The Archbishop of Denver has not been a stranger to public debate and models what he asks of the Catholics entrusted to his pastoral care - namely, that we need to engage the fray culturally and politically to defend and promote our moral values.  Most recently, the Archbishop has called on religion journalists to report on religion in a more responsible and balanced way.  See: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/09/1717.  

 

Yet there is a price for being outspoken, and the Archbishop is frequently attacked publically for taking a stand.  Every once in a while, his critics get a little careless in their criticisms.  CNA has catalogued some of the responses to one critic, Mark Silk who in his zeal to belittle Archbishop Chaput made what appears to be a racial slur.  See http://tinyurl.com/2b5ko3w.  Here, the best observation is by religion journalist Mollie Hemingway who  reacted to Silk's column: "I assume that Silk, who received his Ph.D. from Harvard and has spent his life in journalism and the academy, either didn’t think about what he was saying or didn’t realize how the remark is taken by others...  But it’s really an odd way to disagree with someone who’s calling for civility and decency in media coverage. And it probably couldn’t better prove Chaput’s point that the media has trouble with self-criticism and respect of others."

Americans will have to pay for immoral procedures in violation of their consciences.  Check out the Witherspoon Institute:
 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/04/1280 

http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/28dfab84-9e52-4613-a807-cd97ead9383d  and

Bishop James Conley, auxiliary for the Archdiocese of Denver, has a peice today in First Things.  Because of the legislative action scheduled for tomorrow, the perspective of the Catholic bishops is important.  For at least this bishop, the current discussion has failed.

  

"With more than 620 Catholic hospitals serving the public around the United States, hundreds of Catholic medical clinics and shelters, and even a few Catholic-affiliated medical schools, Catholics have a keen interest in healthcare reform. That interest isn’t new. It’s rooted in experience, including the experience of trying to help people with little or no health insurance at all. For decades, the U.S. bishops have pushed for an overhaul of our nation’s healthcare industry and the way it delivers its services. Why? Because the Church sees access to basic health care as a right and a social responsibility, not a privilege.

"But Catholic support for the general principle of reform does not bind anyone to endorse a specific piece of legislation. God gave us brains for a reason, to think; and we need to use them, because the practical and moral problems we face on the way to good healthcare reform are as formidable as the goal is admirable. This is why the U.S. bishops’ conference has tried so diligently for the past three months to work with Congress and the White House in seeking sound compromise legislation. As of November 5, all those efforts have failed."

Read the rest at http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/11/a-healthcare-problem-washington-may-have-missed

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html.

People of faith are trying to have their voices heard in any number of debates which will deeply impact our society, including the debate on how we will provide for healthcare.   Yet their voices seem muted and not taken seriously by those legislating.  What will the impact be on our culture if these voices are not heard?

 

The separation of Church and State has caused many to believe that people of faith are not suppose to share their ideas in the public square.  The presumption is that it is automatically an imposition of religious belief if a religious person tries to bring faith informed values to the table.   There is also the assumption that anyone with religious and moral convictions is somehow less rational than those without such things.  But it is normally the irreligious and immoral who destroy cultures and societies.  The fact is if moral and religious people remain silent in the public square, other voices impose their irrational values on everyone. 

 

When moral convictions must rely on only limited human experience, they can not rise above the imagination or popular convention.  This is why the most important voices against slavery often rooted their convictions, if not in the Lord as revealed in the Christian faith, at least in God as he is manifest in that Divine Providence which most Americans understood guided their national aspirations. 

 

To flourish and advance basic human rights, American culture relies on the moral voice of people of faith.   Convictions that grow out of man's encounter with the Living God give life to societies because such convictions are not limited to the merely imaginable.  Their force of strength and long term benefits can not be calculated or manipulated.   Such convictions are always over and above any limiting status quo. 

 

Our current administration and Congress seem to see religious convictions as either a threat or something to be manipulated.  They show a propensity not to respect people of faith.  Whether out of a certain hubris or some other form of elitism, some members of the administration and of Congress give the impression of patronizing, even going so far as to seem to be telling people of faith what they ought to believe.  At least this is the way I feel about the current healthcare debate - a debate which regardless of outcome, will have great bearing on American society and culture for years to come. 

 

The moral convictions of people of faith (whether these concern the unborn, the gift of sexuality, the dying, the moral freedom of healthcare workers) all seem to have fallen on deaf ears.  Such convictions inconvienently prolong the conversation, add distracting twists and turns to the implimentation of some sort of agenda.  But how is this agenda serving basic human rights when the most important voice for human rights in our Nation's history has come from men and women of faith?  

The truth about healthcare in America is becoming clearer. It is not simply a decision between delivery systems - which one is the best.  It is really about a mix of moral principles, funding and personal freedom. We are gaining insight into the kinds of liberties and moral values at stake. Thankfully our government is designed to be inefficient so that debate on important issues can come out. In this case, a better understanding of the dignity of the human person - the right to life from womb to tomb - has come to the fore.

 

Bishop Nickless unpacks the Catholic position on Healthcare at http://bit.ly/Z9sCV. He is very concerned that the poor and underprivileged have access to good healthcare. He notes, however, that the current House version of the Bill fails to meet two out of four necessary moral criteria. He charges that it is written so as to permit the funding of abortion and euthanasia, as well as mandate preventive medicine. Abortion and Euthenasia are directly contrary to the dignity of human life. As good as preventive care is, governments always end up diminishing the dignity and freewill of their citizens when they attempt to legislate personal morality. This means that the current bill is basically immoral.

