New Archbishop of Philadelphia: Charles Chaput

Her former shepherd, Cardinal Rigali, having now retired, Charles Chaput has been appointed to lead the Catholic Church in Philadelphia. The National Catholic Reporter has interviewed him and the New York Times has also published at least two articles on his appointment to the archdiocese.

Characterized by most as a conservative, Archbishop Chaput, a Capuchin Franciscan, distances himself from the appelation. He does oppose abortion and homosexual marriage; he expects Catholics -- including politicians -- to do the same, or else to abstain from receiving Holy Communion; and he wrote a column criticizing Notre Dame for inviting President Obama to address the school, because of his emphatically pro-choice views: all of which has earned him great popularity among not only traditional Catholics but evangelical Protestants as well. On the other hand, he is uncompromising in his attitude toward social justice, stating frankly that "If we don't love the poor, and do all we can to improve their lot, we're going to go to Hell"; he refrains from criticizing the atmosphere of the Catholic Church in America immediately following the Second Vatican Council (a period mostly deplored by conservatives), and speaks positively not just of engagement with secular culture, but of changing methods with changing times.

Creative fidelity to tradition would perhaps be a good summary of the impression he makes. He is an excellent image of what the fathers of Vatican II seem to have wanted: an orthodox and obedient Catholic, who is yet engaged and active in relating to the culture he finds himself in; a whole human being who is devoted to Christ, not just a man-of-the-world with a papist veneer or a Christian whose every impulse except that of religion is stultified.

Having been pulled in two directions for so long in so many places -- here, the graying quasi-Marxist priest who seems more interested in eco-pacifist-feminist political theory than in the liturgy; there, the staid and mumbling reactionary who treats the Church's declarations on religious freedom or interreligious dialogue as dangerous innovations from raving heretics like, uh, the Pope -- Catholics may be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief for the appointment of a gentle, sensible, confident voice to a major see.

A few extracts from the interview (linked above) illuminate his character. On the conservative issues vs. liberal issues dichotomy:

"When you move through time, you see different things. In one era, if the Church and the world [aren't] paying attention to a given dimension of the Gospel, you emphasize it. As you move forward, it may be that because of the preaching and activism in that area, there's been a loss of focus on others, so then you emphasize those. You have to preach all of them, and all together."

On Catholic politicians and their assent to Church teaching:

"I think that people who make decisions contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in public ways, in matters of faith and morals, should decide for themselves not to receive Communion. They've broken their communion with the Church, and to receive Communion means you're in communion with the Church. If you're not, it's hypocritical to receive Communion. ... That said, we should always respect people who do things contrary to the Gospel. ... [I]t's important for us to live in a way that's not hostile to people. We have a duty as Catholics, however, to speak clearly about God's plan for human happiness."

On the abuse crisis -- the media fallout and a few of his thoughts on handling it:

"It wasn't just the Church, it was the broader society. I know that civil authorities acted in exactly the same way that the Church acted in those days. School districts acted in exactly the same way. ... It's critically important to reach out to the victims, who are the ones who have suffered most from this, and their families. ... I think the focus has to be on victims and those who have been hurt, rather than on protecting the Church. ... I don't think the Catholic Church is being made a scapegoat, quite honestly.

I do think, however, there's a tendency to punish the Church as though it was the only one involved. ... The bottom line is that we have to do our best to make sure that kids are protected, that the rights of priests are protected, and that the church membership has confidence in its leadership."

"Spiritually the problem is always the same, which is a lack of fidelity to the Gospel without excuse. I think the crisis is telling us that we had many excuses for not being faithful to the Gospel. I remember hearing people articulate those excuses, such as finding 'new ways' of being chaste. There's only one way of being chaste, which is the one it's always been. ... Again, St. Francis calls us to embrace to Gospel fully, without excuses and without compromise ..."

On revitalizing the Catholic spiritual life:

"I'm firmly convinced by a lifetime of being in the Church that the traditional practices of the Church are the ones we need to follow ... The first thing is regular prayer ... Beyond that, we should embrace the sacramental life, which means personal confession as well as encouraging others to enter the sacrament of confession. There's also fasting ... We need to find time for spiritual reading, especially the reading of the Scriptures. I don't think adding new devotions to the traditional practices of the Church is necessary, and sometimes it's confusing and ends up sapping away time.

Certainly devotion to the Blessed Mother is an intrinsically necessary part of Catholic life ... Christ gave us Mary as our mother, and we should take that seriously. If we believe these things and faithfully apply them to our lives, we'll work our way through this."