Pope John Paul II's New America: Ecclesia in America: Fr. Neuhaus should withdraw his Book by Mark and Louise Zwick [page 1 of 2]
Fr. Richard Neuhaus, a proponent of neoconservative economics (known as neoliberalism in Latin America and most of the rest of the world), has written a book that can only be considered a counter document to that of Pope John Paul II and the Bishops of America which was presented as the closing statement, the Apostolic Exhortation, of the Synod of America late in January. The view of the Synod presented in Fr. Neuhaus' book, which he rushed to press before the official response, presents a view shockingly different from that of the Holy Father. Now we have two documents, the Holy Father's Ecclesia in America, and Fr. Neuhaus' book, Appointment in Rome. Take your choice: they are very different. Long Awaited Document Many months had passed since the Synod of America in Rome and many awaited the publication of its outcome with great hope. Pope John Paul II had called the Synod to address, "as part of the New Evangelization and as an expression of episcopal communion," the "issues of justice and of international economic relations, in view of the enormous gap between North and South" (No. 2). This was a very special synod, one that would seek to bring unity throughout the various countries of America. What would the document say? We at Casa Juan Diego, the Houston Catholic Worker, were very interested in the report. Each day we receive desperate immigrants from the countries to the South. Each day we hear stories from very poor people who worked in plants in Latin America which belong to companies in the United States or other wealthy countries. They cannot pay the rent, feed their children, and send them to school. Or they may have had a small business which was forced to close because of "free trade" policies favoring huge international companies. Or they worked in comercio ambulante, selling things in the street, and their customers no longer had any money to buy their products. We hoped the Bishops of America (North and South) in the Church of Matthew 25 and John 6 would be sympathetic. Ecclesia in America, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Holy Father John Paul II: Encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: the Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America, goes beyond our wildest expectations. The heart of the document is similar to the thought and writings of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, which were given theological expression by Fr. John Hugo. The unity of Catholic faith and life, the radical following of the Gospel and Catholic social teaching espoused by Dorothy and Peter is expressed here in this official Church document and applied to the reality of America today. Ecclesia in America is about radical discipleship as the fruit of a "fresh, authentic," encounter with Christ, leading to conversion, communion and solidarity with the outcast, the poor, the marginalized, the weakest in society, including the unborn. In the document the Holy Father emphasizes four places where we encounter Christ: 1) through Mary, and for America, especially our Lady of Guadalupe, 2) in Sacred Scripture read in the light of Tradition, the Fathers of the Church and the Magisterium and more deeply understood through meditation and prayer, 3) in the Sacred Liturgy and the Sacraments of the Church 4) in the persons, especially the poor, "in whom Christ is mysteriously present" (Matthew 25). (No. 12). We were delighted to see in Ecclesia in America the insistence that Catholics live out their faith day by day, giving up all to follow Jesus, changing unjust structures, living lives very different from those marked by the consumerism and comfort-seeking so prevalent today as an integral part of our culture, trying to build a civilization of love in which the incredible dignity of every human person is respected. Then we saw Fr. Neuhaus' comments in interviews and his book, Appointment in Rome, published by Crossroad. We could not believe he was speaking of the same Synod. Who is Fr. Neuhaus? The Catholics of the United States were very proud when Reverend Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent Lutheran pastor, became a Roman Catholic and shortly thereafter became a priest for the Archdiocese of New York. Fr. N. (Neuhaus) ranks with the great U.S. Catholic converts, Isaac Hecker, Orestes Bronson and Clare Booth Luce of Time magazine Luce. He is a brilliant writer and speaker and within a short time after ordination became a spokesperson for the U.S. Catholic Church. He emerged as a very powerful figure with friends in high places, which has lifelong Catholics standing in awe and admiration, or possibly, at times, envy. Problem Fr. N. launched a new magazine called First Things shortly after he joined the Church. Circulation of this magazine grew very rapidly. We were so proud when a Jewish friend of ours was bragging about his wife who wrote for the magazine. We had only known a few famous people, like Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward. It was in reading this successful magazine that we began to see cracks in the façade of this very reputable convert. We did not fault Fr. N. too much, because we knew he was a convert and Catholicism takes time to integrate. We noticed that in his anxiety to focus on First Things as a Catholic, he neglected to focus on the Last Things, especially the famous Judgement Day scene where Jesus tells us that what we are going to be judged on at our death is the way we respond to his presence in the poor: "What you did to the least of my brethren, you did to me" (Matthew 25:31 ff.) We, of course, always agreed with Fr. N. that socialism and Communism were not the answers to the world's problems. However, we knew from