Between reading for class tomorrow, working on a homily, and napping, I've been browsing around the political blogs reading post-election commentary. I've been delighted to discover that there seems to be very little anger or outrage at B.O.'s re-election. Most of the posts I've read have been thoughtful, sober, and given to taking in the Big Picture.
Here's an excerpt from Matthew Warner's piece on the NCRegister site that fits my own thoughts almost perfectly:
[. . .]
Real change starts in the home. Not in the Whitehouse. In *your* home and the homes around this great nation. That's where it begins. It ends in the election booth. If we're only showing up to fight in the election booth, we've already missed the battle.
And if you are discouraged after the election, Mother Teresa has something to say to you about that, too: “If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you
trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and
your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart
because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.”
It's as simple as that, folks. Transform discouragement into the
motivation that moves you to change things. (And for more inspiration
from Mother Teresa, read her 7 steps to a holier life.)
What we need right now is leadership. And if you're waiting for a
politician, you're going to be waiting a long time. We need leadership
1) in your home and 2) in the culture. We need cultural leaders. We need
individuals and organizations to rise up and provide inspiring,
convincing leadership that will lead to conversions of mind and heart.
This makes perfect sense to me and I commend it to you.
_____________
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The underlying racial realities of the American electorate: 59% of Whites, for Romney. For Obama: Blacks 93%, Hispanics 71%, Asians 73%.
ReplyDeleteHow can the Church possibly talk about this? It can't, and so it is avoiding a reality it helped to make.
Anon., sorry, I'm not grasping your point here.
DeleteI think I know what anonymous is getting at. The USCCB is responsible for the fact that election after election over the last 50 years, the majority of Catholics have voted for the liberal presidential candidate. On top of that, the USCCB has backed the welfare state that has incentivized the growth in unwed mothers and fatherless youth in our inner cities. Furthermore, when the Republicans tried to advance welfare reform, it was the Catholic bishops that led the charge against it. Now they are reaping the fruit of their handiwork. I'm glad that they finally found the backbone to stand up against Obamacare, but from the very beginning of the healthcare debate, they were cozying up to the enemy.
DeleteAmerican politics is now firmly about race, above all. The Church cannot speak about that in any terms but pablum and nostrums. It is a subject about which it cannot tell the truth...and wouldn't even if it could recognize it.
DeleteThe only group that supports the Republican party is Whites. 90% plus of Republican support is from Whites. The GOP is the White party. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians...all firmly on the Democrat plantation, along with their allies, the gays, Jews, Muslims, unmarried females. The Church's precious Latinos..whose massive invasion of this country it has aided and abetted...are over 70% Democrat. This is about race. And about the deeply collectivist cultures of non-Whites.
The Church can blather on about values all it wants, but it's missing the point.
To an extent, I agree, Anon. Though I think "race" is largely a social construct that serves Leftist political goals, in the Church and outside her. But we can't ignore the fact that a large percentage of working class whites voted for B.O. too. The sort of progressive democracy that the Left pushes tends to destroy republican forms of gov't by appealing to anger, class envy, bread & circuses tactics. That's what we're seeing. Unfortunately, folks start to look to the gov't as the cure for everything, when the reality is that the gov't is most often the disease.
DeleteYou are a very intelligent guy, Father, so I have to say, I can't believe you're buying that "social construct" stuff. What you say about the Left is true, but race --and tribe and nation and people-- is a natural reality.
DeleteAnon., I don't mean that actual physical differences are socially constructed. I mean, the social/political/cultural significance that we attach to those physical differences are socially constructed. There may be minor variations across racial groups but for the most part people are people.
DeleteThe Church needs to take responsibility too. At a state Right to Life Convention I told my bishop that my children are being persecuted in Catholic schools for their pro-life beliefs. I told him that the NCCB had excellent pro-life materials. I asked him if he could meet with the principals of the schools in the diocese and ask them to incorporate these materials in the curriculum. He responded "That's not the way I work." How sad!
ReplyDeleteFor many years I heard about the crisis in the teaching authority of the Church. I see it as a crisis in the teaching ability of the Church
I am starting to get over the discouragement, but my wife has really lost hope. Our business if barely surviving - even after emptying our retirement accounts and being in debt up to our eyeballs. We have been struggling for so long. She says that now the economy is REALLY going to die because the President does not have to worry about re-election anymore. If you could spare a few prayers for her, I would be very grateful!
ReplyDeleteI Don't know, Fr... I've just read Steve Kellmeyer's take on the issue and it made a lot of sense...
ReplyDeletePeggy Nonnan's view was interesting too... (if anyone gets a paywall through this link, just Google the title ("Noonan: 'People Are Afraid of Change'") and will get the full article).
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