Unapologetic Catholic

As elections approach

I pray for all Catholics who will be voting in elections over the next several days. In my very humble opinion the Catholic electioneering has been very damaging to the Body of Christ. The spin put on various candidates and issues by Catholics cannot be viewed as Christ-like actions. This weekend will be a weekend of deep reflection, prayer and mediation for me and I hope it is for all Catholics troubled in any way by the elections process.

For many, this is not a troubling election. They know in their heart who they will vote for and are content to keep it a religiously private decision. I congratulate those people who can keep peace in their hearts. For others, it is more problematic. Some, who will vote for Bush, wonder out loud whether fellow Catholics in good conscience can vote for Kerry without sin and are not shy about accusing fellow Catholics of sin. Amazing.
Fortunately Roma locuta est. At least twice. So have the Catholic Bishops.

For some of us, voting is very difficult. Some know in their hearts the Iraq war is deeply immoral. Others deeply object to a constellation of presidential decisions and programs which are extremely morally objectionable to faithful Catholics. Many doubt the president’s pro-life bona fides, or at least those of the vast majority of the Republican Party. They know the party is simply using Catholics when no serious attempts will be made to actually do anything to lessen the incidence of abortion. Others hold the opinion the current President is too incompetent to hold office. These may all constitute Cardinal Ratzinger’s “proportionate reasons.” I don’t know. I urge these Catholics to pray, reflect on the Gospel and the teachings of our bishops and vote accordingly.

Others simply whitewash (I have slipped into apologetics with the use of that harsh word, and apologize.) Kerry’s abortion position. It’s resolute strong and unwavering. It can’t be framed as some kind of an aberration from an overall pro life point of view. I do think it’s possible he’s personally (mildly) opposed but that won’t get him far in Democratic politics. So voting for Kerry, according to Cardinal Ratzinger, could be formal cooperation with evil (never permitted), or it may be remote material cooperation with evil (permitted for proportionate reasons). Those Catholics struggling with the election are those who would have a much easier time voting against Kerry if the other candidate was not George Bush. That's not even a majority of Catholics, but the number is very significant and must be acknowledged.

My question to Catholics who vote for Kerry based on proportionate reasons is, “How do we witness to the Gospel of life as Catholics to minimize the damage that our vote will do? How do we put political pressure on an elected Kerry and a Democratic Party to recognize a pro-life ethic? It’s not intended to be a rhetorical question because I assume good faith in the vote. What are we willing to do besides just vote?

My question to voters for Bush: How do we witness to the Catholic teaching on peace after voting for a president that has undertaken a war that, under the most charitable interpretation, was instigated on incorrect information? How do we witness to the Catholic teaching that international conflicts are seldom successfully resolved by war? How do we witness to the Catholic teachings on social justice and support for famlies?

In addition how do we witness to an elected Bush and Republican party that pro-life is more than just a talking point and it’s now time for actual results? What will faithful Catholics do if the Republican party cannot or will not enact pro-life legislation and wisely appoint pro-life judges?

How do we witness to all the Catholic teaching on embryonic stem cell research? Both parties are poised to do full scale research into this technology. What is it about Catholic teaching that is so unconvincing to the general public?

And some questions for all of us: Can we repair the damge to the Body of Christ? How do we continue to carry on the discussions of issues raised in this campaign after the elections, realizing that there are no quick solutions to any of the problems identified? Can we concede our fellow Catholcis might be right, or at least are in good faith? How do we develop and preserve Catholic solidarity? Can we do it without namecalling fellow Catholics?

Pax Domine vobiscum to all voters.

Dappled Things Hits a Home Run

All I've been trying to say and more--nicely said by a priest. hank you Father for an oustanding unapologetic post!

