I was recently fortunate to attend Mass at Our Lady of Walsingham, an Anglican Use church in Houston. It is a beautiful place to worship, and the old traditions, such kneeling at the communion rail, were inspiring. Father Bruce Noble encouraged the congregation to engage their citizenship on behalf of the weak, and especially the most vulnerable among us, the unborn. Below are selections from his long pastoral letter, concerning Catholic public responsibilities:
The paradox of being a Catholic American is to live with a kind of disconnect – namely, that practical theology is ultimately monarchial, God is King, while political theory is essentially democratic, Country as Republic.
“What on earth has happened to the notion of kingly realm?” and “How can prayer, ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ be meaningful?” Catholics have to come to terms with the entities involved in their social and political life, which inevitably involve Right to Life issues and Peace and Justice concerns. At this very crux point, Catholic understanding is profoundly pastoral. The festival of Christus Rex challenges us, as true subjects of Christ, to exercise stewardship of godly matters, in terms of both ‘realm and reign.’
Let’s explore the American implications in the upset world of today, by going back to the George III roots, at the time of the Revolution.
WHAT IS THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION?
Wendall Garrett is an historian with futurist concerns. He raises a series of questions for our attention. Neatly arranged, he offers a number of alternative interpretations. They are cogently presented as follows:
The revolt of an oppressed people against a tyrannical king
Or
The refusal of an ungrateful people to honor ancient debts?
A rising of the common man against an aristocratic ruling class
Or
A defense of traditional rights by a united citizenry?
The repudiation of royal sovereignty
Or
The triumph of popular sovereignty?
A war of national liberation
Or
A civil war?
A COUPLE OF CENTURIES LATER:
The fascinating feature of the above run-down is that we as moderns are left with all these jostling elements, like apples in an agitated tub of water.
Amazingly, the sovereignty question as to who’s in charge, and what constitutes good governance emerges largely as an authority question.
A Catholic response:
In her communal undertakings (and in engagement with the secular state) the Roman Catholic Church, with the authority of Peter’s keys, does have a further transforming contribution, which goes beyond a mere extension of social and political ideas as articulated above.
THE PROBLEM POSED
The problem with Wendell Garrett’s sweeping survey is that the entities are cleverly opened up as options, but they are not fully explored. Many Americans ‘live with’ such conflicting images as outlined here, or else simply straddle both sides without further thought or action – let alone follow through on implications.
This includes many Catholics in the current electorate, being faced into an amalgam of policies, which are cobbled together by both parties. The end result of this process is somewhat ambiguous, awaiting outcome. Then comes Election Day, when the winner is declared President and is given authority over these United States.
The predictable outcome (whether the policy is Republican or Democrat) is that the newly elected ‘King’ is given carte blanche to be Monarch of all he surveys – especially in the honeymoon stage. On the threshold of His Whitehouse kingdom, he “assumes” power, and demonstrates the most radical proposals of his policy. The more extreme, the earlier the opportunity (all recent Presidents have characteristically acted in this way). That’s the phase we’re in right now.
As Head of State and agent of the Executive Branch there may seem little reason why our newly elected leader should not act “monarchial,” and so enact his ideological priorities in the belief that he has a supposed mandate from below, and what seems like support from both Houses.
But what of the mandate from above? This element (vital to Catholic conscience) seems to be missing somewhere in the present situation viz a viz important life issues.
The question is whether a President has total mandate from above in such proposed matters of Life and Death? Then again, is his mandate from below so overwhelming that it can freely truckle with the deepest aspirations of human dignity and that Holy hope which sets store in future generation of the species?
This crux issue, dear people, is the very thing that constitutes our present difficulty, and which is being addressed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The need for prayer intentions for them in a difficult task is immense. That body of bishops are seeking, as citizens, to be loyal to the hard won political process American has been engaged in; and yet faithful to the clarity of the Church’s magisterial, yet pastoral directives.
OPERATIVE BELIEF
The question for Americans (and particularly for Catholic Christians) is:
“Are we content to affirm a belief in a vague sense of Deity called Divine Providence, or do we at best subscribe to a Provident Divinity that endorses our own will?”
In either case, the God of Revelation is far more than that. He comes from the other side of Transcendence in His own Divine Revealing, as the God and Father of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. It’s good to know that there is a Christus Rex, who is ultimately in charge. This is a time to speak out the Truth – namely that the Trinity is powerfully made present in Word and Sacrament in the Life of His community the Church. In the stewardship of work and worship, we also see Him as paramount in the Life of the World, and His pervading power throughout the Universe.
Abortion, as the current Culture of Death issue has its consequent ramifications, all the way down the line to Capital Punishment. With economic meltdown, looming large, it seems, we lurch from one sickening crisis to another, but we must take care not to allow the real authority question, again, to become submerged. Let us give thought to ways that together, we can give utmost support to that one institution, that can withstand the unmentionable Gates.
In this timely moment for Catholic activity in both Marketplace and Public Square, we can (through our bishop’s guidance) lend authentic witness, within our nation under God. Meanwhile, we in Catholic community give acknowledgement to God’s Kingly rule. Hopefully, as American Catholics today, we can become more than simply a segment of ‘We the People,’ but much more, a leavening agency in the discharge of God’s good purpose.
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