cozcommunio

Well I disagree.

I believed in freedom before I had a firm foundation for my belief in freedom. As a teenager I was attracted to anti-authoritarian writers and anarchist. After I finished four years at a Catholic High School I rejected Catholicism and Christianity. During college I added a strong belief in the advantages of free-market economics to my anti-authoritarianism. At that time I loosely returned to considering myself a Christian but my faith was not very developed or strong.

In my early 40s after I read George Weigel’s biography of John Paul II, Witness to Hope (my favorite book) I had the cornerstone to my foundation for freedom. Weigel’s book brought my religious and political beliefs in concord. As I read and study more on my Catholic faith I find it strengthens and reinforces my political beliefs in freedom. As a free-market liberal who believes in limited government, rule of law and a free market economic system that allows individuals to determine their own lives, my faith reinvigorates my desire to help build a free, flourishing and peaceful society.

I’m a Christian because I believe in our redemption through Jesus Christ. I believe in the good news of love and forgiveness of Christ. No matter what we have done in our past we always have another chance through Christ. Alex de Tocqueville once wrote, “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” The freedom to act and make adjustments along the way is what makes America such a great country. Free will is about making the choice to do what is right - to make the right corrects as we go done our path in life.

To me the Catholic Church is Christ’s bridge to God. The Church teaches and believes that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. The Catholic Church almost alone stands radically in defense of man’s free will and thus man’s God given right to freedom. With free will comes personal responsibility. I believe that this free will is God’s design of man’s nature. Catholicism defends the dignity and value of every individual and is a proponent of the flourishment and love of life. The Church claims to be universal and it is. It is the most long-lived institution in the world.

Here is a paraphrase from my favorite author, George Weigel:

The Catholic Church’s steady insistence that faith involves truths and obligations, that those obligations demand certain choices can be intimidating, even repellent. Catholicism is about affirmation: the affirmation of humanity, and of every individual human life, by a God passionately in love with his creation. Everyone is of infinite value, because every human being is a player in a great comic drama with eternal consequences – a drama in which God is both playwright and protagonist.

Let me finish with a final word from Alex de Tocqueville again: “Freedom is, in truth, a sacred thing. There is only one thing else that better deserves the name: virtue. But then what is virtue if not the free choice of what is good?”

College freshman, John Tyler Hammons, is elected Mayor of Muskogee Oklahoma. Hammons won a runoff with over 70 percent of the vote over former Mayor Hershel Ray McBride. Hammons defeated a 3 term former mayor who outspent him 10 to 1. He ran on a transparency platform. He said that his message that resonated with voters was openness of government and keeping citizens better informed of city operations.