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Remarks at the White House, April 16
As the nation faces the increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.
Democracy can only flourish, as your Founding Fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation.
Remarks, meeting with Bishops, National Shrine, April 16
I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home. This, indeed, is what your fellow countrymen have done for generations. From the beginning, they have opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" (cf. sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty).
These are the people whom America
has made her own.
The subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching or to adopt
positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death?
Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an encounter with the living God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in this time, at the expense of the eternal life which he promises in the age to come (cf. Mk 10:30). People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst
for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love.
In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy, it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear toward them. This emphasis on individualism has even affected the church (cf. "Spe Salvi," 13-15), giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed community.
In a context where free speech is valued and where vigorous and honest debate is encouraged, yours is a respected voice that has much to offer to the discussion of the pressing social and moral questions of the day. By ensuring that the Gospel is clearly heard, you not only form the people of your own community, but in view of the global reach of mass communication you help to spread the message of Christian hope throughout the world.
The family is also the primary place for evangelization, for passing on the faith, for helping young people to appreciate the importance of religious practice and Sunday observance.
How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forgo it altogether. To some young Catholics the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended arrangement to
live with another person. Hence we have
an alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States, together with an increase in cohabitation in which the Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent. In such circumstances, children are denied the secure environment that they need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is denied the stable building blocks which it requires if the cohesion and moral focus of the
community are to be maintained.
Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of the centrality of the family and the need to promote the Gospel of life.
What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike.
It falls to you, as pastors modeled upon Christ the good shepherd to proclaim this message loud and clear, and thus to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs in an ecclesial setting, you can give a lead to others, since this scourge is found not only within your dioceses but in every sector of society. It calls for a determined, collective response.
If polls are to be believed, the American people are deeply religious. But it is not enough to count on this traditional religiosity and go about business as usual even as its foundations are being slowly undermined. A serious commitment to evangelization cannot prescind from a profound diagnosis of the real challenges the Gospel encounters in contemporary American culture.
Perhaps America's brand of secularism poses a particular problem: It allows for professing belief in God, and respects the public role of religion and the churches, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive acceptance that certain things "out there" are true but without practical relevance for everyday life.
Much more, of course, could be said on this subject: let me conclude, though, by saying that I believe that the church in America, at this point in her history, is faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic vision of reality and presenting it in an engaging and imaginative way to a society which markets any number of recipes for human fulfillment. I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who despite their
constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth. Much remains to be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of ecclesial life in America.
First, as you know, it is becoming more and more difficult in our Western societies to speak in a meaningful way of salvation. Yet salvation -- deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of new life and freedom in Christ -- is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover, as I have suggested, new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ can bring. It is in the church's liturgy,
and above all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that these realities are most powerfully expressed and lived in the life of believers; perhaps we still have much to do in realizing the council's vision of the liturgy as the exercise of the common priesthood and the impetus for a fruitful apostolate in the world.
In Christianity, there can be no room for purely private religion: Christ is the savior of the world, and, as members of his body and sharers in his prophetic, priestly and royal "munera," we cannot separate our love for him from our commitment to the building up of the church and the extension of his kingdom. To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul.
Homily, Washington Nationals Park, April 17
The church in the United States is now called to look to the future, firmly grounded in the faith passed on by previous generations and ready to meet new challenges -- challenges no less demanding than those faced by your forebears -- with the hope born of God's love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5).
Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the church in America but also for society as a whole? It is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in many ways drawing closer together and becoming ever more interdependent. Yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased
violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of God.
Homily, St. Patrick Cathedral, New York, April 18
Gathered as we are in this historic cathedral, how can we not think of the countless men and women who have gone before us, who labored for the growth of the church in the United States, and left us a lasting legacy of faith and good works?. Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society where the church seems legalistic and "institutional" to many people, our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God's love. Is not this ongoing "intellectual"
conversion as necessary as "moral" conversion for our own growth in faith, our discernment of the signs of the times, and our personal contribution to the church's life and mission?
For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed the Second Vatican Council, with its call for a greater engagement in the church's mission to the world, has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family. We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to Christ! In the light of faith, we will then discover the wisdom and strength needed
to open ourselves to points of view which may not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions.
Dear brothers and sisters, in the finest traditions of the church in this country, may you also be the first friend of the poor, the homeless, the stranger, the sick and all who suffer. Act as beacons of hope, casting the light of Christ upon the world. And when we leave this great church, let us go forth as heralds of hope in the midst of this city, and all those places where God's grace has placed us. In this way, the church in America will know
a new springtime in the Spirit, and point the way to that other, greater city, the new Jerusalem, whose light is the Lamb (Rv 21:23). For there God is even now preparing for all people a banquet of unending joy and life. Amen.
Homily at Mass at Yankee Stadium, April 20
Our celebration today is also a sign of the impressive growth which God has given to the church in your country in the past 200 years. From a small flock like that described in the first reading, the church in America has been built up in fidelity to the twin commandment of love of God and love of neighbor. In this land of freedom and opportunity the church has united a widely diverse flock in the profession of the faith and, through her many educational, charitable and social works, has also contributed significantly
to the growth of American society as a whole.
"Authority" . "obedience." To be frank, these are not easy words to speak nowadays. Words like these represent a "stumbling stone" for many of our contemporaries, especially in a society which rightly places a high value on personal freedom. Yet, in the light of our faith in Jesus Christ -- "the way and the truth and the life" -- we come to see the fullest meaning, value and indeed beauty of those words.
Today we recall the bicentennial of a watershed in the history of the church in the United States: its first great chapter of growth. In these 200 years the face of the Catholic community in your country has changed greatly. In this land of religious liberty Catholics found freedom not only to practice their faith, but also to participate fully in civic life, bringing their deepest moral convictions to the public square and cooperating with their
neighbors in shaping a vibrant, democratic society.
Praying fervently for the coming of the kingdom also means being constantly alert for the signs of its presence and working for its growth in every sector of society. It means facing the challenges of present and future with confidence in Christ's victory and a commitment to extending his reign. It means not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false
gospels of freedom and happiness.
It also means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life, since as the Second Vatican Council put it, "there is no human activity -- even in secular affairs -- which can be withdrawn from God's dominion" ("Lumen Gentium," 36). It means working to enrich American society and culture with the beauty and truth of the Gospel and never losing sight of that great hope which gives meaning and value to all the
other hopes which inspire our lives.
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The following are quotes made by Pope Benedict XVI during his April 15-20 U.S. trip, on the topic of Catholicism in Culture