https://youtu.be/dsBZtUWjI-U?si=kkkXAyO2Aed1L7js

Here is my commentary on a somewhat lengthy video discussion started by Fr Leo Patalinghug, aired on YouTube, concerning the civil unrest currently plaguing Washington DC. You may click the link above to watch Fr Leo’s video. The video is entitled: National Guard Deployed in Washington DC – Authority vs Compassion: How Should Catholics Respond? And gee whizz, do I have a lot to say in response to what Fr Leo said. So here we go….

I must first start by saying that there were many laudible things contained in this video, excerpts of interviews with people on the streets or with just random individuals that really spoke truth into the situation and reflected the reality of why the government had chosen the path they had taken by calling out the National Guard. I will cite specifically that interview with a couple of street dwellers who applauded the actions of the police in arresting a known drug-dealer. The positive welcome these people had for what the law enforcement had done was absolutely & completely justifyable. I sympathize entirely with their perspective as it is also consistent too, with that taken by the woman sitting on the park bench, who was interviewed about what she thought of these unfolding government interventions to address the problems of street-crime in Washington DC. Her recollection that children as young as 3 are killed by senseless violence perpetuated by street thugs speaks volumes about the necessity to step-up action against both organized and spontaneous street-crime, which is also why I would insist that it’s imperative that the neccessity of implementing robust public safety measures is just so much, much more than how Fr Leo ironically labels it as ‘kind of important’. It is rather, VITALLY IMPORTANT! And so, I really don’t get why Fr Leo is down-playing the severity of this issue – if anything, he ought to be one of the first people to come out and say “yeah, this issue needs to be assiduously dealt with” – precisely because he supposedly has a pastoral role and a great part of that role is a sacred obligation to care for the welfare of those who are on the margins, and particularly those who are really hard-done-by. Therefore, I’m jolted when I hear stuff like that coming from him – stuff that almost sounds like he’s wishy-washy about the whole matter, that deep down, he hasn’t really prioritized the holistic wellbeing of the general public as something that ought to register in the conscience of every human being, and especially pastors or those within welfare roles.

That said, I will also maintain that the collective approaches of these government interventions are so many and varied and tend to, as seen from some other conflicting news reports also made light of in this video, contradict one another in both their methods and intentions. Let me cite the example of the White House press secretary, who claims that there are plans to offer these homeless people emergency accommodation and rehab. She also stated that they would be prosecuted with either jail-terms or fines impending should they refuse these offers. My question is how authentically caring and qualitatively consistent are these so-called offers going to be? We’ve all heard about many instances of institutionalized abuse taking place at the hands of government-run programs for those deemed “too challenging a task” for the ebbs and flows of everyday life to offer them steady and assured answers that will not let them down, be they children or adults, mentally challenged or from a background that was considered a bit too historically chequered with many intersecting & variegated lines of descendency…..

Also, it was as though the press secretary of the White House was being somewhat too perfunctory about it as there was this element in the tone of her voice that tended to suggest this matter of homeless encampments was something which just had to be punitively dealt with and as expediently as possible without much depth of genuine concern for the human dignity or wellbeing of those homeless people whose lives are being impacted by these radical government agendas. I seriously think it is the Church’s responsibility to see to it that an authentic quality of care alongside a decent array of opportunity be actually given to these people who are being forcibly evicted from their camp-outs. Because at the end of the day, it is not about “authority versus compassion” but about the fact that we humans have a God-ordained obligation to act with compassion under the authority of God, that duty of care God has conferred upon us in view of our unique role as custodians of the earth’s divinely created order. Stemming from this too, the Church has a moral obligation to audit and monitor (with a role of practical missional engagement) the quality of care that the government is proposing as it is rolled out and delivered. The Church needs to hold the government to account and needs to examine diligently whether what is actually being done is being done well, and if what is being done well is being done in ALL AREAS where these interventions are occurring or is it more of something that maybe only gets offered in certain locations while others still are left out in the cold in this regard? If it fails to do this and the government also fails to implement real, lasting and decent housing, educational, employment & welfare incentives for these people, there will be a bigger crisis than what the government is currently faced with. I was not impressed either, as neither was Fr Leo, with the way some squadrons of the National Guard were just bulldozing entire encampments – razing the tents of these homeless people to the ground with no sensitivity or ethic of care. It was just brutal. How could anyone call that “just” or “merciful”?? It was the antithesis of any goodness spoken of by the White House press secretary and there was no indication either that any formal negotiation agreements had been violated by the people who lived in these tents. It makes absolutely no sense to me that the National Guard has power to forcibly evict people from staying peacefully in an area that is not made unsightly or dangerous due to their presence since it just looked like a tourist campsite rather than a drug & vice infested hovel. This is what made that footage of the bulldozing even more shocking and it seriously looked to me like that was an unlawful eviction of a peaceful civil gathering.

