An open letter to my American Catholic brothers and sisters

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; (...) different forms of service but the same Lord; (...) different workings but the same God who produces all of them (I Cor 12, 4-6)

My dear American Catholic brothers and sisters, may the peace of Jesus Christ Our Lord be always with you!

It is with the utmost humility and modesty that I address these words to you, in the spirit of the universal communion and charity that unites us in the bosom of our Holy Catholic Church, the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself and entrusted upon Saint Peter.

In the wake of the recent passing of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and with the ensuing Conclave that is to take place in the upcoming weeks, the whole world is watching - and Catholic faithful with particular attention -, trying to understand and figure out - at best - or to influence and reduce - at worst - the complex and sacred reality and fate of our Holy Church.

In these special times, and with this particular concern in mind, I invite you to reflect and examine your consciences together, in the communion of our shared goal to serve Christ to the best of our capacities.

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I

I ask for your patience, generosity, and permission to briefly introduce myself and share with you a small part of my journey. I’m a Brazilian philosopher, teaching both high-school and college-level philosophy, and a practicing, happily married Catholic.

Upon obtaining a degree in business, I’ve taken up a mediocre office position that was slowly sucking the life out of me. I’ve then begun my academic philosophical training - all while still working that lifeless job - in a respected Brazilian Federal University in the Southeast region, where I’ve obtained my B. A. and M.A. degrees. I then went on to pursue a Ph.D. in yet another Brazilian public university in the field of contemporary continental philosophy (19th and 20th centuries), when I was finally able to leave my corporate life behind - God willing - never to return again.

It was also during my Ph.D. years that I met my beautiful and amazing wife, who has played an integral and decisive role in my return to the Catholic Church, who keeps encouraging and supporting my theological studies, and who is the pillar of our family’s religious life. She is without a doubt the most remarkable woman I have ever met, and I feel extremely blessed and grateful to God for the gift and honor of calling myself her husband.

We’re both philosophy college professors in a mid-sized Brazilian city. In addition, I also teach philosophy and religion at a couple of high-schools. At the lay colleges and schools where we work, it is no secret to anyone that we are devout, practicing Catholics. However, any direct or explicit expression of our faith is frowned upon and repressed, under the name of “inclusion”, “secularism”, and “religious pluralism”.

This is the reason why I have started this Substack under a pseudonym, out of caution for our jobs, our careers, the material survival, and the safety of our family. In this modest endeavor, I try to develop an intellectual apostolate aiming to explore the intricate relationship between Faith and Reason - especially between Theology and Philosophy - hence the inspiration drawn from Pope Saint John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et ratio to name this newsletter.

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II

Forgive this biographical interlude, but I find it important to lay my cards on the table, and to clarify where I speak from and who I am: an academic philosopher, a researcher, a teacher, a husband, a father, a Catholic, a Brazilian man.

I address this letter to the American Catholic (on-line) community out of the acknowledgement and respect for the role its members have been playing in the past few decades. After all, you come from and live in the most powerful country in the world - whether economically, culturally, or politically speaking.

When an American musician releases an album or a single, he or she has the whole world as his or her potential audience. When an American writer publishes a book - an academic, a novel, or a non-fiction book - it might be read worldwide. When an American film, TV show, series or sports event is broadcast, their viewership is spread across potentially more than a hundred countries in all corners of the Earth.

When the American economy takes a positive or negative turn, the ripple effect is felt globally. When an American politician - especially an American president - gives a statement or signs an executive order, it becomes news all over the place. When an American newspaper or media outlet reports on an event or issue, it commonly makes the news of many other countries through their own national media.

This is rather obvious, but sometimes merit lies precisely in stating what is trivial. So allow me to double down on that stance and add: with the revolution brought about through the internet and social media, the communicational hegemony and impact of the United States has only increased. And as you might have guessed by now, I’m going to drop the infamous Uncle Ben from Spider-Man’s line on you now: “With great power comes great responsibility”.

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III

Circling back to the actual point of this letter, I want to draw your attention to the power, the influence and the corresponding responsibility of American Catholics, especially those who produce some type of content - academics, writers, journalists, analysts, apologists, YouTubers, podcasters, TikTokers, and so on.

I do so not from a judgmental standpoint, but rather quite the opposite: I myself am profoundly grateful and deeply indebted to many American Catholics, whose books, scholarly papers, media articles, podcasts, debates, and YouTube videos were and still are an invaluable set of resources and references on my personal path in the Faith. A list of names so extensive and diverse that I can only thank all of you collectively, out of fear of the injustice of forgetting and omitting anyone.

Please bear in mind the following: although your texts, videos, essays, posts, debates, rebuttals, news reports, etc. are frequently aimed at local or national audiences, and are thus naturally rooted on American culture, tradition, and references, you cannot help but to potentially - i.e., virtually - impact a global audience. So an analysis of the evolution of the Catholic population in America - such as the latest report from the Pew Research Center -, a debate around the Traditional Latin Mass, an apologetic debate against an evangelical or atheist on YouTube, etc. can and may always potentially inform - and influence - Catholics around the world.

That is not your fault; it is rather a privilege, a driving force that provides any American a bigger platform to spread his or her message - comparatively to anyone else in the world, writing in any language other than English. But it also comes with a price: an implicit burden of consciousness, a duty to either make it explicit and acknowledge your unavoidable circumstantial bias - i.e.: that you are writing and speaking from a specific cultural framework and standpoint - or to make an effort to integrate - or at least be open to - different perspectives.

