Church & Culture
Divorcing Faith and Work
Over the past several decades, the pressure to divorce one’s faith from one’s work has become increasingly strong. We’ve done it for a very long time in our political life, even as far back as the candidacy of John F. Kennedy who gave a landmark speech in which he aimed to assuage the American voter that as president, he wouldn’t be beholden to the papacy. The pseudo-logic, when taken at face value, presents itself as common sense. If my faith interferes with your life, then as a holder of public office, I shouldn’t use my faith so as to allow you to have absolute freedom. The problem with this line of thinking is that by leaving behind the tenants of one’s faith in the workplace, we all lose out on the very tangible goods that accompany faith.
Atticus Finch crystallized the idea of living an integrated life in To Kill A Mockingbird, a point which I’ve raised many times on this blog. We cannot be one person at home and one person in the public life. Not only is it difficult to maintain two realities, no one can be successful in doing so. Faith brings a dynamic set of positive qualities with it. Faith does not merely suggest that we be respectful and honest with others, it demands it. Do we not wish for all people to be treated with respect? So if we require that in order to hold public office or to work in a neutral setting that people leave their faith at the door, do we also wish them to be disrespectful and dishonest.
The real problem is a misunderstanding of the proper role of faith and spirituality in our lives. The entire premise of creation is hinged on free will. Blind faith is no faith at all. In order to truly live as God desires, we must do the right things while fully understanding and freely choosing to do them. This crux is what makes faith such a powerful force for good. We give of our time, material possessions, and support not for the praise, glory, or some desire for self-actualization, but because we understand what the good is and choose it over the evil of pride and selfishness.
I can think of no clearer example of this necessity to understand the good in order to do good than Alison’s profession of medicine. Alison objects to prescribing contraceptives on religious grounds. Her faith has informed her belief that contraceptives are not only contrary to natural order, but that they commoditize one’s sexuality. She has learned from the Church what it means to be truly human and truly alive, and she knows that the gift of human sexuality and the cooperative nature of creation demand both self-mastery and self-respect. Through this lens, she can see that the promises that contraceptives make are not only untrue, but they’re incredibly destructive. These are her personal beliefs and its from this starting point that she begins her decision making process. Does it matter to her patients that she starts her thought process with faith? No. Do most of her patients share her beliefs? Doubtful. It’s what Alison does next that lends credence to her conclusion to not prescribe contraceptives. Taking her suspicions that contraceptives may not be in the best interest of her patients, she learns of the increased suicide rates among sexually active young women, she learns of the serious potential side effects, and the serious challenges with infertility that rise out of sustained use of contraceptives. These findings are not in any way connected to her faith; they’re medical and scientific facts. Weighing them against the proposed benefits of contraceptives, it becomes her medical opinion that the risks do not outweigh the benefits and that the treatment is medically unnecessary. That decision is not only based on the medical facts, but on the cost to the patient in terms of monetary expenditure on the treatment, future costs of correcting damage done by the procedure, and the crippling emotional toll that infertility takes on a couple. These are all facts that if her conscience, informed by her faith, had not been suspicious, she may have never discovered. Like the powerful Philip Morris advocating the benefits of smoking to the general public, modern pharmaceutical companies have mounted a successful public relations campaign touting the benefits of contraceptives while minimizing the harmful and lasting side effects.
Faith and work cannot, and should not be divorced. Faith, properly understood and integrated, can be a powerful force for good that lifts up one’s company, cause, and mission. We need strong leaders who are firmly grounded in truth to carry us forward and we need to recognize that without fully developing our spirituality, we live limited, underdeveloped lives.
Antonin Scalia: America’s Thomas More
“In every interaction you have with people, you can either give them life or take some away.” -Toby Mac
The passing of Justice Antonin Scalia is a great tragedy. Although all things are done in God’s time, I, along with many others, selfishly wish that he could have been permitted to remain with us longer. His death raises many interesting lessons that we can apply to our lives. Truly this was a man who lived the haunting words of Christ, “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.”
Justice Scalia was truly America’s Thomas More. A well-read scholar of the law, he understood the wisdom of the Church and carried his faith with him to work each day. Combining his faith with reason, logic, and knowledge of the law, he followed his conscience regardless of the winds of social and peer pressure. He wrote boldly despite the vicious attacks that he faced in the media, among pundits, and from everyday Americans. This was the life of Thomas More. More lost his head and Scalia lost his reputation. This is the mark of a martyr: unwavering proclamation of truth in the face of power.
