https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/catholic-charities-isn-t-religious-so-sayeth-the-wisconsin-supreme-court?utm_campaign=NCR&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–N1XReZIDm8V6uOEQuCqmDICTBmKg5D-VFoofn5rQMkmnLnCU9COwiat6tOC8SUAzhM4R6nR-CaqhLNIB4SuUYxvS9kA&_hsmi=304339729&utm_content=304339729&utm_source=hs_email

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Too secular!!!? There you have it Michael Warsaw! Just like the St Vincent de Paule Society here in Australia! I mean, if the founder of ‘Vinnies’, Bl Frederic Oznam could see how it operates here in this country, albeit very “secularly”, no spiritual mentoring, no focus on providing any kind of spiritual support to disadvantaged people through chaplaincy, pastoral care; nevermind any type of missional formation to equip those serving or those receiving assistance, with the necessary nurturance to help them navigate the complexities of everyday life….he would be SHOCKED!….but on another level, perhaps not surprised.

The Spirit of the Age has infiltrated many auxiliaries and social-service arms of the Church in such a way as to mould them more into taking after secular charities and institutes of similar emphasis, such as the Apex Club or Probis. I know this from first-hand experience as I once consulted Vinnies to help me with some pastoral care & spiritually-relevant, faith-centred social support and they told me point blank that they do not offer this kind of assistance. And when I pressed them to arrange for someone to come out to my house and have a chat to me about what exactly it is they can offer, the people who were sent out to meet with me and explain what kinds of things the St Vincent de Paule Society offers, I was struck by the rudeness, cold-hearted disinterest of the people who were sent to meet me at my home coupled with the grossly secular framework of what they were prepared to do. They were the kinds of people you would find playing poker machines or bingo and as far as spirituality or faith-formation was concerned, it wasn’t one of their top priorities. This rude discovery about Vinnies grieved my heart terribly. Therefore, I am not at all surprised or even fazed by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin’s ruling re: withholding “tax breaks” or “exemptions” from the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB). In fact, I am really happy to hear of such a favourable outcome. The Church needs to welcome these reproofing measures to help her flourish. Just think of such an outcome as a blessing in disguise, a cloud with a silver lining. After all, a Church that flourishes in its evangelical mission to be Salt and Light to a spiritually ailing and needy world is what this verdict is calling for rather than a Church that withers away and dies, suffocated by the values of the world.

Frankly, it is a waste of time for these so-called Catholic charities to still use the label “Catholic” if they get down on anyone who asks them for chaplaincy or pastoral assistance. And they may as well omit all the deep & meaningful spiritual formation history and background from their website’s Mission Statement as it’s not an accurate reflector of who they are and what they are willing to provide currently.

Can I share a very important lesson I learnt recently from watching a brilliant movie¹ about the life story of St Ignatius of Loyola? It would help you tremendously to appreciate the seriousness and urgency to take positive lessons of the heart away from this Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling instead of seeing it as a threat to the Church’s existence in the Diocese of Superior.

St Ignatius was actually brought before the Holy Inquisition and was at the time suspected of being in league with the-then Protestant Reformation through the alumbrados (the Illuminati) – a sect which rejected the Sacraments and the Magisterium, and taught that people should exclusively listen to their own interpretations in the spiritual life. Most of the Protestant Churches that split from Rome at this time believed similar things but the alumbrados were more contemplative and were on the extreme fringes of the Reformation.

The Inquisition examined very carefully and with utmost circumspection all the ins and outs of St Ignatius’ teachings since this brush with the Inquisitorial Court was at a time too, when Ignatius was starting out trying to form a mendicant order of monks. It was at the time just after his Rock-Bottoming at the cave of Manresa, following him having been restored to a life which encompassed for him a freshly integrated union with God and with himself. He had completed the writing of the Spiritual Exercises. And the Inquisition chanced upon these Exercises because he was teaching them publically, in a very open and informal manner as was particular to the cultural custom of the time and place. He made it his aim to take after St Francis of Assisi in the way he went about his new-found vocational life of teaching and preaching in the streets and as he went about his daily travels throughout the countryside. He actually formed a small but dedicated band of brothers and they even dressed like the Franciscan monks St Ignatius so very much admired. This eventually caught the attention of the Inquisition as any new religious order or loose association which had not as yet been officially endorsed by the Church became suspect and the radical nature of St Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises drew him into loggerheads with the Inquisitorial Court. His trial was rather extensive and involved much detail in terms of evidence-giving and testimonials from those who had known him. To cut a long story short, the end result of this Inquisitorial trial proved positive for Ignatius in a number of ways. It was one of his very major clouds that had a brilliant silver lining. This experience essentially opened the way for him to study in Paris which further enabled and equipped him with both the scholarly and pragmatic springboard from which he would be able to form the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits. So there you have it – the Court Order that saw Ignatius of Loyola make his teachings grounded with an adherence to scholarly formality so that their authentic rigours could not only be positively proven worth the trial and testing they underwent in the Inquisition but also so that they would serve their greater purpose to aid and flourish the Church’s evangelical zeal anew was a perfect example of a one-hundred fold blessing that at the outset was fiercely disguised. This was none other than God’s grand plan. A twist of fate some might call it but God’s grand providential plan none-the-less. The same thing, a similar lesson gleans so brightly of a silver lining right here and now in relation to the verdict of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as I write this thinking about the awesome lessons taken from that movie about St Ignatius’ life. Might it just be the very thing that the Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) needs to learn is about becoming more robust and perhaps formally dedicated to immersing it’s charitable projects in rock-solid faith-formation programs so that the social activism it performs is grounded in a living faith, one that is living and active in the way it provides pastoral support and encourages faith-building exercises through its various programs? I am not for a moment suggesting proselytizing in an “in-your-face” kind of fashion. No! That’s not what I’m getting at here. Rather, I’m talking about giving faith-centred options to those who come looking for help from CCB. Give people the option of choosing therapeutic supports and Bible study grow-groups with a Catholic spiritual focus and make it known that these helps and faith-formation programs are available if they so desire or need them. At least provide a service with a spiritual arm. Don’t just limit what you do to exclusively material hand-outs or practical helps that contain zero emphasis on faith. While it’s great to provide practical necessities to assist people with improving their quality of life be it in their home or educationally, it is vital that some kind of complementary spiritual nourishment be made available on a consistent basis for both those serving within this outreach and to those they serve. This way, CCB will become more religiously devoted to the aims and principles of the Catholic faith and this devotion will renew the fire, the zeal of those involved, and at the same time shield this apostolate and all who rely on its charitable initiatives, from the insidious and destructive aims and schemas of secularism. And through this also, CCB’s apostolic initiative will become much more enriched and evangelically equipped for the often-times unseen road ahead.

And on the note of Mother Teresa, I am of the opinion that hypothetically, her order would have qualified for the tax break because they were engaging themselves in pastoral care work and faith-formation alongside providing for the material needs of those they served.

End Notes

1. Ignatius of Loyola: Soldier, Sinner, Saint. 2016, Paolo Dy, a Jesuit Communications – (Jesucom) Production, starring Andreas Muñoz.