A Catholic Voice From a Red State
(edited for TA .. see original here)
… As I see it, Ryan has a religion problem not because he is not a good Catholic, but because he is. An individualist social vision seems to be at odds with Catholic social teaching, as the bishops have noted; it is also at odds with the social vision of other Christians with a liturgical world view. …After all, whose kingdom is coming, and which should we seek first?
“For me, the real question is this: can a faithful Catholic, or other Christians for that matter, accept the moral integrity of the economic world to which Ryan would lead us if the Republicans win in November?
…Tocqueville observed, that …Americans … are unapologetic about seeking the socio-political reflection of our religious views. Indeed, our religious beliefs have, since the revivals of the 1830s, been deeply connected to our political behavior. As one historian put it, how you voted often followed on how you saved your soul.
…The Eucharist is, in a way, a dramatic visual aid, showing us our connectedness. We are no longer merely individuals; now we are members of a body, in which the eye and the ear cannot say they have no need for each other, or say to another that you’re on our own. When we say the Lord’s Prayer, we say “Our Father,” not “My Father.” When we recite the Nicene Creed we say “We believe,” not “I believe.” ….For … me, the way of truth and of truthful living comes through the actions in and of the church, not through the actions of free people. But the economic and political world that Ryan lives in, and wants us to live in, too, is a world in which people stand largely alone on their own feet, and then succeed or fail on their own merits. It is not a world in which grace wins but in which those who strive the hardest come out ahead…..
…… The voters will decide whether or not to elect Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan or Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I am interested in something that seems more important — how our religion informs our political and economic choices. After all, whose kingdom is coming, and which should we seek first?