t teanc 0 FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPERFOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTSCAPE COD &THE ISLANDS

VOL. 37, NO. 42 - Friday, October 29, 1993 F ALL RIVER, MASS. Southeastem Massachusetts' Largest Weekly - $11 Per Year

A COAST GUARD launch aids Haitian refugees on an overloaded boat, which sankshortly after the rescue, The U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services has resettled 60percent of Haitian boat people allowed in the United States and vehemently protested govern­ment decisions to deny entrance to thousands of others. (eNS / Reuters photo)

Welcoming fOl1eigners is signof faith, pope tells bishops

Krysten Winter-Green named director

and in one's circle of friends," hesaid.

Parishes have a key role to playin displaying Christian attitudestoward all, he added.

"A welcoming parish offers theoccasional visitor the opportunityto experience the friendship of acommunity of faith open to allwhich does not consider anyone tobe excluded or a stranger," he said.

"Even more for immigrants whosettle within the parish territory,"he said, a welcoming parish willhelp them find "a new spiritualhome where they will feel likemembers of a solid and fraternalfamily right away."

Turn to Page A-Four

Vatican-U.S. commission. U.S.bishops ha\le sought more flexibil­ity in churc:J law wt"!en it comes todefrocking known sex abusersamong the clergy.

The archbishop commentedduring an interview Oct. 22 whilehe was in Rome to meet with PopeJohn Paul II and other Vaticanofficials.

In June, the U.S.-Vatican com-mission appointed by the pope

Turn to Page A-Four

Strealnlining of canon lawseenl in sex abuse cases

diocesan schools, who will studyvarious cultures during the week,said migration p1rogram coordina­tor Father John J, Oliveira.

The diocesan Migration Weekprograms will seek to share, withparticipants the goals set by thepope and the bishops attendingthe Pontifical O()uncil meeting.

They are summed up in thepope's address at the meeting. Hetold the bishops that "the other tobe accepted is at the same time theneighbor to be loved and servedwith all one's heart.

"To accept the other means tomake space for him or her in one'scity, in one's laws, in one's time

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Of­ficials of the u.s. bishops' confer­ence are preparing a plan thatwould make better use of canonlaw in dealing with sexually ·abu­sive priests. said Archbishop Wil­liam H. Keeler of Baltimore, pres­ident of the National Conferenceof Catholic Bishops.

Archbishop Keeler said theNCCB Committee on CanonicalAffairs was devt:loping possibili­ties opened up ea:rlier this year by a

Being Cool and Being Catho­lic-Discipleship; Self Awarenessand Self Esteem; Dealing withTough Times; Dealing with Ter­minal Illness; Working with theHomeless;

Sacraments and You; Prayer;Vocations; The Athlete and God;Rock and Its Role;

Sexual Harassment; Dealingwith Suicide; Cults and the Occult;Issues of Law for Youth Ministry;Dysfunctional Families;

Developing Self Esteem inYoung People; Youth Ministry­What Makes the Difference; De­pression-How to Cope; andSTAND (Somerset Teens AgainstNeedless Deaths). Most workshopswill offer group interaction andpractical applications.

Assisting diocesan youth minis­try staff members Father DavidCosta, Lisa Kelly, Chris Tanguayand Leona Braley in conventionplanning are Kate Lamoureux andAnthony Luis,St. Mary, Seekonk;Jim Durette, St. Patrick, Somerset;John Almeida and Sister Mari­anna Sylvester, RSM, Our Ladyof the Assumption, New Bedford;

Turn to Page A-Four

Youth convention is Nov_14

Bisltlop establishesHIV/ AIDS Ministry

The fifth annud Diocesan YouthConvention will be held 10;30 a.m.to 9 ·p.m. Nov. 14 at Bishop Con­nolly High School, Fall River,with the theme" Rhythm of Life,"focusing on the World Youth Daymessage derived from John 10: 10:"I came that the\, might have lifeand have it more abundantly."

Keynote speaker Molly Kelly, anationally-known author and lec­turer, will addrl:ss the topic ofchastity and ansvler questions in adialogue session with youth.

Also scheduled ueSunday Mass,a reflection on the conventiontheme using aud: ovisu~ls and ledby peer witnesses, and workshopsfor both youth and adult advisors.

Workshop top: cs are:Mothers & Dal.ghters' Relation­

ship and Spirituality; Death andDying; Social Justice; KeepingYour Youth Ministry Alive andWell;

Church and Your Part in It;Personal Experiences-Birthright;Fathers & Sons' Relationships andSpirituality; All Stressed Out!Dealing with Stress; Understand­ing and Appreciat ing Our CatholicLiturgy;

Bishop -Sean O'Malley, OFM Services planned by the officeCap., has establish'ed a diocesan will be pastoral-clinical and social.office of HIV / AIDS Ministry head- educational and consultative.quartered in Fall River, with satel- -PastorJlI-c1inical and social:lite offices in :"ol orth Attleboro, Individual, family and group coun-New Bedford, Hy,mnisand Province- seling and spiritual support, in-town. c1uding days of prayer and reflec-

Krysten Winte r-Green. formerly tion for persons affected by Al DS:vice-chancellor of the diocese of information and referral for addi-the Virgin Islan js. will direct the tional services.apostolate. basec l at Clemence Hall -Educational: Providing priests.in St. Anne's Hospital. Fall River. religious and .Iaity with accuratetelephone 674-5IJOO. ext. 2295. A information on medical. psycho-IS-member AIDS Advisory Commit- social and pastoral issues relatedtee will assist in disseminating to HIV/AIDS by establishing ainformation anc providing input resource library and informationon concerns rele'/ant to the office's. system; compiling and disseminat­mission. ing a parish resource manual; in-

The HIV/ AI OS ministry will itiating educational programs.offer a compassionate response to -Consultative: Promotingpersons with HIV or AI DS and to Catholic moral values. justice andtheir families and loved ones by compassion by providing consul­promoting and :iUpporting minis- tation to diocesan and secular in­tries in diocesan parishes and insti- stitutions and developing an H IV itutions. The headquarters office AI DS policy for diocesan person­will coordinate diocesan AI DS min- nel.istry efforts; identify. plan and Ms. Winter-Green. a native ofdevelop additi,)nal services as New Zealand. hoids two master'sneeded; and collaborate with city. degrees in social work and one in with CNS reportscountv. state a nd interreligious religious education. She has taughteff(}rt~ in the area of HIV / AI DS. Turn to Page A-Four The way a community or state-------1---------------------1 treats foreigners in its midst is notonly a measure of its civility, but of

the way its pe.ople practice theirfaith, Pope John Paul II said,

"For Jesus, the stranger whoasks for hospitality or the immi­grant who asks for acceptance is amember of the same family," thepope told members of the Pontifi­cal Council for Migrants and Trav­elers at their plenary meeting lastmonth.

Church aid to migrants and refu­gees differs with circumstances,but addressing the conditions af­fecting them is a key commoningredient in church activity, saidbishops attending the meeting.

Concern for the needs of immi­grants and respect for culturaldiversity is the impetus for a Migra­tion Week observance, themed"Many Pilgrims, One Family ofGod," to be held in the Fall Riverdiocese beginning Nov. 6.

Bishop Sean O'Malley will cele­brate a 1:30 p.m. multicultural,multilingual Mass that day at Bish­op Connoll)' High School, FallRiver, with entertainment follow­ing.

The week's observance will be agesture of welcome to new immi­grants and refugees in the diocese,a celebration of the roots of alldiocesan Catholics, and an educa­tional experience for students in

in-vitro fertilization program atGeorge Washington University,said the experiments would go nofurther.

But fertility researcher Dr. JerryL. Hall, who actually conductedthe experiments, said he did notunderstand the furor. "We did notimplant these into any women; wedid not intend to implant them,"he said. "No child has been bornfrom this procedure."

The embryos used by Hall ­each made up of only two to eightcells - were genetically flawedbecause of having been fertilizedby more than one sperm and couldnot have developed for more thana few days.

But the first successful reportsof human clol}ing raised a numberoffuturistic possibilities and seriousethical questions.

For example, scientists suggested. that couples could use the tech­nique to have one child and then,at a later date, use a cloned andfrozen embryo to reproduce anidentical twin. Others have pointedout that a twin could be cloned, ifnecessary, to pr<jvide compatibleorgans for transplant - a possibil­ity the Vatican newspaper describedas "abominable."

The newspaper said these po­tential uses were part of anapproach which most people rejectas "contrary to human dignity."

Genetic research and engineer­ing have certainly provided advan­tages to humans, it said, but inorder to remain at the service ofhuman beings they must respecthuman rights.

In a 1987 document on procrea­tion, the Vatican's doctrinal con­gregation s~id it was immoral toproduce human embryos destinedto be exploited as "disposable"material for research.

Ms. Quinn also quoted the 1987document, "Donum Vitae," whichsaid that "the one conceived mustbe the fruit of parents' love."

11II1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I1I111111I1I1111THE ANCHOR (USPS-545-020). SecondClass Postage Paid at Fall River. Mass.Published weekly except the week of July 4and the week after Christmas at 887 High­land Avenue. Fall River. Mass. 02720 bythe Catholic Press of the Diocese of FallRiver. Subscription price by mail. postpaid$11.00 per year. Postmasters send addresschanges to The Anchor. P.O. Box 7. FallRiver. MA 02722.

Mass at cathedralwill close vigil

Bishop Sean O'Malley will becelebrant of a Mass at 5 p.m. Sun­day at St. Mary's Cathedral, FallRiver. It will mark the closing ofthe Eucharistic Vigil for Life heldthroughout October, Respect LifeMonth, at various churches of thediocese.

On display at the Mass will be areplica of a Missionary Image ofOur Lady of Guadalupe, a giftfrom the Mex~can bishops to theUnited States. The image is areplica of a 16th-century cloak onwhich the image of Mary appeared

. in connection with the Virgin'srequest to Blessed Juan Diego, anIndian peasant, that a church bebuilt on a hill outside Mexico City.When Juan Diego brought therequest to the bishop of the area,the prelate was at first unbelieving,but was convinced after the imagemiraculously appeared on the peas­ant's cloak.

No obligationto attend'Massthis Monday

WAS H INGTON (CNS)When U.S. Catholics of the Latinrite celebrate All Saints Day thisNov. I. for many it will be the firsttime that they do so with no legalobligation to attend Mass.

The reason is a decision madeby the U.S. bishops in June 1992and confirmed by the Vatican sev­eral months lat~r: When Nov. Ifalls on a Saturday or Monday.the feast of All Saints will beobserved liturgically as usual. butwithout an obligation to attendMass. This year Nov. I is a Mon­day.

The obligation remains in yearswhen the feast falls on other daysof the week. , .

The bishops made similar deci­sions for Jan. I, the feast of Mary.Mother of God: and for Aug. IS,the feast of the Assumption ofMary.

In 1994 there will be no Massobligation on Jan. I. which fallson a Saturday. or on Aug. 15,which falls on a Monday.

The bishops decided to removethe Mass obligation for observanceof those holy days on Mondavsand Sat urdays for a variety of re~­sons. among them the confusionabout Mass obligations that oftenoccurs when a holy day and aSunday fall back to back.

A study paper issued last year inconnection with the change en­couraged Catholics to participateat Mass on those days even whenthe obligation is removed and urgedparishes to continue making thosedays special by providing extraMass.es at convenient times toencourage participation.

Before the bishops adopted asingle national rule for those threedays. practice \'aried from dioceseto diocese and state to state. withbishops in some areas retainingthe obligation and bishops in otherareas granting an exception.

H'liman cloning co'ndemned byVatican, top US pro-life official

WASHINGTON (CNS) - Thecloning of human embryos at aWashington hospital has drawncriticism from both the Vaticannewspaper and the director of theU.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro­Life Activities.

The newspaper, L'OsservatoreRomano, condemned the experi­ments as "intrinsically perverse"and an offense to humanity. Thepro-life official, Gail Quinn, saidhuman cloning "raises enormousethical problems."

The comments came followingreports that ~cientists in the in­vitro fertilization program atGeorge Washington UniversityMedical Center in Washington hadsuccessfully split single humanembryos into twins or triplets. Allthe embryos died within six days.

"These technologies shouldprompt us once again' to appre­ciate a basic truth: the fact that it istechnically possible to do some­thing doesn't mean it ought to bedone," said Ms. Quinn.

The Vatican newspaper's moraltheologian, Father Gino Concetti,said that the procedure representsa start down "a tunnel of madness"which "humiliates and offends allhumanity."

At an Oct. 25 press conference- his second in two days - Dr.Robert Stillman, who directs the

MSGR. STANTON

New organ, tree plantingto memorialize pastorThe first anniversary of the death

of Msgr. Robert L. Stanton, for­mer pastor of St. Paul's parish,Taunton, will be observed with amemorial anniversary Mass at IIa.m. Sunday. Oct. 31, at St. Paul's.Msgr. Stanton was pastor at theTaunton parish from 1982 to 1992.

A new parish organ, a memorialgift from relatives, friends and St.Paul parisHioners will be blessedand dedicated at the Mass. A bluespruce tree, the gift of Marleneand Brian Friary, will also beblessed 'and.will be planted on thechurch grounds as a tribute to thebeloved pastor.

Following the liturgy and treeplanting, there will be a receptionin the church hall to which all arewelcome.

Most regular Anchorfeatures will not appear thisweek to permit publicationof the entire text of "Veri­tatis Splendor," Pope JohnPaul II's new encyclical onthe foundations of moraltheology. '

Weare grateful to Cath­olic New York, newspaperof the archdiocese of NewYork, for permitting us toreproduce its attractive

, presentation of the, ency­clical. Please note that,Anchor pages are numberedAI, A2, etc., while encycli­cal pages are prefixed withE.

NOTICE

•WHITE'S(U' Wt~~TPORT

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efforts. "In seeking broader con­cepts of peace, and in linking peacewith notions such as developmentand human justice, the RomanCatholic Church and the UnitedNations are working together," hesaid.

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NEW YORK (CNS) - BoutrosBoutros-G hali, secretary-general ofthe United Nations, said recentlythat the approach of the CatholicChurch in working for peace har­monizes with that of the United'Nations and reinforces his own

A 2 THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri.,:Oct. 29, 1993

THE A.NCHOR:-Di'ocese of Fall River-Fri.:Oct. 29, 1993 A 3

SISTER MARY NOEL BLUTE celebrates her 50thanniversary as a Sister of Mercy with Bishop O'Malley and herbrother Edw<i,rd M. Blute after a Mass in Holy Trinity Church,West Harwich.'

NCEA 'conventionto hear Melendez

Composer, musician and authorTony Melendez wiH address the'91 st Annual Convention. Exposi­tion and Religious Education Con­gress of the National CatholicEducational Association. to be heldin Anaheim. Calif., next April4 to7.

Over 12,000 delegates are ex­pected to attend the meeting, whichwill be themed "U nity in Diversity:Embracing the Challenge."

Melendez, 31, gained nationalattention as a talented guitaristwhen he performed for Pope JohnPaul II in Los Angeles six yearsago. His selection, "Never Be theSame,': appropriately forecast hisown career and success from thatpoint on as a performer and inspi­rational speaker.

Due to a drug prescribed for hismother during pregnancy, theNicaragua native was born with_-

out arms. He wore artifical armsuntil he was 10 years old, then dis­posed of them, observing, "I coulduse my feet so much more."

Melendez 'began playing theguitar and harmonica and writinghis own songs during high school.He also became deeply involved inthe Catholic Church, and "wound'up changing my life in the pro­cess." He recorded his first albumin 1989, a collection of contem­porary Christian songs entitled,"Never Be th{: Same." "Ways ofthe Wise" is his second album.

The musician's autobiography,"A Gift of Hope," published in1989, describe, the life of a manwho has performed across theUnited States and in seven foreigncountries and made several appear­ances on national television. Amade-for-television special, "TheTony Melendez Story" is scheduledto air in the near future.

Duringtheir meeting, Pope John

Paul. II encouraged Melendez to"keep giving hope to all the peo­ple." The musician said that iswhat he tries to do, "letting peopleknow God has a plan for us. Nomatter how disappointed we maybe, or w;,at mistakes we've madeor opportunities we've missed, andno matter how handicapped weappear. in the Body of Christ we

'have hope."The NCEA convention and

exposition are open to anyoneinterested in or working in Catholiceducation. It features general ses­sions arid liturgies, complementedby technology sessions and work­shops dealing with many specialinterests. ,

The exposition displays educa­tional equipment and supplies,ranging from computer hardwareto textbooks and school uniforms;and an aHied convocation for reli­gious educators will run April 6 to9.

Siste:r Blute marks jubilee

Tours-Curriculum - AthleticlExtracurricularOpportunities - Religious Programs

Finances - Tuitio!1 Assistance - Transportation

"T~ Little, Too Late"Hope Howe Semmar.JNov. l7, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Held in'theEducation Classroom. This film deals withhow AIDS affects the lives of famijymembers and friends. Free and open to thepublic. Contact Toby Shea at 674-5600,ext. 2270.

Nutrition For Seniors - Adding Yearsto Your LifeNov. 18, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Held in theEducation Classroom. This program isoffered for health care professionals andothers interested in the special nutritionalneeds of elderly people. Presented by AnnMarie Chalmers, R.D., nutrition educationspecialist, New England Dairy and FoodCouncil. Pre-registration i.s requested.CEUs are available. Contact the EducationDepartment at 674-5600, ext. 2480.

•Saintf\.nnes

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Natural Family Planning _Held in the Education Classroom. TheSympto-Thermal Method of NaturalFamily Planning is a four session course.The first session is free. Materials will cost$40. Contact the Education Department at674-5600, ext. 2480.

Smoking Cessation ProgramHeld in the Education Classroom. ContactBeder Health Associates at (617) 327­1500. Cost is $70.

STOP- Smoking Termination ProgramTuesdays, Nov. 4 through Dec. 5, 7:00 to9:00 p.m... at Saint Anne's Hospital. Pre­registration is recommended. Call theHuman Resources Department at674-5600. ext. 401. Cost varies.

Footsteps: Together We Walk.Nov. 2, 16 & 30, 3:00-4:30 p.m. This is aspiritual support group for peopleexperiencing cancer. Free and open to thepublic. Contact Sister Linda Lambert at674-5600, ext. 2060.

Besides being fun, toys can greatly benefit "Toys to Help Johnny Grow"your child's development. This month Pediatric .Rehabilitation Lx/are Serie.Jwe're offering a f1 · Heallh' Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m. Heldpresentation on h?w lJOI11JmlJ11i.~.· .,. in the ~anneryConfer-toys help your child S A I N'T ANN E 's H 0 S PIT A L ence Room, Clemencelearn and grow. If this Hall. Free and open toprogram or any of the others listed below the public. Contact Barbara Chlaupek atinterests you, sign up. It's as easy as child's 674-5600, ext. 425.play.

These caJt1 be usedto build confidence, too.

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steps of a great aunt and her auntSister Vincent Ferrer Cox, also aFeehan staff member for a time,who died in April 1992.

