It is axiomatic in physics that opposite charges attract one another and like charges repel. If a human analog were in operation, then one would expect the extreme left wing and the extreme right wing in the Church to be hopelessly in love. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the disdain approaches rabid levels between the two. As is so often the case, the laws of nature are very much in force, though the appearance may suggest otherwise.
It isn’t that the extreme left and extreme right of the Catholic Church are different. It is the case that they are exactly alike. They are characterized by deep suspicion, hostility, anger, resentment, paranoia, disrespect for authority unless it reflects the image they behold in the mirror, arrogant usurpation of papal authority and prerogative, and a closed-mindedness that would make a jihadi proud.
It seems that the underlying spiritual and psychological pathology is exactly the same and that the outward manifestation is simply a preferred script: hyper-liberal or hyper-conservative— both of which are anarchy in drag.
Pride on parade.
Enter Pope Francis, who succeeds a Pope Benedict reviled on the left and even in the center for his reaching out to the SSPX, allowing priests to say mass in latin without seeking permission, and creating personal prelatures for Anglicans swimming the Tiber. For many on the extreme right, not even that was enough. Now comes the Jesuit pope from impoverished South America, giving voice to the social justice issues also espoused by Pope John Paul II, who moved the South-American clergy away from the Marxist liberation theology to a more centrist approach, condemning the excesses of capitalism and socialism in the process. Where John Paul was ignored on this, Francis has indicated that he will not be.
Many in the middle to right-of-center were so enthused by John Paul’s head-on clash with the culture of death that they tolerated his admonitions regarding social justice issues championed by the left. When Francis said that issues of homosexuality, abortion, fornication, etc… need not be mentioned all the time, pro-lifers became apoplectic. Those further to the right became near suicidal, and sales of Prozac jumped 30%.
When the pope then declared in his interview with the atheist, Scalfari, that youth unemployment and the loneliness of the elderly were the biggest issues facing the Church today, Americans who are right-of-center were stunned, then outraged, then disgusted. He obviously doesn’t get the issues here in the Northern Hemisphere, they say. There may be some truth in that.
However, the virulence of the reaction to Francis indicates what I have long maintained; The plight of the Church below the equator remains largely beyond the care or concern of most in the decadent north. So, how does one discern this pope’s perspective? Could it be that there is an ascending order of priorities, and that Francis has tapped into something causal that we cannot see here in America? Is there an underlying pathology that gives rise to the culture of death, a pathology we may not have considered before? That so many here on the right would respond so vehemently to the pope’s prism of social justice ought to be chilling upon reflection.
Perhaps the scriptures speak to these questions. Isaiah 58 comes to mind:
1 Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
3 “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
4 Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
7 Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
10 If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
11 Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.
12 The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.”
13 If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice–
14 Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
This pope is a dangerous man, moreso than John Paul II. Whereas John Paul emerged from behind the Iron Curtain and cheered us with his efforts to bring down communism and his work at the restoration of traditional morality, Francis emerges from a different sort of tyranny. He brings with him a different set of challenges. For those of us who are married, pro-life, anti-culture of death, he is going to rattle our cage. What we are doing is not enough if it doesn’t involve the corporal works of mercy.
Enter the Rabbi.
Jesus spoke often of the corporal works of mercy, and tells us in Matthew 25 that we will be judged according to how well we saw Him in the least of our brothers. He tells us through John the Apostle that we cannot love the God whom we cannot see if we do not love the brother whom we can see.
He also assured His Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit, who would lead THEM to all truth. It is vital to check who Jesus’ audience was when He spoke. It was at the Ascension that He gave the Apostles the power to forgive and to bind sin. It was at that same moment when He assured them of the Holy Spirit leading them to all truth. Now the question is whether we believe that the Holy Spirit guided the election of Francis.
That is a very big question indeed. I believe that the Holy Spirit blew through that conclave in a mighty way.
In denouncing Francis, we risk committing idolatry by placing such a premium on the portion of the Gospel we excel at following that we are willing to disparage the one whom Jesus has chosen as His Vicar on earth. Pride has created more spiritual idolators, worshipers of their own predilections, than the IRS and golf combined have created liars.
In dangerous and uncertain times we do especially well to avoid the pride so manifest on the extreme wings of the Church and allow ourselves to be led to all truth through the mechanism established by God Himself. The Summae are not the Summit.
I have no doubt that Francis will take us even higher, if we have the courage and humility to follow.
John Michael Talbot wrote a beautiful and powerful adaptation of Is. 58/Matt 25
Coming Home 
This is hitting the bull’s eye. The right and left of centre groups both miss Jesus The Christ who is the centre of our worship and our faith.
Thank you for this. I believe it hits the nail square on the head, and I greatly respect your opinion because I know from your works your sincerity of heart. ~ Rosemary A.
Thank you~I am so thankful for a blogger who is respectful to Pope Francis! I enjoy your perspective and I know that I, for one, need his words and to embrace the right kind of fasting. It is far easier to go without food than it is to truly live the corporal works of mercy. I have to go out of “the bubble” to do that! Love the challenge!
Ah, those who disagree with you are “extremists.” Interesting…an old trick called demonization.
I think it is fairly easy to spot extremism and not call it demonization. There are extremes on everything…the pendulum swings to the left and to the right…if one finds themselves able to appreciate things about both ends, one is probably more moderate. Each of us has extremes and need to understand that about ourselves. Some are good extremes, some are not. We need to work to pattern ourselves after Jesus…everything else will fall away. Consistently to strive to become more like Him means we cannot stay where we are! It admits our imperfection seeking His perfection! Truly a challenge!
