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Published: July 23, 2008

Water words

Can we be as Catholic as the pope?

Notes from a Cultural Madhouse

By Christopher Zehnder

“You can’t be more Catholic than the pope,” I have heard people say over the years. It’s an adage none too clear, for certainly, on one level, there have been some faithful who have been more Catholic – more truly converted to and by the Faith – than some popes. But I don’t suppose that personal probity is what is meant by not being more Catholic than the pope. It is, rather, that the believer in his faith, actions, and spiritual discipline is measured by the Church (represented by the pope), not the Church by the believer. The Church sets the standard to which we conform. The Church does not conform to us.

But if one can’t be more Catholic than the pope, he shouldn’t be less Catholic, either. In our day we have egregious examples of Catholics failing to fulfill even the most fundamental demands of their religion. There are Catholics who dissent on the nature of the sacraments, reject the authority of the magisterium, promote moral practices opposed to Catholic morality, etc., ad nauseam. Such pick-and-choose Catholics we associate with the cultural left, and rightly so – they represent the Liberal mindset, the exaltation of individual freedom as the highest of goods.

Yet, those we call “orthodox” Catholics often prove themselves less Catholic than the pope. I shall use one example culled from politics – the pro-life issue. Now, essentially, “orthodox” Catholics -- by which I mean those Catholics who strive to remain faithful to the teaching authority of the Church, Scripture, and Sacred Tradition – are right about abortion. It is an intrinsic evil; it can never be tolerated; it is not only a grievous, but it is the most grievous violation of human dignity our world affords today. Abortion is not just the murder of the innocent, but it is the murder of a child by his own mother. One would be hard tasked to imagine a greater betrayal than that.

Yet, while abortion is as heinous as I have described it, it is not the only evil – not the only intrinsically moral evil – we face today. Some such evils readily come to the “orthodox” mind – same-sex marriage, euthanasia, sexual abuse of children, divorce. But there are others that have been identified by the Church – depriving a worker of a just wage, waging a war without just cause or using indiscriminate means, exploitation of the poor for profit, for example. While neither war nor wages are in themselves morally evil, the abuse of them always and everywhere is.

It is in regard to such “social” issues (often identified with the cultural and political “left”) that many “orthodox” Catholics are less Catholic than the pope. Though for well over a century now, the popes have spoken out strongly on economic justice, on war, and on all matters having to do with, especially, distributive justice, “orthodox” Catholics (at least in the U.S.) seem barely to pay attention to such matters. It is as if, because such issues seemingly have nothing to do with the fifth and sixth commandments, they are of little importance. They are at least, for so many “orthodox” Catholics, not matters of active and avid concern.

I find this strange; for, despite the cancerous spread of legalized abortion throughout the world, the popes still address themselves to the many issues of economic and social justice. If the popes think such matters worthy of their concern, why don’t we? An example of such papal concern is a message Pope Benedict XVI sent this month to an international exposition on “Water and Sustainable Development” in Saragossa, Spain.

Why is the pope concerned about water? Because, he said in his message, the use of water is not merely a “material good” but is seen as a “universal and inalienable right” of man.

“Regrettably,” said Benedict, “water -- an essential and indispensable good that the Lord has given us to maintain and develop life -- because of incursions and pressures from various social factors, is today considered a good that must be especially protected through clear national and international policies and used according to sensible criteria of solidarity and responsibility. The use of water -- which is seen as a universal and inalienable right -- is related to the growing and urgent needs of those living in poverty, keeping in mind that the 'limited access to drinkable water affects the wellbeing of an enormous number of people and is frequently the cause of illness, suffering, conflict, poverty, and also death.’”

The pope sent this message to the exposition for its dedication “to the complex themes tied to the importance of water for human life and the maintenance of equilibrium among the diverse elements of our world.” Such an acknowledgement implies a moral judgment that such “themes” need to and should be addressed. And to underline the importance of water and its use, Benedict addressed the importance of water from a theological standpoint.

"Those who consider water today to be a predominantly material good," Benedict concluded, "should not forget the religious meanings that believers, and Christianity above all, have developed from it, giving it great value as a precious immaterial good that always enriches human life on this earth. How can we not recall in this circumstance the suggestive message that comes to us from Sacred Scripture, which treats water as a symbol of purification and life? The full recovery of this spiritual dimension is ensured and presupposed for a proper approach to the ethical, political, and economic problems that affect the complex management of water on the part of all concerned, as well as in the national and international spheres".

In drawing us to the theological understanding of water, the pope unveils a new beginning point from which we can address the more work-a-day matters that have to do with the “complex management of water.” That he can call on theology to address such a seemingly mundane concern as water management indicates how, in speaking to the muddy realities of our world, the pope does not depart from his office as shepherd of the Church. Rather, in his concern for even man’s daily bread, the pope imitates his Lord, the God who provides for our every need, who “rains on the just and the unjust.”

In addressing the use of water, as well as when he speaks to economic justice, war, abortion, marriage, and politics, the pope is being no more Catholic than his Lord. Would that we all in our social concern and interest could be as Catholic as the pope.

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