Also a relative was the late Dr.John C. Corrigan, for whom Cor­rigan Mental Health Center inFall River was named.

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Optimism"I will say thi:; about being an

optimist - even ".. hen things don'tturn out well, you are certain theywill get better."--Frank Hughes

Sister Mary ~oel Blute, RSM,episcopal repre.;entative for relig­ious, marked h{ r golden jubilee inreligious life O(:t. 16 with a Masscelebrated by Bishop Sean O'Mal­ley at Holy Trinity parish, WestHarwich, when: her brother, Ed­ward M. Blute, is a parishioner.

A Fall River native, Sister Blutegrew up .in St. Patrick's parish inthat city and entered the Sisters ofMercy in 1941. She earned degreesfrom Salve Regina University,Newport, RI, a:1d the Universityof Notre Dame, and she also stud­ied at EmmanuelCollege, Boston;Catholic Univenity, Washington,DC; t.he University of Illinois andRhode Island College.

She taught at Rhode Island ele­mentary schools, at Salve Regina,and at Bishop Fel:han High School,Attleboro.

From 1979 to 1985 she was pro­vincial superior of the Mercy pro­vince of Providence and was thennamed episcopal representative forreligious by then- Fall River BishopDaniel A. Croni:1.

A third-generation member ofher family to be II Sister of Mercy,Sister Blute follows in the foot-

A 4 THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Oct. 29, 1993

Followed by a Pastry Socia! & Ethnic Entertainment

ernments protect and care for for­eigners in their nations.

"Human dignity is humiliatedby the presence of refugee camps,recurring episodes of xenophobiatargeting refugees and a lack ofsolidarity [with] nomadic peoples,"he said.

Charismatics urgedto foster vocations

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy(CNS) - PQpe John Paul II re­cently asked Catholic CharismaticRenewal leaders to foster voca­tions to the 'priesthood and reli­gious life among members.

"The prayerful response ofyourmembers and associates to thisgrace will be a further, explicit signof the renewal's sharing in the lifeand mission of the church, the vis­ible body of Chust," the pope said.

About 1,000 participants in thefirst international retreat for cha­rismatic leaders met the pope atCastel Gandolfo, the papal resi­dence south of Rome.

Pope John Paul asked the re­treatants to follow the examples ofSt. Francis and St. Clare in mak­ing their own the words of St.Paul: "It is no longer I who live,but Christ who lives in me."

Thomas J. Harrington, pastor ofS1. Joseph's parish; Taunton;Father James Krupa, SJ, BishopConnolly High School, Fall River.

Father Michael K. McManus,diocesan vice-chancellor; Msgr.John J. Oliveira, diocesan chan­cellor; and Father Horace J. Tra­vassos, rector of S1. Mary's Ca­thedral, Fall River and director ofthe Diocesan Office of FamilyMinistry.

Canon lawContinued from· Page One .

produced canon law recommen­dations that w.ere viewed positivelyby the U.S. hierarchy. ArchbishopKeeler said those conclusions havenow been taken up by the bishops'conference.

"Our Committee on Canonical.Affairs has been working on details.We're hopeful that very soon we'llbe able as a conference of bishopsto look at these details and alsopresent them to the authoritieshere [at the Vatican]''' he said.

The work of the V .S. episcopateis a "direct-line continuation" ofthe work of the V .S.-Vatican com­mission, Archbishop Keeler said.

"They gave us some possibili­ties, and now, in terms of technicallanguage and detailed procedures,our canonical affairs committeehas been working with those pos­sibilities," he said. He said thatafter V .S. bishops look at the plan,it would be brought back to theVatican for review.

InJune, Archbishop Keeler saidthe V.S.-Vatican commission hadoffered help on two specific issues:

- Differing statutes of limita­tions between church law and civillaw on sex abuse crimes.

- Differing definitions of aminor in cases of sexual molesta­tion. In such cases, a minor isdefined by church law as someoneunder the age of 16, while in mostU.S. states the age is 18.

The U.S.-Vatican commission'srecommendations also consideredcreation of specialized churchtribunals handle sex abuse cases.

P, Blottman, pastor of St. Peterthe Apostle parish, Provincetown; ,Father Marcel H. Bouchard, pas­tor of Sacred Heart parish, NorthAttleboro.

Father Edward J. Burns, pas­t'or, S1. Mark's parish, AttleboroFalls; Father Robert A. Charlton,SS.Ce., in residence at Our Ladyof the Assumption parish, NewBedford; Father Joseph M. Costa,director of S1. Vincent's Home,Fall River.

Sister Joanna Fernandes, OP,chairman of the board of directorsof St. Anne's Hospital, Fall River;Father Edmund J. Fitzgerald, pas­tor, St. John the Baptist parish,Westport, and director of Dioce­san Health Facilities; Father DanielL. Freitas, pastor, S1. John of Godparish, Somerset, and director ofthe Catholic Charities Appeal.

Father Peter N. Graziano, new­ly-named pastor of S1. Mary's par­ish, Mansfield, and former direc­tor of the Diocesan Department ofCatholic Social Services; Msgr.

ditions forcing people to becomerefugees.

"Our primary action is not tocombat poverty, but beginningwith poverty and need, to combatthe causes which bring about pov~erty, injustice and the loss of thefundamental rights of man," hesaid.

Evangelization is the church'sfirst task among migrants and refu­gees, but that includes protectingof human dignity and promotinghuman rights, the bishop empha­sized.

Mobile SocietyThe pope said mobility so marks

modern life that for many people ithas become almost a daily ex­perience.

"War, hunger, underdevelop­ment, the lack of work and viola­tions of human rights unfortunate­ly force tens of millions of peopleto abandon their homes and face apainful and sometimes tragic exile."

The church's social teaching,the pope said, supports the dignityand rights of all people on the,move and demands that adequatesolutions be found for the suffer­ing that forces people to flee theirhomes. It also demands that gov-

Our Lady'sMonthly MessageFrom Medjugorje

October· 25th, 1993

Continued from Page OneArchbishop Aloysius Ambrozic

of Toronto and Bishop JamesHickey of Perth, Australia, out­lined the history of immigration totheir nations since World War IIand the part immigration hasplayed in development of their

.cultures.

The archbishop said that par­ishes, because they have a clearlydefined yet flexible organization,seem the best structures for meet­ing the needs of immigrants.

While Australians are still deal­ing with their "tragic" impact onthe aboriginal peoples, BishopHickey said, for the most part"ethnic groups have learned· tocombine together and form, over avery brief period of time, as closeto a truly multicultural society asone could find."

Bishop Hickey said that doesnot mean that racism does notexist in Australia or that migrantshave an easy time settling in, "butit does mean that unity, not uni­formity, is a constant aspiration."

Auxiliary Bishop RaymundoDamascerio Assis of Brasilia,chairman of the Latin Americanbishops' committee on migration,said bishops must address the con-

Dear Children:These years I have been calling you to pray, to live what I.

am telling you, but you are living my messages a little. You talkbut do not live, that is why, dear little Children, this war islasting so long. I invite you to open yourselves to God and tolive with God in your hearts,living the good and giving witnessto my messages. I love you and wish to protect you from everyevil, but you do not desire it. Dear Children, I cannot help youif you do not live God's commandments, if you do not live theMass, if you do not abandon sin. I invite you to becomeApostles of love and goodness. In this world without peace,give witness to God and God's love and God will bless you andgive you what you seek of Him. Thank you for havingresponded to my call!

OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE PRAYER GROUPST. DOMINIC CHURCH. SWANSEA, MA

EVERY WEDNESDAY. 7 P.M.

Bishop establishes AIDS Ministry

Welcoming foreigners is sign of faith

Continued from Page Onein India and Australia and been achaplain and retreat director in theV nited States.

In the Virgin Islands, shefoundedand directed three BethlehemHouse shelters for the homeless,oversaw diocesan Catholic SocialServices and four schools, wasepiscopal liaison for women's reli­gious orders and a consultant tovarious social service agencie's.

Among awards she has receivedare the Outstanding Social WorkAlumnus Award from the V niver­sity of Kansas in 1992, the WhiteHouse Distinguished Teacher A­ward in 1986, and the White House"Point of Light" recognition in1991.

Committee MembersMembers of the Diocesan HIV I

AIDS Advisory Committee are:Father George e. Bellenoit,

pastor of S1. Patrick's parish,'Somerset, and director of ·the

Diocesan Department of PastoralCare for the Sick: Father William

St. Anthony Hall1359 Acushnet Ave.

New BedfordFor info. caU: 993-1691

Closing the event will be a youthdance featuring "Rock-the-House"D.J. Service and D.J. Dan Coonsof S1. John Neumann, East Free­town.

Each parish has received reg­istration forms and information.Registrants may opt for a planincluding dinner, or may bring abrown bag meal. Registrationdeadline is November 5. Formore information, contact theOffice for Youth Ministry at 676­6503.

Good Reading"I think of life as a good book.

The further you get into it, themore it begins to make sense."­Harold S. Kushner

Crafts • RatDesFood

Attic Treasures"New This Year"

Kids KornerJust Jars

"BETTER THAN EVER"

St. Anthony's ChristmasFestival BazaarSaturday, Nov. 6 • 11 a.m.-9 p.m.Sunday, Nov. 7 • 11:30 a.m~-7p.m.

MANY PILGRIMSONE FAMILYOF GOD

RATIORAL IIIG1lATlOII WEEKmOCESAII OBSERV'AlICE

Saturday, November 6, 1993. ~'G~

Bishop Connolly High SChOOla=1;)Eisbree Street • Fall River, MA 9 .. ~

1:30 p.m. ~~ VI• •

MASS withBishop Sean O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap.

as principal celebrant and homilist

Youth conventionContinued from Page One

Magda Cardoso and Pauline Ma­cedo, St. John the Baptist, NewBedford; Dan Poisson, St. George,Westport; Matt Poisson, St. Ann,Raynham; Deb Maurer, St. Eliza­beth Seton, North Falmouth; JoanCuttle, St. Thomas More, Somer­set; Armand Brunelle, St. Mark,Attleboro Falls; Father Jim Me­deiros, Holy Name, Fall Rive'r;Frank Lucca, St. Dominic, Swan­sea; and Father Tom Frechette,Holy Trinity, West Harwich.

Youth masters of ceremoniesfor the day are Erin Duarte, OurLady of the Assumption, NewBedford; Mary Beth Rausch, St.Patrick, Somerset; and AndySmith, St. Julie Billiart, NorthDartmouth.

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E1

...t,

I'.

'The Splendor of Truth'

'\..'".-

'In the light of revl91ationand of the Church's constant teaching,especial/y... the S~gcond Vatican Council,I have briefly recalled the essentialcharacteristics of freedom as weI/ asthe fundamental values connected withthe dignity of the person andthe truth of his acts...'

-CNS

Th«~ Splendor of TruthPope John 'Paul II places .morality in context of human freedorn, dignity

Here is the Vatican text of Pope John Paul I/'sencyclicallett€'r, "Veritatis Splendor" ("The Splendorof Truth'J. It was released at the Vatican Oct. 5.

Venerable brothers in the episcopate,Health and the apostolic blessing!The splendor of truth shines forth in all the

works of the Creator and in a special way in man,created in the image and likeness of God (d. Gn1: 26). Truth enlightens man's intelligence andshapes his fre:!dom, leading him to know and lovethe Lord. Hence the psalmist prays: "Let thelight of your face shine on us, 0 Lord" (Ps 4: 6) .

IrltroductionJesus Chdst, the True LightThat Enlightens Everyone1 Called to salvation through faith in Jesus

• Christ, "the true light that enlightens every­one" (In 1: 9), people become "light in the Lord"

. and "children of light" (Eph 5: 8), and are madeholy by "obedience to the truth" (1 Pt 1: 22) .

This obedience is not always easy. As a result ofthat mysterious original sin, committed at theprompting of Satan, the one who is "a liar and thefather of lies" (In 8: 44), man is constantlytempted to turn his gaze away from the living andtrue God in orde'r to direct it toward idols (cf. 1Thes 1: 9), exchanging "the truth about God for alie" (Rom 1: 25). Man's capacity to know the truthis also darkened, and his will to submit to it isweakened. Thus, giving himself over to relativ­ism and skepticism (cf. Jn 18: 38), he goes off insearch of an illusory freedom apart from truthitself.

But no darkness of error or of sin can totallytake away from man the light of God the Creator.In the depths or his heart there always remains ayearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain

full knowledge of it. This is eloquently proved byman's tireless search for knowledge in all fields.It is proved even more by his search for themeaning of life. The development of science andtechnology, this splendid testimony of the humancapacity for understanding and for perseverance,does not free humanity from the obligation to askthe ultimate religious questions. Rather, it spursus on to face the most painful and decisive ofstruggles, those of the heart and of the moralconscience.

2 No one can escape from the fundamental• questions: What must I do? How do I distin­

guish good from evil? The answer is onlypossiblethanks to the splendor of the truth which shinesforth deep within the human spirit, as the psalm­ist bears witness: "There are many who say: '0that we might see some good! Let the light of yourface shine on us, 0 Lord'" (Ps 4: 6) .

The light of God's face shines in all its beauty onthe countenance of Jesus Christ, "the image ofthe invisible God" (ColI: 15), the "reflection ofGod's glory" (Heb 1: 3), "full of grace and truth"(In 1: 14). Christ is "the way and the truth and thelife" (In 14: 6) . Consequently the decisive answerto everyone of man's questions, his religious andmoral questions in particular, is given by JesusChrist, or rather is Jesus Christ Himself, as theSecond Vatican Council recalls: "In fact, it is onlyin the mystery of the Word incarnate that light isshed on the mystery of man. For Adam, the firstman, was a figure of the future man, namely, ofChrist the Lord. It is Christ, the last Adam, whofully discloses man to Himself and unfolds His no­ble calling by revealing the mystery of the Fatherand the Father's love." (1)

Jesus Christ, the "light of the nations," shinesupon the face of His Church, which He sends forthto the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to ev­ery creature (cf. Mk 16: 15). (2) Hence the Church,as the people of God among the nations, (3) whileattentive to the new challenges of history and tomankind's efforts to discov~r the meaning of life,

offers to everyone the answer which comes fromthe truth about Jesus Christ and His Gospel. TheChurch remains deeply conscious of her "duty inevery age of examining the' signs of the times andinterpreting them in the light of the Gospel, sothat she can offer in a manner appropriate toeach generation replies to the continual humanquestionings on the meaning of this life and thelife to come and on how they are related." (4)

3 The Church's pastors, in communion with• the successor of Peter, are close to the faith­

ful in this effort; they guide and accompany themby their authoritative teaching, finc:ing ever newways of speaking with love and mercy not only tobelievers but to all people of good will. The Sec­ond Vatican Council remains an extraordinarywitness of this attitude on the part of the Church,which as an "expert in humanity," (5) places her­self at the service of every individual and of thewhole world. (6)

The Church knows that the issue of morality isone which deeply touches every person; it in­volves all people, even those who do not knowChrist and His Gospel or God Himself. She knowsthat-4t is precisely on the path of the moral lifethat the way of salvation is open to all. The Sec­ond Vatican Council clearly recalled this when itstated that "those who without any fault do notknow anything about Christ or His Church, yetwho search for God with a sincere heart and un­der the influence of grace, try to put into effectthe will of God as known to them through the dic­tate of eonscience...can obtain eternd salvation."The council added:

"Nor does divine providence deny the helps thatare necessary for salvation to those who, throughno fault of their own have not yet attained to theexpresB recognition of God, yet who strive, notwithout divine grace, to lead an upright life. Forwhatev,er goodness and truth is found in them isconsidered by the Church as a preparation for theGospel and bestowed by him who enlightens ev­eryone that they may in the end have life." (7)

1"

1 JI>.

l,\

"

E2 The Anchor October 29, 1993

,

\,'.

Purpose of thePresent Encyclical

4 At all times, but particularly In the last two. • centuries, the popes, whether individually

or together with the college of bishops, have de­veloped and proposed a moral teaching regardingthe many different spheres of human life. InChrist's name and with His autnority they haveexhorted, passed judgment and explained. Intheir efforts on behalf of humanity, in fidelity totheir mission, they have confirmed, supportedand consoled. With the guarantee of assistancefrom the Spirit of truth they have contributed to abetter understanding of moral demands in the ar­eas of human sexuality) the family, and social,economic and political life. In the tradition of theChurch and in the history of humanity, theirteaching represents a constant deepening ofknowledge with regard to morality. (8)

Today, however, it seems necessary to reflecton the whole of the Church's moral teaching, withthe precise goal of recalling certain fundamentaltruths of Catholic doctrine which, in the presentcircumstances, risk being distorted or denied. Infact, a new situation has come about within theChristian community itself, which has experi­enced the spread of numerous doubts and objec­tions of a human and psychological, social andcultural, religious and even properly theologicalnature, with regard to the Church's moral teach­ings. It is no longer a matter of limited and occa­sional dissent, but of an overall and systematiccalling into question of traditional moral doctrineon the basis of certain anthropological and ethicalpresuppositions. At the root of these presupposi­tions is the more or less obvious influence of cur­rents of thought which end by detaching humanfreedom from its essential and constitutive rela­tionship to truth. Thus the traditional doctrine re­garding the natural law, and the-universality andthe permanent validity of its precepts, is reject­ed; ce~tain of the ChurCh'S moral teachings arefound simply unacceptable; and the magisteriumitself is considered capable of interveIling in mat­ters of morality only in order to "exhort con­sciences" ~nd to "propose values," in· the light ofwhich each indivigual will independently makehis or her decisions and life choices. .

In particular, note should be taken of the lack ofharmony between the traditional response of theChurch and certain theological positions encoun­tered even in seminaries and in faculties of theol­ogy with regard to questions of the greatest im­portance for the Church and for the. life of faith ofChristians as well as for the life of society itself.In particular, the question is asked: Do the com­mandments of God: which are written on the hu­man heart and are part of the covenant, reallyhave the capacity to clarify the daily decisions ofindividuals and entire societies? Is it possible toobey God and thus love God and neighbor withoutrespecting these commandments in all circum­stances? Also, an opinion is frequently heardwhich questions the intrinsic and unbreakablebond between faith and morality, as if member­ship in the Church and her internal unity were tobe decided on the basis of faith alone, while in. thesphere of morality a pluralism of opinions and ofkinds of behavior could be tolerated, these beingleft to the judgment of the individual subjectiveconscience or to the diversity of social and cul­tural contexts.

5 Given these circumstances, which still exist,• I came to the decision-as I announced- in

my apostolic letter "Spiritus Domini," issued onAug. 1, 1987, on the second centenary of the deathof St. Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori-to write anencyclical with the aim of treating "more fullyand more deeply the issues regarding the veryfoundations of moral theology," (9) foundationswhich are. being undermined by certain present­day tendencies.