Dappled Things

Especially well said:

I guess what I'm saying in these three points is that no one should feel he must cut himself off from the Church out of some all-or-nothing approach to Faith. People can, I believe, recognize that their beliefs or actions put them at odds with the fullness of the Faith but, at the same time, remain within the Church in an imperfect way.

and more wisdom:

Before talking about your dissent from the Church, lay out what you do assent to. Start with the Creed. Consider that, even though all the truths of the Faith are equally true, some truths are more central than others.

and even more:

A person should ask himself what doctrines he does believe, and why he believes them, starting with the central ones. He should ask himself how the Gospel impacts his life and changes his behavior. Only after all that should he start to highlight what he rejects and how he diverges from orthopraxy -- and what the reasons are for those divergences. I think a lot of people would be surprised by how much they do believe.

Ah heck, go read the whole thing! Thanks again, Father.

Test

Test

Literal Interpretation

Flos Carmeli

Steven Riddle at Flos Carmeli, in his usual thoughtful way, has observations on the pitfalls of literal interpretation of scripture. This always strikes me as a balancing act--deciding when to be more, or less, literal with a particular passage. I agree that a literal interpretation of Genesis won't work, but what about a literal interpretation of Homosexuality?
I don't know the answer.

Update

Gosh. When it rains it pours: Open Book links to a New York Times essay on scriptural interpretation of homosexuality and Christianity Today's response.

This is an area that I just have to go with the "submission of the intellect" because I don't find any interpretation very convincing at all.

The Modern Pharisee and Tax Collector

The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector was the Gospel reading this Sunday. Nowadays, Pharisees seldom attend Mass.

Maybe today, the scene would go something like this:

A Catholic kneels before the Altar and, after silently praying the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, prays: “Thank you Lord for the grace and wisdom you have bestowed on me, for allowing me actually read and understand the Documents of Vatican II, and thank you for allowing me to see the errors of the dissidents and liberalism that wrack Amchurch parishes throughout the U.S today. Thankfully I am not of their number like that Catholic across the way wearing a dove! I cringe at all the sacrileges seeing all those two children per family couples going to communion and receiving from that army of Eucharistic ministers and then leaving church in their late model cars with the Kerry bumper stickers. Save us O lord from those gray haired baby boomers, their doves and their spirit of Vatican II!”

The second Catholic prayed: Thank you lord that I am not like that uptight Catholic across the way, holding his missal in hand, Really, Lord, when was the last time you ever saw one of those! Please God, help him and your bishops recognize we are all your children, straight, gay and transgender, married, divorced and remarried. Release your Church from its patriarchical authoritarianism! Thank you, Lord for giving me the grace to do your ‘real work’ at the local homeless shelter once a month and in understanding your real message in serving others and in not getting hung up on pieties and religious formalism. Thank you lord for your message of peace and I pray to you that our Bishops will learn what peace in our time means and save us from those ‘one issue’ voters for Bush when there are so many social justice issues to be considered. Save us from the home schooling sexually uptight spiritually deprived reactionaries among us who seek to return the Church to the ‘Dark Ages.’”

There were no tax collectors at Mass this Sunday.

---------------

The Jewish audience of Jesus’ time knew all about tax collectors and Pharisees. The tax collectors worked for the occupying Roman army and skimmed a cut of the taxes collected, also accepting commission to undervalue taxable assets of their neighbors. They were even more despised than the IRS of today. Pharisees, on the other hand, were admired members of Jewish society, opposed to the Sadducees who did not believe in an afterlife. The Pharisees believed that God spoke through the Torah and tradition, rather than just through the Torah. They believed in the development of doctrine. Pharisees generally upheld the traditions of the torah as observant Jews, resisting the secular Hellenizing influence of the culture of the day. There is a lot to admire about the Pharisees today. Jesus’ point was that anyone--even a Pharisee--can fall victim to the sin of pride and that we all should be on the lookout when we pride ourselves on our particular form of righteous orthodoxy.

What did your prayer sound like? Mine was probably between the two politically but with the same sense of pride and self-righteousness. No faction in the Church today has a monopoly on pride and self-righteousness.

