Editorial: We Do Not Need Conservativism We Need a Classical Christian Revival

11/26/2012

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embraced and welcomed, these principles will again help us to rebuild a genuinely free society.

Freedom is a "good" of the human person - not some ethereal disconnected concept. Freedom has a moral foundation which brings with it obligations to do what is right, good and true. Choosing what is always and everywhere wrong does not increase freedom, it leads to bondage and erodes freedom.

We need to be responsible for our freedom. For example, we have an obligation in solidarity to care for one another and, in particular, to care for the poor. We truly are our brother/sister�s keeper.

However, discharging this obligation should be informed by a social ordering principle, the principle of subsidiarity. This principle insists that governance be exercised at the lowest practicable level, beginning with the family.Larger governing entities must never usurp the rightful role of families and mediating structures.

Statism never works, whether it is of the rightist or the leftist version. They both meet one another at the back door, shutting that door on true human progress. Statism squelches freedom, creativity, initiative and stunts genuine human compassion.

But that is not because "government" is evil - it is not. Whether government is good is dependent upon who is doing the governing. Also, where it happens (at the lowest practicable level) and whether such governance reflects the objective moral values which must inform and limit its role.

Good government does not begin with the isolated individual. In the words of the first book of the Bible we read "it is not good for man to be alone". It begins with the family and moves outward in circles. We can only be fully human - and experience human flourishing and freedom - in relationship with one another.

We are by nature - and by grace - social creatures.

We need a revival of the classical Christian vision which helped to birth both Western culture and the American experiment in ordered liberty. We need a new freedom movement. This new freedom movement must proclaim an authentic vision of human freedom - not libertinism masquerading as liberty or a selfish individualism which rejects our obligation to one another.

It must insist that some choices are always and everywhere wrong because there is a moral foundation to freedom. What is right and what is wrong is written on the human heart. For example, we all know it is always wrong to kill an innocent neighbor. That is not a proper exercise of freedom.

This is true even if that neighbor lives in the first home of the whole human race, the womb. We can no longer hide abortion behind Orwellian language such as choice and loaded newspeak such as "abortion rights". Abortions do not have rights, people do. Every procured abortion denies a person the fundamental human right to life.

Ultrasound technology uncovers the lie every day. Medical science has confirmed what our consciences long ago told us, even if we tried to hide their voice. Procured abortion is barbarism. Legalizing it does not free us, it enslaves and dehumanizes us.

The secularist censors want to denigrate truth claims - such as the fundamental dignity of every human life and our defense of marriage and the family and society founded upon it. They do so by calling them all "religious positions" rather than accepting that there are moral norms which are objectively true.

They then insist that these positions are not appropriate for public policy or political discourse. Their goal is to keep our truth claims within our Church Walls through an incorrect interpretation of the Free Exercise of Religion which results in the persecution of believers.

There is a difference between a "secular" State, a State which welcomes all religious expressions, or none at all; a State which is not identified with one religious institution - and "secularism", an oppressive anti-religious regime which seeks to censor out of the public forum the wonderful contributions of the Church and of the great ideas informed by faith.

There is a Cultural Revolution underway which threatens not only Christians but all freedom loving people. There are two conflicting visions of the human person, human freedom, human flourishing and marriage and the family contending for the future. These visions are incompatible with one another. Only one will triumph.

The collapse of our Nation and the West can be averted; but only through the influence of the Christian Church and her allies. It is the Christian vision of the person, the family and the common good which will pave the way for a recovery of freedom.

It is the Christian vision which will pave the way to true progress. Christianity is the antidote to the descent into barbarism arising out of the current neo-paganism masquerading as liberation.

We have lived through word games which portend the creeping oppression of dangerous and inhuman regimes in the last few decades. The misuse of the word progressive is another example of " what the late, great C.S. Lewis in his "Studies in Words" called verbicide.

There is a concerted effort to paint those who adhere to orthodox Christianity as "backward." Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are the true progressives.

It has been the contributions of Christianity throughout modern history, such as its� insistence on the inherent and inviolable dignity and worth of every human person, which has set people - and cultures- free from the bondage of totalitarianism and produced true human progress.

It has been the truths proclaimed by the Christian Church which have brought down errant philosophies that enslaved Nations. It has been a Christian world view and anthropology that has advanced true human liberation. It will again be the Church that leads the world to a future of real progress - because she is its champion.