I address myself to you, venerable brothers in

. 'Veritatis Splendor'

the episcopate, who share with me the responsi­bility of safeguarding "sound teaching" (2 Tm4: 3), with the intention of clearly setting forth cer­tain aspects of doctrine which are of crucial im­portance in facing what is certainly a genuine cri­sis, since the difficulties which it engenders havemost serious implications for the inorallife of thefaithful and for communion in the Church as wellas for a just and fraternal social life.If this encyclical, so long awaited, is being pub­

lished only now, one of the reasons is that itseemed fitting for it to be preceded by the Cate­chism of the Catholic Church, which contains acomplete and systematic exposition of Christianmoral teaching. The catechism presents themoral life of believers in its fundamental ele­ments and in its many aspects as the life of the"children of God": "Recognizing in the faith theirnew dignity, Christians are called to lead hence­forth a life 'worthy of the Gospel of Christ' (Phil1: 27). Through the sacraments and prayer theyreceive the grace of Christ and the gifts of HisSpirit which make them capable of such alife." (10) Consequently, while referring back tothe catechism "as a sure and authentic referencetext for teaching Catholic doctrine," (11) the en­cyclical will limit to dealing with certain funda-

.mental questions regarding the Church's moralteaching, taking the form of a necessary discern­ment about issues being debated by ethicists andmoral theologians. The specific purpose of thepresent encyclical is this: to set forth, with regardto the problems being discussed, the principles ofa moral teaching based upon sacred Scriptureand the living apostolic tradition, (12) and at thesame time to shed light on the presuppositionsand consequences of the dissent which that teach­inghas met.

~~apterl

'Teacher, What·Good Must·/ Do?'(Mt.l9:16)

Christ and the AnswerTo the Questio~

About Morality'Someone came to him"

(Mt 19:16)

6The dialogue of Jesus with the rich young

. • man, related in the 19th chapter of St.Matthew's Gospel, can serve as a useful guide forlistening once more in a lively and direct way toHis moral teaching: "Then someone came to himan<;l said; 'Teacher, what. good must I do to haveeternal life?' And he said to him, 'Why do you askme about what is good? There is only one who isgood. If yo~ wish to enter into life, keep the C9m­mandments.' He said to him, 'Which ones?' AndJesus said, 'You shall not murder; you shall notcommit adultery; you shall not steal; you shallnot bear false witness; honor your father andmother; also you shall love your neighbor asyourself.' The young man said to him, 'I havekept all these; what do I still lack?' Jesus said tohim, 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your pos­sessions and give the money to the poor, and youwill have treasure in heaven; then come, followme' " (Mt 19: 16- 21) . (13)

7 "Then someone came to him." In the young• man, whom Matthew's Gospel does not

name, we can recognize every person who, con­sciously or not, approaches Christ the Redeemerof man and questions Him about morality. Forthe young man, the.question is not so much aboutrules to be followed, but about the full meaning oflife. This is in fact the aspiration at the heart ofevery human decision and action, the quietsearching and interior prompting which sets

freedom in motion. This question is ultimately anappeal to the absolute good which attracts us andbeckons us; it is the echo of a call from God, whois the origin and goal of man's life. Precisely inthis perspective the Second Vatican Councilcalled for a renewal of moral theology so that itsteaching would display the lofty vocation whichthe faithful have received in Christ, (14) the onlyresponse fully capable of satisfying the desire ofthe human heart.

In order to make this "encounter" with Christpossible, God willed His Church. Indeed, theChurch "wishes to serve this single end: thateach person may be able to find Christ, in orderthat Christ may walk with each person the path oflife." (15)

'Teacher, what good must I doto have eternal life?'

(Mt 19:16).

8 The question which the rich young man puts• to Jesus of Nazareth is one which rises from

the depths of his heart. It is an essential andunavoidable question for the life of every man,for it is about the moral good which must be doneand about eternal life. The young man senses thatthere is a connection between moral good and thefulfillment of his own destiny. He is a devout Isra­elite, raised as it were in the shadow of the law ofthe Lord. If he asks Jesus this question, we canpresume that it is not because he is ignorant ofthe answer contained in the law. It is more likelythat the attractiveness of the person of Jesus hadprompted within him new questions about moralgood. He feels the need to draw near to the onewho had begun His preaching with this new anddecisive proclamation: "The time is fulfilled, and

-the kingdom of God is at hand; repent,' and be-, lieve iIi the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15): .

:" _ . People today need to turn to Christ once agairi. in order to receive from Him the answer to their

questions about what is good and what is evil.Christ is the teacher, the risen one who has life inHimself and who is always present in His Churchand in the world. It is He who opens up to thefaithful the book of the Scriptures and, by fullyrevealing the .Father's will, teaches the truthabout moral action. At the source and summit ofthe economy· of salvation as the Alpha and theOmega of human history (cf. Rv 1: 8; -21: 6: 22: 13),Christ sheds light on man's condition and his inte­gral vocation;' Consequently, "the man whowishes to understand himself thoroughly-notjustin accordance with immediate, partial, oftensuperficial and even illusory standards and mea­sures of ,his being~must with his unrest, uncer­tainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, withhis life and death, draw near to Christ. He must;so to speak, enter him with all his own self; he

. must 'appropriate' and assimilate the whole ofthe reality of the incarnation and redemption inorder to find himself. If this profound processtakes place within him, he then bears fruit notonly of adoration of God but also of deeper won-der at himself." (16) ,

If we therefore wish to go to the heart of theGospel's moral teaching and grasp its profoundand unchanging content, we must carefully in­quire into the meaning of the question asked bythe rich young man in the Gospel and, even more,the meaning of Jesus' reply, allowing ourselvesto be guided by Him. Jesus, as a patient and sen­sitive teacher, answers the young man by takinghim, as it were, by the hand and leading him stepby step to the full truth.

- 'In order to makethis encounterwith Christ possible,God willed His Church.'

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E3.

'The Splendor of Truth'

THE TEACHER-"The Church, instructed by the Teacher's words," writes PopeJohn Paul II, "believes that man...has the ultimate purpose of his life to Iiv~ for thepraise of God's glory." Leonardo da Vinci's painting, "Christ Among the Doctors,"portrays Jesus teaching in the temple.

'TJ:tere is only one who is good', (Mt 19:17)

9 Jesus says: "Why do you ask me about what• is good? There is only one who is good. Ifyou

wish to enter into life, keep the commandments"(Mt 19: 1'7). In the versions of the evangelistsMark and Luke the question is phrased in thisway: "W':ly do you call me good? No one is goodbut God alone" (Mk 10: 18; cf. Lk 18: 19) .

Before answering the question, Jesus wishesthe young man to have a clear idea of why heasked his question. The good teacher points out tohim-"anc, to all of us-that the answer to the ques­tion, "Wtat good must I do to have eternal life?"can only he found by turning one's mind and heartto the .onll who is good: "No one is good but Godalone" (l\lk 10: 18; cf. Lk 18: 19) . Only God can an­swer the ,~uestion about what is good, because Heis the good itself.

To ask about the good, in fact, ultimately meansto turn toward God, the fullness of goodness.Jesus shc,ws that the young man's question is re­ally a religious question and that the goodnessthat attracts and at the same time obliges manhas its source in God, and indeed is God Himself.God alonll is worthy of being loved "with all one'sheart and with all one's soul and with all one'smind" (l\U 22: 37). He is the source of man's hap­piness. J,~sus brings the question about morallygood action back to its religious foundations, tothe acknowledgment of God, who alone is good­ness, fullness of life, the final end of human activ­ity and p€,rfect happiness.

10 Tt.e Church, instructed by the Teacher's. • w(lrds, believes that man, made in the im­

age of the Creator, redeemed by the blood ofChrist and made holy by the presence of the HolySpirit, ha s as the ultimate purpose of his life tolive "for the praise of God's glory" (cf. Eph 1: 12) ,striving to make each of his actions reflect thesplendor of that glory. "Know, then, 0 beautifulsoul, that you are the image of God," writes St.Ambrose. "Know that you are the glory of God (1Cor 11: 71• Hear how you are his glory. Theprophet I:ays:' Your knowledge has become toowonderful for me (cf. Ps 138: 6, Vulgate). That isto say, i:.1 my work your majesty has becomemore wonderful; in counsels of men your wisdomis exalted. When I consider myself, such as I amknown to you in my secret thoughts and deepestemotions the mysteries of your knowledge aredisclosed to me. Know then, 0 man, your great­ness, and be vigilant." (17)

What nan is and what he must do becomesclear as Boon as God reveals Himself. The Deca­logue is based on these words: "I am the Lordyour Goel, who brought you out of the land ofEgypt, Ollt of the house of bondage" (Ex 20: 2-3) .In the"10 words" of the covenant with Israel andin the whole law, God makes Himself known andacknowledged as the one who "alone is good";the one who despite man's sin remains the"model" for moral action, in accordance with Hiscommand "Yoil shall be holy; for I the Lord yourGod am,holy" (Lv 19: 2); as the one who, faithfulto His love for man, gives him His law (cf. Ex19: 9-24 and 20: 18-21) in order to restore man'soriginal C1nd peaceful ha.rmony with the Creatorand with all creation, and, what is more, 'to drawhim into ::fis divine love: "I will walk among youand will be your God, and you shall be my people"(Lv 26: 121. .

The mClral life presents itself as the responsedue to the many gratuitous initiatives taken byGod out clf love for man. It is a response of love,according to the statement made in Deuteronomyabout the fundamental commandment: "Hear, 0Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and youshalllov€ the Lord your God with all your heart,and with all your soul, and with all your might.And these words which I command you this dayshall be upon your heart; and you shall teachthem dili!~ently to your children" (Dt 6: 4-7). Thusthe moral life, caught up in the gratuito).lsness ofGod's love, is called to reflect His glory: "For the

one who loves God. it is enough to be pleasing tothe one whom he loves: for no greater rewardshould be sought than that love itself; charity infact is of God in such a way that God himself ischarity." (18)

11 Th~ statement t~at "there is only on~, 'Yho• is good" thus brmgs us back to the fIrst

tablet" of the commandments, which calls us toacknowledge God as the one Lord of all and toworship Him alone for His infinite holiness (cf.Ex 20: 2-11 ). The good is belonging to God, obey­ing him, walking humbly with Him in doing jus­tice and in loving kindness (d. Mi 6: 8). Acknowl­edging the Lord as God is the very core, the heartof the law, from which the particular preceptsflow and toward which they are ordered. In themorality of the commandments the fact that thepeople of Israel belongs to the Lord is made evi­dent, because God alone is the one who is good.Such is the witness of sacred Scripture, imbued inevery one of its pages with a lively perception ofGod's absolute holiness: "Holy, holy, holy is theLord of hosts" (Is 6: 3) .

But if God alone is the good, no human effort,not even the most rigorous observance of thecommandments, succeeds in "fulfilling" the law,that is, acknowledging the Lord as God and ren­dering Him the worship due to Him alone (cf. Mt4: 10). This "fulfillment" can come only from agift of God: the offer of a share in the divine good­ness revealed and communicated in Jesus, theone whom the rich young man addresses with thewords "good teacher" (Mk 10: 17; Lk 18: 18). Whatthe young man now perhaps only'dimly perceiveswill in the end be fully revealed by Jesus Himselfin the invitation: "Come, follow me" (Mt 19: 21) .

'If you wish to enter into life,keep the commandments'

(Mt 19:17).

12 Only God can answer the question about• the good, because He is the good. But God

has already given an answer to this question: Hedid so by creating man and ordering him withwisdom and love to his final end, through the lawwhich is inscribed in his heart (cf. Rom 2: 15), the"natural law." The latter "is nothing other thanthe light of understanding infused in us by God,whereby we understand what must be done and

what must be avoided, God gave this light andthis law to man at creation." (19) He also did ~o inthe history of Israel, particularly in the "10,

. words," the commandments of Sinai, whereby HebJiOught into existence the people of the covenant(d. Ex 24) and called them to be His "own posses­sion among all peoples," "a holy. nation" (Ex 19: 5­6) , which would radiate His holiness to all peoples(d. Wis 18: 4; Ez 20: 41). The gift of the Decaloguewas a promise and sign of the new covenant, inwhich the law would be -written in a new and de­finitive way upon the human heart (cf. Jer 31: 31­34), replacing the law of sin which had disfiguredthat heart (d.•Ier 17: 1). In those days "a newheart" would be given, for in it would dwell "anew spirit," the Spirit of God (cf. Ez 36: 24­2H). (20)

Consequently, after making the important clar­ification '~there is only one who is good," Jesus·tells the young man, "If you wish to enter into life,keep the commandments" (Mt 19: 17). In thisway, a close connection is made between eternalliIe and obedience to God's commandments:'God's commandments show man the path of life,and they lead to it. From the very lips of Jesus,the new Moses, man is once again given the com­mandments of the Decalogue. Jesus Himself de-

·finitively confirms them an~ proposes them to usas the way and condition of 'salvation. The com­mandments are linked to a promise. In the oldcovenant the object of the promise was the pos­session of a land where the people would be ableto live in freedom and in accordance with righ­teousness (cf. Dt 6: 20-25) . In the new covenant theobject of the promise is the "kingdom of heaven,"as Jesus declares at the beginning of the' 'Sermonon the Mount" ...a sermon which contains the full­est and most complete formulation of the new law(cf. Mt 5-7), clearly linked to the Decalogue en­trusted by God to Moses on :.vIount Sinai. This'same reality of the kingdom is referred to i!1 theexpression "eternal life," which is a participationin the very· life of God. It is attained in its perfec­tion only after death, but in faith it is even now alight of truth, a source of meaning for life, an i!1­choate share in the full following of Christ. In­deed, Jesus says to His disciples after speaking tothe rich young man: "Everyone who has lefthouses or brothers or sisters or father or motheror children or lands, for my name's sake, will re­ceive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life" (MtHI:29).

·E4 The Anchor October 29. 1993

'Love of neighbor springs from a loving heart, which,because it loves, is ready to live out the loftiest challenges. '

13 Jesus' answer is not enough for the young• man, who continues by asking the teacher

about the commandments which must be kept:"He said to him, 'Which ones?'" (Mt 19: 18). Heasks what he must do in life in order to show thathe acknowledges God's holiness. After directingthe young man's gaze toward God, Jesus remindshim Of the commandments of the Decalogue re­garding one's neighbor: "Jesus said: 'You shallnot murder; you shall not commit adultery; youshall not bear false witness; honor your fatherand mother; also, you shall love your neighbor asyourself'" (Mt 19: 18-19).

From the context of the conversation, and espe­cially from a comparison of Matthew's text withthe parallel passages in Mark and Luke, it is clearthat Jesus does not intend to list each and everyone of the commandments required in order to"enter into life," but rather wishes to draw theyoung man's attention to the "centrality" of theDecalogue with regard to every other precept, in­asmuch as it is the interpretation of what thewords "I am the Lord your God~' mean for man.Nevertheless we cannot fail to notice which com­mandments of the law the Lord recalls to theyoung man. They are some Of the command­ments belonging to the so-called "second tablet"of the Decalogue, the summary (cf. Rom 13: 8-10)and foundation of which .is the commandment oflove of neighbor: "You shall love your neighboras yourself" (Mt 19: 19; cf. Mk 12: 31) . In this com­mandment we find a precise expression of the sin­gular dignity of the hu~an person, "the onlycreature that God has wanted' for' its ownsake." (21) The different commandments of 'theDecalogue are really only so many reflections ofthe one commandment about the good of the per­son, at the level of the many different goodswhichcharacterize his identity as a spiritual and bodilybeing in relationship with God, with his neighborand with the material world-. As we read in theCatechism of the Catholic Church, "the Ten Com­mandments are part of God's revelation. At thesame time, they teach us man's true humanity.They shed light on the essential duties, and so in­directly on the fundamental rights inherent in thenature of the human person." (22)

The commandments of which Jesus remindsthe young man are meant to safeguard the goodof the person, the image of God, by protecting his .goods. "You shall not murder; you shall not com­mit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall notbear false witness" are moral rules formulated interms of prohibitions. These negative preceptsexpress with particular force the ever urgentneed to protect human life, the communion of per­sons in marriage, private property, truthfulnessand people's good name.

The commandments thus represent the basic .condition for love of neighbor; at the same timethey are the proof of that love. They are the firstnecessary step on the journe~ toward freedom, itsstarting point. "The beginning of freedom," St.Augustine writes, "is to be free fromcrimes...such as murder, adultery, fornication,theft, fraud, sacrilege and so forth. When onceone is without these crimes (and every Christianshould be without them), one begins to lift upone's head toward freedom. But this is only thebeginning of freedom, not perfect freedom."

14 This certainly does not mean that Christ• wishes to put the love of neighbor higher

than or even to set it apart from the love of God.This is evident from His conversation with theteacher of the law, who asked Him a questionvery much like the one asked by the young man.Jesus refers him to the two commandments oflove 'of God and love of neighbor (cf. Lk 10: 25-27),and reminds him that only by observing them willhe have eternal life: "Do this, and you will live" .(Lk 10: 28). Nonetheless, it is significant that it isprecisely the second of these commandmentswhich arouses the curiosity of the teacher of thelaw, who asks Him: "And who is my neighbor?"(Lk 10: 29). The teacher replies with the parableof the good Samaritan, which is critical for fully

'Veritatis Splendor'

understanding the commandment of love ofneighbor (cf. Lk 10: 30-37).

These two commandments, on which "dependall the law and the prophets" (Mt 22: 40) , are pro­foundly connected and mutually related. Their in­separable unity is attested to by Christ in Hiswords and by His very life: His mission culmi­nates in the cross of our redemption (cf. Jn 3: 14­15), the sign of His indivisible love for the Fatherand for humanity (cf. Jn 13: 1).

Both the Old and the New Testaments explicitlyaffirm that without love of neighbor, made con­crete in keeping the commandments, genuinelove for God is not possible. St. John makes thepoint with extraordinary forcefulness: "If anyonesays, 'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a

liar; for he who does not love his brother whom hehas seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" .(1 Jn 4: 20). The evangelist echoes the moralpreaching of Christ, expressed in a wonderful andunambiguous way in the parable of the gooct Sa­maritan (cf. Lk 10: 30-37) and in his words aboutthe final judgment (cf. Mt 2,5: 31-46).