Glory be

The Words We Pray

Amy Welborn has published a great book. Check the table of contents! If you don't konw these prayers by heart, you might consider buying a copy. I have some of her books for my sons and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Best Catholic Writing 2004

BustedHalo's Catholic Writing Anthology 2004

Busted Halo is an interesting site. It's run by the Paulists and entertains a wide range of opinions that I don't share. It's helpful for me to read Catholics who don't think like me (whatever that means at the moment).

I can learn a lot from the faith struggles of other Catholics. I don't feel so alone knowing there are other lost sheep out there, too that have come home safely.

I'm intrigued by these questions:"How can love defeat murder? How are we to be moral citizens of the nations in which we live? How are we to live? How are we to pray ceaselessly, to attend constantly to miracle, to bring our wild love to bear on the bruised and broken world?” Wow, sounds like an interesting book. I'll check it out.

The most shocking abortion statistic

Like Jean Jacques Rousseau, I have five sons. Rousseau is famous as the philosopher of the Social Contract, but he also had grand ideas on proper childrearing, played a huge role in the development of educational theories in France and he wrote volumes on childhood education. He had 5 sons and later in life he said:

“At one time I had no sons and five theories of child rearing, now I have five sons and no theories of child rearing.”

Perhaps apocryphal, but for me those are words of a man who has “been there” like me.

What’s this got to do with abortion? Abortion to me is an abstract. I don’t know a single person who has ever had an abortion. All persons I have ever known who were pregnant either miscarried or had babies to show for it. It is incomprehensible for me to imagine the thought process involved in making such a decision. Maybe I’ve led a sheltered life but that’s true.

Now, while I was busy raising five sons and completely out of fresh ideas to convince a computer savvy teenager that a washing machine is not as complicated as an Ethernet connection, the clergy sex abuse scandal blew up. It completely blindsided me in several devastating ways. After much anguish and soul searching, I reached a decision to divert my church donations away from my parish. I reduced my annual donations by two thirds. One third was sent to SNAP as a form of partial contrition. I looked around for a worthy charity and found a letter from the local Project Rachel describing its work in assisting women after abortion and thanking the parish for its generous annual donation. Of $300.

$300. Our parish raises over $200,000 for the Diocese Annual Appeal, average weekly collections are about $30,000. Somehow or another that $300 figure just stunned me. That’s all we can do? All this blather about pro-life is just that? All words and no action? Can that really be? I don’t know. But I re-examined my own conscience and diverted the last third of my parish donations to the local house. My donation is bigger than the parish’s but still a drop in the bucket. If you have a charity that you want to support, and you want to put your money where your is, consider donating to an organization like Project Rachel or any organization that supports unwed mothers.

Why Apologetics is wrong

Mirror of Justice: More from Cathleen Kaveny on Catholics, Abortion, and the Presidential Election

I don't intend to post much at all about the election. One side issue, though, is how certain Catholic apologetics have used the election process to intimidate and extort-- there are no polite words--a vote their way. This article explains how it's done and why it's wrong. Unfortunately some of this intimidation and extortion is from the clergy. Sad. This is the evil that happens when apologetics "know" they have all the answers.

Cathleen Kaveny is not criticising those who advocate a vote for or against a political cadidate. She is criticizing those who claim that peope sin merely by voting for a candidate. Just because you can't think of a proportionate reason to vote for or against a particular candidate doesn't mean that other people can't either. To suggest that others can't is a sign of absurd arrogance. Ms. Kaveney correctly observes that Cardinal Ratzinger, an intellect in his own right, doesn't even make this attempt.

