The Geithner Doctrine

By no means am I an economic or financial expert, so if my simplified understanding of the following is overly simplified, then so be it. My point here is to take the current Administration's economic strategies and policies and apply them to the current Catholic university scandals.

During our recent economic crises the banking, housing, automotive and airline industries were all struck severely. And because of the direct impact these particular industries have on the larger population, their poor judgments, bad investments, and corrupt practices have had long term consequences for the average citizen. So under the Obama Administration, the (what I'm calling) Geithner Doctrine was established. This is basically the government going into a particular company of a given industry and essentially taking direct control of the operational and financial decisions of that corporation, at least for a short period of time until "things have been corrected or cleaned up." Case in point, General Motors. How did the government do this? Well essentially, they didn't give the company really any choice. They said to the corporation, if you want to have any chance of continuing, then you must allow us to mandate how you operate, especially financially. Again please don't think GM really had a choice in the matter. Trying to be fair to the Geithner Doctrine, there was no complete control over every aspect of the corporation; just primarily over how the corporation used its money. For example with General Motors, the Government didn't tell GM how to design or make a care, but how to change the way they do business, particularly in how they spend their funds, including profits.

So let's apply the Geithner Doctrine to the current Catholic university scandals. Case in point, Georgetown University has made poor "operational" decisions by including content courses that directly contradict Church teaching. As a Catholic university, it has the duty and obligation to uphold and promote the truth of Church teachings. By offering a course in which certain content is promoted as something "good," but in truth is contrary to Church teaching, they have created a scandal. This is analogous to a business operating with unsound financial policies. Furthermore Georgetown has made "poor investments" by advocating or promoting individuals (e.g. Kathleen Sebelius) who represent certain policies that are counter productive to or in direct violation of the mission of the Church. And as a Catholic university, Georgetown has an obligation to its "shareholders" to invest in "stock" that is aligned with the values of its "investors." So in an analogous way, Georgetown is the Catholic General Motors.

Now what's the solution to the Georgetown scandal? How for example should Pope Benedict XVI respond? If the Pope was to respond like the President, he would implement the "Geithner Doctrine." This essentially would be the Church taking direct control of Georgetown in order to "bail it out" of spiritual and theological trouble. However that would violate a core social justice principle of the Church called subsidiarity. In fact the Church would reject such heretical teachings like the Geithner Doctrine because it violates the duty of the institution from essentially reforming itself, if the institution was to remain "viable." For example Georgetown could choose to go "bankrupt" and "insolvent" in terms of its Catholic identity. The Church does not wish for this to happen, and ought to make every effort possible to help Georgetown reform itself. But for the Church to seize control over any Catholic university would go against her own teachings. So what is the Church to do with institutions making destructive Catholic investments?  Well one thing is for sure, not to implement the Geithner Doctrine.

Ember Days vs. Earth Day

The Church needs to publicly reclaim her long held respect for God's gift of creation by replacing the secularized celebration of Earth Day with the long held sacred celebration of Ember Days.

Pope Benedict XVI is leading the way to something close to this with his focus on the Church's teaching regarding the environment as part of her social doctrine. As with all Church teachings, the pope is not presenting any new teaching but helping the faithful realize the treasure of her deposit of faith. And the teachings are lived out in the liturgical life of the Church.

From the earliest times of the Church, she has set aside certain days for the faithful to give thanks to God for the blessings of creation. These days are called Ember Days, days of fasting from vintage and days of moderation from bounty. In the context of Christian ecology, one might look at fasting and moderation as today's conserving and recycling. But unlike today's Earth Day, the Ember Days keep our proper focus on the source of our natural resources, namely God. Through prayerful and sacrificial acts, we are not only conserving what God has provided, but directing our actions toward the Creator. Instead of devoting the world's attention to how humans take from nature, the Church calls our attention to how we should prudently moderate our just use of natural resources. Perhaps focusing on the good that God has given and our just use of those natural gifts, we might courageously cherish and care for the environment. This is the beauty of Ember Days.

To reclaim the Ember Days over and against Earth Day is to reclaim our responsibility as God's stewards of creation. Instead of looking out for our "carbon footprint" maybe we first need to see God's handiwork. Maybe then today's green will be tomorrow's ember.

Bury Him No Longer

Saint Joseph, husband of Mary, is being buried by too many Catholics (and other superstitious people). And I confess that I too am guilty. By all means I do believe the angels and saints protect and intervene on our behalves, but perhaps our faith has been misplaced. Catholic men in particular need to resurface their trust in Saint Joseph beyond the benefits of real estate success. Joseph's patronage is securing the home, not selling the house. And this may speak to the current state of authentic masculinity, and in particular what it means to be the husband of woman.

Catholic men who are married or engaged, I write this to you for our sake. The husband of Mary, my closest patron saint, is our role model of what it means to be a loving husband. Before we concern ourselves with the blessing of fatherhood, we must understand our responsibility of being husbands to our wives. For too long we think our spousal role has been about the house, but we must first be responsible for the home. We must restore the home if we are to truly fix the house. Our collection of tools is first a warehouse of spiritual mechanics. We must realize our call to serve our wives if we are to honestly complete the "to do list". Joseph understood this and thus he was a righteous man in the eyes of God.

So Catholic men, let us unearth the authentic man, stand upright facing the world, and look to St. Joseph as the role model for how to be a loving husband.