Bishops' Schedules: Bishop Robert C. Morlino Monday, June 12, to Friday, June 16, 2006 Attend Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Los Angeles, Calif. Sunday, June 18, 2006 11:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at the Celebration of the Eucharist, Stational Mass, St. Patrick Church, Madison Tuesday, June 20, 2006 11:00 a.m. -- Attend meeting of the Presbyteral Council, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Bishop William H. Bullock Monday, June 19, 2006 12:00 noon -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Bishop George O. Wirz Monday, June 19, 2006 5:00 p.m. -- Attend Catholic Charities Benefit, Nakoma Golf Club, Madison Tuesday, June 20, 2006 12:00 noon -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison

Political divisions: Cannot be valid for the Church

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Dear Friends:

Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on my visit to Rome and on the Pope's recent catecheses indicating that one can never separate the Body of Christ, the Church, from Christ, Himself.

The Church is the concrete, visible, physical presence of Christ in the world - the Church enjoys the gift of the Holy Spirit as Her soul. That Holy Spirit is present to the Church of every age and can never be seen as being more present to the Church in one era than in another. Thus, the history of the Church is a history of continuity. The Church is always the same - One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic - down through history.

It is a mistake, as Pope Benedict pointed out, to conclude that the Church before the Second Vatican Council was a different Church from the Church after the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Father calls this a discontinuity interpretation of the Vatican II documents, and because there must always be continuity in the Church, the discontinuity interpretation must finally be judged incorrect. Sometimes Catholics use the term "pre-Vatican II" as a synonym for wrong, false, or defective, and that simply cannot be the case. The Holy Spirit is no more present to the Church post-Vatican II than the Holy Spirit was present to the Church pre-Vatican II - that is our faith.

No political categories in Church

Another problematic way of looking at the Church, which is the source of much division among Catholics, involves the use of political categories as basic to our understanding of the Church. By this I mean, of course, the division of Catholics into liberals and conservatives, terms borrowed from politics.

Once the Church itself is viewed in terms of political categories, the only reasonable conclusion is that one should seek to be in the middle, one should seek to be a centrist, seeking to pull together those who are to the left (liberals) and those who are to the right (conservatives).

The problem is, that in the world of politics, one knows that there is no passion in the center. Politicians every so often have to "energize" their base which is usually composed of more extreme liberals and more extreme conservatives. The base has to be energized because that is where the passion is. There is little or no passion in the middle. In the middle people tend more to be swayed by the results of polls and other cultural influences. The middle is a place of peace at any price, even at the expense of truth which is usually compromised in order to articulate a middle-of-the-road position.

While this kind of compromise and centrism is practically quite useful in the political sphere, this language, these categories of politics, are not suitable for application to the Church. What has happened is that for many people, their politics is more foundational to their lives than their faith, so that instead of interpreting our political life in society through from the solid foundation of their faith, people interpret their faith from the questionable foundation of how things work in the political sphere. If there is division in the political sphere which cannot be healed, that division will bring forth a similar division in the Church, and perhaps this is what has happened.

'Not just another human organization'

One cannot look at the Church in terms of political categories. The Church is not just another human organization, the Church is a mystical communion, the Church is the Body of Christ, blessed with His truth, which is to be the source of unity, which the bishops as successors of the Apostles are to hand on to the people because they have, themselves, received it through the gift of the Holy Spirit coming through the prayer of the Church and the laying on of hands.

Thus as Catholics we need, really, to stop thinking of ourselves as liberals or conservatives or as an organization in which the best thing to do would be to seek some middle ground as centrists. The way of describing Catholics is not as liberals, or conservatives, or centrists but as dynamically orthodox, that is faithful to the message of Christ in a way that political centrists cannot be, that is, with passion.

Self-sacrifice and passion necessary

Pope Benedict recently wrote that all authentic love contains elements both of agape (self-sacrifice) and eros (passion). Thus the love appropriate to Catholics faithful to the message of Christ must be a passionate love. Political centrism never generates passion. Passion is always to be found among the more extreme political groupings. Catholics are not called to be extremists in any political sense. But Catholics are called to be extreme, in the sense that their love for the truth of Christ is so passionate that they would die for it if called upon to do so. The extreme passion of the Catholic is the willingness to respond to a call to martyrdom but this "extremism" has nothing in common with political extremism of the right or the left.

So please reflect with me seriously about these matters so that we can move to a day when as Catholics, we don't talk about the "Christian Right" or the "Radical Left" or the advisability of trying to bring others into the middle and to be good centrists. The political sphere is a very important sphere, its proper achievement is justice, but that justice is indeed the achievement of politics not of the Church. We are not one political organization among others whose life should be interpreted in terms and categories of politics. We are a mystical communion, the Body of Christ, blessed with His Truth, and we find our union in the dynamic orthodoxy which that Truth, taught lovingly, forges in our hearts.

Thank you for reading this. God bless each one of you. Praised be Jesus Christ!