OUR FIRST LIBERTY

In the United States and indeed in many parts of the world our first and most cherished liberty, that is, religious liberty, is under attack.  Evidence is plentiful. 

The recent HHS mandate is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.  This federal mandate will require all employers, including those Catholic employers which the government does not deem “religious enough,” to provide insurance plans for employees that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.  Admittedly, even among Catholics the topic of contraception is controversial.  Leaving the important pastoral challenge of making a more compelling case for the Church’s teaching on contraception for another moment, let me say that our concern with this mandate is not primarily about contraception.

Archbishop William Lori sums up the situation saying, “This is not a matter of whether contraception may be prohibited by the government.  This is not even a matter of whether contraception may be supported by the government.  Instead, it is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide coverage for contraception or sterilization, even if that violates their religious beliefs.”  This is about religious liberty and the freedom of conscience.

Other examples of this growing assault on religious liberty in the United States can be cited:

• Catholic foster care and adoption services in several dioceses have been forced to close.  Why?  Their licenses were revoked because as Catholic charitable agencies, faithful to their religious identity, they refused to place children with same-sex or unmarried cohabiting couples.
• The USCCB Migration and Refugee Services, which for years has provided excellent services to victims of human trafficking has now been excluded from providing humanitarian services through a government contract.  Why?   Because MRS does not provide abortion and contraceptive services, services which are clearly in violation of our Catholic teaching. The terms of the contract were changed to exclude this Catholic agency, even though no other agency has a comparable record of competence to care for these vulnerable individuals and families.
• Several states have recently passed immigration laws forbidding what the government calls “harboring” undocumented immigrants, and what the Church recognizes as a duty of Christian charity to provide pastoral care of those same immigrants.  The law makes it a crime for the Church to offer pastoral services to certain persons.

These are but a sample; other indicators abound.

In a powerful pastoral statement, entitled “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty”, the USSCB Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty states, “We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened.  Now is such a time.  As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.”

To be sure, religious liberty is not merely about our freedom to attend Mass on Sunday or to pray without hindrance in our homes.  Even in Communist China and the former Soviet Union participation in (government approved) religious services was permitted.  That does not constitute religious liberty.  The test of true religious liberty is whether we are free to make our own contribution to the common good of all Americans.  It is about whether we can do what our faith calls us to do freely and without government interference or having to compromise our faith.

Our religious liberty is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.  It is the first liberty.  This freedom guarantees that we cannot and will not be forced by the government to make a choice between being an American and being a Catholic.  In truth, it is not a Catholic issue, nor a Protestant, Jewish or Muslim issue.  It is an American issue.

The serious concern generated by these assaults on religious liberty is raising an urgent cry for justice.  In his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King cited St. Augustine who wrote that “an unjust law is no law at all.”  King asked, “How does one determine when a law is just or unjust?  A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.  An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.  To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”  How significant that a Baptist preacher and an American civil rights hero would cite Catholic tradition in making a defense for his actions in the face of injustice!

If we are facing the prospect of unjust laws today, then we Catholics, in solidarity with our fellow citizens must have the courage, like Dr. King, to resist them.  It is not even a matter of conscientious objection to a just law.  An unjust law is no law at all.  We cannot obey it.  We must seek its repeal. 

At this crucial time what we need is an engaged, well-formed and articulate Catholic laity with the conviction and courage necessary to counter the dominant culture of secularism that wishes to exclude the Church’s participation in the public debate about the future of American society.

For more information and resources and to follow these developments closely visit our archdiocesan website at www.archokc.org and click on the USCCB link.  

Archbishop Coakley addressed the 2012 graduates of St. Gregory's University on Saturday, May 12.  St. Gregory’s University celebrated its 97th commencement exercise Saturday inside W.P. Wood Field House. Bachelor’s degrees were conferred on 114 graduates with an additional 34 receiving associate’s degrees and seven receiving master’s degrees.

Archbishop Coakley's commencement address is included below in its entirety.

"President Main, Abbot Lawrence, distinguished faculty, members of the university administration and board, members of the monastic community, students, alumni, friends and family, and most especially you, the St. Gregory’s University Class of 2012, it is a great pleasure and distinct honor to greet you on this joyful occasion and to offer a few words in celebration of today’s commencement exercises and your achievements.

 There is no doubt that this has been a remarkable and eventful year here at St. Gregory’s University.  You have survived an earthquake and inaugurated a new president.  The indomitable spirit with which the university and monastic communities responded to the former and the energy with which President Main and his team have taken the reins of leadership give evidence of the determination of this proud university to blaze a way forward by creatively seizing opportunities in the midst of formidable challenges.

 Each of you graduates today has reached a truly significant milestone in your life.  Whether you have been a traditional residential student here in Shawnee or a learner in the College of Working Adults, your achievements in completing your degree programs are evidence of your hard work and determination.  They are evidence of the great value that you place on education.

