A candid cardinal says: 'World distrusts us'
Fixing America's blind spot a huge job, George says

October 31, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter

Cardinal Francis George believes he knows why much of the world distrusts Americans.

It's not because of our freedom or wealth, Chicago's Roman Catholic archbishop says. It's because often we neither comprehend nor wish to comprehend the perspectives and plights of others.

In his homily Sunday during a service at Catholic Theological Union, a graduate school of theology in Hyde Park, George, 69, recalled his experiences visiting some of the poorest corners of the globe when he was the vicar general of his religious order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

"I found as I went around that no matter where I went, even in Marxist lands, people knew I was a Catholic priest," George said. "This was in the '60s and '70s, long before 9/11, long before the Iraqi war. And people everywhere I went, although I found myself part of a global community as a Catholic priest, I found myself suspect as an American citizen.

"The world distrusts us not because we are rich and free. Many of us are not rich and some of us aren't especially free. They distrust us because we are deaf and blind, because too often we don't understand and make no effort to understand," he said.

"We have this cultural proclivity that says, 'We know what is best and if we truly want to do something, whether in church or in society, no one has the right to tell us no.' That cultural proclivity, which defines us in many ways, has to be surrendered, or we will never be part of God's kingdom."

These were rare forceful public statements for George, who normally shies away from speaking about political issues. And even as he said them, the cardinal was concerned his remarks might be taken out of context.

"There aren't many places where I can say that, there aren't many places where I would want that to be said for me, and I wouldn't want to be quoted outside of this context," the cardinal said during his homily.

Fixing the blind spot
His particular context Sunday was the largest Catholic theological school in the United States, where one-third of the student body is international students from 40 countries, including nations that have suffered recent trauma, such as Somalia and Iraq, said the Rev. Donald Senior, the theological union's president.

"You hardly realize it when you see them walking the corridors. You think they're like everybody else and then you hear their stories and they're breathtaking," Senior said about some of CTU's international students.

"For me and for a lot of people I've talked to since, is that the emotional part of it was that he was on key so much with what we're trying to do," preparing students for lives of service, which often lead them to war-torn, impoverished and distressed parts of the world, Senior said.

"I've actually heard him say this before," said Senior, who deemed Sunday's homily one of George's best. "I really think that deep down in his soul he is a missionary . . . and [he] has an innate respect, consideration and empathy for these other cultures who are so often overlooked or misunderstood by us."

Fixing America's blind spot is an enormous undertaking, George said.

"Conversion of an entire culture is far more difficult than personal conversion," the cardinal said. "But we know it is necessary. . . .

"There is always a need for something more, not only more, but radically different. And it won't come unless we ask [God] for it as a gift. We cannot achieve it ourselves."

cfalsani@suntimes.com

who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Are you serious, or did you just show your extreme level of wit in being able to summarize the parent post in one sentence?

who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Methinks your senses of sarcasm are both blind and deaf.

Is this Cardinal actually implying that we need to understand (and thus tolerate) all cultures in the world, including those that tamp down basic human rights? If I'm reading this correctly, this guy is better off teaching about the Bible and staying away from the complexities of geopolitics.

"We have this cultural proclivity that says, 'We know what is best and if we truly want to do something, whether in church or in society, no one has the right to tell us no.' That cultural proclivity, which defines us in many ways, has to be surrendered, or we will never be part of God's kingdom."

Is this Cardinal actually implying that we need to understand (and thus tolerate) all cultures in the world, including those that tamp down basic human rights? If I'm reading this correctly, this guy is better off teaching about the Bible and staying away from the complexities of geopolitics.

There's a big difference between "understanding" and "tolerance". Hence, my understanding of why terrorists flew planes into the WTC does not make me an apologist for them, just as willful ignorance of those reasons does not make one a patriot.