I can only imagine what it was like for King Herod to be comfortably enjoying his day in his court when all of a sudden this wild and eccentric, poorly dressed, and unkept man bursts into the room declaring, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” At least that is how we seem to often depict what happened.
Imagine if someone burst into your place of work (or some other public forum that you comfortably frequent) and openly announced one of your biggest sins. In the event of that happening at my job, I don’t think I would be very open to a civil conversation. In a way, it was a miracle that John the Baptist wasn’t decapitated on the spot.
As I reflected further on this, I couldn’t help but also think about our bishops. I know there are many among us who wish our bishops to be more like John the Baptist by loudly and publicly denouncing those Catholic politicians that do not govern through the lens of Catholic values.
We do see some glimmers of it. Bishop Paprocki, for example, in Springfield Illinois, has been relatively vocal about certain Illinois politicians. Just this week, Pope Leo issued a statement reminding Catholic politicians that they cannot be both Catholic and pro-abortion.
It is hard to miss the news regarding how vocal the bishops have been about some of the Trump policies, such as immigration; as well as recent legislation like the big, beautiful bill.
At the same time, I can appreciate the frustration I hear from some that it doesn’t seem like the bishops were that vocal when other politicians were seeking to spread abortion, transgenderism, and other offenses to life.
I’ll offer a couple of thoughts for consideration and potential context.
The first thought is the power of the media. We must remember that the media, both secular and those that we would expect to be friendly to the Church, will always amplify the voices that support their narrative. Meanwhile, they will ignore and even suppress the voices that are contrary to their narrative.
The other thought has to do with how articulated the teaching of the Church is on a given topic.
Abortion, transgenderism, marriage, and other subjects that are intrinsic in nature have teachings of the Church that are very clear cut. While there are a handful of clergy out there that, at least by appearance, seem to try to muddy the waters on these subjects, the teachings are very clear and the information abundantly available.
Generally speaking, people have made up their minds on these topics and it isn’t going to matter what a bishop says in a public forum. And, in fact, a statement by a bishop in some of these situation may only make the situation worse.
Meanwhile, other topics of the faith are not so clear cut. There are a number of nuances that must be considered and discerned. Immigration, social services, and even something like the death penalty are good examples of this.
When these matters come up in the public forum, they become moments of opportunity for the bishops to provide guidance on the teachings of the Church at a time when that information isn’t as clear cut, when the information isn’t as abundantly available, or when the information has to be applied to the specific situation.
Going back to John the Baptist when he barged into Herod’s court with guns ablazed, Herod did the only thing he could do…really the only thing any one of us would have done: He got defensive. He had John arrested.
Assuming that is how it actually went down, imagine if John the Baptist had instead sought a private audience with Herod. Imagine if he had taken the time to try to truly engage with Herod to change his heart, similar to what Jesus did with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Perhaps I give the good bishops a bit too much benefit of the doubt, but in those times of perceived silence from the bishops I choose to hope they are having the appropriate conversations with politicians. Instead of loudly and publicly denouncing them, I hope they are inviting the politicians to the well for a conversation to change their heart.
Which brings us to our invitations today. At the heart of the matter, I have the liberty to reject the Church’s teaching on something like immigration just as another person has the liberty to reject the Church’s teaching on abortion.
I must ask myself: Where is John the Baptist challenging me in my beliefs? What are the teachings of the Church that I am tempted to reject or perhaps at least struggle with? How am I being called to more deeply walk with Christ in these issues?
Also, who within my circle of influence is in the role of Herod? Who is living a life that is in at least some way contrary to the life Christ calls us to live? How is the Holy Spirit leading me to engage with this person, not to denounce them or judge them, but to walk with them on a spiritual journey that will ultimately lead to a change of heart.
The Lord is with you when you sing of His salvation to those with which we walk.
Thanks be to God!
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