AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE

Some priests talk about anonymous letters they receive. Of course, being anonymous, they are never, “I just wanted to write you and tell you how wonderful you and the parish are.” They are usually burning with anger and dripping with maliciousness. I don’t why, but I don’t get those. (And wouldn’t pay them any mind if I did.) The worst part about them is that there is nothing to be done with them. One can’t respond because there is no one to respond to. So there can be no clearing up of misunderstandings (on either’s part) or an explanation. (And whoever got the idea that anybody could be won over to something by being rude to them is beyond me.)

 

Now, that is not to say that I don’t get messages of one sort of another from people who disagree or disapprove of something I said or did. I do. But fortunately they are signed and therefore we can do something about it. Talk –come to some sort of understanding even if it is an understanding of disagreeing. (The blog is different because we can still send messages back and forth.)

 

A difference between the two notes (anonymous and signed) also tends to be the tone.  The anonymous ones tend to be very disrespectful and the other type, while they may still be strong, is usually a more logically thought out argument than some emotional diatribe. This anonymity may be why there are so many people confessing road rage. The anonymity associated with road rage allows our worse self to come out. Since (chances are) no one will know who it is that is cutting them off, tailgating, slamming on the breaks, honking the horn, flipping them off, or yelling at them, our worst self, the stuff deep down that we would never share if it were associated with us, can come out. (Great karma when it turns out that you and the person you attacked pull into the same parking lot.)

 

This is also the danger of the internet. The ability to leave anonymous messages (and as we have discovered lately, news articles that turn out to be false after doing much damage) allows the worse part of our culture to surface. No longer do you have to stand behind your word with your signature and address or stand out on the street and have your face associated with a protest sign. Nasty and numerous missives can be left with and about anybody.

 

It is the duty of all who are interested in the elevation of our culture but particularly the Christian/Catholic to fight against this temptation and tendency. It is another form of calumny, detraction, and gossip of the worst sort and we can’t be a part of that.

 

Some have said that they fear reprisals for something they want to say if they put their name to it.  If that is the case, if the risk is not worth the price of the argument, then it shouldn’t be brought up at all. We are to be a people of our words.

WHAT TO DO WHEN JESUS IS BROKEN

The arm fell off of Jesus.  A scapular that is thoroughly worn.  A rosary that has broken so many times that it really can’t be repaired anymore.  What do you do with these things if they have been blessed?  It seems wrong simply just to throw them in the trash.

 

A blessed item means that it has been set aside for service to God and therefore needs to be treated differently than your apple cores and used tissues.  Here are a couple of stand-by rules:

 

First, they cannot be made over into secular purposes.  The arm of Jesus cannot be used in your son’s diorama of a Halloween cemetery.  The rosary shouldn’t be made into costume jewelry.  The banished glass chalice cannot be used for dinner. 

 

There is no canon law concerning the disposing of religious articles however and so some of the determination has to do with the sensibilities of those who are in charge of disposing.  Somewhere in between the above uses and simply holding on to them forever is the answer.

 

Then general rule of thumb is: burn or bury.  Old palms, wool scapulars, books, etc may be thrown on the fire.  Other objects such as rosary beads and statues may be buried.  The holy oils at your parish at the end of the year are either burned or buried.

 

It should also be kept in mind that there are those who collect these very objects, especially pieces of rosaries and often statuary, in order to repair them and give them away or sell them.  You might want to contact such a person.

 

On the other hand, failing to find someone who wants your stuff (for the right reasons) and having something that will not burn and is not biodegradable, what do you do? 

 

There was a tabernacle that was stolen from a parish once and recovered.  It was disassembled and placed along an anonymous tomb in one of our cemeteries.  When the fad of glass chalices passed, the question was what to do with the 8 packs of glasses from Kmart that were no longer going to be used.  Can’t burn and exactly where can you bury glass?  At one institution the glasses were wrapped and smashed (as reverently as possible) and then disposed of.  I imagine that would be a similar thing to do with plastic statues and plastic rosary beads – dismantle them as much as possible, perhaps wrap them in old newsprint, and then dispose of them. 

