The Catholic Bishops of America have initiated a two week campaign to fight for religious freedom in America. It is called a “Fortnight for Freedom”. It strikes a large part of the population as crying wolf when there is no wolf. Probably no population in human history has had
more religious freedom and more religious support than the present population of the USA. (I myself, as a Franciscan vowed to common purse, pay no taxes. Nor do our local parishes or institutions.) It feels like entitled people wanting more entitlement.
How different from the early Christian martyrs, whom we piously venerate, who became holy and courageous through the limitations imposed on them by empires and emperors. Too bad Sts. Perpetua and Felicity could not sponsor a fortnight for freedom from their prison cells. Now we suffer no limitations or constrants, refuse to dialogue fairly or up front, and just complain that “our freedoms are being taken away”. The final irony is this was initiated by an issue that 98% of Catholic women do not even believe in–contraception. It really feels like bishops are shooting themselves in the foot by trying to divert attention away from our own problems and sins. Christian spirituality has always first sought spiritual freedom, inner freedom, freedom from self, freedom for love, and never did we expect governments to supply our “freedom” by any political mandate whatsoever. Our dear bishops are beginning to look like “the Republican party at prayer” more than men of the Gospel of Jesus.
Richard Rohr: Unpacking Paradoxes
contemplation in action, as I try to live it…
Amen! Amen! Amen!, Brother.
Amen to that Father Richard! Amen!
Thank you for confirming that I am not going CRAZY!!
Thought provoking stuff, as always!
amen. amen.
Freedom is an internal quality of being. I don’t think these leaders have experienced it. That is the most benevolent thing I can say about this travesty.
I have to disagree with you on this issue. You need to do a little more research. The mandate is not just about contraceptives as the media likes to portray, but also includes coverage for abortion inducing drugs. We need to protect the unborn child no matter how tiny since they cannot speak for themselves.
Diane, without addressing the medically controversial abortifacient vs contraceptive distinction, even stipulating that your church’s teaching office draws no distinction between fertilization and implantation when it considers abortion in a moral context, still, the church has no philosophical, metaphysical or ontological position regarding the embryo’s personhood, in other words, ensoulment. Whatever one’s position regarding life issues, and I deeply respect yours, the bishops’ Fortnight for Freedom was grounded in, what most people would consider to be, the far less grave matter of plain vanilla contraception. In other words, per their own rationale, they’d have everyone marching even if condoms were the only birth control available. As it is, catholic moral doctrine recognizes no parvity of matter for sex versus life issues, so masturbation is just as grave an issue to them as any other moral reality you might choose to introduce here.
Fr Richard’s critique thus remains spot on. There has always been a higher bar for invoking religious freedom exemptions for what are essentially moral & practical matters (e.g. vaccinating infants & schooling children) than there has been for faith & liturgical affairs (e.g. baptizing infants & catechizing children).
Others raised objections that other life, social and economic issues are not similarly addressed by the bishops with equal vigor. As a whole, I think the US Conference does a splendid job, even when I don’t fully agree. Their methodologies tend to be flawed (biologistic, physicalistic, legalistic, essentialistic, dualistic, etc) when dealing with sex and gender issues and various church disciplines and church polity, but are much more enlightened (personalist, dialogic, collegial) when dealing with war, economics, social justice and such. That’s one reason for hope; they already have some competence with good methodologies — if only they would more broadly and consistently apply them! Let’s give credit where it is due, as Fr Richard consistently does.
Diane, I hear what you are saying about contraceptives and abortion inducing drugs. However, isn’t it true that the US bishops are saying that their issue isn’t about this but about the freedom not to be forced to pay for something that goes against Catholic teaching? They’ve made it be all about a threat to the freedom of religion. What everyone should be asking is how real that threat is given the concessions that have been made to religious organizations by the Obama administration in addition to those already in the Affordable Care Act.
The matter at hand is freedom-for everyone.
The Catholic Bishops’ view that allowing their employees access to medication that the Bishops don’t approve of, through an insurance plan that the employee pays for and has earned, limits the employee’s freedom. It forces the Bishops’ view on them. And the Bishops aren’t the only ones who have freedom of religion.
Further, the issue of abortion. Not everyone believes that life begins at conception. There is no scientific data for this belief. And this belief completely disregards the rights of the woman.
You have every right to believe that life begins at conception, and I support your right to do so. More power to you.
What you don’t have the right to do is to force people who have taken a look at the facts and legitimately come to a different conclusion to live by your chosen view.
You don’t support abortion? Don’t have one. But you can’t make that decision for any other woman. And to try to do so puts you in the position of playing God.
“Our dear bishops are beginning to look like “the Republican party at prayer” more than men of the Gospel of Jesus.”
Thank you for this post, most especially this last line, it was so apropos to what is happening in today’s church in the United States, as well as the world.
Amen, Richard. No need to say anything further except “What about religious freedom within the church?”
It is interesting that we so often point at only one side of the aisle way too much. We often focus on contraception, which most of us ignore anyway, and not enough in regards to a foreign and economic policies that kill and deprive our citizens and brothers and sisters in other countries. I would like to see more focus on the *kill lists* and *drones* that are killing in our name.
Isn’t it time that we pay tons more attention to issues of a broken political system where war is common place and inequality continues to increase? The Powers That Be are smiling as we continue to focus on one political party or the other. This takes the heat off of the issues that are destroying way too many lives.
Blessings to all.
