Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elevated to the Chair of Peter. He is an American, a one-time head of the Augustinian Order, and a missionary who spent twenty years ministering to the poor in Peru. Is it a surprise that he chose as his papal name Leo XIV, honoring the immediate predecessor of that title known for his commitment to social justice?
I was reminded of our news pope’s quiet and apparently solid commitment to social justice while re-reading the work of another well-known American spiritual leader and theologian, who died sixteen years ago, Fr. Richard Neuhaus. In his book America Against Itself: Moral Vision and the Public Order Fr. Neuhaus underscores that civilization depends upon “obedience to the unenforceable”, such as virtue, honor, discernment, decency, compassion and hope. Although written thirty years ago, his book seems even more timely today. He, of course, associates these “unenforceables” with religion and in a particularly striking sentence writes: “The biblical proposition is inherently radical and seeks expression in restless discipleship”. (Restlessness brings to mind the famous quote of the founder of Pope Leo’s Order).
Restless and radical discipleship. ‘Restless’, if course, suggests dissatisfaction with the status quo and the desire for change. The popular connotation of ‘radical’ is to sever oneself from tradition. However, etymologically, to be radical means to ‘go back to the roots’ (radix in Latin). One doesn’t usually link ‘restless and radical discipleship’ with Catholic philanthropy. But, perhaps it is appropriate. Those of you who through your donor advised funds at NCCF are supporting organizations around the world that promote human dignity may well qualify for this descriptor. Are you mindful of the ‘biblical proposition’? Do you seek change? Are you rooted in the faith?
The closing paragraph of Fr. Neuhaus’ chapter on the social “Movement” launched in the 1960s refers to how restless, radical discipleship relates to another ‘movement’, the movement of the Kingdom:
”Until wars end and the prisoners are released, until the blind see and the hungry are fed, until the most vulnerable, the unborn, the aged, are protected, the ‘justice thing’ will not have been done. Each generation will be renewed by the authentically radical who are at home among the wretched of the earth, who find truth along the fault lines of every social order, and who act on the promise that the dice of the Kingdom are indeed loaded on the side of those in direst need. To be sure, such radicals will from time to time find themselves part of what looks like a mass movement, But, because they are radicals, they will not count on it. And if or when it happens, they will not trust it. They will not mistake it for the movement of the promised Kingdom by which they are both bound and freed.”
Restlessly, radically, and hopefully, under a new occupant in Peter’s Chair, the Kingdom continues to advance.
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