CATO: Catholics Addicted to Outrage

Know anybody like this?

Diane at Te Deum laudamus! clearly does:

Each of us puts a face on our Catholic faith, for good or for bad, whether it is in person, or online (anonymous or not). We need to convey the hope we have within; not a sense of anger, bitterness, hopelessness and despair.  We must, always and everywhere, strive, by the grace of God, to be blameless amidst adversity and persecution (1 Peter 3:8-17).  This is how we imitate Christ.  Being in a chronic state of outrage over this or that is not an imitation of Christ; it is a manifestation that we have yielded to a rather stealthy form of concupiscence. At it’s root, is a lack of faith, hope and charity.

The outrage-addicted will be outraged that I dared to say this, thinking I don’t see what is going on around me. They may even think I don’t care.  What they don’t know is that I speak about outrage addiction as one who was once afflicted with this anti-virtue, so I am speaking from experience…

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…By the grace of God, some come to see that the anger within is consuming them to the point that this chronic state of outrage is leading to persistent disquiet and is hindering their spiritual growth. The outrage-addicted is stunted spiritually by virtue of the fact that so much energy is spent looking outside of themselves, that there is no time left to look inward. It’s also taking a toll on their relationships with friends and family. Even their relationship with God suffers as the outrage itself becomes an idol unto itself. The outrage-addicted seem to believe that the power of outrage is greater than the power of God to move hearts and souls. One clue is when more time is spent reading and discussing things to be outraged over than being in prayer over those things and for the people involved in them. A cloistered monk or nun does more to move hearts of stone through their sacrifices and intercessions without even having a single thing to be outraged over.

The outrage-addicted can push people far from Christ and the Church, and they won’t even know it. Rather than bring others to Christ as witnesses to the hope that is within, those in this state of disquiet push others away through their bitterness and abrasiveness. Most of the time they have no idea they are causing harm because their outrage is motivated by wanting to see a good outcome. The problem is that the outrage it is not well moderated. This is corrosive on both the soul and on the Church.

It’s true that there are right times to be outraged, but it is not right to be outraged all of the time. In this sense, such souls are stuck in a state of spiritual immaturity. Those filled with the graces of faith, hope, and charity do not have such habitual manifestations of outrage. It seems the passage of the Gospel the outrage-addicted recall the most is Jesus flipping tables; yet, we know Our Lord did this only once. Moreover, Jesus did not tell us to imitate Him by flipping tables; He told us to imitate Him in meekness and gentleness.

There’s much more and it’s well worth a read.