Most Rev. Charles Chaput, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, and one of the great figures of the American episcopate, has written an article in First Thing magazine, about the attacks on Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett because of her Catholic faith.
Newsroom (September 30, 2020, 8:00pm Gaudium Press) — Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, has written an article in First Thing magazine, about the attacks on Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett because of her Catholic faith. He is one of the great figures of the American episcopate.
After affirming that Judge Barrett, constitutes a real nightmare for a certain political tribe because of her many qualities, he does not fail to point out the veiled threat that the attacks on the jurist’s faith imply for all those who practice the Catholic faith.
Contempt for well-defined religious beliefs, especially Catholic ones, is a circulating virus that “seems to infect several Democratic senators as well, including Senator Kamala Harris, a Californian and vice presidential candidate, who saw imminent danger in the dangerous national conspiracy also known as the Knights of Columbus”.
Antagonism to True Catholics, Even if they are Democrats
The animosity is not so much against Catholics by name, by birth, but rather against Catholics who live their faith as it should be.
If you are a Catholic by name only, there is no problem; it is different when you are a Catholic “who seeks to discipline his or her life around Catholic beliefs regarding marriage and family, religious freedom, sex, and abortion—well, that’s a different matter.” The prelate gives as an example the case of Democratic Representative Dan Lipinski when his own party abandoned him in the primaries earlier this year because of his Pro-life stands.
Archbishop Chaput summarizes in a sublime paragraph the treasures that the Catholic faith has brought to the United States.
“Catholics in this country spent more than a century fighting their way into the American mainstream. The cost has been high. (…) Millions of Catholics have served and died defending this nation, its freedoms, and its institutions. In the last century, all of the military chaplains awarded the Medal of Honor were Catholic priests. A politics of democratic pluralism requires that differences of belief must be respected. Catholics cannot, and don’t, expect those with different convictions to agree with their religious beliefs. But Catholics do rightly demand civility and respect for the teachings of their Church, especially from a Senate supposedly informed by a spirit of service to the whole nation,” the Archbishop wrote.
But today it is within the “standard” for people like Judge Barret to be attacked for their faith, which is otherwise completely contrary to the American First Amendment.
“If attacks on belief are an acceptable standard by which to impugn judicial nominees today, then tomorrow they’ll be used on the rest of us who uphold the teachings of our faith. What’s been playing out in Senate confirmation hearings and public debates over judicial nominees is a harbinger of future attacks on the Church herself and on any Catholic who holds with her enduring moral witness,” Archbishop Chaput said.
Therefore, he concludes, attacks such as those being suffered by Judge Barret are not only ” a particular affront to the free exercise of religion. It puts the rights of far more Americans at risk than will ever be nominated for the court.”
With information from Il Timone
