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Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life
“People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won’t be quiet. They can’t be. They’ll act on what they believe, sometimes at the cost of their reputations and careers. Obviously the common good demands a respect for other people with different beliefs and a willingness to compromise whenever possible. But for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of human dignity. Christian faith is always personal but never private. This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge at home but need to be quiet about in public, will always fail.”
—From the Introduction
Few topics in recent years have ignited as much public debate as the balance between religion and politics. Does religious thought have any place in political discourse? Do religious believers have the right to turn their values into political action? What does it truly mean to have a separation of church and state? The very heart of these important questions is here addressed by one of the leading voices on the topic, Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver.
While American society has ample room for believers and nonbelievers alike, Chaput argues, our public life must be considered within the context of its Christian roots. American democracy does not ask its citizens to put aside their deeply held moral and religious beliefs for the sake of public policy. In fact, it requires exactly the opposite.
As the nation’s founders knew very well, people are fallible. The majority of voters, as history has shown again and again, can be uninformed, misinformed, biased, or simply wrong. Thus, to survive, American democracy depends on an engaged citizenry —people of character, including religious believers, fighting for their beliefs in the public square—respectfully but vigorously, and without apology. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the nation’s health. Or as the author Good manners are not an excuse for political cowardice.
American Catholics and other persons of goodwill are part of a struggle for our nation’s future, says Charles J. Chaput. Our choices, including our political choices, matter. Catholics need to take an active, vocal, and morally consistent role in public debate. We can’t claim to personally believe in the sanctity of the human person, and then act in our public policies as if we don’t. We can’t separate our private convictions from our public actions without diminishing both. In the words of the author, “How we act works backward on our convictions, making them stronger or smothering them under a snowfall of alibis.”
Vivid, provocative, clear, and compelling, Render unto Caesar is a call to American Catholics to serve the highest ideals of their nation by first living their Catholic faith deeply, authentically.
—From the Introduction
Few topics in recent years have ignited as much public debate as the balance between religion and politics. Does religious thought have any place in political discourse? Do religious believers have the right to turn their values into political action? What does it truly mean to have a separation of church and state? The very heart of these important questions is here addressed by one of the leading voices on the topic, Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver.
While American society has ample room for believers and nonbelievers alike, Chaput argues, our public life must be considered within the context of its Christian roots. American democracy does not ask its citizens to put aside their deeply held moral and religious beliefs for the sake of public policy. In fact, it requires exactly the opposite.
As the nation’s founders knew very well, people are fallible. The majority of voters, as history has shown again and again, can be uninformed, misinformed, biased, or simply wrong. Thus, to survive, American democracy depends on an engaged citizenry —people of character, including religious believers, fighting for their beliefs in the public square—respectfully but vigorously, and without apology. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the nation’s health. Or as the author Good manners are not an excuse for political cowardice.
American Catholics and other persons of goodwill are part of a struggle for our nation’s future, says Charles J. Chaput. Our choices, including our political choices, matter. Catholics need to take an active, vocal, and morally consistent role in public debate. We can’t claim to personally believe in the sanctity of the human person, and then act in our public policies as if we don’t. We can’t separate our private convictions from our public actions without diminishing both. In the words of the author, “How we act works backward on our convictions, making them stronger or smothering them under a snowfall of alibis.”
Vivid, provocative, clear, and compelling, Render unto Caesar is a call to American Catholics to serve the highest ideals of their nation by first living their Catholic faith deeply, authentically.
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2009
1 person want to read
About the author
Charles J. Chaput
22 books78 followersCharles J. Chaput was born September 26, 1944, in Concordia, Kansas, the son of Joseph and Marian DeMarais Chaput. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Grade School in Concordia and Saint Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas. He joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Saint Augustine province, in 1965.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Fidelis college seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania in 1967, he earned a Master of Arts in religious education from Capuchin college in District of Columbia, in 1970. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 29, 1970.
Chaput received a Master of Arts in theology from the University of San Francisco in 1971. He served as an instructor in theology and spiritual director at Saint Fidelis from 1971-1974 and as executive secretary and director of communications for the Capuchin province of Saint Augustine in Pittsburgh from 1974 to 1977.
In 1977, he became pastor of Holy Cross parish in Thornton, Colorado, and vicar provincial for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America. He was named secretary and treasurer for the province in 1980. He became chief executive and provincial minister three years later.
Chaput was ordained bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, on July 26, 1988. Pope Saint John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Denver on February 18, 1997, and he was installed on April 7 the same year. As a member of the prairie band Potawatomi tribe, Archbishop Chaput was the second Native American to be ordained bishop in the United States, and the first Native American archbishop. He chose as his episcopal motto: “As Christ Loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25).
