A Catholic exhortation

I was born in 1959 in East London in Britain. My father was a cab driver, the son of immigrants, and we were not wealthy. My school was publicly funded, my health care similarly so, and there was free milk at lunchtime and nutritious if boring school meals. I was clever, got a full scholarship to university and even had my accommodation paid for. I mention this because of what Pope Francis said about “unfettered capitalism” in the lyrical, compelling, splendid Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel. And thank God that capitalism is fettered, because otherwise it allows too many people, perhaps the majority of people, to suffer.

There was much that was inspiring in the apostolic exhortation, and at heart the Holy Father was affirming Church teaching regarding life, the priesthood, marriage and the place of Christ and His Mother in our lives. What is new is the support for more national Church autonomy in certain areas and the call for two solitudes of the faith to come together: those who pursue social justice but say too little about prayer and liturgy, and those who pursue prayer and liturgy but say too little about social justice. Both have to adapt and learn and thus energize their Catholicism.

But it was the Pope’s comments about economics that caused the most fuss and the least informed reaction. Noted theologian and man of nuance and reason Rush Limbaugh explained he was considering becoming a Catholic before the Pope’s comments about capitalism, but would no longer do so. We’ll probably survive without Rush, but in all seriousness, what an absurd argument! If his reasons were so tenuous, we have to wonder who was instructing him.