….Here’s the first problem: We have a growing inability to think clearly. Reasoning requires time. It demands a reverence for the lessons of history, for the genealogy of ideas, and the testing and comparison of arguments against learned truths. But the America we have today is a culture built on marketing — and marketing works in exactly the opposite way.
….Hope and imagination grow out of our belief in the grandeur of creation and a higher purpose to our lives. If all we are is intelligent carbon — then hope and imagination are just quirks of the species. And so is any talk about the sanctity of the human person….
What all of this means for American Catholics and our 200-year struggle to fit into mainstream American culture should be obvious. We succeeded. But in the process, we’ve been digested and bleached out by the culture, rather than leavening it in a fertile way with a distinctive Catholic witness. Mr. Biden’s apostasy on the abortion issue is only the most repugnant example. He’s not alone. But in a sane world, his unique public leadership would make — or should make — public consequences unavoidable.
When you freely break communion with the Church of Jesus Christ and her teachings, you can’t pretend to be in communion when it’s convenient. That’s a form of lying. Mr. Biden is not in communion with the Catholic faith. And any priest who now provides Communion to the president participates in his hypocrisy.
…. The Eucharist is not merely a metaphor, or a purely spiritual event, or a symbol. It’s the living body and blood of Jesus Christ, brought about with bread and wine through the ministry of the priest. If it were merely a symbol, as the great American Catholic author Flannery O’Connor once said, “then to hell with it.” But that’s not what she believed, and it’s not what the Eucharist is. The Eucharist is God incarnate, tangibly present among the worshipers, in accord with Luke 22:19-20, Matthew 18:20, and John 6:48-58. And this is why, throughout Christian history, beginning with St. Paul, the Church has attached such deep reverence to the Eucharistic liturgy.
It’s also why the unworthy reception of the Eucharist, as a kind of mindless habit, is so offensive and ultimately so soul-killing. Abuse of the sacred is a form of contempt for God himself. And sooner or later, that ends badly for the abuser….
The above comes from an Oct. 22 story in Catholic World Report taken from the keynote address by Archbishop Chaput at the Eucharistic Symposium in Arlington, VA.
Wow. It is at once moving to read something so profoundly wise and also so greatly distressing to the soul at the same time. The nihilism that has spread like a contagion throughout secular society has breached the fabric of our Church. The equilibrium of our faith has been disrupted by craven bishops and priests who are more profane than sacred. I now find myself unable to recognize my beloved Church because of this hypocrisy. I fervently pray for Archbishop Chaput’s continuous, courageous battle against the forces within that want to consume us.
I just found out that a catholic couple I know is getting divorced.
I really have come to the conclusion that if people don’t have the faith to live the Faith, they don’t have the faith to live the Faith.
You have to pray for the conversion of sinners in general, for those sinners in particular and for an increase in faith.
My wife and I have been married sacramentally for 32 years. The advice I give to couple getting married is to do so in the Church. For the husband and man, frequent confession. Devotion and prayers to St Joseph and the Holy Family. The sacraments are to be leaned on. And, without them, we’d not have made it this long….
Very good advice!
Our 43 years are a gift from God
and testament to His Mercy.
You have been extraordinarily blessed.
St. Jacinta said that marriage is a state of penance.
For many, their marriages are very stressful and a source of constant tension and sorrow.
The people getting divorced have been married longer than 32 years.
“St. Jacinta said that marriage is a state of penance.”
My wife would strongly agree with that statement.
I’ve heard parenthood referred to the same way ie penance. I would agree with both statements.
Do you think all marriages even long “happy” marriages are without stress and tension? Marriage is a vocation in some respects like the priesthood. That is why we have the sacraments. We also have to be willing to forgive real and imagined slights. I’m sorry for the couple you describe. Married life after the kids are grown and jobs/careers wind down can be a troublesome spot for alot of marriages when couples are back on their own again and have to find reasons to stay in love or together. My wife and I got a taste of that during covid when we both worked from home for two plus years. Candidly, I enjoyed it.