Justice Scalia has nine children, one of his sons is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington. I was grieved by the fact that almost immediately, his enemies began to publicly celebrate his passing. The chance to nominate a Supreme Court justice is one of the most lasting impacts of a presidency, but the sinister nature of celebrating the death of one man for the gain of one’s own objectives is both revolting and deeply sad. In this way, I think that Justice Scalia had one more lesson to share with us.
In evaluating my own responses, I was deeply ashamed to realize that if one of my enemies were to die, I would feel a sense of relief. This deplorable reaction is beyond selfish and is a betrayal of what it means to be human. We must consider that there are two sides to every event. While enemies may celebrate, one’s family is in mourning. How callous to dance on the grave while a family is grieving. We’ve lost the ability to divorce one’s actions from one’s personhood and dignity. This is the exact challenge of the Christian life, the call from Christ Himself to love our enemies calls us back to this point. People are not the enemy, actions, decisions, and sin are the enemy. Christ wasn’t calling us to be best friends with our enemies, but rather to recognize that behind the course of action they were pursing was a child of God, created as we are in God’s image and likeness, who has innate dignity regardless of their actions or affiliations.
Our success in the Christian life is based on more than just our personal actions. The things and the people that we surround ourselves with is just as important as the actions we take. Less than 12 hours after the news broke of Justice Scalia’s passing, one of my favorite websites, The Onion had a disparaging headline about the man. They are doubtless a comedy organization and their mode of operation is to push the limits, but by running the headline, I realized just how insensitive they are. I unsubscribed. They took some of my life away and I refuse to give them any more web traffic which can be leveraged into advertising dollars.
The legacy of Justice Scalia is clear. One’s faith should not be left out of the workplace, even the most complex problems can be solved with logic, and the likelihood of being martyred by one’s country should not dissuade us from relentlessly pursing truth. Justice Scalia was a brilliant legal mind, a devout Catholic, and a brave American who would upheld the principles that our Nation was built upon. He was truly our Thomas More who humbly went about his work for the American people. He will be deeply missed.
Broken Promises
I’ve been struggling lately to defend my beliefs amid our culture shifts. It’s not that I think that I’m wrong, but it’s that I’m made to feel like I’m wrong. It’s the bitter poison that Modernism tries to feed us. Modernism is a supremacist ideology that seeks to suppress and supplant all other thought systems. When you get down to the meat of Modernism’s arguments, it’s mostly semantics. New is not always better than old. New is not always destructive. Old is not always wrong. What isn’t semantics, however, is logic. The fatal flaw of Modernism is that it cannot withstand even the first buffets of logic.
There’s no way, in any possible world, to deny Natural Law. In the way that gravity cannot be denied, it cannot be logically stated (and defended) that there is no natural order of things. Modernism attempts to shroud itself in the mantle of high intellectualism, but it’s a straw man. It makes huge promises, but only delivers disappointment. That’s because not only is it untested, it’s poorly constructed.
Take, for example, contraceptives. For decades now, we’ve been told that contraceptives give freedom and liberation to women. Those who oppose it for moral reasons are marginalized professionally. Women of all ages are repeatedly counseled by medical professionals to use them. Natural Family Planning is scoffed at, although decades of medical research prove it to be as effective as contraceptives.
Modernism promised freedom, but delivered disappointment. Women spend the first half of their reproductive lives on contraceptives trying to avoid pregnancy and the second half of their reproductive lives trying to reverse the lasting effects in order to achieve pregnancy. Many suffer debilitating migraines and the heartache of miscarriages because of long term contraceptive use. [Rates of single parent homes skyrocketed] from 5% in 1960 to nearly 40% in 2006 (http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc262d.pdf). The importance of that statistic is that [single parent homes] is the number one indicator of poverty (http://www.prb.org/pdf10/single-motherfamilies.pdf). It’s just another broken promise.
We could go through other examples of the banners that Modernism touts, but we’d continue find the same answer. That’s because, logically speaking, all of Modernism’s premises are built on the same flawed logic.
Traditional thinking is about more than just remaining rooted in proven knowledge; it’s about exploration and expansion. Once an idea is proven to be true, it can be incorporated into its thought system.
A good example of this would be the Catholic Church. Time and time again the Church is chastised for being anti-science, too out of touch, and old fashioned. Yet, we forget that we would have lost so much scientific knowledge without the Church. The Church has consistently incorporated the best of a generation’s ideas into Her thought system. She has championed universal education and founded the modern healthcare system. To be sure, she rejects that which does not stand up to rigorous intellectual scrutiny, but to say that She is stuck in the Middle Ages because She doesn’t conform to your two-decade old idea is asinine.