 

Or you could just hold on to them for life in a box in your closet and let your kids figure out what to do with them when you’ve gone.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCIII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "What is ecclesiastical history but a record of the ever doubtful fortune of the battle though its issue is not doubtful?"  John Cardinal Newman

 

QUOTE II: "The champion of an idea may be defeated but the idea itself only vanishes when it has been defeated by another idea."  Hubert Jedin

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

Eric sent this in:  "Your painting (that Eric painted) of St. Sebastian Attended by St. Irene won first place, by popular vote, on a European art website noenga.com."

We had an art and architecture tour at St. Sebastian this past week.  While on the tour Tom took this great picture of one of our windows:

 

Here is an interesting article on "Why we are losing the battle over marriage."  See what you think.  Click here.

 

Bishop Lennon responds to Pope Francis' comments concerning priests with same sex attraction:

Cathy sent this in:  Pope returns home from WYD.  Under 2:00

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

Continuing the saga of the broken dishwasher:  In the grand scheme of things this is a silly problem - and "problem" is a strong word to use in this story.  I mean - really - most of humanity never has, doesn't have, a probably never will have a machine that washes their dishes for them.  And there are people starving in the city.  So I know - just get over it.  Besides, remember when you were growing up how much fun it was when it was you and your sister's turn to wash the dishes together - how close it made you? 

My sister in New York never had a dishwasher and she talks about how relaxing she finds it.  She was also voted Most Likely To Enter an Insane Asylum.  I take that back, that wasn't nice.  But on the other hand she doesn't have staff and volunteers and visitors on an hourly basis leaving mugs and cups and dishes in her house.  In fact, now that her kids are grown, its just her and my brother-in-law.  And they're minimalists when it comes to setting the table.  NOT a fair comparison.

 

I must say that our plant manager really hopped to it to help us out in the rectory.  Gads am I lucky.  He took care of the whole thing.  I tried to be nonchalant about the whole thing.  I think I did a pretty good job of making it sound like the whole thing didn't matter too much to me because, quite frankly, I was embarrassed at how much I wanted the piece of junk replaced and working.

I didn't even have to do much research.  He took care of it.

And when there were snags, I made a good show of rolling along with the punches.

And though I was very grateful, I was dignified when it was installed and working.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: EVERYTHING MATTERS

St. Therese was all about doing every little thing with love and for the glory of God.  If she washed floors, she gave thanks that she was able to do this for someone and did the work with great care because she did it for God.  That way every action we perform – every action we perform – can become a greater connection to God.

 

I try to remember that as I wash dishes while our machine is down.

 

“Try” is the operative word.

 

The next paragraph of Lumen Gentium (34) reminds us that God wishes to give His Spirit to every person in order that they may perform these “good and perfect works.”  Julian of Norwich fans might see a little of her theology reflected here.  All things given to God can be made good and for the glory of God and our benefit.

 

At your baptism, Sacred Chrism was put on your head and (among other roles) you were anointed priest.  For a priest to fulfill his duties he must offer sacrifice.  (That is the definition of a priest – one who responsible for the sacrifice.)  There are many chances to offer sacrifices in daily life – “in family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body” and even hardships, if they are accomplished in the Spirit and through Christ are sacrifices acceptable to God. 

 

Personally I find it very cool that relaxation was included.  Not only do we have a great God who is almost like a doting grandmother, “You need your rest!  You will take it easy today!” we also have a Church that says the same.  When possible, as a priority, we are to rest.  But not simply rest, but rest in God.  Even rest can be for our sanctification.  (So be careful about going to see that R rated film for your rest.)

