Trump, the Church, and Latin Mass： a discussion with LifeSite DC reporter Claire Chretien
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
172.74852
Summary
In this episode of The John Henry Weston Show, Life Site's Washington correspondent and editor Claire Chrétien shares her thoughts on President Trump's historic pro-life speech at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 2019.
Transcript
00:00:00.160
Hello and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.
00:00:03.100
I'm very pleased to introduce you to LifeSite's own Washington correspondent and editor.
00:00:09.120
Her name is Claire Chrétien. You better stay tuned. It's going to be an awesome show.
00:00:30.000
All right, let's begin as we always do at the sign of the cross.
00:00:37.860
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
00:00:43.900
Thanks, John Henry. I'm excited I finally get to be on your show.
00:00:47.980
It is a joy being with you in this great work of the Lord, LifeSite News.
00:00:54.540
We were just at a very historic event with the March for Life going on.
00:00:58.980
And happening here in Washington, D.C., you're a Washington correspondent.
00:01:03.520
President Trump, for the very first time in history, any U.S. president arrives at the March for Life.
00:01:09.260
Tell me, A, your reaction, but B, what you think this means for the United States for the upcoming election.
00:01:15.800
Well, first of all, John Henry, this wasn't just the first U.S. president coming to the March for Life.
00:01:21.960
This was the first U.S. president ever coming to the March for Life and giving an incredible pro-life speech.
00:01:28.980
His speech was one of the best presidential speeches he's ever given.
00:01:33.440
He hit every major point, and he really talked about being pro-family.
00:01:44.060
And I think everyone who wasn't at the March but who was watching that from home probably had tears in their eyes seeing it.
00:01:51.900
So it was extremely incredible that he came, but what he said was just as significant, if not more significant.
00:01:59.680
And I think it was just a shot in the arm for all of us.
00:02:03.400
We have someone on our side, someone who gets it, and someone who can be our champion.
00:02:09.640
It's just, compared to the Obama years, I mean, this is just a totally different world now.
00:02:17.120
He was also impressed, enlivened, encouraged with the pro-life people there.
00:02:24.020
That was so inspiring to have the president of the most powerful country in the world basically say,
00:02:31.880
Yeah, and to talk about, you know, he talked about pro-life students being censored on campus.
00:02:41.540
I actually was, I re-watched his speech again later in the day, and I actually was close to tears at some parts of it,
00:02:49.900
But really, it was really, I think we're seeing that Trump is actually a pretty humble man deep in his heart.
00:03:01.600
What a thing to tell your kids and your grandchildren about.
00:03:05.260
So, last night, or the night before the march, there's this humongous mass with all the bishops and cardinals.
00:03:16.800
Let me hear about your perspective on the bishops.
00:03:21.520
What do you make of what's going on in the United States today with the bishops of the Catholic Church?
00:03:27.040
Well, there are some really good trends and some really bad trends.
00:03:32.820
Unfortunately, a lot of the bishops who have been appointed or elevated during the Francis pontificate are,
00:03:40.520
they do not seem to be very faithful to the church.
00:03:45.180
I mean, as a young person, as a woman, I want my bishops to be Catholic.
00:03:54.200
And so, when people like Cardinal Tobin try to be hip and young and cool, it's really not appealing to me.
00:04:04.060
And so, a lot of these Pope Francis-appointed bishops I've found to be very disappointing.
00:04:09.140
But there are some really wonderful bishops, like Bishop Strickland in Texas,
00:04:13.360
who, I think two USCCB meetings ago, came outside and joined a rosary rally of people praying about the sex abuse crisis.
00:04:22.320
And I'm glad that people are finally seeing that there are some issues with the bishops.
00:04:27.420
For example, there's a class-action lawsuit against Peter's Pence, the Pope's own charity.
00:04:32.380
It's a class-action lawsuit against the US bishops for, it's accusing them of swindling Catholics out of money
00:04:39.240
that they thought they were giving to the poor, and really it was going to fund this Elton John movie that was rather graphic.
00:04:48.660
So, good and bad with the bishops, but it's, I wish that the good guys would get promoted more.
00:04:56.880
And unfortunately, it just doesn't seem like that's been happening recently.
00:05:00.240
And you know this, personally, you're at the bishops' conference meetings, you go there regularly.
00:05:08.360
When you're there, you see them first person, you're able to ask them questions.
00:05:14.680
I mean, this is an interesting thing always for, you know, those of us watching when you do this.
00:05:19.080
When you approach bishops, what's their reaction to you?
00:05:22.420
You're a young person, you're someone who they probably don't hear talking to a lot.
00:05:27.220
What's the power of young people talking to bishops as well?
00:05:29.420
Well, sometimes bishops seem startled when they hear that I like the Latin Mass,
00:05:34.260
and that I work for LifeSite News, and that, you know, I really want them to uphold orthodoxy.
00:05:41.520
But it's really good for bishops to be exposed to young people like that,
00:05:44.760
because young people who are the heart of the church, the heart of the pro-life movement,
00:05:49.080
we want orthodoxy, we want truth, we want moral clarity and charity together.
00:05:55.060
And so I think it's good to encourage them, in a sense,
00:05:59.780
but also, you know, show them that your faithful want you to be more faithful and want you to be more orthodox.
00:06:08.740
And I hope I can encourage some of them to do the Latin Mass.
