In 1946 my parents married: Mom happily retreated from the NYC work world to make a home and raise nine children; Dad worked hard and provided well! They were very happy! They were representative of their cohort, the Great Generation. My wife and I emulated this model for about 30 years. It worked perfectly! We were happy. When I reached the age of 55, just into the new century, we reversed roles: Mary Lynn was making good money, half-time, as a nurse; I left my higher paying job (almost 6 figures) to make one third in service, first as a religion teacher in a Catholic high school and then running boarding homes for low-income money. Her proficiency as a provider freed me for ministry in the Church and community.
I see this second gender model as an emerging, promising model...for many, but certainly not all.
Young women are vastly outperforming men in many arenas: especially in education, also in stability of career and generally in emotional maturity (in regard to identity, commitment, vocation) during early adulthood. If you do not see this, you live in another world from mine!
Many young women are able to nurture the children and provide for the family at the same time. They are amazing! Really!
Many young men are drifting, disoriented in career, reluctant to commit, unhinged in their masculine identity.
I am hoping that the professional competence of our young women might free up some men to, like myself, pursue a vocation in service, including study and prayer as the roots of Christ-centered ministry.
This is a retrieval of older Jewish and Greek traditions. Even today in Orthodox communities it is accepted that men dedicate themselves to prayerful study, sharing and teaching of God's revelation. We read about this in Proverbs and the wisdom literature which praises the industrious wife who provides for the household while the husband "sits with the elders at the gates." In classic Hellenic society, the higher prestige occupation was the politics of the "polis" and the study of philosophy. Practical work of farming, producing and providing was delegated to slaves.
In the pragmatic, technological, materialistic and meritocratic America of today, of course, everything is valued financially: there are obsessions about "glass ceilings" and the "one percent." Prayer, contemplation, service, and "useless" study are devalued: they don't bring in any money. And so part of this gender adjustment is a deeper, broader transformation of values. With time, of course, women will also evaluate their preoccupation with financial and status equality. They will themselves ambition to grow deeper in prayer, study and service. Activity will yield some status to Receptivity. If this spreads, it will lead to a drastic decrease in Gross National Product; the economists will panic; and there will be deeper peace and joy on earth!
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Three Political Divides in the age of Trump
The three fundamental political divides in our society could be called: the classic, the class, and the cultural-moral.
The classic economic divide between Democrats and Republicans involves the economic interests of labor vs. capital and the role of the state in the free market, a tension intrinsic to developed, late industrial societies. This does not have to be a viciously polarizing divide, but has traditionally been relatively friendly: not so much a battle-to-the-death as an amiable if competitive softball game at an family picnic. By the 1940s the radical socialist elements (now reemerging in new shapes) in the labor movement were defeated by pro-capitalist, pro-democracy, anti-communist, largely Catholic forces. For example, I can't recall anything terribly negative spoken about President Eisenhower in my staunchly Democratic family in the 1950s. Later in that century, during my 25 years at UPS, mostly in management, I enjoyed an easy collaboration with union shop stewards: we were equally committed to implementing "the contract" and we all came from the same source, the ranks of hourly, union workers. I was a pro-union supervisor and the union leaders were (deep down, if covertly) pro-company. The issues around this divide are economical and regulatory: minimum wage, capital gains tax, health care, safety and environmental regulations and so forth. Being material and economic, these are inherently susceptible to compromise: if I want a $10 minimum wage and you a $20, we can compromise at $15.
With regard to this classic divide, I position myself as a slightly-left-leaning moderate. I retain the values of my family background: sympathy for the underdogs, for labor, and for a robust but limited government. At the same time, experience has given me keener understanding of the dysfunctions of big government and the benefits of free enterprise. I am roughly equal in my respect for the deficiencies and advantages of the expansive state and corporation. What they share is a malignant compulsion to grow like a cancer, beyond human, sober and rational dimensions. If there is a single must-read book on economics it would be the marvelous Small is Beautiful in which Schumaher argues for a modest, limited and human scale to technology and institutions. Beyond that we should study the work of Ivan Illich and Jacques Ellul along with a smattering of the agrarian Wendell Berry and the Christian anarchists Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Together they are antidotes to the "gigantism" common to the Democratic and Republican parties that since World War II have lost any sense of subsidiarity.
The second, new class divide is much more severe and polarizing: that between the winners and losers in the new economy. For example, in 1950-70 the vigorous economy granted rich benefits to industrial, union workers: a UAW or Teamster worker might live close to and quite similar to a doctor or a lawyer. But the post-industrial, high-tech, information economy has seen a diminished union movement and a chasm between new upper and lower classes. On the one hand, the more educated, competent (meritocracy), and privileged develop marketable managerial or technical skills and use connections to advance; meanwhile, an emergent underclass is trapped in a web of bad education, under-employment, and , even worse, a deteriorating family and faith network. And so we find ourselves with two classes (I am not talking about the "1 %"): the winners are educated, cosmopolitan, mobile, more liberal; they are often but not always secular; they advocate sexual freedom even as they benefit, almost unconsciously, from a relatively intact marriage-family pattern. The underclass is destroyed by broken family structure, lack of medical coverage, under-employment, a fractured marriage-family system, broken communities, and a residual faith but a falling away from Church. This divide, of course, explains the emergence of Trump!
I myself view this chasm with alarm from my own stable position in the upper tier since I benefit from good education, a rich middle class network of connections, and a steady income. I see the two sides of the coin, the material/economic and the cultural/spiritual: the first is the loss of jobs, benefits and opportunities; the second the decomposition of families and communities due to loss of faith, Church and an ethos of chastity and fidelity. Clearly, the primary cause of poverty is the single mother, struggling to raise children without a partner. As a moral conservative, I estimate that the moral/cultural causes are responsible for the most of our poverty. However, the economic also plays a roll. In this regard, I have small, but limited confidence in the proposed solutions from right and left: a prosperous economy will trickle-down benefits including jobs even as a stable safety network (especially health care) will help many. I have really no trust that the erratic, incoherent tweet-policy of Trump will help.