This is the beauty of tradition and the genius of Catholicism. Trends in thought come and go. Yet, the intelligent are wise enough to pick out the good pieces and integrate them into their own thought system and discard the rest. When you find yourself in doubt about your beliefs, a simple application of logic will help you to find your way.
Pray for Those Who Persecute You
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. - Matthew 5:44
Jesus’ words always call us on to greater things, to be better people than we are today. Jesus’ words seem hyperbolic, but they are anything but hyperbolic. He was calling us to live the lives we were made to live, to reach the levels of true freedom that God had always intended for us.
Our collective conscience has been constantly focused on terrorism for over a decade. Although the modern terrorist threat to the United States began to form in the 1990s, September 11th solidified the impact on every day Americans, not just those abroad. The most recent attack save served to continue this cycle of fear and worry. As is typical of our society, we’ve taken on a team aspect to our fight against terrorism. It’s us versus them; our team versus theirs. While terrorist organizations are nimble and capable, America is still the baddest kid on the block. When we choose to use our military and intelligence might, there’s no safe place on Earth where our enemies can hide.
This is the case of Jhaddi John, a British rapper who joined ISIS to become the public face of their execution campaign against the West. In taunting us and our allies, he became a target. Now, according to reports, just over a year after he made his debut, he’s been tracked down, targeted, and eliminated.
If rapper/terrorist Jihadi John really is dead, then I guess you could say his last single was da bomb. -@NotKennyRogers | 11/13/15, 4:39 PM
When you read the news, I’d venture to guess you were a bit glad, as I was. I remember vividly the first execution of James Foley late last summer. Not only was it a call back to the Al Queda beheadings in the mid-2000s, but I also remember the events so well because of the stories of James’ incredible displays of faith while in captivity.
Yet, after reading the headlines and feeling like justice was done, I realized that celebrating this military accomplishment is really not worth a celebration at all. In fact, it’s the conclusion of a very tragic story arc in a much more sobering narrative. This young man, like so many others, has been robbed of his freedom. This is not a robbery perpetrated by any government, but by hatred and ISIS itself. Terrorist organizations rely on radicalized young people to carry out its cruel and inhumane attacks. In that way, they rob those young people of the opportunity of a long and fruitful life.
The process of radicalization is a long one, and one that requires constant injecting of hatred. The beauty of the mind is tarnished and marginalized as creative capacity and efforts are steered instead to negative thoughts, negative thinking, and eventually, pure hatred. These radicalized young people become consumed with a worldview that is not only mentally unhealthy, but that is so disconnected from reality that they can no longer make basic rational decisions. It’s in this mindset that they see suicide attacks against innocent populations as not only justified, but necessary. It’s this supremacist mindset that says that there’s only one way to praise God, and any persons who differ in opinion deserve death.
Terrorism kills every individual that it touches. It kills the recruit’s free and rational intellect, it physically kills perpetrators of the attacks, and it kills its innocent victims. This is the true tragedy. So many lives that could be enjoying the family life, or sharing their gifts with the world are diverted to hate and so many lives are snuffed out by acts of hatred.
Jesus’ words to us in Matthew are quite clear. Although we are personally hurt by the actions of terrorism, we can’t forget that these acts are carried out by people. The perpetrators are in some small way victims themselves. Although they hurt us an others, they deserve our prayers because had they not been deceived into joining a world of hatred, they likely would have lived normal lives.
The Gospel is not an easy message. The Gospel demands justice. Yet, the Gospel also demands mercy. As Catholics, we’re called to advocate for justice, to protect the victim, and to pray for those who attack us. There are no winners in terrorism, only victims.
Vapid Music
I’m fairly certain in every generation, as art pushes the boundaries of cultural norms and acceptability, there’s always a crowd of people who assert that the new forms of art are unacceptable and in some ways corrupting. In modern society, as the boundaries of music are broken down and it’s availability reaches its apex, so too has the sheer amount of music. New forms of music are emerging, as are new subforms. As we all consume more and more music, the importance of the message and impact becomes paramount.
What you eat, you become. The same is true for music. As music plays in the background of our lives, the message that it’s sending us is important. It seems to me that music has become quite vapid. Lyrics are petty, beats are copied, and there’s nothing that calls us to greater levels of human existence.
I see music as being on par with literature. There is some truly tremendous literature on the shelves of libraries, homes, and offices, but there’s also pandering literature and books that are complete garbage. The same is true for music. All music falls on a spectrum, but more and more lands on the garbage end.
