Bishop Barron has produced a short, superb message entitled, “Loss of a Sabbath Consciousness.” In it, he notes the loss since about the 1960s of “a more religious rhythm” to American life, even in secular society – a trend, by the way, to which the National Football League has been a heavy, perhaps the heaviest, contributor. But now, “Sunday seems a lot like any other day.”

On May 11, Kansas City Chiefs’ placekicker Harrison Butker achieved a media splash with his conservative remarks in the commencement address at Benedictine College. The small, conservative Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, has pursued intentionally a path of higher learning where traditional Catholic teachings are upheld and celebrated. In short, Butker spoke of today’s poor leadership in and out of the Church, and of “degenerate cultural values” – in the media but also, sadly, far beyond. He pointed toward a better way offered by the traditional teachings and values of the Church.

Whether justified or not, Butker’s speech has been controversial. He has been criticized for several statements particularly concerning women, including reference to Taylor Swift, most of which a generation or two ago were simply expressions of accepted norms within Catholic (as well evangelical) circles, if not the culture overall. Discussion of his more controversial remarks is for others to pursue, however.

My point here is narrower. But first, Butker’s address reminds one of another commencement speech, by the famous Russian dissident and author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who in 1978 spoke at Harvard University. A half-century ago Solzhenitsyn declared: “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage. . . .”

Whatever one thinks of certain comments he made at Benedictine College, Butker spoke with civic courage. He spoke boldly, clearly, intelligently, and – to many, though not all – winsomely. In 2020s America, that itself is no small accomplishment, especially the courage piece. Bravo for the lesson on civic courage – it’s much needed.

But there is another angle, which went unmentioned at Benedictine, or since then as best I can discern. One of the Super Bowl winning kicker’s statements, affirming “how an ordered, Christ-centered existence is the recipe for success,” is noteworthy.

In his address, Butker mentioned His Excellency Bishop Robert Barron, a friend of Benedictine College and, in 2022, a recipient of an honorary doctorate from the school. The acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian as well as the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, Bishop Barron is described as “one of the Church’s best messengers.” Butker might have done well to consider the connection between ordered, Christ-centeredness and the Sabbath – which is, arguably, among the foremost ordering institutions in the Scripture.

Bishop Barron has produced a short, superb message entitled, “Loss of a Sabbath Consciousness.” In it, he notes the loss since about the 1960s of “a more religious rhythm” to American life, even in secular society – a trend, by the way, to which the National Football League has been a heavy, perhaps the heaviest, contributor. But now, “Sunday seems a lot like any other day.” Barron continues:

From a biblical perspective, the loss of a Sabbath consciousness is nothing short of disastrous. One of the Ten Commandments, one of the most sacred commands in the Old Testament, tells us to keep holy the Sabbath. But more to it, Sabbath observance is a leitmotif that runs right through the Bible, Old Testament and New.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota) goes on, interweaving the thoughts of Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel to suggest the Sabbath is a day of equality and that although “society puts all sorts of different stratifications on us, who’s up, who’s down. . . . on the Sabbath day . . . we realize that those distinctions really don’t amount to all that much.” Moreover, two successive popes, and John Paul II and Benedict XVI, “. . . placed a great stress on the recovery of this day.” Barron says, “. . . what a tragedy when we contribute ourselves to the secularization of the Sabbath. . . . Moses did not give us the ten suggestions. Keep holy the Sabbath is a commandment.”

Barron’s remarks, by the way, are at this point almost indistinguishable from the views historically of Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, and Methodists. Nearly two centuries ago one of the foremost organizations of its kind, the Virginia Society for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath – in which the four (above) mainline Protestant churches were well represented – stated, “So intimately connected is the Sabbath with all that is holy and transforming in the Gospel, that the manner in which it is observed, is a pretty accurate criterion of the state of religion in any community, family, or individual.” Later, the Virginia Society declared, “The truth is, the man, whose example is against the holy observance of the day, not only violates the law of God, by which he is to be judged, but does what he can to rob his neighbor of all the rich blessings which flow from the Sabbath.”[1]

The Sabbath-conscious observer of Benedictine College’s recent commencement might wonder: what were they thinking when they invited a speaker to promote traditional Christian values at their school, but whose very reason for being a public figure is inseparably linked to the Sabbath’s violation on an ongoing basis?

As suggested above, in football terms Harrison Butker’s courageous address was tantamount to, oh, about four field goals. But, more so for Benedictine than for Butker, the decision to invite him was a missed PAT in terms of the Sabbath – which like the typical point-after-touchdown, is barely considered.

Forrest L. Marion is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Crossville, Tennessee.

[1] “Second Annual Report Of the Managers of the Virginia Society, for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath,” Southern Religious Telegraph, Apr. 13, 1832; “Virginia Society for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath,” Southern Religious Telegraph, Apr. 11, 1834 (quoted in Forrest L. Marion, “Sabbath Keeping as ‘Social Justice,’” Aquila Report, Sep. 3, 2017).