This is the First Time an Entire Pastoral letter has been here republished. In light of the recent assassination of the abortion doctor is bears repeating. This appeared on Holy Trnity's bulletin yesterday:
At the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius has a prenote—he calls it a Presupposition—to the effect that “…every good Christian is more ready to put a good interpretation on another’s statement than to condemn it as false.” He goes on to say that if this cannot be done, he should engage the other in polite conversation to find out his intention. If he finds him mistaken, he should correct him “with all kindness.”
When I was a theological student at Woodstock College, one of our professors, Fr. John Courtney Murray, was a peritus—an expert advisor to the Bishops at the Second Vatican Council. One of his areas of expertise was the relationship between church and state. At the Council he was chiefly responsible for the Decree on Religious Freedom. In his classes at Woodstock, he often lamented the lack of civility in public discourse.
Both Ignatius and Fr. Murray suffered from misunderstanding in their lives: Ignatius with the Inquisition, and Fr. Murray with certain American theologians who objected to his position on religious freedom and church and state, ideas which are current approved teaching in the church.
I can’t help but feel that St. Ignatius and Fr. Murray would both have been appalled by the behavior of people who call themselves Christians as they hurled angry words and hate-filled epithets at Presidents Obama and Jenkins during this year’s Notre Dame Commencement address.
I guess I have to give these people the benefit of the doubt as Ignatius urges in his Presupposition. Perhaps the zeal in their anti-abortion crusade has blinded them to the simple requirements of civil discourse. As far as I can tell, nothing is accomplished by such misguided behavior. By way of contrast, the reasonable, calm and respectful statements of the two presidents are a model of how to deal with people who disagree with each other. Indeed, President Obama called for civil discussion by people on both sides of the issue.
My concern here is not whether abortion is good or bad. I firmly believe that it is wrong. What I am talking about is how we deal with the issue. Abortion is an emotion-laden topic that lends itself all too easily to explosive and passionate words and behavior. Some of our bishops and priests, whose intentions are good, sometimes fan the flames of these emotions with statements about politicians they think should be excluded from the Eucharist. Jesus excluded no one from his company. He dined with the Pharisees with whom he had serious disagreements. He welcomed sinners, prostitutes and tax-collectors. When I pray about the Last Supper, I see Jesus handing the bread and the wine that have become his body and blood to Peter who will deny him and to Judas who will betray him. Or I see him kneeling before Judas after washing his feet, looking into his eyes and saying, “It’s all right. I love you.”
What we sometimes forget is that we are a church of sinners, all of us. Fortunately, Jesus came for all of us—not just for the saints. I thank God for that every day.
Some of you may not agree with everything I have said here. But that’s okay. We can disagree, provided we do it civilly.
-Leo A. Murray, S.J.
When I was a theological student at Woodstock College, one of our professors, Fr. John Courtney Murray, was a peritus—an expert advisor to the Bishops at the Second Vatican Council. One of his areas of expertise was the relationship between church and state. At the Council he was chiefly responsible for the Decree on Religious Freedom. In his classes at Woodstock, he often lamented the lack of civility in public discourse.
Both Ignatius and Fr. Murray suffered from misunderstanding in their lives: Ignatius with the Inquisition, and Fr. Murray with certain American theologians who objected to his position on religious freedom and church and state, ideas which are current approved teaching in the church.
I can’t help but feel that St. Ignatius and Fr. Murray would both have been appalled by the behavior of people who call themselves Christians as they hurled angry words and hate-filled epithets at Presidents Obama and Jenkins during this year’s Notre Dame Commencement address.
I guess I have to give these people the benefit of the doubt as Ignatius urges in his Presupposition. Perhaps the zeal in their anti-abortion crusade has blinded them to the simple requirements of civil discourse. As far as I can tell, nothing is accomplished by such misguided behavior. By way of contrast, the reasonable, calm and respectful statements of the two presidents are a model of how to deal with people who disagree with each other. Indeed, President Obama called for civil discussion by people on both sides of the issue.
My concern here is not whether abortion is good or bad. I firmly believe that it is wrong. What I am talking about is how we deal with the issue. Abortion is an emotion-laden topic that lends itself all too easily to explosive and passionate words and behavior. Some of our bishops and priests, whose intentions are good, sometimes fan the flames of these emotions with statements about politicians they think should be excluded from the Eucharist. Jesus excluded no one from his company. He dined with the Pharisees with whom he had serious disagreements. He welcomed sinners, prostitutes and tax-collectors. When I pray about the Last Supper, I see Jesus handing the bread and the wine that have become his body and blood to Peter who will deny him and to Judas who will betray him. Or I see him kneeling before Judas after washing his feet, looking into his eyes and saying, “It’s all right. I love you.”
What we sometimes forget is that we are a church of sinners, all of us. Fortunately, Jesus came for all of us—not just for the saints. I thank God for that every day.
Some of you may not agree with everything I have said here. But that’s okay. We can disagree, provided we do it civilly.
-Leo A. Murray, S.J.
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