Every practicing Catholic in America is stuck between two worlds. On one hand, he inhabits a broadly secular culture, one indifferent to claims about the transcendent, in which the currency of human exchange is always some mix of money, pleasure, and power. His participation in that culture is nearly constant—it surrounds him in mass media, on the internet, in patterns of speech, in social expectations, and in the aims and operations of his government. The modern Catholic in America is swimming in secularity.
On the other hand there is the Church, which stands apart from the sea of secularity, and offers a set of fundamental commitments and values. Here one makes vows that are lifelong and indissoluble. Here one's duties are insuperable and absolute. The currency of exchange put forward in the Church is based not on pleasure or power but truth, charity, and oblation. Here the economy of domination is swept away by the blood of the Lamb.
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