The most important of the three divides is the cultural-moral: in the wake of the Culture Revolution: traditionalists resist the emergent hegemony of: liberation of sexuality from marriage, fertility, commitment and family; deconstruction of the Mystery of masculinity/femininity; an unrestrained Frankenstein-like explosion of technology; and a genocide of the unborn, marginalized and powerless. This is total and absolute divide: there is no compromise between "reproductive rights" and the life of the tiny One. This is Culture War, always and everywhere.
Here lies, in my view, the widest moral divide our nation has ever faced. We now face two religions, two nations...entirely contradictory and incompatible. In the brutal fratricide over slavery, it is known that almost every soldier, North and South, carried a bible; under the immense difference, there was a shared Christianity. Slavery itself is not inherently evil in the manner of murder of the innocent. Our prison system is essentially a form of enslavement: the criminal loses personal rights and is under the control of the state. He becomes a slave of the state. No one wants to entirely do away with prisons! One of the origins of slavery was something similar. A hostile enemy attacks to destroy your people; you defeat them; you have three options for the surviving soldiers: free them to attack you again; kill them all; or enslave them. Clearly, the moral high ground is slavery. But killing of the innocent and powerless is inherently evil: never, ever allowable under any circumstances.
Into this chaos steps the surprising, ironic, puzzling and contradictory figure of Donald Trump. With an uncanny, unconscious and lucky touch, he has brought together an alliance between old-school Republicans, the alienated underclass, and moral conservatives.
Regarding the classical divide, he is clearly Republican, the epitome of capitalism as power, arrogance, and privilege. His tax cut shows this: it benefits the affluent in stereotypical trickle-down fashion. And yet, paradoxically, he announces himself as champion of the working man; the one "chosen" to bring back industrial jobs; a friend of expansive government and huge debt and deficits; and the tariff-master, indifferent to free trade.
With regard to the second, the class divide, he is even more contradictory: he arouses the fury of his base against the privileged elite even as he is himself the embodiment of that class. Despite the inappropriateness of his person, he is a demagogic genius in arousing the passions of resentment, jealousy, fear and contempt in his base.
The greatest irony, however, is his role as champion of the unborn and the traditional ethos of the marriage and the family. In his personal life, he is a true child of the Sexual Revolution: in a class with Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein and the out-sized villains of the Me-Too Movement. But his presidential politics have been absolutely steadfast and (in my opinion) sincere in his commitment to the moral right. And so he retains the (reluctant) loyalty of many Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. He may have two or three fingers reaching out from the flames of hell, into purgatory and towards heaven! He is not entirely a hopeless case; but prayers to St. Jude (patron of the hopeless) are in order!
The classic economic divide between Democrats and Republicans involves the economic interests of labor vs. capital and the role of the state in the free market, a tension intrinsic to developed, late industrial societies. This does not have to be a viciously polarizing divide, but has traditionally been relatively friendly: not so much a battle-to-the-death as an amiable if competitive softball game at an family picnic. By the 1940s the radical socialist elements (now reemerging in new shapes) in the labor movement were defeated by pro-capitalist, pro-democracy, anti-communist, largely Catholic forces. For example, I can't recall anything terribly negative spoken about President Eisenhower in my staunchly Democratic family in the 1950s. Later in that century, during my 25 years at UPS, mostly in management, I enjoyed an easy collaboration with union shop stewards: we were equally committed to implementing "the contract" and we all came from the same source, the ranks of hourly, union workers. I was a pro-union supervisor and the union leaders were (deep down, if covertly) pro-company. The issues around this divide are economical and regulatory: minimum wage, capital gains tax, health care, safety and environmental regulations and so forth. Being material and economic, these are inherently susceptible to compromise: if I want a $10 minimum wage and you a $20, we can compromise at $15.
With regard to this classic divide, I position myself as a slightly-left-leaning moderate. I retain the values of my family background: sympathy for the underdogs, for labor, and for a robust but limited government. At the same time, experience has given me keener understanding of the dysfunctions of big government and the benefits of free enterprise. I am roughly equal in my respect for the deficiencies and advantages of the expansive state and corporation. What they share is a malignant compulsion to grow like a cancer, beyond human, sober and rational dimensions. If there is a single must-read book on economics it would be the marvelous Small is Beautiful in which Schumaher argues for a modest, limited and human scale to technology and institutions. Beyond that we should study the work of Ivan Illich and Jacques Ellul along with a smattering of the agrarian Wendell Berry and the Christian anarchists Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Together they are antidotes to the "gigantism" common to the Democratic and Republican parties that since World War II have lost any sense of subsidiarity.
The second, new class divide is much more severe and polarizing: that between the winners and losers in the new economy. For example, in 1950-70 the vigorous economy granted rich benefits to industrial, union workers: a UAW or Teamster worker might live close to and quite similar to a doctor or a lawyer. But the post-industrial, high-tech, information economy has seen a diminished union movement and a chasm between new upper and lower classes. On the one hand, the more educated, competent (meritocracy), and privileged develop marketable managerial or technical skills and use connections to advance; meanwhile, an emergent underclass is trapped in a web of bad education, under-employment, and , even worse, a deteriorating family and faith network. And so we find ourselves with two classes (I am not talking about the "1 %"): the winners are educated, cosmopolitan, mobile, more liberal; they are often but not always secular; they advocate sexual freedom even as they benefit, almost unconsciously, from a relatively intact marriage-family pattern. The underclass is destroyed by broken family structure, lack of medical coverage, under-employment, a fractured marriage-family system, broken communities, and a residual faith but a falling away from Church. This divide, of course, explains the emergence of Trump!
