For Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, the Church’s ongoing battle for religious freedom in America highlights the need for Catholics to bring their faith into the public square.
In his latest book, the cardinal challenges lay Catholics to participate in the New Evangelization through their daily activities, a task that he describes as particularly important in a democratic society like that in the United States.
Cardinal Wuerl told CNA that the Obama administration’s contraception mandate illustrates an “erosion of religious liberty” that is “one of the most worrisome” challenges ever faced by our nation.
“Never before in the history of our country have we been told you can’t participate in the good works of the common good unless you violate your conscience,” he said.
He asserted that the Church’s ability to serve is being threatened by the HHS mandate, which would require employers to offer health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so is in violation of their firmly held religious beliefs.
At the heart of the problem is the government’s attempt to “define what constitutes legitimate expressions of religious faith, Catholic ministry and Catholic ministers,” he said.
The cardinal warned that Catholics must not sit by while their freedom to express their faith is under attack. He encouraged Americans to “speak up” about the mandate and other important issues, explaining that when they do the government hears them and often institutes change.
The connection between Catholic faith and public life is a central theme in the cardinal’s new book, Seek First the Kingdom: Challenging the Culture by Living Our Catholic Faith.
He writes in his book that all those who live in a democracy have a duty to participate in the political processes that elect public officials and develop public policy.
For Catholics, this means bringing their principles and values into the public forum. The convictions of one’s faith should impact his or her public-policy views “because the same person who is a citizen is also, for the most part, a believer, a participant in the life of the Church,” he said.
Unfortunately, Cardinal Wuerl observed, religion’s contribution and place in society are largely dismissed today.
The often-cited principle of “separation of church and state” was not intended to remove religious values from political life, but rather to protect religious freedom in order “to ensure that the voice of religious conviction would always be felt in our society,” he said.
People forget that the Catholic Church has had a place serving the common good for centuries, since “before there was even a Democratic or Republican Party,” he added.
Cardinal Wuerl explained that defending the Church’s fundamental freedoms is one of the ways Catholics can respond to God’s call to manifest his Kingdom in their lives as citizens.
“It is precisely in the day-to-day activities, whether it involves our family, our profession, our work or our ministry, that the presence of the Kingdom is realized,” he said.
With his latest book, the cardinal hopes to encourage the lay faithful “in their vocation to bring about the evangelization and sanctification of the temporal order.”
“The Catholic laity have a role in carrying out the work of the Church and responding to Jesus’ commissioning that we are all to be his witnesses,” he said.
He pointed to Pope Benedict’s call for a New Evangelization and said this makes it an “appropriate time” to highlight the laity’s role in responding to Christ’s commission to witness to the world.
Participating in the New Evangelization, he explained, requires “a deepening of our own faith, a renewing of our confidence in the truth of our faith, and then the outreach of sharing our faith.”
It also means responding to the “great need today to reach out to Catholics who have drifted away from the faith,” he said.
The cardinal called on Christians to resist the temptation to get lost in a world that is becoming “increasingly secular” and to “see in our daily actions the spiritual dimension that is intricately a part of them as we do our part to manifest God’s Kingdom among us.”
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With all due respect to the cardinal, does this strike anyone else as way too cerebral to be effective? Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with His Eminence on these matters. He is absolutely right. I just don’t think saying it is going to change the culture one whit.
Again, all due respect, but one man’s opinion is that we need to hear more about PENANCE and CONVERSION, or maybe even SIN. The types of arguments outlined above are great for theology on tap, or for seminary rap sessions, but I think we need to target America’s plumbers when formulating these policy approaches. Just close your eyes, imagine that you’re talking to a plumber, and then go - evangelize away.
Hey, just one man’s opinion.
Anyone find this funny, considering his treatment of the priest who denied the lesbian activist/Buddhist Communion?
It seems to me that bringing one’s Faith to the public square is also the responsibility of the bishops. The bishops have a greater responsibilty to defend the Magisterium and when they chose not to, they give scandal to their office. Cardinal Wuerl is saddled with a city of politicians, among them many who ignore or openly challenge the Faith. Openly stating that he will not use Canon 915 also gives great scandal. His recent rebuke of a priest for denying Communion to a lesbian is more of the same. Perhaps he should retire and write books and allow another to take his place.
Sorry, but until Cardinal Wuerl PUBLICLY EXCOMMUNICATES NANCY PELOSI, JOHN KERRY, CLAIRE MCCASKILL, TOM HARKIN, JOE BIDEN, KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, and every other “Catholic” politician who commit sacrilegious Communions EVERY SUNDAY in Washington, his words are utterly meaningless!
Cardinal Wuerl: You and your archdiocese publicly rebuked a courageous priest who protected the Body and Blood of Christ from profanation and desecration by denying Communion to a LESBIAN BUDDHIST! You apologized to the LESBIAN BUDDHIST and humiliated and FIRED your FELLOW PRIEST for doing what you, as a BISHOP should be doing on a daily basis!
