By Whose Authority?

Dear Friend,

The late great Franciscan friar, Father Alex Manville, whom Bishop High graduates of a certain age remember as their high school principal, was very good at offering authoritative insights. Typical was one he repeated to me more than once in his cool droll baritone: “Most American Catholics are more American than they are Catholic.”  While this observation was likely not original with him, he sure had a way of making it sound like it was. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus teaches with an authority that astonishes his listeners, though drawing his lessons from the same sources as the scribes, it would appear that in a sense he was not so very original. What’s more, By whose authority…? was a question that would stalk Jesus throughout his teaching ministry. Mark’s description of the expulsion of the unclean spirit makes the answer very clear.

But our Scriptures - and Father Alex’s little nugget - raise another question, one that becomes ever more important as we set a direction for faith formation here at the parish: What authorities are most powerful in shaping the consciences of Catholics in this country today? The number of teachers, preachers, and “voices of influence” available to us now online is proliferating. Also on the rise are various proponents of “Christian nationalism” that tend to view America’s role on the world stage as that of a new “chosen people.” 

Tough questions, tough realities. What’s more, there are unclean spirits at work in our public forum today, just as there were in the synagogue that Jesus entered at Capernaum - demons of divisiveness, hard-heartedness, and resentment. How do we face these and reject them with a conscience and a faith shaped by an authentic living Catholic tradition? For us as a community of disciples, that’s a most important consideration.

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm