Catholic and Enjoying It!
This Chestertonish “quote” is really a paraphrase:
What he actually said is, ““We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong.” But close enough.
The trouble is, this perfectly true statement, in the mouth of countless “faithful conservative Catholics” typically means “You people over there need to listen to the Church about your sex lives, but I don’t need to listen to the Church when it is talking about violence or money or anything that sounds liberal because that’s a prudential judgment, which means I can ignore it. Will you get a load of that screwy liberal Francis? What a disaster!”
News flash: “Prudential judgment” does not mean “Feel free to ignore and battle the Church if it contradicts your pet political dogmas.” Nor does it mean “Use your prudence to decide whether or not to bother listening to the Church’s guidance.” It means “How can we most prudently obey the Church’s guidance?”
So when the Church offers us guidance on, say, our responsibility for creation, or the poor, or the use of the death penalty, or treatment of prisoners, or unjust war, or a host of other matters, it is not prudent to make war on that guidance and declare that we are free to do so as long as we wear a Precious Feet pin. It is, in fact, rebellion.
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