{"id":778,"date":"2011-07-20T18:35:22","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T18:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/?p=778"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:04:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:04:38","slug":"a-long-chat-with-archbishop-chaput","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/07\/a-long-chat-with-archbishop-chaput\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Chat with Archbishop Chaput"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Did you hear about the bishop who was so conservative that he wanted Congress to investigate corruption in the hypostatic union?<\/p>\n

Okay, I made that joke up. But if any lizard in an all-Catholic lounge were to tell it, his audience would probably imagine The Most Reverent Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, who is preparing to succeed Cadinal Bevilacqua as archbishop of Philadelphia. Whatever else can be said for Chaput, he gives a good interview,<\/strong><\/a> as he did yesterday, with Nationl Catholic Reporter\u2019s<\/i> John Allen. Allen promises that Chaput \u201cput no limits on the topics to be covered.\u201d Indeed, under Allen\u2019s guidance, Chaput ranges far and wide.<\/p>\n

On his reputation for conservatism:<\/p>\n

I actually don\u2019t see myself as a conservative at all. I try to be faithful to the church\u2019s teaching, as the church has handed it on to us. I don\u2019t feel that as a Christian or as a bishop I have a right to play with that tradition, which is the apostolic tradition of the church. I hope that I\u2019m creative and contemporary, however, in applying that teaching and in the structural living out of it in the local church. <\/p>\n

I think that if people came and looked at the Archdiocese of Denver for themselves, they\u2019d see that we\u2019re not a \u2018conservative\u2019 diocese but we\u2019re a very creative diocese. We\u2019re open to lay leadership, the new movements, and alternative ways of doing things beyond how they\u2019ve been done in the past. As an example, I certainly want to be faithful to the Holy Father and his teaching about the traditional expression of the Roman liturgy in the Tridentine form. I supported that and will continue to support that. It isn\u2019t, however, my personal interest or direction. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chaput says that he\u2019s \u201cnot terribly interested in criticisms of the past,\u201d meaning the 1960s and 1970s, and believes that the bishops of that era were \u201cguided by the Holy Spirit.\u201d He also sees no contradiction between the \u201ccentrist, social-justice oriented position\u201d of the Bernardin-era bishops and the \u201cmore evangelical stance associated with John Paul II\u201d:<\/p>\n

As far as the social justice question goes, I don\u2019t think you can be an evangelist, or part of this evangelical movement in the church, without being as clearly committed to social justice as the church has been in the past. We can\u2019t preach the Gospel and not live it. If we don\u2019t love the poor, and do all we can to improve their lot, we\u2019re going to go to Hell. It\u2019s very clear from the gospels that we have the duty to do that. To be an evangelist means to preach that too, but it also means you don\u2019t just preach that. There\u2019s a clear difference between being a social worker and being a preacher of the Gospel. You can be a social worker without believing in God, but not a preacher. The Gospel calls all of us to be social workers, in a sense, but not all social workers are called to be evangelists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For me, the most fascinating part came when Allen drew out Chaput on the subject of his personal dynamism. He readily concedes that evangelization \u201cis where my heart is,\u201d and admits he\u2019s \u201cvery worried\u201d that the bureaucratic demands of serving in Philadelphia \u2014 which apparently exceed those of serving in Denver \u2014 will leave him little time for it.<\/p>\n

Chaput agrees with Allen that he\u2019s \u201cnot a very clerical bishop.\u201d \u201cPart of that is my Capuchin background,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not a clerical order, and we emphasize the importance of being brothers not only to one another but to the people around us, and even to the world of creation.\u201d He commits himself to engaging with the strains of thought coming from the world, and \u201cto show how the Gospel makes it better and richer, and how the Gospel at the same time corrects it and purifies it. There\u2019s no way the Gospel can embrace and purify the world unless it knows the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chaput also defends the Vatican\u2019s Apostolic Visitation of American women religious and Communion bans for pro-choice politicians. Regarding the Catholic Health Association\u2019s support for President Obama\u2019s universal health coverage, he thinks, \u201cwe ought to continue to insist that when it comes to matters of faith and morals, bishops, in the name of Jesus Christ, have to be the ones who make the final decisions.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing very surprising there, nor in the cautious tone Chaput generally adopts when discussing the sex abuse crisis, including the report issued last February by a Philadelphia grand jury. Nevertheless, I found it a revealing interview, even an inspiring one. I can\u2019t share Chaput\u2019s attachment to the Tridentine Mass, but I see no point in begrudging him it as long as someone fairly close by me is saying the Novus Ordo. More than anything, I admire his commitment to evangelization and his personal bounce and confidence. My thoughts on this are just starting to sort themselves, but it seems to me that a good cure for superstar priests or even superstar laymen \u2014 and there\u2019s no need to name any names \u2014 might be superstar bishops. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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