Friday, October 09, 2009

Catholic Archbishop Speaks Out On Government's Relationship With Catholics

CNA reports on an interesting speech delivered by Catholic Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput yesterday at North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College where he was given the Envoy of the Year Award. He praised Belmont Abbey for its stand against the EEOC which has charged the college with gender discrimination for dropping coverage for contraceptive drugs from its health plan for employees. (See prior posting.) Contrasting anti-Catholic bigotry in early America with today, Chaput said:
Caesar wears a different suit. He has great media handlers. He bullies religion while he claims to respect it. He talks piously about the law and equality and tolerance and fairness. But he still confuses himself with God –and he still violates the rights of Catholic believers and institutions by intruding himself where he has no right to be....

It's one of the great ironies of the moment that tiny Belmont Abbey would have the courage to challenge Caesar over its right to be faithfully Catholic in its policies, while so many other American Catholics seem eager to give Caesar honors.
Earlier this week, Chaput published an article in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio criticizing Notre Dame University's award of an honorary degree to President Obama last Spring.