Cardinal George's Vision of Catholicism

Cardinal George: A Balanced Perspective

Introduction

• The Catholic Church is often divided between liberal and conservative Catholics.

• Cardinal Francis George offered a third way, a balanced perspective.

• Bishop Robert Barron discusses Cardinal George's views and their relevance today.

Father Joseph Fesio

• Father Joseph Fesio is the founder of Ignatius Press.

• He knew Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Joseph Ratzinger personally.

• Fesio played a key role in bringing their thought into the mainstream.

• Story: An elderly Cardinal de Lubac humbly served Fesio's Mass in Paris.

Ro Khanna

• Ro Khanna is a congressman representing Silicon Valley (District 17, California).

• His district includes Apple, Google, and Facebook.

• Khanna is a Democrat with some views that align with Catholic social teaching.

• Bishop Barron engaged him in conversation representing Catholic social teaching.

Cardinal Francis George

• Cardinal George passed away in 2015.

• His words continue to resonate, especially regarding the divide between conservative and liberal Catholics.

• In 2004, he gave a homily (later an article) addressing this divide.

Background

• He was an Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and a Chicago native.

• He was drawn to academic work and loved books.

• He earned a doctorate at Tulane University and taught at OMI institutions.

• He served as a high-ranking official (Vicar) in the OMI order, traveling the world.

• He got a second doctorate in Rome.

• During John Paul II's papacy, he became Bishop of Yakima, Washington, and then Archbishop of Portland, Oregon.

• In 1997, he became Archbishop of Chicago.

• He inspired Bishop Barron to evangelize the culture, making him the "grandfather of Word on Fire."

• Bishop Barron often refers back to Cardinal George's insights.

Cardinal George's Critique of Liberal Catholicism

• Cardinal George described liberal Catholicism as an exhausted project, a critique that has become parasitical.

• Pre-conciliar liberalism was a necessary criticism of certain elements within the Church.

• Figures like Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Henri de Lubac, Joseph Ratzinger, and Karl Rahner were seen as liberals before the Second Vatican Council.

• Vatican II addressed the excesses and problems of the pre-conciliar Church.

• Post-Vatican II liberalism became counterproductive and self-destructive.

• It was unable to carry forward the great project of Catholicism.

• Liberal Catholicism no longer passes on the faith in its integrity.

• It doesn't foster the joyful self-surrender called for in Christian marriage, consecrated life, and ordained priesthood.

• It no longer gives us life.

Inability to Inspire

• Liberal Catholicism does not articulate the substance of the faith well.

• It is often hypercritical and focused on limitations and negativity.

• People are not inspired to give their lives to a critical, negative position.

• Catholic liberalism never gives rise to great vocations.

Cardinal George's Critique of Conservative Catholicism

• Cardinal George also criticized a type of conservative Catholicism.

• This conservatism is obsessed with particular practices and is sectarian in its outlook.

• It cannot serve as a sign of unity of all peoples in Christ.

• It makes the same error as liberals in an excessive preoccupation with the Church's visible government.

Ancien Régime

• Cardinal Lustiger of Paris: "A plague on the liberal house" and "a plague on the conservative house that simply wants to identify the Church with the ancien régime."

• The Church should not be hyper-identified with 18th-century ancien régime France or 1950s America.

• Catholicism is meant to transcend all cultures and engage all cultures.

• It should not be a fussy, inward-looking nostalgia for a lost cultural form.

Simply Catholicism

• The answer is simply Catholicism in all its fullness and depth.

• It is a faith able to distinguish itself from any culture and yet able to engage and transform them all.

• It is a faith joyful in all the gifts that Christ wants to give us and open to the whole world that he died to save.

• The Catholic faith shapes a Church with a lot of room for differences and a pastoral approach for discussion and debate.

• It is a Church which knows her Lord and knows her own identity.

• The Church can distinguish between what fits into the tradition that unites her to Christ and what is a false start or a distorting thesis.

Transcending Culture

• Simply Catholicism transcends any culture and therefore is able to engage every culture.

• A conservatism that hyper-identifies with a particular cultural form becomes limited to that form.

• The Church transcends all cultures and therefore engages all of them.

• Flags will always start fighting with each other, but the Church transcends every culture and therefore engages every culture.

• The civil war within the Church has been revived because we've forgotten this principle.

For and Against Our Times

• John Paul II: Is this a Pope for our times or against our times? The only adequate answer is both. That is simply Catholicism.

• The Church must be both for the culture and against the culture.

• There are seeds (seminares) everywhere in the culture, which is why we should look to movies, TV, and popular culture.

• A self-regarding, stupid conservatism withdraws into its fortress and sees everything in the culture as bad.

• The Church has to rail against the demonic and fallen aspects of the culture from age to age.

• Examples: abortion, euthanasia, the culture of death, woke culture.

• The warring factions in their self-regarding stupidity cannot take in both elements.

• Cardinal George and others understood this equilibrium.

Cardinal George's Message Today

• If Cardinal George were alive today, he would say, "A plague on both your houses."

• He would urge a return to simply Catholicism.

• Both sides are playing a self-destructive game and are more concerned about tribal identity than the Church.

• The Church is a big institution able to take in a lot of different perspectives.

• It is a both-and tradition, not a stupid either-or tradition.

• Recover the evangelical aim of an intelligently and beautifully presented Catholicism.

Amelia's Question

• Amelia, a 6-year-old, asks, "Did Jesus ever get sick?"

• He is like us in all things but sin, but it is not a sin to be sick; on the other hand, is sickness to some degree a function of the fallenness of the world and therefore of sin?

• Did He feel sorrow? Certainly, He weeps, and He enters into the anguish of people, and one could say that is a result of sin.

Wonder Conference 2024

• The 2024 Wonder Conference will focus on faith and science.

• It aims to debunk the myth that faith and science are incompatible.

• The theme is recovering the natural science in the human body.

• It will take place August 2nd through 4th, 2024, at the Rochester Civic Center.

• Speakers include Bishop Barron, Heather Heying, John Veri, Jonathan Pageau, Father Robert Spitzer, Abigail Favale, Ryan Anderson, and many more.

• Details and registration: wordonfire.org/wonder.

• The “either/or” approach:

  • This approach represents a restrictive way of thinking that forces a choice between two options, failing to recognize the validity or possibility of both.

  • In the context of Catholicism, it refers to the divide between liberal and conservative factions, each emphasizing certain aspects while rejecting others.

  • Cardinal George critiques this approach as a self-destructive game, where both sides prioritize tribal identity over the Church's broader mission.

• The “both/and” approach:

  • This approach embraces inclusivity and balance, integrating different perspectives to achieve a more comprehensive understanding.

  • It acknowledges that seemingly opposing viewpoints can coexist and contribute to a richer, more nuanced faith.

  • Cardinal George advocates for this approach, urging a return to simply Catholicism, which accommodates diverse perspectives within the Church's tradition.

  • Embracing the "both/and" approach can lead to a more intelligently and beautifully presented Catholicism, fostering unity and transcending cultural limitations.