'15 In the Sermon on the Mount, the Magna• Carta of Gospel morality, (24) Jesus says:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the lawand the prophets; I have come not to abolish thembut to fulfill them" (Mt 5: 17). Christ is the key tothe Scriptures: "You _s~arch the Scriptures...;and it is they that bear witness to me" (In 5: 39) .Christ is the center of the. economy of salvation,the recapitulation of the Old and New Testa­ments, of the promises of the law and of their ful­fillment in the Gospel; He is the living and eternallink between the old and the new covenants. Com­menting on Paul's statement that "Christ is theend of the law" (Rom 10: 4), St. Ambrose writes:"end not in the sense of a deficiency, but in thesense of the fullness of the law: a fullness which isachieved in Christ ("plenitudo legis .in Christoest"), since He came hot to abolish the law but tobring it to fulfillment. In the same way that there

, is an Old Testament, but all truth is in the NewTestament, so it is for the law: What was giventhrough Moses is a figure of the true law. There­fore, the Mosaic law is an image of the truth." (25)

Jesus brings God's commandments to fulfill­ment, particularly the commandment of love ofneighbor, by interiorizing their demands and bybringing out their fullest meaning. Love of neigh­bor springs from a loving heart which, preciselybecause it loves, is ready to live out the loftiestchallenges. Jesus shows that the commandmentsmust not be understood as a minimum limit not tobe gone beyond, but rather as a path involving amoral and spiritual journey toward pedection, atthe heart of which is love (cf. Col 3: 14). Thus thecommandment "you shall not murder" becomesa call to an attentive love which protects and pro­motes the life of one's neighbor. The precept pro~hibiting adultery becomes an invitation to a pureway of looking at others, capable of respectingthe spousal meaning of the body: "You haveheard that it was said to the men of old 'You shallnot kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judg­ment.' But I say to you that everyone who is an­gry with his brother shall be liable tojudgment...You have heard that it was said 'Youshall not commit adultery.' But I say to YO~ thateveryone who looks at a woman lustfully has al­ready committed adultery with her in his heart"(Mt 5: 21-22, 27-28). Jesus Himself is the living"fulfillment" of the law inasmuch asHe fulfills itsauthentic meaning by the total gift of Himself: HeHimself becomes a living and personal law, whoinvites people to follow Him; through the Spirit,He gives the grace to share His own life and loveand provides the strength to bear witness to thatlove in personal choices and actions (cf. Jn 13: 34­35) .

'If you wish to be perfect', (Mt 19:21)

16 The answer he receives .about the com­• mandments does not satisfy the young

man, who asks Jesus a further question. "I havekept all these; what do I still lack?" (Mt 19: 20). Itis not easy to say with a clear conscience, "I havekept all these," if one has any understanding ofthe real meaning of the demands contained inGod's law. And yet, even though he is able tomake this reply, even though he has followed themoral ideal seriously and generously from child­hood, the rich young man knows that he is still farfrom the goal: Before the person of Jesus he real­izes that he is still lacking something. It is hisawareness of this insufficiency that Jesus ad­dresses in His final answer. Conscious of theyoung man's yearning for something greater,which would transcend a legalistic interpretationof the commandments, the good teacher inviteshim to enter upon the path of perfection: "If youwish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions andgive the money to the poor, and you will havetreasure in heaven; then come, follow me" (Mt19:21) .

Like the earlier part of Jesus' answer, this parttoo must be, read and interpreted in the context ofthe whole moral message of the Gospel and inparticular in the context' of the Sermon on theMount, the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5: 3-12), the first ofwhich is precisely the beatitude of the poor, the"poor in spirit" as St. Matthew.makes clear (Mt5: 3), the humble: In this sense it can be said thatthe Beatitudes are also relevant to the answergiven by Jesus to the young man's question:"What good must I do to have eternal life?" In­deed, each of the Beatitudes promises from a par­ticularviewpoint that very "good" which opensman up to eternal life and indeed is eternal life.

The Beatitudes are not specifically concernedwith certain particular rules of behavior. Rather,they speak of basic attitudes and dispositions inlife, and therefore they do not coincide exactlywith the commandments. On the other hand,there is no separation or opposition between theBeatitudes and the commandments: Both refer tothe good, to eternal life. The Sermon on the Mountbegins with the proclamation of the Beatitudes,but also refers to the commandments (cf. Mt 5: 20­48). At'the same time, the Sermon on the Mount

"demonstrates the openness of the command­ments and their orientation toward the horizon ofthe perfection proper to the Beatitudes. These lat­ter are above all promises, from which there alsoindirectly flow'· normative indications for themoral life. In their originality and profundity they

, are a sort of self-portrait of Christ and for thisvery reason are invitations to discipleship and tocommunion of life with Christ. (26)

17 We do not know'how clearly the young man• in the Gospel understood the profound and

challenging import of Jesus' first reply: "If youwish to enter into life, keep the commandments."But it is certain that the young man's commit­ment to respect all the moral demands' of thecommandments represents the absolutely essen­tial ground in which the desire for perfection cantake root and mature, the' desire, that is, for themeaning of the commandments to be completely .fulfilled in following Christ. Jesus' conversationwith the young man helps us to grasp the condi­tions for the moral growth of man, who has beencalled to perfection: The young man, having ob­served all the commandments, shows that he isincapable of taking the next step by himselfalone. To do so requires mature human freedom("if you wish to be perfect") and God's gift ofgrace ("come, follow me") .

Perfection demands that maturity in self-giving

The Anchor October 29, 1993

'The Splendor of Truth'E5

20 Jesus asks us to follow Him and ~o imitate• Him along the path of love, a love which

gives itself completely to the brethren out of lovefor God: "This is my commandment, that youlove one another as I have loved you" (In 15: 12). 'The word "as" requires imitation of Jesus and ofHis love, of which the washing of feet is a sign:"If I then, your lord and teacher, have washedyour feet, you also ought to wash one another'sfeet. For I have given you an example, that you

<? should do as I have done to you" (In 13: 14-15).Jesus' way of acting and His words, His deedsand His precepts constitute the moral rule ofChristian life. Indeed, His actions, and in particu­lar His passion and death on the cross, are theliving revelation of His love for the Father and forothers. This is exactly'the love that Jesus wishes

19 The way and at the same time the content• of this perfection consist in the following of

Jesus, "sequela Christi," once one has given upone's own wealth and very self. This is preciselythe conclusion of Jesus' conversation with theyoung man: "Come, follow me" (Mt 19: 21). It isan invitation the marvelous grandeur of whichwill be fully perceived by the disciples afterChrist's resurrection, when the Holy Spirit leadsthem to all truth (d. Jn 16: 13).

It is Jesus himself who takes the initiative andcalls people to follow Him. His call is addressedfirst to those to whom 'He entrusts a particularmission" beginning with the Twelve; but it is alsoclear that every believer is called to be a followerof Christ (cf. Acts 6: 1). Following Christ is thusthe essential and primordial foundation of Chris­tian morality: Just as the people of Israel fol­lowed God, who led them through the desert to­ward the Promised Land (cf. Ex 13: 21), so everydisciple must follow Jesus, toward whom He.is

, drawn by the Father himself (cf. Jn 6: 44).This is not a matter only of disposing oneself to

hear a teaching and obediently accepting a com­mandment. More radically, It involves holdingfast to the very person of Jesus, partaking of Hislife and His destiny, sharing in His free and lovingobedience to the will of the Father. By respondingin faith and following the one who is incarnatewi!,dom, the disciple of Jesus truly becomes a dis­ciple of God (cf. Jn 6: 45). Jesus is indeed the lightof the world, the light of life (cf. Jn 8: 12) . He is theshepherd who leads His sheep and feeds them (cf.Jn 10: 11-16); He is the way and the truth and thelife (cf.•Tn 14: 6). It is Jesus who leads to the Fa­ther, so much so that to see Him, the Son, is to seethe Father (cf. Jn 14: 6-10). And thus to imitate theSon, "the image of the invisible God" (ColI: 15) ,means to imitate the Father.

to which human freedom is called. Jesus pointsout to the young man that the commandments arethe first and indispensable condition for ,havingeternallHe; on the other hand, for the young man

, to give up all he possesses and to follow the Lordis presented as an invitation: "if you wish."These words of Jesus reveal the particular dy­namic of freedom's growth toward maturity, and'at the sa:ne time they bear witness to the funda­mental rl~lationship between freedom and divinelaw.

Human freedom and God's law are not in oppo­sition; or the contrary, they appeal one to the oth­er. The follower of Christ knows that his vocationis to freedom. "You were called to freedom,brethren" (GalS: 13), proclaims the apostle Paulwith joy and pride. But he immediately adds,"Only do not use your freedom as an opportunityfor the fl ~sh, but through love be servants of oneanother" (ibid.). The firmness with which theapostle opposes those who believe that they arejustified by the law has nothing to. do with man's"liberatilm" from precepts. On the contrary, thelatter am at the service of the practice of love:"For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled thelaw. The commandments, 'You shall not commitadultery; you shall not murder; you shall notsteal; yeu shall not covet' and any other com­mandment are summed up in this sentence, 'Youshalllovl~ your neighbor as yourself'" (Rom 13: 8­9). St. Augustine, after speaking of the obser­vance of the commandments as being a~d of

, incipient. imperfect freedom, goes on to say:"Why, se meone will ask, is it not yet perfect? Be­cause 'I see in my members another law at warwith the. law of my reason.' ...In part freedom, inpart slavery: not yet complete freedom, not yetpure, no'; yet whole, because we are not yet ineternity. In part we retain our weakness and inpart we have attained freedom. All our sins weredestroyed in baptism, but does it follow that noweaknes,; remained after iniquity was destroyed?Had none remained, we would live without sin inthis life. But who would dare to say this exceptsomeone who is proud, someone unworthy pf themercy of our deliverer? ...Therefore, since someweaknes,; has remained in us, I dare to say that tothe extent to which we serve God we are free,while to the extent that we follow the law of sin,we are still slaves." (27)

18 'Ihose who live "by the flesh" experience• Cod's law as a burden and indeed as a de­

nial or at least a restriction of their own freedom.On the other hand, those who are impelled by loveand "walk by the Spirit" (GalS: 16), and who de­sire to serve others, find in God's law the funda­mental c.ndnecessary way in which to practicelove as something freely chosen and freely livedout. Indeed, they feel an interior urge-a genuine"necessLy" and no longer a form of coercion­not by stop at the minimum demands of the law,but to live them in their "fullness." This is a stilluncertain and fragile journey as long as we are onearth, bt;t it is one made possible by grace, whichenables liS to possess the full freedom of the chil­dren of God (cf. Rom 8: 21) and thus to live ourmorallile in a way worthy of our sublime voca­tion as ":;ons in the Son."

This v(lcation to perfect love is not restricted toa small i~roup of individuals. The invitation "go,sell your possessions and give the money to thepoor" and the promise "you will have treasure inheaven" are meant for everyone, because theybring ou'; the full meaning of the commandmentof love for neighbor, just as the invitation whichfollows, "come, follow me," is the new, specificform of the commandment of love of God. Boththe commandments and Jesus' invitation to therich you::1g man stand at the service of a singleand indivisible charity, which spontaneouslytends toward that perfection whose measure isGod aloLe: "You, therefore, must be perfect, asyour hea venly Father is perfect" (Mt 5: 48) . In theGospel e,f Luke, Jesus makes even clearer themeaning of this perfection: "Be merciful, even asyour Father is merciful" (Lk 6: 36) .

'THAT YOU LOVE'­The pope recalls thecommand of Jesus,

"that you love one an­other as I have lovedyou," given whon He

instituted the Eucharist.The painting of "The

Supperat Emmaus" isby an unknown 18th­

century artist.

'Come, follow me'/

(Mt 19:21).

to' be imitated by all who follow Him. It is the"new" commandment: "A new commandment Igive to you, that you love one another; even as Ih~lVe loved you, that you also love one another. Bythis all men will know that you are my disciples,if you have love for one another" (In 13: 34-35) .

The word "as" also indicates the degree ofJesus' love and of the love with which His disci­ples are called to love one another. After saying,"This is my commandment, that you love one an­other as I have loved you" (In 15: 12), Jesus con­tinues with words which indicate the sacrificialgift of His life on the cross as the witness to a love"to the end" (In 13: 1): "Greater love has no manthan this, that a man lay down his life for hisfriends" (In 15: 13) .

As he calls the. young man to follow Him alongthe way of perfection, Jesus asks him to be per­fect in the command of love, in "His" command­ment: to become part of the unfolding of His com­plete giving, to imitate and rekindle the very loveof the "good" teacher, the one who loved "to theend." This is what Jesus asks of everyone whowishes to follow Him: "If any man would comeafter me, let him deny himself and take up hiscross arid follow me" (Mt 16: 24) .

,~1 Following Christ is .not an outward imita­1.1 • tion, since it touches man at the verydepths of his being. Being a follower of Christmeans becoming conformed to Him who becamea servant even to giving Himself on the cross (cf.Phil 2: 5-8). Christ dwells by faith in the heart of.the believer (cf. Eph 3:17), and thus the discipleis conformed to the Lord. This is the effect ofgrace, of the active presence of the Holy Spirit inus.

Having become one with Christ, the Christianbecomes a member of His body, which is theChurch (cf. 1 Cor 12: 13, 27). By the work of theSpirit, baptism radically configures the faithful toChrist in the paschal mystery of death and resur­rection; it "clothes him" in Ctrist (cf. Gal 3: 27):"Let us rejoice and give thanks," exclaims St.Augustine speaking to the baptized, "for we havebecome not only Christians, but Christ.. .Marveland rejoice: We have become Christ!" (28) Hav­ing died to sin, those VI ho are baptized receive,new life (cf. Rom 6: 3-11); alive for God in ChristJesus, they are called to walk ::>y the Spirit and tomanifest the Spirit's fruits in their lives (cf. Gal5: 16-25). Sharing in the Eucharist, the sacramentof the new covenant (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-29), is theculmination of our assimilation to Christ, thesource of "eternal life" (cf. Jn 6: 51-58), thesource and power of that complete gift of self,which Jesus-according to the testimony handed,on by Paul-commands us to commemorate inliturgy and in life: "As often as you eat this breadand drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's deathuntil he comes" (1 Cor 11: 26) .

..

E6 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'With God all thingsare possible'

(Mt 19:26).

22 The conclusion of Jesus' conversation• with the rich young man is very poignant:

"When the young man heard this, he went awaysorrowful, for he had many possessions" (Mt19: 22). Not only the rich man but the disciplesthemselves are taken aback by Jesus' call to dis­cipleship, the demands of which transcend hu­man aspirations and abilities: "When the disci­ples heard this, they were greatly astounded andsaid, 'Then who can be saved?'" (Mt 19: 25). Butthe master refers them to God's power: "Withmen this is impossible, but with God all things arepossible" (Mt 19: 26) .. In the same chapter of Matthew's Gospel (19: 3­10), Jesus, interpreting the Mosaic law on mar­riage, rejects the right to divorce, appealing to a"beginning" more fundamental and more author­itative-than the law of Moses: God's original planfor mankind, a plan' which man, after sin has nolonger been able to live up to: "For your hardnessof heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,but from the beginning it was not so" (Mt 19: 8) .Jesus' appeal to the "beginning" dismays the dis­ciples, who' remark, "If such is the case of a manwith his wife, it is not expedient to marry" (Mt19: 10). And Jesus, referring specifically to thecharis.m of celibacy "for the kingdom of heaven"(Mt 19: 12), but stating a general rule, indicatesthe new and surprising possibility opened up toman by God's grace. "He said to them': 'Not ev­eryone can accept this saying, but only those towhom it is given'" (Mt 19: 11) .

To imitate and live out the love of Christ is notpossible for man by his own strength alone. Hebecomes capable of this love only by virtue of agift received. As the Lord Jesus receives the loveof His Father, so h~ in turn freely communicatesthat love to His disciples: "As the Father hasloved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love"(In 15: 9). Christ's gift is His Spirit, whose first"fruit" (cf. Gal 5: 22) is charity: "God's love hasbeen poured into our hearts through the HolySpirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5: 5). St.Augustine asks, "Does love bring about the keep­ing of the commandments or does the keeping oftI:!e commandments bring about 10ve?"_And heanswers, "But who can doubt that love comesfirst? For the one who does not love has no reasonfor keeping the commandments." (29)

23 "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus• has set me free from the law of sin and

death" (Rom 8: 2). With 'these words the apostlePaul invites us to consider in the perspective ofthe history of salvation, which reaches its fulfill­ment in Christ, the relationship between the (old)law and grace (the new law). He recognizes thepedagogic function of the law, which, by enablingsinful man to take stock of his own powerlessnessand by stripping him of the presumption of hisself-sufficiency, leads him to ask for and to re­ceive "life in the Spirit." Only in this new life is itpossible to carry out God's commandments. In­deed, it is through faith in Christ that we havebeen made righteous (cf. Rom 3: 28) : the"righteousness" which the law demands, but isunable to give, is found by every believer to berevealed and granted by the Lord Jesus. Once-again it is S1. Augustine who admirably sums upthis Pauline dialectic of law and grace: "The lawwas given that grace might be sought; and gracewas given that the law might be fulfilled." (30)

Love and life according to the Gospel cannot bethought of first and foremost as a kind of precept,because what they demand is beyond man's abili­ties. They are possible only as the result of a giftof God who heals, restores and transforms the hu­man heart by His grace: "For the law was giventhrough Moses; grace and truth came throughJesus Christ" (In 1: 17). The promise of eternallife is thus linked to the gift of grace, and the gift

'Veritatis Splendor'

of the Spirit which we have received is even nowthe "guarantee of our inheritance" (Eph 1: 14).

24 And so we find revealed the authentic and• original aspect of the commandment of

love and of the perfection to which it is ordered:We are speaking of a possibility opened up to manexclusively by grace, by the gift of God, by Hislove. On the other hand, precisely the awarenessof having received the gift, of possessing in Jesus.Christ the love of God; generates and sustains thefree response of a full love for God and the breth­ren, as the apostle John insistently reminds us inhis first letter: "Beloved, let us love one another;for love is of God and knows God. He who does notlove does not know God; for God is love...Beloved,if God so loved us, we ought also to love oneanother...We love, because he first loved us" ( 1Jn 4: 7-8, 11, 19) .

This inseparable connection between the Lord'sgrace and human freedom, between gift and task,has been expressed in simple yet profound wordsby St. Augustine in his prayer: "Da quod iubes etiube quod vis" (grant what you corpmand andcommand what you will) . (31)

The gift does not lessen but reinforces the moraldemands of love: "This is his commandment,that we should believe in the name of his SonJesus Christ and love one another just as he hascommanded us" (1 Jn 3: 32). One can "abide" inlove only by keeping the commandments, asJesus states: "If you keep my commandments,you will abide in my love, just as I have kept myFather's commandments and abide in his love"(In 15: 10).

Going to the heart of the moral message ofJesus and the preaching of the apostles, and sum­ming up in a remarkable way the great traditionof the fathers of the East and West, and of St.Augustine in particular, (32) St. Thomas was ableto write that the new law is the grace of the HolySpirit given through faith in Christ. (33) The exter­nal precepts also mentioned in the Gospel disposeone for this grace or produce its effects in one'slife. Indeed, the new law is not content to saywhat must be done, but also gives the power to"do what is true" (cf. Jn 3: 21). St. John Chrysos­tom likewise observed that the new law was pro­mulgated at the descent of the Holy Spirit fromMaven on the day of Pentecost and that the apos­tles "did not come down from the mountain car­rying, like Moses, tablets of stone in their hands;but they came down carrying the Holy Spirit intheir hearts...having become by His grace a liv­ing law, a living bodk." (34)

'Lo, I am with you always,to the close of the age'

(Mt28:20).