That is obviously valid for anyone, but in the case of Americans it must be reaffirmed both due to objective and subjective reasons: objectively, the cultural, social, and economic weight of American influence in the world makes it seem as though that is the only point of view that really matters; subjectively, many - not to say most - American Catholics tend to be so immersed in their own circumstances, traditions, debates, political frameworks, etc. that they seem to forget that other arguments, narratives, and worldviews are even possible.

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Photo by Bhavya Patel on Unsplash

IV

What does any of this have to do with Catholicism?

American Catholic apologists, content creators - “Catholic influencers” -, Bishops, priests, journalists, pundits, etc. are all blessed with the aforementioned privilege, and consequently charged with that burden.

What I mean is this: by acknowledging the international reach of your audience, and the diverse backgrounds encompassed by this - virtual - group of people, one also immediately acknowledges one’s own context, circumstance, and limited background. In other words: you do not speak from an ideal standpoint, free of biases and able to reach and grasp the fullness of reality.

Moreover, when it comes to Catholicism, I’m sorry to have to remind you: Jesus did not live ub nor come to America (sorry, Mormons!); the Catholic Church was not established - neither in its apostolic beginnings, nor in its institutional See - in America; the vast majority of Saints venerated by Catholics were not American; most of the great Catholic theologians - upon whose work you (as we all) so often rely - were not Americans, nor was any Doctor of the Church. Must I go on?

Don’t take it personally, for the same could be said of my native Brazil - and even our place as “the largest Catholic population in the world” is in jeopardy due to the growth of neo-pentecostalism and non-denominational evangelicalism (thank you, America, for having exported such “trends”!). In fact, no single country or location can claim to be the center of contemporary Catholicism, outside of the Vatican, the Holy See - and even that comes with some caveats.

One of the most beautiful things about the Catholic Church is precisely the innumerable traditions that converge in the undivided Catholic Tradition. Different religious orders, different theological, pastoral, missionary, apologetic approaches, different vocations, charisms, national traditions, venerations, etc.

You know quite well what I mean. After all, isn’t one of your own country’s mottos E pluribus unum? And do not the Holy Scriptures themselves emphasize this? Let us remember the teachings of Saint Paul on spiritual gifts. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, he writes:

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.”

Saint Paul - I Corinthians 12, 4-11

And the Apostle follows these verses with the beautiful and enlightening metaphor of the body and its parts:

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, (…) and we were "all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand do I not belong to the body’, it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body’, it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”

Saint Paul - I Corinthians 12, 12-20

I can’t help but to follow Saint Paul in his warning against the pride and vanity of any part of the Mystic Body of Christ, the Holy Catholic Church:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you’, nor again the hand to the feet, ‘I do not need you’. Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honourable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.”

Saint Paul - I Corinthians 12, 21-27

And though differences, diversity, and singularities are to be cherished and nourished within the Church, they are only so insofar as they converge into the unity of the People of God. The Gospel according to Saint John recalls us that “to those who did accept [Christ] he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God” (Jo 1, 12-13).

Once again, Saint Paul leads us towards the Truth of the Gospel. In his Letter to the Romans, he writes: “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heir of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him” (Ro 8, 16-17). Complementary, in the Apostle’s Letter to the Galatians, we read:

“For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise”.

Saint Paul - Ga 3, 26-29

It is to this dynamic of simultaneous plurality and unity that I appeal in addressing these words to you. Remember that we are One in Christ, One in His Body, but multiple parts - never singularly whole.

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Photo by Shalone Cason on Unsplash

V

In the wake of Pope Francis’ passing, and on the eve of the ensuing Conclave, all of this bears practical consequences: we all need - and you, my American brothers and sisters in Christ in particular - to be careful and restrain our human inclinations to reduce and to impact the sacred designs of God for the Church, the vigilance of the Holy Ghost. Instead, we must embrace Divine Providence and what it will ask of us in this quarter of Human History.

That means first and foremost avoiding labeling and framing the Church in secular - especially political - categories and concepts. It is simply pedestrian to attribute tags and buzzwords such as “woke”, “conservative”, “liberal”, or “reactionary” to the spiritual grandeur of the Church.

Second, it is unbefitting to our Faith to run campaigns on who the next Pope “should” be, claiming to speak on behalf of the Holy Church and - perhaps even worse - to know her “needs”. Polls and articles on who the Papabili allegedly are cannot be avoided, but perhaps we could all let go of the claims - sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit - to objectivity and universality.

Finally, bear in mind that although you may honestly, faithfully, and wholeheartedly believe that Cardinal X is “great”, “the best option”, “the one who must be the next Pope”, or that Cardinal Y is “awful”, “the worst possible outcome of the Conclave”, or - God forbid - “the ruin of the Church”, those judgments are always rooted in your own limited perspective, reality, tradition - minus the capital T -, one that cannot - and could never - grasp the totality of Catholicism and the reality of the Holy Church. Even if that may be true to you individually, to your parish, diocese, or nation, no part of the body - or set of parts of the body - can constitute the body as a whole.

Remember the words of the Holy Scripture in the Book of Baruch:

"O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion: Vast and endless, high and immeasurable!"

Book of Baruch - Bar 3, 24-25

The world is watching - and praying with you.

Yours in the peace of Christ,

Paulo Anselmo Vaz.

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