In Christ there is no Left or Right

Flying cross-country today, I read the spring issue of Notre Dame magazine basically cover to cover, for what I believe is the first time in my life. Among the highlights were a batch of fascinating profiles of current students by Tara Hunt, a reflection on the media's love of hating Notre Dame by my hero Matt Storin, and a lengthy investigation of the evaporation of the middle ground in American politics by the great Bob Schmuhl.

As a split ticket voter and an independent, I'm keenly aware of the middle ground, for I seek to stand on it in the political arena. My political science classes taught me about the "myth of the independent" - that the majority of self-titled independents that admit a "leaning" toward one party or the other basically vote like affiliates of that party. I am a true independent without a leaning, one who has too many differences with each party and one who finds his preferences split between the two sides. I seek to support those candidates who are to the middle of their parties' bases, who will articulate shades of grey and/or stick with a slate of stances that don't line up uniformly with the party platform.

Schmuhl wrote about how parties don't move an inch, insisting on holding their ground under the standard of their party. He spoke of the two most liberal Republicans and two most conservative Democrats leaving office by retirement or electoral defeat. He pointed out how consensus building is no longer a strength because those who work bipartisanly are labeled defectors and systematically eliminated by the party leaders.

The labels of Democrat an Republican no longer primarily function to identify the political preferences of voters. They are a wedge, an either/or, a red or blue, a finely demarcated Congressional district that entrenches the candidate of the majority party.

As an amateur theologian and committed minister, I often read stories like this through the lens of our lived faith, our challenge to live our Christian baptismal call in the modern context. Schmuhl's article roused my dislike of people's using the labels "liberal" and "conservative" to describe the Church, its leaders, and its members.

Words become labels so easily, charged up, connotatively loaded tools used to evoke a response, to create an image in the hearer's mind, to elicit emotions. Liberal and conservative describe ideology; they refer to the tilt of people or a group toward policy issues. These words work for politicians to some extent. They become charged up with connotation, but they are fitting because politicians, parties, and voters are in the business of ideology and policy. These words do not work for the Church, its groups, or its members; we are not in the business of ideology and policy.

America suffers from its loss of the moderate bloc; the Catholic Church suffers from pick-and-choose faith and excessive heterogeneity. We should seek diversity, but such a pursuit cannot be exclusive. Charismatic Catholics must recognize the validity of Tridentine Catholics; neither can scorn the other or look down on their brothers' and sisters' piety. The Church is not political. It is the social organ that Christ instituted so that all those who sought to be part of Him could join together in the one baptism to live, pray, and serve alongside each other in His name. There should not be liberal and conservative, Democrat or Republican within her embrace.

Sure, some of us are better gifted to work in solidarity with the poor while others' passions lead them to theological studies and professorial careers. Ultimately, all of us are called to respond to every call to love, whether from those in need on our streets or from the Scriptures and writings of theologians. We can always grow toward a fuller, broader faith, yet we must identify our gifts and passions and put them to work answering the call to love.

We should challenge one another both to take action and to embrace contemplation. However, we must resist calling those who attend Adoration regularly "conservative" while labeling those committed to social justice as "liberal." Such labels may serve to indicate political preferences in electoral races, but they are reductive in the way we use them and shouldn't be applied to our faith. I'd prefer "traditionalist" and "progressive," but even those gesture at an implicit claim that is extraneous to the issue.

No matter how we live our faith, we are all called to orthodoxy - to hear the teachings of the Church, as handed down by Christ to us through the apostles and bishops and their interpreting the deposit of faith for us, through the lived faith of the Church (Tradition), and through the Scriptures. Our Church should be the united Body of Christ, an assemblage of believers seeking to manifest their belonging to Someone (Christ!) and Something (the Church!) bigger than themselves, through prayer, community, and service.

Even when we find conscientious tension with the Church, we are called to embrace it. Even if we cannot fully understand or fully line up with the communicated guidance of our Church, we are called to dialogue with it. Even when we disagree, we are called to navigate the tensions.

The orthodoxy of our united community comes not in blind faith, in unthinking subscription to a bill of doctrines and teachings. True orthodoxy comes from our conscientious dialogue with the teaching of Christ's Church. When we use our reason and our will, we are most human. God gave us these gifts so that we might understand Nature and Truth and live in accordance with His will and develop a relationship with Him through Christ. Let us shake off temptations toward "left" or "right" and instead move directly to an orthodox faith in the Gospels, in the Church, and in Christ.