I myself view this chasm with alarm from my own stable position in the upper tier since I benefit from good education, a rich middle class network of connections, and a steady income. I see the two sides of the coin, the material/economic and the cultural/spiritual: the first is the loss of jobs, benefits and opportunities; the second the decomposition of families and communities due to loss of faith, Church and an ethos of chastity and fidelity. Clearly, the primary cause of poverty is the single mother, struggling to raise children without a partner. As a moral conservative, I estimate that the moral/cultural causes are responsible for the most of our poverty. However, the economic also plays a roll. In this regard, I have small, but limited confidence in the proposed solutions from right and left: a prosperous economy will trickle-down benefits including jobs even as a stable safety network (especially health care) will help many. I have really no trust that the erratic, incoherent tweet-policy of Trump will help.
The most important of the three divides is the cultural-moral: in the wake of the Culture Revolution: traditionalists resist the emergent hegemony of: liberation of sexuality from marriage, fertility, commitment and family; deconstruction of the Mystery of masculinity/femininity; an unrestrained Frankenstein-like explosion of technology; and a genocide of the unborn, marginalized and powerless. This is total and absolute divide: there is no compromise between "reproductive rights" and the life of the tiny One. This is Culture War, always and everywhere.
Here lies, in my view, the widest moral divide our nation has ever faced. We now face two religions, two nations...entirely contradictory and incompatible. In the brutal fratricide over slavery, it is known that almost every soldier, North and South, carried a bible; under the immense difference, there was a shared Christianity. Slavery itself is not inherently evil in the manner of murder of the innocent. Our prison system is essentially a form of enslavement: the criminal loses personal rights and is under the control of the state. He becomes a slave of the state. No one wants to entirely do away with prisons! One of the origins of slavery was something similar. A hostile enemy attacks to destroy your people; you defeat them; you have three options for the surviving soldiers: free them to attack you again; kill them all; or enslave them. Clearly, the moral high ground is slavery. But killing of the innocent and powerless is inherently evil: never, ever allowable under any circumstances.
Into this chaos steps the surprising, ironic, puzzling and contradictory figure of Donald Trump. With an uncanny, unconscious and lucky touch, he has brought together an alliance between old-school Republicans, the alienated underclass, and moral conservatives.
Regarding the classical divide, he is clearly Republican, the epitome of capitalism as power, arrogance, and privilege. His tax cut shows this: it benefits the affluent in stereotypical trickle-down fashion. And yet, paradoxically, he announces himself as champion of the working man; the one "chosen" to bring back industrial jobs; a friend of expansive government and huge debt and deficits; and the tariff-master, indifferent to free trade.
With regard to the second, the class divide, he is even more contradictory: he arouses the fury of his base against the privileged elite even as he is himself the embodiment of that class. Despite the inappropriateness of his person, he is a demagogic genius in arousing the passions of resentment, jealousy, fear and contempt in his base.
The greatest irony, however, is his role as champion of the unborn and the traditional ethos of the marriage and the family. In his personal life, he is a true child of the Sexual Revolution: in a class with Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein and the out-sized villains of the Me-Too Movement. But his presidential politics have been absolutely steadfast and (in my opinion) sincere in his commitment to the moral right. And so he retains the (reluctant) loyalty of many Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. He may have two or three fingers reaching out from the flames of hell, into purgatory and towards heaven! He is not entirely a hopeless case; but prayers to St. Jude (patron of the hopeless) are in order!
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Is the USA an Empire or a Country?
This fascinating question arose recently in NYC where Michael Brendan Dougherty presented his new book: My Father Left Me Ireland. He was joined in genial conversation about, among other things, the proper role of nationalism and love of country, with prominent moral conservatives including Reno, who has been advocating a positive kind of nationalism in the age of Trump, and Douthat who (as always) expressed lucidly my own ambivalence. For me, the USA is both my country (which I love) and an empire, in the good and bad senses.
Regarding the country I love, I think of all the freedoms (so beautifully painted byNorman Rockwell), of the rule of law, democracy, free markets, enterprise and the inviolable dignity of every person. I think proudly of all my uncles who fought in World War II and my son who has served in the army and now the reserves.
Since 1945, our country has been an empire. This imperial Pax Americana, has been largely benevolent, especially in light of the competition: bad actors like ISIS, Stalin and Putin, Mao and Jinping! We have spread much of what is best from Christian tradition and the Enlightenment. And so, I remain a moderate internationalist, supporting a strong American presence and influence around the globe.
But there is also the negative sides of imperialism; and they are not a few.
1. First of all, from its founding this country has hated the Catholic Church. As a fervent Catholic, therefore, I am at odds with much of American tradition and practice; my DNA is counter-cultural.. The exception to this enmity was the time of my youth, 1945-65, when there was a romance between this country and my Church: among the towering Catholic figures widely honored across society were JFK, Fulton Sheen, Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, and others. The euphoric love affair was short-loved however, as the Cultural/Sexual Revolution cast elite culture ferociously against the Catholic Ethos. We find ourselves back where we always were: a persecuted minority, marginalized and despised by the powers that be.
2. Secondly, I imbibed from my Catholic upbringing a strong sense of the unity of all people under the fatherhood of God and therefore a fierce internationalism. From my youth I cared about the starving babies in China and the persecuted behind the Iron Curtain. So today I reject Trump's "America First" but not as much as I despise the secular, liberated cosmopolitanism of Clinton/Obama that imperialistically exports "reproductive rights," the degrading emancipation of sexuality from family, and genocide of the powerless.
3. Thirdly, coming of age as a prospective Maryknoll missioner in seminary college in 1965-9 I became aware of the "Ugly American" side of our international influence: the power, affluence, materialism, arrogance, and contempt for other cultures. Moving into adulthood I shed many of my left wing leanings as I deepened my appreciation for my Catholic tradition, but I never lost my sense of the dark side of American materialism, consumerism, hyper-technology, mega-bureaucracy, and the not-always-obvious attack on faith, family, local communities and moral values.
