Maggie's Farm

Speaking of tolerance, from our Catholic neighbors to the North:

Archbishop Chaput Says . . . Tolerance Is Not A Christian Virtue

"We need to re­member that tolerance is not a Chris­tian virtue. Charity, justice, mercy, pru­dence, honesty — these are Christian virtues. And obviously, in a diverse community, tolerance is an important working principle. But it’s never an end itself. In fact, tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of seri­ous evil.

Likewise, democratic pluralism does not mean that Catholics should be quiet in public about serious mor­al issues because of some misguided sense of good manners. A healthy de­mocracy requires vigorous moral de­bate to survive. Real pluralism de­mands that people of strong beliefs will advance their convictions in the public square — peacefully, legally, and respectfully, but energetically and without embarrassment. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the public conversation."

and...

Real Hope Is Unsentimental

"One of the words we heard end­lessly in the last U.S. election was “hope.” I think “hope” is the only word in the English language more badly misused than “love.” It’s our go-to anxiety word — as in, “I sure hope I don’t say anything stupid to­night.” But for Christians, hope is a virtue, not an emotional crutch or a political slogan. Virtus, the Latin root of virtue, means strength or courage. Real hope is unsentimen­tal. It has nothing to do with the cheesy optimism of election cam­paigns. Hope assumes and demands a spine in believers."