
LIBERTY, FREEDOM AND 'GOOD GROUND'

This year, we in the United States are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We not only recall the courage and heroism of ordinary citizens as they struggled to fashion a new nation built on the idea of freedom and liberty, but we also recognize, very deeply, that the violence that marked our American Revolution has not gone away.
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As we mark our nation's 250th birthday, Americans might reflect on the dangers of a creeping monoculture as we look back upon the "roots of our history," consider the polarization and ascending nationalism of the present, and ask what foundations we should build for the future.
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If we take our nation's long history of exclusionary politics seriously, it illuminates how white supremacist groups frame themselves as patriots. They believe they are not viruses to the American project, but white blood cells.
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Pope Leo XIV’s new social encyclical calls upon Catholics and those of goodwill to make a “pivotal choice”. He exhorts us, on the one hand, to oppose the futile efforts to build a new Tower of Babel and, on the other, to join in a broad collaboration to rebuild Jerusalem, where God and humanity can dwell together in justice, peace, and social friendship.
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At the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the College of Cardinals with Pope Leo on June 29, the Holy Father addressed the role of the church in this moment of profound transitions: rapid technological advances, deep political polarization and a pervasive sense of isolation. Surely the role of the church demands more than a mere preservation of the past or institutional survival.
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Jesus’ body reminds us that each individual affected by war and global unrest is also present at the eucharistic table with us. The Eucharist does not promise us relief from the brokenness; the promise of the Eucharist is that in brokenness, there is Christ — and there also, should we be.
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We are, and always have been, a deeply fallible people. We have the desire to give God glory, but because we are human, we will always come up short, in ways that are amusing, and in ways that are very much not. And yet God still loves us and uses our brokenness to move in the world.
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The just war theory may not be enough, if it lacks a fine-grained awareness of either new and emerging ways of resolving conflict or of the complex financial and political interests involved in decisions to go to war. It is helpful to start with some clarity about what just war theory is and what it is not.
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How can Catholics practice nonviolence in a way that is just and inclusive, and that acknowledges the complex challenges of peace work? The question for today’s church is not if religious leaders will continue to engage with nonviolence, but how they will do so. Pope Francis’ 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) may offer a framework.

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