I also cannot believe what I heard Fr Leo admit, even though he is trained as a pastor – and that is, to not having the knowledge or capacity to help many of these very challenged people get out of their stuck situation! I believe he said that but I just cannot understand why because, if he has trained in the seminary, then why didn’t his training properly equip him for helping the most challenged in the entire population? This is a HUGE part of my gripe with the way it currently is and has been for albeit a very long time, with the way Catholic priests are trained. The truth of the matter is, they are NOT trained as they ought to be! I don’t care how much of a pedistal upon which, any of you people reading this, all-too-often (habitually I must add) place them! Placing these guys on a pedistal as if they are somehow closer to God than any of us who happen to exist outside of the bounds of their (humanly invoked) ‘anointing’ is morally wrong and a ginormous part of the abuse crisis problem in the Church today. And by saying this, I am not advocating for a Church without priests but for a Church with real priests who are properly predisposed for the pastoral anointing God (rather than man) wants to confer upon them so that they serve Him by the same ways & means as Ss. Mother Teresa and Don Bosco did. And that is by truly serving Him through experientially living out the charism of daily solidarity with those who suffer most and those who call upon them (often out of desperation and with nowhere else to turn) to support them in their life journeys as they grapple with unanswered questions and the stubborn refusal of certain unrelenting problems to leave them in peace. However, as I have said repeatedly in other posts, way too many of the current breed of pastors do not think it within their best interests to treat the more emotionally challenged types (particularly females) who call upon them out of the blue, with the kind of respect, friendship, and compassion they would reserve for their own pastoral bretheren or for those parishionners who impress them with family pride, accomplishments and the serenity of intra-personal togetherness and mental stability. That folks is the tragedy of the Holy Mother Church in these, our alienation-syndrome saturated times.

And guess what? Fr Leo was right when he remarked that homeless people should not be swept up in homogeneous crass generalizations that do little other than “demonize them”. He made an effort there to state clearly that amongst a great number of them, exist people who are in such a terrible position, not because they necessarily chose it, but because they were caught up in circumstances that were not within their power to either grasp in real-enough terms or control. And that too, I believe (again contrarily to Fr Leo), is why we need to be more discerning in how we view the acts of protest that have been sparked off due to the rather extreme nature of the government executive orders re: these interventions as we cannot afford to write-off all acts of protest as examples of violent revenge or senseless anger. There are no doubt many that are and I think particularly too of the senseless rioting and looting that took place in Charolettesville around 2019. That kind of demonstrative outrage is none other than futile mob violence which sets no good example of exactly how or why certain unfortunate systemic realities do need to change for the better. But there are kinds of protest that do make necessary statements about what exactly needs to change and that many people are starkly aware that such a substantial change is still a real and as yet unheard and unmet need out there. And it must be acknowledged too, that Fr Leo is spot-on when he observes that in many other instances “the other thing to recognize is that the government hasn’t done a very good job” and to compensate for their lack “has to always rely on faith-based efforts”. And he continues fabulously by stating “so I think that churches can do a much better job of providing compassionate services for those in emergency situations or needs but the churches have limited funds…..”
BUT, BUT, BUT….he goes on to almost contradict what he said previously when he continues to posit that churches “may not have the expertise to do the counselling, and the drug addiction, and the advocacy work to get people in[to] a more stable situation…”???? AND nevermind that he also claims that “the Catholic Church does not exist to be an extension of the department of Social Services!” He also goes on to say that as Catholics “we do social justice” and “while we can talk about compassion all we want….we eventually will have to show it and do it” he says. Here’s the crunch though – although he states we have to show and do compassionate works, he then goes on once again to imply there is a ‘limit’ to what the Church actually can collectively accomplish….It is at this point that I must ask, how is it that we, as a Church, can claim to “lead the charge for social justice” if there is some kind of limit to what we can collectively achieve in this area and, since when did Jesus ever say there was a limit on exactly how much the Church could do in His Name? I seem to recall that Scripture tells us that a time will come when the Church will be enabled, by the grace of God, to do way more than even what Jesus Himself could do when He was here on earth. Okay, I get it that we haven’t yet embarked or chanced upon that time – obviously that time is still way off in the future. But in the here and now that is ours to do with well what God has so given us, has availed to our disposal – in light of the Great Commission, we ought to (as Mother Teresa of Calcutta also understood as imperative) leave no stone unturned when it comes to “being Christ’s heart, hands, and feet” in a world that ultimately depends on us for the existential nourishment which it truly cannot live without, for this nourishment is the Living Water and without water, life itself cannot continue to be sustained.