The only harm that this new wave of vapid music is causing is self-inflicted. I choose what I listen to just as I choose what I read. If I read a philosophy book, I walk away a better person. If I read a raunchy romance book, I walk away no better of a person, if not worse.
Music tends to reflect the cultural attitudes of the day, and so I think it’s fair to say that the music of today is accurate and appropriate to where we are at as a society. However, it’s doubtful that in 30 years we’ll be listening to 1Direction on a Classic Pop channel. When you listen to music, be cognizant of how it affects you and your thinking. Are you going to listen to something edifying and uplifting, or shallow and empty?
The Radical Early Christians
For perhaps the first time in my life, I’m reading the Acts of the Apostles. Alison gave me the fantastic Ignatius Catholic Study Bible for Father’s Day this year and I’ve been working my way through the Gospels and other books of the New Testament. I wrote earlier this year about how I’ve been reading the Bible footnotes along with the actual text and how much richer of an experience it is.
While reading Acts, I noticed something quite interesting. Considered as stories happening within their place in history, the early Christians were truly counter-cultural. We’ve heard that we’re supposed to be counter-cultural ourselves, but the early Christians really took it to heart. Everything that they did was basically the complete opposite of what the rest of their culture was doing.
We’re the salt of the Earth, but we’ve become rather bland. Polls and statistics show that we mirror the rest of society in divorce rates and that most of us agree more with societal preference on social issues than with the Church’s teaching. Said another way, we’ve become so ingrained in society, we’ve lost that which makes us special.
It’s time to re-engage. The Church has always sought the betterment of people, true freedom of conscience and action, and to care for the poor, weak, and vulnerable. The fact is, we have the tools that make us truly counter-cultural. We have the Eucharist, the Sacraments, and a base of theology and philosophy so strong that no man, idea, or empire has been able to topple the Church since Her founding.
We need to return to Mass. Less than a quarter of Catholics go to Mass on a weekly basis. Sunday Mass is an obligation because the Church knows how much we need time for rest and nourishment. The Eucharist is the fuel of our lives and the more frequently we receive, the more graces we have to live a holy (and happy!) life. We need to get rid of our pride. Pride will kill a person faster than anything else. By recognizing, in humility, that the Church has a treasury of wisdom and by seeking to understand Her teachings, we can understand what She actually says, not what someone told us She says.
Being called a hypocrite isn’t the worst thing in the world. To be human means to fail. It also means that when we receive new information, we can change. That’s not hypocrisy, it’s maturity. Through a spirit of constant renewal, we can work every day to become better people.
The early Christians were truly set apart from their peers. As a result, people were inspired by their lives and flocked to their fledgling Church. It’s time for us to mirror their example. Go to Mass, learn the Church’s teachings, and live a life that makes you truly free.
Why Mass Matters
I don’t bother to read the surveys that pollsters do of Catholics. It turns into an exercise in, “I’m more Catholic than you,” and the number of people who self-identify as Catholic is way too high. Honestly, if you consistently miss Mass, it’s time to stop self-identifying as Catholic. It’s like being a vegetarian who eats meat four times a week. However, one thing that every survey does show is that the frequency of Mass attendance directly correlates to agreement with the Magisterium.
My family goes to Mass every week, no real surprise there. I would say that my choice to go to Mass is more out of a desire to go than out of a sense of duty. I like the peace of sanctuary, the rhythm of the liturgy, and the grace that I receive to get me through the week.
I’ve spent some time considering why frequency of Mass attendance correlates to higher levels of agreement with Church teachings. Certainly there is something miraculous about the Mass, but I think it’s about more than just that hour. Certainly there is a catechetical element to the homily. The priest or deacon has 15 minutes or so to help me better understand the readings and how they connect to my life, current events, and the world around me. But I think that there’s still something more to it.
If you take your faith seriously enough to go to Mass weekly, I think you’re the type of person who will try to get questions answered. We certainly have many societal issues that we’re trying to find solutions to, and many of us are challenged by others about what our faith stands for. I know why the Church opposes redefining marriage and abortion because I’ve read Her teachings. I know that Her reasonings are backed up by nearly 2,000 years of scholarly works by some of the greatest theological and philosophical minds and I’ve taken the time to read Her explanations. I think that all of that study would be enough to convince most reasonable people of the logic and rationale of Her arguments.
