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(Warning: this entry will contain opinions that some will consider frankly political. You've been warned.)
A few entries ago I told the story of Saint Ambrose and his reaction to what he regarded as the public sins of the ( Christian) Roman Emperor of his time, Theodosius the Great. He clearly did not fear the Emperor's wrath; but feared that the man Theodosius might well be guilty of mortal sin and thus upbraided the Emperor Theodosius and refused him Communion. Theodosius the man accepted the rebuke of Ambrose the Bishop.
This same Ambrose was the spiritual mentor of Augustine who became one of the greatest Saints and theologians in the history of the Western or Latin Church, of which we are children. He wrote a treatise on the Sacraments De Mysteriis that contains the earliest Latin text of what we now know as "The Roman Canon" we have.
He also left many theological, liturgical, and homiletic texts that form an important part of the patrimony of the Western Catholic Church. I chose a line of his to be on my mother's Funeral Card and often quote him in my Funeral Mass sermons.
Today is his feastday.
Today is also the 68th anniversary of the day that naval and air forces of the Japanese Empire suddenly attacked American naval, air, and land forces at Pearl Harbor and the city of Honolulu. A day later the then-American possession of the Philippines and its kindly ( and Catholic) people were also attacked and entered into a four year nightmare of war and terror. Millions of people: Chinese, Indo-Chinese, Pacific, Dutch, French, British and Americans lost their lives, were maimed, or suffered psychological and personal harm at the hands of forces that inflicted this evil in the name of the "Showa Emperor" ( Hirohito) of Japan. My own father who fought in the Pacific in World War Two could never overcome a visceral distaste for the Japanese.
Of course things are different now, and we are aware of the complexity of the issues and people of the time, but I must say I was unhappy to witness the almost grotesque contortion of bow and hand-shake that the President of the United States proferred recently to the current Japanese Emperor, the son of Hirohito. Emperor Akihito and his ( Catholic educated) Empress properly offered their hands in the Western style proper to a fellow Head of State ( no Head of State is expected to kow-tow to another one of equal rank).
Yet our President not only violated protocol, and Japanese custom by BOTH bowing and shaking hands, but made himself look frankly ridiculous in my opinion. Sad...
When he met the King of Saudi Arabia some months ago he practically genuflected in front of the "Guardian of the Two Holy Cities." Despite later denials, the video clearly showed an unusual physical reverence paid to someone who is supposed to be an equal.
Now perhaps these are all "rookie mistakes" of a new Administration.
However, I could not but notice that other monarchs do not seem to invoke such careful observance of "protocol".
The rather benign 82 year old Queen Elizabeth II was greeted only a polite handshake. Not that she would have expected any more from a diplomatic equal.
Now of course we would not expect the President of the United States to be disrepectful and uncaring of the niceties of diplomatic usage and obviously the rules are different for private persons. An American citizen or lesser official might well be expected to observe rules of etiquette that are not expected of a one Head of State meeting another. A President ought to indeed show a polite regard for his fellow national leaders
However, is it that only non-European potentates merit special reverence? Will the President when he meets the Pope as he undoubtedly will in the course of his time as President genuflect and kiss the Ring of the Fisherman? Somehow I think not.
Yet, this is a President who has declared we are "not a Christian nation "anymore; and lauded the "many contributions of Muslims" to America and who declared in Cairo that it was anti-Muslim bigotry to frown upon the veiling of women.
I don't know about you, but while this country is far more tolerant of different religions and cultures than most non-Western cultures, it was built on solidly Western and Christian philosophical and cultural values; not Asian or Islamic.
There, I said it.....mea culpa...
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