Challenges to Catholic Leaders Addressed at St. John’s University

By Stefanie Gutierrez

The challenges facing today’s Catholics in America are very much like those faced by the first Christians, said Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM, Cap., at a conference held at St. John’s University, Jamaica.

“Being a faithful Catholic leader today, whether you’re a layperson or clergy, isn’t easy. It requires real skill,” he said.

Archbishop Chaput related today’s culture to the conditions of the Mediterranean world at the time of Christ. “From the start, to be a Christian meant rejecting abortion, infanticide, birth control, divorce, homosexual activity and marital infidelity – all those things widely practiced by their Roman neighbors…”
He said that what the first Christians saw around them was a ‘culture of death’ but they were able to challenge their culture.

Straight Talk: Archbisop Chaput on Denver was the keynote speaker at the Convention of Catholic Social Scientists held at St. John's University.

“Since we see similar signs in our own day, we need to find the courage those first Christians had in challenging their culture. We need to believe not only what they believed. We need to believe those things with the same deep fervor.”

He related that the early Christians respected Caesar, “but they didn’t confuse him with God, and they put God first.”

In the long run, Archbishop Chaput said, “We serve our country best by remembering that we’re citizens of Heaven first.

“We’re better Americans by being more truly Catholic. The reason why is that unless we live our Catholic faith authentically, with our whole heart and our whole strength, we have nothing worthwhile to bring to the public debates that will determine the course of our nation.”

The archbishop spoke as the Society of Catholic Social Scientists held its 15th annual conference, Oct. 26-27, at St. John’s School of Law.

The conference brought together more than 200 speakers on over 70 panels, addressing a wide range of topics pertinent to the Catholic Church’s social teaching.

Donahue Honored

Dr. William Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, spoke to almost 400 attendees at a sold-out dinner.

Donahue was the recipient of the society’s 15th annual Pius XI Award for the Furthering of a Catholic Social Science.

Archbishop Chaput delivered remarks that discussed “Church and State Today: What Belongs to Caesar and What Does Not.”

He added, “Pluralism in a democracy doesn’t mean shutting up about inconvenient issues. It means speaking up, respectfully, in a spirit of justice and charity, but also vigorously and without apologies. Jesus said that we will know the truth and the truth will make us free.

“He didn’t say anything about our being unpopular with worldly authority once we have that freedom… If pagan Rome could be won for Jesus Christ, surely we can do the same for our own world. What it takes is the zeal and courage to live what we claim to believe.”

Fighting Defamation

As the archbishop sat down after a standing ovation, Donahue took the rostrum. Amid many thanks for his work fighting defamation of Catholics in a very public sector, Donahue spoke about current events surrounding anti-Catholicism and the Miller Brewing Company.

Miller’s public relations and advertising campaign featured an ad that showed semi-nude men and women in bondage at a table with sex toys parodying Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

Donahue and the Catholic League had called upon more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with them in a national boycott of Miller Beer, which began Sept. 27.

Fittingly, Donahue’s keynote address was titled “Uncommon Alliance: Religious Conservatives Unite,” centered on the unity between Catholics, Evangelicals and Jewish groups in today’s society. He kept the crowd laughing with his musings of today’s culture wars, but then focused in on his central thesis of religious and conservative unity.

“We are coming together,” he said, “with an understanding of each other’s social and cultural issues and we are getting over our religious differences.”

New Synergy

He cited example after example of Evangelical and Orthodox Jewish leaders uniting with Catholics. One was the death of Pope John Paul II.

“When JPII died, Billy Graham, Dr. Dobson, Richard Land, everyone… Sent their condolences,” he pointed out.

Another was a recent poll conducted within the Evangelical community. Donahue explained, “The poll asked who the most revered person of the century was… Across the board, they said JPII!”

He added, “We find in our society that people don’t react (well) to religious insensitivity. People are more engrossed in second-hand smoke and trans-fats than they are in anti-Catholicism and anti-Christianity.”

Donahue told those gathered, “we have our work cut out for us” but “Catholics, Protestants and Jews who take their faith seriously are coming together.”

He concluded, “We all see that there are too many issues like ‘same-sex marriage,’ abortion, stem-cell research and the Terri Schiavo case, which cannot be ignored. So we will continue to fight together in common cause.”