“America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance — it is not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos.” (Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

Again, it’s been awhile since you have heard from me, because I have been toying with this newest blog in my head. It is always better to write in a non-emotional state because emotions cloud logic and succinctness. However, how can any Catholic be anything but emotional in the USA right now? Just in the last two weeks, we have been on an emotional roller coaster – between the Paris Olympics and the upcoming presidential election, it seems our faith has come to the forefront. We have all learned, with the rise of social media, to walk a tightrope between following our beliefs and being tolerant & respectful of those who do not see eye to eye with us. AND, we have learned that we truly cannot believe everything we read. No one seems to be able to agree!

The above quote is from Fulton Sheen in the 1950s. It’s amazing that history is repeating itself on such a specific topic. I have heard this quote playing in my head for months now, not just because of the public issues we are facing, but also in my personal life. (To be forthright, I believe that Divine Intervention has something to do with it.) I have had people ask my opinion on recent happenings and it’s inevitable that my blunt honesty is hard for people to stomach. Yet, when it comes to posting anything in writing, I have a fear of ridicule, because so many people I am connected with do not agree with my conservative, simple, common sense ideas. I find the tightrope harder to walk each day. I want to scream from the rooftops and fight, but I realize that aggression and anger isn’t the way. I will not argue with adults who do not have the ability to listen to understand. (Too many listen to respond, not to understand.) However, one big issue we have accepted is tolerance.

Tolerance seems like it is a positive thing. On the surface it assumes a respect of others beliefs and acceptance of those people to believe whatever they want. The Oxford Dictionary defines tolerance as 1. the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with; and 2. the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, especially a drug, transplant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction. In 2022 a survey was done about the political agenda of the Biden Administration at the time. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops posted the results of this survey conducted by Heart+Mind Strategies, which you can read online. (https://www.usccb.org/american-voters-support-tolerance-and-freedom-live-your-beliefs) They show the results in words and graphs, but this one is the particular graph on which I am focusing. 

While the entire survey is important, this graph specifically focuses on tolerance. If you think about what the results say, we are in trouble. The graph shows that, per the just over 1,000 registered voters who were surveyed, it is strongly agreed that tolerance of others and the freedom to live according to one’s beliefs are important and necessary. Alas, my experience proves that we are not truly allowed to live that way, because the court of popular opinion does not lend to it. It’s never been popular to be catholic, but we are persecuted in various ways now, throughout the world. It may feel to some as if we are experiencing a present-day version of what Diocletian did to us in the early 300s A. D. We are not compliant with the way of popular, secular society, and we are punished for it. Just go on social media! Notice the hatred, discord, and anger toward catholics and anyone who does not see eye to eye, on both sides of the aisle. Christians are even fighting other Christians because their sect does not agree with another. The name-calling and slighting is absolutely ridiculous. And, if I can be completely honest, it feels like our country has turned upside-down.  

Let’s look at some usual examples that we see on social media platforms, that are not even all religious-based. It is regarded as improper to mock a president or candidate of their mental state, but it is satisfactory that someone takes a literal shot with a gun at one. A law against abortion is wrong, but one that forces people to get a vaccine is just fine. We must be accepting of all different cultures, specifically those who are seen as ones who were maligned in our country’s history, but embracing your European ethnicity is unacceptable. The people who tout kindness, respect, and safe spaces, do not believe that those of us who disagree with them should be allowed to live freely. We must accept faiths that are predominantly from other countries in a public space, but publicly showing your Catholic faith is harassed. As a society, we respect the lives of plants and animals more than we do humans. We want to defund the police, but expect those same departments to save our rear ends when we’re in trouble or don’t understand why the police can’t be on the road when someone blows through a stop sign and almost kills someone. The US government actually voted on a bill that included the “prohibition of school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls”. (https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/734) What is happening?

Honestly, we only have ourselves to blame. We have allowed this tolerance to the point of chaos to occur. I am not perfect, nor is anyone else I know, so what I’m saying is not blaming any certain group. We have our faults. We sin. We make mistakes. We allow things in our lives that we should not. As Catholics, we believe that we can be forgiven because we are fortunate to go to confession, get the graces of the sacrament of penance, while encountering our merciful Savior. But these backwards ideologies are not going anywhere – so what can I do? What can you do? WE MUST BE EVANGELISTS OF THE FAITH through our words and actions. We are called to do this by Christ, through the Apostles. 

In his 2nd Letter to St. Timothy, St. Paul emphasizes our need to persevere in faith. He writes,

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:1-5)

Imagine, not only did Archbishop Fulton Sheen preach about intolerance, but even St. Paul warned against it around 64-65 A.D. That proves that this idea of tolerance has been a perpetual problem from the beginning. So, will the Church survive? Absolutely! Will the US and other countries continue to ebb and flow around the idea of right/wrong, good/evil, and tolerance? Until the end of time! But, we have a duty to do what we can to “be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient”, as St. Paul writes. No one wants to do something that is difficult or will undoubtedly cause waves, but it’s necessary. We must be respectful, but steadfast and stouthearted. As C.S Lewis wrote, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” May God guide us, giving us the fortitude and faith to fight the evil in this world, under His protection, and to be a little more intolerant of the backward mentality that has manifested by tolerance and fear.