25 Jesus' conversation with the rich young• man continues, in a sense, in every period

of history, including our own. The question"Teacher, what good must I do to have eternallife?" arises in the heart of every individual, andit is Christ alone who is capable of giving the full .and definitive answer. The teacher who expoundsGod's commandments, who invites others to fol­low Him and gives the grace for a new life, is al­ways present and at work in our midst as He Him­self promised: "Lo, I am with you always, td theclose of the age" (Mt 28: 20). Christ's relevancefor people of all times is sho~n forth in His bo.dy,which' is the Church. For this reason the Lordpromised His disciples the Holy Spirit, who would"bring to their remembrance" and teach them tounderstand His commandments (cf. Jn 14: 26), "and who would be th~ principle and constantsource of a new life in the world (cf. Jn 3: 5-8;Rom 8: 1-13).

The moral prescriptions which God imparted inthe old covenant and which attained their perfec­tion in the new and eternal covenant in the veryperson of the Son of God made man must be

faithfully kept and continually put into practice inthe various different cultures throughout thecourse of history. The task of interpreting theseprescriptions was entrusted by Jesus to the apos­tles and to their successors, with the special assis­tance of the Spirit of truth: "He who hears youhears me" (Lk 10: 16). By the light and thestrength of this Spirit the apostles carried outtheir mission of preaching the Gospel and ofpointing out the "way" of the Lord (cf. Acts18: 25), teaching above all how to follow and imi­tate Christ: "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil1:21).

26 In the moral catechesis of the apostles,• besides exhortations and directions con­

nected to specific historical and cultural situa­tions, we find an ethical teaching with preciserules of behavior.- This is seen in their letters,which contain the interpretation, made under theguidance of the Holy Spirit, of the Lord's preceptsas they are to be lived in different cultural cir­cumstances (cf. Rom 12-15; 1 Cor 11-14; Gal 5-6;Eph 4-6; Col 3-4; 1 Pt and Jas). From theChurch's beginnings, the apostles, by virtue oftheir pastoral responsibility to preach the Gospel,were vigilant over the right conduct ofChristians, (35) just as they were vigilant for thepurity of the faith and the handing down of thedivine gifts in the sacraments. (36) The firstChristians, coming both from the Jewish peopleand from the gentiles, differed from the pagansnot only in their faith and their liturgy but also inthe witness of their moral conduct, which was in­spired by the n~w law. (37) The Church is in fact acommunion both of faith and of life; her rule oflife is "faith working through love" (Gal 5: 6) .

No damage must be done to the harmony be­tween faith and life: The Unity of the Church isdamaged not only by Christians who reject or dis­tort the truths of faith but also by those who disre­gard the moral· obligations to which they arecalled by the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 5: 9-13). The apos­tles decisively rejected any separation betweenthe commitment of the heart and the actionswhich express or prove it (cf. 1 Jn 2: 3-6). Andever since apostolic times the Church's pastorshave unambiguously condemned the behavior ofthose who fostered division by their teaching orby their actions. (38)

27 Within the unity of the Church, promoting• and preserving the faith and the moral

.life is the task entrusted by Jesus to the apostles(cf. Mt 28: 19-20), a task which continues in theministry of their successors. This is apparentfrom the living tradition, whereby-as the SecondVatican Council teaches-"the church, in herteaching, life and worship, perpetuates and handson to every generation all that she is and all that'she believes. This tradition, which comes fromthe apostles, progresses in the church under theassistance of the Holy Spirit." (39) In the HolySpirit, the Church receives and hands down theScripture as the witness to the "great things"which God has done in history. (cf. Lk 1: 49); sheprofesses by the lips of her fathers and doctorsthe truth of the word made flesh, puts his preceptsand love into practice in the lives of her saints andin the sacrifice of her martyrs, and celebrates hethope in him in the liturgy. By this same traditionChristians receive "the living voice of theGospel," (40) as the faithful expression of God'swisdom and will.

Within tradition, the authentic interpretation ofthe Lord's law develops with the help of the HolySpirit. The same Spirit who is at the origin of therevelation of Jesus' commandments and teach­ings guarantees that they will be reverently pre­served, faithfully expounded and correctly ap­plied in different times and places. This constant"putting into practice" of the commandments isthe sign and fruit of a deeper insight into revela­tion and of an understanding in the light of faith ofnew historical and cultural situations. Neverthe­less, it can only confirmthe permanent validity of

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E7

revelation :md follow in the line of the interpreta­tion given to it by the great tradition of theChurch's tl~aching and life, as witnessed by theteaching oj the fathers, the lives of the saints, theChurch's liturgy and the teaching of themagisterium.

.In particular, as the council affirms, "the taskof authentically interpreting the word of God,whether in its written form or in that of tradition,has been entrusted only to those charged with theChurch's living magisterium, whose authority isexercised in the name of Jesus Christ." (41) TheChurch, in her life and teaching, is thus revealedas "the pLlar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tm3: 15), including the truth regarding moral action.Indeed, "the church has the right always and ev­erywhere:o proclaim moral principles, even inrespect of the social order, and to make judg­ments abo'lt any human matter insofar as this isrequired by fundamental human rights or the sal­vation of souls." (42)

Precisely on the questions frequently debated inmoral theology today and with regard to whichnew tende:lcies and theories have developed, themagisterium, in fidelity to Jesus Christ and, incontinuity with the Church's tradition, sensesmore urgE ntly the duty to offer its own discern­ment and teaching in order to help man in hisjourney to',vard truth and freedom~

Chapter 2'Do Not Be Conformed'to this World'

(Rom 12:2).

The ChurchAnd the Discernment

Of Certain TendenciesIn Present-day Moral Theology

Teaching what befits-sound doctrine(cf. Ti 2:1).

28 Our meditation on the dialogue between• JE sus- and the rich young man has en­

ablt:d us t) bring together the essential elementsof revelation in the Old and New Testament withregard to :noral action. These are:' the ,subordina­tion of man and his activity to God, the one who"alone is good"; the relationship between themoral good of human acts and eternal life; Chris­tian discipleship, which opens up before man theperspectiye of perfect love; and finally the gift ofthe Holy :;;pirit, source and means of the morallife of the 'new creation" (d. 2 Cor 5: 17).

In her reflection on morality, the Church hasalways kept in mind the words of Jesus to the richyoung man. Indeed, sacred Scripture remains theliving ane. fruitful source of the Church's moraldoctrine; as the Second Vatican Council recalled,the Gospel is "the source of all saving truth aridmoral teaching." (43) The Church has faithfullypreserved what the word of God teaches not onlyabout truths which must be believed, but alsoabout mO:,'al action, action pleasing to God (d. 1Thes 4: 1), she has achieved a doctrinal develop­ment analogous to that which has taken place inthe realm of the truths of faith. Assisted by theHoly Spirit, who leads her into all the truth (d. Jn16: 13), the Church has not ceased, nor can sheever cease, to contemplate the "mystery of theWord incarnate," in whom "light is shed on themystery cf man." (44)

2' 9 The Church's moral reflection, always• conducted in the light of Christ, the "good

teacher," has also developed in the specific formof the theological science called moral theology, ascience which accepts and examines divine reve­lation wh ile at the same' time responding to the

'The Splendor of Truth'

demands of human reason. Moral theology is areflection concerned with "morality," with thegood and the evil of human acts and of the personwho performs them; in this sense it is accessibleto all people. But it is also "theology," inasmuchas it acknowledges that the origin and end of .moral action are found in the one who "alone isgood" and who, by giving himself to man inChrist, offers him the happiness of divine life.

The Second Vatican Council invited scholars totake "special care for the renewal of moraltheology," in such a way that "its scientific pre­sentation, increasingly based on the teaching ofScripture, will cast light on the exalted vocationof the faithful in Christ and on their obligation tobear fruit in charity for the life of thenworld." (45)Th~ council also encouraged theologians, "whilerespecting the methods and requirements of theo­logical science, to look for a' more appropriate.,...way of communicating doctrine to the peopleoftheir time; since there is a difference between thedeposit or the truths of faith and the manner inwhich, they are expressed, keeping the samemeaning and tl,1e same judgment." (46) This led toa further invitation, one extended to all the faith­ful, but addressed to theologians in particular:"The faithful should live in the closest contactwith others of their time and should work for aperfect understanding of their modes of thoughtand feelings as expressed in their culture." (47)

The work of many theologians who found sup­port in the council's encouragement has alreadyborne. fruit.in interesting and helpful reflectionsabout the truths of faith to be believed and appliedin life, reflections offered in a form better suitedto the sensitivities and questions of our contempo­raries. The Church, and particularly the bishops,to whom Jesus Christ primarily entrusted theministry of teaching, are deeply appreciative ofthis work and encourage theologians to continuetheir efforts, inspired by that profound and au­thentic "fear of the Lord, which is the beginningof wisdom" (cf. Prv 1: 7).

At the same time, however, within the contextof the theological debates which followed thecouncil there have developed certain interpreta­tions of Christian morality which are not consis­tent with "sound teaching" (2 Tm 4: 3). Certainlythe Church's magisterium does not intend to im­pose upon the faithful any particular theologicalsystem, still less a philosophical one. Neverthe­less, in order to "reverently preserve and faith­fully expound" the word of God, (48)' the magiste.:rium has the duty to state that some trends oftheological thinking and certain philosophical af­firmations are. incompatible with revealedtruth. (49)

'the Church...puts forward...a reply thatpossessesa light and power capableof answering the mostcontroversial andcomplex questions. '

30 In addressing this encyclical to you,my• brother bishops, it is my intention to state

the principles necessary for discerning what iscontrary to "sound doctrine," drawing attentionto those elements ofthe Church's moral teachingwhich today appear particularly exposed to error,ambiguity or neglect. Yet these are the very ele­ments on which there depends "the answer to theobscure riddles of the human condition which to­day also, as in the past, profoundly disturb thehuman heart. What is man? What is the meaningand purpose of our life? What is good and what issir..? What origin and purpose do sufferings have?What is the way to attaining true happiness?What are death, judgment and retribution afterdeath? Last, what is that final, unutterable mys­tery which embraces our lives a::J.d from which wetake our origin and toward which we tend?" (50)These and other questions-such as, What is free­dom and what is its relationl?hip to the truth con­tained in God's law? What is the role of con­science in man"s moral development? How do wedetermine, in accordance with the truth about thegood, the specific rights and duties of the humanperson?-can all be summed up in the fundamen­tal question which the young man in the Gospelput to Jesus: "Teacher, what good must I do tohave eternal life?" Because the Church has beensent by Jesus to preach the Gospel and to "makedisciples of all nations... , teaching them to ob­serve all" that He has commanded (cf. Mt 28: 19­20), ·she today once more puts forward themaster's reply, a r_eply that possesses a light anda power capable of answering even the most con­troversial and complex questions. This light andpower also impel the Church constantly to carryout not only her dogmatic but also her moral re­flection within an interdisciplinary coritext, whichis especially necessary in facing new issues. (51)

It is in the same .light ane power that theChurch's magisterium continues to carry out itsta.sk of discernment, accepting and living out theadmonition addressed by the apostle Paul to Tim­othy: "I charge you in the presence of God and ofChrist Jesus, who is to judge the living and thedead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:Preach the word, be urgent in season and out ofseason, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailingin patience and in teaching. For the time willcome when people will not endure sound teaching,but having itching ears they will accumulate forthemselves teachers to suit their own likings andwill turn away from listening to the truth andwander into myths. As for you, always be steady,endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist,fulfill your ministry" (2 Tm 4: 1-5; cf. Ti 1: 10, 13­14) .

E8 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'Veritatis Splendor'

'God's law does not reduce, much less do away withhuman freedom...itprotects andpromotes that freedom. '

";..

.-'

,

'y9U will know the truth, andthe truth will make you free'

(Jo 8:32).

31 The human issues most frequently de­• bated and differently resolved in contem­

porary moral reflection are all closely related, al­beit in various ways, to a crucial issue: humanfreedom.

Certainly people today have a particularlystrong sense of freedom. As the council's declara­tion on religious freedom "Dignitatis Humanae"had already observed, "The dignity of the humanperson is a concern of which people of our timeare becoming increasingly more' aware." (52)Hence the insistent demand that people be per­mitted to "enjoy the use of their own responsiblejudgment and freedom, and decide on their ac­tions on grounds of duty and conscience, withoutexternal pressure or coercion." (53) In particular,the right to religious freedom and to respect forconscience on its journey toward the truth is in­creasingly perceived as the foundation of the cu­mulative rights of the person. (54) .

This heightened sense of the dignity of the hu­man person and of his or her uniqueness, and ofthe respect due to the journey of conscience, cer­tainly represents one of. .the positive achieve­ments of modern culture. This perception, au­thentic as it is, has been expressed in a number ofmore or less adequate ways, some of which, how­ever, diverge from the truth about man as a crea­ture and the image of God, and thus need to becorrected and purified in the light of faith. (55)\

32 Certain currents of modern thought have. • gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an

extent that it becomes an absolute, which wouldthen be the source of values. This is the directiontaken by doctrines which have lost the sense ofthe transcendent or which are explicitly atheist.The individual conscience is accorded the statusof a supreme tribunal of moral judgment whichhands down categorical and infallible decisionsabout good and evil. To the affirmation that onehas a duty to follow one's conscience is undulyadded the affirmation that one's moral judgment

, is true merely by the fact that it has its origin inthe conscience. But in this way the inescapableclaims of truth disappear, yielding their place toa criterion of sincerity, authenticity and "being atpeace with oneself," so much so that some havecome to adopt a radically subjectivistic concep-tion of moral judgment. .

As is immediately evident, the crisis of truth isnot unconnected with this ·development. Once theidea of a universal truth about the good,-lrnowableby human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion ofconscience also changes. Conscience is no longerconsidered in its primordial reality (is an act of aperson's intelligence, the function of which is toapply the universal lrnowlepge of the good in aspecific situation and thus to express a judgmentabout the right conduct to be chosen here andnow. Instead, there is a tendency to grant to theindividual conscience the prerogative of indepen­dently determining the criteria of good and evil'and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook isquite congenial to an individualist ethic, whereineach individual is faced with his own truth, differ­ent from the truth of others. Taken to its extremeconsequences, this individualism leads to a denialof the very idea of human nature.

These different notions are at the origin of cur­rents of thought which· posit a radical oppositionbetween moral law and conscience, and betweennature and freedom.

33 Side by side with its exaltation of freedom• yet oddly in contrast with it, modern cul­

ture radically questions the very existence of thisfreedom. A number of disciplines, grouped underthe name of the "behavioral sciences," haverightly drawn attention to the many kinds of psy­chological and social conditioning which influ-

ence the exercise of human freedom. Knowledgeof t~ese conditionings and the study they have re­ceived represent important achievements whichhave found application in various areas, for ex­ample, in pedagogy or the administration of jus­tice. But some people, going beyond the conclu­sions which can be legitimately drawn from theseobservations, have come to question or even denythe very reality of human freedom.

Mention should also be made here of theorieswhich misuse scientific research about the hu­man person. Arguing from the great variety ofcustoms, behavior patterns and institutionspresent in humanity, these theories end up, if notwith an outright denial of universal human val­ues, at least with a relativistic conception ofmorality.

34 "Teacher, what good must I do to have• eternal life?" The question of morality,

to which Christ provides the answer, cannotprescind from the issue of freedom. Indeed, itconsiders that issue central, for there can be nomorality without freedom: "It is only in freedomthat man can turn to what is good." (56) But whatsort of freedom? The council, considering ourcontemporaries who "highly regard" freedomand "assiduously pursue" it, but who "often culti­vate it in wrong ways as a license to do anythingthey please, even evil," speaks of "genuine" free­dom. "Genuine fJ;'eedom is an outstanding mani­festation of the divine image in man. For Godwilled to leave man 'in the power of his own coun­sel' (cf. Sir 15: 14), so that he would seek his Cre­ator of his own accord and would freely arrive atfull and blessed perfection by cleaving t6God." (57)

Although each individual has a right to be re­spected in his own journey in search of the truth,there exists a prior moral obligation, and a graveone at that to seek the truth and to adhere to itonce it is lrnown. (58) As Cardinal John HenryNewman, that outstanding defender of the rightsof conscience, forcefully put it: "Conscience hasrights because it has .duties." (59)

Certain tendencies in contemporary moral the­ology, under the influence of the ~urrents ofsub­jectivism and individualism just mentioned, in­volve novel interpretations of the relationship offreedom to the moral law, human nature and con­science, and propose novel criteria for the moralevaluation of acts. Despite their variety, thesetendencies are at one in lessening or even denyingthe dependence of freedom on truth.

If we wish to undertake a critical discernmentof these tendencies-a discernment capable of ac­lrnowledging what is legitimate, useful and ofvalue in them, while at the same time pointing outtheir ambiguities, dangers and errors-we mustexamine them in the light of the fundamental de­pendence of. freedom. upon truth, a dependen<;ewhich has found its clearest and most authorita­tive expression in the words of Christ: "You willlrnow the truth, and the truth will set you free"(In 8: 32). .

I. Freedom and Law·'Of the tree of the knowledgeof good and evilyou shall not eat'

(Go 2:17).

35 In the Book of Genesis we read:· "The .• Lord God commanded the man, saying,

'You may eat freely of every tree of the garc;len;but of the tree of the lrnowledge of good and evilyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of ityou shall die'" (Gn 2: 16-17).

With this imagery, revelation teaches that the.power to decide what is good and what is evil doesnot belong to man, but to God alone. The man iscertainly free, inasmuch as he can understandand accept God's commands. And he possessesan extremely far-reaching freedom, since he caneat "of every tree of the garden." But his freedomis not unlimited: It must halt before the "tree ofthe lrnowledge of good and evil," for it is called toaccept the moral law given by God. In fact, hu­man freedom finds its authentic and complete ful­fillment precisely in the acceptance of that law.God, who alone is good, lrnows perfectly what isgood for man, and by virtue of His very love pro­poses this good to man in the commandments.

God's law does not reduce, much less do awaywith human freedom; rather, it protects and pro­motes that freedom. In contrast, however, somepresent-day cultural tendencies have given rise toseveral currents of thought'in ethics which centerupon an alleged conflict between freedom andlaw.. These doctrines would grant to individuals orsocial groups the right to determine what is goodor evil. Human freedom would thus be able to"create values" and would enjoy a primacy overtruth, to the point that truth itself would be con­sidered a creation of freedom. Freedom wouldthus lay claim to a moral autonomy which wouldactually amount to an absolute sovereignty. \

36 The modern concern for the claims of au­• tonomy has not failed to exercise an influ-

,ence also in the sphere of Catholic moral theolo­gy. While the latter has certainly never at­tempted to set human freedom against the divinelaw or to question the existence of an ultimate re­ligious foundation for moral norms, it has none­theless been led to undertake a profound rethink­ing about the role of reason and of faith in identi­fyingmoral norms with reference to specific"inner-worldly" kinds of behavior involving one­self, others and the material world.

