Day 291: The Political Community and the Church (2244-2257)

• It’s Day 291!!

• THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY AND THE CHURCH

• How do we see the Church in relation to political communities?

• What are their limits?

• What should be their guiding points?

• Paragraph 2244 says, “Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. Most societies have formed their institutions in the recognition of a certain preeminence of man over things. Only the divinely revealed religion has clearly recognized man’s origin and destiny in God, the Creator and Redeemer. The Church invites political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against this inspired truth about God and man: Societies not recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of their independence from God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in that one can defend an objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit or implicit totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows.”

• Every institution has a vision of what it is to be human and what the goal of being a human is

• When an institution lacks a true and authentic comprehensive view of what it is to be human and the destiny of that human being or humanity itself, there is always going to be a distortion

• The Church can never fully endorse any one particular view of the human person that is not comprehensive when it comes to reality

• The Church has the right to weigh in on matters of political consequence

• The Church has the truth to offer

• The Church must weigh in not as another political entity

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. We ask you to please come and meet us in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ with your Holy Spirit. Guide us with your Holy Spirit so that we can have a true and comprehensive and adequate anthropology and understanding of what it is to be human and our destiny. Lord God, help us not only see others in a true and clear way. Help us to recognize the dignity and the greatness you have given to us just in ourselves as we come before you now. Lord God, remind us that you have called us to be your adopted children by the Power of your Holy Spirit. And help us to see you as our Father. Help us to see every person as one who has been beloved and lovingly created by you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2244 says, “Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. Most societies have formed their institutions in the recognition of a certain preeminence of man over things. Only the divinely revealed religion has clearly recognized man’s origin and destiny in God, the Creator and Redeemer. The Church invites political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against this inspired truth about God and man: Societies not recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of their independence from God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in that one can defend an objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit or implicit totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows.”

• Imagine that you are a materialist

• You believe that all there is is just matter

• There is no God

• There is no Spirit

• There is no life beyond this life

• There is just stuff

• Then you believe the origin of man is accidental

• You believe that human beings are simply highly evolved apes

• You believe that our destiny is to become space dust

• Some people could think it is amazing that we go back to being space dust

• BUT…

• If space dust is accidental, then there is nothing remarkable about it

• So you will treat human beings and enact policies based off of this particular vision that humanity is simply a cosmic accident

• Because of that, the Church invites political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against the inspired truth about God and man

• We are more than space dust

• We are more than a cosmic accident

• We have a destiny greater than simply going back into oblivion

• You and I have come from God

• You and I are made in God’s image

• The destiny of humanity is to return to God

• There is a way to live that is in accordance with nature

• If there is no God, there is no such thing as right and wrong

• If there is no God, there is no such thing as good or evil

• All there is is utilitarianism or opinion

• All there is is what works or my preference

• So one could ask, “Why should we do this and not that? Why would this be wrong and that other thing be right?”

• The only answer an atheist can offer is not because it is innately right or innately wrong

• The only answer an atheist can offer is that it doesn’t work or it is not utilitarian

• So the atheist will say that we have to take care of each other not because it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us live as a society longer

• So it is utilitarian

• Or they will say it is because that is what I prefer

• Or they will say that their particular vision of the human person simply prefers this

• Or they will say that their opinions says that they would like for us to work together more than they would like not to work together

• Not because it is right or wrong, but because either it works or because they prefer it

• That is an incredibly incredibly limited perspective on reality

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about the Declaration of Independence…

• “We hold this to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

• That is not self-evident at all

• Some people are taller, some are shorter

• Some people are healthier, some are more sickly

• Some are stronger, some are weaker

• When it comes to intellect, some are smarter, and others are Dallas Cowboys fans :-P (I KID BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!! 😉)

• Even when it comes to morality, some are good and some do not act morally

• It is NOT self-evident that all men are created equal…

• UNLESS…

• That idea is borrowed from Christianity

• It is part of revealed religion that every human being is made in God’s image and likeness

• So this was borrowed from the Profession of Faith that we bring to the world

• Paragraph 2257 says, “Every society’s judgments and conduct reflect a vision of man and his destiny. Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and man, societies easily become totalitarian.”

• Why?

• Because to them, it is not a matter of saying, “This is good or evil”

• To them, it is a matter of saying, “No, this is what works. This is what I prefer”

• Therefore, someone has to enforce that

• You are not appealing to a greater law that is greater than all of us

• You are not appealing to a vision of man that is greater than all of us

• You are simply appealing to either one person’s or a group of people’s vision

• The utilitarian vision or preference vision

• Paragraph 2245 says, “The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. ‘The Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen,’”

• The Church is SEPARATE

• Not because we can’t weigh in

• But because we can stay above the fray so that we can contribute to the fray

• The Church cannot be silent when it comes to political decisions 

• The Church cannot be silent when it comes to offering a vision for the human person

• The Church cannot be silent when it comes to offering principles that can wisely guide the course of civil society

• The Church cannot be silent because if you have the truth to be offered, to not offer that truth is an act of cruelty

• If I know that the road up ahead is washed out and the bridge is collapsed and I do not tell someone that, then that is cruel

• The Church has to continue to remind the world that all human life is EQUAL from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death

• The Church has to remind our world and our civil societies of the deep and profound truth of the dignity of every single human being

• Even if we disagree on our origins and our destiny, the nature of man is that we are made in God’s image and likeness

• Paragraph 2246 says, “It is a part of the Church’s mission ‘to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.’”

• Sometimes in our day and age, people get upset about this

• “Oh, were you really upset when the Church weighed in and said that slavery was evil? Are you really upset when it was Christians who first abolished slavery? Was that Christian overstepping their bounds, or should Christians have actually contributed to this change by passing a moral judgment on society that said slavery is fine?”

• It was CHRISTIANS who said that slavery is not good

• We will bring that to bear on the world around us

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…