Archbishop Chaput - See clearly into the New Year

Archbishop Chaput - See Clearly into the New Year
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007

“When we call ourselves “Catholic,” what does that mean? Theologically, it means that we have been saved from sin in Baptism and incorporated into new life in the community of Catholic faith. It means we accept Jesus Christ as our savior, and we commit ourselves to follow Him as His disciples. But what we say and what we mean, and then what we do aren’t always the same thing. The space between our intentions and our actions is where daily life is lived. And in that battle zone, day in and day out, we have two very different teachers struggling for the podium in our hearts. The two teachers are the Church and the world. Each has a map for our lives but the maps lead to very different directions….
“ … God wills that the world should be converted and sanctified, not worshipped. In His Gospel, Saint John describes the ‘world’ as everything that is aligned against God….
“We’ve assimilated. We’ve been too comfortable and accommodating. We’ve listened to the world too politely when it lies about abortion, or conception, or divorce, or the death penalty, or our obligations to the poor, or the rights of undocumented workers, or the real meaning of pluralism, or our international responsibilities – and we haven’t shouted our the truth….

“How do we serve God? We serve Him by following His will with our whole body, mind, and soul, and the one reliable teacher and guide we have to knowing His will is the Church. And I don’t mean the Church as we’d like her to be, but the Church Jesus intended her to be – His bride and our mother….
“The fidelity of Catholics to the Church, generation after generation, even when her leaders have sometimes been weak or sinful – that fidelity is what carries the message of the gospel through time. Without the Church Jesus Christ cannot be known. So obedience to the Church and faithfulness to her teaching is not some sort of servitude, it’s a choice to participate in the act of giving life to the world…. For each of us as believers, there is no way around Christ’s mandate to engage and convert the world….
“First, we need to stop thinking of the Church as some kind of religious corporation, and start treating the Church as our mother and teacher….
“Second, if we say we are Catholic we need to act like it….

“Third, if we teach and preach in the name of the Church, we need to do it fully, zealously, and with all the persuasive skills God gives us….
“Fourth and finally … Nothing can wound the Church more deeply than the sins and indifferences of her own people, especially people in ministry.” p. 4-8
Archbishop Charles Chaput, The Church as Mother and Teacher, Contributor to The Great Life, Essays … in Honor of Father Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap. Edited by Michael Aquilina and Kenneth Ogorek, Emmaus Road Publishing, 2005,

“Twelve months ago, on Christmas Day, Pope Benedict XVI published his first encyclical. He called it Deus Caritas Est. – ‘God is love.’ Here is a line from it that I want to share with you as I close: “The Christmas program – the program of the Good Samaritan –the program of Jesus is ‘ a heart which sees.’ This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly” (31,b) Being faithful to your spouse and family; defending the unborn child, helping the poor, visiting the sick, respecting the immigrant, protecting the dignity and meaning of marriage, working for justice, leading with character – this is the Christian program, the result of hearts which see. What I ask God to give to you and to me, to our nation and to our Church this Christmas is the one gift that really does matter, hearts that see, and see clearly.” (Last paragraph of 7 pages)

Archbishop Charles Chaput at the first Annual Orange County Catholic Breakfast held in Garden Grove, Ca. on Dec. 7, 2006. This talk is also appropriate for the year 2008.

George H. Kubeck, Translate into Spanish and or duplicate. Posted on CINOPS Be Gone