It must be aclrnowledged that underlying thiswork of rethinking there are certain positive con­cerns which to a great extent belong to the besttradition of Catholic thought. In response to theencouragement of the Second VaticanCouncil, (60) there has been a desire to foster dia­logue with modern culture, emphasizing therational-and thus universally understandableand communicable-character of moral normsbelonging to the sphere. of the naturat morallaw. (61) There has also been an attempt to reaf­firm the interior character of the ethical require­ments deriving from that law, requirementswhich create an obligation for the will only be­cause such an obligation was previously aclrnowl­edged by human reason and, concretely, by per­sonal conscience.

Some people, however, disregarding the depen­dence of human reason on divine wisdom and theneed, given the present state of fallen nature, fordivine revelation as an effective means for lrnow­ing moral truths, even those of the naturalorder, (62) have actually posited a complete sov­ereignty of reason in the domain of moral normsregarding the right ·ordering of life in this world.Such norms would constitute the boundaries for amer.ely "human" morality; they would be the ex­pression of a law which man in an autonomousmanner lays down for himself and which has itssource exclusively in human reason. In no waycould God be considered the author of this law,except in the sense that human reason exercisesits autonomy in setting down laws by virtue of aprimordial and total mandate given to man byGod. These trends of thought have led to a denial,in opposition to sacred Scripture (d. Mt ·15: 3-6)and the Church's constant teaching, of the factthat the natural moral law has God as its authorand that man, by the use of reason, participates in

'The Splendor of Truth'

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E9

~-I

41 Man's genuine moral autonomy in no way• means the rejection but rather the accep­

tance of the moral law, of God's command: "TheLord God gave this command to the man" (Gn2: 16). Human freedom and God's law meet andare called to intersect, in the sense of man's freeobedience to God and of God's completely gratu­itous benevolence toward man. Hence obedienceto God is not, as some would be]eve, a heterono­my, as if the moral life were subject to the will ofsomething all-powerful, absolute, extraneous toman and intolerant of his freedom. If in fact aheteronomy of morality were to mean a denial ofman's self-determination or the imposition ofnorms unrelated to his good, this would be in con­tradiction t.o the revelation of the covenant and ofthe redemptive ~ncarnation. Such a heteronomywould be nothing but a form of alienation, con­trary to divine wisdom and to the dignity of thehuman person.

Others speak, and rightly so, of theonomy, orparticipated theonomy, since man's free obedi­ence to God's law effectively implies that humanreason and human will participate in God's wis­dom and providence. By forbidding man to "eatof the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,"God makes it clear that man does not originallypossess such "knowledge" as something properlyhis own, but only participates ir. it by the light ofnatural reason and of divine revelation, whichmanifest to him the requirements and thepromptings of eternal wisdom. Law must there­fore be considered an expression of divine wis­dom: By submitting to the law, freedom submitsto the truth of creation. Consequently one mustacknowledge in the freedom of the human personthe image and the nearness of God, who is presentin all (d. Eph 4: 6). But one must likewise ac­knowledge ·the majesty of the God of the universeand revere the holiness of the law of God, who isinfinitely transcendent: "Deus sempermo~ior." (74)

not dependent on God and that man can use themwithout reference to their Creator." (67) With re­gard to man himself, such a concept of autonomyproduces particularly baneful effects and eventu­ally leads to atheism: "Without its Creator thecreature simply disappears...If God is ignored thecreature itself is impoverished." (68)

4H The teaching of the council emphasizes, onU • the one hand, the role of human reason in

diseovering and applying the moral law: Themoral life calls for that creativity and originalitytypical of the person, the source and cause of hisown deliberate acts. On the other hand, reasondraws its own truth and authority from the eter­nallaw, which is none other than divine wisdomitself. (69) At the heart of the moral life we thusfind the principle of a "rightful autonomy" (70) ofman, the personal subject of his actions. Themoral law has its origin in God and always findsits source in him: At the same time, by virtue ofnatural reason, which derives ~rom divine wis­dom, it is a properly human law. Indeed: as wehave seen, the natural law "is nothing other thanthe light of understanding infused in us by·God,whereby we understand what must be done andwhat must be avoided. God gave this light andthis law to man at creation." (71) The rightful au­tonomy of the practical reason means that manpossesses in himself his own law, received fromthe Creator. Nevertheless, the autonomy of rea­son cannot mean that reason itself creates vatuesand moral norms. (72) Were this autonomy to im­ply a deniai of the participatior. of the practicalreason In the wisdom of the divine Creator andlawgiver or were it to suggest a freedom whichcreates m·oral norms on the basis of historicalcontingencies or the diversity of societies and cul-

.tures, this sort of alleged autonomy would contra­dict the Church's teaching on the truth aboutman. (73) It would be the death of true freedom:"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evilyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of ityou shall die" (Gn 2: 1~).

39 Not only the world, however, but also man• himself has been entrusted to his own care

and responsibility. God left man "in the power ofhis own counsel" (Sir 15: 14), that he might seekhis Creator and freely attain perfection. Attainingsuch perfection means personally building up thatperfection in himself. Indeed, just as man in exer­cising his dominion over the world shapes it inaccordance with his own intelligence and will, sotoo in performing morally good acts manstrengthens, develops and consolidates withinhimself his likeness to God.

Even so, the council warns against a false con­cept of the autonomy of earthly realities, onewhich would maintain that "created things are

that "genUine freedom" which is "an outstandingmanifestation of the divine image" in man: "Godwilled to leave man in the power of his own coun­sel, so that he would seek his ~reatori of his ownaccord and would freely arrive at full and blessedperfection by cleaving to God." (64) These wordsindicate the wonderful· depth of the· sharing inGod's dominion to which man has been called:They indicate that man's dominion extends in acertain sense over man himself. This has been aconstantly recurring theme in theological reflec­tion on human freedom, which is described as aform of kingship. For example, .St. Gregory ofNyssa writes: "The soul shows its royal and ex­alted character...in that it is free and self­governed, swayed autonomously by its own will.Of whom else can this be said, save aking? ...Thus human nature, created to rule othercreatures, was by its likeness to the king of theulliverse made as it were a living image, partak­ing with the .archetype both in dignity and inname." (65)

The exercise of dominion over the world repre­sents a great and responsible task for man, onewhich involves his freedom in obedience to theCreator's command: "Fill the earth and subdueit" (Gn 1: 28). In view of this, a rightful autonomy'is due to every man as well as to the human com­munity, a fact to which the council's constitution"Gaudium et Spes" calls special attention. This isthe autonomy of earthly realities, which meansthat "created things have their own laws and val­ues which are to be gradually discovered, utilizedand ordered by man." (66)

I

the eternal law, which it is .not for him toestablish.

37 In their desire, however, to keep the• moral life in a Christian context, certain

moral theologians have introduced a sharp dis­tinction, contrary to Catholic doctrine, (63) be­tween an Ethical order, which would be human inorigin and of value for this world alone, and anorder of s3.1vation for which only certain inten­tions and interior attitudes regarding God andneighbor would be significant. This has then led toan actual denial that there exists, in divine reve­lation, a s)ecific and determined moral content,universall;1 valid and permanent. The word ofGod would be limited to proposing an exhortation,a generic paraenesis, which the autonomous rea­son alone would then have the task of completingwith normative directives whIch are truly"objective," that is, adapted to the concrete his­torical situation. Naturally, an autonomy con­ceived in this way also involves the denial of aspecific doctrinal competence on the part of theChurch and hermagisterium with regard to par­ticular moral norms which deal with the so-called"human g,)od." Such norms would not be part ofthe proper content of revelation and would not inthemselves be relevant for salvation.

No one ean fail to see that such an interpreta­tion of thE' autonomy of human reason involvespositions incompatible with Catholic teaching.

In such a context it is absolutely necessary toclarify, in the light of the word of God and theliving tradition of the Church, the fundamental·notions of human freedom and of the moral law aswell as thdr profound and intimate relationship.Only thus will it be possible to respond to therightful cl3.ims of human reason in a way whichaccepts the valid elements present in certain cur­rents of contemporary moral theology withoutcompromising the Church's heritage of moralteaching with ideas derived from an erroneousconcept of autonomy.

The Metropolitan Museum ofArt!The Robert Lehman Collection.

IMAGERY-Giovanni di Paolo's painting, "The Creation and the Expulsion ofAdam and Eve From Paradise," creates the imagery the pope cites as used byrevalation to teach "that the power to decide what is good and what is evil doesnot belong to man, but to God alone."

'God left man in the powerof his own counsel'

. (Sir 15:14).

38 Taking up the words of Sirach, the Second• Vatican Council explains the meaning of

E 10 The Anchor October 29. 1993

'Veritatis Splendor'

'It is in the light of the dignity of the human person­a dignity w~ich must be affirmed forits own sake-that reason grasps the specific moral value of certain goodstoward which the person is naturally inclined. '

Blessed is the man who takesdelight in the law of the Lord

(cf. Ps 1:1-2).42 Patterned on God's freedom, man's free-

• dom is not negated by his obedience to thedivine law; indeed, only through this obediencedoes it aQide in the truth and conform to humandignity. This is clearly stated by the council:"Human dignity requires man to act through con­scious and free choice, as motivated andprompted personally from within, and notthrough blind internal impulse or merely externalpressure. Man achieves such dignity when hefrees himself from all subservience to his feel­ings, and in a free choice of the good, pursues hisown end by effectively and assiduously marshal­ling the appropriate means." (75)

In his journey toward God, the one who "aloneis good," man must freely do good and avoid evil.But in order to accomplish this he must be able todistinguish good from evil. And this takes'placeabove all thanks to the light of natural reason, thereflection in man of the splendor of God's counte­nance. Thus St. Thomas, commenting on a verseof P.salm 4, writes: "After saying: Offer rightsacrifices (Ps 4: 5) , as if some had then asked himwhat right works were, the psalmist adds: Thereare many who say: Who will make us see good?And in reply to the question he says: The light ofyour face, Lord, is signed upon us, thereby imply­ing that the light of natural reason whereby wediscern good from evil, which is the function ofthe natural law, is nothing else but an imprint onus of the divine light." (76) It also becomes clearwhy this law is called the natural law: It rec~ivesthis name not because it refers to the nature ofirrational beings, but because the reason which·promulgates it is proper to human nature. (77)

43 The Second Vatican Council points out• that the "supreme rule of life is the divine

law itself, the eternal, objective and universal lawby which God out of his wisdom and love arrang­es, directs and governs the whole world and thepaths of the human commu.nity. God has enabledman to share in this divine law, and hence man isable UIider the gentle guidance of God's provi­dence increasingly to recognize the unchangingtruth." (78)

The council refers back to the classic teachingon God's eternal law. St. Augustine defines this as"the reason or the will of God, who commands usto respect the natural order and forbids us to dis­turb it." (79) St. Thomas identifies it with "thetype of the divine wisdom as moving all things totheir due end." (80) And God's wisdom is provi­dence, a love which cares. God Himself loves andcares, in the most literal and basic sense, for allcreation (cf. Wis 7: 22; 8: 11). But God provides forman differently from the way in which He pro­vides for beings which are not persons. He caresfor man not "from without," through the laws ofphysical nature;but "from within," through rea­son, which by its natural knowledge of God's eter­nal law is consequently able to show man theright direction to take in his free actions. (81) Inthis way God calls man to participate in his ownprovidence, since he desires to guide the world­not only the world of nature but also the world ofhuman persons-through man himself, throughman's reasonable and responsible care. The natu­ral law enters here as the human expression ofGod's eternal law. St. Thomas writes: "Amongall others, the rational creature is subject to di­vine providence in the most excellent way, inso­far as it partakes of a share of providence, beingprovident both for itself and for others. Thus ithas a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it hasa natural inclination to its proper act and end.This participation of the eternal law in the ratio­nal creature is called natural law." (82) .

44 The Church has often made reference to• the Thomistic doctrine of natural law, in­

cluding it in her own. teaching on morality. Thus

my venerable predecessor Leo XIII emphasizedthe essential subordination of reason and humanlaw to the wisdom of God and to His law. Afterstating that "the natural law is written and en­graved in the heart of each and every man, sinceit is none other than human reason itself whichcommands us to do good and counsels us not tosin," Leo XIII appealed tothe "higher reason" ofthe divine lawgiver: "But this prescription of hu­man reason could not have the force of law unlessit were the voice and the interpreter of somehigher reason to which our spirit and our freedommust be subject." Indeed, the force of law con­sists in its authority -to impose duties, to conferrights and to sanction certain behavior: "Now allof this, clearly, could not exist in man if, as hisown supreme legislator, he gave himself the ruleof his own actions." And he concluded: "It followsthat the natural law is itself the eternal law, im­planted in beings endowed with reason, and in­clining them toward t)leir right action and end; itis none other than the eternal reason of the Cre­ator and ruler of the universe." (83)

Man is able to recognize good and evilthanks tothat discernment of good from evil which he him­selfcarries out by his reason, in particular by hisreason enlightened by divine revelation and byfaith, through the law which God gave to the cho­sen people, beginning with the commandments onSinai. Israel was called to accept and to live outGod's law as a particular gift and sign of its elec­tion and of the divine covenant, and also as apledge of God's blessing. Thus Moses could ad­dress the children of Israel and ask them: "Whatgreat nation is that that has a god so near to it asthe Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon ­him? And what great nation is there that has stat­utes and ordinances so righteous as all this lawwhich I set before you this day?" (Dt 4: 7-8). Inthe psalms we encounter the sentiments of praise,gratitude and veneration which the·chosen peopleare called to' show toward God's law, togetherwith an eXhortation to know it, pond~r it andtranslate it into life. "Blessed is the 'man whowalks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standsin the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoff­ers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and onhis lawhe meditates day and night" (Ps 1: 1-2)."The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise thesimple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoic­ing the heart; the commandment of the Lord ispure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps 18/19: 8-9).

45 'The Church gratefully accepts and lov­• ingly preserves the entire deposit of reve­

lation, treating it with religious respect and fulfill­ing her mission of authentically interpretingGod's law in the light of the Gospel. In addition,the Church receives the gift of the new law, whichis the "fulfillment" of God's law in Jesus Christand in His Spirit. This is an "interior" law (cf. Jer31: 31-33), "written not with ink but with the Spiritof the living God, not on tablets of stone but ontablets of human hearts" (2 Cor 3: 3); a law ofperfection and of freedom (d. 2 Cor 3: 17); "thelaw of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom8: 2). St. Thomas writes that this law "can becalled law in two ways. First, the law of the spiritis the Holy Spirit...who, dwelling in the soul, notonly teaches what it is necessary to do by enlight­ening the intellect on the things to be done, butalso inclines the affections to act withuprightness...Second, the law of the spirit can becalled the proper effect of the Holy Spirit, andthus faith working through love (cf. Gal 5: 6),

which teaches inwardly about the things to bedone...and inclines the affections to act." (84)

Even if moral/theological reflection usually dis­tinguishes between the positive or revealed law ofGod and the natural law, and within the economyof salvation, between the "old" and the "new"law, it must not be forgotten that these and otheruseful distinctions always refer to that law whoseauthor is the one and the same God and which isalways meant for man. The different ways inwhich God acting in history cares for the worldand for mankind are not mutually exclusive; onthe contrary, they support each other and inter­sect. They have their origin and goal in the eter­nal, wise and loving counsel whereby God predes­tines men and women "to be conformed to theimage of his Son" (Rom 8: 29). God's plan posesno threat to man's genuine freedom; on the con­trary, the acceptance of God's plan is the onlyway to affirm that freedom;

'What the law requiresis written on their hearts' ,

(Rom 2:15).

46 The alleged conflict between freedom and• law is forcefully brought up once again to­

day with regard to the natural law and particu­larly with regard to nature. Debates about natureand freedom have always marked the history ofmoral reflection; they grew especially heated atthe time of the Renaissance and the Reformation,as can be seen from the teaching of the Council ofTrent. (85) Our own age is marked, though in a

. different sense, by a similar tension. The pen­chant for empirical observation, the proceduresof scientific objectification, technologicalprogress and certain forms of liberalism have redto these two terms being set in opposition as if a .dialectic, if not an absolute conflict, between free­dom and nature were characteristic of the struc­ture of human history. At other periods it seemedthat nature subjected man totally to its own dy­namics and even its own unbreakable laws. To­day too the situation of the world of the senseswithin space and time, physiochemical constants,bodiiy processes, psychological impulses andforms of social conditioning seem to many peoplethe only really decisive factors of human reality.In this context even moral facts, despite theirspecificity, are frequently treated as if they werestatistically verifiable data, patterns of behaviorwhich can be subject to observation or explainedexclusively in categories of psychosocial process­es. As a result, some ethicists professionally en­gaged in the study of human realities and .behav­ior can be tempted to take as the standard fortheir discipline and even for its operative normsthe results of a statistical study of concrete hu­man behavior patterns and the opinions aboutmorality encountered in the majority of people.

Other moralists, however, in their concern tostress the iOlfJortance of values, remain sensitiveto the dignity of freedom, but they frequently con­ceive of freedom as somehow in opposition to orin conflict with material and biological nature,over which it must progressively assert itself.Here various approaches are at one in overlook­ing the created dimension of nature and in misun­derstanding its integrity. For some, "nature" be­comes reduced to raw material for human activ­ity and for its power: Thus nature needs to be pro­foundly transformed, and indeed overcome byfreedom, inasmuch as it represents a limitation

The Anchor October 29, 1993

'The Splendor of Truth'E 11

CNY/Chris Sheridan

SUMMER SCENE-Two of the thousands of young people who traveled to Den-ver to see and hear him last August meet Pope John Paul in Mile High Stadiumwhere he bade them "enter the depths" of their hearts to find Christ.

and denial of freedom. For others, it is in the un­trammel,~d advancement of man's power, or ofhis freedom, that eGonomic, cultural, social andeven moral values are established: Nature wouldthus come to me~n everything found in man andthe world apart from freedom. In such an under­.standing, nature would include in the first placethe human body, its makeup and its processes:Against this physical datum would be opposedwhatever is "constructed," in other words"culture," seen as the product and result of freee

dom. Heman nature, understood in this way,could be ::educed to and treated as a readily avail­able biological or social material. This ultimatelymeans making freedom self-defining and a phe­nomenon creative of itself and its values. Indeed,

.when all is said and done man would not evenhave a nature; he would be his own personal life­project. Man would be nothing more than his ownfreedom!

