In the early 2000s, Colleen Carroll Campbell was a young American journalist who moved to Washington to join President George W. Bush's staff as the only woman on the speechwriting staff of what is known as the most powerful man in the world.
Following her intuitions and trusting in divine Providence, Colleen left her job at the White House to return to her hometown, marry her then fiancé and, at the same time, accompany her father during a hard fight against Alzheimer's disease. In her book "My sisters the saints"This book is a collection of his spiritual biography of some very particular years. In addition to this work, he has also published, in English, "The Heart of Perfection" (2019) y "The New Faithful" (2002).
Colleen currently works as a journalist and author, which she combines with homeschooling her children. In this interview with Omnes, she talks about her relationship with God, the temptation to perfectionism and her life as a woman of the Church.
You’ve worked in different environments, from newspapers to the White House. Those are usually quite difficult places to live up to our faith and the Lord’s commandments. What tips could you give people that want to walk by faith in those situations?
Stay faithful to daily prayer prayer and the sacraments, including weekday Mass when possible and regular Confession; cultivate hiddenness and humility by taking a supernatural approach to your work and trusting God’s designs more than your own career strategies; frequently invoke the Holy Spirit through your workday; spend your “off-duty” hours with people who share your faith and keep you grounded. And as the desert fathers would say, “Remember your death.”
You’re in this position of influence for a short time; eternity is forever. Make your career moves with an eye toward your eternal destiny and what you’ll wish you had done on your deathbed.
You're a wife and a mother. Have those experiences changed your relationship with God and the way you look at Him?
I’ve been blessed by a wonderful husband and our marriage has been a great gift—a beautiful model of the intimacy Jesus wants to have with each of us. I can’t imagine walking this journey of life and faith without my husband John.
– Supernatural motherhood has been particularly instructive. I’ve realized in an entirely new way how much God loves me, how gently He looks upon my weakness and failures, how willing He is to give me a million second chances. I’ve also come to see that what sometimes what looks like a disaster providence that the Lord is allowing is actually His loving providence in action—my heavenly Father letting me suffer a bit so I can grow stronger and freer in the end. Romans 8:28 has always been a favorite verse, but I think I understand it more now that I’m a parent.
You talk about perfectionism in your new book, what is spiritual perfectionism? How does it affect us on a daily basis?
Spiritual perfectionism is the toxic belief that we can, and must, earn God’s love. It’s an often unconscious attitude of shame and revulsion toward our flaws rooted in the mistaken notion that God, too, is scandalized and repelled by our weakness, and that we must hide that weakness from Him lest we be rejected, abandoned, or unloved. It drives an invisible wedge between us and God and has the potential to infect every part of our lives.
We can see traces of spiritual perfectionism manifesting in everything from discouragement over stubborn faults and crippling guilt over past mistakes and small sins to compulsive comparing of our lives with others’ and even a tendency toward overcommitment that goads us to wear ourselves out doing good works. Spiritual perfectionism can make us hypersensitive to criticism. It can make us hypercritical of others. Or it can make us simply shut down spiritually, out of frustration that we’re too flawed to live this faith whose ideals always seem beyond our reach.
It’s a very subtle spiritual temptation—most of us don’t want to admit to harboring such a dim view of God and His mercy—which is precisely why it’s so pervasive and dangerous. I wroteThe Heart of Perfectionto expose it because I believe it’s one of the key obstacles to growth in holiness for committed Christians today.
What is it about contemporary culture that breeds striving, perfectionism, and workaholism?
I could point to a million factors, but perhaps the most overlooked in secular discussions of perfectionism is our loss of a sense of God’s presence and action in our world today. Our secular culture has dethroned God and told us that we can be our own gods, but something deep within us knows we’re not up to the task.
So our idolatry—our modern cult of success and the self—leads inexorably to anxiety and compulsive striving. We scurry about trying to find meaning and security in achievement, status, money, even flawless looks or perfect children. We try to escape the truth of our human condition, to believe all the modern gurus who tell us we are “enough” in ourselves.
The Gospel -The Good News of Jesus and his Church - says that we’re not enough, and that’s OK. Jesus came to save us because we cannot save ourselves.
How can we teach our friends and children to have a different point of view on all that?
The best way to help others is to begin with ourselves. I hear frequently from readers who say they boughtThe Heart of Perfectionfor a friend or relative, then started reading and realized they were the ones who needed its message.
It’s very easy to see this condition in someone else but harder to spot it in ourselves. So we can help others by seeking freedom and healing for ourselves from spiritual perfectionism—through prayer, the sacraments, Scripture Scripture and spiritual reading, finding fellowship and spiritual guidance from others on this journey to freedom, and learning the lessons of the recovering perfectionist saints, many of whom I profiled inThe Heart of Perfectionthen live that new freedom in our homes, workplaces, parishes, and communities. freedom begets freedom. Once we break the chains of spiritual perfectionism, our example gives others permission to do the same.
Do you still have a close relationship with your sisters the saints?
Yes, I’m always meeting new saints—since moving to California, St. Junipero Serra has become a favorite—and my faithful old friends, like Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of Avila, never fail me. What a glorious reunion we will have someday in heaven, God willing, when we can meet these great souls and holy friends face to face!
