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WASHINGTON (CNN) — I almost didn’t notice.
But last week, while standing with a CNN cameraman in the lobby of a Washington-area airport, I glanced out a window and saw an ironworker walking atop a newly constructed building. He was holding something in his hand.
My cameraman saw it too, and swung his camera around, zooming in tight.
The ironworker planted the object — a pole — on the exposed steel. He held it steady while a colleague bent over and welded it there. When they were done, the ironworker unfurled an American flag and let it flap in the strong wind.
This town is no stranger to overt displays of patriotism. In fact, we excel at it. There is a statue to every Civil War general of consequence here, and you could go broke feeding copper oats to all their bronze horses. The city’s grand avenues were designed with grand parades in mind, and on certain holidays — notably the Fourth of July — our patriotism erupts in fiery displays of nationalistic pride.
We are masters of the majestic, princes of pageantry. It’s what we do. Washington inhales the triumphs and tragedies of the American experience, and exhales the traditions we remember them by.
Ironworkers, it turns out, also have their traditions. And one ironworker tradition is to “top off” newly completed structures with flags, if the spirit moves them.
So, his work done, the ironworker stepped back and faced the flag. He stood up straight. He squared his shoulders.
And it occurred to me that some of this town’s most heartfelt rituals aren’t those we put on public display, but rather are those we rarely see — a young widow’s visit to Arlington, a old man lighting a candle in a dark vestibule, and a ironworker’s solitary salute.
The Best Tributes Are Real
A traditional Happy Thanksgiving to All
Thanksgiving Prayer
“This Thanksgiving let those of us who have much and those who have little gather at the welcoming table of the Lord. At this blessed feast, may rich and poor alike remember that we are called to serve on another and to walk together in God’s gracious world. With thankful hearts we praise our God who like a loving parent denies us no good thing.
Today and every day, it pleases God for us to sit as brothers and sisters as we share the bounty of the earth and the grace God has placed in each blessed soul. For this we all give thanks and praise to our loving and gracious God.” ~ From Songs of Our Hearts, Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics, edited by Cecilia A. Moor, Ph.D., C. Vanessa White, D.Min., and Paul M. Marshall, S.M.
During the past election, the American Catholic Church and several of its bishops “drew a line in the sand” for their members. In no uncertain terms, the Bishops, following the teachings of the Pope, stated that Catholics who voted for Obama and his avowed stance on abortion committed a “sin” so egregious that they should avoid taking communion until they had done penance for casting such a vote. Their reasoning was based on the fact that they considered abortion as “the murder of the unborn” and as such a politician’s stance on abortion trumped all other stances on all issues. The Bishops considered Obama’s pro-abortion stance as the reason that a true Catholic could not vote for him. The Catholic website, Catholic On-line, ran essay after essay, article after article, communiqué after communiqué informing all its readers of the proper way for a Catholic to vote. Invoking God and asking for the prayers of the church, the Catholic clergy tried to lead the American Church towards their perception of God’s will. The Bishops believed that abortion was an outward sigh of what they termed the “culture of death.” However, the majority of Catholics did not listen. For whatever reason, they decided that the voices of their Bishops and Church did not override the desire to participate in a historical moment, the need for undefined change, hatred of Bush and conservatism, support for Obama’s other liberal social views, or whatever reason their “consciences” could conceive. They choose another pro-abortion politician to lead this country.
I left the Episcopal Church because I felt that it had abandoned its Christian principles and was more interested in including the culture into its church than infusing the church into the culture. Kathy and I decided to investigate the Church this summer and have been attending RCIA to learn about Catholicism. I have been interested in the Church for a long time because I feel that it is the only Church that has remained true to its beliefs.
I am now finding that the Catholic Church has its share of cultural relativists who think that the phrase “cafeteria Catholicism” is a compliment. There are those who ignore the teaching of the Church on contraception, actively and openly criticize the Church for its stance on male clergy, whisper token acquiesce to basic beliefs, support homosexuality, and wonder what the big deal is about marriage remaining the union between a man and woman. A lot of these nominal Catholics are the same ones who can put an “Obama 08” bumper sticker directly above the bumper sticker supporting their local place of Catholic worship. I am a novice in the Church, but the idea of a Catholic magisterium appeals to me. As Pope John Paul II said, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” The idea of separation of church and state is not the issue here. The bishops were not trying to dictate the way to vote. The were trying to advise their flock on morality–believe it or not, that it their job. The real issue here is the distance between the Catholic magisterium and the nominal Catholic. If the issue of abortion can be swept aside in the midst of a historical, media based idol worship, where does that leave the church?
I wish that I could say I guess I am surprised. Somehow, I think that I expected the Catholic Church to be purer and truer to its traditions than the Protestant Church I left. I now realize that nominalism is a modern disease spread by what Dinesh D’Souza calls “practical atheists.” Practical atheists are people who go through their lives professing a belief in God and the Church, but living as if that belief does not matter. Nominalists are in all forms of Christianity and serve as deadly cancers that should be cut out and removed. I trust that one day the American Catholic Church will purge the nominalists from its rolls and avoid the path of the American Episcopal Church. After this election, I pray that it look at itself and wonder how so many of the flock could ignore the direction of the shepherds.
A PRAYER FOR OUR NATIONAL ELECTION (Authored by Fr. Frank Pavone.)
O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.
We thank You for the privilege Of being able to organize ourselves politically And of knowing that political loyalty Does not have to mean disloyalty to You.
We thank You for Your law, Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged And recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank You for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, But to influence countless others to vote, And to vote correctly.
Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, Their response to You requires that they be politically active.
Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world But rather a community of faith renewing the world.
Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; That the same eyes that read Your Word Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, And that they do not cease to be Christians When they enter the voting booth.
Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice, To the sanctity of marriage and the family, To the dignity of each individual human life, And to the truth that human rights begin when Human Lives Begin, And not one moment later.
Lord, we rejoice today That we are citizens of Your kingdom.
May that make us all the more committed To being faithful citizens on earth.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