 Today you join the distinguished alumni of the oldest institution of higher education in the State of Oklahoma, and the only Catholic university in this great state.  You have become part of an institution which has deep roots in Oklahoma.  Reaching back to the pioneer days of those early Benedictine missionaries who came to Indian Territory in 1875, and rooted in the classical Catholic liberal arts tradition that the Benedictines have preserved for over fifteen hundred years and handed on through their distinctive monastic values and way of life, you are heirs to a great heritage of faith, learning and culture.  St. Gregory’s University draws its life and mission from the heart of the Church and its distinctive approach to education from its Benedictine values and spirit.

 No doubt your education at St. Gregory’s has afforded you an excellent opportunity to prepare yourselves with the intellectual, professional and technical proficiency you will need to move into your chosen fields of endeavor.  For some of you the next step may be further education, for others an opportunity to advance in your current careers, and for others it is the beginning, a time to make your way in life as you seek new opportunities equipped with your new degree.

 But in choosing St. Gregory’s University, with its distinctive educational values as a Catholic liberal arts institution in the Benedictine tradition, you have chosen to pursue more than a business, scientific or even a professional education.  The genius of a liberal arts education is that it does not have as its first and foremost goal merely the training of accountants, nurses or teachers.  The liberal arts educate and form good men and women, the whole person.  The liberal arts provide not just a skill set, but a preparation for life.  The liberal arts core with its traditional focus on the good, the true and the beautiful seeks to instill integrity and virtue in students who through the careful  and rigorous cultivation of both mind and heart, intellect and will, are uniquely equipped to take their places in business, the professions, the family and public life as well-rounded and productive citizens. 

 The focus of a Catholic liberal arts education is on developing the whole person; body, mind and spirit, created in the image and likeness of God.  Its focus is on cultivating virtue, developing character, bringing the light of both faith and reason to bear on the very real challenges which our society faces today.  Your education has prepared you to make a significant contribution to the life of both Church and society.

 In Oklahoma, we Catholics constitute only a very small minority of the population.  Still, as a whole Oklahomans retain a stronger Christian awareness than Americans in many other parts of this great but increasingly secular nation.  Even in Protestant Oklahoma, however, the dominant secular culture is making its inroads.  This secular mindset may not explicitly deny the existence of God, but thinks, judges and acts in practical matters as if God does not exist.  It privatizes religion in order to keep its influence out of public discourse and public life.  This is one of the challenges we are facing today as religious liberties are increasingly coming under assault in the United States and around the world. 

 One of the valuable and distinctive contributions that St. Gregory’s University offers amid the various educational options available in Oklahoma is that it is able to provide a thoroughly consistent and integrated education rooted in a Catholic and Christian worldview.  This worldview recognizes the inalienable dignity and transcendent destiny of every human person, the central importance of marriage and the family as the basic unit of society, the value of solidarity and communion and the right and responsibility of everyone to contribute to the common good.  It does not settle for a truncated vision of the human person or society, but promotes the integration of faith and reason as understood and handed on through two thousand years of living tradition in the Catholic Church.

 For several hundred years, since the dawning of the period of intellectual history known as the Enlightenment, the cult of progress has been eclipsing the true cult and worship of the Living God.  An unquestioning belief in the inevitability of progress is the only permissible dogma in the postmodern secular creed.   But as Pope Benedict XVI has cautioned, “Progress becomes true progress only if it serves the human person and if the human person grows: not only in terms of his or her technical power, but also in his or her moral awareness.”  Authentic progress must have as its goal a steady advancement toward the truth about what is good for the human person and society.

 Stretching out before you, graduates, is a life that all of us hope will be long, productive and purposeful.  But it is unique and unrepeatable.  Do not let it pass in vain.  Live it with enthusiasm and with joy, but most of all live it with a sense of responsibility.  Be good stewards of the gifts and opportunities that have been entrusted to you!  Make choices that demonstrate your faith and most deeply held convictions.  Cultivate love of God and love of neighbor and strive always to put yourselves, your talents and your abilities at the service of the common good and of the truth. 

 May God who has begun this good work in you bring it to fulfillment in the years before you."

4-29-2012

This is the text of a homily given during an ecumenical evening prayer service on April 16 during the National Workshop on Christian Unity held in Oklahoma City.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a joy to gather in prayer on this evening radiant in the splendor of our shared faith in Christ’s Easter victory! I am delighted to add my words of welcome to those already spoken. We are honored to have this opportunity to host the 2012 National Workshop on Christian Unity in Oklahoma City; to welcome you to our community and share with you our warm Oklahoma hospitality.