 

Of course this culminates in the Eucharist, our source and summit.  After have received God’s gifts, we are sent out into the world to be priests, prophets, and kings, living the life, transforming our world, and offering sacrifices.  But then we are to return to the Eucharist and offer all that we have done with the Eucharistic sacrifice.  That is why we must have full, conscious, and active participation at the Mass.  We must actively offer our sacrifice.  Remember the new translation, “Pray my (brothers and sisters) that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.”  What a monumental missed opportunity Mass is when we go through it brain dead not offering our own sacrifice and relying on the priest to keep us entertained.  We are not there to be entertained.  Hopefully we are given the environment to do what we are supposed to be there to do, to offer ourselves and our sacrifices as the priesthood of the laity.

IT COULDN'T LAST FOREVER

The honeymoon is over.

 

The paper today reports that not everybody is happy with the new pontiff.  Actually I’m rather surprised it took so long.  Most of the brouhaha stems from the pontiff saying that if a priest is gay but repents of a lifestyle not in keeping with the priesthood, then who is he to judge. 

 

Those on the right and left are not happy.  The right is not happy because he seems too wishy-washy.  The left is not happy because he does not seem wishy-washy enough.  Which places our pontiff right smack dab in the middle, or in his own terms, he is a son of the Church and believes as the Church does.

 

There is erroneous thought out there that he can change Church teaching.  He can’t and any Catholic worth his salt knows that.  Allowing a man to become a priest who happens to have SSA is not matter of theology per se, but matter of policy.  If I were hiring a business manager, I might want someone who has at least worked in the non-profit world because that would be a lot smaller learning curve for the new employee, but that too is a matter of policy, not the official teaching of the Church.

 

In the end, what has changed?  Nothing.  Any man who wants to become a priest will have to conform his life morally to the teachings of Christ no matter his orientation.  What is far more interesting is this idea that we have to “like” or “dislike” our pontiff as if he were a Facebook page.  Either way, he is our pontiff.  Do you like your boss?  Do you like your Dad?  Do you like your president?  Like or dislike all you want, unless you want to leave you job, family, or country you can either be miserable or work with what God gave you to make something holy of your life and advance the Kingdom of God.  (Do you really think God cares if you like Christ’s vicar on earth?  But I would imagine he does care if you worked for the advancement of the kingdom or not.)

 

My Dad used to go into an absolute fit when it rained.  “I can’t ride my bike, I can’t work in the garden, I can’t go out and do anything!”  To him I used to say, “Dad, you live in northeast Ohio.  It rains.  You either find a way to enjoy the rain or you are going to be miserable.”  He chose to be miserable.

 

We have a pope.  What do you choose?

HOW MUCH HAS TO GO RIGHT FOR SOMETHING TO GO WRONG?

The dishwasher in the rectory broke down.  Again.  Of course it was after one of those times when we didn’t start it up because we thought we could squeezes just a few more dishes in.  “There’s always room for more.”  So she was packed to the gills and then . . . nothing.

 

I put signs all around the kitchen, “The dishwasher is broken!  If you use it, you must wash it by hand.”  The repair man came out today and said the computer board would need replaced and that the part and labor would be $400!  The machine is only a couple of years old and we just replaced this very same part a year ago so $400 seems a bit excessive, considering these two repairs would be way more than we paid for the thing in the first place.  So we are getting a new one – and not the same brand.

 

Now, I think it would be understandable if one were upset at this debacle.  Cheap equipment is wasting our time and resources.  But on the other hand, how many things had to right to face this problem?  We had food.  We had (nice) plates and service wear on which to eat the food that needed cleaning.  We (had) a dishwasher.  We have clean water.  We have soap.  We have safe and reliable electricity.  We have a kitchen.  We live in a place where a repair man could come out within a day.  We are able bodied enough that we can wash dishes by hand and had the materials on hand to do it.  And we have the joy to put up with it.

 

A person about whom I’ve written here before was in a terrible car accident last week.  She was at Mass this week saying that, although two cars were totaled and she had a concussion and broken rib, she and the kids walked away.  It was going to be a hardship getting a new car but they had a lot about which to be thankful so she chose to be grateful instead of angry.

