Lindsey at Napa

Conservative faith and politics amid the Zin and cigar fumes.

Over at National Catholic Reporter, Dan Morris-Young has a readable and evocative news story on the ninth annual Napa Institute conference.  Before getting to the specifics, it's helpful to understand what the Napa Institute is.  Morris-Young refers us to an NCR story five years ago that described the Institute as

a remarkable mix of religious retreat, networking opportunity, strategy session, wine-tasting vacation, immersion catechetics, pep rally and keyhole glimpse at the U.S. traditionalist Catholic superstructure.

In this week's article, he adds,

The event is staged at the luxury Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, which is part of the Irvine, California-based Pacific Hospitality Group  of which Napa Institute co-founder Tim Busch is founder and CEO.  

Morris-Young's article largely bears out that 2014 description.  As regards the politics, he highlights a keynote address given by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is not Catholic but is conservative:

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina delivered an entertaining appeal for the reelection of President Donald Trump, despite "chaos" in the administration at times.
Graham, who lost the 2016 Republican presidential nomination to Trump, said he and Trump "got off to a rotten start," and admitted that he once "hated his guts."
But now, the Southern Baptist said about the president, "I like what he does, not necessarily the way he does it." 

"God works in mysterious ways," Graham said, and was drowned out by laughter before he could finish the sentence. "If you had told me in 2016 that Donald Trump would be the leader of the evangelical movement. …"
"When you back away," Graham added, Trump "has been a hell of a good president for all the things that matter," despite "chaos" at times generated at the White House.

A sustained, standing ovation followed Graham's keynote, which he concluded by saying, "Let's kick their asses in 2020."

So much for the politics.  As for religion: there was some of that content, too. 

This July's Institute theme was "This Catholic Moment: Authentic Faith in Times of Crisis."
"This is a time of crisis and cleansing for the church. … There has probably been more cleansing in the last year than in the past 25," Busch said, calling on the standing-room-only crowd to "not tolerate the dictatorship of clericalism."
The "antibiotic" to hierarchical leadership lapses, he said, "is really the laity" who have been called by the Second Vatican Council to "engagement and empowerment" and to "our seat at the table."

And there was an institutional Church presence:

Notable was the number of participants in clerics, cassocks, robes and habits. Clerics and religious were given a 50% discount on the Napa Institute's $2,600 registration fee. Many also relied on scholarships.
Bishops attended at no cost. More than a dozen were present, including Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, the "ecclesiastical adviser" to the Napa board of directors.
The group's eight-prelate Ecclesiastical Advisory Board includes four from California: San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Oakland Bishop Michael Barber, Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa, and Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez. Of the four, all but Gomez, who is president of the U.S. bishops' conference, attended. 

Notable among the episcopal delegation was Cardinal Raymond Burke, often described as a vociferous critic of Francis (although he might dispute that characterization).  Burke gave one of the conference's keynote addresses, and also received the Institute's Award for Apostolic Zeal.

Naturally, as at any large conference gathering, much that is significant and enjoyable takes place outside the meeting rooms:

In July 25 opening remarks, Busch told attendees that "more than 100 mergers and alliances" of lay apostolates have been stimulated through networking and new relationships at the conferences.
He and others say fruitful exchanges along these lines often take place during the post-9 p.m. "In Vino Veritas" cigar receptions.

There is a good deal more in Morris-Young's article, and I recommend all of it.

I subscribed to National Catholic Reporter for a few years, and receive one of their e-newsletters today (in fact, that's how I came across this article), so I believe I understand the paper's editorial stance.  In addition, speaking as one who has read their letters to the editor over the years, and who also works closely with lay parish employees, most of whom lean progressive, I also believe I understand NCR's readership.  I get that this conference, as reported here by Morris-Young (quite objectively and well, it seems to me), would not be congenial to most of NCR readers.  In fact, I expect that quite a bit of this detail, certainly including keynote slots for Cardinal Burke and Lindsey Graham(!), would cause some hair to stand on end, or would result in computer screens being flecked with rage-spittle. 

I get that.  All that said: I think I would enjoy this event - probably, very much.  I like wine.  I used to enjoy cigars; I have a pulmonary issue now that would make it pretty foolish of me to smoke one, even if I don't inhale (which I don't think you're supposed to do with cigars in any case), but I don't mind being around them, if it's not too long.  I would enjoy hearing Lindsey Graham, George Weigel and other notable conservative speakers.  I'd enjoy hobnobbing with any other deacons who happened to show up.  To be sure, the registration fee is a little out of my price range (but maybe after the kids are done with college ...).  I'd be surprised if I agreed with everything I heard, both in the conference hall and the tasting room.  But that's okay.  The church is very large, and a tent broad enough to accommodate all its members must be wide indeed.  It's good for all of us, I expect, to expose ourselves to ideas that challenge us and get us a bit out of our comfort zone.  That's one of the reasons I hang out here.

Also: if the details provided in this article are representative, I would quibble with Morris-Young's use of the word traditionalist to describe this gathering.  These folks are conservative but not really traditionalist.  I would encourage Morris-Young to discover what real traditionalism looks like; it's to the right of these doings.

And Busch's opening remarks about clericalism fill me with hope - even more so in that a dozen or more bishops apparently were subjected to them.  On some issues, it may be that the church's divisions are more easily bridged than we expect.