The Christophers: The Promise of America

Fr. Ed Dougherty, M.M.

The Christophers Board of Directors

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Half a century after the American Revolution, Alexis de Tocqueville journeyed from France to the United States to study our fledgling democracy. His trip resulted in the book “Democracy in America,” where he asserts that America’s greatest strength is our ability to correct ourselves. De Tocqueville also observed, “Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”

In 1886, Fredrick Douglass delivered his speech, “A Lecture on the Civil Rights Bill,” where he identifies the conscience rights underpinning our nation’s ability to self-correct, saying, “No right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government.”

In addition to free speech, conscience rights underpin the free exercise of religion and are essential to achieving the promise of America, as Pope Saint John Paul II observed in his 1995 visit to our nation, saying, “America, may your trust always be in God and in none other.” Then, quoting Francis Scott Key, he said, “and then, ‘the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.’”

The promise of America has always been best expressed in the free exercise of religion, like the work of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who came to America in 1889 with the hope of making a positive difference in the world. Her story is dramatized in the Christopher Award-winning film “Cabrini,” where she meets with the pope to answer his concerns about her poor health and whether that hardship should curtail her venture to America. “We can serve our weakness,” Mother Cabrini tells the pope, “or we can serve our purpose. Not both.”

Later in the film, when Mother Cabrini faces obstacles to her mission, she declares, “Begin the mission, the means will come.” Mother Cabrini’s declaration is one of faith in God to provide for us when we set out to make the world a better place. The declaration that set our nation in motion was rooted in faith and in a purpose articulated by Benjamin Franklin in a letter he wrote after signing the Declaration of Independence. “Our cause is the cause of all mankind,” Franklin wrote, “we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.”

This coming July 4th, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It’s a milestone that marks the moment when our freedoms were so boldly articulated. It has fallen to each successive generation to learn how to use those freedoms and make the necessary self-corrections.

We celebrate our nation’s milestone with gratitude because it set in motion the freedom that allowed Father James Keller, M.M., to call a war-weary American people to move forward in faith when he founded The Christophers back in 1945. Soon after, Father Keller wrote the following words that embody the promise of America.

“The mere fact that you are alive, reading these words, no matter your age, the state of your health or physical condition, means that you have been chosen by God to perform some work that no other person can do. If you wish to leave the world better than you found it, you must be convinced that you have been put here for a purpose, delegated by God to play a part in renewing the face of the earth.”

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