Was Jesus a Liberal?

                                              

The headlines concerning the release of the new encyclical by Pope Francis on global economics and climate change led a friend to claim that the Pope is a liberal, and that Jesus himself must be considered a liberal. Until I get a better look at the contents of the encyclical, I will withhold judgment on Francis. However, I would like to consider whether Jesus could be pigeonholed as a liberal.

This spring a bible study group in my local parish completed a little course on the parables of Jesus. Although I’ve been a Catholic all my life and am still a regular churchgoer, I had never before understood how central the parables were to the teaching of Jesus. In fact, it is clear to me now that the essence of his teaching is in the parables even though they often seem mysterious or enigmatic.

So, I would like to consider three or four of the most famous parables in order to discover any latent liberalism or conservatism in the stories. I know that the main point of the parables is spiritual but I will examine the less than “spiritual” background in the stories.

I guess that the most famous parable is the one usually called the “Prodigal Son.” Not only is this the most famous parable, but also it is possibly the most well known story in all of human literature. The prodigal son, the younger of two brothers, has the audacity to ask for his share of the inheritance even before his prosperous father’s death?

The father consents and the son leaves home for a foreign land where he goes through his fortune in no time. Soon, he is homeless and hungry and reduced to laboring on a farm where he has to care for the pigs, animals regarded as disgusting by Jews of the time.

Finally, in the words of the parable, he comes “to his senses,” and realizes that he has sinned against God and man. We notice that he doesn’t blame his father for his plight. Neither does he blame society or the social and economic structure of the day. He doesn’t even blame the farmer who treats him like a dog. The prodigal son admits his fault and takes responsibility for his own misery and poverty. Truly repentant, he decides to return to his father, beg for forgiveness, and ask for a job as one of his servants. He has no sense of entitlement.

We all know the rest of the story.

Almost as well known as the “Prodigal Son” is the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” Jesus tells the story of a man traveling on a road who is beset by robbers. They beat him, strip him of all his possessions, and leave him for dead in the road. A Priest and a Levite, at that time government as well as religious officials, pass the poor man by. Finally, a Samaritan merchant or businessman sees the man, takes pity on him, and cares for him. He dresses his wounds and takes him to an inn where he pays the innkeeper to provide whatever is necessary for the man until he recovers. He also promises to make up any balance after he returns from his business trip.

Leaving aside the lesson that the man’s own people neglected him while it was a member of the despised people of Samaria who cared for him, we notice that the Samaritan takes it upon himself to care for the wounded man. He did not ask anyone else to do the job. He certainly did not demand or coerce others to do the job.

Moreover, Jesus did not say that the Samaritan should give up his business or all of his possessions to assist the wounded stranger. He understood the necessity for the man to complete his business trip. After all, his profits are what enabled him to support himself, his own family, as well as help the man beaten by robbers.

In the parable of the “Talents” Jesus told the story of a rich man who left three servants or stewards in charge of his business while he was away on a trip. The first was given five talents to invest, the second three, and the last only one. It is clear that although a ‘talent” was a large sum of money in those days, in the parable “talents” refer to the gifts or talents that we have all been given.

Jesus does not suggest that we are all equal or equally gifted. The moral is that we are all expected to work with what we have been given. The first two servants double the master’s money and are praised and rewarded. The last buried his talent in the ground out of fear. He produced nothing.

At this point some might say that I am putting my own spin on the parables or leaving out something. What about the story of the rich young man who approached Jesus and asked what he had to do to attain eternal life? Jesus told him to sell all he had, give to the poor, and come and follow him along with the other disciples. Does this command make Jesus a liberal?

Aside from the fact that most liberals don’t sell all they have and give to the poor, I will just point out that the first response of Jesus to the young man’s question was, “keep the commandments.” In other words: honor your father and mother, do not kill, commit adultery, lie, cheat or steal. Are liberals the only ones who keep these commandments?