4. Fourthly, the "melting pot" narrative by which we are all molded into a uniform culture is largely wrong: America has always been a complicated, competitive arena in which diverse tribes, ethnic and cultural and religious, compete to protect and advance what is sacred to them: WASPS, white evangelicals, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Black evangelicals, secular liberals (which includes many who identify as liberal Catholics, Reform Jews, and mainline Protestants), and numerous others. For example, even the Democratic Party into which I was born was a coalition of Southern (racist) democrats, secular (largely Jewish) and culturally liberating democrats, and ethnic, Catholic labor-union democrats (like my own family). This makes for quite a circus! (E. Michael Jones is particularly keen on this!) Even the power elites are diverse and set against each other: the culture liberal elite (media, academia, Hollywood, and tons of money) are set against the traditional moneyed Republican elites. True to my working class, Catholic roots, I send a curse on both houses. The diversity, plurality and complexity of this country has a positive aspect: no particular group is able to impose itself on the others.
There always is, however, a dominant culture working to incorporate the rest of us. Historically, of course, this was White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestantism. Since 1965, the hegemony belongs to a culture that is: secular, oblivious of God, technocratic, careerist, meritocratic, anti-tradition, destructive of gender and family, materialist, consumerist, non-racist (to an obsession!), sexually liberated, sterile, individualistic, addicted to the expansive state and malignantly-mega corporations, corrosive of local and intermediate communities and isolating...even as this toxic culture presents dual faces of economic (Republican Party) and cultural (Democratic Party) liberalism. (On this see Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Dineen as well as the work of the two David Schindlers and the Communio school of thought.) This new cultural empire is, in my view, very (if not absolutely) bad as it separates us from the Source of all good; undermines wholesome bonds of family, faith, and locality; and breeds isolation, loneliness and despair! To that extent, I am fiercely anti-cultural and possibly anti-American. But it is more complicated than that; although it is largely in bondage to an Evil Empire, I have not despaired of my county.
The election of Trump was a immense relief, even for some of us who reject his ideology and despise his vile immorality and narcissistic incompetence, in that it represented a relief from the oppression (e.g. contraception mandate) of the Obama regime. This fractured, non-monolithic society (as Yuval Levin argues brilliantly) lends itself to a certain modesty of ambition: my political goals have become smaller. I do not envision a Catholic America: I am not out to absolutely ban abortion, contraception, guns, or global warming. Rather, I am defensive of my own freedom: to practice my faith as I understand it and pass my tradition onto my children, without coercion from the liberal state. A certain "live and let live" is desirable. If 2/3 of pregnant black women in NYC decide to abort, I cannot prevent them; but I will not finance it. If over 90% of fertile women want to poison themselves, bodily and spiritually, with the pill, I do not resist; but I will not pay for it through my taxes or my insurance premiums. If two men want to "marry" and announce their performance of toxic, sinful actions, it is not for me to control or judge them: but I will not be forced to bake their cake or hire them in our Catholic schools. Not the Supreme Court, not the Affordable Health Care Act, not the totalitarianism of political correctness none of the above will force me to participate in sytemic sin...THAT is a hill upon which I WILL die!
And so I remain conflicted in my love for my country. Our country is darkened by a revived anti-Catholicism as well as diabolic forces of uncontrolled technology, meritocracy, bureaucracy, sexual license, consumerism, hedonism, personal isolation and despair. I find myself in agreement with both Rod Dreher and Adrian Vermuele: we Catholics need to partially disconnect from the fragmented, larger culture to strengthen our own local families and communities; even as we participate in broader political life to protect our values, advance them, and become a light to this country and world. We can work with the right to defend religious liberty and powerless human life in all its forms; even as we collaborate with the left on a variety of issues such as gun control, immigration, protection of the environment and workers rights. A wholesome love for country can be rooted in a fierce resistance to the emergent hegemony, a balanced sense of subsidiarity, a moderate internationalism. and a grateful patriotism that is not without a critical sense.
Regarding the country I love, I think of all the freedoms (so beautifully painted byNorman Rockwell), of the rule of law, democracy, free markets, enterprise and the inviolable dignity of every person. I think proudly of all my uncles who fought in World War II and my son who has served in the army and now the reserves.
Since 1945, our country has been an empire. This imperial Pax Americana, has been largely benevolent, especially in light of the competition: bad actors like ISIS, Stalin and Putin, Mao and Jinping! We have spread much of what is best from Christian tradition and the Enlightenment. And so, I remain a moderate internationalist, supporting a strong American presence and influence around the globe.
But there is also the negative sides of imperialism; and they are not a few.
1. First of all, from its founding this country has hated the Catholic Church. As a fervent Catholic, therefore, I am at odds with much of American tradition and practice; my DNA is counter-cultural.. The exception to this enmity was the time of my youth, 1945-65, when there was a romance between this country and my Church: among the towering Catholic figures widely honored across society were JFK, Fulton Sheen, Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, and others. The euphoric love affair was short-loved however, as the Cultural/Sexual Revolution cast elite culture ferociously against the Catholic Ethos. We find ourselves back where we always were: a persecuted minority, marginalized and despised by the powers that be.
2. Secondly, I imbibed from my Catholic upbringing a strong sense of the unity of all people under the fatherhood of God and therefore a fierce internationalism. From my youth I cared about the starving babies in China and the persecuted behind the Iron Curtain. So today I reject Trump's "America First" but not as much as I despise the secular, liberated cosmopolitanism of Clinton/Obama that imperialistically exports "reproductive rights," the degrading emancipation of sexuality from family, and genocide of the powerless.
3. Thirdly, coming of age as a prospective Maryknoll missioner in seminary college in 1965-9 I became aware of the "Ugly American" side of our international influence: the power, affluence, materialism, arrogance, and contempt for other cultures. Moving into adulthood I shed many of my left wing leanings as I deepened my appreciation for my Catholic tradition, but I never lost my sense of the dark side of American materialism, consumerism, hyper-technology, mega-bureaucracy, and the not-always-obvious attack on faith, family, local communities and moral values.
