Breaking In The Habit

Reflections of a Friar in Training

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Catholic Church=Liberal Marxism?

I hear it all the time: Pope Francis is a Marxist. He advocates for just wages, fair working conditions, maternity leave, greater responsibilities for the super rich, and even a need for wealth distribution and people cast him off as being a communist and ruining the Church.

There’s just one problem: all of the things I mentioned are actually points that Pope Saint John Paul II made in his own encyclical letters. And Benedict XVI. And most of the popes before them for the past 130 years.

The thing is, there are a lot of commonalities between Catholic Social Teaching and Socialism/Communism. For the last 130 years, we have condemned rampant capitalism as a means of abusing people and helping only the super rich. There is an inherent dignity to human life that must be safeguarded in the workplace, and one’s work should ultimately be life-giving and directed toward the common good.

But we have also had our fair share of criticisms against socialism as well. The insistence on communal rights over private rights, especially when it comes to seizing private property, is a major problem. Government assistance should not be so overbearing that it leaves people dependent and unwilling to work. Such systems suffocate the authentic human development of the human person.

In both Socialism and Capitalism, the Church finds reasons for applause as well as reasons for criticism. They are both equally flawed in that their ultimate goal is material: the acquisition of wealth and power. Catholics must resist this goal and instead see that there is something far more important at stake: the dignity of the human person. For us, the economy must serve the needs of humanity, not the other way around.

In this video, I show that Pope Francis is far from a Marxist and far from a Capitalist. He is a Catholic, in line with the history of Social Doctrine of the Church.

 3 Comments

 Posted on September 10, 2020 by CaseyOFM

 Catholicism In Focus, Justice

     Benedict XVI, Catholic social teaching, dignity of the worker, John Paul II, Leo XIII, pope francis, Rerum Novarum, workers' rights

How Can You Stay Silent?

The following is a homily for the twenty second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. The readings can be found here.

In 1977, a military dictator rigged the election to become the president of El Salvador. As you can imagine, many people did not take too kindly to this, and so they protested, leading to violence on the part of the government. Peaceful protesters were attacked, went missing, or faced massacres. Eventually, people began fighting back with violence of their own, and by 1979, El Salvador was in the midst of a bloody civil war. From 1979 to 1981 around 30,000 civilians were killed by army death squads of their own government.

Where was the Church in this very Catholic country while all this was happening? Well, silent, at first. The archbishop, Oscar Romero, believed that neither side was entirely free from blame, and thought it best to stay out of politics. He knew that he could not criticize the government like you can here. To speak out against this violence would surely mean getting killed himself, and it just wasn’t worth it.

But then his eyes were opened. A priest friend of his was assassinated. Faithful Catholics, peacefully protesting violence, went missing. He saw atrocities with his own eyes and could no longer remain silent. He began a weekly radio show condemning the violence. Taking the side of the poor and marginalized, he spoke out against the evil that he saw from the government, the violations of human rights being committed in his streets. He preached comfort to the afflicted and affliction the comfortable. Oscar Romero was truly a modern-day prophet: someone who spoke the truth of the Gospel without fear… and he was ultimately killed for it. While celebrating mass in 1980, he was assassinated.

In our Gospel today, we get the first of four predictions of Jesus’ passion in Matthew. He tells the disciples that he is going to Jerusalem, that he will be persecuted by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, that he will be killed and raised on the third day. In one sense, he knows this because he is God. I mean, right? If he’s truly divine, then he has to have a sense of the eternal plan set by the father, that he is going to die for the sins of humanity. God knows all. But I suspect that he knew this on a human level as well, that he just knew it in his bones, an intuition that can’t be questioned. Having studied the prophets, he knew what happened to those who questioned authority. He knew what happened when you went after the rich and powerful. Proclaiming to the masses, “Blessed are the poor” and “woe to the rich,” calling the religious elites hypocrites while dining with sinners and prostitutes… these were not ways to make friends with the rich and powerful. These were ways to get killed. Jesus knew this. Oscar Romero knew this. Jeremiah knew this.

