I remember fondly the words of a wise homilist when I was a very young priest: “Preach with the gospels in one hand and the newspaper in the other!” This wise priest knew so well that the good news of Christ must permeate every aspect of our world, culture, society and nation, transforming it by grace.
The final document solemnly promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, “Gaudium et Spes” on the Church in the Modern World begins with this memorable sentence: "The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ".
How then does the preacher exercise his prophetic role in light of Gaudium et Spes without becoming politically partisan? As a public person to use the pulpit for partisan political purposes would be consummately divisive within the highly polarized political climate in which we are living. A priest is called to be the bridge builder and healer in the community, while at the same time calling us out of a “comfortable” Christianity to pay the price of costly discipleship. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer so powerfully stated about cheap grace, “it is a grace that costs nothing, requiring no transformation or the taking up of the cross, and thus becomes a cheap, marketable commodity rather than a true gift from God.” Bonhoeffer contrasts this with “costly grace,” which acknowledges the profound sacrifice of Christ and calls believers to a life of obedience and transformation.
To fail to preach on the moral dimensions of what is happening in society, culture and politics today could very well be falling into the pernicious cancer of ‘comfortable Christianity’ or the cheap grace of not rocking the boat in order to ‘not offend.’ I’ve always believed that the preacher is to challenge our complacency in the faith rather than reinforce the prejudices that keep us living a comfortable Christianity.
An example might be helpful. Recently, on one of the popular morning news talk shows, one of the moderators said that mentally ill homeless folks should be euthanized! While he later apologized for such an outrageous statement, for a preacher not to point out the moral evil of such a statement would be consummately irresponsible and cowardice.
So much of our present moment is tainted with the polarizing effects of disvalues that are an affront to the Gospel values we are called to live by: the inviolable dignity of all persons, seeking the truth in all circumstances, presuming one’s integrity and good name, civility in our disagreements, compassion and empathy toward all, rooting out the prejudices that are so unworthy of a just society.
For a priest to not speak of such dangerous tendencies for fear of not being popular, or offending someone, or in a misguided understanding of his role as a moral and spiritual leader, in my opinion, is perpetuating the cheap grace of a Christianity that costs very little or nothing.
History reminds us of the devastating consequences of what happens when Christianity colludes with the popular politics of the moment rather than offering a prophetic critique, no matter how dangerous and unpopular that would be. One need only look at Germany in the 1930’s and its devastating consequences when society was completely unmoored from Gospel and human values. A ruthless ideology can take hold subverting the best of who we are as a people and a nation. As the philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."