermanence. Second, we have at the top of society the narcissistic cult of celebrity whereby leaders and prominent personalities utilize institutions (e.g. Presidency, Senate, etc.) to call attention to themselves, disrespectful of the institution which they are supposed to serve. Thirdly, we have the breakdown of community at every level, from family cohesion to wholesome patriotism, and the isolation of the lonely, alienated Self. Forth, there is the widespread "victim complex" and suspicion that all institutions are always vehicles of oppression. Lastly, the decline of our society into moral decadence has especially afflicted institutions; as the degeneration of the same has propelled the downward spiral. Individualism prevails; institutions are in decline.

Imagine a human life bereft of institutions: disconnected from community, present-past-future; bereft of memory, history, tradition, hope; free of habit, routine, schedule, regularity; isolated in the present, possibly before a screen, consuming food/alcohol/narcotics in loneliness...Hell on Earth!

In a genuinely prophetic delivery, Levin calls for us to return to the humble, loyal, self-effacing, generous servant of the institution...of whatever kind.

An Institutional Autobiography

With that in mind, in an exercise of grateful remembrance, I recall the institutions that have formed me, that have protected and provide for me what is True, Good and Beautiful.

You will have little interest, dear Reader, in the following details. But I invite you to a similar recall, in gratitude, of the specific institutions that have formed you.

Childhood and Youth: (1947-65)

Roman Catholic Church (son of); 

Laracy-Gallagher-Remmele Families (son, husband, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, uncle, in-law, grandfather); 

USA (citizen); St. John's Parish and Elementary School, Orange, NJ; United Auto Workers (my father a union organizer); Seton Hall Prep, South Orange, NJ; Newark Evening News (paperboy); Pal's Pancake House (busboy); Crestmont Country Club (caddy, greenkeeper); Seton Hall University (summer maintenance job); Rheingold Beer (truck helper).

Late Adolescence: (1965-70) Democratic Party ; Maryknoll College Seminary, Glen Ellyn, Il; CIDOC Language Institute, Cuernavaca, Mexico; Student Service Summer Project, Tlaxscala, Mexico.

Young Adulthood (1970-7)Woodstock Theologate, NYC; Puerto Rican Community Development Project (ESL teacher); Xavier Jesuit H.S. (teacher); Marriage and Children; United Farm Workers (supporter volunteer), St. Mary's H.S. (teacher); St. Aloysius Parish (liason with Spanish-speaking; ; Christ the King Charismatic Prayer Group; Cursillo; Marriage Encounter.

Middle Age (1977- 2022) Jersey City Resident and Homeowner; Republican Party; United Parcel Service (employee 25 years); Teamster's Union; Knights of Columbus; Communio Theological Journal Discussion Group; St. Paul's Parish (parishioner, CCD teacher); St. Paul's School (religion teacher); Greenville Little League (coach); Rutgers MBA Program; Seton Hall University (M.A.); Union Theological Seminary (doctoral program); St. Peter's College (adjunct); Caldwell College (adjunct); Neocatechumenal Way . Participant in Men's Bible Study, Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela, 12-step meetings, Recovery Meetings (for the nervous), Suicide Survivor Support Group. Immaculate Conception H.S.; Magnificat Home; Our Lady's Missionaries of the Eucharist.

Old Age (2022-Present)St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish; St. Mother of Teresa Parish CCD; Jersey Shore Hospital Spiritual Care (volunteer chaplain); Catholic Communion Ministry to Ocean County Jail; Bradley Beach Resident and Homeowner

That is 54 institutions. 8 schools at which I studied. 9 schools at which I taught.  18 Church groups (not counting schools.) I have been formed by and contributed to, above all:  the Church, my family, and Catholic education.