What is the specific moral problem? Rush Limbaugh, who acknowledges our current system does not adequately address catastrophic accidents and diseases, is very concerned that the current legislation fundamentally changes the relationship of the government to the citizens. Legislators, he contends, will come to see their constituents as budget items engaged in a dialectic that must be moderated. As a consequence, future legislative battles will pit Americans against one another as each of us scrambles to secure from our elected representatives our own piece of the pie when it comes to healthcare. We will see each other as potential enemies who threaten the quality of health care we think we deserve. The government would have the new role of attempting to moderate this life and death struggle. His point is as soon as a government sees citizens as competing budget items that must be moderated, it sees its role as controlling citizens rather than serving them. Against this dialectic, he is concerned about our right to liberty. Similarly, Hugh Hewitt raises questions about whether we really want government panels making "rulings" over our bodies. See http://tinyurl.com/pk4owq.

On a related point, socialized medicine seems to be dangerous because of the overall moral condition of our society.  Secular governments often apply the most twisted moral rationale to various immoral medical practices. This is because emotions and money rather than reason and sound principles are applied to the questions at hand. When this is the case, whether the plan is managed by private insurance or else by the government, it can only lead to the most unethical of practices.

 

The healthcare debate needs to become a conversation that recaptures solid moral reasoning and sound principles in making healthcare decisions.  Without agreed on principles and the commitment to be morally rational, the panels will be constantly pressured by political voices to choose the most cost effective way of distributing tax dollars to the most aggressive advocates of any health issue.  This could bode ill for the poor and most vulnerable of our society.   In our society, we have disagreements concerning the fundamental dignity of human life.  Many of our fellow citizens look on abortion and euthenasia as human rights that trump life itself. This makes placing healthcare rulings into the hands of law makers or their appointees a naive way to go.

The Carmelites who make Mystic Monk Coffee were trying to secure land in Wyoming for a new monastery.   A new community with an explosion of vocations needed a quiet space for their anonymous way of life dedicated to communion with God and interceding for the salvation of the world.   They had been working for years to secure a piece of property for precisely this purpose.  They found some beautiful acreage conducive to a life of discipline and prayer.  They believed that somehow this was part of God's plan for them.  But then, things did not fall together the way they had hoped.  After struggling to secure financing, Bill Gates bought it out from under them.  See http://bit.ly/pZnUg.

Contemplative life in America has had a rocky road.  Most people, even Catholics, do not see any value in it.   It does not produce very much.  If it benefits the mission of the Church, it is not because it is the source of successful parish or missionary programs.   Its fruits are hidden.  But contemplative life is good for society - it helps a civilization stay civilized because it reminds us of the goodness and beauty of humanity.  Without such a reminder, America runs the risk of being dehumanized. 

Monks would say that it is precisely because their way of life is hidden and lowly that God uses it for great good.   In my own experience of monks, I have found contemplative life a school of human authenticity where men and women discover who they really are and learn how to love God and themselves, for God's own sake.  It is an anti-materialistic, anti-consumerist enterprise.  Entrepreneurs and business men must be baffled by it.  This is why I am not sure that Bill Gates fully realized he was depriving America of when he bought the land out from under these holy men.

There is so much beautiful country that would benefit from the stewardship that monastic communities are able to provide.  A few years ago, the movie Into Great Silence showed us the human and natural beauty of living a life dedicated to God. (see http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/articles/groning.html)  The film by Philip Groning depicted the monks of the Grande Chartreuse - a nine hundred year old monastery in the Carthusian Mountains above Grenoble, France.  The splendor of nature integrated with a peaceful life dedicated to God struck a chord in the hearts of those who were spellbound by the two hour and forty-five minute mostly silent film.  I was present at three showings, packed, where no one moved even after the film ended.  And, to the surprise of even the Carthusians, the film was held over in theatres across Europe and America. 

The Grande Chartreuse is part of the history of Europe and France, because it informed the European consciousness with a noble idea of what it means to be human.  Namely, the most important things in life are not found in material success, commercialism or having control over the lives of others.  Humanity does not exist simply to produce things and to fight.  Instead, humanity is an end in itself - it is good for its own sake because God made it that way.  Men and women can live in harmony with God, one another and with nature - and when they do, it is beautiful.    Monasteries, like the one the Carmelites want to found in Wyoming, are living icons of this truth.

For the size of the American continent and for the centuries it has been civilized, there are not very many monasteries or places of prayer.  The contemplative vocation requires a space that is silent and beautiful.  This is because monks and nuns normally do not leave their monasteries for any length of time.  They live a quiet simple life, day in and day out, training their hearts away from the noise and distractions that often drowned out the voice of God.  In our loud industrial post modern society, this requires a large amount of land in remote areas.  While our country has dedicated a significant portion of land to national parks and forests, Americans do not typically think about dedicating large portions of land for religious purposes.  For this reason, we remain largely deprived of any contemplative dimension to our culture. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gates have established themselves as philanthropists in many ways.  Now they have an opportunity to contribute to something that may well contribute to our way of life for a millennium.  If Into Great Silence is any indication, helping the Carmelites establish their monastery is a contribution that will help America remember its humanity.