Richard’s insights are always so right on!!! This one especially — I am getting more and more upset with the bishops and their lock/step “against” anything. Thank you for speaking out!
Please ignore the previous comment. It has become clear to me what Father Richard meant. I do not understand the church’s position on contraception and think it is Medieval.
The population of the earth has outgrown the number of people we can feed. I think that people should be free to choose the size of their families.
I believe it is a good thing for our leaders to initiate the Fortnight for Freedom. While I would much rather see prayer for the poor or prevention of war, prayer for any cause is a good one. There will always be some who criticize the Church and Her leadership, no matter the battle they choose to fight. The 98% mentioned above is a statistic that is most likely not entirely accurate (any experienced google user can easily find plenty of material to question it’s validity). Perhaps the next Fortnight should be for the culture that demands the necessity for birth-control or abortion. It takes little history research and learning to understand how our awesome religious liberties can be quickly eroded away, and like our beloved Saints Perpetua and Felicity, we too, may have to sponsor the next Fortnight from our prison cells. The horrors of birth control and abortion are clearly evils that we have become desensitized to, and I would agree it is the job of our Bishops to at least fight to prevent the payment of these horrors by those who do not wish to pay for it.
The horror of preventing a pregnancy that a woman doesn’t want? That could kill her?
When taxes suddenly become an itemized list, and you can pick/choose what you want to pay for, you can complain all you want. Until then, you need to put your big boy pants on and accept that you’re a member of the US society as well, and that comes with obligations.
I don’t like the fact that my taxes support your church, but do you hear me whining about it? No. Taxes have gone to Viagra and penile implants for years, but the church never complained, nor did anyone else. It was only when the President decided that women deserved equal coverage that suddenly people started getting “offended.”
Lastly, it’s rather rich that you’re complaining about the “horrors” of BC/abortion, when it’s people like the church who want to keep people in the dark about truly safe sex. Abstinence only sex education leads to MORE abortions-proven fact. The only way to reduce abortion is to make birth control and sex information widely available.
I’m sorry that information doesn’t hem nicely with your chosen views on sex, but that’s the world we live in. You can choose to do something about it, and work towards a real solution, or you ca sit back, whine and make the issue worse. You seem to be going for Option B.
OH! You are so “right on”, Richard!!
Oh, Richard, thank you for saying this. The minute the USCCB began to make noises about “the Administration” persecuting Catholics and denying our religious freedom (liberty, if you wish), I began to feel like Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole. As you so rightly point out, and I have been saying it myself for some time, 95%+ American Catholic women use contraceptives and don’t give it a thought. The arguments against the use of contraception made little sense when Paul VI went against the findings of his own commission to renew the ban on “artificial contraception.” I guess you can fall back on Pius XI’s description of contraception as “a vicious pinching off of the lifestream.” I’ve always wondered if the hierarchical church is really so deluded that they actually think people won’t have children if they don’t outlaw contraceptives. This whole “seige mentality” is beyond belief. A few weeks back, Francis Cardinal George pontificated thusly,”I expect to be able to retire, I expect my successor to be jailed and his successor to be martyred for the faith” I see, in 21st century American, that’s reallllllllllllllllly likely to happen. I fear this is the beginning of the end for the institutional church, and, who knows, perhaps it’s for the best…it’s been a bastion of immorality, cover-ups, conspicuous wealth, deceit and power-brokering for far too long, and the house of cards will come tumbling down. The Body of Christ, the church as the People of God, is what we should love and protect. Yes, the Priesthood of the Faithful is a scary sight if you’re a myopic, maundering, misogynistic pathetic excuse for a follower of Our Lord, Jesus Christ…oooooooh, women as equals, ooooooh, laypeople in ministry, oooooooh, refusal to accept the skewing of Gospel and teachings of the Church to back illegitimate positions, oooooooooooh, they don’t buy “but we have to protect the church so we lie about priests who rape children”…ohhhhhhhh, it makes them righteously angry when we say that speaking about women’s ordination is a worse crime than pedophilia, ooooooh, they grow upset when, to quote Richard, our USCCB looks more like the Republican party at prayer. What a tragedy…and, yet, perhaps a blessing in disguise…an intended happening…after all, last time I looked, the one sin in the Gospel which cannot be forgiven is “grieving the Holy Spirit.” And I’d say that right about now, the Holy Spirit’s middle name is GRIEF at what self-serving, venal men have done to Christ’s Church.
Sue, I enjoyed reading your passionate response! I particularly liked your humor, i.e. oooooooh…, oooooooh…., oooooooh…
Peace,
José
thank you for speaking this out loud!
Well said, this should be made public. I hope some news outlets pick it up.
Amen, Father!
We can’t stand the hypocrisy at church anymore….we,ve switched to the Anglican Catholic church where we can still receive Eucharist. Jo
Keep up the good work Fr. Rohr!
Thank you, Fr. Richard. You said it well: it is like crying wolf when there is no wolf.
I pray for a return to a church that preaches the Gospel instead of political ideology and division.
God’s plan is really mysterious. The Holy Spirit may be working “over time”, but, who is listening?
Okay this one has me rolling and “Rohrring” in laughter. Thank you Mr. Rohr. That last sentence (the punchline) is priceless humor.
I love the comment, “The Republican party at prayer”. Richard, as always you give us a lot to think about and meditate on.
I wish there were more “christians” who would speak like this!!