47 In this context, objections of physicalism- and naturalism have been leveled against

the tradltional conception of the natural law,which is accused of presenting as moral lawswhat am in themselves mere biological laws.Consequently, in too superficial a way, a perma­nent and unchanging character would be attrib­uted to certain kinds of human behavior and, onthe basi~ of this, an attempt would be made toformulat~ universally valid moral norms. Ac­cording to certain theologians, this kind of"biologistic or naturalistic argumentation" wouldeven be present. in certain documents of theChurch's magisterium, particularly those dealingwith the area of sexual and conjugal ethics. Itwas, they maintain, on the basis of a naturalisticunderstanding. of the sexual act that contracep­tion, dire ct sterilization, autoeroticism, premari­tal sexual relations, homosexual relations and ar­tificial insemination were condemned as morallyunacceptable.. ln the.opinion of these sameth~qlo­gians, a morally negative evaluation of such actsfails to take into adequate consideration bothman's character as a rational an<~ free being andthe cultural conditioning of all moral norms. Intheir view man, as a rational being, not only canbut actually must freely determine the meaningof hi$ behavior. This process of "determining themeaning" would obviously have to take into ac­count the many limitations of the human being as

. existing in a body and in,history. Furthermore, itwould have to take into consideration the behav­ioral. models and the meanings which the latteracquire in any given culture. Above all, it wouldhave.to respect the fundamental commandmentof love 0:: God and. neighbor. Still, they continue,God made man as a rationally free being; he lefthim "in the power of his own counsel," and heexpects l1im to shape his' life in a personal andrational way. Love of neighbor would mean aboveall and even exclusively respect for his freedomto make his own decisions. The workings of typi­cally human behavior, as well as the so-called"natural inclinations," would establish at the·most-so they say-a general orientation towardcorrect t,ehavior, but they cannot determine themoral a~:sessment of individual human acts, socomplex from the viewpoint of situations.

48 Faced ~ith this theory, one- has to con­- sider carefully the correct relationship ex­

isting between freedom and human nature, and inparticular the place of the human body in ques­tions of natural law.

A freec.om which claims to be absolute ends uptreating the human body as a raw datum devoidof any IT.eaning and moral values until freedomhas shaped it in accordance with its design. Con­sequently, human nature and the body appear aspresuppcsitions or preambles, materially neces­sary"for ::reedom to make its choice, yet extrinsicto the pl~rson, the subject and the human act.Their functions would not be able to constitutereference points for moral decisions, because thefinalities of these inclinations would be merely"physical" goods, called by some "premoral." Torefer to them, in order to find in them rational

. indications with regard to the order of morality,would be to expose oneself to the accusation ofphysicalism or biologisll).. In this way of thinking,the tension between freedom and a nature con­ceived of in a reductive way is resolved by a divi­sion within man himself.

This moral theory does.n9t correspond to thetruth about man and his freedom. It contradictsthe Church's teachings on the ~nity of the humanperson, whose rational soul is "per . se etessentialiter" the form of his body. (86) The spiri­tual and immortal soul is the principle of unity ofthe human being, whereby it exists as a whole-

,,"corpore et anima ~lnUS" (87) -as a person. Thesedefinitions not only point out that the body, whichhas been promised the resurrection, will alsoshare in glory. They also remind us that reasonand free will are linked with all the bodily and

.sense faculties. The p~rson, including the body, iscompletely entrusted to himself, and it is in theunity of body and soul that the person is the sub­ject of his own moral acts. The person, by thelight of reason and the support of virtue, discov­ers in the body the anticipatory signs, the expres­sion and the promise of the gift of self, in confor­mity with the wise plan of the Creator. It is in thelight of the dignity of the human person~a dig-

. nity which must be affirmed for its own sake­that reason grasps the speeific moral value ofcertain goods toward which the person is natu­rally inclined. And since the human person can­not be reduced to a freedom which is self­designing but entails a particular spiritual andbodily structure, the primordial moral require­ment of loving and respecting the person as anend and never as a mere means also implies, byits very nature, respect for certain fundamentalgoods, without which one would fall into relativ­ism and arbitrariness.

49 A doctrine which dissociates the moral- act from the bodily dimensions of its exer­

cise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture andtradition. Such a doctrine revives in new formscertain ancient errors which have always beenopposed by the Church, inasmuch as they reducethe human person to a "spiritual" and purely for- .mal freedom. This reduction misunderstands themoral meaning of the body and of kinds of behav­ior involving it (cf. 1 Cor 6: 19). S1. Paul declaresthat "the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexualperverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revil­ers, robbers" are excluded from the kingdom ofGod (cf. 1 Cor 6: 9). This condemnation-repeatedby the Council of Trent (88) -lists as "mortal

sins" or "immoral practices" certain specific-kinds of behavior the willful acceptance of whichp:revents believers from sharing in the inherit­ance promised to them. In fa~t. body and soul areinsepa~able: In the person, in the willing agentand in the deliberate act, they stand. or falltogether.

e"0 At this point the true meaning of the natu­t) --ral law can be understood: It refers toman's proper and primordial nature, the "natureof the human person," (89) which is the personhimself in the unity of soul and body, in the unityof his spiritual and biological inclinations and ofan the other specific characteristics necessaryfor the pursuit of his end. "The natural moral lawexpresses and lays down the purposes; rights andduties which are based upon the bodily and spiri- .tual nature of the human person. Therefore thislaw cannot be thought of as simply a set of normson the biological level; rather it must be definedas the rational order whereby man is called bythe Creator to direct and regulate 'his life and ac­tions and in particular to make use of his ownbody." (90) To give an example, the origin and the

. foundation of the duty of absolute respect for hu­'man life are to be found in the dignity proper to

. the person and not simply in the natural inclina­tion to preserve one's own physical life. Humanlife, even though it is a fundamental good of man,thus acquires a moral significance in reference tothe good of the person, who must always be af­firmed for his own sake. While it is always mor­ally illicit to kill an innocent human being, it canbe licit, praiseworthy or even :mperative to giveup one's' own life (cf. In 15: 13) out of. love ofneighbor or as a witness to the truth. Only in ref­e:rence to the human person in his "unifiedtotality," that is, as "a soul which expresses itselfin a body and a body informed by an immortalspirit," (91) can the specifically human meaningof the body be grasped. Indeed, natural inclina­tions take on moral relevance only insofar as theyrefer to the human person and his authentic ful­fillment, a fulfillment which for that matter cantake place always and only in human nature. ,By'rejecting all manipulations of corporeity whichalter its human meaning, the Church serves manand shows him the path of true love, the only pathon which he can find the true God.

The natural law thus understood does not allowfor any division between freedom and nature. In­deed, these two realities are harmoniously boundtogether, and each is intimately linked to theother.

E12 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'From the beginningit was not so'

(Mt 19:8)

51 The alleged conflict between freedom and• nature also has repercussions on the in­

terpretation of certain specific aspects of the nat­ural law, especially its universality and immuta­bility. "Where then are these rules written," St.Augustine wondered, "except in the book of thatlight which is called truth? From thence everyjust law is transcribed and transferred to theheart of the man who works justice, not by wan­dering but by being, as it were, impressed upon it,just as the image from the ring passes over to thewax, and yet does not leave the ring." (92)

Precisely because of this "truth" the naturallaw involves universality. Inasmuch as it is in­scribed in the rational nature of the person, itmakes itself felt· to all beings endowed with rea­son and living in history. In order to perfect him­self in his specific order, the person must do goodand avoid evil, be concerned for the transmissionand preservation of life, refine and develop theriches of the material world, cultivate social life,seek truth, practice good and contemplatebeauty. (93)

The separation which some have posited be­tween the freedom of individuals and the naturewhich all have in common, as it emerges fromcertain philosophical theories which are highly in­fluential in present-day culture, obscures the per­ception of the universality of the moral law on thepart of reason. But inasmuch as the natural lawexpresses the dignity of the human person andlays the foundation for his fundamental rightsand duties, it is universal in its precepts and itsauthority extends to all mankind: This universal­ity does not ignore the individuality of human be­ings nor is it opposed to the absolute uniqueness ofeach person. On the contrary, it embraces at itsroot each of the person's free acts, which aremeant to bear witness to the universality of thetrue good. By submitting to the common law, ouracts build up the true communion of persons and,by God's grace, practice charity, "which bindseverything together in perfect harmony" (Col3: 14). When on the contrary they disregard thelaw or even are merely ignorant of it, whetherculpably or not, our acts damage the communionof persons, to the detriment of each.

52 It is right and just, always and for every­• one, to serve God, to render Him the wor­

ship which is His due and to honor one's parentsas they deserve. Positive precepts such as these,which order us to perform certain actions and tocultivate certain dispositions, are universallybinding; they are "unchanging." (94) They unitein the same common good all people. of every pe­riod of history, created for "the same divine call­ing and destiny." (95) These universal and perma­nent laws correspond to things known by the prac­tical reason and are applied to particular actsthrough the judgment of conscience. The actingsubject personally assimilates the truth con­tained in the law. He appropriates this truth of hisbeing and makes it his own by his acts and thecorresponding virtues. The negative precepts ofthe natural law are universally valid. They obligeeach and every individual, always and in everycircumstance. It is a matter of prohibitions whichforbid a given action "semper et pro semper,"without exception,because the choice of this kindof behavior is in no case compatible with thegoodness of the will of-the acting person, with hisvocation to life with God and to communion withhis neighbor. It is prohibited-to everyone and inevery case-to violate these precepts. They obligeeveryone, regardless of the cost, never to offendin anyone, beginning with oneself, the personaldignity common to all.

On the other hand, the· fact that only the nega­tive commandments oblige always and under all

'Veritatis Splendor'

circumstances does not mean that in the morallife prohibitions are more important than the obli­gation to do good indicated by the positive com­mandments. The reason is this: The command­ment of love of God and neighbor does not have inits dynamic any higher limit, but it does have alower limit, beneath which the commandment isbroken. Furthermore, what must be done in anygiven situation depends on the circumstances, notall of which can be foreseen; on the other handthere are kinds of behavior which can never, inany situation, be a proper response-a responsewhich is in conformity with the dignity of the per­son. Finally, it is always possible that man, as theresult of coercion or other circumstances, can behindered from doing certain good actions; but hecan never be hindered from not doing certain ac­tions, especially if he is prepared to die ratherthan to do evil.

The Church has always taught that one maynever choose kinds of behavior prohibited by themoral commandments expressed in negativeform in the Old and New Testaments. As we haveseen, Jesus himself reaffirms that these prohibi­tions allow no exceptions: "If you wish to enterinto life, keep the commandments...You shall notmurder, you shall not commit adultery, you shallnot steal, you shall not bear false witness" (Mt19: 17-18).

53 The great concern of our contemporaries• for historicity and for culture has led

some to call into question the immutability of thenatural law itself and thus the existence of"objective norms of morality" (96) valid for allpeople of the present and the future, as for thoseof the past. Is it ever possible, they ask, to con­sider as universally valid and always binding cer­tain rational determinations established in thepast, when no one knew the progress humanitywould make in the future?

It must certainly be admitted that man alwaysexists in a particular culture, but it must also beadmitted that man is not exhaustively defined bythat same culture. Moreover, the very progress ofcultures demonstrates that there is something inman which transcends those cultures. This"something" is precisely human nature: This na­ture is itself the measure of culture and the condi­tion ensuring that man does not become the pris­oner of any of his cultures, but asserts his per­sonal dignity by living in accordance with the pro­found truth of his being. To call into question thepermanent structural elements of man which areconnected with his own bodily dimension wouldnot only conflict with common experience, butwould render meaningless Jesus' reference to the"beginning," precisely where the social and cul­tural context of the time had distorted the primor­dial meaning and the role of certain moral norms(d. Mt 19: 1-9). This is the reason why "thechurch affirms that underlying so many changesthere are some things which do not change andare ultimately founded upon Christ, who is thesame yesterday and today and forever." (97)Christ is the "beginning" who, having taken onhuman nature, definitively illumines it in its con-'stitutive elements and in its dynamism of charitytoward God and neighbor. (98)

Certainly there is a need to seek out and to dis­cover the most adequate formulation for univer­sal and permanent moral norms in the light ofdifferent cultural contexts, a formulation mostcapable of ceaselessly expressing their historicalrelevance, of making them understood and of au­thentically interpreting their truth. This truth ofthe moral law-like that of the "deposit of faith"­unfolds down the centuries: The. norms express­ing that truth remain valid in their substance, butmust be specified and determined "eodem sensueademque sententia" (99) in the light of historicalcircumstances by the Church's magisterium,whose decision is preceded and accompanied bythe work of interpretation and formulation char­acteristic of the reason of individual believers andof theological reflection. (100)

II. Conscience and Truth

Man's sanctuary

54 The relationship between man's freedom• and God's law is most deeply lived out in

the "heart" of the person, in his moral con­science. As the Second Vatican Council observed:"In the depths of his conscience man detects alaw which he does not impose on himself, butwhich holds him to obedience. Always summon­ing him to love good and avoid evil, the voice ofconscience can when necessary speak to his heartmore specifically: 'Do this, shun that.' For manhas in his heart a law written by God. To obey it isthe very ~gnity of man; according to it he will bejudged (d. Rom 2: 14-16)." (101)

The way in which one conceives the relationshipbetween freedom and law is thus intimatelybound up with one's understanding of the moralconscience. Here the cultural tendencies referredto above-in which freedom and law are set inopposition to each another and kept apart, andfreedom is exalted almost to the point ofidolatry-lead to a "creative" understanding ofmoral conscience, which diverges from the teach­ing of the church's tradition and hermagisterium.

55 According to the opinion of some theolo­• gians, the function of conscience had been

reduced, at least at a certain period in the past, toa simple application of general moral norms toindividual cases in the life of the person. But thosenorms, they continue, cannot be expected to fore:see and to respect all the individual concrete actsof the person in all their uniqueness and particu­larity. While such norms might somehow be use­ful for a correct assessment of the situation, theycannot replace the individual personal decision onhow to act in particular cases. The critique al­ready mentioned of the traditional understandingof human nature and of its importance for themoral life has even led certain authors to statethat these norms are not so much a binding objec­tive criterion for judgments of conscience, but ageneral perspective which helps man tentativelyto put order into his personal and social life.These authors also stress the complexity typicalof the phenomenon of conscience, a complexityprofoundly related to the whole sphere of psychol­ogy and the emotions, and to the numerous influ­ences exerted by the indiVidual's social and cul­tural environment. On the other hand, they givemaximum attention to the value of conscience,which the council itself defined as "the sanctuaryof man, where he is alone with God, whose voiceechoes within him." (102) This voice; it is said,leads man not so much to a meticulous obser­vance of universal norms as to a creative and re- 'sponsible acceptance of the personal tasks en­trusted to him by God.

In their desire to emphasize the "creative"character of conscience, certain authors nolonger call its actions "judgments" but"decisions": Only by making these decisions"autonomously" would man be able to attainmoral maturity. Some even hold that this processof maturing is inhibited by the excessively cate­gorical position adopted by the Church's magiste­rium in many moral questions; for them, theChurch's interventions are the cause of unneces­sary conflicts of conscience.

'You shall not murder,you shall not commitadultery, you shallnotsteal... '

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E13

'The SplE!ndor of Truth'

'Human freedom belongs to us as creatures,:it is a'freedom which is given as a gift...to be received like a seed and cultivated responsibly.It is an essential part of that creaturely imagewhich is the basis of the dignity of the person.Within that freedom there is an echo of theprimordia,-vocation whereby the Creator calls manto the true good, and... through Christ's revelation,to become His friend and to sJlare His divine life. '

56 In order to justify these positions, some• aut10rs have proposed a kind of double

status of moral truth. Beyond the doctrinal andabstract level, one would have to acknowledgethe priority of a certain more concrete existentialconsideration. The latter, by taking account ofcircumstaLces and the situation, -could legiti­mately be the basis of certain exceptions to thegeneral rule and thus permit one to do in practiceand in gooC:. conscience what is qualified as intrin­sically evil by the moral law. A separation, or

- even an OIlposition, is thus established in some.cases between the teaching of the precept, whichis valid in general, and the norm of the individualconscience, which would in fact make the finaldecision about what is good and what is evil. Onthis basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so­called "pantoral" solutions contrary to the teach­ing of the magisterium and to justify a "creative"hermeneutic according to which the moral con­science is in no way obliged, in every case, by aparticular :1egative precept.

No one can fail to realize that these approachespose a challenge to the very identity of the moralconscience in relation to human freedom andGod's law. Only the clarification made earlierwith regard to the relationship, based on truth,between freedom and law makes possible a dis­cernment concerning this "creative" understand­ing of conseience.

The Judgment of Conscience'

57 ThE' text of the Letter to the Romans• which has helped us to grasp the essence

of the natu ral law also indic@tes the biblical un­derstanding of conscience, especially in its spe­cific connedion with the law: "When gentiles whohave not the law do by nature what the law re­quires, thE~y are a law unto themselves, eventhough they do not have the law. They show thatwhat the law requires is written on their hearts,while theil' conscience also bears witness andtheir confl:.cting thoughts accuse or perhaps ex­cuse them" (Rom 2: 14-15).

According to St. Paul, conscience in a certainsense confronts man with the law and thus be­comes a "witness" for man: a witness of his ownfaithfulness or unfaithfulness with regard to thelaw, of his ess~ntial moral rectitude or iniquity.Conscience is the only witness, since what takesplace in the heart of the person is hidden from theeyes of ev~ryone outside. Conscience makes itswitness known only to the person himself. And, inturn, only the person himself knows what his ownresponse is to the voice of conscience.

58 ThE~ importance of this interior dialogue of• man with himself can never be adequately

appreciated. But it is also a dialogue of man withGod, the author of the law, the primordial imageand final end of man. St. Bonaventure teachesthat "conseience is like God's herald and messen­ger; .it does not command things on its own au­thority, but commands them as coming fromGod's authority, like a herald when He proclaimsthe edict of the king. This is why conscience hasbinding force.", (103) Thus it can be said that con­science be.lrs' witness to man's own rectitude oriniquity to man himself but, together with thisand indeed even beforehand, conscience is' thewitness of God Himself, whose voice and judg­ment penetrate the depths of man's soul, callinghim "jorliler et suaviter" to obedience. "Moralconscience does not close man within an insur­mountable and impenetrable solitude, but openshim to the I~all, to the voice of God. In this, and notin anythinl~ else, lies the entire mystery and thedignity of the moral conscienc~: in being theplace, the sacred place where God speaks toman." (1041

-

59 St. Paul does not merely acknowledge• that conscience acts as a "witness'" he

also revea1s the way in which conscience 'per­forms that function. He speaks of "conflicting

thoughts" which ,accuse or excuse the gentileswith regard to their behavior (cf. Rom 2: 15). Theterm "conflicting thoughts" clarifies the precisenature of conscience: It is a moral judgmentabout man and his actions, a judgment either ofacquittal or of condemnation, according as hu­man acts are'in conformity or not with the law ofGod written on the heart. In the same text theapostle clearly speaks of the judgment of actions,the judgment of their author and the momentwhen that judgment will be definitively rendered:"(This will take place) on that day when, accord­ing to, my Gospel, God judges the secrets of menby Christ Jesus" (Rom 2: 16) ..The judgment of conscience is a practical judg­

ment, a judgment which makes known what manmust do or not do, or which assesses an act al­ready performed by him. It is a judgment whichapplies to a concrete situation the rati6nal convic­tion that one must love and do good and avoidevil. This first prinGiple of practical reason is partof the natural law; indeed it constitutes the veryfoundation of the 'natural law inasmuch as it ex­presses that primordial insight about good andevil, ,that reflection of God's creative wisdomwhich, like an imperishable spark ("scintilla ani­mae"), shines in the heart of every man. Butwhereas the natural law discloses the objectiveand universal demands of the moral good, con­science is the application of the law to a particu­lar case; this application of the law thus becomesan inner dictate for the individual, a summons todo what is good in this particular situation. Con­science thus formulates moral obligation in thelight of the natural law: It is the obligation to dowhat the individual, through the workings of his'conscience, knows to be a good he is called to dohere and now. The universality of the law and itsobligation are acknowledged, not suppressed,once reason has established the law's applicationin concrete present circumstances. The judgmentof conscience states "in an ultimate way"whether a certain particular kind of behavior is inconformity with the law; it formulates the proxi­mate norm of the morality of a voluntary act,"applying the objective law to a particularcase." (105)

60 Like the natural law itself and all practi­• cal knowledge, the judgment of con­

science also has an imperative character: Manmust act in accordance with it. If man actsagainst this judgment or, in a case where he lackscertainty about the rightness and goodness of adetermined act, still performs that act, he standscondemned by his own conscience, the proximatenorm of personal morality. The dignity of this ra­tional forum and the authority of its voice andjudgments derive from the truth about moralgood and evil, which it is called to listen to and toexpress. This truth is indicated by' the "divinelaw," the universal and objective norm of morali­ty. The judgment of conscience does not establishthe law; rather it bears witness to the authority ofthe natural law and of the practical reason with

reference to the supreme good, whose attractive­ness the human person perceives and whose com­mandments he accepts. "Conscience is not an in­dependent and exclusive capacity to decide whatis good and what is evil. Rather there is pro­foundly imprinted upon it a principle of obediencevis..a-vis the objective norm which establishesand conditions the correspondence of its decisionswith the commands and prohibitions which are atthe basis of human behavior.' ~ (106) .