 

When something goes wrong, there is so much that has to go right for there to be something that we can complain about.  We have a choice.  Every event can be the end of the world or an opportunity.  One of the opportunities is to realize how much of life is good in order to have the problem we face even be able to be a problem at all.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  This week's selected quotes come from the last meeting of the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society's reading of Thomas Aquinas:

QUOTE I:  "We might even say that the one thing which separates a saint from ordinary men is his readiness to be one with ordinary men. . . A saint . . . is the only sort of superior man who has never been a superior person."

 

QUOTE II:  "And poetry without philosophy has only inspiration, or, in vulgar language, only wind."

 

QUOTE III:  "There are those who maintain that there are is something that is both Yes and No.  I do not know whether they pronounce it Yo."

 

QUOTE IV:  "The Protestant theology of Martin Luther was a thing that no modern Protestant would be seen dead in a field with."

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Eric Armusik started a new website featuring his ecclesial paintings.  There is also information how to commission art and a page where you can view some of his paintings.  Go here.

 

Mary sent this in:  "Aquinas College and the Dominican Sisters of Nashville just posted a little slide show of their visit to St. Sebastian under the July 15th entry on Sisters on the Road page."  Sr. Jane Dominic OP has recorded a free online course called "The Rich Gift of Love" 

 

Here is a 3 minute video introduction to the course:

 

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD OF TRUTH

Remember the first time you saw one of your teachers outside of the classroom in plebeian garb doing something pedestrian like grocery shopping?

It breaks your little 2nd grade heart to see someone you admire so doing something so . . . not lofty.  In truth, that never quite left me.  I remember a choir to which my mother once belonged.  There was a soprano who sang the solos for Handle's Messiah.  She sang like the angels themselves.  She wore a blue choir robe with a special golden sash because she was a soloist.  She had mounds of curly golden locks that when the sun from the stained glass windows hit her made her seem as though she had a halo.  Her name was even something like Angelique.

 

When she was not singing, I always sort of thought of her like this:

 

Then one day, quite by accident, I (regrettably) learned the truth.

I think this is why people try hard not to allow me to do things.  If a pick up a hammer or a plunger, someone grabs it out of my hands with a nervous, "Let me do that."  But I want to help.  I like to think that I can occasionally do things besides strictly priestly things.

So Sunday night the lights were out in the parking lot and I thought to call our maintenance man:

Then I learned the truth about this too.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: MAY YOU BE THE SPILLED TOMATO JUICE OF LIFE

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium

 

Wow, wow, wow!  The pope just told a million youth at World Youth Day that he wants them to go home and make a mess of their dioceses!  He wants to set them on fire and then send them home drifting on the winds like sparks to land where the wood and grass of faith is dry and set those places on fire.  Luke 12:49, “"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”

 

Gads, I hope they have the energy to keep burning when they hit barriers to this missioning.  What I wouldn’t give to have the resources to hire a team of ministers (and send them for schooling) at the parish just so that we might implement all of the great ideas that come our way.  I imagine more than a few of these firebrands coming home and finding overworked, over harried, (or lazy) pastors and their sparks growing dim – or worse yet – finding a mega-church that will say, “We’ll take your energy and ideas and help them grow.”

 

But it need not be so, even if you have such a pastor.  Somewhere along the line we got the idea that in order to be Church, we have to do EVERYTHING through the parish.  Granted, there are a lot of advantages not the least of which include a common space, perhaps a budget, and some legitimacy.  But if we focus everything we do at the parish, then we become a Catholic ghetto and those places that most need exposure to the Word will never get it.  The faith needs to seep into the fabric of our society if it is to have any effect at all.

 

Not too long ago I spilled tomato sauce in the refrigerator.  Before I caught it, sauce had dripped down behind shelves and under drawers – it was a mess.  I had to take the refrigerator apart to clean everywhere that needed cleaning.  Places that come in regular contact get cleaned now and then, but these hidden spaces almost never.  (It is an old bachelor house.)  If it hadn’t been for the sauce reaching those hidden spots, they would have never been cleaned.