There are exceptions to every rule, and this of course, is one of them. There are many Catholics, even those in the pews with you on Sunday, who are financially supporting organizations that work against the Church, who are using contraceptives, and who are doing any number of things that the Church strongly counsels them against. At the same time, we are sitting there just as broken and just as sinful. That’s the beauty of the Church. We’re trying to live the lives that we’re called to, and each time we go to Mass, we give God one more opportunity to affect change in our lives. None of us are exempt from the universal call to holiness, nor are we free from the responsibility to examine our lives and change them accordingly.
The Mass is the center of the Christian life. It gives us the grace to seek constant renewal, an opportunity to listen to the Word of God, and a chance to pray for one another. Through regular attendance, we can slowly grow in wisdom and understanding, turning ourselves back towards the Church and Her teachings.
Priests Are Superheroes
If I were a priest, the standing weekly appointment that I’d most look forward to, and at the same time most dread, is Reconciliation. Confession is a beautiful, necessary, and needed Sacrament. Yet, for the priest, it also means that he must stand in the place of Christ, already a challenging role, and receive the burdens of everyone. I imagine that experiencing the fight for good and evil in such a real way can be an emotional challenge.
Our priests are truly superheroes. Not only do they listen to our darkest secrets, and not only do they keep them in secrecy, but they then are able cut straight to the heart of the matter with words of wisdom, consolation, and peace. They hear our miserable failings and, in the face of hopelessness, shine a bright light on us and give us hope. They challenge us to do better and they grant us absolution.
We frequently get to experience the freedom of walking out of the Confessional with our sins having been forgiven. Let’s not forget the men who sacrifice their lives to make it possible for us to receive the Sacraments that we so desperately need.
Christian Animosity Towards Catholics
During Pope Francis' recent visit to the United States, I was inundated with news articles, Tweets, and Facebook posts about the Church, often from people who aren’t Catholic. Some of the reporting was quite pitiful, and a few of the Tweets and Facebook posts were inane. One of the most shocking Tweets I read was about the Papal Mass at Madison Square Gardens. The twit asked why they made the Mass a ticketed event when it should be open to anyone who wants to go.
The reasons to restrict attendance at that particular Mass, in that particular venue, are beyond obvious, not the least of which being fire codes. What was shocking was just how poignant Christian animosity towards Catholics still remains today. Not only does it go against the tenants of our shared faith, it comes from a place that refuses to recognize the good that we do and our areas of agreement.
The Catholic Church hasn’t had a perfect history, and yet it has still withstood every attack since its founding. While the Church maintains an unbroken line of Apostolic Secession, the Sacraments, the Magisterium, and the fullness of faith, other Christian denominations do share some fullness of the faith. Christians believe in Jesus and agree, in general, on the merits of living based on His teaching.
Both Catholics and Christians are doing good things in the world, and we’re all struggling with sin while we strive to live the life that we aspire to. This reality is something else that we have in common. It’s unnecessary for us to have any degree of animosity towards each other. Those ill feelings only distract us from our true mission, which is to share the Gospel with all nations. Let’s do a better job of presenting a united front to the world and focusing on doing good works, instead of tearing each other down.
Every Election is Important
We’re getting deep into the 2016 election, even though it’s more than a year away. The fields for both political parties are getting plenty of attention for the wild card candidates that have thrown their hats into the ring. There’s a level of excitement about the race, but really for all of the wrong reasons.
When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote his famous Democracy in America, he shared his astonishing findings that students left the 2nd grade completely literate. Even more than that, the rates of involvement in the political process were extraordinarily high. In the early 1800s, he met a generation of Americans who had tyranny fresh on their minds. They saw the importance of active participation in the political process as a way to steer the future of their young nation.
Today, voter turnout rates are dismal, even worse in off-cycle and midterm elections. We’re an electorate that, in general, is disengaged in the process. The interest, this year, is because of the nature of the personal attacks and the personalities of a few of the candidates.
Our election system is important regardless of who the candidates are. We shouldn’t be curious just to see who will attack whom. We should be interested because our future is being debated. Primaries, debates, and campaigns help shape the national conversation. Who do we want to be? What do we want to do next? Where do we want to go? What issues need to be addressed immediately? These are the great questions that elections ultimately answer. The variety of candidates, many of which know they have no hope of winning, share their views and ideas, many of which eventually get put into party platforms or in nominee policy papers.
Apathy towards the system, only participating in the general election, or not participating at all is at the least a shirking of one’s civic duty. At worst, it’s a failure in one’s moral duty. Listen to the conversation, participate in the process, and vote. Thousands of Americans have given up their lives to protect your right to vote.