Where were you, Cardinal, when this anti-Catholic lesbian agitator deliberately set up Fr. Marcel? How dare you treat such a heroic, faithful “alter Christus” in such an abominable manner?
“If you stand up for Me before men, I will up for you before the Father. If you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father.”
How many Catholics will even listen to this Cardinal that says one thing that is right, but, doesn’t even care about Jesus being treated with contempt by pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politicians and Buddhist following lesbians in his own diocese, but, instead, will allow his Bishop to mistreat, attack and suspend a very Holy Priest doing what the Bishop is so afraid of doing: denying Holy Communion to one in grave, mortal sin? +JMJ+ p.s.: bet this doesn’t get posted.
Cardinal Wuerl is spot on and we the faithful need to follow his suggestions BUT Cardinal Wuerl should focus his suggestions LOUDLY at his fellow Cardinals and Bishops because they don’t seem to be getting the message. Troops don’t lead themselves into battle, the generals lead the troops. If the generals are not willing to come out to the battlefield, the was is lost.
I agree with AF Zamarro. One of the problems with the Catholic Church is theologically, they are great at levels 2, 3, 4 but fail miserably at level 1, where the laity are. The other problem is that they only allow those in the hierarchy or clergy or permanent deacons to preach to the people - kind of like the pharisees and scribes with whom Jesus got in their face all the time. Jesus chose fisherman, tax collectors, etc to be the first apostles. He did not choose even one pharisee. My point? There are some of us laymen called to evangelize that have been brought through hell on earth by the grace of God and have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit such as exhortation that can reach the laity more effectively than any clergy, but the Church puts a bit in our mouths and the ordained continue to miserably be ineffective. I have walked with Jesus for 34 years. He first crushed me in the furnace of humiliation, then allowed me to suffer everything that Job suffered including skin cancer without medical insurance, allowed me to be betrayed by those that professed love for me, and much more. He even allowed the demonic to get a piece of me but led me into a Catholic Covenant Healing Community where I received ministry - inner healing and deliverance and then went on to be counseled by a Catholic psychologist, recognizing that it is The Lord that heals. The Hierarchy of the Catholic and the clergy just don’t get it. And they will never be able to wake up the dead in the pews with the same result as a layman that has been saved from either jail or hell by God Himself. Unity? There is none among the Hierarchy but there is apostacy that continues to be tolerated. What’s it going to take to really allow some gifted laity that the Holy Spirit has chosen to effectively evangelize? What is it going to take???
Sadly, the net effect of the faith the Cardinal brings to the public square is a minus. The real story that needs to be told is why in the world is Wuerl not still in Pittsburgh!!!
Jim Conrad, no one is stopping you from “preaching”. Just not from the pulpit in church. You are not ordained. Accept it. But it sounds as if you have gifts to be shared in other ways. We have in our parish lots of lay people who have turned their love for God and His truth into action. I see them talking of their faith to others at every opportunity. They join in pro-life functions and counseling. They help in RCIA, religious education, and as lectors. They bring Holy Communion to the sick and stay and talk and listen to them. And on and on. I wish you well.
To:Kmbold
I was not referring to “the pulpit” and I am boldly involved in pro-life warfare, proclaiming the word as lector, certified as Eucharistic minister,but in general see a reluctance on the part of clergy to use my witness as well as what the Spirit has taught me over 34 years in such venues as Mission, etc. So, please don’t get self-righteous or cocky with me by saying “get over it”. There is a serious shortage of priests and we have both JohnPaulII and BenedictXVI saying the samme thing - get the laity involved. I’m just venting a frustration, in part because the majority of our clergy don’t discern the gifts of the Spirit in their own parish. A friend of mine that heard me speak at a men’s conference approached the parochial vicar at our parish and raved about the gift of exhortation that God gave me and the priests response was “good for him”. I didn’t even know my friend was going to do that but he wasn’t happy with the priests response. I know God will open the doors He wants and in the meantime, I listen and minister to individuals that He puts in my path. The caring and listening are the most important. God Bless!
As catholics we really need to practice obedience. When a bishop gives us advice, just acting in obedience to it gives us grace that could move mountains…why would we complain. Bad enough that athiests, liberals, and our own presidemt is against us. We should try to remember we are on the same team.
What unutterable hypocrisy. That he should have the effrontery to speak about “defending the culture” while treating shamefully a priest in his diocese - whose only crime was to uphold the sacredness of the Sacrament - is simply beyond belief.
The Cardinal’s words are a very bad joke indeed.
Cardinal Wuerl, I too am frustrated with the Catholic hierarchy in the United States. I just received from my bishop the pamphlet “In the Voting Booth.” c. 2012.It is mostly confusing and ambiguous. If I were a bishop, I would simply proclaim,“Vote for pro life and pro marriage politicians.” Suddenly the Church in the U.S. would be changed for the better, abortion would begin to disappear, and marriage would remain between a man and a woman. I am praying for you!
The Cardinal had lost all credibility. Hopefully, for the good of the Church, he is beyond age to vote in the next papal election.
Our Baptism and Confirmation gives us the ability.
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