As much as we may say we like prophets, as much as our world needs prophets, there is nothing glamorous about being a prophet. Romero experienced death threats. Jesus suffered his agony in the garden. Jeremiah was ridiculed. In our first reading today he writes, “You duped me Lord.” He is not happy with God. Having preached the word, having told the people to stop acting unjustly, doing just what God asked of him, he is laughed at and mocked. This is not the life anyone wants. And so he says, “I will not mention him. I will speak in his name no more.” He tries to quit God. The pain, the upheaval is too much. Being a prophet has brought nothing but derision.

But he can’t. He just can’t. Speaking about the word of God, he says, “But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.” As much pain as he faces, as awful as his life is as a prophet, what choice does he have? He knows that this is the truth whether it’s comfortable or not. The spirit wells up in him and he can’t not decry the injustice he sees. Such is the fate for the prophets. Jeremiah knew he would be mocked. Jesus knew he would suffer. Oscar Romero knew that he would be assassinated eventually. But they kept preaching. When you see the world turning from God, how can you stay silent?

What a question for us all: When we see the world turning from God, how can we stay silent? 

We have this horrible norm in this culture, an unwritten rule in our society, that you never talk about religion or politics in mixed company. It’s just not polite, right? You would never bring up something like, say, abortion among your friends. 50 millions abortions happen worldwide each year, 50 million defenseless human beings are killed each year, but it’s just too controversial a topic to bring up. It’s better to stick to easier topics.

The same goes for racism. Hot button issue these days. Is it “black lives matter” or “all lives matter”? Probably best to avoid it altogether. Otherwise, you might find yourself talking about how redlining districts left African Americans excluded from certain neighborhoods, paying higher interest rates, and forced into bad schools. You might get into a discussion about the prison industrial complex, how people of color are systematically disenfranchised in society, exploited at every level of the criminal justice system and so forced into modern-day slavery, and that, that is surely going to upset some people. Ahmaud Arbery? Breanna Taylor? Jacob Blake? George Floyd? Philando Castille? Eric Garner? Trayvon Martin? Woo. You should probably just forget those names because there is NO chance you could bring them up without people getting angry at you.

I mean, really, the list is a long one of things you want to avoid. The 80 million refugees worldwide fleeing violence. The rising temperature of the earth and our continued overuse of resources. Voter suppression. Predatory lenders. The death penalty. Human trafficking in the porn industry. If you care about your well-being, these are not things that you want to talk about. Taking a stance on these things, devoting your life to ridding the world of them, they could turn your friends against you, cost you your job, bring shame upon your family, maybe even get you killed. If you care about saving your life, then the best thing to do is stay silent and ignore that these things are happening.

There’s just one problem: Jesus says to us today, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it… Take up your cross and follow me.” St. Paul reminds us that if we want to be disciples of Christ, then we must not conform ourselves to this age, but as he says, “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” 

Being a prophet is not a fun existence. Calling out injustice, standing up to the rich and powerful on behalf of the poor and marginalized… that’s not going to lead to a comfortable, happy existence. But I guess I just have to wonder: what other choice do you have? Speaking the truth may bring some discomfort to our lives, but does that mean we’d rather ignore the truth? Hide from it? Deny it?

It’s true that it is not polite to talk about religion or politics in mixed company, but maybe being polite isn’t our highest goal. Maybe what matters more to us than being polite is the life and dignity of the poor, the rights of the disenfranchised, the love of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and maybe, just maybe, these things matter so much to us that we’re willing to stand for them even if it might turn people away from us. Not uncharitably. Not hatefully. But also not worried about disturbing people. Sometimes, when the world likes what is bad, it needs to be disturbed.

Jeremiah thought so. Jesus knew this to be true. Oscar Romero preached it loud and clear on his radio show: “That is what the church wants: to disturb people’s consciences and to provoke a crisis in their lives. A church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not rankle, a word of God that does not touch the concrete sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed—what kind of gospel is that? Just nice, pious considerations that bother nobody—that’s the way many people would like our preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny subject so as not to bother anyone or cause conflict and difficulty, shed no light on the reality in which they live.”

