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Where is the Christian Virtue?
Christianity is a religion that is first and foremost about charity. Charity, in the traditional sense of the term, is a giving of self, a dying so that another may live.
Christianity is a religion that is first and foremost about charity. Charity, in the traditional sense of the term, is a giving of self, a dying so that another may live.
Charity is to live as Christ lived, in fact, to allow Christ to live in the heart of the disciple, so as to be willing to allow the Cross to form how they live their life. To be a follower of Christ means to be truly Christ-like.
Thus, Christianity has always placed a strong emphasis on virtue and moral thinking, not because moral action saves us, but rather our virtue and moral seriousness are signs of Christ’s victor in us.
The above being true of the , one has to ask if Rusty Reno has ever been one.
The above being true of the , one has to ask if Rusty Reno has ever been one.
Reno has been on a tirade during this pandemic, first decrying the closure of parishes and the lack of access to the sacraments, reading the lockdown stats in an overly simplistic manner, putting the economy as the great god that is to obeyed above all other laws of life,
and now likening the wearing of a protective mask to cowardice. Such opinions, besides lacking a molecule of care for the common good or seeing just how his opinions have no fact to back them up, are contrary to the spirit in which Fr. Neuhaus founded First Things.
Reno is singlehandedly destroying the very legacy he’s been given charge over.
When Fr Neuhaus began First Things, he intended it to be under the auspices of the intellectual framework developed by Fr John Courtney Murray, SJ.
When Fr Neuhaus began First Things, he intended it to be under the auspices of the intellectual framework developed by Fr John Courtney Murray, SJ.
Murray wanted to find a common meeting place between the American project and the Christian Gospel, and Neuhaus followed firmly in these footsteps. Yet what set First Things apart as the preeminent journal of Christian intellectual life was that it was formed by Christian charity
Fr. Neuhaus believed that vigorous disagreement could exist in dialogue, and that this dialogue was based around a core Christian moral principle: the common good. There are principles of life that affect all people and that are for the good of all, and this forms our decency
and our virtue as Christians whereby the welfare of the other is seen as the principle good to be acted towards. In other words, the neighbour is given great dignity and respect, and this forms even public dialogue and opinion.
While Fr Neuhaus had a clear trajectory and who’s political leanings could easily shone forth at times, he also believed the public square should just be that: public, a place where varying arguments can be presented with a tone of charity and respect for opposing interlocutors.
The magazine was principled because it cared about the common good. It wanted truth, not click bait, and allowed intellectual dialogue to be the path forward.
Over these past couple of months, Reno has proven himself incapable of carrying this legacy because he has been incapable of not only embodying the principles around which Fr. Neuhaus founded the magazine, but of embodying basic Christian virtue which
looks to the needs of the neighbour first. Instead of being an icon of Christ, he’s become an icon of Americanism: self-centred, rights based language that has zero care for the common good. He is live proof that Christianity and the American project cannot work closely together,
because Americanism has no real care for the common good. When Christianity give way to Americanism, Christianity will always lose out, and Reno is perfect proof of this. He is the Catholic version of Jerry Falwell Sr.
It is a wonder how the Members of the Board of this magazine
It is a wonder how the Members of the Board of this magazine
have allowed Reno to go this far. Many if not most of those board members were close friends with Fr. Neuhaus. How have they allowed Reno’s anti-intellectual, name-calling, unvirtuous clickbait opinion machine to go the way it has is puzzling. They have allowed this great
magazine to sink into the margins of history, and have allowed the great project that Neuhaus began, one where ecumenism, charity, the common good, and Christian virtue were the mainstay of serious intellectual engagement.
Instead, it is now a mouthpiece for thought that lacks seriousness, for a man who cares more about clicks than virtue. Our opinions, our tweets, anything we put in writing can reveal the character of a man. Reno has revealed his heart, and it is one that has sold out the Gospel.
(PS - I wrote as sort of opinion piece. Which means it& #39;s got some punchier lines and definitely has some sweeping statements that, should I have more space, would have to spell out more).
