Hate Speech

Here in St. Louis, it seems like the Catholic Church has been largely spared from the kind of hate-filled anti-Catholic propaganda that has existed for decades in other parts of the country. I may be naive, but the first time I ever saw actual printed anti-Catholic rhetoric was in 1999 when the Holy Father visited here. I don't know if it's because of the large Catholic population of the area or the general laid-back nature of the Midwest, but in my world, religious tolerance seemed to be the rule.

For some reason, recently the Catholic Church, particularly our Archbishop, Raymond Burke, have been subjected to some of the most vile rhetoric I've ever seen, not from some fringe hate group, but from the so-called mainstream media, particularly the daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Rather than spend a lot of time establishing the background for these attacks, especially since it's all based on lies, I'm just going to take a look at what's been said and printed in the last ten days or so. The events that supposedly sparked these attacks have been widely covered and anyone interested can easily find the details using a Google search.

First, on November 15, J.C. Corcoran, a worn-out shock jock on a local radio station and occasional commentator on KTVI, the local Fox TV affiliate, pontificated why he thinks that the Archbishop is doing a terrible job, in spite of admitting that he dropped out of the Church years ago because he thinks religion is "silly". Among other things, he said, "What I see, again from the outside, is the Catholic Church pretty much at the end of its public relations rope. The sex scandals continue to mount, the flock is thinning, and young men and women aren’t exactly knocking down the doors of seminaries and convents trying to get in. And locally, instead of a respected spiritual leader in the community, you have a guy who’s been stomping around, alienating, threatening, intimidating, excommunicating and carrying on since the day he got off the plane from Wisconsin.”

You can see the rest of his rant here, if your stomach can take it. His words were so offensive that they attracted national attention, including a response from Bill Donahue of the Catholic League who said in part, “They have some serious problems at Fox 2 in St. Louis. They have a commentator whose insulting remarks are matched only by his ignorance of his former religion, and they have a news director who is equally irresponsible."

For the record, I emailed the station and several of Corcoran's radio sponsors. To date I've received no response. Note that November is "Ratings Sweeps" month, when the stations set their future advertising rates based on the number of viewers during the month. Channel 2 and Corcoran, desperate to improve their ratings numbers have attempted to attract some attention by stirring up a hornet's nest. Sadly for them, this stunt, if it has any affect at all, won't move them out of the ratings basement. Anyone interested in seeing the video can do so on the Internet and TV advertisers don't pay for Internet clicks.

But, Corcoran's tirade was only the beginning. On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, our daily paper published not one, but two rants against Archbishop Burke. First, Deb Peterson, the paper's "gossip columnist" wrote the following:

"TURKEY TIME: It is the somewhat anticipated, somewhat dreaded time of the year for this columnist to hand out her "Turkey" awards for Thanksgiving 2007. If your particular gobbler's carcass didn't get picked over, don't stew. We'll just have to try it again next year. But for now, the winners are:....

The Archbishop of Perpetual Turkey, Raymond Burke, had another year of ill-planned press and recognition. He threatened to excommunicate more local Catholics; caused a ruckus by publicly protesting a fundraiser to benefit the Bob Costas Cancer Center because it was going to include pro-choice supporter Sheryl Crow; and warned Rudy Giuliani that he would not give him Communion because the GOP presidential hopeful is pro-choice. Hopefully someone can persuade Burke to keep his gobbler down and out of the spotlight for the upcoming year. Nothing would make me more thankful than to not to have to give him this recognition again."

Some facts: The Archbishop did not threaten to excommunicate anyone. In a private letter to two women who were recently "ordained" to the priesthood, he warned them that if they followed through on their plan, they would automatically be excommunicated. The two women made the letter public.

He did not warn Giuliani of anything. He did state that he would not give communion to so-called pro-choice Catholic politicians, and that no one else in his Archdiocese should either. The original remarks were not made to Giuliani, or specifically about Giuliani. Rudy's name was brought up by a local reporter.

For the record, this is not the first time that Peterson has been caught "embellishing" the facts. By the way, is a "gossip" column really needed in the twenty-first century?