We do not need conservatism, we need a classical Christian revival.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: progressive, liberal, conservative, neo-conservative, Democrat, Republisb, freedom, politics, just society, social justice, government, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 10 of 61 Comments

judy claar
5 months ago
Vance, Thank you. O'Riely said he felt there would be an "unraveling" in the next two years concerning O'bama, and I sure Hope that there is. He is surely Not like Lincoln.(I mention Lincoln here, because some, like to compare the two of them together. Nothing could be farther from the Truth!) Lincoln managed to bring a divided country together....Obama has managed to separate the country...
to the tune that it was during the Civil War. That my friend, is unconscionable! Blessings....
vance
5 months ago
Judy, your posts are spot on. I agree with you about the small handful of Bishops who have come out aggressively against the re-election of Obama and his party of death and deceit. I can tell you that a couple of pastors from my dioceses made a half-hearted attempt to encourage the faithful to do the right thing BUT they fell short when they told the parishioners to Vote Your Conscience. But what does that mean? They would have been more effective had they said, "Vote Your Faith which defends Life of the Unborn, defends Marriage between one man and one woman, and defends Freedom of Religion". The Bishop has said nothing. But don't worry about Rob because he is jazzed that his Dear Leader was re-elected and his Party of Death retained control in the senate. God Bless.
judy claar
5 months ago
Vance & Charlotte Ostermann, The Spirit is working in the USCCB. In Today's Homily: St. James of March, Nov. 28., Fr. mentioned that Cardinal Timothy Dolan told all the bishops, and priests,and lay persons, Anyone who has Anything to do with Preaching the Word, to prayer and contemplation on "Preaching the Word".... " Faith comes through hearing the Word. There must be Word and Example....Else voting would not have been so mindlessly and carelessly."

That was Exactly what I needed to hear! Someone of authority finally came out and said it! And said it to Shepards! And now, I can feel at ease in my thoughts. Know, that my thinking was not, and is not, off the wall!

Usually I pray before I respond. And I like to think the Holy Spirit is working through me. But of course that is not always the case. In the above paragraph, indeed my personality is transparent! Wavering flame that it is. But a flame nonetheless. How warm and comforting it would be to turn back the hands of time to when I was a child at home, lit inside and outside, (by outside, I mean the world as it appeared to me) in warm and secure happy Faith surroundings. (It seemed at that time, everyone was Christian, Catholic or Jewish).

This is a different era. Indeed we will All happily and hopefully receive more of the Word. I have no complaints. I know some of you out there do. Perhaps some of you (I hope) will be hearing more of the Word as it should be preached: With Purpose and Intention.

As for us, Fr. said, when we live our Faith by Word and Example, especially to others who are non-believers, "we convict them of their sin". In Today's Readings, it is very clear that those who are against us, will be members of family. Prayerful Blessings..
judy claar
5 months ago
Rob, I don't see a lot of us as as cry babies because Obama got elected. I see people who are saddened by his re-nomination as people with insight; seeing where this nation is > more than likely headed. I see them intuition wise. In other wards, I see them with a head on their shoulders. They do not sit at home and cry. They continue their work and keep fighting the Good fight.

Actually Rob, the Culture of Death alone is an issue to cry about...even if they are silent tears.
I think you might do well to open to understanding and contemplation. Especially, if you are in a blind, and can not see, what comes after the Culture of Death.

I personally do not give way to scare tactics. Reality, History, Facts, the Church, Bible, and Prayer are my guides. But in Obama's case, the handwriting is on the wall. The people Obama associates with, also says volumes.