00:06:12.140
It's just, I try to mention it to bishops when I meet them.
00:06:16.600
I mean, here you are a young person, and wanting the Latin Mass thing,
00:06:20.360
many people think, oh, it's so ancient and whatnot.
00:06:22.940
What do you think, and tell me your experience, too.
00:06:25.420
I mean, I've seen, when I've been traveling around the world,
00:06:28.080
I see a lot of young people at these Masses sometimes,
00:06:30.980
particularly in the United States, but really all over the place.
00:06:39.860
If you go, I always joke, if you go to a Latin Mass parish,
00:06:43.700
the average, the median parishioner age is about five,
00:06:52.280
And it's the most beautiful thing, this side of heaven.
00:06:55.800
I like the Latin Mass because it brings me closer to God.
00:07:00.320
It's not about being horizontal, and it's not about who you're with
00:07:07.220
It's about you praying up to God and the priest helping you pray to God.
00:07:11.800
So that's one of the most beautiful things about the Latin Mass.
00:07:15.000
You know, when the church tries to be cool and do these rock shows,
00:07:20.060
the world is better at rock shows than the Catholic Church.
00:07:22.820
The Catholic Church is better at truth, beauty, and goodness than the world.
00:07:30.280
If our priests aren't wearing collars and cassocks,
00:07:34.440
then how are people even going to know that they're priests?
00:07:38.040
You know, someone I met a few years ago was saying,
00:07:42.220
if you were going to take a taxi, would you get in the yellow taxi that said taxi,
00:07:46.100
or would you get in the scary white van that didn't have anything written on it?
00:07:49.300
Similarly, when a priest dresses like a priest,
00:07:55.400
And another thing I like about the Latin Mass is the really rich theology of it.
00:08:00.040
Every single action that the priest does has a very deep, significant theological meaning.
00:08:08.720
As you're going along, you can follow the priest and read about his actions
00:08:13.160
and how they're taken from the Old Testament and the New Testament,
00:08:18.560
There's a lot of symbolism, and I really like that.
00:08:21.040
A lot of the younger priests we see this trend with.
00:08:25.240
Their interest in the Latin Mass is kind of a reawakening.
00:08:31.660
when it seems like, at least from the official hierarchy of the Church,
00:08:42.980
We're wearing cassocks, and they're celebrating the Latin Mass,
00:08:46.420
sometimes secretly because they can't, you know, have to get away with it.
00:08:49.900
It is encouraging to see, but the deep, deep faith of these young men is really encouraging.
00:09:03.800
and they're coming out with such wisdom, such beauty.
00:09:08.280
It really is, and I'm always touched by the humility of these priests who offer the Latin Mass.
00:09:15.700
I've had just so many good experiences with them,
00:09:28.740
oh, the Catholic Church is in, like, the worst shape it ever has been.
00:09:37.260
You're a young, growing family in the midst of a world that is seemingly against the faith,
00:09:43.100
but you don't look at all that depressed at all.
00:09:53.320
When it's really dark, you can see the stars much more clearly,
00:09:56.740
and I think that's how we should see the Church.
00:09:59.100
Things are really bad, and things in the world are bad.
00:10:04.900
all of these terrible parts of the culture of death.
00:10:08.020
But because it's so dark, we can now see more clearly than ever
00:10:12.020
the beauty and the truth and the light of Jesus in the Catholic Church.
00:10:16.460
So as things have gotten more tumultuous in the Church, too,
00:10:20.560
I think more people are seeing that beautiful, bright light of the Latin Mass
00:10:24.900
and the timeless Catholic tradition, and they're going back to that.
00:10:28.680
So in a sense, the darkness is pointing us to the light.
00:10:32.140
Now, I'm going to embarrass you and call you out,
00:10:34.520
because while we were talking about doing this interview,
00:10:37.900
I said, you know, I want you to talk about what your greatest love is in the world.
00:10:43.880
And you said, oh, I want to talk about my husband.
00:10:49.140
And I think that's actually, I think it's a really beautiful thing.
00:10:55.680
Next to God, we have our spouses and family first.
00:11:01.700
I know you work hard for the pro-life movement.
00:11:16.260
because actually at this very conference about,
00:11:19.740
I don't know how many years ago, five or whatever,
00:11:22.140
at this conference, before it became the National Pro-Life Summit,
00:11:24.820
it was the Students for Life of America Conference.
00:11:28.760
So, and now we both work in the pro-life movement.
00:11:30.800
So this conference always has a very special place in my heart.
00:11:33.780
But, yeah, you know, if you have a good foundation of God and then family,
00:11:45.560
but if you want to change the world, go home and love your family.
00:11:48.780
We have to have our family life properly ordered and as it should be
00:11:54.180
before we go out and try to improve the culture related to family.
00:11:57.500
If we don't have strong families that teach self-sacrifice and virtue,
00:12:13.140
in the best possible sense of how you could see that.
00:12:25.600
And anyone who knows me knows I'm certainly not an oppressed person.
00:12:33.860
So I really like what the church teaches about the family
00:12:38.200
and the husband being the head of the household.
00:12:40.800
You know, the man is the head and the woman is the heart.
00:12:54.300
And I'm so grateful to have such an awesome husband
00:13:00.460
Thank you, Claire, for being on the John Henry Weston Show.