I am a true Rohr “groupie” – you do and will, I’m sure, provide incredible support – both pain pleasure to my journey – but this time I have to take issue. This is not a “woman’s right issue” – contraception is available for free or low cost already to any woman – this is a “Washington power” issue.
“….The final irony is this was initiated by an issue that 98% of Catholic women do not even believe in–contraception….” I am not sure of the meaning here? Does it mean what it says? Help!! Secondly, I have just finished re-reading Phyllis Tickle’s The Great Emergence. I am sure it isn’t on the Pope’s beside table but what a “rockin” book of hope!! And what a privilege it is to be alive in this epoch period. The seas have white caps but Christ is in the boat. In the end all will be well and if it isn’t well yet (and it isn’t) it will be!! Thanks be to God.
He was citing a study that ~98% of Catholics have employed BC at one point or another. Basically, the laity does not believe the same way the Bishops do on the contraception issue.
Thank you for your courage and clarity.
Thank you, Father Richard, for your clear-sighted wisdom! I’m sharing your post with as many people as I can because too many Catholics these days are afraid of questioning even the most illogical things that our Bishops are doing.
How about a fortnight for religious freedom for our embattled women religious in the USA, currently under attack from the Vatican. I appreciate your comment about the early martyrs (Thomas More and John Fisher yesterday’s feast), but how about all those martyrs created by the Inquisition, such as Marguerite Porete? The verbal martyrdom continues with every new pronouncement from Rome.
If the good pope, good cardinals, good bishops and good priests don’t stop preaching about
politics, their good freedom will be stripped from them.
You put words to the truths I experience. Thank you.
Hi Richard,
Over the past few years I’ve read all of your Daily Meditations and occasional blogs–and benefited greatly from them. Usually they are clearly written, poignant, and thought-provoking–and overall they have greatly influenced the way I view the world, God, and the Catholic Church. Kudos for your insights and courage!
But today’s blog leaves me wondering: “What is Richard’s real message? His writing seems disjointed and he takes logical leaps that lead no where; he uses non-sequitors that create more questions than answers; and he makes assumptions without sufficiently tieing them to some rational or factual basis.
You begin by addresssing the two-week bishops’ campaign (Fortnight for Freedom) by suggesting it’s “…calling wolf when there is no wolf.” You then state that our current citizenry has “…more religious freedom and religious support…” than any other group in history. Well–is this a fact or is it merely your opinion? And where’s the tie-in to the “wolf” metaphor? You then comment on your Franciscan vows and our entitlement society–and somehow try to connect this to the early Christian martyrs who became “…holy and courageous…” by virtue of having to fend-off a corrupt system of laws and government. Again–where’s the connection to the “crying wolf” theme and what really are you trying to tell me because I’m becoming increasingly confused.
Then you tell me “our freedoms are being taken away” with a quotation that is apparently not a quotation of anyone; that 98% of Catholic women don’t believe in contraception; and that the “…bishops are shooting themselves in the foot by trying to divert attention from our (or do you mean ‘their’?) own problems and sins.” Frankly I have no idea where all this is leading. Your statements seem disjointed leaving your argument half-baked and poorly understood—and nearly leaving me to a point of intellectual despair.
Finally you conclude that the “…bishops are beginning to look like the ‘Republican party of prayer’ more than men of the gospel of Jesus.” Exactly what do you mean by ‘Republican party of prayer’? And how would that differ from Democratic, Libertarian, Independent, Green, Tea and other forms of “party prayer.” And again, to tie all this together what happened to the “crying wolf”. I suspect even that wolf is trying to figure-out your message. Unless of course, the wolf and her pride know something about your reasoning that leaves me being the only one wanting greater clarity of meaning.
John
Amen, Richard. I have never understood how womens health issues, or womens religous leadersip groups or the many other areas that became the topic of “celebate men” to decide what we women should or should not do with our bodies, our voices, our lives and to have them decide for us decide what is and is not “sinful”. Lord have mercy….
Thank you for flashing the spotlight on the obvious disconnect of the Bishops from Christ’s primary goals: love God and love your neighbor. I suppose they have plenty of time to get involved in Presidential politics. After all, the real and arduous work of the church is getting done …. by the nuns. Idle hands…
Fr. Richard is emphatically correct. The US government HAS NEVER established liturgical or devotional norms, whether theistic or not, for the creedal, cultic or communal dimensions of any faith (or other concerns regarding ultimacy). Just as clearly, however, the government HAS INDEED routinely established practical and moral norms, both prescriptive and proscriptive, notwithstanding competing stances by religious authorities! Public health laws that are generally-applicable and religion-neutral do not interfere with the right to free exercise of religion. Of course, religious institutions should continue to contribute to human moral formation and public moral discourse, but they must translate their moral arguments and articulate them in a manner that is transparent to human reason without relying on what are essentially religious arguments, without invoking mere religious authority.
See Brian McLaren’s Blog – “talk to a human being who has ovaries” at http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/are-you-more-disgusted-by-the-cu.html
Dear Father Rohr, I agree with you whole heartily. I have been mystfied as to how the Bishops can be saying our religious freedoms are at risk. I think you are so right. They are doing this to take the limelight away from all of the things that have been going on these past few years.
Thank you for saying this, Fr. Richard!
