Interview with Chaput

(Hey, that rhymes.)  Here is an interview with Archbishop Chaput, on conservative-talk-radio-host Hugh Hewitt's show, about the former's new faith-politics-citizenship book (which was mentioned, here at MOJ, a few days ago), the Pope, World Youth Day, vocations, the scandal, etc., etc.  A bit:

Well, you know, people sometimes pigeonhole me as a conservative, and I hope what I am is a Catholic. And I preach the Gospel honestly without compromise, and that cuts to the right and to the left, because the Truth is supposed to set all of us free from our parties and from our prejudices or whatever. So I think people who want to follow the Gospel will offend people on all sides of the political spectrum.

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HH: Archbishop, in Chapter 10, you write this, and I think maybe it’s one of the core messages. “The Catholic Church exists to make Jesus known, the bring the will of men and women into alignment with God’s will through a relationship with Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Church has a vital role in building peace and reconciliation, promoting justice and defending Creation, but she does that first by proclaiming the whole council of God.” Again and again throughout Render Unto Casear, you’re very careful to say you know, the Church has got a key mission here, which is to get the Gospel out there.

CC: That’s right, and you know, in terms of our engagement in the world around us, whether it be political in that broad sense, or in a more narrow sense political, is about loving our neighbor. That’s why it’s foolish for Catholics to think they can enter into the political world without bringing their faith with them, because we’re required by our faith to engage the world so that human dignity will be supported, and the common good will be served. It’s a more complicated way of just saying we have to love our neighbors as ourselves. And God commands us to do that, so we just can’t work towards our personal salvation, or you know, just wait for God to save us.  God also throws us back into relationship with our neighbors if we truly love Him.

HH: And you also at the very beginning of the book, though, having understood that Christ is at the center of your mission and the Church’s mission, you write, “People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won’t be quiet. For Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of faith or human dignity. Christian faith is always personal, but never private” That’s going to raise a lot of eyebrows. You’re asking the faithful to be explicit in what they believe and why. 

CC: I think it’s important. You know, one of the examples I used to underline what I’m trying to say there is to tell a believer that he must be silent in public is like telling a married man he must pretend to be single when he’s at work. And if he does that, he won’t be married very long, because he’ll find somebody else, or his wife will be very disappointed in the fact that he doesn’t love her publicly. And I think our relationship with God is a relationship as a spousal love. You know, He loves the Church as a bridegroom loves his bride, and that it’s important for us to let people know that, not in a way that’s in their face or offensive, but then also to live out the consequences of that, which is to love our neighbor. We can’t say we love God who we can’t see if we don’t love our neighbor who we do see. And that’s political life. Political life is about loving our neighbor. . . . 

UPDATE:  Another interview, this time with ZENIT.

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