all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
But there is a catch, particularly for religious leaders. In the twenty-first century it takes money to run a church. Buildings, property, employees, programs— they all require money, which in turn requires donors.
In other times perhaps people gave out of sense of duty, or because they understood that the scriptures required them to tithe. Now day they treat the Church like just another 501c3. They give to the one they like, the one that tells them what they want to hear.
And so, bishops and other pastors will never be persecuted because they will rarely ever say what their donor base doesn’t like.
This week we saw real courage. Archbishop Wilton Gregory had to courage to stand up and speak out when the president decide to use the John Paul II center for a photo op. Surely he knew that many of the “heavy hitters” in Catholic donor circles are Trump supporters. And yet, he spoke. He spoke directly and forcefully. His words were not carefully crafted by a committee so as to not upset anyone.
When was the last time we heard one of our religious leaders venture beyond the safety zone? In my baptist days we called it preaching to the choir.
St. Paul tells us that if we want to live a truly religious life we will be persecuted. In order to be persecuted, we have actually upset someone who is listening.
