The Church’s Role in Raising the Level of Culture

The Church BUILT our Græco-Roman Catholic culture. Now our leaders watch its collapse if they aren't actively working for that end.

From Catholic Stand

By Paul A. Escott

The author Maya Angelou once astutely observed that, “Most people don’t grow up.  It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older.”  As if the state of politics in the US was not enough to validate this statement, a spate of recent newspaper articles about deteriorating public behavior certainly seems to verify it.

Unfortunately, the American version of Christianity, in many ways, aids and abets the societal slouch toward Romper Room.  Yet, ironically, the true practice of the faith ought to be one of the greatest cultivators of sober, wise, mature adults in an increasingly infantilized culture.

Characteristics of Maturity

The starting point for an analysis of this issue would seemingly be a definition of maturity, which increasingly is referred to as adulting.  Emotional self-control, the ability to be introspective, to empathize, to grow beyond childhood narcissism, and to take responsibility for one’s actions all are hallmarks of maturity, or adulting.  But in the context of American society, it might be best also to outline what psychologists consider the signs of immaturity in adults. The list includes emotional escalation, blaming others, lying about situations, name calling, poor impulse control, the need to be the center of attention, and bullying.

Since the start of the New Year, several major newspapers in the US have featured stories about the increasing inability of American adults to behave in a mature manner.  In one case, a man had a screaming tantrum in a supermarket because it did not have the cheese he wanted.  In another, a customer at a specialty grocery store berated a clerk because a type of fish that had been discounted was not in stock. The New York Times reports that Scott Broetzmann, the CEO of Customer Care Measurement and Consulting, a firm that studies consumer anger, lamented that, “When we founded the study, I never thought that the environment would be like it was today.”

Infantilization of Culture

But it is not just Americans’ inability to control their emotions that indicates a general childishness in society. There seems to be a general infantilization of culture.  Believe it or not, the largest audiences for comic books and young adult fiction are adults.  Preschool Mastermind, a successful New York enterprise, allows adults to re-experience kindergarten and find affirmation by finger painting, playing with glitter, taking naps, and having juice and cookies.

Commentators of all stripes agree that internet search algorithms and the proliferation of low quality news sites have created echo chambers in which Americans increasingly consume editorialized opinion pieces under the guise of true journalism that only serve to reinforce their existing views and prejudices.  This results in an ever more fractured society that is unable to collectively address major problems or to find common ground.

On the right, this has caused in a seeming inability to give credence to rather unimpeachable facts regarding the 2020 presidential election and the wholesale acceptance of fundamental untruths. On the left, it has metastasized into an apparent pathological intent to deconstruct the national narrative and the determined drive to shut out all dissenting voices as manifest in cancel culture and the need for safe spaces instead of rigorous debate.

Christians Part of the Problem?

Unfortunately, Christianity, as it is understood and practiced by many Americans today, only exacerbates the infantilization of the nation and the devolution of character by providing religious sanction for self-absorption and the self-satisfying demonization of others.

On a certain level, given the magnitude of the crises facing the country and the world at the moment, a certain amount of regression, or introversion, is understandable.  With two years of Covid, the concurrent economic and financial meltdowns, bellicose Russia, aggressive China and unprecedented climate-related natural disasters, Americans – and the country’s institutions – face unprecedented stress.

At the same time, in order to confront and address these challenges, quality of character, calm and maturity have possibly never been more needed, yet never in shorter supply.

An Argument for the Church

The starting point in reclaiming the national adulthood, at least for Christians, could be a masterful opinion piece from 2011 by Sara Lipton, a history professor at Stony Brook.  While Professor Lipton is by no means an apologist for the Church, she perhaps inadvertently makes one of the most powerful arguments for a reexamination of its role in shaping certain cultural mores and norms.

At the time of the aforementioned article’s publication, Anthony Weiner had just resigned in disgrace from Congress after sending lewd photos of himself to multiple women. He seemed to follow in a long line of powerful men who had ruined their careers or legacies because of a voracious sexual appetite. The underlying cultural assumption with which Professor Lipton took issue at the time was that achievement and power in men necessarily accompanied sexual prowess, which was evidenced by extramarital affairs and the need for conquests.

Lipton makes clear that this understanding of the relationship between sex and power is an extremely new one in Western civilization, and that for centuries, if not millennia, the opposite was true.  Since classical times, but more firmly in the medieval and early modern period, sexual restraint was considered the mark of a true man. More importantly, the ability to govern one’s passions and emotions, was revered as real strength and as the beginning of character.

Lipton points out that a Spanish king who spent the night with a concubine on the eve of a major battle, instead of in prayer or council of war, was considered by his contemporaries as unfit to lead the army.  On the dawn of the day of that the Spanish, Venetian, and Italian fleets encountered the powerful Ottoman navy at Lepanto in 1571, the Rosary was prayed and communion given to all soldiers and sailors.  Serious encounters required serious and sober preparation. They required maturity.

Wisdom of the Ages

These are the same tenets that the Scripture and the Church have taught for millennia.  The books of Proverbs and Wisdom make clear that depth, maturity, and restraint are treasured by God and are to the benefit of humanity. The Acts and St. Paul’s letters leave no ambiguity about the fact that patience and prudence are gifts of the Holy Spirit and evidence of God’s presence, whereas rashness and pretentiousness are from below.

Paul further states that a man who cannot govern his house, or self, is not fit to lead the Church. It seems fairly reasonable to assume that Paul would apply this same rule to Christians, both male and female, in positions of secular power today.

Given the state of affairs in the US, it would appear that few Americans would qualify, by Paul’s standards, for office of any kind.  But more worrying is the state of society in general. The inability to resist being carried away by anger, or self-indulgence, are major contributors to many of the problems that the country cannot seem to tackle.

Fear as Backdrop

Fear may understandably underlie the state of incapacitation or rage in which many people find themselves, especially given the pace and breadth of change in the US.  But for Christians, love is supposed to drive out all fear. God’s compassion, mercy and providence are supposed to engender steadfastness, patience, empathy, prudence, and wisdom in Christ’s followers.

Perhaps it means a greater measure of faith in the need for love, or a more mature understanding of God. Christ says that it is there for the asking, and perhaps it would be the most powerful New Year’s resolution possible if the faithful were to ask for more wisdom, more strength, and more peace to help heal themselves and a fractured nation.

Childlike Not Childish

There are many preachers and priests online who provide a security blanket of childishly simplistic and almost Manichean theology that sanctions fear and vengeance.  But the Church has always taught, and Christ seems to make clear, that childlike faith does not engender childlike behavior, but rather depth, maturity, and meaning.

As St Paul wrote in the famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, the time comes to put away childish ways and to act as adults. This is the Christian heritage. Christ makes clear that this will be no easy task but that He will be there with us every step of the way, if only we have the courage to cling to that childlike belief in His promise. Therein lies the paradox of faith and character that is at the heart of the Christian call which leads to the true maturity that is desperately needed in this world.