No Party Line to Cross, or to Toe

Over the past weekend, friend Spartacus found time to turn his keen attention from our political woes long enough to catch a posting of mine from last week, and wrote:

-----Original Message-----
From: "Spark" le Klaus [mailto:SpartaCuss@YabbaDoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 1:10 AM
To: Aging Child
Subject: Response to blog

Hey dude!

Kudos to you for having the courage and independence of mind to go against the Catholic party line on this upcoming election. The Church's kind of single issue thinking, given what is at stake now, is absolutely unconscionable--good for you guy, you haven't abdicated your critical thinking abilities completely (but advocating the banning of books, and the oppression of women?! Keep sliding down that slippery slope, my friend, and you're going to have to turn in your Liberal ID card!).

Uh... Sparks, there's no such thing as "Catholic party-line on this upcoming election"; there can't be – and must not be. Just as Nancy Pelosi cannot instruct credibly on Catholic doctrine, so also does Benedict XVI not endorse one (wo)man over another in politics. In fact, the Church has stringently ruled that clergy must in fact not venture into active politicking, and has exercised discipline toward that end. Good.

So perhaps I wasn't clear enough in how I put it in that earlier entry here: in following my faith, and my faith-formed conscience, I find simply that I myself cannot agree with certain specific recommendations made by fellow Catholics – even particular members of the clergy – whose own faith leads them to conclusions different from mine.

In no way does this make me wiser spiritually, especially given the depth of spirituality clearly seen in these men and women. I am simply finding that I cannot agree with these very few, narrow, non-Church reads of theirs... and I am more flawed and weak and imperfect than they are. This doesn't make me right, just... differing in faith-in-action.

So I wrote back to Spartacus – and hope this clarified for him (and will for you) more fully where I am and why. It's not Church vs. politics... it's Church and politics:

Not going against the Catholic Church in my politics / voting-preference. It's not the Church's place to tell members (and non-) for which person to vote (is also codified in our Constitution and by various followup rulings). However, the Church (and all faiths) is entitled and usually so structured as to direct/encourage members into utilizing their faith in all things done during the course of the day, big and little. (E.g., easier to tolerate a possible moron in traffic if I back off and say a prayer for him (and nearby potential victims!), rather than yield to my first impulse of anger and outrage.) And of course to use the faith and its teachings in utilizing greater privileges and responsibilities, such as voting, support for social issues/causes, and so on… in whatever country, culture, and faith-tradition.

Re Church/church (not the same thing) I am free disagree in two areas:

a)   little, non-critical things – customs (that's the word I've been looking for), such as… (oh, I don't know; these I largely follow, so they don't really stand out to me at the moment) how to receive the Eucharist, outward devotional practices (e.g., prayers at certain times and with certain clear areas of focus/aim/aspect/intercession, such as the Rosary, Divine Mercy, Sacred Heart, and the like) and sacramentals (statuary, relics, etc.). But a priest I deeply admired (RIP), and still do, refused to wear a mauve/pink robe on the third Sunday of Advent – despite tradition – because he really didn't want to look like some maiden-aunt's drapery (his words!); he also fumed to me in private about some silly direction from Rome (and he used a non- G-rated word to sum it up) regarding changes to the layout of the altar. All these things, in terms of practice and custom (though not the spirituality behind them) are not matters of core doctrine / spiritual teaching, moral direction, and that level of religious expression, practice, and tradition. And,

b)   what some members of the clergy, from Deacon to His Holiness, suggest or even urge in regards to putting into worldly practice out of the teachings and traditions of the Church. These individuals – some of whom I regard most highly – engage certain things of the world in ways I will not and cannot. In particular, of course, I mean single-issue voting. And as I've said, I do support the elimination of abortion... but I do look further than some of Christianity's pulpit-pounders, and worry greatly over also addressing, at the same time, the horrid, unacceptable social/cultural excreta that lead and drive people into what should not be a panicky situation in the first place (and I've been there, three times).

Rome does not want robots, and does not set forth to govern all the little piddly-things. No one will dictate the little things of my daily life – nor even the bigger things, where a dictate contradicts a spiritual truth/doctrine that is demonstrably of even greater worth in living our lives (and preparing for the next) toward greater sanctity and spiritual maturity.

I will not even be God's own sandal-licker (pardon me); I know of a prayer (can't remember the first half) that mentions the pray-er's desire to make it to Heaven "where I will praise Thee forever and ever". That just grates on me: I don't want to spend eternity in mindless adoration, like some supine serf proffering back to rest m' Lud's mud-soaked ermine socks on. I want to stay busy.

In the next world, I want to be an intercessor (like Thérèse), a tiny laborer toward divine universal objectives. I'll pass on the harp, though I'm okay with a round of hearty hosannas. Father Groeschel says, with some seriousness, that once he's passed on he'd like to help St. Anthony in answering people's little prayers for help finding, say, lost pets. I want my soul/spirit to live in ever-greater humility, but I strongly believe this is not achieved through total suspension of all personal (yet spiritually-educated) judgment.

And out of knowledge and acceptance of my weaknesses and flaws, I am the first to point out that I may be wrong in this, that in fact the thousand(?)-to-one ration of aborted babies to slaughtered soldiers is a higher imperative. At this point, however, I strongly feel that the Church that sustains me does not call me to superficiality. No.

I do stand (and at times even cower) in awe of God, from the whorl of galaxy to the whirl of electrons, and the little water-funnel in the bathtub that goes opposite ways in opposite Northern/Southern Hemispheres. The awe translates to deep respect, regard, and devotion, and what weak love the flawed me can offer. It motivates me to seek to grasp and accept His objectives for me and for the world around me, and assist into setting things a little more right in this musty little corner.

I am not a "cafeteria Catholic", not in issues of faith, doctrine, and morals: there I am the Church's loyal, obedient (and very imperfect) son. I am a "yes, but" Catholic in the piddly stuff. Obedience does not require I be a windup toy – see Matthew 21:28-31: Jesus himself does not elevate obedience to a virtue, but rather following God's will/command/request/wish.

He gave us free will, remember.