4. Fourthly, the "melting pot" narrative by which we are all molded into a uniform culture is largely wrong: America has always been a complicated, competitive arena in which diverse tribes, ethnic and cultural and religious, compete to protect and advance what is sacred to them: WASPS, white evangelicals, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Black evangelicals, secular liberals (which includes many who identify as liberal Catholics, Reform Jews, and mainline Protestants), and numerous others. For example, even the Democratic Party into which I was born was a coalition of Southern (racist) democrats, secular (largely Jewish) and culturally liberating democrats, and ethnic, Catholic labor-union democrats (like my own family). This makes for quite a circus! (E. Michael Jones is particularly keen on this!) Even the power elites are diverse and set against each other: the culture liberal elite (media, academia, Hollywood, and tons of money) are set against the traditional moneyed Republican elites. True to my working class, Catholic roots, I send a curse on both houses. The diversity, plurality and complexity of this country has a positive aspect: no particular group is able to impose itself on the others.
There always is, however, a dominant culture working to incorporate the rest of us. Historically, of course, this was White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestantism. Since 1965, the hegemony belongs to a culture that is: secular, oblivious of God, technocratic, careerist, meritocratic, anti-tradition, destructive of gender and family, materialist, consumerist, non-racist (to an obsession!), sexually liberated, sterile, individualistic, addicted to the expansive state and malignantly-mega corporations, corrosive of local and intermediate communities and isolating...even as this toxic culture presents dual faces of economic (Republican Party) and cultural (Democratic Party) liberalism. (On this see Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Dineen as well as the work of the two David Schindlers and the Communio school of thought.) This new cultural empire is, in my view, very (if not absolutely) bad as it separates us from the Source of all good; undermines wholesome bonds of family, faith, and locality; and breeds isolation, loneliness and despair! To that extent, I am fiercely anti-cultural and possibly anti-American. But it is more complicated than that; although it is largely in bondage to an Evil Empire, I have not despaired of my county.
The election of Trump was a immense relief, even for some of us who reject his ideology and despise his vile immorality and narcissistic incompetence, in that it represented a relief from the oppression (e.g. contraception mandate) of the Obama regime. This fractured, non-monolithic society (as Yuval Levin argues brilliantly) lends itself to a certain modesty of ambition: my political goals have become smaller. I do not envision a Catholic America: I am not out to absolutely ban abortion, contraception, guns, or global warming. Rather, I am defensive of my own freedom: to practice my faith as I understand it and pass my tradition onto my children, without coercion from the liberal state. A certain "live and let live" is desirable. If 2/3 of pregnant black women in NYC decide to abort, I cannot prevent them; but I will not finance it. If over 90% of fertile women want to poison themselves, bodily and spiritually, with the pill, I do not resist; but I will not pay for it through my taxes or my insurance premiums. If two men want to "marry" and announce their performance of toxic, sinful actions, it is not for me to control or judge them: but I will not be forced to bake their cake or hire them in our Catholic schools. Not the Supreme Court, not the Affordable Health Care Act, not the totalitarianism of political correctness none of the above will force me to participate in sytemic sin...THAT is a hill upon which I WILL die!
And so I remain conflicted in my love for my country. Our country is darkened by a revived anti-Catholicism as well as diabolic forces of uncontrolled technology, meritocracy, bureaucracy, sexual license, consumerism, hedonism, personal isolation and despair. I find myself in agreement with both Rod Dreher and Adrian Vermuele: we Catholics need to partially disconnect from the fragmented, larger culture to strengthen our own local families and communities; even as we participate in broader political life to protect our values, advance them, and become a light to this country and world. We can work with the right to defend religious liberty and powerless human life in all its forms; even as we collaborate with the left on a variety of issues such as gun control, immigration, protection of the environment and workers rights. A wholesome love for country can be rooted in a fierce resistance to the emergent hegemony, a balanced sense of subsidiarity, a moderate internationalism. and a grateful patriotism that is not without a critical sense.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
In Praise of Illegals: Making America Great!
I never met an illegal I didn't like! It was Will Rogers who said "I never met a man I didn't like." I don't go quite that far as there are legals I dislike!! Hispanics in general, including illegals, are unfailingly: respectful, hard-working, family-oriented, gentle, quiet, dependable, usually Catholic and often devout, amiable, warmhearted and fruitful; their women are sweet, soft, nurturing; their children are adorable...to-die-for cute!
That is my experience and my belief! Ok: I admit to an intense hispanophilic prejudice in favor of immigrants from our South! Perhaps it is because I had wonderful experiences as a young man in Mexico and Puerto Rico! Perhaps it is because of my uncle who married two (not simultaneously!) Peruvians and gave me my Peruvian cousin; or my double cousin (do you know what that is?) who raised a marvelous family of five with his beautiful Latina bride!
Perhaps it is because I am myself an illegal: I jay walk, park illegally, speed, talk on my phone while driving. My tax return would not face scrutiny since I have poor records so I make up the numbers. In my business career my favorite was the "flexibility clause" which allowed me to prudentially dispense with rules and regulations when necessary. In my current position I am out of compliance, always, with many rules. Just recently my 99-year-old mother told me that it was a venial sin that I parked at a bus stop. If she is right, I am facing SERIOUS purgatory time! My view is that you will go crazy if you take too seriously every rule in this hyper-bureaucracy universe.
The right is in a frenzy over a "hostile invasion" and unprotected boundaries and the rule of law. The left is hysterical over the alleged "humanitarian crisis." I have a different viewpoint.
Maureen Dowd in a recent column noted that a Columbian mother-with-child was interviewed in a detention center and expressed appreciation that she was safe from guns and receiving clean diapers and good food. "But you are sleeping on the floor!" protested the interviewer. "Yes! On a mat." she responded gratefully.
