The "Ecumenism of Hate"

I trust some of you have already seen this. It's the biggest "thing" since the the last big thing.

* Antonio Spadaro, La Civiltà Cattolica
"Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A surprising ecumenism"
https://laciviltacattolica.com/june-2017/evangelical-fundamentalism-and-catholic...

Reactions and follow-ups:

* Michael Sean Winters, NCR "The Civilta article: FINALLY!"
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/civilta-article-finally

"Finally, someone in authority recognized that the effort to link conservative Catholics and evangelicals was always more about politics than about religion and that it was bound to alienate many churchgoers, distorting the faith with a political outlook that was, as the authors note, rooted in a divisive and anti-intellectual worldview that should be anathema to a Catholic"

* Delia Gallagher, CNN "Catholic journal criticizes Trump 'value voters'"
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/pope-advisers-trump-supporters/index.html

* No author, National Catholic Register (CNA/EWTN) "Jesuit Publication Criticizes Evangelical-Catholic Alliance in US"
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/jesuit-publication-criticizes-evangelical-c...

* Gerard O'Connell, America "Exclusive interview: Antonio Spadaro on his article about ‘The Ecumenism of Hate’ in the U.S."
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/07/14/exclusive-interview-antonio-spa...

* Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart "Papal Advisers Bash American Christians in Bigoted Screed"
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/14/papal-adviser-bashes-american...

* Rod Dreher in the American Conservative
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/top-papal-adviser-ecumenism-of-hat...

* Carol Kuruvilla, HuffPost "Pope’s Confidantes Pen Blistering Critique Of Steve Bannon’s View of Christianity"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/popes-confidantes-pen-blistering-critique-of...

My views to follow, of course.

Is there anything new here? I thought the unholy alliance between right wing Catholics and evangelicals was pretty common knowledge.

I can still recall flicking through the satellite TV stations in Nairobi maybe fifteen years ago and finding a US televangelist who had previously considered the pope to be the anti-Christ who was now basically saying that the pope (John Paul II if I remember rightly) was actually a pretty decent bloke who should be welcomed as an ally because he was against abortion and gays.

>2 John5918:

Heh. What's new here is that it's being said out loud by someone so close to the Pope.

In the US, the rule has been to treat these Catholics as piously motivated--their views arising from and being fundamentally about their religious views. Even the left tends to focus on this, their explanation. But it's more complicated than that.

The election of Trump has really laid the relationship between faith and politics bare for both Catholics and Protestants. Trump's religious faith is a sickening, hypocritical sham. His personal character is more deeply and unapologetically depraved than that of any of the liberals the religious right so long condemned. He hasn't actually moved on any of the big morality issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) the religious right said it cared about. He cozied up to Russia, which holds the local Catholic church in contempt, and recently criminalized Protestant evangelism. And for all his talk about religious liberty, his policies are deporting Iraqi Christians to persecution and preventing persecuted ones from fleeing.

Against all this we have a hostility to immigrants, uppity women, Muslims and the media. And the religious right enthusiastically chooses that.

>2 John5918: anything new here?

It's great to see some high-level pushback. Those of us in the pews were feeling increasing pressure to vote R, and there's even talk of allowing direct mention of candidates in the pulpit without risk of losing tax-free status--not that IRS has ever been active on that front.

I can't access the original article, but NCR's "FINALLY" captures my feelings--it even mentions former pastor whose positions on remarriage, etc., finally proved too much for me. Too bad, he actually gave rather smart sermons.

A Vatican Shot Across the Bow for Hard-Line U.S. Catholics
JASON HOROWITZ | AUG. 2, 2017

...Not long after Francis’ election, Vatican ambassadors briefed the pontiff about various situations around the world and suggested that he be especially careful when appointing bishops and cardinals in the United States.

“I know that already,” the pope interrupted, according to a high-ranking Vatican official familiar with the details of the conversation, who asked that his name not be used while discussing internal Vatican deliberations. “That’s where the opposition is coming from.”

The Vatican declined to comment about the conversation...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/europe/vatican-us-catholic-conservative...

The related "Catholic converts" skirmish has been shut down by John Allen.

https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2017/08/14/editors-note-crux-announces-a-new-prim...

Personally, I find the concept of "convert neurosis" useful.

One might similarly point out the problems inherit in inheriting a faith. National and communal identity too easily trumps commitment, and then, as in the contemporary west, someone wakes up and realizes you can be Belgian or Irish without being Catholic, and since they didn't really believe much of anything… their Catholicism vanishes like mist.

Either way, there's a difference between identifying a sociological fact and targeting people.

>6 timspalding:

I read this article and I have to confess I couldn't really fathom what it was all about. Maybe you have to be a regular reader of that website to understand the context?

From twitter, I understand that few critics have read the book before passing judgment.

I called for Christians to love gay people. Now the Catholic alt-right is taking revenge.
James Martin | September 21, 2017

...my book, “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.”

Now, in the past few weeks, three lectures I was invited to have been canceled, and I have been targeted by some far-right groups whose actions betray a level of homophobia that is hard to fathom. These groups, a kind of Catholic alt-right, are increasingly attempting to substitute themselves for legitimate Church authority by passing judgments on which Catholics are orthodox and which are not. “Heresy” is a word they use as frequently as “and” and “the.”

As I was writing the book, I knew that it would be a somewhat controversial topic, even though I was careful to stay well within the bounds of Church teaching. My reflections, which can be summarized as a call for respect on both sides, were based on the gospel, and on the Catechism’s call for the Church to treat “homosexual persons” with “respect, compassion and sensitivity.” As with all my books, I sought the formal ecclesial approval of my Jesuit superiors, who vetted my what would become “Building a Bridge.” Perhaps to the disappointment of some critics, it is about dialogue and prayer, not about sexual morality or the sexual practices of LGBT people. On sexual matters, the LGBT community and the institutional church are simply too far apart at this moment. So, I decided to focus, intentionally, on possible areas of commonality, to help encourage dialogue.

...The vast majority of people have responded positively, both in person and online. To take just two examples, a talk at St. Cecelia’s Church in Boston drew a crowd of about 700 people; the same number appeared at a talk at Villanova University. Two cardinals, including a high-ranking Vatican official, as well as an archbishop and three bishops have endorsed the book. And people in the pews, especially LGBT Catholics and their parents, have told me that they are grateful that a priest is raising this topic. Many of these conversations have transpired through tears. Just this week, a young woman started crying and, before she could tell me about her gay brother, threw her arms around me. This makes any backlash worth it.

But the backlash from the far right is more intense than anticipated. I’ve been accused of heresy, ridiculously, by some critics (I’m not contradicting any revealed truths); there have been over-the-top condemnations (I should be removed from the priesthood) and name-calling that I thought was confined to 1950s playgrounds (faggot, fairy, pansy and worse.) Here’s a quote from a letter received just this week: “You’re leading souls to hell where you will surely reside in a few years.” Interestingly, that the entire second half of the book is a reflection on various biblical passages and an invitation to prayer seems to be of no interest to them; perhaps they feel that LGBT people do not, and should not, have access to the Holy Spirit...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/21/i-called-for-ch...