John Allen skriver i sin ukentlige spalte at det aller viktigste for Kirken de siste årene har vært å styrke sin identitet. Her har liturgien vært hovedpunktet (samsvarende med det jeg har skrevet mye om i det siste), og så skriver han en del om Kikens sosiale engasjement – som må sansvare med Kirkens lære.
Without a doubt, the push for robust assertion of traditional Catholic identity is the most consequential mega-trend in the life of the church today, and it is also the core of Benedict XVI’s agenda as pope. Emboldened by the election of John Paul II in 1978, the identity wave hit the arena of liturgy first, then went on to engulf Catholic education, Catholic media, priestly identity and formation, religious orders, and virtually every other sphere of ecclesiastical life.
Most recently, identity pressures are beginning to swell among church-run charities and social service agencies. It may well be here that the irresistible force of the Catholic identity movement runs most explosively into the immovable object of secular expectations and the civil law.
Recent days have made clear who the Vatican’s point man on the Catholic identity of church-run charities is going to be: Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, the 73-year-old German president of the Pontifical Council «Cor Unum.»
Cordes was the main drafter of the second section of Pope Benedict XVI’s December 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est, which dealt with the institutional dynamics of Catholic charities, and his elevation as a cardinal last November was a clear sign of papal support and gratitude. He was on the public stage in Rome again this week, presenting the pope’s message for Lent, which focuses this year on giving alms.
In the brief message, Benedict encourages giving aid without fanfare as a gift of self. He argues that countries with a Christian majority have a special responsibility, and says that aiding the poor «is a duty of justice even prior to being an act of charity.»
It was Cordes’ comments on Catholic charities and secularization, however, in a Tuesday press conference devoted to the Lenten message, which carried the greatest news value.
I asked Cordes about a current case in Colorado, where a proposed measure before the state legislature would bar church-run charities that receive public funding from hiring and firing personnel on the basis of their religious convictions. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has threatened to end the services provided by Catholic charities rather than comply.
Faced with such a question, the normal maneuver for a Vatican official would be to say that he doesn’t want to get into specific cases, remaining on the level of general principles. Cordes, however, did not mince words in endorsing Chaput’s action: «This bishop is doing the right thing,» he said. (Speaking in Italian, Cordes’ precise words were, «questo vescovo fa bene.»)