It appears to me that Jesus transcended labels like liberal or conservative and his followers should also. Here is an example that I was reminded of on hearing last Sunday’s gospel about the parable of the “Mustard Seed.” Jesus said that the mustard seed was the smallest of seeds but that it would grow into a great bush that would provide shelter for the birds of the air.

That parable reminds me of Ted, a man I knew in my own parish who died three years ago. He was a small, unassuming, and quiet man who rarely talked about himself but he was one of the most giving men I have ever known. At his funeral I saw an old black and white marriage photo. Ted, who served in World War II, was in uniform next to his young Italian war bride who had sewn her beautiful white wedding gown out of his parachute. I never met his wife because she died shortly before I met him, but I know that Ted loved her until the day he died. They had four or five children and all were there at the funeral with a number of grandchildren. One of the grandchildren gave a brief eulogy in which he described all the things his grandfather had taught him.

           

Ted was an avid gardener and wine maker but by profession he was a master electrician who worked at his trade right until his final illness struck. My wife and I originally met him in an Italian language class but he subsequently became a friend as well as our electrician. I will never forget the night our electricity went out during a violent ice storm. Ted came to the house, climbed a ladder, and repaired a broken power line in the midst of the storm. The only problem we ever had with Ted was that he was always reluctant to accept payment from friends. There was a large crowd in the Church at his funeral and I’m sure that most had also been the recipients of Ted’s generosity. Ted will never be canonized but he was one of the multitude of ordinary men who loved their families, their church, and their country.

I don’t know if Ted was a liberal or a conservative but he was a good and faithful steward who gave all he had for others.

###

Summer Reading List

     

Summer Reading List:

I recently came across a very pretentious recommended summer reading list of ponderous classics in the op-ed pages of the Wall St. Journal. It prompted me to recommend my own list of personal favorites. All are easy to read and not of great length, but sometimes great things come in small packages.

C.S. Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet.

Most readers are very familiar with the Narnia stories of this famous author. However, In addition to being a great scholar, Christian apologist, and author of so-called children’s stories, Lewis was also a big fan of science fiction. Out of the Silent Planet is the first in his great sci-fi trilogy. It was followed by Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. When I was in college many years ago, I picked up this slim paperback by chance. It was a great read but also my introduction to Lewis. The sci-fi technology may be dated but his knowledge of human nature was not.

 

J.R.R. Tolkien: Tree and Leaf.

Because of film adaptations Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are even more popular than the Narnia stories of his friend, C.S. Lewis. Like Lewis, Tolkien was a great scholar and Christian apologist. Tree and Leaf contains a brilliant essay on fairy stories as well as Tolkien’s own little creation, “Leaf by Niggle.” Of all the stories I have ever read, “Leaf by Niggle” has made the greatest impression.

Eric Hoffer: The True Believer.

Eric Hoffer made his living as a longshoreman working in California seaport towns during the nineteen forties and fifties. As a result of early childhood blindness he never attended elementary school. Miraculously, he recovered his sight in his teens but too late for any formal schooling. Nevertheless, he became a voracious reader and was a constant patron at the libraries in the towns where he worked as a longshoreman. His reading combined with his life experience on the docks made him a skeptic about ideologists who were far removed from actual experience. I first came across this little wisdom-packed paperback in college. I was a history major but few historians had the political acumen of Hoffer. I still remember this one of his many aphorisms: "when your own business is not worth minding, you’ll mind someone else’s."

Alexander Solzhenitsyn: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Solzhenitsyn had spent years in a Soviet concentration camp (GULAG) before this little book came to light. Its publication in the West preceded all the great works that would come later and make him the greatest writer of the twentieth century. But “One Day…” introduced me to the horrors of Communism in Russia. It also marked the beginning of the end of the rotten Soviet Empire.

Maud Hart Lovelace: Emily of Deep Valley.

On one level this is a light novel for teen-age girls. On another level it provides and insight into the life of a small mid-western town that few histories can match. On a third level it explores the psychology of an individual whose life seems to be going nowhere until she finds a way to pull herself up with her own bootstraps. One Amazon reviewer put it this way.