Finally, at least for today, another Post Dispatch columnist, Sylvester Brown attacked the Archbishop in the same newspaper. Brown, also a non-Catholic, is the paper's token black columnist. His columns usually follow the theme that any problem in St. Louis is the result of racial discrimination. If there are potholes in the street, or if it's been unseasonably cold or hot, he manages to find a way to make it racial. His attack on an individual white man is somewhat unusual. Yesterday's rant was actually the second time this month that he's played the anti-Catholic card. In a list of things to be thankful for, after suggesting that we "kick the mayor out of office, he wrote:

"Lastly, we must humbly acknowledge the one, true, wise and omnipotent decider of all things pure and holy — be they political or pedestrian …

Here's to Archbishop Raymond Burke, who tells Roman Catholics how to vote and warned new board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church that they could be excommunicated as part of a property and asset dispute.

Thank you, Archbishop Burke. You've helped many non-Catholics appreciate their religions.

Amen!"

There's been more, but you get my drift. What concerns me, and should concern everyone in this town, whether they're Catholic or not, is the logical result of this vicious rhetoric, whether it's leveled at the Church or at any group. If the quasi-official voices are mouthing these things, how long is it before the "man in the street" decides to join the fun. How long will it be before some priest or nun is physically attacked, before some Catholic Church is torched, or before burning crosses start to show up on individual Catholic's lawns?

Freedom of the press and freedom of religion are important parts of our American culture. But you can't yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and you can't publish bigoted rants against minority groups, unless of course they're Catholic. This kind of trash would never be allowed if it was directed at women, or racial minorities, or other religious groups. The P-D recently refused to publish the cartoons that pictured Mohammed for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. But if it's the Catholic Church or it's spiritual leader, all bets are off.

I wonder how long Catholics in St. Louis are going to continue putting up with this? C'mon people. Take note of who the sponsors are. Refuse to patronize the advertisers who pay for this nonsense. Stop your subscription to the paper. Write to the editors, print and broadcast. When your child or grandchild comes home with a bloody nose because some bigot's kid attacked him or her for being Catholic, then it will be too late.

We have to stand up for ourselves and our leaders!

Christ the King

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We Americans seem to have a problem with the idea of Christ as king. I suppose we have an excuse. After all, we booted King George out of our country 200 years ago. As Americans our only experience with a king has been bad. The United States is a democracy. Shouldn't the Church be a democracy be too. What's with this King business?

There ARE some kings in the world today, but twenty-first century monarchs just ain't what they used to be. Have you heard of King Harald V? He's king of Norway. Norway has a parliament that really runs the country. They have a king, but aparently he doesn't do much.

Of course we know about Queen Elizabeth. She's not a king, but she's the female equivalent. Does anybody know what she actually does? There are other kings and queens today, but they're hardly household names outside their own countries. Today's kings (and queens) are mostly figureheads. They open parliament, ride in parades, live in castles, and act as ambassadors.

But in earlier times, kings were really something. They ruled their kingdoms with an iron fist.. They made the laws. They handed out the punishment for law breakers. Their word was law. You didn't mess with the king. The king could be benevolent, as many of them were. But they were still in charge. When the king said jump, everybody said "how high?".

An example of a good king would be our own patron saint, St. Louis IX of France. He's the guy on the horse in front of the art museum. He spent long hours in prayer, fasting, and penance, without the knowledge of his subjects. He was a good ruler who worked closely with the Pope He personally fed more than 100 beggars every day. Besides being king, the man was a saint.

Then you have kings like England's Henry VIII. You know his story. Married six times, he led his entire kingdom out of the Church when the Pope refused to declare his marriage to Catherine null so he could marry Anne Bolyn.

As different as they were, the two kings had one thing in common. They were absolute rulers. They weren't to be questioned. Good or bad, they made the laws and you had to follow them.

Today the word "king" has an entirely different meaning. We call Elvis Presley "the king". We have prom kings and homecoming kings. Budweiser is the "king of beers." The Los Angeles Kings play pro hockey and the Sacramento Kings play basketball. There's Burger King and Smoothie King and until McDonald's decided we should Super Size, the biggest of anything was king size." No, we Americans really don't have a good idea of what a king really is and we hate the idea of someone telling us what to do.

Of course, Jesus knew about kings. He lived under a king, King Herod. Herod was an absolute ruler and he was extremely jealous of his power. Remember, when he heard that there was a new "king" in town, he ordered all the male children to be killed. Jesus escaped when Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt and didn't return until Herod was dead. That's the kind of power that kings had in the first century. They made the rules. You obeyed them without question.

