Matt Archbold, Religious Liberty, and What to Emulate

He does good work, he's ubiquitous where it counts in the culture wars, and he's a darn sight more popular a blogger than I am.  But he's got me worried.

So this piece, 8 Reasons Catholics are the Worst Protesters, raised some interesting points. It also said this:

You ever see the Occupy Wall Street protests? Those folks are angry. I mean spittin' mad. Catholics aren't really good at anger. You ever been to a pro-life March? There's more smiles and sing alongs than at a Barry Manilow concert. Occupy Wall Streeters are liable to bum rush a police station. Catholics pray the Stations of the Cross. I just can't imagine Bishop Lori turning over a Chevy Volt in protest, can you? You get that on YouTube and you've got a viral hit on your hands, my friend. Come on, Detroit Red Wings fans turn over cars when their team wins a playoff game and we won't do it when Obama torches the Constitution? I'm not saying we should. I'm just saying that we should maybe act like we're ready to. Let's make the administration remember who invented the Crusades and the Inquisition, punk.

Of all the people Catholics could and should think of looking up to, Occupy Wall Street just isn't it.  And we don't usually make up songs about how "they will know we are Christian by our anger, by our anger!  They will know we are Christians by our anger!"



I don't want to see Bishop Lori overturning a Chevy Volt or even beginning to look like he might.  I don't want Catholics acting as though we're ready to start reigniting the Crusades and the Inquisition right now, especially in this politically charged climate, especially after the development of a remarkably comprehensive and sophisticated apparatus at the service of the US government for combating international organizations, motivated by religion, that it deems a threat.  This already makes me nervous enough:

God bless the filmmakers for commemorating the Mexican persecution of Catholics, but I wish this wasn't coming out this year.  Early last year?  Fine!  Great!  But this year?  We're getting remarkably close to the point where all it takes is for someone to do something stupid, and the world takes a nasty turn for the worst.

Who do I think we should emulate and remember?  I agree with Matt Archbold that we should take our cues from the early Roman martyrs.  I also think that American Catholics need to do a serious rereading of the life and work of Servant of God Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin right about now.  You want some sterling examples of true Christian witness in the face of government action?  Look at those two.

There's also this bit from Archbold's piece:

We're not all Bill Donohue. Look, there's a reason Donohue is da' man. He knows what he wants to say, he narrows his points, and he gets them out fast and furious with all the subtlety of brass knuckles. When many Catholics are asked why we're protesting we get dragged into verbose theological marathons and some of us even tend to drop Latin phrases on people. (You know who you are.) Bill Donohue doesn't do Latin phrases. He's hardly polysyllabic. He speaks to be understood and he wins the fight. He's good at it. Most of us are not. While Bill Donohue's busy shanking the biggest guy in the prison yard most Catholics are still offering free cigs to anyone in gen-pop who promises not to violate them. Be more like Bill.

Donohue would help us all a great deal more if he could bring a whole lot more Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Frank Sheed, and G. K. Chesterton, and a lot less of "shanking the biggest guy in the prison yard."  I appreciate his willingness and long effort to defend the Church in the public square, but I can say from personal experience that when you are constantly on the barricades, doing apologetics and forever at war, you stop seeing things straight, and manifesting the full depths of Christian charity becomes quite hard.  Sometimes the responses of the Catholic League are not exactly the clearest expression of the faith which believes that persecution is a blessing and a cross inevitable in our Christian walk.

Archbold closes with

Come on Catholics. Let's really shake things up this summer. Let's start screaming like a short-changed Cartegena hooker. This fight isn’t over. Not by a long shot. Hey, remember, there was a time when the Roman Empire fed Catholics to the lions. Well, we're still here and the Roman Empire isn't. Now, who's in the mood for some lion?

It's the nature of American politics, to a certain extent, but couldn't we be more of a Philip Neri or a Saint Francis of Assisi Church, attracting thousands and transforming our society by the joy, peace, and love which radiate from our lives, rather than emulating the caterwauling of Cartagenean concubines? Or if you want the more militant approach, how about embracing the spirit of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the methods of the first Jesuits?

God bless Matt Archbold for all the good work he does for Christ and his Church.  I'm just getting worried that before too much longer, unless we pick our heroes very carefully, we may see someone do something that will do immense harm to the Church and the country.  I'd rather see us make a gigantic leap forward in the New Evangelization.