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Denver archbishop warns against ‘spirit of adulation’ surrounding Obama
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15176 ^ | 2/23/09 | Catholic News Agency

Posted on 02/23/2009 8:10:56 PM PST by pissant

Toronto, Canada, Feb 23, 2009 / 09:03 pm (CNA).- Canadians packed St. Basil’s Church in Toronto on Monday evening to hear Archbishop Charles Chaput speak about how Catholics should live out their faith in the public square. He warned that in the U.S., Catholics need to act on their faith and be on guard against "a spirit of adulation bordering on servility" that exists towards the Obama administration.

The public lecture by Archbishop Chaput took place on the campus of the University of Toronto at St. Basil’s Church and was attended by an overflow crowd of more than 700 people.

After giving a sketch of the basic principles in his New York Times Bestseller "Render Unto Caesar," the archbishop offered his insights on the need for an honest assessment of the situation of the Church in the public square.

"I like clarity, and there’s a reason why," began the archbishop. "I think modern life, including life in the Church, suffers from a phony unwillingness to offend that poses as prudence and good manners, but too often turns out to be cowardice. Human beings owe each other respect and appropriate courtesy. But we also owe each other the truth -- which means candor."

The Denver prelate then provided his critique of President Obama.

"President Obama is a man of intelligence and some remarkable gifts. He has a great ability to inspire, as we saw from his very popular visit to Canada just this past week. But whatever his strengths, there’s no way to reinvent his record on abortion and related issues with rosy marketing about unity, hope and change. Of course, that can change. Some things really do change when a person reaches the White House. Power ennobles some men. It diminishes others. Bad policy ideas can be improved. Good policy ideas can find a way to flourish. But as Catholics, we at least need to be honest with ourselves and each other about the political facts we start with."

Yet this will be "very hard for Catholics in the United States," Chaput warned.

According to the archbishop, the political situation for Catholics is difficult to discern because a "spirit of adulation bordering on servility already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused pro-lifers of being too cozy with Republicans. It turns out that Caesar is an equal opportunity employer."

Looking ahead to the coming months and years, Chaput offered four "simple things" to remember.

"First," he said, "all political leaders draw their authority from God. We owe no leader any submission or cooperation in the pursuit of grave evil."

"In fact, we have the duty to change bad laws and resist grave evil in our public life, both by our words and our non-violent actions. The truest respect we can show to civil authority is the witness of our Catholic faith and our moral convictions, without excuses or apologies."

In a reference to the messianic treatment the Barack Obama received from some Americans during the presidential primaries, Archbishop Chaput delivered his second point: "in democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs."

Noting that Obama actually trailed in the weeks just before the election, the Denver archbishop said that this places some of today’s talk about a "new American mandate" in perspective.

"Americans, including many Catholics, elected a gifted man to fix an economic crisis. That’s the mandate. They gave nobody a mandate to retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life and abortion. That retooling could easily happen, and it clearly will happen -- but only if Catholics and other religious believers allow it."

The third point to focus on when the beliefs of Catholics are challenged is that "it doesn’t matter what we claim to believe if we’re unwilling to act on our beliefs," Chaput counseled.

"The fourth and final thing to remember, and there’s no easy way to say it," remarked Archbishop Chaput, is that the "Church in the United States has done a poor job of forming the faith and conscience of Catholics for more than 40 years."

"And now we’re harvesting the results -- in the public square, in our families and in the confusion of our personal lives. I could name many good people and programs that seem to disprove what I just said. But I could name many more that do prove it, and some of them work in Washington."

American Catholics need to realize that many in the current generation haven’t just been "assimilated" into the American culture, but have in fact been "absorbed and bleached and digested by it," Archbishop Chaput asserted.

If this realization doesn’t happen, the coming generations will continue on the same path and "a real Catholic presence in American life will continue to weaken and disappear," said Chaput.

Citing the example of "unhappy, self-described Catholics who complain that abortion is too much of a litmus test," he stated, "We can’t claim to be ‘Catholic’ and ‘pro-choice’ at the same time without owning the responsibility for where the choice leads – to a dead unborn child."

The archbishop also addressed the "abortion reduction" argument being made by some in politics.

"We can’t talk piously about programs to reduce the abortion body count without also working vigorously to change the laws that make the killing possible. If we’re Catholic, then we believe in the sanctity of developing human life. And if we don’t really believe in the humanity of the unborn child from the moment life begins, then we should stop lying to ourselves and others, and even to God, by claiming we’re something we’re not."

"Catholic social teaching goes well beyond abortion," Chaput noted. "In America we have many urgent issues that beg for our attention, from immigration reform to health care to poverty to homelessness."

Winding his talk down, the Archbishop of Denver remarked on the misunderstanding of the word "hope."

"For Christians," he explained, "hope is a virtue, not an emotional crutch or a political slogan. Virtus, the Latin root of virtue, means strength or courage. Real hope is unsentimental. It has nothing to do with the cheesy optimism of election campaigns. Hope assumes and demands a spine in believers. And that’s why – at least for a Christian -- hope sustains us when the real answer to the problems or hard choices in life is ‘no, we can’t,’ instead of ‘yes, we can.’"

