Political commentators derisively
call it The Chicago Way. They refer to our machine-style politics. Its motto,
of course, is Ubi est mea? (Where’s mine?) It is accompanied by
corruption and then jail time for some, including in recent years a Congressman
and two Governors.
By
contrast, two commentators point to a positive Chicago Way--our style of being
Catholic. “As U.S. Catholic histories continue to be written, the Catholic
Midwest in general and Chicago in particular will highlight the emergence of
the post-Vatican II pastoral church,” writes Tom Fox, editor of National Catholic Reporter (www.nconline.org, 6/8/15). Fox pays tribute to
recently deceased Chicagoans Eugene Cullen Kennedy (1928-2015) and Bob McClory
(1932-2015). He also mentions our Fr. Andrew Greeley (1928-2013). Kennedy and
the others “embraced a rich sacramental vision,” Fox says, believing that “the
divine imbued all matter and the sacraments [the formal ones and the many small
ones] were aids to open our eyes to the richness of God’s all-embracing love.”
Fr.
Bruce Nieli, CSP, writing in U.S.
Catholic (www.uscatholic.org, 7/15), pays tribute to Chicago as
the place where, before and after Vatican II, several Catholic lay movements
began or had a strong base.
These
are the two primary characteristics of the Chicago Catholic Way: a sacramental
imagination and lay-led social action. But first some caveats.
§ The Chicago Catholic Way is not
immune from corruption. For example, several leaders in the selfish part of
Chicago’s political life are Catholic. Further, the
scandalous mismanagement of abusive Church employees was as bad here as
elsewhere.
§ The Chicago Way of Being Catholic is
not exclusive to our city nor is it the only good way. Simply, certain elements
of Catholic tradition are accented here.
§ Many of those who practice the
Chicago Catholic Way now do so as cultural
Catholics. That is, Mass participation among young adults is no better here
than elsewhere.
Chicago
Catholicism is sacramental or analogical. It sees similarities between
pedestrian encounters and the grand. The Incarnation is taken seriously here.
God for us is found in ordinary things and surroundings. We suspect, as Greeley
often said, that the world is enchanted.
Primarily—at
least in my experience—this means an animating belief in the real presence of
God in the Eucharist. But in Chicago the weekend Eucharist quickly leads to the
Mystical Body of Christ; that is our co-workers, neighbors and family members,
especially the poor.
That weekday
Eucharist disposition, at least in our better moments, allows us to regard
others not as if we would hypothetically regard Christ, but as if the most
renowned and the most dejected Chicagoan is Christ in some real sense.
This, in
turn, leads to the second characteristic: Chicago’s tradition for social
action. Nieli mentions the Christian Family Movement, which although it began
at Notre Dame in 1940, took off in Chicago beginning in 1942. He also names the
community organization movement as a Chicago product, beginning among Catholic
parishes here in 1939. Nieli credits Chicago with a strong presence of other
Catholic movements, including the Catholic Worker, Cursillo, Young Christian
Workers, Young Christian Students and the like.
The two
characteristics—a sacramental disposition and social action—reinforce each
other. The Chicago Way appreciates that liturgy and justice are reciprocal.
There is even a slogan in Chicago: “The liturgy is the second school of social
justice.” (The family, of course, is the first school.)
Chicago
has problems in its neighborhoods, its jails, its health facilities, its
legislatures, its businesses and more. And the Catholic church here is sluggish
for many reasons. But with some creative thinking and some young leadership the
Chicago Catholic Way can continue to contribute to our common life in the
Midwest, to U.S. Catholicism and to all of Christianity.
Droel is author of Church, Chicago Style (National Center
for the Laity, PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629; $2)
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