“A Series of Paragraphs with small metaphors, or On Politics in White American Catholic Life”
I got me an NYT Pick for editorial comment. Yay me!
I rewrote my response.
“A Series of Paragraphs with small metaphors, or On Politics in White American Catholic Life”
The Conservative faction of the Catholic Church in America has no credibility, yet still pretend they have the full majesty of the 19th century Vatican I era Church.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s in a Liberation Theology-era church. I have slowly watched Conservative American bishops and priests turn back Vatican II changes in an attempt to return to a Pre-Modern Catholicism. The unfortunate side effect of this has been to alienate all but the most stridently Right Wing of the Gen X and Millennial Catholic.
It’s very hard to take the bishops seriously when they blame a Gay Agenda for the sex scandal as they say was the case in the Rudy Kos scandal in Dallas, yet any good Catholic with two good eyes can read about how Bernard Law simply covered up or brushed away problematic priests. Yet, they want to criticize us for birth control or divorce. It’s very hard to take a man yelling about dust in my eyes, when he’s got a two by four in his.
More generally, the White American Catholic Church cleaves into two portions — the Sex Catholics and the Money Catholics. The Sex Catholics spend most of their time occupied with the Church’s role in abortion, a married priesthood (or women priests), birth control, and LGBTQ participation (or lack thereof) in parish life. The Money Catholics have a Beatific focus on Social Justice issues like proper distribution of wealth in a society, rights of the poor and oppressed, just war, Climate Justice and the death penalty.
Only on very rare occasions — family funerals, St. Patrick’s Day, St. Gennaro’s Festival or the birth of a grandchild — do the two factions come together. Otherwise, they walk the Earth in parallel parishes. The Sex Catholics would never picket with the Berrigan Brothers or go to Catholic Charities to volunteer to teach ESL to Central American immigrants. They attend mass on Palm Beach or Highland Park. The Money Catholics would never stand outside Planned Parenthood with adoption information or question the long term effects of hormonal birth control. They attend mass on college campuses or find censured Jesuits for home celebrations.
However, both sides of White American Catholicism are Cafeteria Catholics who whimsically pick and chose from the Catechism to suit their very American political needs. In reality, the Doctrine of Life in the Catholic World is a seamless garment. Neither side wears the garment well. The Sex Catholics think only the pants fit well. The Money Catholics think only the shirt fits well. The only members of Catholic Christendom who wear both pants and shirts are the Staff Sergeants of God — the American Catholic nun, but only of the Vatican II variety. Those women (when they adhere to their vows) are the only true followers of Yeshua bin Miriam.
Religiously — Daoist Catholic. Politically — Catholic Anarchist (Which means first and foremost I’m deeply skeptical of any and all claims to power over any human being by another human being. Which basically means, I’m a Money