"This book was my introduction to Maud Hart Lovelace around 20 years ago, and although I loved reading about Betsy and Tacy, Emily is the character I always identified with most. Shy, intellectual, hindered socially by her dignity and her inability to banter, yet full of fun and lightning quick in a debate, she went straight to my heart as a character I could relate to and love."

I love this book not because I have a wife, four daughters and six granddaughters but because it is a book that every man should read if he wants to learn how to be a man.

All of these books are still available on places like amazon and ebay.

###

Kill the Goose

     

On April 17 I put up a post entitled "Minimum Wage Madness" that claimed  that an attempt to penalize large corporations in Connecticut which did not increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour might drive some large employers like General Electric out of Connecticut. Sure enough, headlines this week in the local newspaper, "The Connecticut Post," indicated that GE and others had warned legislators who were considering a huge increase in corporate taxes, as well as the minimum wage increase, that they might actually leave.

GE was joined by huge insurance companies headquartered in Hartford, the State’s Capitol once known as the Insurance Capitol of the country. The minimum wage proposal seems to have been put aside but in a last minute rush to deal with a huge budget shortfall, the Democrat majority in the legislature decided to go ahead and create a levy on corporations domiciled in Connecticut by about $62 million.

Inevitably, such soak the rich schemes are popular but there is a risk that people will find that they have killed the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg. One legislator claimed that GE paid no Federal or State taxes, and argued that it was only fair to make the fat cats pay.

Putting aside for the moment whether GE as a corporation pays Federal or State taxes, can anyone be so dense as not to realize the enormous amount of tax revenues that GE and other large corporations generate. GE has almost 6000 employees in Connecticut alone. All of these employees from the CEO on down pay Federal and State income taxes. All of them pay sales tax on most of what they purchase in the state. All of them pay personal property tax on their automobiles and other possessions. All of them pay real estate taxes based on the value of their homes. These real estate taxes pay for the salaries and benefit packages of local police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

The corporate headquarters of GE is in the town of Fairfield, and GE is the largest taxpayer in the town. It would be a disaster for the town if this good neighbor were to leave the state. If GE left, a huge gap in the tax rolls would have to be filled. Homeowners, rich and poor, would see an increase in their real estate taxes. Even rentals would go up as landlords factor increased property taxes into rents.

Why in this country have we come to consider corporate profits as a bad thing? Why would most college graduates today prefer to work for a non-profit entity? What is wrong with making a profit, especially when it is these profits that pay for most of the things we value.

If GE leaves Connecticut, there will be no profits to tax. If GE left the State, the results would be disastrous not so much for GE stockholders, executives and other fat cats, but mainly for the thousands of ordinary people whose incomes are dependent on GE. In his two terms Governor Malloy has not been able to attract new business to Connecticut unless he doles out huge tax subsidies and credits. Why are he and the legislature creating a huge disincentive for companies currently domiciled here to leave?

The Governor and the Democrat leadership in the legislature that waited, as always, to the last minute to patch together this so-called budget should be prepared to take the blame if their strategies backfire. At the start of his first term the Governor pushed through a huge tax increase that was supposed to solve the State’s fiscal woes. In his recent campaign he pledged no new taxes but then left it to the legislature to create a number of new ones.

Congratulations to Fairfield representative Kristin McCarthy Vahey, a Democrat from Fairfield who voted against this budget. It will be interesting to see how the party leadership treats her in the future.

 PS. On an unrelated note, June 4 is the anniversary of the famous naval battle of Midway that was one of the turning points of WW II. I posted on it last year, the seventieth anniversary. If you missed it here is a link.

###

Memorial Day: U.S.S. Halibut

U.S.S. Halibut

Today in the United States of America we celebrate Memorial Day, a day devoted to honor and remember America’s veterans, especially those who gave their lives in the call of duty. 

