Faith and Flag?

One week after getting confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, the church of my birth, I had a disturbing experience at Mass today.

The service began with the priest speaking about Memorial Day and asking that we show respect for those who have died in service of the United States.  That was fine by me, but a parishioner marked the moment by carrying a large American flag to the altar, where he placed into a flag stand where the very same flag always rests.

Although today as the observation of the Pentecost, the priest's homily linked the Pentecost to the values of patriotism and the celebration of freedom and liberty in America. Freedom and liberty in an America run by Donald Trump? Every Catholic homily in every parish in the world was devoted to the Pentecost, because homilies are always based on the same Scriptures on any given Sunday, but how many Pentecost homilies in other parts of the world were associated with patriotism and nationalism?  Not many, to be sure, since the association in my priest's homily was part of the Memorial Day theme, but even in countries observing national holidays in late May, would there be any nationalistic homilies?

The closing hymn at Mass in my parish was "America the Beautiful," which, despite the mention of God, is mostly a secular song celebrating the nation's natural beauty and is more national anthem material (and it's a pity it's not our national anthem) than a sacred song  Earlier, the vocalist sang "God Bless America," one of those songs that would have offended Jeremiah Wright. When I walked outside after Mass ended, I notices small banners on the lawn like the one below, celebrating America's 250th birthday and celebrating "faith, family and freedom" - and Trump has done an excellent job in severely damaging all three. And, of course there were manty miniature flags on display.  I was so upset about the nationalism in today's Mass that I bumped into a chain-link fence post backing my car out of the parking space. (Don't worry, both my car and I are fine.)

This all obviously made an impression on me.  Hey, why fib?  It may be true that Pope Leo XIV is an American and obviously cares about the moral turpitude and the hypocritical un-Christian behavior of MAGA supporters, some if not many of whom are Catholics, but Leo doesn't see the Church as being a personal dominion and a reflection of his own Americanism.  It's a universal church, which is what the word "catholic" means.  Unlike Leo, though, many of his forebears in the American Church have tried to guide the faithful in a uniquely American understanding of the Gospels to link the faith to American values.  This has been a tradition so longstanding and so disturbing that the previous Leo, Pope Leo XIII, who reigned in the late nineteenth century, complained to his American bishops about it. 

I recommitted myself to the Church not out of patriotism but to put my trust in God and honor the Holy Father and his agenda for the Church - help for the poor, support for life from cradle to grave, humility toward the Holy Trinity.  I did not recommit myself to the Church to worship at the altar of the United States of America.  If I wanted to devote myself to a faith that imagines Jesus as an embodiment of American values, I'd have become a Mormon.

I'm sure I mentioned this here on my blog before, but when I went to France and Germany, I could count the national flags in Catholic cathedrals there on zero fingers.   European Catholicism, given its history of integration with the state, is now dissociated from secular governments that run Catholic-majority countries like France, Ireland and Italy.  In France, as part of the need to separate church and state, the government owns the houses of worship and gives the Church the right to use the buildings for free - unlike in America, where the Church owns the houses of worship and gets tax exemptions.  Also, American Catholics, having fought hard for acceptance by the Protestant majority, have traditionally emphasized patriotism to demonstrate their devotion to this country.  But how can American Catholics continue to do so when a Christian nationalist dictatorship led by the least religious President in U.S. history is attempting to construct the most repressive society since the Third Reich?  While Leo continues to move the Church in a more humanistic direction and speak out against Trump's inhumane policies, many MAGA Catholics decry the pope's involvement in politics (he's a head of state, how can he not be involved in politics?) and denounce the Church's direction toward humility and acceptance since the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI.  (Noted MAGA Catholic Steve Bannon considered Pope Francis a disaster.)  The American Church should not be celebrating America as an extension of the faith, and certainly not in this semiquincentennial year of American independence.  The liberty that America supposedly represents cannot be seen as integral to or entwined in the Catholic faith when the United States has curtailed liberty under Trump.

In other words, the Church should be illuminating the lack of freedom and justice in America rather than celebrate the freedom and justice it only nominally represents today.  It should be resisting, not celebrating, the America that exists now.  And, given my secessionist views, the Church should be prepared for the fall of the United States as sure as the European empires it once consecrated dissolved.

Every Sunday after Mass, in addition to praying for my late mother, I'm always praying for the cancer in Washington to be removed and by any means that God deems necessary and just. As noted before in this space, I have already decided that my allegiance is to the Holy Father in Rome, not to the Antichrist in Washington.