Being a prophet is not an easy life. It will most likely bring you hardship. But I ask you: as disciples of Christ, those who know the truth of the Gospel and see the world broken as it is, what other choice do you have? “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it… Take up your cross and follow me.”

 11 Comments

 Posted on August 30, 2020 by CaseyOFM

 Homilies, Justice

     22nd Sunday Ordinary Time, 22nd Sunday year A, all lives matter, black lives matter, Catholic Church, featured, homily, Jesus Christ, justice, prophet, prophetic, racial justice, racism, sermon, social justice

The Flaw with the Abortion Argument

Today I decided to talk about an easy issue that is in no ways controversial or problematic in our world. Okay, maybe not…

 4 Comments

 Posted on August 26, 2020 by CaseyOFM

 Justice, Video

     abortion, Casey Cole, Catholic Church, Christian, debate, ethics, life, moral theology, planned Parenthood, theology, womb

Should Catholics Boycott Walmart?

I owe part of my vocation to Walmart. Yes, you read that correctly: Walmart played a part in me becoming a Franciscan. Let me explain.

When I went to college, I was very excited about my faith. I wanted to be a youth minister that planned retreats and lead praise and worship. I was “on fire” for the faith. There was just one problem: I knew very little about my faith. I knew that church was fun and that Jesus loved me, but the theology of the Church? Its social mission? Its history? Its anything of substance? Yeah… I was a bit hazy on that.

Finding that the Catholic Campus Ministry group on campus was nothing like a youth group (no praise and worship, no skits, no fun games) I found myself struggling to click with church during my freshman year. The things I loved weren’t there.

Then, in my sophomore year, CCM put on a four-week series on Catholic Social Teaching. We talked about the right to life, the tenets of social action, the need to get involved in the world, and, finally back to Walmart, we watched the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Although the documentary is not religiously motivated at all, it offered a spark for a larger discussion on a Catholic perspective on the economy. We discussed questions of workers’ rights, working conditions, the role of money, the responsibilities we have in the world, solidarity—all things that are straight from the Catholic Tradition.

I’d never heard any of it before. I had no idea the Church cared about this stuff. To say that it was “life changing” might be a bit of a cliche, but it certainly had an effect.

Today, I hope that Walmart may have a similar effect on your faith. In this video, I begin by presenting the opinion that I have long held, that Walmart is a bad company that does more to harm the world than it does to help it. And we could stop there. But that would only be part of the story. The fact of the matter is that, despite its many failings, Walmart actually does a lot of good as well.

Do the positives outweigh the negatives? Are we willing to tolerate human rights violations for a good price? At what point do we say that they’re crossing the line? My hope with this video is not to give an easy answer that “Walmart is good” or “Walmart is bad,” but rather to show the serious dilemmas we face when we enter the marketplace and to challenge everyone to ask moral questions about the economy. Although less clear-cut than issues of sexual or scientific morality, economic morality must be something we Catholics take seriously.

 7 Comments

 Posted on August 17, 2020 by CaseyOFM

 Justice, Video

     Catholic social teaching, labor rights, Laborem Exercens, Rerum Novarum

The not-so-Golden Rule

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.” This is the wisdom we learn as kids, and it’s the wisdom of the Bible. Why do something to others if you wouldn’t want the same treatment? It’s a basic building block of morality.

And yet, it’s not without its quarks. As I share in this video, sometimes, when we take the passage too literally, we run the risk of missing the point. Sometimes it might be helpful to remember that not everyone wants to be treat the same way, and that true Christian humility means treating others the way they want to be treated.

 Leave a Comment

 Posted on August 15, 2020 by CaseyOFM

 Justice, Video

     Catholic, Franciscan, Golden Rule, inter-religious dialogue, Jesus, Jews, LGBT, Muslims, Tobit, YouTuber

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