{"id":2223,"date":"2018-01-28T22:42:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T03:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/soapboxredemption\/?p=2223"},"modified":"2018-01-29T09:57:26","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T14:57:26","slug":"romanus-cessario-non-possumus-theological-marxism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/soapboxredemption\/2018\/01\/romanus-cessario-non-possumus-theological-marxism\/","title":{"rendered":"On Romanus Cessario, Non Possumus, and Theological Marxism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

To defend the Catholic Church\u2019s kidnapping of a six year old child is certainly a brave move; ridiculous, but certainly brave. But hey, what else would you do when a Jewish child is baptized in secret by his Christian nanny when he was sick (for fear of eternal damnation should he have died)? Why, knock on the parent\u2019s door, and take him of course. This is precisely what Pope Pius IX and\u00a0the Catholic Church did in the case of Edgardo Mortara in 1858. And this, according to Father Romanus Cessario, was \u201cdivine providence<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n

Cessario is a\u00a0professor of systematic theology at St. John\u2019s Seminary, associate editor of The Thomist<\/em>, senior editor of Magnificat<\/em>, and general editor of the Catholic Moral Thought<\/em>, so I\u2019m acutely interested in how this idea will be received in these circles, as well as the Catholic Church at large. I, for one, agree with Michael Sean Winters at the National Catholic Reporter that such a defense is \u201cinexcusable\u201d<\/a>. The kidnapping (yes kidnapping), of Edgardo was certainly sad according to Cessario, but there is an infinitely higher calling at play:<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one who considers the Mortara affair can fail to be moved by its natural dimensions. It is a grievous thing to sever familial bonds. But the honor we give to mother and father will be imperfect if we do not render a higher honor to God above. Christ\u2019s authority perfects all natural institutions\u2014the family as well as the state. This is why he said that he came bearing a sword that would sunder father and son. One\u2019s judgment of Pius will depend on one\u2019s acceptance of Christ\u2019s claim.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the finale of Cessario\u2019s logic? \u201cThose examining the Mortara case today are left with a final question: Should putative civil liberties trump the requirements of faith?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0At this point, we\u2019d have to take to recap some of his definitions. \u201cPutative civil liberties\u201d, of course, would be smallish things like\u00a0not kidnapping children from their parents. \u201cFaith\u201d, of course, would be Cessario\u2019s particular flavor of Catholicism (I\u2019ll label \u201cCessario-ism\u201d)\u00a0to which such an action represents the beatific vision of Christ. I\u2019m careful to separate \u201cCessario-ism\u201d from Catholicism, as I have a hunch most Catholics would repulsed by Cessario\u2019s 1850\u2019s papal logic \u2013 that such an action represents the Christ-filled actualization of the Church.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Cessario would find such liberals unChristlike in their repulsion of his proposition.\u00a0After all, \u201cone\u2019s judgment of Pius will depend on one\u2019s acceptance of Christ claim.\u201d One not need be so imaginative to be repulsed, whether it be Catholic, Christian, or irreligious thinkers like my friend Adam Lee<\/a>. After all, it\u2019s a familiar idea found in Marxism; in this case, a theological marxism where\u00a0the end justifies the means, because the kidnapping of Edgardo ensured eternal salvation.<\/p>\n

Go figure,\u00a0a theology of throwing kids in the baptismal fount against their or their parent\u2019s will\/knowledge to ensure salvation; and of course, a\u00a0salvation that only\u00a0Catholic servitude would offer.\u00a0But wait! Edgardo later became and priest and was immensely grateful of the Catholic Church and specifically\u00a0Pope Pius IX, whom he felt should be a saint. And so rests the\u00a0apologia of Cessario\u2019s theological marxism.<\/p>\n

As Adam correctly notes, it\u2019s quite common for victims to adopt the ideology of their kidnappers. Brainwashing, guilt, and indoctrination are powerful psychological forces.\u00a0The majority of victims of human trafficking return to their perpetrators. Should their embrace of their captivity be suggestive of anything but brainwashing, guilt, and indoctrination?\u00a0Now, for Cessario, Catholic trafficking is just plain good theology (one that Christ demands); his apologia proudly embraces the forced baptism and human trafficking that ensued. And we can rest assured in the apologia, the means and the end \u2013 for it was only through such actions that Edgardo would achieve salvation for which he was later grateful. If this theology or rationality sounds repulsive, have no fear, it repulsed the world back in 1858.\u00a0For the international outcry to return Edgardo, non possumus<\/em>, Latin for\u00a0\u201cwe cannot\u201d, was Pope Pius IX\u2019s reply. For Cessario, this was \u201cpiety, not stubbornness\u201d as there was much more than the \u201chuman element\u201d to consider.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the theme of defending human trafficking, let\u2019s return to Cessario\u2019s logical finale:\u00a0\u201cshould putative civil liberties trump the requirements of faith?\u201d\u00a0As Cesario is from Boston, I\u2019m sure he\u2019s quite familiar with the Catholic Church\u2019s active cover-up of priest pedophilia;\u00a0Boston and\u00a0Archbishop Bernard Francis Law the eye of the storm. In the famous Boston Globe\u2019s Spotlight team\u2019s report<\/a>, we see the archdiocese appealed having to release the Church\u2019s inner workings. Even further, we see how the law afforded cover-up with clergy being exempt from laws to report incidence of sex abuse to police for prosecution. Raping children, as the Spotlight team reported, could simply be viewed \u201cas a\u00a0sin for which priests could repent rather than as a compulsion they might be unable to control.\u201d\u00a0And so the logic goes (and went), don\u2019t prosecute the priests, just have them repent and transfer them to another parish. Then, when pressed for records, just grease the Appeals Court.\u00a0I\u2019m sure many of these priests and bishops held the same logic that there was more than the \u201chuman element\u201d to consider. After all, when weighing out things like rationality, honesty, and the basic human right not to be raped, why should\u00a0\u201cputative civil liberties trump the requirements of faith\u201d? Just silence victims, shuffle the priests to other parishes, and keep the baptisms coming. Amen?<\/p>\n

Perhaps Cessario should take look closer at Aquinas that reason is the \u201cpreamble\u201d to faith (ST, Ia, q. 2, a. 2<\/em>). Certainly, faith ultimately \u201csurpasses the capacity of reason\u201d (like trust in anything without certainty), but \u201ctruth that the human reason is naturally endowed to know cannot be opposed to the truth of the Christian faith\u201d (Contra Gentiles<\/em>).\u00a0With Edgardo\u2019s forced baptism and kidnapping, the higher calling, and Cessario\u2019s apologia, on\u00a0what does such a Christology like rest I\u2019d like to know?\u00a0Common sense? Definitely not there. The greater Catholic Church? Doubtful. Aquinas? Even more doubtful. Mere Christianity? Definitely no solace here. In Christ Himself? Forced baptisms and human servitude in His name \u2013 blasphemy.<\/p>\n

And so Cessario\u2019s apologia,\u00a0in reason or in Christ? Non possums<\/em>, we cannot.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To defend the Catholic Church\u2019s kidnapping of a six year old child is certainly a brave move; ridiculous, but certainly brave. But hey, what else would you do when a Jewish child is baptized in secret by his Christian nanny when he was sick (for fear of eternal damnation should he have died)? Why, knock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1687,"featured_media":2228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musings"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Romanus Cessario, Non Possumus, and Theological Marxism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To defend the Catholic Church's kidnapping of a six year old child is certainly a brave move; ridiculous, but certainly brave. 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