Catholic Intuition on Institutions

This refreshing, striking proposal in favor of institutions from  Jewish moralist, Yuval Levin, is connatural to the Catholic heart and mind. Anthropologically Catholics understand that the human person requires stability, continuity, habit, intergenerational communion, tradition, permanence, community, a pedagogy in virtue, memory, intelligibility, rule of law, and the embodiment, the enfleshment, the institutionalization of the True, the Good and the Beautiful. Even more, in our fallen state we desperate need guardrails, fences, commandments to protect us. We believe that the etrnal, transcendent, Triune God has institutionalized himself in the Church of Jesus Christ.  No one is more pro-institutional than the Catholic. Yes, even in the face of all the human evil, sin, error. Notwithstanding all the corruption, perversion, domination, dehumanization...certain institutions are inherently good, coming from the hand of God. Primarily two: the family and the Church. After them, we have the entire civilizational legacy that expresses and elaborates our faith heritage and all good human values coherent with it.

And so, the greatest human institution is the Catholic Church, the physical-institutional continuance in history as the body of Jesus himself.

Flowing from this organic, structural, living body we find the entire civilizational legacy of the West and specifically the USA: rule of law, liberties, science, culture and so much more.

It bears emphasis that the institutional Church and the immense civilizational network to which she gave birth is a living organism, not a dead skeleton, that breathes, changes, moves, flowers and bears fruit, continuous with the past, ever youthful, surprising, serendipitous.

Best Institutions: Countdown 

So, what are the greatest institutions, within our Catholic, Western, American tradition? What would a Fleckinstein essay be without a top-ten list? I offer my favorites.

24. Childhood games, rhymes, riddles, dances handed down through the generations without adult presence.

23 Holidays, holy days, family vacations.

22. Sports and competition at all levels, especially the most local, casual, informal: pick-up basketball, stickball, handball, chess game in park.

21. International NGOs and non-profits of all sizes that serve the needy, work for peace, and advance the good, the true and the beautiful.

20. Celebrative, joyful ethnic and family traditions around cuisine and prudent use of alcohol.

19. US military, DOJ, FBI, local police, fire, crossing guards...who protect us in a vicious world.

18. US Constitution including all our freedoms, rule of law, democracy, separation of powers, federalism.

17. Private property, free markets, trade unions, regulative state.

16. Legacies of culture, art, music, literature, philosophy.

15. Circles of learning, inquiry and education including schools, journals and others.

14. Religious institutes, renewal movements, organizations.

13. Catholic sacramentals, Church buildings, devotions including rosary, pilgrimages, holy hours, retreats, devotion to the saints, bible groups, hymns.

12. Magisterium of the Church together with teachings of fathers, doctors, saints and mystics.

11. Consecrated life of poverty, chastity and obedience in community.

10. Organized engagement in the corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy.

9. Initiation rites into mature virility, informal and formal, which have collapsed in our world, largely causing the Crisis of Masculinity that plagues our culture.

8. Identity, mission, charism, rituals and roles of masculinity/femininity. 

7. Bible.

6. Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

5. Sacrament of Confession/Absolution/Reparation.

4. Sacrament of Holy Orders: including entire hierarchical economy of episcopacy, papacy, etc.

3. Sacrament of Matrimony: including entire Cult of conjugal fidelity, chastity, unity/procreativity, paternity/maternity, spousality, filiality.

2. Sacraments of Baptism/Confirmation: absolution from sin, union with Christ in the Church, infilling of the Holy Spirit.

1. Eucharist: actual, corporeal/spiritual presence of Jesus himself.

Conclusion

Let us ponder, dear Reader, the fabulous wealth we have received here. 

Let us do a gratitude litany of those that have most formed you to this point. 

If you are older, consider those you have happily served. 

If you are younger, ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit about where you may contribute. Do so humbly, anonymously, perseveringly. And do not be afraid to start a new institution if you are so led.

Drinks and Dinner with Jesuits, Maryknollers, Christian Brothers and Friars of the Renewal

In midlife, my 50s, 2000-2015, I was privileged to enjoy dinner and drinks on several occasions with these four groups.  I was very comfortable with them: having passed my college years in seminary with Maryknoll and studied theology with Jesuits in NYC, I have spent 12 years teaching in Catholic schools, perhaps 25 years teaching CCD. Even my secular business career of 25 years was with UPS, Franciscan-like in its brown uniforms/trucks as well as masculine, hardworking, blue collar, intense, unpretentious, with a stern code of integrity. My experience in UPS was not unlike the seminary in many ways. As a lay family man, I am close in spirit to the clergy and consecrated.