The full text of the archbishop's speech can be found here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/document.php?n=790


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: archbishopchaput; bho44; cult; first100days; larrysinclairslover; marxistquisling; obama; obamamessiah
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Cmon now, my good Archbishop, Obama is even outpolling the Lord as #1 hero of all time.
1 posted on 02/23/2009 8:10:56 PM PST by pissant
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To: pissant

Good for the Archbishop. This cult of personality around Obama is sickening.


2 posted on 02/23/2009 8:15:27 PM PST by darkangel82 (I don't have a superiority complex, I'm just better than you.)
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To: pissant
I have to use fewer letters than the good Archbishop:

I-D-O-L-A-T-R-Y

3 posted on 02/23/2009 8:17:58 PM PST by Wings-n-Wind (The main things are the plain things!)
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To: Wings-n-Wind

And to the best of my reckoning, he ain’t even an ‘American’ Idol.


4 posted on 02/23/2009 8:18:54 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant

St. Paul said that we are fools for Christ. We are in the world but not of the world. I am proud to be a Catholic when I hear the words of His Emminence. If it is my church that in the end is the only voice of protest against this mad grab for power, I will stand with her.


5 posted on 02/23/2009 8:20:47 PM PST by johnnycap
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To: pissant
Thanks for the reminder p a ....

tru tru....

And that will soon have the Light of Truth shining all over it.... (my prayers for the truth to be known!)

THEN....
It will be *popcorn* time....

6 posted on 02/23/2009 8:22:50 PM PST by Wings-n-Wind (The main things are the plain things!)
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To: pissant
Brother Chaput still votes with the democrats.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

7 posted on 02/23/2009 8:25:07 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
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To: XeniaSt

You have his voting record?


8 posted on 02/23/2009 8:26:15 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant
My tagline from November 5 through Thanksgiving Eve:

BHO: I'd rather defy than deify.

He’s not the Messiah!

9 posted on 02/23/2009 8:28:18 PM PST by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini.)
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To: Wings-n-Wind

Watching some of the 0Bama events, I have often seen people praying for 0Bama.

Only, it seemed they were praying TO 0bama...

Seriously creeped me out.


10 posted on 02/23/2009 8:30:44 PM PST by patton (America is born in Iceland, and dies in California)
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To: pissant
He openly supported Gov Ritter( Roman Catholic ) the baby killer.

Then said he was disappointed when Ritter funded Planned Parenthood.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

11 posted on 02/23/2009 8:31:37 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
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To: johnnycap

Chaput is an Archbishop - His Excellency, not a Cardinal - His Emminence.


12 posted on 02/23/2009 8:32:41 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: XeniaSt

As has been repeatedly proven in the past, you are a liar bearing false witness.


13 posted on 02/23/2009 8:33:46 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: pissant

"...all political leaders draw their authority from God. We owe no leader any submission or cooperation in the pursuit of grave evil."

"In fact, we have the duty to change bad laws and resist grave evil in our public life, both by our words and our non-violent actions. The truest respect we can show to civil authority is the witness of our *Christian faith and our moral convictions, without excuses or apologies."

I changed one *word in the text.
14 posted on 02/23/2009 8:34:57 PM PST by Syncro (Ti Ming -- Use Librally)
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To: XeniaSt
He openly supported Gov Ritter( Roman Catholic ) the baby killer.

Documented source? Remember that you were exposed a few months ago spreading this lie.

15 posted on 02/23/2009 8:35:29 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: XeniaSt

He ran as a pro-life candidate, if I recall.


16 posted on 02/23/2009 8:36:15 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: A.A. Cunningham
As has been repeatedly proven in the past, you are a liar bearing false witness.

Check with the Rocky or the Post.

Chaput has always been more interested in Illegal Aliens
than against the murder of innocent babies.

Do you Judge people ?

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
17 posted on 02/23/2009 8:39:44 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
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To: pissant
He ran as a pro-life candidate, if I recall.

You are correct !

Discernment would lead one to believe
a democrat would support the party platform.

Which wholeheartedly promotes abortion.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
18 posted on 02/23/2009 8:43:22 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
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To: All
Brother Chaput still votes with the democrats.

Ballots are (still) secret in the United States. Anyone claiming knowledge of another man's vote might will be implicating himself in a crime.

19 posted on 02/23/2009 8:45:10 PM PST by Petronski (For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden. -- Cdl. Stafford)
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To: A.A. Cunningham
Don't you just LOVE irony?!?

Imagine a post in which one person made the following two statements:

Chaput has always been more interested in Illegal Aliens than against the murder of innocent babies.

Do you Judge people ?
Yum yum: a veritable Feast of Irony.
20 posted on 02/23/2009 8:48:45 PM PST by Petronski (For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden. -- Cdl. Stafford)
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