In short, I just do not understand, how voting in the reign of the Culture of Death and more, is nothing to be upset about. We must accept it true, but we do not have to be happy about it. Blessings...
Bill Sr.
5 months ago
A Nation in Decline is a Nation in Need
Can you imagine the thoughts and anticipation in the hearts of those first pilgrims as they began their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to a new land they had never seen? They were leaving behind their homeland with friends, family, and familiarity, for a hostile unknown, untamed, and uncertain future. What brave souls they were. What great hope they held in their hearts. Fear was not an obstacle to their desire to partake of a new life in a new world.
The brave souls who left all behind in Eastern Europe to come to a new land known as America were seeking not merely opportunity but freedom, freedom from oppressive rule and taxation of kings and queens. As all men of all ages they lived and died being bound by two things, the rule of laws set by those with power over them and their hope and trust in their God. They came from Spain, France, Portugal, England, and Ireland settling everywhere along our east and southern shores and eventually the coast of California. Understand this for certain, their former masters may have been of a variety but their God was one in the same.
After arriving in their new land these hardy souls seeking freedom and opportunity in gratitude to their God with hope in their future made it obvious by naming their settlements "New" this and that or giving it the name of a favorite Saint. Their first common structure was not a town hall but a Church to worship and offer thanks to their God. Who was that God? It was not Allah, or Buddha, or any thing else. Regardless of the denomination the one thing essential in all the churches was the Bible. America from the very beginning was a nation of believers in Jesus Christ and the God of Abraham. It has always been a Judeo-Christian nation. Another thing to be certain of is that when these people of God came together to declare their unity and independence from all their former masters they were guided by their common faith to declare all men were created equal by their creator God and as such had inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This Christian conscience is what enabled our forefathers whose ancestors had lived centuries fighting each other at the command of power hungry rulers who enslaved those they conquered to eventually end the slavery of fellow Americans who had been brought here from Africa and forced to serve on plantations and as house servants. In retrospect those immigrants, God bless them, were exposed during their captivity to Christianity and became vivid examples for all of us of endurance and faithfulness in the face of persecution.
The truth of all of this had been accepted for over two hundred years until our current president from nowhere soon after his first election declared to the world that we were no longer a Christian nation.
That boastful announcement was not a statement of fact it was a wishful personal belief. It also was an indication of the design of his personal agenda to transform America into a nation without a valid constitution constructed by men of faith whose coin and currency bore the inscription "In God We Trust", and a nation unrestrained by Biblical integrity or a devout Christian conscience. Why would the leader of this beloved land of ours be so bold as to declare the demise of our heritage and its conscience and integrity? Was he remorsefully announcing our loss or proudly proclaiming the beginning of a new era he was about to impose upon us?
There is little doubt after decades of progressive liberal indoctrination throughout our universities, public schools and the mainstream media our society had gradually eroded its moral standards by capitulating to the onslaunt of anti-Christian rhetoric deceitfully presented as benevolent social justice. Evil is as Evil does and where better to start a last ditch effort by its Legions to corrupt the worlds most powerful Christian nation than within its own government. We can not deny its presence in the agenda of politicians, many who profess to be Christians, in the hollowed halls in Washington along with socially corrupt governorships and big city mayors all over the country driving us to bankruptcy with endless entitlement programs and dividing the people into secular camps of perverse but (now) legal behavior railing against the founding values of our nation mocking the Church and her moral teaching under the guise of social justice or benevolent equal benefits and rights.
Our country has lost a cherished pride in our deep religious faith based on Judeo-Christian values as woven into the fabric of our society. In a single lifetime (mine for instance) we have abandoned things like Blue Laws to protect the sanctity of the Sabbath and two parent church on Sunday families with stay at home mothers and embraced 24/7 shopping to satisfy a mounting hunger for every imaginable comfort and personal desire and become complacent with not only single moms and gay marriage but government subsidized abortion clinics for mothers wishing to kill their unborn paid for by a government run healthcare system which forces under specific penalties private companies and religious institutions to cooperate financially in this Holocaust of our Silent Citizens and even against their deeply held religious principles to actually perform the butchery as an act of social necessity.
Our most urgent need today is not to avoid an economic collapse or the financial cliff but rather we need to ignite and initiate a spiritual revival and search our souls admitting to ourselves we have turned from and left behind the only salvation we really have, the Lord Jesus Christ and his Divine Mercy.
Rob
5 months ago
Not sure Judy. Time of the early church they killed Christ. Not sure it gets worse than that. And under so much persecution they flourished. We on the other hand are a bunch of cry babies thinking the world is going to end because Obama was re-elected. What we need is the faith of the early church.
judy claar
5 months ago
Vance, You gave me a chuckle. The Rivival, in my mere opinion, needs to be more like the Early Church. The early Church had none of the communication luxuries we do today. Yet, they found time to write, live the Faith by example, preach the Word, and all without our modern transportation system as well. I realize we are all different with various personalities, just as in the days of the early Church. But there seems to have been more fervor. Bottom Line: I guess I tend to agree with you in needing a bit of a shake up. I do like Bishop C. Chaput though. We need more of him.
I wonder how much more our early Fathers could have done with communication and transportation the way it is today at their disposal?
But remember Rob, they had not only had Faithful members behind them to carry out their duties, but were bringing them IN at the same time. I wonder, in which era has the most evil?
Blessings...
Charlotte Ostermann
5 months ago
I'm so glad I ran across this article...Amen, amen!! I disagree with a comment that the bishops must change first, though I do see the need for their leadership and example. I think we laypeople have more 'power' than we realize to change culture by our own culture-building in the small circles we inhabit. Yes, we are small and insignificant, but to yearn for huge changes - idealizations - is to miss the small, real things that will end up having huge repercussions. For instance, David Clayton encourages us to pray the Divine Office - a small, personal gesture, but one I've found life-and-culture-building. The real renewal starts with the liturgy, in the Eucharist, and we sometimes forget that the Divine Office is also part of the liturgical renewal, which we can enter into right at home, or while traveling! Another huge-and-game-changing thing we can each do is consecrate ourselves to Mary (see Fr. Michael Gaitely's "33 Days to Morning Glory" !!!) We can renew our whole world by doing all things in, with, and through Mary as she manifests the Holy Spirit's love and brooding. Don't wait for the bishops or anyone else!!! Jesus showed us the power of 'one person,right here, right now'.
vance
5 months ago
Classic Christian Revival won;t happen until there is a Classic Christian Revival in the USCCB.
judy claar
5 months ago
Thomas. I applaud your heartfelt truth and honesty. I am overjoyed that you wrote it here. You may be an ole timer, but you are one humbled; Gifted, with foresight and thought. Combine all the above together and mix well, you have a man of God. One that is to be respected and listened too. I sadly agree with you. Blessings...

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