![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/05\/14037472464_9569a64302_b-1024x684.jpg\")
What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special circumstances, the Apostles\u2019 Creed, the latter of which our godparents also profess on our behalf if we\u2019re baptized as infants.\u00a0 But those of us who went through the RCIA program recite a different profession:<\/p>\n
I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But Cardinal Cupich appears to operate with a yet different understanding altogether.\u00a0 At least based on his statements yesterday at the Big Bishop\u2019s Meeting he believes that to be Catholic is to be a believer in Pope Francis and to follow his teachings, however he might proclaim Catholic doctrine to have developed from one day to the next.<\/p>\n
Am I being too harsh?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the context:<\/p>\n
The American bishops are meeting at the USCCB Fall General Assembly at the moment; yesterday was the second day of the gathering, and they were engaged in a discussion of a letter to be released in advance of the upcoming election, to \u201chelp. . . Catholics engage with the American political process,\u201d as explained at Catholic News Agency<\/a>.\u00a0 But Cupich sought to insert a long paragraph into the text, namely (as linked to at the America<\/em><\/a> magazine), paragraph 101 of Pope Francis\u2019s 2018 apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate<\/em>,<\/p>\n
The other harmful ideological error is found in those who find suspect the social engagement of others, seeing it as superficial, worldly, secular, materialist, communist or populist. Or they relativize it, as if there are other more important matters, or the only thing that counts is one particular ethical issue or cause that they themselves defend. Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection. We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which sounds like a dumb move simply from a stylistic point of view, if the letter is actually intended to be something people would read, as opposed to merely with the purpose of making known an official point of view.<\/p>\n
As CNA recounts:<\/p>\n
The cardinal suggested the insertion of a long paragraph into the text which would contextualize the Church\u2019s position on life issues, and especially the teaching of Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
The committee considering the amendments, led by the USCCB president-elect Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, agreed to include an abbreviated version of Cupich\u2019s paragraph, including language insisting that the \u201cfirm and passionate\u201d defense of the unborn should be matched with support for the \u201cequally sacred\u201d lives of the poor, inform, elderly, and marginalized.<\/p>\n
Cupich argued that his proposed wording was necessary, even if it was longer, in order properly to represent the full concerns of the pope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Whereupon Bishop Robert McElroy jumped in to object to the very notion that the letter should say that abortion is the \u201c\u201cpreeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
McElroy told the conference this language was \u201cdiscordant with the pope\u2019s teaching, if not inconsistent,\u201d and implied that a failure to accept Cupich\u2019s proposed language was tantamount to a breach with the Holy Father\u2019s magisterium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not Catholic teaching that abortion is the preeminent issue that we face as a world in Catholic social teaching. It is not.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
America<\/em> contains another crucial quote from Cupich:<\/p>\n
The cardinal referenced a speech given to U.S. bishops on Nov. 11 by the papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, in which he urged them to consider \u201cpractically\u201d how they have \u201creceived the magisterium of Pope Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a magisterial teaching of Pope Francis,\u201d Cardinal Cupich said. \u201cAnd I think we can all benefit from it as we speak to our people about the issues.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now, as a reminder, in Illinois, not only is abortion legal with no meaningful limitations but as of earlier this year, all insurance plans must cover abortion<\/a> with the same level of cost-share as they do maternity care.\u00a0 At the time, Cupich issued a brief statement<\/a> (which did not even comment on the new insurance-coverage requirement), then went about his day.\u00a0 (The Archdiocese self-insures its medical plans<\/a>, which means that they are subject to federal, not state, regulations; does this mean that they shrug this off and say, \u201coh, well, something for someone else to care about\u201d?)<\/p>\n
And, to state the obvious, there is a clear difference between abortion and other issues such as the welfare of migrants or the poor.\u00a0 Perhaps Cupich is not aware that it is against the law to deliberately kill a migrant or a poor person?\u00a0 That, indeed, should one wish to do so, we cannot file a claim with our insurance company? Americans who wish to restrict immigration are calling for deportation of those without legal residency rights, not for their execution.<\/p>\n
But even aside the specific issue itself, the approach that Cupich and McElroy insisted upon, that what matters is being in alignment with the \u201cteaching of Pope Francis\u201d even on matters such as degree of emphasis when it comes to Catholics and politics (where Cupich himself likewise has his own personal priorities), is not authentically Catholic at all, especially when it turns into infighting about personal loyalty to the man himself.\u00a0 Thought experiment:\u00a0 try to substitute \u201cBenedict\u201d for \u201cFrancis.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work, does it?<\/p>\n
So, in the immortal words of the kids these days, \u201cOK, Boomer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special circumstances, the Apostles\u2019 Creed, the latter of which our godparents also profess on our behalf if we\u2019re baptized as infants.\u00a0 But those of us who went through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":6578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,1156],"class_list":["post-16161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archbishop-cupich","tag-cupich"],"yoast_head":"\n
L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/05\/14037472464_9569a64302_b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html\",\"name\":\"L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"L’Eglise, C’est — Francis?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?","description":"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?","og_description":"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":513,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/05\/14037472464_9569a64302_b.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html","name":"L'Eglise, C'est -- Francis?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-13T17:01:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"What does it mean to be a part of the (Roman) Catholic Church?\u00a0 On Sundays, we recite a profession of faith via the Nicene Creed or, in special","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/11\/leglise-cest-francis.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"L’Eglise, C’est — Francis?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}