Fifty years ago when Pope John XXIII delivered his opening address to those assembled at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, he counted among its principal goals a commitment to work for greater unity: unity within the Catholic Church, unity among all Christians, greater unity and understanding with non-Christian religions and indeed with all men and women of goodwill. He said, “Such is the aim of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council which…prepares, as it were, and consolidates the path toward that unity of mankind where truth reigns, charity is the law and whose extent is eternity.” (Gaudet Mater Ecclesia) Good Pope John and the Council which he convened recognized and taught that the Church is the instrument established by Christ through his Paschal Mystery to restore the unity of the human race, fractured by sin and division.

This vision, articulated by Blessed John XXIII, and incorporated into the teaching of that great ecumenical council, provides the backdrop for this workshop as we consider the influence of Vatican II which after 50 years continues to inspire our ecumenical endeavors to this day. It is a vision which affirms that the quest for unity among Christians is not a peripheral concern, but at the heart of what it means to adhere to the Gospel and to the Church of Christ.

A good many years ago a young and newly ordained priest approached Mother Teresa of Calcutta to seek a word of counsel from her. She looked at him with deep affection and said simply, “Stay out of God’s way.” That is good counsel for all of us, especially in our ecumenical labors.

Unity is God’s gift. “Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning.” (Decree on Ecumenism, 4) It is one of the Church’s distinguishing characteristics as we will shortly profess in the Nicene Creed. The Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The Church is one because of her source. As Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism declared: “the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.” (UR, 2) The Church is one, moreover, because of her founder, “the Word made flesh, the prince of peace,” who, “reconciled all men to God by the cross, …restoring the unity of all in…one body.” (GS, 78) The Church is one, the Decree continues, because of her soul: “It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principal of the Church’s unity.” (UR, 2) One of the second century Church Fathers, St. Clement of Alexandria exclaimed: “What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; and there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her ‘Church’.” (cited in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 813)

“Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning.” (UR, 4) But we are painfully aware of the divisions which have hampered us from fully receiving and cultivating this gift. In every generation we have to pray and work assiduously to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for His Church. That is why Christ prayed to his Father at the Hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying for the unity of his disciples, for the unity of the Church: “That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us… so the world may know that you have sent me.” (Jn. 17:21) The desire stirring in our hearts tonight to recover and restore this lost unity among Christians is itself a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.

The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II laid out a roadmap to help the Church respond to this divine summons and to cooperate with the grace urging us toward deeper unity in truth and charity. What does that roadmap laid out fifty years ago look like? It might be helpful to dust it off and see how we have done with it. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 821)

First, it reminds us that the Church herself is called to ongoing renewal. The Church herself is summoned to greater fidelity to her vocation as the bride of Christ and the sign and sacrament of unity for all humankind. We have to be faithful to our call to communion and to mission. Our divisions hinder us and make us a less than compelling witness before the world which we are sent to evangelize and to serve.

Second, we are each called to conversion of heart. We are each called to live holy lives, to strive to become the saints that God desires us to be in virtue of our Baptism into Christ. It is our unfaithfulness as members of Christ’s body that causes and hardens the divisions among us that are such a stumbling block to the world which so desperately needs what the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone can offer. We are called daily to repentance and conversion.

Third, the Council urges us to seek and to embrace opportunities for common prayer. “Change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement”. (UR, 9) It merits the name spiritual ecumenism.

Fourth, the Decree on Ecumenism invites us to a greater fraternal sharing and knowledge of each other. It’s harder to mistrust and vilify those whom we have come to know and understand and with whom we have shared our hopes and struggles. We discover that what we share in common as brothers and sisters in Christ is greater than what may divide us.

Fifth, the document urges ecumenical formation for all of the faithful and the Church’s ministers.

Sixth, dialogue among theologians and meetings among Christians of different churches is an important and necessary path to greater mutual respect, understanding and clarity regarding our agreements and differences as dialogue partners. Dialogue is hard work. It demands an unwavering commitment to truth, to honesty and integrity as we look beneath the surface of commonly held assumptions about the faith and practice of our dialogue partners.

Finally, we are invited to join in common initiatives in service to our brothers and sisters: what we call the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (i.e., feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless), the works of justice and advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable in our midst. Here in Oklahoma City we experienced this in a powerful way when the whole nation joined to support us after the tragedy of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building which occurred across the street 17 years ago. When we roll up our sleeves together to serve those in need we don’t serve others because they are Christians, but because we are Christians. Our faith requires it.

It is perhaps reassuring that so much of this “roadmap” seems quite familiar to us. It is the path we have been walking together for many years.

It is good to recognize how far we have come along the way. But we must honestly and humbly acknowledge that we have a long way to go. Again, the Decree on Ecumenism, even though promulgated during those heady and hope-filled days of Vatican II, reminded us that the task is too great for us. It said, “this holy objective—the reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ—transcends human powers and gifts.” (UR, 24) But it does not transcend what the prayer of Christ, the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit can work in us and through us; even in spite of us. That is why it might be good for us to recall frequently Mother Teresa’s wise counsel to the young zealous priest, “Stay out of God’s way.”