Being a faithful Catholic means showing our faith both publicly and
privately, not merely when it's convenient or easy. Living our faith is often
difficult, but Jesus never promised us it would be easy. Instead, He promised us
the ultimate reward if we choose to follow his commands and live a life in
accordance with His will. And this is what we should be striving for with every
action, with every breath, and with every word that leaves our lips. Today's
commentary examines why this is so.
The past several months have
given us a bird's-eye view of the many ways in which the word "Catholic" is both
used and abused in the public square. As a
Sycamore Trust writer pointed out in
diagnosing the
problems at the
"Catholic" University of Notre Dame, the "hollowness at the core of the
university" resounds in every corner. Yet many alumni choose to ignore the
obvious and promote the university as a grand old Catholic bastion of higher
learning.
While it would be easy to suggest that this is simply a problem
at some Catholic universities, the fact is that such moral blindness pervades
much of what is said and done among Catholics throughout the nation.
When
Brooklyn's bishop, Nicholas DiMarzio, analyzed the reasons why the Obama
contraceptive mandate is so badly understood among Catholics, he
wrote, "The reality is that we as a
Church have failed to teach the truths of the faith in a clear and convincing
manner to the Catholic faithful. However, the issue is not what we as a Church
believe but whether or not we ought to be obligated to act in a manner contrary
to our own belief."
He courageously echoed Bishop Daniel Jenky's
example,
telling his flock that, "Roman Catholics who support abortion rights and vote
for a candidate because of those policies, place him/herself outside of the life
of the Church. In so doing, they also place themselves in moral
danger."
What this suggests is that a huge number of Catholics are
sitting in the danger zone.
Shortly after Obama's reelection, San Diego's
coadjutor bishop, Cirilo Flores, celebrated San Diego's first
White
Mass — a Mass that honored those in the medical profession. Bishop Flores
explained, "Our religious liberty must be protected when we walk out the
[church] doors, so that we can live our faith without compromising our religious
convictions."
Thanks to this event and the tireless work of Catholic
organizations, such as the
Saint
Gianna Physician's Guild, there is a growing number of Catholic medical
professionals willing to defend their faith — and the Church — by living their
faith in every aspect of their lives.
Sadly, these actions are not what
we find in the majority of situations involving Catholics in public life, and we
must ask ourselves why.
How can it be that we have some Catholic bishops
ready to
defy
Obama's mandate and other bishops, like
Bishop
Robert McManus, who promote dissidents in the diocese and have little to say
about the crisis confronting the Church?
Where is the
disconnect?
Is it, as Papal Nuncio Carlo Maria Vigano
suggested,
because Catholics are not first and foremost disciples of Christ, but political
activists who strive to divide the Church by supporting candidates who embrace
intrinsic evils?
Is it, as Cardinal Timothy Dolan recently said, because
the premier answer to the question, "What is wrong with the world" is to admit,
"I am"?
Or is it something far more fundamental? In a recent review of
Professor Brad Gregory's
book,
The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized
Society, Archbishop Charles Chaput
invites us to put our
shoulders to the wheel of faith:
The Church is still here, still calling us to repentance, still summoning us
to the sacraments. In this Year of Faith, she invites Catholics to a great new
evangelization — not against fellow Christians from other traditions, but in
friendship with them as brothers. Our ambition must be to repair a culture of
unbelief and to heal the inhuman politics that flows from it. And if we can't
achieve that in concert with our fellow Christians, then we can at least live
the Gospel more faithfully ourselves. It's time, and long past time, to close
the gap between our words and our actions; our preaching and our
practice.
Dr. Jeffrey Mirus, in the same spirit of putting faith first,
writes,
"The overall scope of this battle does not depend primarily on Republican or
Democratic victories, just as the victories of one party over the other across
the past fifty years and more have made no significant difference to the
dominant trend. Any party war here is tangential to the war for souls. We need
to reject the fashionable world's rules of engagement."
Indeed, we must
live by Christ's rules of engagement.
As Catholics, we are called to
reject Catholic moral relativism and stand with Christ — publicly and without
apology. Let us resolve to do our best to help others see Christ at work in us,
to defy what the world expects, and to reply to Him with total surrender and
abiding faith.
Only then will miracles happen.
By
Judie Brown
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