Jane,
I don’t give a rat’s tail about who disagrees with me. When people usurp papal authority, deciding for themselves what they will abide in the Church, when they engage in heretical behavior, that’s extremism. Perhaps you don’t read with an open mind?
Gerard, I am so happy to see your column. you are absolutely right. There are 10 commandments, 7 corporal works of mercy and 7 spiritual works of mercy. It is not pick and choose. Obey all. Viva Frances and God Bless Him. Keep up the good work.
Working full time in the pro-life movement, I can say that I felt the pope was chastising me for the work I do. But I’m a little puzzled at the lecturing about the corporal works of mercy. The pro-life people I know do the most volunteering, and much of the work in parishes and soup kitchens and food banks.
In addition, one of our affiliates runs a home for unwed mothers, another affiliate leader has adopted several special needs children of different ethnic backgrounds. These are the pro-life people I know.
I would expect the false media stereotype about pro-life people from people who are ignorant. I did not expect it from those in the Church who should no better.
I would also add that we are working with many groups on ending the death penalty. These are groups that this is probably the only point of agreement i.e. ACLU etc.
Sorry “…who should KNOW better.”
Dan, I have been horrified by the number of pro-life leaders whose focus is strictly anti-abortion, and nothing else. I have heard hundreds of rank-and-file pro-lifers engage in this false dichotomy and stress that abortion is the MOST urgent issue in the Church today. If that offers some context…
I would be horrified as well.
Dan,
Again, I need to stress that I’m addressing the extremists wings of the Church in these posts, and very little of those in the center.
Be hot or cold. The lukewarm I will vomit from my mouth.
St. Paul was chosen by God because he was extreme. He fought violently against the Church.
Every word that comes out of the Pope’s mouth is not infallible.
St. Vincent of Lerins said when there is confusion in the Church and no one can deny that, then stay with tradition of all times. And that does not mean the last 50 years. That means Capitol T tradition. That does not change
Also say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. Also stop attacking the messenger when you do not like the message. That’s what happened to Our Lord.
Beverly, I envy you your clarity of discernment when it comes to the leading of the Holy Spirit at a Papal Conclave. Perhaps next time the College of Cardinals should consult you before casting their ballots, since you seem to have a monopoly on the Spirit’s leading.
As I said before, if you don’t like the message, attack the messenger!
from a commenter named Crude over on Mark Shea’s site:
Imagine, for a moment, if the Pope decided to reach out to other sorts of ‘wrong people’: Racists. Anti-semites. Imagine if the Pope said that, on the whole, a racist is at the end of the day a man who is wrong about one issue and who loves his family and is trying to do what is right. Imagine if he exhorted the anti-semite to ‘follow his conscience’ where Jews were concerned. And if he said that these people, with their faults, nevertheless were welcome to and had a home in the Church. Now, imagine that the Pope meant that such people had to be repentant, that anti-semitism or racism were not Catholic virtues, that they were in fact sins – but his words weren’t suitably explicit about this, and you had people from various racist or anti-semite organizations crowing about what a great Pope this is, and how he’s so forward-thinking and coming around on these topics, and perhaps we’ll soon have a Church where blacks and whites have to celebrate mass in their own churches.
Would you then understand the worry from the orthodox Catholics who found the whole thing unsettling?
“The plight of the Church below the equator remains largely beyond the care or concern of most in the decadent north.” what a bunch of [content edited. G.N.], our church does a lot for central/ south america. We just built a church in the Dominican republic. Gerard Nadal, the new Mark Shea.
Note to Jasper from Gerard Nadal. If you ever write profanity on my blog again, I will ban you permanently. Don’t like what I write? You are free to move on. By the way, I like Mark Shea, though I don’t always agree with him. So, thanks for including me in such good company.
“Dan, I have been horrified by the number of pro-life leaders whose focus is strictly anti-abortion, and nothing else.”
You’re full of [Again, edited for content. G.N.].
“By the way, I like Mark Shea, though I don’t always agree with him. So, thanks for including me in such good company.”
makes sense, arrogant uncharitable smear merchants stick together
[Jasper, you’ve been banned from any further posting here because of your profanity. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Gerard Nadal.]
Oh dear! Just when Jasper and Beverly were beginning to know each other.
Excuse me. I never use profanity , spoken or written. This is the only web-site that attacks the person and not the argument. I believe it shows a lack of knowledge and a fear that maybe one is afraid to change. Whatever the reason, the vitriol is definitely not Catholic and I dare say sinful.
I request from Dr. Nadal to remove me from your list.
Beverly, I believe that you need to do that from your end. God Bless.
She’s right, Dr. Nadal. The future of Fredonia rests on you!
Pt-109,
Where’s Margaret Dumont when we need her?
GMN,
I thought we had Ms. Dumont here for a second. By the way, I’m glad you see that I meant Freedonia, not Fredonia. Your geography is top notch! And, by the way, thanks to Ms. Dumont’s recent input, I plan to follow your new blog rules carefully:
If any form of pleasure is exhibited
Report to me and it will be prohibited
I’ll put my foot down, so shall it be
This is the land of the free (Hail, hail Freedonia!)
The last man nearly ruined this place
He didn’t know what to do with it
If you think this country’s bad off now,
Just wait ’til I get through with it
The country’s taxes must be fixed
And I know what to do with it
If you think you’re paying too much now
Just wait till I get throught with it
I will not stand for anything that’s crooked or unfair
I’m strictly on the upper knot, so everyone beware
If any man’s caught taking graft, and I don’t get my share
We stand’im up against the wall and pop! Goes the weasel
For those who are totally bewildered, rent the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup”