Taking Catholicism Into The Public Square
This coming Tuesday is a historic and landmark event as we inaugurate the next President of the United States, Barack Obama. The will of the people has been expressed and it is the tradition of our great country to unite behind our new president.
We must make no mistake that this new president has a huge task ahead of him. A task which calls for our help. He is being called to help the world navigate through dangerous political tensions such as those between India and Pakistan and Israel and the Palestinians. He is being called to bring to conclusion long running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are in need of protection from the all too real threat of terrorism here at home, and we are asking him to lead us out of the current world wide economic depression. This is a lot to ask of one man.
These difficult and intimidating tasks before our new president, in some way, can be compared to what 12 year old Samuel experienced in our first reading. Samuel’s call, which came directly from God, would have been immeasurably more intimidating. Nevertheless, we can learn from it and apply those learnings to the way we live our lives today.
The story of Eli, his wicked sons, and the call to Samuel show us the consequences of indifference to the will of God. Eli’s sons were showing utter contempt for God and His Law in full knowledge that what they were doing was wrong. Eli was tainted by his sons’ greed and selfishness. And Eli, as the family patriarch, bore the brunt of the blame because he knew about his sons’ contemptible sins but failed to do anything about them.
Then in today’s gospel we heard the statement: “Thou art... thou shalt be” as Christ was addressing Peter. Truly, Christ gives all of us the “power to become”. The great thing about this story of Peter is that it tells us how Jesus looks at us. He does not only see what we are; he also sees what we can become by following the vocation to which, in his love, he has called us.
The very idea of a “vocation” flows from the assumption that a loving God has a plan for all of us; a God who calls each of us to a special task.
Catholics are encouraged to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ vigorously and publicly, as a matter of national leadership and witness. For Catholics, politics – the pursuit of justice and the common good – is part of our salvation history. What we believe about God shapes how we act – socially, politically, and economically. Life in Christ is a life of active witness. It demands moral leadership.
We were made by Love, to receive love, and to show love to others. Our God given task is to transform ourselves and the world around us through love; first transforming ourselves and then the world; for we cannot give to the world that which we do not have personally.
When we refrain from helping political leaders see their moral responsibilities, we imply that religion has nothing to say in the public square. Church and state are rightly separate, but through the common mission of teaching how to live in this world, they influence each other.
Christian faith is always personal but never private. This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to a private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge in private but need to be quiet about in public, will always fall short. We need to be more zealous in our faith, not more discreet; clearer in our convictions, not muddier; and more Catholic, not less.
We are called to demand personal integrity and good public policy from our political leaders. Each of us shapes the spirit of our great nation. Each of us helps choose the direction our country will take. We need to say yes to what our country needs and no to what it doesn’t. Shaping the spirit of our nation and choosing its direction requires people of character who actively and without apology take their beliefs into public debates. That includes Catholics.
What needs to be done by Catholics today for their country? We are being called to authenticity. If we say we are Catholic, let us be just that with full intensity. American Catholics need to stand for the truths of our faith and the human values it defends.
As our country welcomes a new Administration, let us be conscious of those areas in which we are in agreement and work tirelessly to promote those strategies, policies, and programs. Let us also be aware of where we are not in agreement and vigorously challenge those areas with charitable, loving, and forthright witness. We do this through engaging in debate, proposing alternatives and influencing legislation, and educating people as to the foundations of our arguments.
We do all of this, of course, rooted in God’s great love. We can’t offer Catholic social action to the men and women of the world without at the same time offering them Jesus Christ. We need to transform America through charity and love.
I have found that what is said on the campaign trail is one thing and what is put into practice while serving in office may be something different. We saw that disparity under the last Administration. So, let us move into this new, historically significant time in America with the power of prayer and confidence in God.
We don’t want to be tainted by indifference and inaction like Eli where we believe God’s will to be other than what may be proposed for enactment into law or policy or programs. Just as Peter grew from a fisherman to the Father of the greatest social movement in the history of the world, our leaders today can be transformed through the power and love of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom the nation honors on Monday, wrote in his “Letters” about the kind of citizen he considered almost worse than the “rabid segregationist”; and that was the “white moderate”. White moderates were citizens who agreed with his social justice goals personally but refused to support his public actions. There is a constant risk for each of us to fall victim to inclusion in that silent majority. Some Catholics have reverted to membership into that silent majority since they feel pressure to not promote their religious views onto the wider society.
There can be no genuine justice in our society until the truths on which our nation was founded are more perfectly realized in our culture and our laws.
What America has historically imprinted on the emerging global culture is its spirit. And the current ambiguity of that spirit is troublesome. Our society seems confused about the relationship of law and moral reasoning; thereby eroding the ideas and ideals which have bound us together throughout our history.
President Elect Barack Obama has been given a vocation that few have the interior mettle to undertake. Let us move forward to help President Elect Obama shape the spirit of our great nation according to the truths witnessed to us by the Fathers of our Faith. Let us actively pursue the passionate Christian vocation we were anointed to in our baptism.
God bless America, land of the free, land that we love.