the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church that the poor, the marginated, the outcast, as Pope John Paul II has stated so often, must not be neglected Stark Differences in Two Publications. The idea of Matthew 25, Jesus in the poor, solidarity with those most in need, is one of the major themes of the Synod report, Ecclesia in America. It does not appear at all in Fr. Neuhaus' book, Appointment in Rome. To have missed such a major theme from a Synod is quite surprising. It is an indication, in fact, that Fr. N. missed a lot at the Synod. One prominent Cardinal, upon reading the book, wondered if he was at the same Synod. At first glance it would appear to be his Protestant background that led Fr. N. to subtitle his book "The Church in America Awakening." This phrase brings to mind immediately the "Great Awakening," the fundamentalist revival movement of the nineteenth century in the United States-and exactly this is held up as a model for the Catholic Church in Fr. N's book. While it is well known that he would fall into the theological group known as Americanists, it was still a shock to discover that in seeking an historical reference for what the Synod might hope to accomplish in a spiritual awakening, Fr. N.'s first image is not even that of the fundamentalist evangelicalism which he celebrates throughout the book, but that of the American Revolution. In contrast to Fr. N.'s revolution against the British, Ecclesia in America presents as examples the saints and martyrs of the many countries of America and asks that a book be prepared of those inspired lives. Dualisms One of the bitter fruits of the Reformation was a separation of faith and life, of faith and economics, which gave birth to the Adam Smiths and laissez-faire capitalism and promoted a deism which placed God outside of everyday life. Perhaps because of his background, Fr. N. has attached himself to the thought of John Courtney Murray, S.J., who, with the best of intentions, exacerbated the dualism between faith and everyday life, faith and economics, faith and education, faith and culture which has plagued Christianity since the reformation. This theological dualism, in an attempt to relieve the tension between faith and life in a pluralistic society, actually separates them, enshrining the so-called neutrality of the state, privatizing faith and thus inhibiting any attempt to build the "civilization of love" so persistently called for by the last two Popes. Beginning with the American Revolution and speaking of freedom as defined by the U.S. Constitution, Fr. N. emphasizes throughout his book "freedom from" coercion and "freedom for" the creativity of capitalism. He quotes Murray several times in the book regarding pluralism as being written into the script of history, but entirely misses the great theme of the Synod about evangelizing the secularized sectors of society, the culture, politics, professions, the economy (Nos. 10, 44, 67). While Fr. N. nods to "transforming the culture," he ridicules Latin American Bishops who ask that the economy be evangelized. Fr. N. speaks a lot about freedom and responsibility in his book, but endorses an economic system where the vast majority, especially in Latin America, are not free at all. Factories of U. S. companies in Latin America pay slave wages and people work under terrible conditions. Governments of wealthy nations enshrine more laws each day to the detriment of workers, in the name of "free" trade and the global economy through institutions such as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. Interestingly enough, economics touted as the "free" market and "free" trade is not free, but tightly controlled by governments and international institutions. Goods of all kinds cross borders, middle class people cross borders, and companies cross borders to take advantage of slave labor while the workers who produce the goods are closed in behind barbed wire, unable to cross. Fr. N. recommends the U.S. economic system as one of fairness and freedom to the Bishops, without admitting that the School of the Americas, where so many Latin American soldiers were trained to torture and kill their people, is an integral part of that system. He does not mention that these soldiers are used to undercut labor organizing and workers' rights in the countries to the south. He does not raise the question of how Catholics who receive large stock bonuses off the backs of those who work for slave wages can continue to receive the Eucharist. This is dualism of the first water. The dualisms that separate life and economics from faith which, perhaps unwittingly, appear in Fr. N.'s book, are firmly rejected in Ecclesia in America. John Paul II states strongly that "There is no authentic and stable democracy without social justice." Cotton Mather placed on same level as Juan Diego Fr. N. might have chosen Juan Diego as saint and prophet for us to emulate for the one America. The Holy Father did so when he presented Ecclesia in America and proclaimed December 12 a great feast in all America, reminding us that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Queen and Patroness of all America, the Star of the New Evangelization, "her mestiza face the perfect inculturation of the Gospel" (No.11, No.70). Instead, Fr. N. described the Synod as a meeting, a dialogue between Cotton Mather and Juan Diego, apparently placing them on the same level (p. 16). Cotton Mather, the Puritan minister in Boston who helped inspire the Salem witch trials, died in 1728. Ultimately, the book comes down on the side of Cotton Mather, with an insistence that Catholics must adapt to his values in economics and evangelization. Fr. Neuhaus as Calvinist Fr. N. cannot be faulted too much for his neglect of Matthew 25 and the Beatitudes. He was raised and was active for most of his adult life in the American Protestant milieu where Matthew 25 does not dominate as a Gospel value, but Calvinism does. According to Cardinal George of Chicago, many Catholics are also influenced by Calvinism. Some are Catholic Calvinists-even some who come from families where Catholicism has been practiced for generations. This religious thinking says that if you work hard, God will reward you materially. Better yet, material success is a sign of God's blessing. Fr. N. apparently believes that Calvinism is the answer for Latin American countries. Amazingly, he suggests that their economic problems might be blamed on the Latin American Catholic Church because of its lack of Calvinism. He recommends to the Church that it cultivate the Protestant ethic described by Max Weber: "What the Catholic Church can do to cultivate attitudes and practices supportive of economic enterprise is immense. Many years ago, Max Weber wrote about the connections between capitalism and 'the Protestant ethic,' and observers today note that Protestant missionary activity in Latin America is typically accompanied by a dramatic increase in economic enterprise" (Appointment in Rome, p. 84). This Calvinistic thinking permeates our culture, in places where we may not even be aware of it. One of the most popular books of our children's literature in the United States is a perfect example. The Little Engine that Could inculcates the idea that if you work hard and think hard you can overcome any obstacle. When Louise worked at the Houston Public Library as a specialist in Spanish-language children's literature, she was pestered by a CEO who insisted on having a comparable story from the folklore of Latin America or an original story in Spanish with this theme. He wanted to use it to teach Mexican American employees of the greatness of the work ethic. Louise could not convince him that it did not exist in children's literature in Spanish. Hispanic literature is not Calvinistic. Calvinism has worked for CEO's, including Catholic CEO's, many of whom receive millions of dollars in pay (a hundred fold) but it does not work for most Hispanics and others from Third World countries. Take Maria Elena, for example. Maria Elena, age 15, tried the CEO's Calvinism and capitalism where she worked sewing shirts for the GAP company in El Salvador. She wanted desperately to rise out of poverty and have a better life for her family. She worked hard, always over 60 hours a week, thought hard and even prayed hard, like the popular American children's story, The Little Engine that Could. In this children's book a little engine couldn't make it over a sharp incline, but kept thinking positively and repeating, "I think I can," "I think I can..," and finally made it. Maria Elena tried and tried to make it, never missing work, always arriving on time, always obeying her supervisor and only going to the bathroom once in the morning and once in the afternoon (she practiced pure Calvinism), but the company would not pay her enough to live on. Her family lived on the margin of human existence. She felt especially bad that the GAP company sold the shirt she made for $25.00, whereas she was paid $0.16 to make it. So many Maria Elenas have come to Casa Juan Diego in the hope of earning a few dollars to send home so that their families can actually eat and go to school. Calvinism is deeply ingrained in the American dream. Being a new Catholic, Fr. N. may not be familiar with the list of sins that cry to heaven for vengeance, one of which is "depriving a person of his wages." Because Americans believe that everyone can practice Calvinism, slave wages outrage no one, not even a priest. Michael Novak, whose work is cited in the book as a key to making Catholicism compatible with U. S.-style capitalism, has stated that it is sinful for those who work for slave wages to complain about this disparity in salaries, since the sin of envy was condemned in the book of Deuteronomy. Another well-respected priest, Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J., defends slave wages as being better than no wages. He may not understand that neoconservative "free trade" policies have squeezed out so many small businesses that it may be true that there are no other jobs. Fr. N. and Encyclicals We thought we saw shades of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in Fr. N. when we first ran across him, because of his custom of quoting encyclicals. However, we observed that for years he quoted only one encyclical (Centesimus Annus), and then very limited parts of it, in order to speak in favor of neoliberal/neoconservative economics. Fr. N. dedicates several pages in this book to his interpretation of Centesimus Annus (C.A. is referenced 11 times in the index) and has made frequent references to it in his interviews about the Synod, chastising the Bishops for not emphasizing it there. Contradicts Pope Catholic neoconservatives claim, on the one hand, to be the only true interpreters of the pontificate of John Paul II, but on the other hand, much of what they stand for is contrary to Catholic social teaching. Appointment in Rome is not the first place that Fr. N. has directly contradicted the Pope's teaching. In order to enact justice, Centesimus Annus asks for a change "in established lifestyles in order to limit the waste of environmental and human resources." According to Fr. N's published statements, this was "a throwaway line," in the encyclical, "a vestigial rhetorical fragment that somehow wandered into the text"-therefore to be ignored. Fr. N. and his friends Michael Novak, George Weigel and libertarian Fr. Robert Sirico have published extensively in support of their economics by quoting only two or three paragraphs of Centesimus Annus, leaving aside all its concern for the "global Common Good and the exercise of "economic and social rights."  |