Father Richard, you continue to inspire me—and many others. You are in my grateful prayers. Jasmine
Hats off to you again, dear Father Richard. For continually crying out that the Emperor has no clothes. Thank you for being the salt, the light AND the cutting edge. Santosh
I was proud of the Bishops endorsement of the universal health care issue and now it seems the health care endorsement has been hijacked by crafty political operatives who have found a chink in the armor in that fight, a small spark that we are about to allow to be whipped into a firestorm where we run from one side to the other. Has this manipulation caused our shepherds to become sheep? I still have faith that all things will work out for the good (in the long run) for those who have faith… just look to the past to see the periods of history where our shepherds were obviously lost but yet we thrive in our faith today. In my opinion, I think that If you have a faith that is so weak and shallow that it can be stolen from you then I think it’s time to grow deeper roots in that faith.
You have GOT to be kidding me. “Freedom”? Not freedom of speech/writing for one’s sisters in Christ, apparently, or freedom from unwanted pregnancy. This campaign needs to be renamed. (In a gritted-teeth attempt at Christian charity, I just deleted my suggestions…)
You aced it. Seems to me the hypocrits are crying wolf where no wolf has been seen. It only takes a few minutes around a Party of No member/sympathizer to sweat him/her out. Recently I was treated in a sermon to the sermonizer calling the Occupy Wall Streeters a mob but of course NO mention of the TeeHee Party.
Thanks for speaking out, Father Richard. The bishops of the 21st century are unfortunately affirming my painful decision to leave the Catholic Church a few years ago because of their treatment of women. Writers like you, thankfully, keep me connected to God.
Right on Richard! The issue is that so many Catholics have become Phariseeical. They focus on the outside of the cup. They don’t seem to realize that spirituality is an inside job. If the bishops were focusing on the Gospel and not right wing politics (which are antithetical) there would be so many converted people that there would be few abortions. Other kinds of contraception are personal to the couple. Morality can’t be legislated. However, disciples can be made via Gospel based spiritual formation, discerning mature men and women that speak truth to power and refuse to fall for the lies an distractions of the system. Thank you for naming the dysfunction at the top.
You are so right! What a shame when there are so many things the R.C. bishops could be fighting for. Sad. Thank you for your truthful and courageous words.
Catholicism has become Vaticanism – it has not been about Jesus the Christ since Constantine. Imperial Rome is still with us in the guise of Catholicism. For sure, if Jesus walked the earth today, he would not subscribe to such an abomination much less count Himself among its membership. The heirarchy are whitened sepulchres whose corruption runs deep as well as long and continuous. Finally, they have been publicly “vetted” for what they truly represent – Power, Control, and their own Creature Comforts which are now under severe threat. The Holy Spirit is blowing in the wind and it does not look good for Roman Catholicism.
Thank you for your courageous words Fr. Richard.
Amen!
Dear Fr. Rohr,
I have been thinking along these lines, but could not have expressed it any better. The timing comes across as a republican party campaign message – how sad.
How courageous a statement of the obvious truth. I am grateful. May the religious freedom which all citizens have enjoyed for so long survive current convenient and blind manipulations.
Thanks for quoting the 98% statistic regarding Catholic women who use birth control. The use of birth control is a matter of the couple’s conscience which St. Thomas Acquinas taught was a higher good than “man made laws”. I am praying daily for our Church’s hierarchy and for a way to let them know what Catholics in the pews think! I don’t think the hierarchy wants to deal with the educated CAtholics who oppose their impositions on all of us. Is there any way we, the church, the people of God…can let them know?
Richard,
It strikes me as amazing that the Bishop’s call for a period of prayer, fasting and education on the subject of religious liberty, a bedrock right of all citizens of the U.S., should earn contempt from you, a Catholic priest “in good standing” as your blog proclaims. Further, your post betrays a complete lack of understanding of what’s at stake with regard to the HHS regulations promulgated to enforce the nefarious “individual mandate”now being considered by the Supreme Court. It seems that your own bias has either prevented you from fairly analyzing the situation, a fact you should at least “own”, or you are willfully misstating the facts. (And while you liken the Bishop’s to “Republicans”, you then proceed to mouth empty leftist “talking points”.)
As for the need to pray for God’s intervention to “free us from our enemies” in order to worship without restriction, I remind you, needlessly I’m sure, of the Canticle of Zechariah which clearly expresses the timeless yearning of people of faith for freedom from religious oppression: “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Israel; He has come to His people and set them free. He promised to show mercy to our father Abraham and to remember His holy Covenant. This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham: To set us free from the hands of our enemies, Free to worship Him without fear, Holy and righteous in His sight All the days of our life.”(Luke 1:68-79) As for Perpetua and Felicity, I can only assume that they also prayed and/or fasted that their captor’s hearts would be converted and so that they would be set free.
The current brouhaha is simply not about asking the government to “supply” religious freedom to the Church. It’s about making sure that all citizens realize that a government founded to ensure its citizenry religious freedom is now engaged in an effort to restrict that freedom. And lest anyone be tempted to respond that this claim is incorrect, first be sure that you re-read the First Amendment and understand the ramifications of the Obamacare individual mandate and the HHS regulations that people of many religious traditions find so troubling. In other words, come with something more than emotions and “talking points”.
Thanks, Fr. Richard, for naming this travesty in a way that I could not. Imagine what it would be like if all people who professed to be followers of Christ moved the most pressing issues of human oppression to the top of their agenda instead of pandering to the political hot buttons of the moment?