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him archbishop of Philadelphia on July 19, 2011. He was installed as the 13th bishop and ninth archbishop of Philadelphia on September 8, 2011. In 1999, building on the efforts of his predecessor in Denver, Archbishop Chaput founded Saint John Vianney theological seminary, an affiliate of the Pontifical Lateran University. From 1998 to 2011, Archbishop Chaput has ordained 71 men for the Archdiocese of Denver. He ordained nearly half of the diocesan priests in active duty for the archdiocese.
In 2002, assisted by his auxiliary bishop José Gomez, Chaput founded Centro San Juan Diego in response to the pastoral and educational needs of the growing Hispanic community in Colorado. He later co-founded the national Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) and helped in the founding of ENDOW, a leadership initiative of Catholic women to “Educate on the Nature and Dignity of Women.” He was also instrumental in creating the Denver-based Augustine Institute, an independent, lay-run graduate school for the formation of lay Catholic leaders, catechists and evangelizers. Archbishop Chaput served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2003-2006. Duties included religious freedom fact-finding missions to China and Turkey, and annual reports monitoring global trends in religious liberty mandated by 1998 federal law.
In 2005, he was named a member of the official U.S. delegation to Cordoba, Spain, for the “Conference on Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance,” sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The national Becket Fund for Religious Liberty awarded him the 2009 Canterbury Medal for his work in advancing religious freedom.
Archbishop Chaput served on the Board of Directors for The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (1994 – 2009) and the National Catholic Bioethics Center (1993 – 2006). He serves on the board of directors for Eternal Word Television Network, Birmingham, Alabama (1996 – present); The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado (1998 – present); St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Northern Colorado (1999 – present); Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Northern Colorado (1998 – present); The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (2001
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Fidelis college seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania in 1967, he earned a Master of Arts in religious education from Capuchin college in District of Columbia, in 1970. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 29, 1970.
Chaput received a Master of Arts in theology from the University of San Francisco in 1971. He served as an instructor in theology and spiritual director at Saint Fidelis from 1971-1974 and as executive secretary and director of communications for the Capuchin province of Saint Augustine in Pittsburgh from 1974 to 1977.
In 1977, he became pastor of Holy Cross parish in Thornton, Colorado, and vicar provincial for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America. He was named secretary and treasurer for the province in 1980. He became chief executive and provincial minister three years later.
Chaput was ordained bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, on July 26, 1988. Pope Saint John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Denver on February 18, 1997, and he was installed on April 7 the same year. As a member of the prairie band Potawatomi tribe, Archbishop Chaput was the second Native American to be ordained bishop in the United States, and the first Native American archbishop. He chose as his episcopal motto: “As Christ Loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25).
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him archbishop of Philadelphia on July 19, 2011. He was installed as the 13th bishop and ninth archbishop of Philadelphia on September 8, 2011. In 1999, building on the efforts of his predecessor in Denver, Archbishop Chaput founded Saint John Vianney theological seminary, an affiliate of the Pontifical Lateran University. From 1998 to 2011, Archbishop Chaput has ordained 71 men for the Archdiocese of Denver. He ordained nearly half of the diocesan priests in active duty for the archdiocese.
In 2002, assisted by his auxiliary bishop José Gomez, Chaput founded Centro San Juan Diego in response to the pastoral and educational needs of the growing Hispanic community in Colorado. He later co-founded the national Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) and helped in the founding of ENDOW, a leadership initiative of Catholic women to “Educate on the Nature and Dignity of Women.” He was also instrumental in creating the Denver-based Augustine Institute, an independent, lay-run graduate school for the formation of lay Catholic leaders, catechists and evangelizers. Archbishop Chaput served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2003-2006. Duties included religious freedom fact-finding missions to China and Turkey, and annual reports monitoring global trends in religious liberty mandated by 1998 federal law.
In 2005, he was named a member of the official U.S. delegation to Cordoba, Spain, for the “Conference on Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance,” sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The national Becket Fund for Religious Liberty awarded him the 2009 Canterbury Medal for his work in advancing religious freedom.
Archbishop Chaput served on the Board of Directors for The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (1994 – 2009) and the National Catholic Bioethics Center (1993 – 2006). He serves on the board of directors for Eternal Word Television Network, Birmingham, Alabama (1996 – present); The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado (1998 – present); St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Northern Colorado (1999 – present); Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Northern Colorado (1998 – present); The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (2001
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