Catholics, says Attorney General William Barr, “understand that only by transforming ourselves can we transform the world beyond ourselves.”
Saccharine? Perhaps. But this remark from Barr’s now-infamous Notre Dame speech summarizes the faith of a man whose public Catholicism has for decades emphasized both sexual morality and personal charity. Discipline and virtue — words that read like dog whistles to modernists and other subversives in the Catholic hierarchy — are central to Barr’s faith. To Barr, Christ’s “yoke is easy” precisely because “taking up your cross” is not — it is the rigor of virtue that unlocks the simplicity of Christian life. Don’t sleep around, and you won’t have bastard children. Avoid anger, and you won’t be prone to violence. Love your neighbor as yourself, and you won’t be consumed with hatred.
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