Well put. As a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), my community faced a great deal of oppression from other churches, including execution and banishment. And today, those same religions would deny us our religious freedom by celebrating same-sex marriage, which many meetings embrace. It all comes down to seeing freedom in the eyes of others as well as your own.
Freedom of religion must be a conditioned rather than an absolute right, or else people would be free to performs human sacrifices, deny dying children health care, and give young girls as fourth wives to old men. Voltaire’s remark, “Remember the cruelty,” helped the Church lose France. Whenever the structure becomes more imporant than people and compassion is lost the Church self-destructs.
Where is the concern or understanding of issues concerning women’s health? One of several issues where compassion seems absent.
How sad that Fr. Rohr uses his blog to comment on what appears to be a political analysis of Fortnight for Freedom. Religious freedom is not about not paying taxes or the early Christian martyrs dying because of limitations imposed on them. What does he mean that 98% of Catholic women do not believe in contraception. Actually, it’s the opposite, but that does not justify ending what God has created or the sanctity of all life! Catholicism is not a majority rules. It is not about being a Republican or Democrat. It is about not allowing the state to force any individual or church, based on their beliefs, to be a part of providing contraceptions that can end a life. It is about not allowing the state to force any individual or church to only provide adoptions if they deny their religious belief on what marriage is. Fr. Rohr and I have a right to our personnel opinions but neither are important. It is about putting God first and showing respect for all life. What an enormous responsibility the bishops of God’s church carry on their shoulders. We should be praying that the Holy Spirit be with them and with each of us. And maybe we should focus on the Beatitude, ” Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Do we understand how much we need God?
I think the bishops found themselves on the horns of a dilemma. The HHS rules were showing “the emperor had no clothes,” that Catholic organizations would be required to provide for services that the church officially teaches are immoral, but as you note, virtually no Catholics accept as true. Are there any Catholics who even confess this “sin”? (well, for that matter, how many Catholics even go to Confession anymore?). I concur with those who believed the original rule which was put forward, ignored the character of Catholic (and other religious) organizations whose ministry isn’t directly tied to the official church, but does springs from the charism of the faith community. It’s tragic that the bishops didn’t accept the changes that were promulgated and worked diligently to resolve the issue of self-insuring entities. You’re too kind referring to the USCCB as seemingly “the Republican Party at prayer.” I’ve said for some time now that they’re essentially becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP.
And the structure of the USCCB precludes any dissent being made public, emasculating most bishops who might be expressing disagreement. We, the church, suffer not seeing the debate. And far too many Catholics just buy it hook, line and sinker. So very sad.
Well said, Joe. I agree with this point, especially, where you wrote: “I concur with those who believed the original rule which was put forward, ignored the character of Catholic (and other religious) organizations whose ministry isn’t directly tied to the official church, but does springs from the charism of the faith community.”
That was not the place to draw the line, for the reasons you and others have well stated. Instead, jurisprudential precedent already draws a distinction between those aspects of religion that pertain to morals, in the practical sphere of justice, versus those that pertain to faith, where charity exceeds the demands of justice and mere practical concerns. Rather, as with other very compelling concerns pertaining to public health, education & welfare, for example, such as with compulsory vaccines and education, there should be no exemptions for contraception, period.
This is true especially once considering that the magisterium’s moral reasoning regarding same is so seriously flawed that it enjoys no normative impetus in any square, public or religious (grounded as it is in an essentialistic, biologistic, physicalistic, rationalistic medieval substance ontology, when natural laws are now known to be much more semiotic, emergentist, personalist and so on). The bishops do, as you say, find themselves on the horns of a dilemma, but it is a false dilemma. We CAN reason from an “is to an ought,” from the descriptive to the prescriptive, from the given to the normative, discerning a natural law, but one’s de-ontology is only going to be as compelling as one’s ontology and their sterile metaphysics don’t robustly capture our depthful human realities.
Yea Richard! You are so correct about this “Fortnight” business!
I could not agree more that the Bishops are so totally allied with the Republican party. Their focus is on sexual issues to the exclusion of issues like the economy and its effects on the poor, gap between the rich and the poor,etc. Also, their making decisions FOR women without consultation smacks of treating us as property.
I’m afraid that the Southern Baptist Convention has held the title of “the Republican Party at prayer” ever since the heyday of the Moral Majority. But maybe they’d let the Catholic Bishops borrow it, for a small fee.
As always, Fr. Richard gives credible voice to the feelings I’ve long had about our Bishops. His comments on our Sisters in “Vatican vs. the Nuns” offers similar support for these feelings of mine. In my prayer yesterday, on the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, I was doing some catch-up in our Office of Readings, Liturgy of the Hours. Last Wednesday’s Biblical Reading offers the story from the book of Judges, Gideon’s conquest of a far greater force with his remnant of an army — God’s remnant. After the reading, the Responsory is from First Corinthians. “To shame the strong God chose the weak. He chose those whom the world considers contemptible, those who were nothing at all, to humble those who were everything.”
I’ve said on this blog that I’m in no position to question what our Bishops believe, although feel certain Father Richard has earned that right. But I wonder. The Bishops surely believe they have God on their side. Why then, in their Fortnight For Freedom and with the Sisters, such shows of power and force? Gideon’s conquest, linked by the prayer of the church with Paul’s exposition on the weak and humble, are, as Fr. Richard says, great themes of Scripture. Why is anything else required?
Father Rohr, perhaps you missed it in the news. Allow me to be a prophetic voice on your blog.
