RBWords - Volume 19 - Number 3: March 2006
Something to Think About
Catholics of my age can remember well the famous meeting of John F. Kennedy, candidate for the presidency, with Protestant ministers in Houston, TX. The meeting was designed to calm fears that somehow the Pope would be dictating every decision in the White House. Kennedy went on to become the first, and only, Catholic elected to that office. But the meeting had more than political significance. It highlighted the fear that seems to exist in many Americans of the Catholic Church. (That fear has not been calmed by the tragic and sick behavior of a small number of priests which was badly handled by church leadership.)
Historically, Catholics had to work hard to overcome some of the overt prejudice that exists in American society. In Louisville, KY, just 50 miles from me, there were lethal anti-Catholic riots in the 19th century. The question was always a matter of a false opposition between “patriotism” and religious faith, as if patriotism is of equal value with fidelity to God’s truth. There can be no true patriotism that is a violation of God’s truth. Yet, we are very much in danger of a form of civil religion, masquerading as patriotism, that is seeking to impose its will on God’s truth (whether professed by Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or anyone else). This secular religion relegates belief in God to a distant private mountain, while erecting in its “absence” the Golden Calf of designer “rights” that fly in the face of human dignity. Catholic institutions are being told what they may and may not teach. (Indeed some of them have sacrificed their Catholic identity to the Golden Calf of federal assistance.) Catholic hospitals are being ordered to provide services that are not just contrary to church teaching, but are contrary to human nature. Catholic politicians are publicly arguing that they may vote for laws that promote this way of government and life, often under the pious claim that they may not “impose” their belief on others. What do they think is happening to the Catholic church in this country? Hello? Who’s imposing on whom? And why are Catholics helping it happen?
Both major political parties in this country embrace lethal policies that are clearly contrary to Christian and certainly to Catholic teaching. They have embraced the Golden Calf of political expediency and secular pluralism that justifies these lethal policies. Our major institutions of government – our “holy trinity” of executive, judicial and legislative separation of powers – can no longer be expected to stand up for the unborn, the aged, the immigrant, or anything that might threaten “the economy .” In place of grace there is money, power and prestige – all that the Golden Calf offers! If the current Abramoff scandal is not proof of that, I don’t know what is! The Golden Calf has become a veritable herd of Golden Cattle! Self-destructive behavior by Catholic leadership, whether clergy or lay, facilitates the erosion of our Catholic sacramental heritage. Christ simply becomes another statue in a secular hall of fame (if he’s “lucky.”)
If we wait too long to “wake up” and see that it is a Golden Calf that has been substituted for our loving God, we have only ourselves to blame, and a nation that began with great promise to “secure the blessings of liberty” will become an inmate in an amoral prison-temple of its own making! IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
“We mortals frequently stumble over false expectations, and I wonder if there were always as many as there are today. TV commercials try to persuade us that we are entitled to glamour which will never fade with age as long as we use the correct creams and lotions; that there are pills to take away all pain; that love should forever romantic; that if we buy the right drugs and pay our insurance premiums we will live forever, a life of affluence, superficiality, and material possessions. False expectations = golden calves.”
From PENGUINS AND GOLDEN CALVES by Madeleine L’Engle.
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