{"id":13070,"date":"2012-09-18T17:37:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/?p=13070"},"modified":"2012-09-18T17:37:46","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:37:46","slug":"gaudeamus-igitur-and-chill-the-champagne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2012\/09\/gaudeamus-igitur-and-chill-the-champagne\/","title":{"rendered":"“Gaudeamus igitur, and chill the champagne!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is such awesome news I am stealing Phil Lawyler’s post in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t excited about this news story, you probably don\u2019t understand it. This is big. This is huge. This is exciting!<\/p>\n

Have you been frustrated, over the years, with the political statements issued by the US bishops\u2019 conference? If so, prepare for a welcome change. Have you wondered why the bishops never seem to listen to reasonable arguments by conservative Catholics? That\u2019s about to change, too.<\/p>\n

When John Carr retired from the staff of the US bishops\u2019 conference, after helping to shape the bishops\u2019 statements on political issues for more then 25 years, we wondered whether his departure signaled a shift in USCCB policy. Today we have our answer: Yes, it does.<\/p>\n

Jonathan J. Reyes, who will be taking Carr\u2019s post in December, will be coming to Washington from Denver, where he was head of Catholic Charities. His work there, and especially his involvement in projects like \u201cChrist in the City,\u201d testify to his belief that Christian charitable work is inseparable from evangelization. In other words he sees charitable work as a witness to faith, not a call for government support.<\/p>\n

The resum\u00e9s of these two men provide a vivid contrast. Whereas John Carr was hired by the Carter administration, and worked for the White House Conference on Families. Reyes was hired by Archbishop Chaput, and worked for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Carr sat on the board of the leftist Center for Community Change; Reyes is co-founder of the Augustine Institute. Carr will be taking a post at Harvard\u2019s Kennedy School; Reyes is a former vice-president of Christendom College.<\/p>\n

Carr\u2019s background, interests, instincts, and alliances tied him closely to liberal Democrats. Reyes, on the other hand, moves easily in conservative circles. This does not mean that Reyes will be a political partisan, or that the USCCB will suddenly begin endorsing Republican legislative proposals. But it does mean that for the first time in decades, the staff of the US bishops\u2019 conference will not swing reflexively into line with the latest liberal rhetoric. Gaudeamus igitur, and chill the champagne!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is easily the first time I have cheered the head of a Catholic Charities branch be appointed to anything much less the USCCB. Hopefully this is the end of the narrowed view of social justice that focused on a segment of social justice while ignoring others. Too long there has been a schism in social justice at many levels and especially the USCCB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is such awesome news I am stealing Phil Lawyler’s post in full. If you aren\u2019t excited about this news story, you probably don\u2019t understand it. This is big. This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13070"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13072,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13070\/revisions\/13072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}