Benevolent kings would issue and enforce benevolent laws. Not-so-benevolent kings treated their subjects much differently. But even benevolent kings ruled with absolute authority. So when Jesus was referred to as King, it was with the understanding that His would be an absolute authority, since it came directly from God, his Father. It was also understood that He would be a just, benevolent King.

So what do we mean when we call Christ, the King? No, we're not comparing him to Elvis. We're saying that He's our ruler. He laid down certain things for us to do. He will come again in glory to judge. Jesus may be our brother. He may be our friend. He may be our comforter, our hope, our companion. But in the end He'll be our King, just as He's always been. When I stand before Jesus on my day of judgment, He's not going to be intersted in excuses. He's not going to be fooled. He knows me better than I know myself.

In the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel He said "You are my friends if you do what I tell you." What He left unsaid, but what we should understand is the reverse is also true. "You are not my friends if you don't do what I tell you." And what did He tell us? Love one another. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." It's really pretty simple.

But you know what? It may be simple, but it's very hard. It's hard to always love one another. It's hard to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. It's simple, but it's hard. So, what's the use? There's no way I can ever live up to the standards of this King. Does that mean I'm doomed?

No, it doesn't. How do I know? He tells us in today's Gospel. Here's Jesus, our King, hanging on a cross. He's being mocked by the crowd. He's about as humiliated as anyone could be, especially a King. He's surrounded by criminals, one on his right, one on his left. We don't know what these guys did, but it must have been pretty bad. The Romans didn't crucify people for littering. One of the criminals mocks Jesus but the other one says, "hold on. We deserve to be here, but this man doesn't. He hasn't done anything wrong." Then he says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." His kingdom. This guy recognizes who Jesus is. He IS a king. And the thief wants to be part of His kingdom.

What does Jesus do? As the benevolent King He is, He says, "today you will be with me in paradise."

There's OUR hope. A man who's led a life of crime, a life that has ended up with him hanging on a cross, a punishment that he admits he deserves, asks Jesus for forgiveness. And Jesus says "YES. THIS VERY DAY, you and I will be in paradise!" If Jesus forgave him, He'll forgive me....and you. Like the thief, all we have to do is ask.

See, He can do that because He's the King.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Two weeks ago, I went on my yearly retreat to the Trappist monastery in Kentucky. In case you’re not familiar with the Trappists, their life is made up of three things: prayer, work, and spiritual reading. I think when most people think of the monks, they think of prayer, more than they think of the work or the spiritual reading, and that’s no surprise. The prayer is what visitors see. Most of the work and all of the reading are done in areas that visitors aren’t allowed to go.

They start their day at 3:00 am. They pray Vigils at 3:15, Lauds at 5:45 followed by mass at 6:15. Then at 7:00, after they’ve been up for four hours, they have breakfast. In total, they’re be in the chapel eight times each day ending with night prayer at 7:30 pm.

They follow the same schedule, every day, seven days a week. Sunday mass is later to accommodate the people who live in the surrounding area, but otherwise it’s always the same. They started in December of 1848 and will continue as long are there are monks there to carry on. So, if you ask most people what the monks do, they’ll say “they pray”.

I was disappointed that last week wasn’t my turn to preach because the Gospel was the story of the persistent widow. Monks are very persistent in prayer. By the way, you know what monks pray for? They pray for you and me. They don’t watch television or listen to the radio, but they do read magazines and newspapers. They even have a few hours each day when they can use the Internet. They know what’s happening in our lives and they pray for us.

But, back to the Gospel. It turns out the monks live today‘s Gospel even more than last week‘s. It’s about humility.

Notice that it begins, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” He goes on to compare the self-righteous Pharisee to the humble tax collector. “I tell you the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The real story of the Trappists isn’t the time they spend in prayer, it’s what they do with the rest of their day. If you do the math, they actually spend about three hours and forty-five minutes in the chapel each day. Subtracting eight hours for sleep, that leaves twelve hours and fifteen minutes for other things.

The second part of the monk’s lifestyle is work. It takes a lot of work to run and support a community of sixty men. They have some outside help, but for the most part, they do everything themselves, from the Abbot who runs place to the men who cook and clean up.

