I have been in something of a “funk” for the past two days since I heard the presidential election results. Not, perhaps, for the reason you might think. While I firmly believe the person who was elected is the wrong person since he does not in any way I can tell represent my views, convictions, and faith; I don’t believe he will be much of a factor in changing the direction in which our country seems to be headed. Ironically, I don’t believe it would have mattered which of the major candidates would have won. The political will of the country seems to mirror the will of the people of the United States.
As much as I would have liked to see a real change away from the secular humanistic values that have inundated the politics and policies of our nation in the past few decades, the “funk” I am feeling is because the statisticians are right. We live in a Post-Christian country. A CNN exit poll indicated the Catholic Vote went 50% to President Obama and 48% to Governor Romney. Since the 80’s the Catholic vote has been pretty evenly divided. It’s ironic that in 2004, 52% of Catholics voted for George W. Bush. The statistical point is this: While 85% of Catholics tell the pollsters that their faith is very important to them, they clearly don’t vote with their faith in mind. “I’m a Democrat” or “I’m a Republican” is more important.[i]
There has been a steady and increasingly rapid decline in church attendance across all Christian denominations in the US and in most of the rest of the world. As the Bishops who attended the recent Synod were shown, the one religious group that seems to be growing is the Muslims (both radical and moderate). A You-Tube Video they saw, made by a Muslim Group, claimed that a majority of France would be Muslim by 2040. (Oh, and as sort of a punctuation mark, same-sex marriage achieved the same status at traditional marriage in the French national elections this week.)
What we hear the most about is the radical groups. We hear (or should hear) about the blood bath taking place in Nigeria as Christians and Muslims are locked in a physical conflict. We hear about the persecution of the Coptic Christians in Egypt and the Orthodox Churches in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Even in Israel, there is a strong anti-Christian undercurrent (ask a priest who has been there recently. Many have been spit upon by members of the ultra-orthodox Hasidic communities).
Given this growing tide of anti-Christian, and even more pointedly anti-Catholic sentiment, is it any wonder that Cardinal George made his now-famous comment “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. (What is omitted from the reports is a final phrase I added about the bishop who follows a possibly martyred bishop) His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” [ii]We need only look at Europe to see where the United States is headed.
What do we do as Church? What do we do, individually, as Catholic Christians? As has been said many times we stay the course; we continue to set an example for our children, our peers, and those with whom we come in contact. We live our faith guided firmly by its precepts and stand firm in the face of opposition, public and private. We understand there is a difference between welcoming diversity and compromising our morality and that is something many secular humanists choose to ignore.
I must admit there are times when I feel we, as a Church, should be more outspoken and say to those who claim to be Catholic “If you claim our faith either act on its principles or leave.” I know that sounds un-pastoral but I believe there must be a time in the future when we must call the faithful to stand visibly with us rather than hiding behind the banner of political correctness.
Pax
