Moral Perspectives in America Gerry OShea
The clear
division between the traditionalists and progressives in the American Catholic
Church has become more glaring during the last few decades. A more
free-thinking membership has largely supplanted the old-time religion involving
weekly attendance at mass and regular confession of sins to a priest.
In my Yonkers
neighborhood stretching along McLean Avenue from Broadway on the west to Bronx
River Rd., which is still populated by large numbers of emigrants from Ireland,
three Catholic schools have been closed in the last few years, and the number
of people attending weekly mass has dropped dramatically from just a generation
ago.
A 2022 Pew
Research Center survey highlights a major difference between Catholics
identifying themselves as supporters of the Republican and Democratic parties.
82% of Catholics who are Democrats feel that global climate change presents a
serious moral problem, while among Republican Catholics, only a quarter of the
respondents fear the consequences of continuing current environmental policies.
Eight years
ago, Pope Francis made history by addressing a so-called secular topic of global
warming in “Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home,” an encyclical dealing
with the environmental crisis and our collective moral responsibility to meet
the momentous challenges presented by the over-heating of the earth and the
pollution of our waterways.
In October
of this year, the pope focused on the abysmal progress made in confronting
these vital issues during the intervening years. He rang a loud bell, screaming
for action: “I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while
the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”
These dire words come from Francis’ most recent letter, “Laudate Deum:
Praise God.”
His stark
assessment is fully justified. Oil and Gas Company profits are flying high, and
the lucky executives and shareholders in these companies are stacking up their
bank accounts. At the same time, the impact of their dangerous actions is
particularly devastating for poor countries. The pope continues to plead for an
urgent planned transition to clean energy sources such as wind and solar can provide,
but progress – to put it mildly – is painfully slow.
Francis has identified vocal conservative
Catholics in the United States as among the most persistent critics of his
papacy. Last summer, he called out “a very strong organized reactionary
attitude” in the US Catholic Church. Using diplomatic language, he cautioned
the American hierarchy that “backwardness is useless.”
After the
recent publication of “Laudate Deum,” Jay Richards, who directs the De Vos
Center for Life, Religion and Family at the super-conservative Heritage
Foundation, commented on X (formerly Twitter) that “the pope has no particular
insight or authority when it comes to the many questions related to climate
change and his published views on the science are easy to dispute, and in some
cases just wrong.”
Most
Catholic pro-life activists who led the fight for decades to end the Roe v Wade
decision are not showing in the climate change controversies. The strong moral
light that engaged the religious sensitivities of so many among the hierarchy
and laity on the abortion issue has not transferred to damaging policies on the
environment, which the pope correctly identifies as equally pro-life.
Francis
pleads with young people to take up the urgent challenges associated with decarbonizing
the planet. “It is said that you are the future, but in these matters, you are
the present.”
Why do we
not hear this powerful plea from our pulpits? The American hierarchy is far
more in tune with the Heritage crowd, but the parish priests must have heard
the pope’s urgent moral plea that the world is in crisis. Life on earth has
been evolving for nearly four billion years, but only in the last century has
it become clear that human behavior is worsening the chances of our continuing survival.
Kamala
Harris changed her views on the economic and ethical aspects of fracking a few
years before she was selected as the Democratic candidate for the presidency.
An ambitious woman, she was responding to pressure from powerful oil and gas interests
and calculated that changing to a pro-fracking position would enhance her
chances of winning a national election, especially in gas-rich Pennsylvania.
Her opponent,
Donald Trump, made no bones about where he stood: Drill, Baby, Drill. The many
voters who see the crucial importance of environmental issues had to decide
between the Republican candidate who dubbed climate warming a “great scam” and
a Democrat who changed her mind on a matter of great consequence to a
burgeoning minority of American voters.
In taking the side of the frackers, because
there is no half-way house on this ethical subject, Ms. Harris was disregarding
the pleas of environmentalists who warned of the damage that this process does
by seriously polluting local water supplies as well as befouling the air.
She lost Pennsylvania. We can only speculate
about the results in that state and nationwide if she stuck by her earlier principled
convictions. Reneging on a crucial issue conveys a sense of immaturity and lack
of moral backbone, which hurt her image and performance at the polls.
We know that 1.9 million self-identified
Democrats who voted for Biden in the last election stayed home this time, and
400,000 of those were registered in the swing states. Harris lost Pennsylvania
by around 22,000 votes.
Back to the
impact of the Christian churches on another major issue, the treatment of
immigrants. President-elect Trump promised to clamp down on immigrants and
deport them by the million. In his campaign, he did not hide his disdain and
disregard for foreigners, especially for immigrants from Middle and South
America as well as African countries.
In one case that got widespread coverage, he gave
credence to a wild claim that Haitians, legally in the United States, were so
barbaric that they were seen eating the pet dogs and cats of residents in an
Ohio town.
Amazingly, Trump’s
biggest supporters for his cruel and racist policies in this area come from the
large fundamentalist Christian community as well as from the plenitude of right-wing
Catholics who all cheer on this populist rigmarole.
Now, you
can’t turn a page in the bible without reading strong admonitions about the
treatment of foreigners. “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do
not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your
native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the
LORD your GOD.” Leviticus 19:33-34.
One more
clear biblical instruction from Deuteronomy 10:19 that leaves no doubt about the
obligations of Christians. “And you are to love those who are foreigners, for
you yourself were foreigners in Egypt.”
This is a mind-blowing
dimension of modern American morality involving many of the most devout
Christians, bible readers, and churchgoers who support policies that denigrate
and disrespect vulnerable immigrants and their families.
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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