- Feb 5, 2002
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COMMENTARY: Catholic leaders must explain why there’s no conflict between the Church’s economic teachings, and those on sexual expression. Both proceed from the Great Command to love God and neighbor, and both manifest an option for the poor and dispossessed, spiritually and empirically.
The United States has (almost certainly) just elected its second Roman Catholic president. One thing is certain. He will be “teaching” Americans and the world what it means to be Catholic, whether or not he intends to, and whether or not what he teaches accurately characterizes the faith. This is how teaching happens today: It’s a function of the media’s willingness to provide a microphone and favorable coverage to an important, successful person with a point of view the media likes. Expertise and nuance are often optional.
But I am saddened over some of the lessons a President Biden might teach. This is because they could be wrong in ways that further divide American Catholics, give solace to people who may hold us in little esteem, and break my heart by driving a wedge between the sexual and economic aspects of our social teachings.
Continued below.
If We Don’t Teach the Faith the Man in the Oval Office Will
The United States has (almost certainly) just elected its second Roman Catholic president. One thing is certain. He will be “teaching” Americans and the world what it means to be Catholic, whether or not he intends to, and whether or not what he teaches accurately characterizes the faith. This is how teaching happens today: It’s a function of the media’s willingness to provide a microphone and favorable coverage to an important, successful person with a point of view the media likes. Expertise and nuance are often optional.
But I am saddened over some of the lessons a President Biden might teach. This is because they could be wrong in ways that further divide American Catholics, give solace to people who may hold us in little esteem, and break my heart by driving a wedge between the sexual and economic aspects of our social teachings.
Continued below.
If We Don’t Teach the Faith the Man in the Oval Office Will