 

That is where to focus attention!  Not only these youth, but all the People of God need to soak in to those areas that “hierarchical Church,” or “parish,” or “diocesan programs” don’t reach, which, quite frankly, is most of the world.  According to paragraph 33, “The laity . . . are given the special vocation: to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth. . . All the laity, then, have the exalted duty of working for the ever greater spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch and all over the earth.”

WORSHIPPING THE MIRROR

“I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members,” so said the comedian Groucho Marks.  I would probably say the same thing about a Church.  I don’t want a Church that says I have no need to grow and develop.  Nor do I need a Church that validates my held beliefs.  I want a Church that challenges me, asks me difficult questions, shakes up my assumptions, makes me think, urges me to growth, and ardently desires to transform me into a saint.

 

Many Christian Churches have, for the large part, abandoned this vision.  I was riding with a gentleman the other day who proudly spoke of his Church and how they do not even expect him to make an effort to look like Church is anything special on Sunday.  “I can go in ratty shorts and T-shirt.  And the music is rock and roll.”  He was in his upper 50s.  I said, “Wow.  My parish is kinda headed in the opposite direction.  I think it attracts the younger families more.  It is my goal to expect more of them.”

 

The same could be said of philosophy and theology.  Many Churches (non-Catholic) have changed their beliefs to an extraordinary degree.  Go back to even the year 1900, and if we could do a graph, the rate of change would start slowly and then skyrocket.  Really, what teaching in most Christian denominations do not simply mimic popular culture?  Abortion, contraception, same sex marriage . . . gads, why even bother listing them all?  Modern Church is about worshipping what we already believe and enshrining it in our weekend services.

 

Cultures cultivate.  And our current culture is cultivating our Churches.  It reforms them, informs them, coaxing God to change His mind on virtually any popular topic on order to match ours, the enlightened ones.  Glad God is catching up.

 

It is one of the strengths of the Catholic Church that it is also so terribly cultural on a world wide (and historical) scale.  It is a culture that cannot be voted into changing, or coaxed into matching the local thought beliefs, or pressured into accepting outside influence on its theology.  It is designed to influence culture, not be influenced by it.  If your faith, parish, or diocese is not working to change the family, city, or nation for the good, then it is failing.  (If it is more influenced than influencing, it is dying.) 

 

It doesn’t mean anybody has to listen.  But we are not excused from being loyal to the truths of the faith.  For if we are not leaven, we are salt that has gone flat.

A COUPLE OF IMPORTANT NOTICES:

MEMBERS OF THE ST. SEBASTIAN CHESTERTON SOCIETY:  Due to a couple of emergencies of a number of the members the meeting scheduled for this Sunday has been postponed!  It is rescheduled for next Sunday, August 28th at the usual time and place.  Since there is no official roster, please inform you friends and acquaintances who are members about this change of date!

 

ADAM'S ALE will be down for a couple of days as the main staff writer will be on the road.  We should be back up and running either Wednesday or Thursday.  Hope to see you then!

 

God bless,

 

Fr. Valencheck

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ONE SINGULAR SENSATION EVERY LITTLE STEP SHE TAKES

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium . . .

 

Let’s say you belong to a club – say the Slovenian Beneficent Society.  They purpose of the club is to raise funds and then give them to worthy causes.  Sounds simple enough.  There is a president, and the usual suspect of leaders – VP, secretary, treasurer, etc . . . and then there is the main body of the club.  It could be that the president and one of his cohorts starts making a lot of decisions concerning funds that the rest of the group has no say in.  The feel that they do not have power.  They come then to lose interest unless the president starts giving some if his power to the stake holders of the society.

 

That is understandable and is the type of view people have about the Church.