Obama called for health care reform. The American Bishops agreed with this, except they wanted to make sure abortion and contraception would not be in the federal mandate. There was dialog on both sides. Obama said there would be an exemption clause for religious institutions. Everything is fine and dandy!
But Obama lied to the Bishops, and now there is no exemption (not even after the “compromise”). The issue is not contraception (EVEN THOUGH BIRTH CONTROL IS A MORTAL SIN). But if we come to Christ and truly repent, we will be forgiven.
The issue is that the Bishops do not want to pay for services which Almighty God has deemed MORTAL SIN. And you’re right, Christianity is about freedom. True freedom is breaking away from sin, exactly what the Bishops are trying to do for their flocks.
You see, by paying for these services, you commit a sin. The Bishops don’t want people to commit sin so they say people shouldn’t pay for them. Because by committing sin, we are not free.
Michael, you will have the opportunity to opt out of abortion coverage when you select your insurance plan. Even those plans that will include surgical and chemical abortion will not be paid for by public funding since current law prohibits it.
As for paying for contraception it likely is the case that you already pay for this in your current insurance plan (unless you are an employee of a Catholic diocese or do not have insurance). By merely paying for an insurance plan that provides contraception your participation in that which is contrary to the moral teaching of the Church is not direct; rather, it is remote at best. Something is a mortal sin only if you fully and willfully intend to do evil. Remote participation of this sort would not qualify.
Thank you Father Rohr. Your comments are reflective of my own thinking. I live in a very conservative area with a very conservative parish. I have very few friends / associates who share my view. Therefore, it is helpful to find my thoughts shared by someone whom I truly respect, (YOU). Bringing non-dual (both / and) thinking to this issue is not easy, since I really do believe the Bishops are out in left field on the “Fortnight” issue. I simply cannot support them on this; yet, trying to be non-dualistic I guess I can say that I have some sense of where they are coming from. However, I really think their approach is a travesty and trivializes the great strength and sacrifice of their purported bookends, Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More. Yes Fr. Rohr, it is very hard to be non-dualistic on these kinds of issues. But, thanks to you and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I keep on trying
Pax,
Bill Eidle
Very well said, Father, the many reasons why I cannot support. Why don’t these Bishops spend their time teaching the Love of God and building Heaven on Earth as Jesus did? (And that is an excruciating task.) When folks are so “full of it”, Love that is, sin isn’t even an option. Look at Jesus’s way in the Gospel. Seems it is more control they are after. And that isn’t Jesus’s Kingdom of Heaven.
I LOVED RICHARD’S BLOG ON FORTNIGHT FOR FREEDOM
I agree with everything you say but one thing, good sir. I would invite you to check that 98% statistic again. Many Catholic women are choosy about their family planning methods (choosing pills that stop ovulation over IUDs that prevent implantation of a potentially fertilized ovum), but many, many Catholic women use some method to limit the size of their families and space their children.
To Love and Serve, not rant and roar.
Thank you Fr. Richard. More people–clergy, religious, lay–need to put asides fears and speak the truth. It’s only by looking at ourselves that we will manage to overcome our greatest opponent.
Very good article. Glad you see through the “Freedom of Religion.” I agree it is the Bishop’s way of saying I’m the authority. Not anymore, the laitey and the nuns and people like Richard are the new bright spot in the church.
thank you and blessings on your ministry
Brilliant to hear sane reasoning from a sane Catholic. I knew some existed – there are several in my family – but the greater culture seems only to hear from the loud, narrow-minded and very intolerant bunch who hold tight to the media pulpit.
As a former Catholic, I have watched in horror as the church of my childhood became less and less a spiritual ideal – less embracing, less loving, less accepting – and more one of zealotry and restriction. To see how far down the rabbit hole it has gone, one painfully considers the travesty of the sex abuse scandals that have reduced the church to a litigious mess of corruption. But to understand the incessant day-to-day erosion of general good-will, one need only watch and listen as clueless men in positions of power mandate illogic and discrimination as a matter of church principle. How sad that too many of THESE men, as opposed to leaders like you, are speaking the loudest while purportedly speaking for their church.
Thank you for telling it like it is, Fr. Rohr! This is so disturbing … and I can’t believe that we aren’t hearing more about it, can’t believe that more Catholics aren’t VERY upset over it. Perhaps your words will embolden others to speak out.
Thank you for this posting, Richard. If there is any violation of freedom, it is the women who will now not have their contraceptives covered by insurance.
When a President requires a Catholic University to cover its sacred statues while hes speaking in one of its halls is no “boy who cried wolf.”. It doesnt matter if 98% Catholic women support contraception. Thats not the issue. The issue is that no one should be oaying for a persons personal behavior. This is just the beginning; a slipoery slope.
The sub-conscious in us all is the puppet-master: what we most often think of as choice, is an echoed command from below…righteously and unflinchingly followed. Any motivation is an impurity. All motivations are so diluted and delusional that our grandest intention is no more than lurking vanity.
Yet this cycle can be broken–and that is the deeper purpose of the Twelve Step Path. To realize this purpose usually means slow torture, the steady and nearly unrelenting “necessary suffering” that comes with self-realization. There appears to be no “easier and softer way.” A good 6th and 7th Step translates, usually, into the very worst time of our lives.