Coincidentally, I just finished reading Admiral I. J. Galantin’s “Take Her Deep! A Submarine against Japan in World War II.” *The book is primarily an account of the exploits of U.S.S. Halibut from 1942 to the end of 1944. I was drawn to the book because Silvio Gardella, my wife’s uncle, served on the Halibut throughout those three years.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, twenty five year old Silvio decided to enlist in the Navy because he did not want to be drafted into the Army. He wound up in the submarine service because one day an officer told him and some others to “volunteer.” Silvio protested that he didn’t know how to swim, but was told that swimming would not be necessary in the submarine service.

He first served on U.S.S. Sculpin under then Captain Galantin who was making his final test run before getting his own ship. The Captain must have taken a liking to Silvio because at the completion of that training mission, he chose fireman second class Silvio and another seaman to join him on his new sub, the Halibut. Silvio was an extremely lucky man because on its next voyage, the Sculpin was lost.

There might have been times during his tour of duty that Silvio thought that his luck had run out. Admiral Galantin’s account of the Halibut’s missions off the coast of Japan shows how difficult and dangerous those missions were. Contrary to popular perceptions, the Halibut and other WWII submarines had to spend most of their time on the surface where their powerful diesel engines could attain 20 knots. But below the surface they normally could only reach two or three knots. On occasion, they could reach six knots but at that speed they would quickly drain their batteries.

To avoid detection from enemy ships and planes the Halibut would usually go at periscope depth during the day looking for Japanese shipping to destroy. But practically every night it would have to resurface to recharge its batteries. Even at night the moon could betray their location to enemy lookouts. Still, much of its hunting was done at night when its greater surface speed gave it an advantage.

These long night watches when the Halibut’s lookouts strained their eyes to detect enemy shipping and their dangerous escorts were a constant source of strain on the crew. In a very poignant passage Admiral Galantin describes how the different seamen dealt with the constant threat of danger.

Often as their eyes adjusted to the blackness, the torpedoman’s mate, machinist’s mate, or electrician’s mate—men like Perkins, Kelly, Black, Gardella—would find me already pacing the short space abaft the periscope shears. Five thousand miles from our own shores, talking in hushed voices as though the enemy coast had ears, how rewarding were the frank, midnight conferences, as the gulf between captain and crewman disappeared in the night. 

In the strange, unnatural life we led, in the tensions of submarine warfare deep within enemy waters, each man sought his private, personal assurance of safety and survival. What differing faith the voices in the night revealed. Some put their trust in materiel—in the fantastic equipment we had, or in the stoutness of our hull….

Bob Black, from Brooklyn, was certain that our fine crew, our careful training, were more than equal to every challenge.

Still others sought assurance in the negative, in damning the enemy and denying his capabilities….

Silvio Gardella, from White Plains, New York, he of a family of sixteen children, was convinced that I knew all the tricks of our trade and would certainly outwit any Jap C. O. “Skipper, a good Italian boy like me don’t have to like it, but I can take it.”

.

Captain Galantin must have been moved by Silvio’s trust but he was aware of his own limitations. He concluded his nighttime reflection with these words.

I could give confidence in our ship and in each other, but my own support came from the Ninety-first Psalm….From frequent readings I knew it by heart.

I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in whom I trust. For he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler And from the deadly pestilence He will cover thee with his pinions. And under his wings shalt thou take refuge: His truth is a shield and a buckler.

Obviously, the Halibut completed all of its missions including a final one where the ship was almost destroyed as victory in the Pacific seemed imminent. It was detected by new Japanese equipment and subjected to a massive depth charge attack that almost ripped the ship apart 400 feet below water. Miraculously, the Halibut survived although it was so damaged that it could only limp back home with the help of another sub. When it finally got back to Pearl Harbor, the damage was so great that the ship would never dive again.

The end of the Halibut was not the end for Captain Galantin who went on to a distinguished career in the Navy. But it was the end for Silvio Gardella. His tour of duty was over and he was discharged from the Navy when he returned to New York. Within days he married his sweetheart, Iole. They raised a family and he went on to be a successful businessman. But he never forgot Captain Galatin, the Halibut, and his years in the submarine service. Like many others who served with their comrades in war, it would not be far from the truth to say that those years were the best of their lives.

###

Admiral Galantin's book is still available on amazon or ebay