 

There was an article in the paper yesterday about a “controversial priest” who is coming to Cleveland to speak.  An equally controversial nun said of him, “he is about empowering the laity.”  This comes from the idea the “Church” is nothing but the local parish, diocese, and Rome.  But this is only a small part of “Church.”  Church is everything: it is you at your job, it is literature, it is movies, it is science, it is the billboard at the end of the block, it is your home, it is what’s playing on your TV, it is what you spend your spare time doing and your spare resources supporting.  Church is society – Church is culture – Church is everywhere we bring it.  Hierarchical Church is really a very small part of this.  Faith may inform what one should do in their bedroom, or at work, or when paying bills, but there is no priest standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.  He could tell you what perhaps you should be doing, but he has no power.  That the laity’s freedom, the arena in which they act as priest, prophet, and king. 

 

The point is this: unlike the Slovenian Beneficent Society, the totality of the society consists within the meeting of the society and the officers have usurped the power.  The rest of the group is powerless.  That a clergyman would run a parish and pray the sacraments does not make the laity powerless outside of that realm.  The Church is much bigger than that.  There is far too much to do.  It is really a very small part that clergy have any kind of control over if Church is properly understood.

 

By empowering the laity, what many people want is the clericalization of the laity and the laicizing of the clergy.  There is not to be a distinction in roles.  Neither should there seem to be more perceived “power” at the parish by the clergy than by anybody else.  (Of course NOBODY is suggesting the clergy then should share more in the direct “power” of determining what you do with you day . . .

 

Granted . . . clergy has, at time, overstepped their boundaries and have been too dictatorial at the parish to the parish’s harm.  Conversely, parishes have been declericalized at times to the opposite problem.  But what paragraph 32 of Lumen Gentium is trying to say is that we are all one.  Nobody is more powerful in the Church (meaning the whole Church – not just institutional Church) than the other.  We are equals but with different roles and each of us are endowed with roles and responsibilities in each.  We are each equally gifted with grace toward salvation.  There is only one People of God springing from one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one common dignity, one common vocation toward sanctity, one salvation, one hope, one call to charity.

 

True, when human beings enter the equation, this delicate balance can and does go out of whack, sometimes terribly so, but it the calling – what Christ gave us to work with.  It is our goal and our ideal.  It is what it is to be Catholic, Christian, and a part of the One, Holy, and Apostolic Church.

CHANGING FOUNDATIONS - CULTURES CULTIVATE

Continuing yesterday’s thoughts . . .

 

Let us just take one example from a current lively topic:  Marriage.  On the one hand we have a people with a certain set of foundational beliefs that go along with what has been the definition of marriage for the centuries and another with foundational beliefs that say marriage should be changed.  The first group claims that if changed, it will harm society.  The second group asks (rightly) the question, “So, same sex marriage was legalized in any number of places – did we see riots?  Did people start ransacking businesses?  Did schools go down the drain?  Did families disintegrate?  Did a nuclear bomb go off?

 

Well, of course not.  If same sex marriage were legalized in Ohio today, tomorrow Ohio would look much the same.  My cable would still work, Swenson’s would still sell hamburgers, and there would still be water in the tap when I turned it on.  But, like though the surface may look the same, underneath the foundations would be different and eventually those differences will start manifesting themselves.

 

Here is the subtle difference:  There is a reason (at least in the Catholic Church) there is no such thing as a “private” wedding.  There is a reason we publish bands, ring bells before and after the ceremony, and have it in the Church: because a marriage does not belong to the man and woman who are being married, it belongs to the whole community.  We all have a stake.  (Hence the worry that many priests have when a bride is too focused on having her perfect day.)  The ministry of love is to all these two who have become one flesh come in contact.  The purpose of marriage is to bring children into the world and raise them well within the community.  Beyond that, it is for the joy of the couple so that they may reach out. 

