How did Americans become so insular? The number of people
with whom I have spoken, who have no idea of world events, history, politics,
geography astounds me. The young and very young, let me say, between 40 and 20,
except for the bright, small minority, have no clues as to the location of the Ukraine , Russia ,
or even Italy .
Their worlds have contracted into small, parochial spheres, wherein their small
lives of busyness seem more important than that of the larger world.
I blame both Protestantism and secularism for this shrinking
of views. Why?
The Catholic Church has been from her creation by Christ,
international, beyond the nationality of the Jews,. The one, true, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church quickly became that of the Gentiles.
Christ reached out to the Gentiles, such as the Centurion,
whose slave He cured, and to the Syro-Phoenecian woman. Paul has been called
The Apostle to the Gentiles. He spread the Faith beyond the boundaries of the Holy Land . Rome
became the center of Catholicism early on, with the arrival of the first pope,
St. Peter. Clear from the nascent beginnings of the Church, because of the
command of God to “go and teach all nations”, the Church became an instution
larger than any nation or tribe, clan or province.
Christ’s Church is international. Holy Mother Church
The day of missionary activity has passed, sadly,
tragically, because of this provincialism.
The great missionary heart of the Church has shrivele and
almost died under the pressures of secularism and nationalism.
Take the Anglican Church, for example. It is and always has
been from its inception, a national church, a nationalized church. Here in the
States, many Anglicans find themselves yearning for the old days of American
history when the American Episcolpalians was the church of power and status.
The same mind-set infected the Lutherans who came to the New
World and desired to established the hegemony they experienced in Germany , desiring a national identity,
especially in the Midwest .
Those Catholics who pushed the national agenda, thankfully,
were defined as heretics by Rome in the mid-19th
Century, as the heresy of Americanism was soundly condemned and efforts made by
the Vatican
to stop the growth of an American Catholic Church.
The Holy Catholic Church cannot be held to boundaries or the
whims of government. This stand, this identity, clashes with the nationalistic
identity of the Russian Orthodox Church, which will persecute the Catholics,
again, in the Ukraine ,
if Russians take control of certain areas.
Do not kid yourselves into a blind approval of what is
happening in Europe . The Catholic Church
BECAUSE it is universal, beyond the control of kings, queens, presidents,
councils, tyrants, is hated and always will be hated.
The real identity of the Catholic Church defies control and
remains independent for one reason. Christ, the Second Person is the Blessed
Trinity, is the founder of the Catholic Church and God defies the sordid
control of leaders and peoples who desire a national church.
That Americans are ignorant of world affairs can be partly
seen as the fact that either they are secular provinicialists, or even
narcissistically American, or that their Protestantism ties them to national
prejudices.
The days of the WASPS may be fading, but those in power here
in the States fall into that category, of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
Many of those leaders hate the immigrant Catholic Church.
The Church has always been made up of immigrants. St. Paul , a Roman citizen, brought Jews and
Greeks with him on his journeys. He died
in Rome , the
new capital of the international Church.
Christ became Incarnated at the Fullness of Time, when the
world was experiencing the pax Romana,
the time of peace wherein missionaries and travelers spreading the Gospel could
move about easily. Think of this freedom of movement, as we Catholics will find
ourselves more and more marginalized, set apart, excluded from the world stage.
And, this marginalization must be seen as, in part, the
fault of the American Catholics.
Too many Protestant, secular and even Catholic Americans
simply do not care about the rest of the world. For news on tv to spend five
minutes on world affairs in superficial reporting and forty-five minutes on
stateside nonsense is shocking and sad.
Without the Catholic perspective , the people of America will
continue to isolate themselves not only from the rest of the world, but from
reality.
Christ’s Church, the Catholic Church will not be tied up by
those who choose to manipulate Her. Truth will prevail, but nations, partly in
ignorance, and partly in malice, will continue to be determined to ruin the
influence of the Catholic Church in any nation and country.
As we Catholics continue to lose influence in discussions
and governments across the globe, we may have ourselves to blame not only for
not creating leaders in the home to work in the public sphere, but for allowing
those who are provincial to take the reigns of leadership and hold on to these
tightly.
To be continued