They run a retreat house for the hundreds of visitors they welcome each year. The operate three factories; one making fudge, one making cheese, and one making fruit cake. They operate a retail gift shop and a huge mail-order business. There’s a lot of work to be done and unless a man is in the infirmary, he’s expected to do his share.

I think when most people first visit the Abbey, they’re impressed with the peace and spirituality of the place but think they could never stand the schedule. How can they do the same thing, day after day, without going crazy? How do they stand the boredom?

The monk who greets visitors to the gift shop is eighty-nine years old. He entered Gesthemani when he was fifteen. That’s seventy-four years! The monks pray the 150 Psalms every two weeks. This man has prayed them 1,924 times. Do you think he still needs the book? I doubt it. Talk to this man and you’ll realize that here’s someone who is truly happy and content. He loves to tell his life story and it’s very interesting, not boring at all.

After going back to the Abbey several times I realize that it’s not the repetition that would do me in, it’s the humility that I couldn’t handle.

When a man first enters the monastery as a novice, he’s given a short white coat, kind of like a chef’s jacket, which he wears all the time. When (or if) he takes his final vows, he’s given a long white robe and a black scapular. He’ll wear those every day from the time he takes his vows until they lower him into the ground in the graveyard outside. Their habit is symbolic of the fact that we’re all equal in God’s eyes.

No matter what job a man has, no matter what his rank is in the community, they all dress the same. There are about a dozen priests at Gesthemani, but unless you go to mass and see them on the altar, there’s no way of knowing who’s who. Even the Abbot, who’s the equivalent of our bishop, looks exactly like everyone else. The only way to distinguish him is in the chapel, where his staff is mounted next to his choir stall.

Here’s the part where I wouldn’t pass the test. The monks are given jobs at the discretion of the Abbot. There’s no set amount of time for a particular job, but they do change occasionally. It all depends on the needs of the community. One day you may be managing the fudge plant. The Abbey calls you to his office. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to be working in the garden. Just like that. No warning. Today you’re working in an air conditioned office, supervising the other monks, making decisions, and testing the bourbon fudge to make sure it‘s ok. Tomorrow you’re out in the hot sun, working alone, eating dust.

Father Anton, who used to run the retreat house now works in the kitchen. Notice I said Father Anton. Being a priest gets you a good seat at mass and that’s about it.

No, the cold hard fact is that I could learn to follow the monk’s prayer schedule. If you look at it, there’s plenty of time in the day to get in three hours and forty-five minutes of prayer. Most of us watch more television each day. There’s only one fifteen minute time of prayer at the monastery that actually falls within the normal nine to five workday. I could do that. We all could.

But, I just don’t think I could handle the humility. If my boss called me into his office and told me that from now on, instead of working in a nice office, I’d be working on the loading dock, I don’t think I could do it. After a few days of sore muscles, I could handle the physical part of the job. I could learn to live with the heat and the cold. I just don’t think my ego could stand it. How do the monks do it.

The answer is that God has called them, just like He’s called all of us to live the Gospel. Not just the parts we like. Not just the parts that make us feel good. ALL OF IT! Even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Even when it’s not convenient. He’s given each of us the grace to live our particular calling, whether it’s cloistered or something else.

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” What kind of logic is that? It just doesn’t make sense. Why should a bunch of grown men put on long dresses, all of them exactly the same, and put up with a lifestyle that makes them get up at three in the morning knowing that today may be the day that the Abbot decides they’re going to have to give up their comfy job in the guest house and go dig ditches. Why should a man invest years of study to become a priest, knowing that he’s liable to end up washing dishes? Why should I humble myself, beat my breast and pray, “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner?”

The fact is that we’re all the same. Any differences between us are superficial. It doesn’t matter whether you wear a Roman collar or a button-down collar. It doesn’t matter if you wear a miter or a baseball cap. It doesn’t matter if you live in a mansion in Town and Country or an apartment in Lemay. It doesn’t matter if you’re a household name of an anonymous monk in an abbey in the Kentucky mountains. The old saying “you can’t take it with you” doesn’t just apply to money. When we stand before Jesus on our personal day of judgment, we’ll be naked and empty-handed. All we’ll have to offer is the life we’ve lived.

The question we all have to ask ourselves when that day comes, not if that day comes, but when it comes, will we be more like the Pharisee or the tax collector?