 

The new laws of marriage do not focus on community or for the interest of the next generation necesarily but the rights and joy of the couple.  It is not a marriage that the community necessarily has a stake in.  It can benefit in the way it benefits from any friendship or (chaste) love between any two (or more) people, but it is not the same as the fruitful, marital union of man and woman. Over time this foundational assumption will start to have an effect on every aspect of our lives.  Marriage and family, after all, are the building blocks of society and to change them is to change all of society.

 

True, there are horrible examples of marriage that at least have the façade of a true, traditional marriage, and there are shining examples of a more modern definition of marriage that seem to be life giving.  But the first is not a good marriage and the second would have the same effect on the community if the marriage were not recognized in this particular way.

 

There will be side issues thrown into the discussion also – infertile couples, legal protection for people, Christians proper relationships to their brothers and sisters with SSA, . . .  and these should be addressed.  But neither these nor the host of other issues that crop up have anything to do with the foundational belief system that undergirds them all.  What is marriage for?  It is an important issue too glibly decided and set aside without understanding the foundations that one is laying for society which will have an effect on every aspect of our lives.

RANT - COUNTER RANT: KNOWING WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

“There should be a less moralistic choice.”  This was the opinion expressed by a minister in this weekend’s Akron Beacon Journal in the letters to the editor concerning a local hospital joining the Catholic Health Care system.  Like so many people, this minister has been hoodwinked into thinking that there is some sort of neutral position when it comes to ethics.  He does not want fewer morals as he thinks he does, but a different set.

 

Let us begin with toying with idea of if there is a God or not.  If one does not believe that there is a God, the basis of moral grounding changes dramatically even if, on the surface, they may seem the same as Christian.  If there is no God, then there is no Creator.  If all that there is has no intelligent design behind it, then it is a fluke.  If it is a fluke, then it has no real meaning.  If it has no meaning it really can’t progress toward anything – it is simply what it is.  If that is the case, then a human being is no more wonderful than a stone.  (Many people like this idea.) 

 

If all that is the case, then the case for goodness, for morals, is entirely based on a social contract.  The social contract will be largely shaped by those with power.  So “I won’t burn your house down if you don’t burn my house down,” holds as long as the two home owners agree to the contract and are able to enforce it.  But if there is no absolute good, breaking the contract may really make someone mad, but in the end it doesn’t matter.

 

With this is the groundwork, those without power begin to lose out – those without a voice – who cannot defend themselves.  Abortions become a right for the woman, using people in other countries to make cheap goods for us makes sense, marriage becomes about the right of happiness for adults rather than the good of the community and the raising of children, and porn becomes enshrined as free speech.  Following close on those heals could be physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, and less care for the elderly, the poor and the troubled.  Slowly the edges erode away so that it is possible to fall into an undesirable and therefore less protected (or not protected) category.  This lead John Paul II to refer to this modern swing in society as a culture of death.

 

With a God however there is a Creator.  With a Creator there is a giveness and a love for that which is created.  If something is loved (with far more than a feeling) it has purpose and a goal.  If it has a goal it has meaning.  If it has meaning it has value and that value is simply in the created’s being, not in their power or usefulness.  Concepts of “the good” and right and wrong have much more traction, are clearer, easier to defend, more universal, and are easier to rectify when they have gone off track.  The baby in the womb, the sick, the elderly, the parent with dementia, the foreigner, they all have value because they are, not because of how they benefit us.  It is a culture of life.

 

Now, to remain neutral is not to stay out of these arguments but to make your own metaphysical claims about the human person and his worth.  These will become the foundations of a philosophy that will have implications in civil law and civility.  It will burn Judeo/Christian capitol (instead of enjoying its fruits) and the nuetralist’s presuppositions will lead him toward the lessening of the value of life.  Staying neutral is not staying out of it, it simply warps the only two existing systems and acts as a transition out of one toward the other.

 

The good reverend on Sunday was not asking for “less morals,” for he will be left with the exact same amount of morals the day after his wish comes true as the day before.  What he wants is a different set of morals.  God help his grandchildren if he gets it.