Everything about life is left up in the air and the only thing that we know for sure is how badly we acted. All certainty about the sacred and profane is gone. All comforting support to faith and being is stripped away. The next moment becomes so entirely unknown and strange that we do not have the mind or will to venture a guess. The ground beneath our feet has given way to an unfathomable abyss. We hover, aloft in ambiguity and ambivalence, still only from unknowing.
Many are discouraged from remaining in this place, the well-intentioned throwing ropes, deploying boats, coming in helicopters to take us from this obvious “bad place” to the safe shore of Reason, Tradition, and Principles. Evil seems to be underfoot and gaining yards, so why not desperate measures. A soul appears ready to be lost. And it is, but not in the way assumed.
Unless intimately experienced, we tend to think it is “alcoholism raising its ugly head”; “the ego looking to take back control”; “faith assaulted”; “the failure to properly work this ‘simple program.’” All lies…if we have truly reached the threshold point of fundamental transformation. That point is free-fall.
“Good is enemy of the best.”
We all tirelessly and always work for good, as one’s perceptions dictates. It is in breaking this cycle of our estimation of doing “the next good or right thing” that salvation finally comes.
Nothing that is truly new can be understood by a consciousness that looks to compare, measure, and weigh it by past experience and text books. Give a TV to a caveman and it is firewood or a cutting tool, once broken. The incomprehension of this movement of the soul is similar.
Rumitoid, this is so inspiring it leaves me speechless. Wow! Not sure how it relates to topic and thanks for sharing!
Peace,
José
I can only sacrifice that which stands in the way of my true potential, identity, and purpose, so how can I boast of charity when it is all gain?
If it is “my” time, “my” sweat, “my” money, “my” expertise, or whatever else of “mine” that I think I give to God or others, all I really offered was vanity, a chance to tithe my ego.
In reality, I possess nothing. There is nothing I own…no matter how fat my portfolio.
Believing that I could actually possess anything of lasting or real value is a sincere delusion, a tragic grandeur, a comic drama. And worse: an attachment.
Selling off all of my possessions and giving the proceeds to the poor: no yard sale or auction necessary. In fact, no material possessions have to exchange hands. I can keep everything I had.
The sale is in my heart, releasing myself through grace of any material ownership. Which is common sense, in a way: I can’t take it with me and it imparts no assuredity of happiness or joy. The “proceeds” is a purity of being, and that is what I give to the poor.
Thank you for addressing this issue and representing what so many of us believe.
It’s interesting in that the Bishops are speaking of Freedoms. Here in our Diocese, Catholic Charities partnered up with HUD to provide deeper pockets to assist individuals who wanted to stay in the housing units the church owns. Gradually over the years they (Catholic Charities) have signed away Freedoms to HUD in order to obtain the needed $$$ from HUD.
While I worked there I was not Free to pick up an individual who might have fallen. Wasn’t Free to administer CPR if needed. Wasn’t Free to act as a friend to any of the clients. Your not Free to install crucifixes or wish someone Merry Christmas. And on and on it went. Why … well, once you partner up with HUD you’re not Free to do any of those things … each month you are REQUIRED to read, take a test and SIGN that you understood their (HUD’s) always expanding request to keep them (HUD) out of court and supposedly the clients happy.
So, if you take HUD’s or any Government’s $$$ you go by their rules … not the church’s … even though the Diocese states in their job description to you (in a document) that you WILL “Perform related functions necessary to support the mission and core values of Catholic Church.”
Mother Teresa or anyone from her community, if hired by our Catholic Diocese to work in the housing area would have been fired the first time she or they tried to pick someone up … No Joke!
We’re crazy aren’t we … since we don’t generate enough $$$ to do what we desire to do ourselves … we want part of the common purse of Caesar’s tax $$$ we contribute to to help those we see in need. Then, the next minute, after years of gladly signing away our religious freedoms one by one (to get what we think we want) we cry foul when something comes up that we REALLY don’t like and THEN want it our way and state that our religious liberty / freedoms are being usurped?
I wonder if this isn’t comparable to a couple who discover the wonder and beauty of human sexuality and then cry foul when the woman becomes pregnant.
I guess what I am trying to say here is that if one partners up with Caesar … don’t be shocked when Caesar dictates different dance steps … it makes one look a bit too human …
God must be sitting back wondering which way we really want it …
Amen! No doubt in my mind this is about one thing and one thing only – Get President Obama out of office. I spoke with a moral theologian about this issue, who teaches in Rome, and he laughed. He said the problem is that the bishops haven’t a clue about medical ethics or the medical issues that are involved here. I wonder what they would be saying if they had to pay taxes, hmmm. The other sad thing is that they say nothing in defense of the poor, the uninsured, the immigrant, those on death row. Where is their moral outrage on these issues?
Thank you for saying what needed to be said. The Bishops need to preach the Gospel of Jesus instead of he Gospel of the Republican Party.
Fr Richard,
Is the irony 98% of Catholic women believe in birth control?
We also must clear the hurdle of seperation which is a USA mandatum not necessarily embraced by the rest of the world..
Peace
CH
Why don’t you check out the President of Catholic Universities address to the Bishops? Maybe you’ll see religious liberty, or the lack there of, on a more global scale. It seems all to often, people within the church become so myopic, even when they criticize the Bishops for being myopic.