A NYU economist was asked about the solution to the crisis of gang violence, political corruption and severe poverty in the "triangle" of Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Happily, he did not advocate a "marshal plan" as the infrastructure is lacking. He said that the people themselves were providing the solution by moving north. He noted that the Trump administration had discontinued the half a billion in annual subsidies to motivate those governments to stop the flood of immigranats. But illegals in this country annually send $20 billion back to help their families.
To be sure, the conservatives have a valid concern about the rule of law and control of borders and the progressives are rightly worried about treatment of the refugees. But both sides could enefit from a few deep breaths and a more positive approach. The humanitarian situation is much worse in the countries of origin than in our centers: that is why so many are coming! Their decision is intelligent, hopeful and courageous! And our country is not surrendering to chaos! The USA is a magificant country...economically, geographically, culturally...and more than capable of absorbing those who have come to date. Indeed, we need them! Big business knows we need them for industry! We need them to pick our crops, repair our homes, landscape our lawns, serve in our restaurants. We need them because they have babies and we (whites) are increasingly anti-life.
Personally, I blame Trump and the Democrats equally on the failure to intelligently address the issue. The dysfunction at the national level highlights the need for subsidiarity as well as the intelligence, courage and hopefulness of the decision of so many to risk all and come here. God bless the illegals! They are the ones who are making America Great!
That is my experience and my belief! Ok: I admit to an intense hispanophilic prejudice in favor of immigrants from our South! Perhaps it is because I had wonderful experiences as a young man in Mexico and Puerto Rico! Perhaps it is because of my uncle who married two (not simultaneously!) Peruvians and gave me my Peruvian cousin; or my double cousin (do you know what that is?) who raised a marvelous family of five with his beautiful Latina bride!
Perhaps it is because I am myself an illegal: I jay walk, park illegally, speed, talk on my phone while driving. My tax return would not face scrutiny since I have poor records so I make up the numbers. In my business career my favorite was the "flexibility clause" which allowed me to prudentially dispense with rules and regulations when necessary. In my current position I am out of compliance, always, with many rules. Just recently my 99-year-old mother told me that it was a venial sin that I parked at a bus stop. If she is right, I am facing SERIOUS purgatory time! My view is that you will go crazy if you take too seriously every rule in this hyper-bureaucracy universe.
The right is in a frenzy over a "hostile invasion" and unprotected boundaries and the rule of law. The left is hysterical over the alleged "humanitarian crisis." I have a different viewpoint.
Maureen Dowd in a recent column noted that a Columbian mother-with-child was interviewed in a detention center and expressed appreciation that she was safe from guns and receiving clean diapers and good food. "But you are sleeping on the floor!" protested the interviewer. "Yes! On a mat." she responded gratefully.
A NYU economist was asked about the solution to the crisis of gang violence, political corruption and severe poverty in the "triangle" of Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Happily, he did not advocate a "marshal plan" as the infrastructure is lacking. He said that the people themselves were providing the solution by moving north. He noted that the Trump administration had discontinued the half a billion in annual subsidies to motivate those governments to stop the flood of immigranats. But illegals in this country annually send $20 billion back to help their families.
To be sure, the conservatives have a valid concern about the rule of law and control of borders and the progressives are rightly worried about treatment of the refugees. But both sides could enefit from a few deep breaths and a more positive approach. The humanitarian situation is much worse in the countries of origin than in our centers: that is why so many are coming! Their decision is intelligent, hopeful and courageous! And our country is not surrendering to chaos! The USA is a magificant country...economically, geographically, culturally...and more than capable of absorbing those who have come to date. Indeed, we need them! Big business knows we need them for industry! We need them to pick our crops, repair our homes, landscape our lawns, serve in our restaurants. We need them because they have babies and we (whites) are increasingly anti-life.
Personally, I blame Trump and the Democrats equally on the failure to intelligently address the issue. The dysfunction at the national level highlights the need for subsidiarity as well as the intelligence, courage and hopefulness of the decision of so many to risk all and come here. God bless the illegals! They are the ones who are making America Great!
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Legacy Letter
Be Catholic! (capital C) Passionately, fiercely, recklessly Catholic: in your love for Christ, in his body, his bride the Church, in all her richness, splendor and humility!
Be catholic...small c catholic...embracing of "the whole", universal...cherishing and protecting all that is good, true and beautiful...wherever it is found!
Fear nothing...NOTHING! Not death, sin, failure, suffering, shame, sickness! NOTHING! In Christ, all is conquered and life triumphs!
Respect your adversaries: the world in all its glamour; Satan in his malicious brilliance; and your own flesh in its weakness. Be sober, vigilant, militant, fierce in resistance!
Be confident, aggressive, explosive in the attack on the Kingdom of Darkness as the gates of hell do not prevail: Christ has stormed the dark citadel, has descended into hell, and released the most miserable of sinners!
Do not even fear sin: for it is an occasion for the triumphant Mercy of Christ!
Do not fear your own weakness: lean into it, toward God, toward those who can assist you. As you fall, see that the ground below you has already been sanctified by Christ in his three falls on the hill of Calvary. Let yourself be received by the consecrated soil!
Do not fear your desires, passions, longings...even those that are disordered, immoral, perverse! Looking deeper into them, and see your desperate hunger for Him who is Love!
Do not suppress, deny or despise your longings; rather, inflame them and direct them to Jesus in the Eucharist...Jesus small, humble, surrendered to us, merciful, kind, infinite, eternal!
Let all the graces, gifts, blessings of the Eucharist flow into you and through you to those around you.
Let your poverty, your desperation, your inner sickness draw you to Christ...and draw Him to you!
Welcome...in the least, the loveless, the miserable...the Gift that comes from above.
If you interest yourself in politics (which is entirely optional!), keep a lightness about policy, party and partisanship: be aware of the complexity, uncertainty, and unavoidable subjectivity involved; avoid an ideology that would sanctify your own views as "social justice" and demonize your opponent. Be open to what is true and good in your adversary.