I mean, if the Church does not exist to make a positively transformational practical difference in social-service terms, then has “charity” become a by-word in this bigger-picture area? – an area where missional outreach to the most vulnerable and most marginalized is actually mandated (and not decreed as merely optional) by the 2nd Greatest Commandment issued by our Lord, and that is to “love our neighbour as we love ourselves”. I am not for one moment insinuating that the Church needs to become a literal appendage of the government, NO!…of course not. What I am saying however, is that Holy Mother Church is actually, by means of her divinely orchestrated authority supposed to be a positively transformational and profoundly nourishing existential ministerial force of pro-active mercy in the world at large, AND she has a moral duty to give due and uncompromizing service to those in most need. And this folks ought to be neither sidelined nor wieseled-out of.

Therefore, I can’t believe he said that! I just cannot believe he implied that the Church “does not have the capacity” to be as efficacious as she ought in response to these kinds of situations.  Because this then also implies too that she does not  have the “empowered wisdom”,  unlike the government or secular agencies do, relative to exacting the most appropriately compatible kinds of drug-addiction response, treatment, recovery, and welfare programs! YIKES!! 😮 So, in effect, in this Fr Leo is brazenly stating that he believes secular beliefs, methods, and practices re: addiction & mental health support & recovery services are far more efficacious than those robustly rooted in Gospel values and the spiritual traditions, wisdom, and nourishment of the faith??? Are you SERIOUS??!! You gotta be kidding me! This is frankly OUTRAGEOUS and bizarre.

I am literally traumatized by learning that he has taken such a confounding position here since he ought to be advocating for the Church as the ideal model of charity, compassion, and efficaciousness relative to her bearing such a rich tapestry of colour, variety, and being such a bountiful repository of all kinds of spiritual resources, knowledge, and wisdom to guide, aid, transform, minds, hearts, lives to the fullest extent possible this side of eternity….That is not to say that the current state of the Church in the contemporary context (and more so particularly that specific context which Fr Leo is exploring in the video here) has reached the heights of fullness of charity so much so that it ought to be taking charge way ahead of state facilitation because the facts speak for themselves loud and clear – and sadly, the reality of the matter is that the Church still has a mighty long way to go in terms of becoming boundlessly equipped both infrastructurally-speaking and resource-wise so as to be able to enarmour and train itself up by the vigor and virtue of God’s grace for such a task as that. But it is VITAL the Church does embrace such a trumpet call because, if anyone has the know-how, the spiritual insights and power to bring forth to the table here, to manifest in fullness of truth, love and the light of its witness, it is the Church that will have the answers, far ahead too of the too-many and often clamourous and confused ways of the world when it comes to the establishment of true peace, reconciliation, and coexistential unity amongst a great diversity alongside the great and often grave necessity of rescue and recovery in a multitudinous myriad of times and seasons.

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