I am not someone who likes to leave comments on blogs, but I could not pass this up. Fr. Rohr is very much on target, strangely I had thought about Perpetua and Felicity (as well as the other martyrs) in very much the same context. I don’t usually spend a lot of time thinking about Perpetua and Felicity. Some of the arguments presented by our archbishop that he can’t feed the poor, or work with the homeless because the Federal government is some how opposed to that work are just astounding. Fortunately my family attends a Franciscan parish in the Archdiocese of Washington so I had to hear about the Fortnight from others. Thank you Fr. Rohr for speaking the hard truth to power! and thank God for the OFM’s.
On this feastday of St. Iranaeus it is important to remember his work in leading the Church in defense of Gnosticism by wisely pointing to Jesus’s promise of the Holy Spirit’s guidance for the teaching of the magisterium. In our age many so-called prophets and spiritual advisors demur “formal religion” and set themselves up “excathedra” as their own self actualizing popes. Under this age-old error each and every person discovers their own gnosis, and no one’s subjectivity is closer or farther way from absolute Truth than anyone else’s. As such, personal experience can trump Divine Revelation. I believe that Iranaeus would agree that every one’s faith journey is unique but would still maintain that participation in absolute Truth in greater or lesser degress depends upon agreement with the “pillar and bulwark of truth” as maintained in and through the official teaching arm of the Church. American bishops are hardly Republican spokesmen, rather they are following the example of Iranaeus and are united in speaking the Truth in the cause of justice and freedom.
I am new to this blog and I feel like I have found my home. Thank you, Father Rohr for your wise words.
Ohhh how Fr Rohr can really hammer it home. It seems that ‘We the people…’ have taken over and let the ‘world’ construe and pervert our Sacred Tradition into political fodder.
Dare I ask how many forced abortions Catholics pay for as we prop up the Chinese Communist regime with our sacred consumerism?
Excellent! Richard says it like it is.
Very well done!!
amen. I sent this to my bishop and pastor.
Thank you again, Father Rohr, for your insights. The Bishops seem to be focusing on contraception, anti-feminism, abortion etc. I am disturbed by the opulance and the riches at the Vatican. What about the poor–what about following a radical Jesus and breaking open the Gospel?
Thank you for being a voice of reason. Sometimes I feel like I can no longer be Catholic because the church seems to be at odds with creating a better society. It is discouraging.
It seem that you did not read the mandate by HHS. Are you pleased with the federal government deciding who or what is religious enough to be called a religious employer? Do you know that our bishops have been working with the congress since 2010 trying to preserve religious freedom? So quick to critize the shepards and support the feds.
Walt.
Right-on Fr. Rohr more of you need to speak out about this smokescreen that diverts attention away from the real problematic issues of our Church. As a feminist theologian, I guess I’m in that 2% of Catholic women who believes in contraception and abortion because scientific breakthroughs also come from God and anyone who says they do not is not thinking correctly. Men also cannot legislate over women’s bodies, but they’ll keep trying to do it!! As I have said in other comments and blogs, one cannot ever know what are the actual circumstances of a woman’s choice to abort–it is between her and God, only, as it should be.
Yes, the bishops as Americans also have a right to speak out and expound their point of view as we all do here in America, but then that also gives the right to women and our nuns to speak their minds as well, and if disagreement exists–well, I believe that Christ was controversial in his day and so the tradition goes one. However, I guess in the end conroversy gets you crucified and so that tradition goes on as well.
Open dialogue, not a one-sided top-down power play, is the answer to put an end to those ‘Wild Men’ who need to turn-about into ‘Wise Men”.
Janice Poss: may I ask what the theological underpinnings are for contraception and abortion?
A theology of social responsibility to make sure that a child brought into the world has a chance at having a mature parenting, quality education and the basic necessities of life. Most women with children that were kept under the guise of Pro-choice agenda live below the poverty level all over the world and remain there for their entire lives. with proper education about contraception over-population and sub-poverty level children would diminish.
Richard Rohr’s statement echoes our feelings completely. We are counting our blessings as active members of our Church for all of our years….now, growing into a combined 161 years, since Baptism. We cherish our freedom each day and continue to celebrate it, to this day. Thank you ….Don and Nancy Kelley
What surprises me most is when people say, “so much for contraception?”; the attitude is clear; Church is way old…middle-ages…(believe me, this floats around a lot as I studied theology…) But what if that is precisely the primary cause of all problems? What if, the union of man and woman is broken with the culture that focuses only on pleasure….wouldn’t the ultimate be the union of same sex? I can see the stage being set already for Jesus’s words ( of course. in theology they have even questioned that…words being put in Jesus mouth!
Jesus himself was limited by his own time……I think we people have advanced so much, know much that we can discount the past to our own discretion…..pretty amazing) “When the son of man comes will he find faith on earth?”…..For much intellectual of Fr. Rohr, he puts 98% of women on contraception….and hence that should not matter? Wow. I can’t believe the level of intellectualism here….forget the statistics…just the sheet reasoning that 98% of people believe and so it is?
Thank you, I love your daily scripture incites, they inspire me.
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36) Perhaps the bishops have yet to be made free.
We had a similar issue in Ontario. A new anti-bullying law was passed that requires Catholic Schools to recognize “gay-straight” alliances which was seen as promoting a gay lifestyle. The schools were willing to call the program “respecting differences” but were bullied by the Ontario Government into accepting the GSA naming convention. We need more Republicans up here it seems.
As I recall, isn’t complaint in the Church found in Revelation as a sign of the End Times (along with their love growing cold). Not that I am an End Times enthusiast by any means, yet it is worth noting such an attitude does not bode well.
Incredible quest there. What occurred after?
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