Thursday, January 31, 2008

Evictions

With Giuliani and Edwards out of their races, we're about to get down to basics. This is now the opportunity for the remaining folk, with endorsements and increased attention, to begin to act like grown-ups--in other words, presidential. Romney, McCain, Obama and Clinton now need to start leading their causes rather than assassinating their opposition. If they can't show some kind of quality of public spirit and attention to issues, they don't deserve even one vote.

I'm still a little puzzled by Romney's lack of performance. I think his lack of fire and perceived aloofness are the causes, along with the splintering of mainstream conservatism, but I'm not ruling out a creeping, smarmy anti-Mormonism. Religious prejudice has not expired. It's a shame.

More of the Wisdom Tradition

Early Christianity maintained an enormous respect for both sacred text and "secular" wisdom, and shunned mere obedience and legalism for their own sake. Hence, it was a simple distinction to recognize the importance of spirit over law. Maximus the Confessor, a 6th-century abbot considers the Divine Wisdom, the Word or Logos:

The lamp placed on the lampstand, of which Scripture speaks, is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s true light, who enlightens everyone coming into the world, (Jn1,9). As for the lampstand, it is the holy Church. It is upon her preaching that God’s resplendent Word rests, enlightening men the world over as inhabitants of his house and filling every soul with knowledge of God…The Word has no wish to remain under a bushel; it longs to be set well in view, on the Church’s summit. Concealed beneath the letter of the Law, as under a bushel, the Word would have deprived everyone of eternal light. It would have been unable to grant spiritual contemplation to those who try to disengage themselves from the seduction of the senses, which are subject to illusion and quick to see only material, passing things. But if placed on the lampstand of the Church, that is to say, founded on worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4,24), it enlightens everyone…

For the letter, unless it is understood according to the spirit, has only a material and limited value; of itself, it does not allow the mind to grasp the import of the written word…So let us not place the lighted lamp, that is to say the Word of God, under the bushel by means of our thoughts and actions. Let us not be guilty of concealing beneath the letter the incomprehensible force of divine Wisdom. Let us rather set the Word on the lampstand of the Church, at the summit of pure contemplation, which causes the light of divine revelation to shine out for everybody.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

It's still early, but...

... the loyalists of every stripe ought to be thinking in the longer term. As Mr. Sager and others seem to be hinting, Republicans have to be thinking about the general election as well as the primaries. Candidate McCain and the "conservative factions," well-meaning and passionate about setting direction for the party, have got to consider from this point on how and with whom to best animate the eventual Republican ticket. Fight passionately for your guy while he may still be in the race--at least another week, following Florida--but be ready to hit the ground running to set an ideological agenda that will unify the larger party tent. That may mean that there are one or two issues and attitudes that must be put aside for the greater political good.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Andy and Roger

Madame observed that if Roger had taken Andy's tone of voice, admitted some participation in taking the illicit chemicals, and moved on, Roger might be having a little less negative attention paid to him. She might be right. Is Roger's intransigence and seeming venality due to a profound arrogance or is it that he has truly been wronged by a lying, extortion-seeking former associate? Can the Congressional inquiry or investigative reporting get down to the facts on this? More to come, I guess.

Muslims and Jews

In preparing for the next Asian Cultures class, I took some time to troll the Islamic religious web--not the radicals, but those who seek to educate about mainstream Islam. Almost all include a list of the prophets, up to "the seal of the Prophets," Muhammad (PBUH). It seems that one conclusion is inescapable from the theological standpoint: Muslims need Jews. The Qur'an says so. The radical Islamists must eventually realize this because, ultimately, to seek to destroy the Jews--even the "Zionist entity"--means to seek to cut off some critical parts of heritage, historical memory, and theological foundation.

Today's Primaries

Well, McCain won narrowly in South Carolina. He's getting conservative support and still reaching to the middle ground of the independents, who appear to be showing no timidity in these primaries. Huckabee reaches to the middle to some degree, as well. Why not Romney or Thompson? They split the other 30 percent, presumably the purer economic conservatives, evenly; one will have to leave the race to unify that group, but if support is already moving to McCain then it seems that there is some process of reflection going on with the voters. Now, is that a trend that applies elsewhere?

Here's another thing: I have a feeling that Romney's Mormon faith is a real problem out there--perhaps Republicans are thinking it will be a problem in the general election, or perhaps the evangelicals can't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. This is interesting.

Lastly, how long will it take for the "true conservative" talk-show dudes to begin to be a little nicer to Senator McCain?

Friday, January 18, 2008

Faith and Citizenship

Archbishop Chaput has a digest of what it appears are his non-negotiables on faith, voting and citizenship from the Church's viewpoint. It's hard to say that he's not "spot-on" with most of this. I'll come back later to some of the individual points, but here are the 10 observations:

Personal witness is always the best proof of what we claim to believe. And this year, like every other year, with or without an election, we need to apply the idea of Catholic witness in a special way to our public life as citizens. We might find it useful to remember 10 simple points as we move toward November.

1. George Orwell said that one of the biggest dangers for modern democratic life is dishonest political language. Dishonest language leads to dishonest politics — which then leads to bad public policy and bad law. So we need to speak and act in a spirit of truth.

2. “Catholic” is a word that has real meaning. We don’t control or invent that meaning as individuals. We inherit it from the Gospel and the experience of the Church over the centuries. We can choose to be something else, but if we choose to call ourselves Catholic, than that word has consequences for what we believe and how we act. We can’t truthfully claim to be Catholic and then act like we’re not.