Protect the vulnerable, the unborn, the poor, suffering and marginalized. (solidarity)
Prefer the politics of the concrete, the local, the community, Engage the State and the Market with a prudential balance of respect and critical discernment: neither loathing or adoring them. (subsidiarity)
Be on guard against the (60s) Cultural Revolution that has deformed our world: the forgetting of God, the renouncing of authority and tradition, the brutal rupture of sexuality from fidelity and fruitfulness, the deconstruction of masculinity and femininity, the hegemony of technology/bureacracy, the break up of family/community and the isolation of the lonely individual.
Study, pray, speak, breath and share St. John's Paul II's catechesis of the masculine/feminine body as iconic of the Trinity!
Cultivate silence, receptivity, rest, and prayer.
Be ever Thankful and Trusting!
Learn to Praise our Lord and delight in His Mercies!
Be catholic...small c catholic...embracing of "the whole", universal...cherishing and protecting all that is good, true and beautiful...wherever it is found!
Fear nothing...NOTHING! Not death, sin, failure, suffering, shame, sickness! NOTHING! In Christ, all is conquered and life triumphs!
Respect your adversaries: the world in all its glamour; Satan in his malicious brilliance; and your own flesh in its weakness. Be sober, vigilant, militant, fierce in resistance!
Be confident, aggressive, explosive in the attack on the Kingdom of Darkness as the gates of hell do not prevail: Christ has stormed the dark citadel, has descended into hell, and released the most miserable of sinners!
Do not even fear sin: for it is an occasion for the triumphant Mercy of Christ!
Do not fear your own weakness: lean into it, toward God, toward those who can assist you. As you fall, see that the ground below you has already been sanctified by Christ in his three falls on the hill of Calvary. Let yourself be received by the consecrated soil!
Do not fear your desires, passions, longings...even those that are disordered, immoral, perverse! Looking deeper into them, and see your desperate hunger for Him who is Love!
Do not suppress, deny or despise your longings; rather, inflame them and direct them to Jesus in the Eucharist...Jesus small, humble, surrendered to us, merciful, kind, infinite, eternal!
Let all the graces, gifts, blessings of the Eucharist flow into you and through you to those around you.
Let your poverty, your desperation, your inner sickness draw you to Christ...and draw Him to you!
Welcome...in the least, the loveless, the miserable...the Gift that comes from above.
If you interest yourself in politics (which is entirely optional!), keep a lightness about policy, party and partisanship: be aware of the complexity, uncertainty, and unavoidable subjectivity involved; avoid an ideology that would sanctify your own views as "social justice" and demonize your opponent. Be open to what is true and good in your adversary.
Protect the vulnerable, the unborn, the poor, suffering and marginalized. (solidarity)
Prefer the politics of the concrete, the local, the community, Engage the State and the Market with a prudential balance of respect and critical discernment: neither loathing or adoring them. (subsidiarity)
Be on guard against the (60s) Cultural Revolution that has deformed our world: the forgetting of God, the renouncing of authority and tradition, the brutal rupture of sexuality from fidelity and fruitfulness, the deconstruction of masculinity and femininity, the hegemony of technology/bureacracy, the break up of family/community and the isolation of the lonely individual.
Study, pray, speak, breath and share St. John's Paul II's catechesis of the masculine/feminine body as iconic of the Trinity!
Cultivate silence, receptivity, rest, and prayer.
Be ever Thankful and Trusting!
Learn to Praise our Lord and delight in His Mercies!
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Root Cause of Sexual/Romantic Obsession/Compulsion: Loneliness, Shame, Weakness
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi's magisterial treatment of homosexuality (Shame and Attachment Loss) opens a window on the primal roots of the entire range of sexual/romantic disorders, compulsions and obsessions...in loneliness, shame, and weakness.
We are created for Communion...to image the Communio of the Trinity...in a magnificent symphony of ways: with Mom, then Dad, then brothers and sisters and family and friends, spouse, children, community, Church, nation...and finally God and the Kingdom of Heaven! At our ontological core is a solitude, an emptiness, a bottomless abyss...that desperately craves communion. By Providence, we find over-fulfillment in an itinerary from womb-and-breast, to frolic-with-Dad, to friendship-cooperation-competition, and so forth.
However, if there is any mis-attunement along the way, especially with Mom and Dad, the little one experiences abandonment in the worst sense, a dreadful feeling of isolation as annihilation, a pervasive sense of shame or of oneself as void of worth, and a complete powerlessness. None of us are immune to this trauma: we all undergo this "attachment loss" in some manner and degree. It is not the fault of our parents so much, it is unavoidable as we are so delicate/fragile/vulnerable and our parents so limited in their ability to answer our needs.
This primal trauma of attachment loss and shame is so threatening to the little one that defense mechanisms are required for emotional survival: disassociation, self-blame, avoidance, repression and so forth. Eventually, with puberty and the explosion of sexuality, the underlying wound and craving unconsciously commingles with sexual energies and gives rise to a dazzling cacophony of sexual/romantic compulsions, passions and distortions.
The root problem, however, is not the paraphilia or obsession itself, but the underlying wound of shame, loneliness, and powerlessness. The cure is to find...in friendship, prayer, direction, support-group, therapy...a salient, unconditionally loving, strong and trustworthy partner to support the enormous task of retrieving the initial loss and pain and re-processing it in the light of this new-found communion. The rupture of the original communion can be repaired by a new communion. As one grows in communion...with therapist, friend, support group, Church, spouse or lover...the original yearning for communion becomes satisfied; the wounds of shame and loneliness are healed; the compulsions disappear; and surprising synergies of collaboration and generosity overflow.
This is a most hopeful realization! Thank you Doctor Nicolosi!
We are created for Communion...to image the Communio of the Trinity...in a magnificent symphony of ways: with Mom, then Dad, then brothers and sisters and family and friends, spouse, children, community, Church, nation...and finally God and the Kingdom of Heaven! At our ontological core is a solitude, an emptiness, a bottomless abyss...that desperately craves communion. By Providence, we find over-fulfillment in an itinerary from womb-and-breast, to frolic-with-Dad, to friendship-cooperation-competition, and so forth.
However, if there is any mis-attunement along the way, especially with Mom and Dad, the little one experiences abandonment in the worst sense, a dreadful feeling of isolation as annihilation, a pervasive sense of shame or of oneself as void of worth, and a complete powerlessness. None of us are immune to this trauma: we all undergo this "attachment loss" in some manner and degree. It is not the fault of our parents so much, it is unavoidable as we are so delicate/fragile/vulnerable and our parents so limited in their ability to answer our needs.
This primal trauma of attachment loss and shame is so threatening to the little one that defense mechanisms are required for emotional survival: disassociation, self-blame, avoidance, repression and so forth. Eventually, with puberty and the explosion of sexuality, the underlying wound and craving unconsciously commingles with sexual energies and gives rise to a dazzling cacophony of sexual/romantic compulsions, passions and distortions.
The root problem, however, is not the paraphilia or obsession itself, but the underlying wound of shame, loneliness, and powerlessness. The cure is to find...in friendship, prayer, direction, support-group, therapy...a salient, unconditionally loving, strong and trustworthy partner to support the enormous task of retrieving the initial loss and pain and re-processing it in the light of this new-found communion. The rupture of the original communion can be repaired by a new communion. As one grows in communion...with therapist, friend, support group, Church, spouse or lover...the original yearning for communion becomes satisfied; the wounds of shame and loneliness are healed; the compulsions disappear; and surprising synergies of collaboration and generosity overflow.
This is a most hopeful realization! Thank you Doctor Nicolosi!
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Heaven on Earth: 7 Best Happenings of the 20th Century
Seven historic, heavenly, humbling, hopeful events of the 20th Century interpenetrate each other as they fructify now and into the future:
1. The 12-step spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous that is now freeing people from a range of addictions all around the globe.
2. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal Movement at the very start of the century and its continuation in the Charismatic Renewal all over the world.
3. The emergence of renewal, largely lay, movements in the Catholic and other Churches in the afterglow of Vatican II.
4. Heavenly manifestations on earth, particularly the Divine Mercy messages to Saint Faustina and Marian apparitions including Fatima.
5. The conjugal, "communion" theology of St. John Paul, Balthasar, Pope Benedict and others that emerged organically with Vatican II and gave fresh but faithful expression to the Catholic faith in the face of the Cultural Revolution.
6. The witness of a regiment of holy women...canonized and not...who image the freedom of the Bride of Christ in their vigor, generosity, purity, fortitude, and interior independence: St. Maria Goretti, St. Gemma Galgani, Mother Cabrini, Mother Katherine Dreexel, St. Josephine Baghetti, Elizabeth Leseeur, St. Theresa of Lisieux (who died before the century but hovers over it), St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Blessed Maria Teresa Demjanovich, St. Faustina, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Adrienne VonSpeyr, Madeleine DelBrell, Caryll Houselander, St. Theresa of Calcutta, Dorothy Day, Catherine DeHueck Dougherty, and others.
7. The ever-persistence of the Church...resilient, fruitful, steady, quiet, infallible, holy and yet sinful, efficacious, celebratory, hopeful, grateful, local, unpretentious.
By "Church" I mean first the concrete loyalty and life of those who gather around the Pope in Rome and the bishops in union with him. But I include others who are in various degrees of union: the Orthodox, Coptic; the Protestant; the Evangelical and Pentecostal who listen to the Word and rejoice in the Holy Spirit. The first six events above can be seen as ways in which the Bridegroom renews the Bridal Church, keeping her ever new, fresh, thrilling.
These above developments are infinitely greater than the five demonic catastrophies (in prior blog) of that same century...and dwarf the secular accomplishments of technology, science and culture...even as they work to purify and deepen the later and defeat the former.
1. The 12-step spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous that is now freeing people from a range of addictions all around the globe.
2. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal Movement at the very start of the century and its continuation in the Charismatic Renewal all over the world.
3. The emergence of renewal, largely lay, movements in the Catholic and other Churches in the afterglow of Vatican II.
4. Heavenly manifestations on earth, particularly the Divine Mercy messages to Saint Faustina and Marian apparitions including Fatima.
5. The conjugal, "communion" theology of St. John Paul, Balthasar, Pope Benedict and others that emerged organically with Vatican II and gave fresh but faithful expression to the Catholic faith in the face of the Cultural Revolution.
6. The witness of a regiment of holy women...canonized and not...who image the freedom of the Bride of Christ in their vigor, generosity, purity, fortitude, and interior independence: St. Maria Goretti, St. Gemma Galgani, Mother Cabrini, Mother Katherine Dreexel, St. Josephine Baghetti, Elizabeth Leseeur, St. Theresa of Lisieux (who died before the century but hovers over it), St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Blessed Maria Teresa Demjanovich, St. Faustina, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Adrienne VonSpeyr, Madeleine DelBrell, Caryll Houselander, St. Theresa of Calcutta, Dorothy Day, Catherine DeHueck Dougherty, and others.
7. The ever-persistence of the Church...resilient, fruitful, steady, quiet, infallible, holy and yet sinful, efficacious, celebratory, hopeful, grateful, local, unpretentious.
By "Church" I mean first the concrete loyalty and life of those who gather around the Pope in Rome and the bishops in union with him. But I include others who are in various degrees of union: the Orthodox, Coptic; the Protestant; the Evangelical and Pentecostal who listen to the Word and rejoice in the Holy Spirit. The first six events above can be seen as ways in which the Bridegroom renews the Bridal Church, keeping her ever new, fresh, thrilling.
These above developments are infinitely greater than the five demonic catastrophies (in prior blog) of that same century...and dwarf the secular accomplishments of technology, science and culture...even as they work to purify and deepen the later and defeat the former.
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