From Archbishop Chaput:
God remakes the world with our deeds, not our intentions. What distinguishes real faith from surface piety is whether we actually do what we say we believe.
Our mission as disciples is not simply to pass along good morals to our children, or convey a sense of God’s hand in the world. These things are vital, of course, but they don’t exhaust our vocation. Our mission is to bring the world to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ to the world. Each of us is a missionary, and our primary work is the conversion of our own hearts and the hearts of others so that someday the whole world will acknowledge Jesus Christ as humanity’s only savior and Lord.
That’s a big task. We can’t do it by just “dialoguing” about it, any more than Christ could redeem us by writing an essay on sin. The Gospels have power because they tell the story of what God did; what his only son did; and what Christ’s followers did. The Passion accounts of Christ’s suffering and death move us so deeply because they show in bitter detail how unashamedly God loves us.
This is the hot spark at the heart of every other sincere attempt to tell the Passion story. God spared not even his own Son in saving us. No wonder the cross draws the eye of great artists again and again down through the centuries. The blood of the cross reminds us that — at least on one day in history — love had no limits. And since then, everything has been different.
God built the Church we’ve inherited through the love of generations of believers. Their witness made our faith possible. It’s now our turn to shape the future by the zeal we bring to our own daily witness. It’s our turn to act. It’s our turn to live our Catholic faith with all the courage and strength Christ brought to loving the Church he founded.
…The Church depends on God who will always protect her. But she also depends on us to carry Christ’s mission into the world. Words are cheap. Actions matter. It’s time to live our Catholic faith as the apostles did — and through it, to reshape the world.
10 comments
Thank you for posting this. I’ve always loved Chaput, and this shows why! He needs a red hat!
I think dialogue is good for people who are trying to convert or thinking about it.
I really liked this post, but I am always for a loss as to what actions I can do to live out my faith. Any suggestions?
I was discussing “God stuff” with an evangelical friend who mentioned a Catholic woman she knew who thought we shouldn’t evangelize, since other religions were also valid paths to God. Apparently, her views had the approval of her parish priest. The good Archbishop sets the matter straight in very clear terms.
Why do so many Catholic laity and clergy have such deep-seated ideas that are clearly in serious conflict with the teachings of their Church? I see it all the time, and, frankly, it’s one of the major reasons I’m still on the far shore of the Tiber. Why jump from Anglicanism if all I get is more of the same heresy with better incense? I’m not just trying to be snarky – where does all this come from?
We can�t do it by just �dialoguing� about it,
Fantastic!
Dear Waffling Anglican:
The apostacy you question comes from the hi-jacking of Vatican II by the flower children of the ’60s, who are stuck, like a broken record, on social justice. Their social and religious philosophy can be summed up in two words: Be nice.
Many of them are in their declining years now and must die out before the coming dawn of grace, crass as that may sound.
I hope your travels here and on similar websites will help you to realize things are changing in the Catholic Church in the United States. Type ‘Bishop Robert Vasa’ in your search engine for some genuine Catholic teaching from a real Catholic bishop. There are others like him and we should look to them as the vanguard of the future for the Catholic Church.
It remains to be seen whether Pope Benedict XVI will cull the herd. I have a feeling, and a hope, the apostates you rightly complain of will be invited out. Especially those in many of the allegedly ‘Catholic’ colleges and universities around the world.
Looking to apostates for an accurate picture of the Church is to look for a rose on a thorn bush.
Ferde,
Thanks – that helps. A question I always asked in the Episcopal Church was, “If you don’t actually believe what you’re saying in the service, then why on earth do you bother coming on Sunday?” I have never understood it. the only explanation I can come up with is that it’s not enough to leave the church, because it is still there and and its very presence still pricks your conscience. You have to destroy it to truly be autonomous. Sad.
Suggestions to live out the christian faith:
Besides going to Sunday mass, monthly confession, spiritual reading and praying 5 decades of the rosary daily, one of the best ways to live the faith is to become active in the pro-life movement: Start a pro-life group in the parish, picket at an abortion clinic, volunteer at a crisis pregnancy hotline.
So many times in the parishes, prayers are said for “peace, justice and the poor.” Working against abortion tackles all three at once: peace in families, justice for the litle unborn, and succor for the spiritually impoverished.
“You have to understand, we saw these priests as our children.”
— Archbishop Chaput, attempting to excuse and defend the practice of Bishops actively shielding sexual offenders from justice or any legitimate, meaningful form of accountability
“God remakes the world with our deeds, not our intentions. What distinguishes real faith from surface piety is whether we actually do what we say we believe.”
— Archbishop Cahput, said apparently without any self-perception or even a sense of humor
Gee, Bubbles, imagine that — he believed in redemption and reform, and although he didn’t do it himself and didn’t excuse it in his brother bishops, he thought that belief might EXPLAIN (not excuse,) wrong actions taken by those brother Bishop.
Me, I’m for Zero Tolerance, and I’m asking the Almighty to adopt the same policy.
“I was discussing “God stuff” with an evangelical friend who mentioned a Catholic woman she knew who thought we shouldn’t evangelize, since other religions were also valid paths to God.”
I’ve had other Catholic tell me it was flat wrong to try for, or even HOPE for the conversion of Jews or other Christians, and that her Archbishop had stated that publicly.
She was an older woman from somewhere in Pennsylvania — anyone know which bishop that would have been?