Archbishop Chaput in "First Things"

There is a fantastic essay by His Excellency Archbishop Charles Chaput in "First Things" (h/t Ignatius Insight). Some excerpts are below, but read the whole thing here.

"Government was never meant to be a large presence in our American life. But too often today our knowledge classes—leadership groups in politics, law, higher education, and the media—no longer seem to believe that. America was built on the premise that the power of the state should be modest, because real life is much larger than politics."

........

"When we look closely at Church–state conflicts in America, we see that they now often center on a group of behaviors—homosexual activity, contraception, abortion, and the like—that the state in recent years has redefined as essential and nonnegotiable rights. Critics rarely dispute the Church’s work fighting injustice, helping community development, or serving persons in need. But that’s no longer enough. Now they demand that the Church must submit her identity and mission to the state’s promotion of these newly alleged rights—despite the constant Catholic teaching that these behaviors are personal moral tragedies that can lead to deep social injustices.

As a result, the original links between freedom and truth, and between individual rights and moral duties, are disappearing in the United States. In the name of advancing the rights of the individual, other basic rights—the rights of religious believers, communities, and institutions—and key truths about the human person, are denied.

In squeezing the Church and other mediating institutions out of the public square, government naturally assumes more power over the nation’s economic and social life. Civil society becomes subordinated to the state. And the state then increasingly sees itself as the primary shared identity of its citizens. But this is utterly alien to—and in fact, an exact contradiction of—what America’s founders intended."

..........

"But we should notice two unhappy things about this public philosophy. First, it allows no room for mediating structures or civil society. In this universe, only individuals and the government finally exist. Families, religious institutions, and voluntary associations are either irrelevant or possible threats to individual rights. This explains, in part, why the Church and other mediating groups so often find themselves attacked by the government for allegedly discriminating against the private rights of individuals. "

............

"The issues here are complex, but the simple point is that the troubles of the Church and her charitable efforts in the United States today are not merely political in a partisan sense. They are symptoms of a larger breakdown of public reasoning and discourse—and of leaders who have forgotten the moral vision of our nation’s founding thinkers."

Totalitarianism Update: Why to Keep Government the Heck Out of Health Care

Venezuela:

Venezuela Bans Religious Education

"A clause in recently-passed Venezuelan education legislation backed by President Hugo Chávez has banned religious instruction in all private and public schools. “We’ll see how we will manage to carry forward education,” said Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino of Caracas. “We are going to ask God to help all Catholics, principally those educational institutions belonging to the Church and community parishes.”

Sweden:

Sweden Bans Homeschooling

"The Swedish Association for Home Education (ROHUS) is asking for support from the international community to stop an attempt by the Swedish government to outlaw homeschooling. The new legislation argues that because a child's education should be "comprehensive and objective" it must be "designed so that all pupils can participate, regardless of what religious or philosophical" views of parents or children...

The government's explanation of the draft law says, "there is no need for the law to offer the possibility of homeschooling because of religious or philosophical reasons in the family."

Wisconsin:

Wisconsin compels parishes, dioceses to provide contraceptive coverage.

"The bishops of Wisconsin have reacted angrily to a new state mandate that compels health insurance providers to include contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans.
“This mandate will compel Catholic dioceses, parishes, and other agencies that buy health insurance to pay for a medical service that Catholic teaching holds to be gravely immoral,” the bishops write. “Only dioceses or agencies that are self insured, such as La Crosse and Superior, are not covered by this mandate. As Catholic teachers and pastors, we strongly object to this blatant insensitivity to our moral values and legal rights …

This mandate violates not just our religious values, but also our constitutional rights.”

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Nice Work If You Can Get It!

One thing, the Obama presidency will apparently have it's funny aspects.

Many people have commented on the President-Elect's mandatory "Requirement" for college students to perform community service:

"Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year."

That was what Obama's webpage said until reactions to this rather fascistic program forced his disciples to change it. But what the proposal also says is those consripted students will get a tax credit of $4,000 for 100 hours of "community service"--$40 per hour! Nice work if you can get it! (I wonder what our troops earn?)

The whole issue, including the original proposal, the changed proposal removing the "required" clause, and the $40 per hour for "work" done by a cllege student is covered at "NewsBusters."

H/T "View From the Right"

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Oh, Canada....

Good thing Fr. Malloy is no longer the Pastor up at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Surrey, British Columbia.

Given the insane "Human Rights Commissions" they've got up there, he'd probably be in prison or on trial for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There's been a lot of news lately about Mr. Mark Steyn, because people in Canada did not like his writings. That's fine, but in Canada when people are "offended" by your writing, the government steps in to shut you up. They're trying the same thing with Mr. Ezra Levine, a publisher. Here's his videotaped statement before the Canadian Human Rights Commission:



I do not doubt that our modern-day liberals, who are in fact totalitarians, will do the same thing in the US, if it becomes possible. Look at the Oakland "Bubble Ordinance"

On second thought, it's too bad Father isn't up in Canada....he'd be in the middle of the fight.

Posted by Gibbons