3. Being a Catholic is a bit like being married. We have a relationship with the Church and with Jesus Christ that’s very similar to being a spouse. And that has consequences. If a man says he loves his wife, his wife will want to see the evidence in his love and fidelity. The same applies to our relationship with God. If we say we’re Catholic, we need to show that by our love for the Church and our fidelity to what she teaches and believes. Otherwise we’re just fooling ourselves, because God certainly won’t be fooled.

4. The Church is not a political organism. She has no interest in partisanship because getting power or running governments is not what she’s about, and the more closely she identifies herself with any single party, the fewer people she can effectively reach.

5. However, Scripture and Catholic teaching do have public consequences because they guide us in how we should act in relation to one another. Loving God requires that we also love the people He created, which means we need to treat them with justice, charity and mercy. Being a Catholic involves solidarity with other people. The Catholic faith has social justice implications — and that means it also has cultural, economic and political implications. The Catholic faith is never primarily about politics; but Catholic social action — including political action — is a natural byproduct of the Church’s moral message. We can’t call ourselves Catholic, and then simply stand by while immigrants get mistreated, or the poor get robbed, or unborn children get killed. The Catholic faith is always personal, but never private. If our faith is real, then it will bear fruit in our public decisions and behaviors, including our political choices.

6. Each of us needs to follow his or her own properly formed conscience. But conscience doesn’t emerge from a vacuum. It’s not a matter of personal opinion or preference. If our conscience has the habit of telling us what we want to hear on difficult issues, then it’s probably badly formed. A healthy conscience is the voice of God’s truth in our hearts, and it should usually make us uncomfortable, because none of us is yet a saint. The way we get a healthy conscience is by submitting it and shaping it to the will of God; and the way we find God’s will is by opening our hearts to the counsel and guidance of the Church that Jesus left us. If we find ourselves disagreeing as Catholics with the Catholic teaching of our Church on a serious matter, it’s probably not the Church that’s wrong. The problem is much more likely with us.

7. But how do we make good political choices when so many different issues are so important and complex? The first principle of Christian social thought is: Don’t deliberately kill the innocent, and don’t collude in allowing somebody else to do it. The right to life is the foundation of every other human right. The reason the abortion issue is so foundational is not because Catholics love little babies — although we certainly do — but because revoking the personhood of unborn children makes every other definition of personhood and human rights politically contingent.

8. So can a Catholic in good conscience support a “pro-choice” candidate? The answer is: I can’t and I won’t. But I do know some serious Catholics — people whom I admire — who will. I think their reasoning is mistaken. But at the very least they do sincerely struggle with the abortion issue, and it causes them real pain. And even more importantly: They don’t keep quiet about it; they don’t give up their efforts to end permissive abortion; they keep lobbying their party and their elected representatives to change their pro-abortion views and protect the unborn. Catholics can support “pro-choice” candidates if they support them despite — not because of — their “pro-choice” views. But they also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it.

9. What is a “proportionate” reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.

10. Lastly, the heart of truly “faithful” citizenship is this: We’re better citizens when we’re more faithful Catholics. The more authentically Catholic we are in our lives, choices, actions and convictions, the more truly we will contribute to the moral and political life of our nation.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

"No Room at the Inn"

From Benedict XVI's homily at Christmas Midnight Mass:

“The time came for Mary to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:6f.). These words touch our hearts every time we hear them. This was the moment that the angel had foretold at Nazareth: “you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:31). This was the moment that Israel had been awaiting for centuries, through many dark hours – the moment that all mankind was somehow awaiting, in terms as yet ill-defined: when God would take care of us, when he would step outside his concealment, when the world would be saved and God would renew all things. We can imagine the kind of interior preparation, the kind of love with which Mary approached that hour. The brief phrase: “She wrapped him in swaddling clothes” allows us to glimpse something of the holy joy and the silent zeal of that preparation. The swaddling clothes were ready, so that the child could be given a fitting welcome. Yet there is no room at the inn. In some way, mankind is awaiting God, waiting for him to draw near. But when the moment comes, there is no room for him.

Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for others – for his neighbour, for the poor, for God. And the richer men become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less room there is for others....


In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. Heaven has come down to Earth. For this reason, a light shines from the stable for all times; for this reason joy is enkindled there; for this reason song is born there.

At the end of our Christmas meditation I should like to quote a remarkable passage from Saint Augustine.Interpreting the invocation in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in Heaven”, he asks: what is this – Heaven? And where is Heaven? Then comes a surprising response: “… who art in Heaven – that means: in the saints and in the just. Yes, the heavens are the highest bodies in the universe, but they are still bodies, which cannot exist except in a given location. Yet if we believe that God is located in the heavens, meaning in the highest parts of the world, then the birds would be more fortunate than we, since they would live closer to God. Yet it is not written: ‘The Lord is close to those who dwell on the heights or on the mountains’, but rather: ‘the Lord is close to the brokenhearted’ (Ps 34:18[33:19]), an expression which refers to humility. Just as the sinner is called ‘Earth’, so by contrast the just man can be called ‘Heaven’” (Sermo in monte II 5, 17).

Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart. And the heart of God, during the Holy Night, stooped down to the stable: the humility of God is Heaven. And if we approach this humility, then we touch Heaven. Then the Earth too is made new. With the humility of the shepherds, let us set out, during this Holy Night, towards the Child in the stable! Let us touch God’s humility, God’s heart! Then his joy will touch us and will make the world more radiant. Amen


This Pope's "mining" of Scripture and of the Church Fathers for meaning relevant to today's situation continues to awe. "Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart."