Unmaking a Mess

The Catholic Thing

By Robert Royal But first a note: Be sure to tune in this evening, Thursday, May 16th at 8 PM Eastern, to EWTN for a new episode of 'The World Over.' TCT Editor-in-Chief Robert Royal and contributor Fr. Gerald E. Murray will join host Raymond Arroyo to discuss the latest developments in the Church in Rome and in the U.S. Check your local listings for the channel in your area. Shows are usually available shortly after first airing on the EWTN YouTube channel. Or, in line with the Church's longstanding cultivation of our God-given capacities, we stubbornly insist on the truths discoverable by the interplay of Faith and Reason. Now for today's column... A faithful Catholic finds him or herself in a complicated situation these days. It's not just the age-old opposition from "the world." Too many people, including Catholics in the pews and even in the Vatican, now seem to think that the world's opposition arises because of something we've done wrong - e.g., offending LGBT activists or actually believing what's been revealed by God. Or, in line with the Church's longstanding cultivation of our God-given capacities, we stubbornly insist on the truths discoverable by the interplay of Faith and Reason. By contrast, a Certain Person warned us from the beginning: "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:18-19) And there's a clear reason for this: "it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil." (John 7:7) It's a troubling feature of the postmodern condition that talk of Good and Evil is regarded as "simplistic" by many people, even - the horror! - judgmental. At least when Christians are concerned. Yet at the same time, our culture is full of very poorly formulated, but quite absolute, condemnations of people judged to be engaged in evils like racism, sexism, patriarchy, "colonialism," Western civilization, transphobia, Islamophobia - all usually regarded as, in some vague way, connected to traditional Christianity. Untangling this mess of half-truths and outright fictions presents one of the greatest challenges to Christian life in our time - an urgent task, not just for the scholars but for all of us on a daily basis. Jesus was not afraid to speak of Good and Evil - as valid distinctions for all people in every place at all times. He didn't think that there was liberation or sophistication in speaking of "my truth" and "your truth" as the most up-to-date marker of your personal dignity, as if there were no overarching common and real Truth. Speaking that Truth is why we're here at The Catholic Thing, something we've been trying to do, humbly but faithfully, since our inaugural column, laying out our hopes and goals, appeared on June 2, 2008. Since then (I'm reliably informed by Brad Miner) we've had over 60 million "pageviews" and are read on every continent. Our articles are regularly translated into five foreign languages (check it out on the upper-right corner of the homepage.) And we're read intensely, first thing in the morning, by thousands, not least - as I often discover when I'm there - in Rome. Since then, we've grown in other ways as well. Our coverage of major and minor events in Rome has made TCT one of the trusted sources for accurate, sober news and analysis at a time when both are in short supply on matters Catholic. We've published these in addition to the daily TCT column under the rubric "The Vatican Thing," as well as in regular podcasts with distinguished commentators such as Fr. Gerald Murray, Fran Maier, Fr. Raymond de Souza, Diane Montagna, Edward Pentin, Larry Chapp, Fr. Robert Sirico, among others. We've been especially focused recently on goings on in and around the Synod on Synodality, which will be reaching its concluding stage during the whole month of October later this year. In many ways, that...