I would once more encourage husbands and fathers to seek shelter in the Church.
I would like to post this here because a Church-going Catholic just told me “It is not a sin until they remarry.”…Unbelievable.
2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:
This was a keynote address and it was too long and too complicated.
But I think what he said was “Read the New Testament.”
That did not make this edit.
As a faithful, tithing, practicing Roman Catholic for nearly 70 years, it is disturbing to watch leaders of the Catholic Church, such as Archbishop Chaput, single out President Biden for their petty attacks. Is it not interesting that we do not hear similar criticisms of Senator Susan Collins, a republican from Maine and a Catholic who has spoken out in favor of abortion? There have been no calls for her to be denied Holy Communion. Or what about other republicans currently running for elective office who are now strangely silent about their position on abortion because it might cost them election? The response from the Bishops about these folks: crickets. Perhaps Archbishop Chaput and his brother Bishops are showing some partiality…and their partisanship. Archbishop Chaput in his speech addressed the topic of “unworthy reception” of Holy Communion. The fact is none of us are worthy to receive Holy Communion because all of us are sinners. The good Archbishop and his brother Bishops would do well to examine their consciences and recall their handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis over many decades. Talk about a repugnant example of our faith which might make one unworthy of receiving Holy Communion!
Biden (and Pelosi) have been very very prominent in their statements that they are Catholic and that their Faith is a big part of who they are. I don’t know about Collins (and not a fan of “what about – ism).
Biden, IMO, is particularly scandalous in his ongoing support for the “Trans” nonsense as well as his support for abortion. As President of the USA, he is a public person of great importance. It’s right that he should be called to task for his positions and examples.
Finally, where was AB Chaput wrong in his statements? Try and address that instead next time.
“As a faithful, tithing, practicing Roman Catholic for nearly 70 years….” Then you should know better, right?
If you are uninformed about Senator Susan Collins (Maine -R), then you are not paying attention. In the USA we used to believe in FREEDOM which means people can make choices about their lives. If one wants to be a cowboy and have a six shooter- fine. If one wants to be a woman instead of a man – fine. Just as the government has no business telling someone they cannot be a cowboy, it has no business telling someone they cannot be a trans. Personally I chose the cowboy route for myself. Next the “Christian” nationalists will be trying to make all of us Catholics convert to Protestantism.
Ah, now, wait a minute. Is it petty to single out the Catholic President of the United States for his monstrous support of abortion on demand — to the third trimester? No, it is not. Should all Catholic politicians suffer sanctions for their public support of abortion? Yes, they should. And yes, we are all unworthy to receive Communion, but we private citizens hold no sway over the legislative, executive or judicial powers of this country. Any Cathoic person in a position of power who violates Canon law should therefore be excluded from receiving the Eucharist.
You last sentence does not make sense.
“Any Catholic person in a position of power who violates Canon law should therefore be excluded from receiving the Eucharist.” Are you sure? Violation of any of the Canon laws? That is very broad. What about Catholic politicians who facilitate the application of capital punishment (consider Bill Barr for example) which the church now teaches is “inadmissible”, should these folks be denied Holy Communion? Under your standard they would be!
Oh, OK, “jon”, I mean, Benedict.
I though the headline was sensational so I went to the original article.
The third paragraph in this edited version is the only place where he talks about Biden’s apostacy.
He says “apostasy on the abortion issue.”
That is not apostasy. Apostacy is the rejection of the entire Faith by someone who used to believe.
We need to tell the truth about abortion and everything and everyone.
It is unfortunate that Archbishop Chaput chose to use the word wrongly. He knows what it means.
Biden is unfaithful. But not faithless.
I think Biden’s obvious dementia gives him invincible ignorance at this point. The man does not sufficiently know what he is doing at any given moment.
Flannery O’Connor’s quote
is d@*n good theology