The first three groups were strikingly similar; the CFRs a contrast to the others. 

With the Jesuits, Maryknollers and Christian Brothers my hosts were always half a generation older than me, silent generation, then approaching 70, "older brothers." All Irish, urban, seasoned. All moderately liberal, politically and theologically, to the left of myself, products of the Vatican II Council liberalism of their early adulthood, courteous and restrained in conversation. 

The Jesuits of Jersey City, where I was guest of my spiritual director of many years, history professor John Wrynn S.J., had the finest alcohol and cuisine. Erudite, sophisticated, confident, charming, they received me warmly as they had taught my oldest daughter Mary and son Paul. Both were standouts in that student body with regard to intelligent participation in class. My daughter was a celebrity among this specific cohort of Jesuits, vigorously heterosexual, candid in an innocent fashion in their admiration for Mary's feminine charm.

In those same years I would periodically make a private retreat at Maryknoll NY, guest of a classmate-friend John Sivalon and an older African missioner, George Carter, an exceptional, eccentric, utterly charming man. He came from our area, West Orange NJ; we had donated to his mission on occasion. He came home for health reasons. When I told him we were starting a residence for low-income women he gave me a check for $10,000...a big boost at that time. I would walk the beautiful grounds including the cemetery, pray in chapel, read, eat with the missioners. I had died and gone to heaven! These men were less erudite, men of good deeds, more modest. Each had spent a lifetime overseas, serving the poor and the Church. Intelligent, serene, generous, humble. They would generally be moderate theologically but liberal politically in their love of the poor. I was in awe of the generosity and humility of their lives. 

I was hosted at the Christian Brothers in Jersey City by my friend-big-brother, Ray Murphy. These men had similarly spent a lifetime teaching high school boys. Many had multiple master's degrees. Intelligent and well-informed like the Jesuits, they resembled the Maryknoller's in their humility and quiet serenity. As with the other two groups, they had about them a gentleness, a quiet confidence, high intelligence, tons of warmth and charm, and a quiet, unpretentious piety. The charism/vocation of the brother is striking: they surrender wife/family/autonomy/wealth; they do not enjoy the status/powers/privileges of ordination and configuration to Christ the Bridegroom; as they lack the virginal, bridal surrender to the Groom of women religious. They embrace poverty at several levels, radiating fraternity, humility, service. The Christian brothers, strong educators of young men, exercise a paternity in their schools.

The Friars of the Renewal are a different flavor of Catholic religious life. Founded in NYC in 1987, this group is a return to the radical poverty of St. Francis, to service of the poor, and announcement of the Gospel in all its depth and novelty.  The eight founders (Groeschel, Apostoli, Sudano, etc.), same generation as my friends in the other orders, are striking and distinctive: New York, macho, edgy, radical, confident, bold, passionate, conservative, countercultural, contemplative/activist, rooted in communal prayer, creative, extreme. They are culture warriors, reactive to a world gone dark and a Church gone soft. They are more in synch intellectually with myself. My nephew was a friar in Newark at the time; most of the friars were the age of my children. There I was the elder, received warmly and respectfully as "Uncle Matt." The food was whatever they received as donation but was sometimes good. The mood relaxed, youthful, energetic. Doer of good deeds rather than readers of books, they were very tuned into the cutting edge of the Church in hip NYC: they would be seen at every good lecture or event sponsored possibly by the lay renewal movements. Close to the poor, they are also fiercely Catholic in defense of the unborn and traditional values. 

It was an honor and a delight to dine with all four groups.

Many of my older brothers are now passed. I recall with awe and gratitude their lives: generous, gentle, intelligent, noble, loyal to the Church they love.

Thinking of the Friars, I surge with hope, joy and youthful energy.

May our Lord continue to bless our Church with just such men as priests and brothers!