Father Charlie McCarthy

Over the weekend a friend and I drove to Liberty, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City, to attend a retreat with Father Charles McCarthy of the Center for Christian Nonviolence. We had heard Father McCarthy before at a small conference at Notre Dame and knew he was a person, who my friend said “Speaks the Truth.” In fact that was what his talks were all about, the Truth of Nonviolent Love of the Gospels. He claims with Pope John Paul II and Aristotle: “One may define the human being as one who seeks the truth.” We can all respect each what others say of the truth, there is a principle obligation to seek the Truth and to make it the norm. This teaching means the Gospel and the teachings of the Gospel like “Love Your Enemy” cannot be rationalize away. Rational ethics are based on survival and can be rationalized to include killing but, according to Father McCarthy, Gospel ethics are based on ‘unconditional love’ and are the norm of the Way of Jesus that we are called to.

In this type of thinking, the Catholic Church, as many others, has greatly failed to live the Gospel, the way of Jesus. They have become tied to the State and rationalize and justify breaking the Way of Jesus in the Gospel.

I have thought and written a lot about the Mission of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and how our local organization has failed this mission. In quoting the mission statement I skipped over the first three words of the statement “Inspired by Gospel values”. The Gospel Values, like Works of Mercy, solidarity with poor and marginalized, loving your neighbor like yourself are what we in the Society are called to be by “offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder”, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and patron, St. Vincent de Paul. The individual conference budgets of St. Vincent de Paul, projected next year to be around $800, 000 are nearly 100% dedicated to provided needs, food, clothing, furniture, beds and appliances to the poor and marginalized. Yet the central office budget of nearly $3, 000,000 is 99.6% dedicated to compensation and operating expenses. The less than .4% dedicated to poor and marginalized are called ‘relief’ services.

Is not bringing relief to poor and marginalized what the Society is all about. Perhaps we need these numbers reversed with the nearly 3 million dollars going for ‘relief’ and $800, 000 going for compensation and operating expenses.

I thought of this because when there is a difference of understanding of the ‘truth’ as there is in this case, the way to solve the difference is ‘dialog’. Yet the central office staff of St. Vincent de Paul have chosen not to enter into dialog but just say what they are doing is the mission of the Society, giving out more misinformation, operate in secrecy, without transiency and ignoring the truth of the Gospel and the Mission of the Society as some of us understand it.

Gandhi called his autobiography: “Experiments with Truth” and in word and action struggled for truth and to treat each person, even the ‘enemy’ with unconditional love. Martin Luther King Jr. was not afraid to speak the truth although it cost him his life. Dorothy Day said the truth of our conscience may disturb some persons but maybe these people need disturbing of their conscience. Thomas Merton says the word of the Gospel is understood only when it is obeyed. It is known to those who strive to practice it. In the Gospel of John Jesus says “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free…” (John 8:31)

Jesus also said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Light.” The Truth of the Gospel is Nonviolent Love.

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