My oldest daughter (18) asked me the other day while on a drive, “What is America’s culture?”
America used to have a culture: God, Family, Neighbor, Freedom, and Responsibility.
Now half of Americans have made multiculturalism a main virtue. I have seen something similar happening in the Church.
Having one common language is powerful, but can be used for good and for evil. In Genesis 11, we see a people trying to build a tower to Heaven apart from God and God, , seeing their ambition and unity towards rebellion and spiritual destruction, jumbled their plan by confusing their language.
In America, we can do evil things and good things when we there is unity. But, we can do very little good (and I’m not talking about government) when there are many cultures working against one another; when we are not speaking a common language.
In the Catholic Church, the Sacred Liturgy used to have a common language, which, because of a sort of multiculturalization of the Sacred Liturgy, many of us would not understand Latin today. Latin was rarely anyone’s first language. You had to go outside of your personal culture for a higher and larger culture. It was not all about you or me. Primarily it was, and should be about God.
The root word of culture is cultus, which has to do with worship, veneration, and devotion.
In America and in the Church, we have sadly made worship about ourselves or about our personal identity, rather than about God.
This is nothing new. We have two Catholic Churches, two blocks from my house. The history of these two Churches was that the German and the Irish Catholics could not get along. And even though their Bishop told them to seek unity, they split and one group chose to go against the Bishop and separated themselves. The Bishop told them that they would not be recognized by the Diocese. However, they later sought reconciliation and unity was restored. Now these two Churches share the same Priest and Deacons (and website ; )
A few years ago the Catholic Church across town started a Spanish Council of the Knights of Columbus and there was animosity between the already established Council and this newly created council. It quickly became a us vs. them type of situation, rather than working together. This year, however, we are merging into one unified council and there will need to be some reconciliation that takes place, because some of the older member were around when there was so much hostility between the two councils (this was before my time, so it all sound silly to me).
Christianity, as a whole, traditionally had creeds for this reason. The creed was a part of creating culture. Saying, this is what we believe. Of the several Protestants that I work with, only one (Lutheran) proclaims the Apostles Creed, while the others all have their individual Mission Statements. Having a common mission is not bad, and it is true that the church (the body of Christ) has many parts, but these parts are no longer speaking the same language. And as a result, we fight with one another and are unable to get beyond our personal identities.
The answer to this? Let’s plant a new non-Denominational Church, that way we strip it of any identity or creed and maybe that will solve the problem. But, how quickly do these Churches become about their brand. They have lost the Christian culture, which had been handed on to them for a sort of multi-culturalism, where every non-Denomination grows whatever seeds they want based on their own understanding of The Word of God and Mission Statement.
The other answer is to go back to where there is a universal culture. One that has been preserved. One that is Apostolic. One who’s Liturgies are centered around Christ and The Word of God. United in one Baptism, one Eucharist, and one Creed. I’m referring to the Catholic Christian Church.
When cultures unite in a greater culture, we feel more connected with the minor cultures. As a Catholic, I feel a connection with my Hispanic brothers and sisters. I feel a connection with my Irish brothers and sisters. I feel a connection with my sisters and brothers from India, Africa, and around the world, because we share in this one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church, all worshiping the one, true God!
But, there is another culture built on multi-culturalism that is worshiping an elevated power that uses personal identity as their mission towards a global unity. A mission that glorifies man and rejects God (very much like those in Genesis 11).
This multi-culturalism views American values (God, Family, Neighbor, Freedom, and Responsibility) as a threat to their mission. They are redefining who God is, what family is, defining neighbors differently from how Christ taught in His Parable of The Good Samaritan, stripping you of your freedom by replacing natural rights with what they call positive rights, and giving their personal responsibities over to princes and kings (politicians).
We no longer are speaking the same language. We never used to have to ask, What is a woman? or What is a Christian? or What is a Jew? Even on morality, most Americans used to agree on what is good and what is evil. I don’t know that this is the case anymore. We can disagree on what laws should or should not be civilly policed, but we can’t even universally identity what is good and what is bad behavior.
There have always been those who call evil good and good evil; who change darkness to light and light to darkness; and who change bitter to sweet and sweet to bitter (Isaiah 5:20).