Unapologetic Catholic FAQS

Unapologetic Catholic FAQs: email: unapologetic_4@hotmail.com

1. Are you loyal to the Magisterium?

Yes. Even though I generally find this to be a trick question, I am loyal to the magisterium. The problem with the question is that I have yet to find a person who asks this question who is also loyal to the magisterium. People who ask this question think they are loyal to the magisterium, but they really aren’t, they’re more apologetic than Catholic. Without exception, these people have no doubts about what the magisterium is, and they’re objectively wrong. So, many people will conclude that I’m not loyal to the Magisterium, because I’m not loyal to their magisterium—big difference.

2. Well, are you Orthodox?

Probably not. There are many teachings of the Church that deeply trouble me as they should deeply trouble any thinking Catholic. I think they’re incorrect and internally inconsistent but I’m still studying them, researching their history and ready to change my change my mind regarding troublesome teachings or until Development of Doctrine results in a change of the troublesome teaching. Until then--submission of the intellect is the best I can hope for, and, fortunately for me, is all the Church asks. I hope that I’m honest enough to say so when I discuss difficult issues. Generally, as I read Catholic blogs, and comments and public pronouncements I can only think of a few, less than 3, catholic laymen who have not ever announced an unorthodox belief. So, in some sense, the vast majority of Catholics, say 99.99%, are unorthodox to a greater or lesser degree—and most don’t realize it. If you’re Catholic and you’re reading this entry you can probably presume you’re in that great majority. I put myself in that category. I’m pretty sure I would stumble over some of the great mysteries of the Church, the Trinity and Transubstantiation for example. To me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s why it’s called “formation” and that process is ongoing. I see Orthodoxy as a “target”--concentric circles of increasing orthodoxy. It’s not that I mean to say the wrong thing when discussing the Trinity—I want to be right, and by continued study thought and prayer I’ll get closer to the bullseye. When I’m accidentally not orthodox, I mean to be orthodox. Maybe an example helps. There’s Mexican lady down the street who lights candles in her homemade shrine to Our Lady of Guadelupe. I’m pretty sure she does in fact worship Mary in that manner feared by Protestants. It’s clearly heretical Mariolatry. But you know what? She is pious beyond measure and is faithful to God much more than I am and believes in God’s presence in her life, full of tragedies much more than I do in my life of relative wealth, health and material possessions. She is holy. She loves God and it shows in her face, in life and even the way she walks. I don’t think God cares one whit about her unorthodoxy. We should all be so unorthodox.

3. National Catholic Register or National Catholic Reporter?

I don’t read either one. I believe both are apologetic in the pejorative sense, as that term is used here.

4. Active in your parish?

I’m an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister. I have served as EME for 4 years. I stress the first E - “extraordinary”- this ministry should continue only while there’s a priest shortage. When that shortage disappears, the ministry should end. I also think that four years is too long in that ministry. I currently feel unworthy and not holy enough to continue in this ministry and will be resigning to serve in another ministry, probably usher, soon.

5. Married, children?

Married to a non-Catholic, two stepsons and three sons. The stepsons are being raised Jewish, My sons are raised Catholic.

5. Devotions?

The Rosary brings me more spiritual peace than anything except Holy Communion. Our church’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel is my home away from home. When I am fearful, I say the Rosary. The Stations of the Cross remind me of the price He paid for me and I walk the outdoors stations at Church frequently during the year. I often do online Stations on a lunch break. I pray the Rosary for the souls of my family members who have died. I pray the rosary for family and friends in need of prayer. Did I mention the Rosary is an important part of my spiritual life?

7. Why the nom de plume?

I can’t talk about how Catholicism affects me without talking about the people in my life. Some bloggers are open in talking about children born out of wedlock, abortions, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. Those matters infuse our religion and make us who we are and I admire those bloggers for doing so. I’ll talk about some of these things too, but I don’t want to invade the privacy of my family members and co-workers. Also my doubts and struggles are real and my faith is weak. I flatly often doubt God’s existence at all. (Rosary, again) Finding God when you’ve lost Him can be hard, and best done alone, I think.

8. So how do we contact you?

Email me here: unapologetic_4@hotmail.com