Auspice Maria: Giving Thanks

During this week of Thanksgiving, we will probably, at some point, recall in an extraordinary way something for which we are thankful. I was thinking about that in preparation for writing this piece. One thing that I am very grateful for is the freedom I have to choose to be Catholic and live out my Catholic faith. As I walk this path of life towards my end, my Catholic faith guides my decision-making, guides my priorities, and informs my understanding of reality. My Catholicism is like a compass that explorers use to find their way on hikes and expeditions. The Catholic faith will always point me toward the true, good, and beautiful. Ultimately, my Catholic faith leads me to Heaven.

I can still freely be a Catholic in the United States. In other parts of the world, religious persecution is violent. For example, priests are kidnapped, and Christians are slaughtered in Nigeria by extremists. In other parts of the world, the infringement upon one’s religion and its practice is not violent but ideological. Christian values are endangered by wealthy ideologues and their foundations, such as the Gates Foundation and Marie Stopes International.

In her book Target Africa, author Obianuju Ekeocha, a native of Nigeria, analyzes how such wealthy foundations are financing the spread of abortion, radicalized feminism, and contraception on the African continent. Ekeocha asserts that these foundations and their social "improvement" promotions are infringing on African values and culture. She opines that what the Gates Foundation and Marie Stopes are doing on the African continent is another form of colonialization. She refers to it as "ideological neocolonialization," that is, trying to coerce African values and cultural mores with money and services. Ekeocha argues that these foundations are harming African values and culture as they set out to "fix" the perceived woes of African society. In many respects, these foundations act in a patronizing way toward developing African nations.

While I am thankful that I can freely live by the "compass" of my Catholicism, I am also not naïve to the reality that even here in the United States, where religious freedom is enshrined in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, there are governmental efforts to erode my religious freedom. 

Pope St. John Paul II, in his encyclical letter, “The Gospel of Life,” writes about the imminent danger of separating freedom from truth, something I believe that our government frequently does. He writes, “…freedom negates and destroys itself, and becomes a factor leading to the destruction of others, when it no longer recognizes and respects its essential link with the truth. When freedom, out of a desire to emancipate itself from all forms of tradition and authority, shuts out even the most obvious evidence of an objective and universal truth, which is the foundation of personal and social life, then the person ends up by no longer taking as the sole and indisputable point of reference for his own choices the truth about the good and evil, but only his subjective and changeable opinion or, indeed, his selfish interest or whim.” (19)

Let's return to the compass analogy to understand better what St. John Paul II is talking about. According to St. John Paul II, we jeopardize people’s safety and well-being when we presume to believe that we can declare “north” to be “south” or “east” to be “west.” It is dangerous to change things that by nature are true, good, and beautiful to become what we feel that "ought" to be. So, if I decide that “east” is really “west,” garner enough votes, change the laws, enshrine it in our school curricula, and teach our children that “east” is really “west,” I am creating a situation of chaos and crisis. Why? The compass, which is supposed to guide me in truth to my rightful end, is faulty and flawed. My journey will be much more difficult and challenging because while I believe I am going the right way, I am not. 

I am thankful for my Catholic faith and for being able to live out my Catholic faith, even though there are efforts to undermine it and my religious freedom. You may or may not recall some years back when the Obama administration’s HHS mandate was requiring the Little Sisters of the Poor to violate their religious principles by offering access to contraception as part of their employee healthcare plan benefits. The Little Sisters challenged this mandate all the way to the Supreme Court and won in 2020. I admire the Little Sisters and their refusal to allow the Federal Government to force them to violate their consciences and religious liberty. This Thanksgiving, I will be extra thankful for my religious freedom, although I realize that I cannot take it for granted because someday it may be taken from me.  However, like the Little Sisters, we must follow a reliable compass when on such an important journey to Heaven. Happy Thanksgiving!

-Bishop James T. Ruggieri