Her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. She doesn’t have a last name. But she does belong to the Royal House of Windsor. Today is her birthday. She is 90 years old. By the Grace of God, she is Queen of Great Britain & Northern Ireland and of her other realms including Canada, Australia & New Zealand. She is 5’2” tall, but always stands out in a crowd. There is a certain aura to a monarch, which is the point of having a monarch. She embodies the nation of which she is Head of State.

In the 18^th Century, the American Colonies separated from the British King, but we almost established a monarch of our own.  Instead, we made the President our Head of State (in addition to being Head of Government – a distinction often missed in our political discourse.) Although we do not say so in our founding documents, we are a republic in which the sovereignty resides in the People, not one person.

Queen Elizabeth has another role which she takes most seriously. She is the Head of the Church of England. (Only England, not Scotland or Wales or Northern Ireland or her other realms). As Supreme Governor of the Church of England, she appoints all the bishops of England. This has been the case since the 16^th Century and is somewhat ironic in that today is the feast of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 400 years before Henry the Eighth broke away from the Catholic Church. In Anselm’s time, there was a long dispute over who controls the Church. The King or the Pope. Anselm was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury (the premier Archbishop of England) by the Pope, but the King insisted he had the authority to appoint his own bishops. It would become the main disagreement in England for centuries.

Although about 70% of the population of the U.S. identifies themselves as Christian, that percentage has been in free-fall for decades. Only 7 years ago, over 80% said they were Christian. In any case, the U.S. is not a Christian nation, since our Constitution forbids an establishment of a state religion.

There is a certain historical bias in this country against non-Christians. Although Jews are little less than 2% of the population, Muslims are only 1% of the population, and both have been discriminated against. And so have Roman Catholics, who are 20% of the population, yet insignificant sections of the U.S. do not consider Catholics to be Christians.

One would think in a secular Republic this would not be an issue, but it is. And we see it in the less than honorable rhetoric against Muslims, not to mention atheists.

It may be our fault, it is clearly our responsibility. The decline in religious behavior of our people may have something to do with The Mahatma Gandhi’s, who was a Hindu, famous critique “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. You Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Our increasing intolerance of non-Christians in this country is a national disgrace. When elected officials of our government walk out on non-Christian prayer, it is embarrassing, not to mention ignorant.

We teach respect for all religions or no religion here at BK. We expect respect that we are a Catholic school, but a school which takes pride in our beliefs and permits non-Catholics the respect which every person is due.

In any event, on this Feast of the great Catholic theologian St. Anselm of Canterbury, we do want to wish Queen Elizabeth a happy birthday. If we lived in England, today would be a holiday.

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