Patheos, An Israelite Without Guile:
If Chaput's strategy shows vision, his mastery of the details hints at an admirable discretion. A populist he may be; a demagogue he is not.
Anyone who doubts that the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput is a man of the people should spare an ear for the lecture he gave last April at Notre Dame. "There is unity among the bishops about abortion always being wrong, and that you can't be a Catholic and be in favor of abortion," he said. "But there's just an inability among the bishops together to speak clearly on this matter and even to say that if you're Catholic and you're pro-choice, you can't receive Holy Communion."
Chaput's solution? Enlist the faithful.
"Help me," he exhorted his audience, "to convince the bishops on that subject.'
This was no call for mob rule. After all, Chaput was addressing a university crowd—not the sort of people to seize torch or pitchfork, bottle or brick. Nevertheless, he was calling on the laity to correct what he saw as the negligence of the clergy. That's very progressive, in a Lumen Gentium kind of way. When Chaput told National Catholic Reporter's John Allen, Jr., "We're not a tribe"—the "we" meaning clergy—he wasn't kidding around.
If Chaput's strategy shows vision, his mastery of the details hints at an admirable discretion. He serves up red meat, but nothing too raw or bloody. A populist he may be; a demagogue he is not.
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