Archbishop Chaput: believers are outsiders in America today
October 22, 2014
Christians should recognize that they are outside the mainstream in American society today, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput said in the annual Erasmus Lecture, sponsored by First Things magazine.
“Our job is to be the healthy cells in a society,” the archbishop said. “We need to work as long as we can, as hard as we can, to nourish the good that remains in our country-– and there’s a deep well of good that does remain-– and to encourage the seeds of a renewal that can only come from our young people.”
In his provocative lecture—entitled “Strangers in a Strange Land”—Archbishop Chaput said “the real problem in America in 2014 isn’t that we believers are foreigners. It’s that our children and grandchildren aren’t.” He made a powerful appeal for religious believers to take a stand in opposition to a secularize culture and to proclaim their faith openly, both in word and in deed. Christians, he said, should “start by returning hatred with love.”
The archbishop cited the public debate over the meaning of marriage—or rather the absence of any rational debate—as the “most disturbing” evidence of the corruption brought about in American society by secularization. The campaign to discredit defenders of marriage was “profoundly dishonest and evil,” but also remarkably successful, he observed. He said:
People who uphold a traditional moral architecture for sexuality, marriage and family have gone in the space of just 20 years from mainstream conviction to the media equivalent of racists and bigots.As society accepts an entirely different idea of marriage, the archbishop suggested that Catholic bishops might decline to cooperate, by refusing to sign marriage licenses. That sort of “principled resistance,” he said, would have “vastly vastly more witness value than being kicked out of the marriage business later by the government, which is a likely bet.”
Archbishop Chaput—who will host the World Meeting for Families next year, which Pope Francis is expected to attend—admitted that he was disturbed by the sometimes confusing messages that emerged from the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops. He explained that clarity is badly needed on questions involved marriage and human sexuality, and “confusion is of the devil.”
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Further information:
- Work, Pray, Love: Archbishop Chaput's advice for modern Christians (CNA)
- Archbishop Chaput blasts Vatican debate on family, says 'confusion is of the devil' (RNS)
- Strangers in a Strange Land (Erasmus Lecture—video of full speech by Archbishop Chaput)
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- Posted by: wcbeckman51 - Oct. 23, 2014 7:53 AM ET USA
Archbishop Chaput has written and spoken strongly on the issue of contraception. If our problems reduce to "the Pill," please understand that Chaput is among a handful of bishops who understand that the widespread failure of faithful witness to the truth and meaning of human sexuality has sown seeds of destruction in the Church and in society. Our families are suffering because we have failed to preach and live the Gospel of the family for decades.
- Posted by: Randal Mandock - Oct. 23, 2014 12:26 AM ET USA
Shrink asks the question, "What else can be done?" The only answer that works begins with proper education. The Catholic must learn to embrace Catholic moral discipline out of love of God and imitation of Christ, not merely because someone says so. A change of culture takes root when we learn to change ourselves and those we are responsible for. Even a silent witness has impact. Catholics have traditionally led by doing, not only by saying. Promote the Catholic way in everything you do and say.
- Posted by: koinonia - Oct. 22, 2014 8:01 PM ET USA
AB Chaput's comments are vital. His words are not ambiguous; an assault continues within the Church and without. The Church has always been the sturdy safe harbour for souls. It is imperative that the baptized enjoy the protection of prelates like AB Chaput because this is the fundamental duty of prelates- to safeguard souls. The baptized must lay claim to that which is theirs by Baptism. Clearly, Chaput, Burke et al encountered something disturbing, but it's up to us to care about it.
- Posted by: Vincit omnia amor - Oct. 22, 2014 6:05 PM ET USA
Bravo!
- Posted by: Minnesota Mary - Oct. 22, 2014 5:32 PM ET USA
Shrink is correct. First Satan used an apple to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God, and then he used a pill to tempt people in modern times. If you want to know how right Archbishop Chaput is about the culture, read the blogs on National Catholic Reporter and see what we are up against as far as attitudes about the teachings of the Church. Very alarming!
- Posted by: shrink - Oct. 22, 2014 3:57 PM ET USA
As Phil has pointed out many times, the problems we face today, especially those described by Chaput, are traceable back to the Pill. I would add that the Pill and divorce are the practical first principles on most of the problems we see today. How does Chaput proposes to address the problem of the Pill for practicing Catholics? All I tell people, is if you're serious about your christian faith, you don't take the pill. What else can be done?
