The Don Newsletter

Here are excerpts from the third part of the address of Archbishop Gomez on the rise of new secular ideologies and movements for social change in the United States and the implications for the Church.

In the first part he reflected on the global movement of secularization and de-Christianization and the impact of the pandemic. In the second part he offered a “spiritual interpretation” of the new social justice and political identity movements in America. Here in this part he suggests some priorities for the Church as we confront the realities of the present moment.

What Is to Be Done
… The question is: What is to be done? How should the Church respond to these new secular movements for social change?

My answer is simple. We need to proclaim Jesus Christ. Boldly, creatively. We need to tell our story of salvation in a new way. With charity and confidence, without fear. This is the Church’s mission in every age and every cultural moment.

We should not be intimidated by these new religions of social justice and political identity. The Gospel remains the most powerful force for social change that the world has ever seen. And the Church has been “anti-racist” from the beginning. All are included in her message of salvation.

Jesus Christ came to announce the new creation, the new man and the new woman, given power to become children of God, renewed in the image of their Creator.

Jesus taught us to know and love God as our Father, and he called his Church to carry that good news to the ends of the earth – to gather, from every race and tribe and people, the one worldwide family of God.…

Of course, in the Church we have not always lived up to our beautiful principles, or carried out the mission entrusted to us by Christ.

But the world does not need a new secular religion to replace Christianity. It needs you and me to be better witnesses. Better Christians. Let us begin by forgiving, loving, sacrificing for others, putting away spiritual poisons like resentment and envy.

Personally, I find inspiration in the saints and holy figures in my country’s history. In this moment, I am looking especially to the Servant of God Dorothy Day. For me, she offers an important witness for how Catholics can work to change our social order through radical detachment and love for the poor grounded in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and the works of mercy. She also had a keen sense that before we can change the hearts of others, we have to change ourselves.

She once said, “I see only too clearly how bad people are. I wish I did not see it so. It is my own sins that give me such clarity. But I cannot worry much about your sins and miseries when I have so many of my own. …My prayer from day to day is that God will so enlarge my heart that I will see you all, and live with you all, in his love.”

This is the attitude that we need right now, when our society is so polarized and divided.

I am also drawing inspiration from the witness of Venerable Augustus Tolton. His is an amazing and truly American story. He was born in slavery, escaped into freedom with his mother, and became the first black man to be ordained a priest in my country. Father Tolton once said, “The Catholic Church deplores a double slavery – that of the mind and that of the body. She endeavors to free us of both.”

Today, we need this confidence in the power of the Gospel. We are at risk right now of sliding into a new “tribalism,” a pre-Christian idea of humanity as divided into competing groups and factions.

We need to live and proclaim the Gospel as the true path to liberation from every slavery and injustice, spiritual and material. In our preaching and practice, and especially in our love for our neighbors, we need to bear witness to God’s beautiful vision of our common humanity – our common origin and common destiny in God.

Finally, in this hour I think the Church must be a voice for individual conscience and tolerance, and we need to promote greater humility and realism about the human condition. Acknowledging our common humanity means recognizing our common frailty. The truth is that we are all sinners, people who want to do the right thing but often do not.

That does not mean we remain passive in the face of social injustice. Never! But we do need to insist that fraternity cannot be built through animosity or division. True religion does not seek to harm or humiliate, to ruin livelihoods or reputations. True religion offers a path for even the worst sinners to find redemption.

One last thought, my friends. And that is the reality of God’s providence. We need to hold onto this supernatural understanding, because it is true: God’s loving hand still guides our lives and the course of nations.

… I am confident that we will see this spiritual awakening grow and spread in the coming decade, as we look ahead to the 500th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. And Our Lady’s words at Tepeyac continue to strengthen and inspire me: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection?”

May Our Lady of Guadalupe continue to intercede for us!”