61 The truth about moral good, as that truth• is declared in the law of reason, is practi­

cany and concretely recognized by the judgmentof conscience, which leads one to take responsibil­ity for the good or the evil one has done. If mandoes evil, the just judgment of his conscience re­mains within, him as a witness to the universaltruth of the good, as well as to the malice of hisparticular choice. But the verdict of.conscienceremains in him also as a pledge of hope and mer­cy: While bearing witness to the evil he has done,it also reminds him of his need, with the help ofGod's grace, to ask forgiveness, to do good and tocultivate virtue constantly.

Consequently in the practical ~udgment of con­science, which imposes on the person the obliga­tion to perform a given act, the link between free­dom and truth is made manifest. Precisely forthis reason conscience expresses itself in acts of"judgment" which reflect the truth about the

, good and not in arbitrary "decisions." The matu­rity and responsibility of these judgments-and,wh~n all is said and done, of the individual who istheir subject-are not measured by the liberationof the conscience from objective truth, in favor ofan alleged q.utonomy in personal decisions but, onthe contrary, by an insistent search for truth andby allowing oneself to be guided by that truth inone's actions.

SE~eking what is true and good

62 Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is• not exempt from the possibility of error.

As the council puts it, "not i::J.frequently con­science CaI~ be mistaken as a result of invincibleignorance, although it does not on that accountforfeit its dignity; but this cannot be said when aman shows little concern for seeking what is trueand good, and conscience gradually becomes al­most blind from being accustomed to sin." (107)In these brief words the council sums up the doc­trine whichthe Church down the centuries has de­veloped with regard to the erroneous conscience.

Certainly, in order to have a "good conscience"(1 Tm 1: 5), man m,Ust seek the truth and mustmake judgments in accordance with that sametruth. As the apostle Paul says, the consciencemust be "confirmed by the Holy Spirit" (cf. Rom9: 1); it must be "clear" (2 Tm 1: 3); it must not"practice cunning and tamper witb God's word,"but "openly state the truth" (cf. 2 Cor 4: 2). On the

E14 The Anchor October 29, 1993

- -< .

other hand, the apostle also warns Christians:"Do not be conformed to this world but be trans­formed by the ren~wal of your mind, that youmay prove what is the will of God, what is goodand acceptable and perfect" (Roni 12: 2) .

Paul's admonition urges us to be watchful,warning us that in the judgments of our con-­science' t}:1e possibility of error is always present.Conscience is not an infallible judge; it can makemistakes. However, error of conscience can bethe result of an invincible ignorance, an igno­rance of which the subject is not aware and whichhe is unable to overcome by himself. '

The council reminds us that in cases where suchinvincible ignorance is not culpable, consciencedoes not lose its dignity, because even when it di­rects us to act in a way not in conformity with theobjective moral order, it continues to speak in thename of that truth about the good which the sub­ject is called to seek sincerely.

63 In any event, it is always from the truth• that the dignity of conscience derives. In

the case of the correct conscience, it is a questionof the objective truth received by man; in thecase of the erroneous conscience, 'it is a questionof what man mistakenly subjectively considers tobe true. It is never acceptable to confuse a"subjective" error about moral good with the"objective" truth rationally proposed to man invirtue of his end or to make the moral value of anact performed with a true and correct conscienceequivalent to the moral value of an act performedby following the judgment of an erroneousconscience. (108) It is possible that the evil doneas the result of invincible ignorance or a noncul­pable error of judgment may not be imputable tothe agent; but even in this case it does not ceaseto be an evil, a disorder in relation to the truthabout the good. Furthermore, a good act which isnot recognized as such does not contribute to themoral growth of the person who performs it; itdoes not perfect him, and it does not help to dis­pose him for the supreme good. Thus, before feel­ing easily justified in the name of our conscience,we should reflect on the words of the psalm:"Who can discern his errors? Clear me from hid­den faults" (Ps 19: 12). There are faults which wefail to see but which nevertheless'remain faults,because we have refused to walk toward the light.(cf. Jn 9: 39-41).

Conscience, as the ultimate concrete judgment,compromises its dignity when it is culpably erro­neous, that is to say, "when man'shows little con­cern for seeking what is true and good, and con­science gradually becomes almost blind from be­ing accustomed to sin." (109) Jesus alludes to, thedanger of the conscience being deformed whenHe warns: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So'ifyour eye is sound, your whole body will be full oflight; but if your eye is not sound;' your wholebody will be full of darkness. If then the light inyou is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Mt6: 22-23).

64 The words of Jesus just quoted also repre­• sent a call to form our conscience, to

make it the object of a continuous conversion towhat is true and to what is good. In the same vein,St. Paul exhorts us not to' be conformed to thementality of this world, but to be transformed bythe renewal of our mind (cf. Rom 12: 2). It is the"heart" converted to the Lord and to the love ofwhat is good which -is really the source of truejudgments of conscience. Indeed, in order to"prove what'is the will of God, what is good andacceptable and perfect" (Rom 12: 2), knowledgeof God's law in general is certainly necessary, butit is not sufficient: What is essential is a sort of"connaturality" 'between man and the truegood. (110) Such a connaturality is rooted in anddevelops through the virtuous -attitudes of the in­dividual himself: prudence and the other cardinalvirtues, and even before these the theological vir­tues of faith, hope and charity. This is the mean­ing of Jesus' saying: "He, who does what is true

'Veri~atisSplendor'

comes to the light" (In 3: 21) .Christians have a great help for the formation

of conscience in the Church and her magisterium.As the council affirms: "In forming their con­sciences the Christian faithful must give carefulattention to the sacred and certain·teaching of theChurch. For the Catholic Church is by the will ofChrist the teacher of truth. Her charge is to an­nounce and teach authentically that truth which .is Christ, and at the same time with her authorityto declare and confirm the principles of the moralorder which derive from human natureitself." (Ill) It follows that the authority of theChurch, when she pronounces on moral questions,in no way undermines the freedom of conscienceof Christians. This is so not only because freedomof conscience is never freedom ','from" the truthbut always and only freedom "in" the truth, butalso because the magisterium does not bring tothe Christian conscience truths which are extra­neous to it; rather it brings to light the truthswhich it ought already to possess, developingthem from the starting point of the primordial actof faith. The Church puts herself always and onlyat the service of conscience, helping it to avoidbeing tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrineproposed by human deceit (cf. Eph 4: 14), andhelping it not to swerve from the truth about thegood of man, but rather, especially in more diffi-

. cult questions, to attain the truth with certaintyand to abide in it.

III. Fundamental ChoiceAnd Specific

Kinds of Behavior

'Only do not use your freedomas' an opportunity for the flesh'

(Gal 5:13).

65 The heightened concern for freedom in• our own day has led many students of the

behavioral and the theological sciences to developa more penetrating analysis of its nature and ofits dynamics. It has been rightly pointed out thatfreedom is not only the choice for one or anotherparticular action; it is also, within that choice, adecision about oneself and a setting of one's ownlife' for or against the good, for or against thetruth and ultimately for or against God. Empha­sis has rightly been placed on the importance ofcertain choices which "shape" a person's entiremoral life, and which serve as bounds withinwhich other particular everyday choices can besituated and allowed to develop.

Some authors, however, have proposed an evenmore radical revision of the relationship betweenperson and acts. They speak of a "fundamentalfreedom" deeper than and different from free­dom of choice, which needs to be considered ifhuman actions are to be corre,ctly understood andEwaiuated. According to these authors, the keyrole in the moral' life is to be attributed to a"fundamental option," brought about by that fun­damental freedom whereby the person makes anoverall self-determination, not through a specificand conscious decision on the level of reflection,but in a "transcendental" and "athematic" way.Particular acts which flow from this option wouldconstitute only partial and never definitive at­tempts to give it expression; they would only beits "signs" or symptoms. The immediate objectof such acts would not be apsolute good (beforewhich the freedom of the person would be ex­pressed on a transcendental level) , but particular(also termed "categorical") goods. In tlie opinionof some theologians, none of these goods, whichby their nature are partial, could determine thefreedom of man as a person in his totality, eventhough it is only by bringing them about or refus­ing to do so that man is able to express his ownfundamental option.

A distinction thus comes to be introduced

between the fundamental option and deliberatechoices of a concrete kind of behavior. In someauthors this division tends to become. a separa­tion, when they expressly limit moral "good" and"evil" to the transcendental dimension_proper tothe fundamental option and describe as "right"or "wrong" the choices of particular "inner­worldly" kinds of behavior: those, in other words,concerning man's relationship with himself, withothers and with the material world. There thusappears to be established within human acting aclear disjunction between two levels of morality:On the one hand the order of good and evil, whichis dependent on the will, and on the other handspecific kinds of behavior, which are judged to be.morally right or wrong only on the basis of a tech­nical calculation of the proportion between the"premoral" or "physical" goods and evils whichactually result from the action. This is pushed tothe point where a concrete kind of behavior, even<me freely chosen, comes to be considered as amerely physical process and not according to thecriteria proper to a human act. The conclusion towhich this eventually leads is that the properlymoral' assessment of the person is reserved to hisfundamental option, prescinding in whole or inpart from his choice of particular actions, of con­crete kinds of behavior.

.

66 There. is no doubt that Christian moral• teaching, even in its biblical roots, ac­

knowledges the specific importance of a funda­mental choice which qualifies the moral life andengages freedom on a radical level before God. Itis a question of the decision of faith, of theobedi­ence of faith (cf. Rom 16: 26) "by which manmakes a total and free self-commitment to God,offering 'the full submission ofintellect and will to,God as He reveals.'" (112) This faith, which worksthrough love (cf. Gal 5: 6), comes from the core ofman, from his "heart" (d. Rom 10: 10), whence itis called to bear fruit in works (d:Mt 12: 33-35; Lk6: 43-45; Rom 8: 5-10; Gal 5: 22). In the Decalogueone finds, as an introduction to the various com­mandments, the basic clause "I am the Lord yourGod" (Ex 20: 2) which, by impressing upon the'numerous and varied particular prescriptionstheir primordial meaning, gives the morality ofthe covenant its aspect of completeness, unityand profundity. Israel's fundamental decision,then, is about the fundamental commandment(cf. Jos 24: 14-25; Ex 19: 3-8; Mi 6: 8). The moralityof the newcovenant is similarly dominated by thefundamental call of Jesus to follow Him-thus Healso says to the young man, "If you wish to beperfect...then come, follow me" (Mt 19: 21); tothis call the disciple must respond with a radicaldecision and choice. The Gospel parables of thetreasure and the pearl of great price, for whichone sells all one's possessions, are eloquent andeffective, images of the radical and unconditional.nature of the decision demanded by the kingdomof God. The radical nature of the decision to fol­low Jesus is admirably expressed in His Qwnwords: "Whoever would save his life will lose it;and whoever loses his life for my sake and theGospel's will save it" (Mk 8: 35).

Jesus' call to "come, follow me" marks thegreatest possible exaltation of human freedom,yet at the same time it witnesses to the truth andto the obljgation of acts of faith and of decisionswhich can be described as involving afundamen­tal option. We find a similar exaltation of !ll1manfreedom in the words' of St. Paul: , "You werecalled to freedom, brethren" ,(O'al 5: 13). But theapostle immediately adds a grave. warning:'"Only do not use yom: freedom as an 9Pportunityfor the flesh.'~ This warning echoes his earlierwords: "For freedom Christ has set us free;stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to ayoke.of slavery" (Gal 5: 1). Paul encourages us tobe watchful, because freedom is always threat­ened by slavery. And this is precisely the case.when an act of faith-in the sense of a fundamen­tal option-becomes separated from the choice ofparticular acts, as in the tendencies mentionedabove.

The Anchor October 29. 1993 E15-

'Whatever is hostile to life itself,such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion,euthanasia and voluntary suicide';whatever violates the integrity of the human person,such as m~tilation, physical and rnef}tal tortureanp attempts to coerce the spirit;whatever is off~nsive to ,human dignity'such as subhuman living.conditions,.arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery,prostitution and trafficking in woi77en and children;degrading conditions of work which treat workersas mere instruments ofprofit,and not as free responsible persons:'All these and the like are a disgrace...and they area negation of the ho,?or due to the Creator. '

67 These tendencies are therefore contrary• to the teaching of Scripture itself, which

sees the fl.ndamental option as a genuine choiceof freedom and links that choice profoundly toparticular acts. By his fundamental choice, manis capable of giving his life direction and of pro­gressing, with the help of grace, toward his end,following God's call. But this capacity is actuallyexercised :,n the particular choices of specific ac­tions, through which man deliberately conformshimself to God's will, wisdom and law. It thusneeds to be stated that the so-called fundamentaloption, to ';he extent that it is distinct from a ge­neric intection and hence one not yet determinedin such a way that freedom is obligated, is alwaysbrought in':o play through conscious and free deci­sions. Precisely for this reason, it is revokedwhen man engages his freedom in conscious deci­sions to be contrary, with regard to morallygrave matter. ,l

To separate the fundamental option from con­crete kinds of behavior means to contradict thesubstantia I integrity or personal unity of themoral age:lt in his body and in his souL A funda­mental option understood without explicit consid­eratioI) of the potentialities which it puts into ef-'fect and the determinations which express it doesnot do justice to the rational finality, immanent inman's acting and in each of his deliberate deci­sjons. In point of fact, the morality of human actsis not deduced only from one's intention, orienta­tion or fundamental option, understood as an in­tention de void of a clearly determined bindingcontent or as an intention with no correspondingpositive effort to fulfill the different obligations ofthe moral life. Judgments about morality cannotbe made without taking. into considerationwhether 01' not the deliberate choice of a specifickind of behavior is in conformity with the dignityand integral vocation of the human person. Everychoice always implies a reference by the deliber­ate will to the goods and evils indi,cated by thenatural law as goods to be pursued and evilsto beavoided. In the case of the positive moral pre­cepts, prudence always has the task of verifyingthat they .apply in a specific situation, for exam­ple, in view of other duties which may be moreimportant or urgent. But the negativ.e moral pre­cepts, tho~:e prohibiting certain concrete actionsor kinds 0 f behavior as intrinsically evil, do notallow for any legitimate exception. They do notleave room, in any morally acceptable way, forthe "creativity" of any contrary determinationwhatsoever. Once the moral species of an actionprohibited by a universal rule is'concretely recog­nized, .the only morally good act is that of obeyingthe moral law and of refraining from the actionwhich it fo:~bids.

68 Her~ an important pastoral consideratio~• mllst be added. Ac~ording to the logic of

the positions mentioned above, an individualcould, by virtue of a fundamental option, remainfaithful to God independently of whether or notcertain of his choices and his acts are in confor­mity with specific moral norms or rules. By vir­tue of a- pl'imordial option for charity, that indi­vidual could continue to be morally good, perse­vere in God's grace and attain salvation, even ifcertain of his specific kinds of behavior were de­liperately and gravely contrary to God's com­mandments as set forth by the Church.

In point of fact, man does not suffer perditiononly by being unfaithful to that fundamental op­tion whereby he has made "a free self­commitment to God." (113) With every freelycommittee. mortal sin, he offends God as the giverof the law and as a result becomes guilty withregard to the entire law (cf. Jas 2: 8-11); even if hepersevere~: in faith, he loses "sanctifying grace,""charity" and "eternal.happiness." (114) As the'Council of Trent teaches, "the grace of justifica­tion once received is lost not only by apostasy, bywhich faith itself is lost, but also by any othermortal sin. "(115) -

'The Splendor of Truth'

Mortal and Venial Sin

69 As we have just seen, reflection on the• fundamental option has also led some

theologians to undertake a basic revision of thetraditional distinction between mortal sins andvenial sins. They insist that the opposition toGod's law which causes the loss of sanctifyinggrace-and eternal damnation, when one dies insuch a state of sin-could only be'theresult of anact which engages the person in his totality: inother words, an act of fundamental ~ption. Ac­cording to these theologians, 'mortal sin, whichseparates man from God, only exists in the rejec­tion of God, carried out at a level of freedomwhich is neither to be identified with an act ofchoice nor capable of becoming the' object of con­scious awareness. Consequently,. they go on tosay, it is difficult, at least psychologically, to ac­cept the fact that a Christian who wishes to re­main united to Jesus Christ and to His Churchcould so easily and repeatediy commit mortalsins, as the "matter" itself of his actions wouldsometimes indicate. Likewise, it would be hard toaccept that man is able in a brief lapse of time tosever radically the bond of communion with Godand afterward be converted to Him by sincere re­pentance. The gravity of sin, they maintain,ought to be measured by the degree of engage­ment of the freedom of the person performing anact, rather than by the matter of that act.

70 The postsynodal apostolic exhortation• "Reconciliatio et Paenitentia" reaf­

firmed the importance and permanent validity ofthe distinction between mortal and venial sins, inaccordance with the Church's tradition. And the1983 Synod of Bishops, from which that exhorta­tion emerged, "not only reaffirmed the teachingof the Council of Trent concerning the existenceand nature of mortal and venial sins, but it alsorecalled that mortal sin is sin whose object isgrave matter and which is also committed withfull knowledge and deliberate consent." (116)

The statement of the Council of Trent does not

-Vatican Council II.

only consider the "grave matter" of mortal sin; italso recalls that its necessary condition is "fullawareness and deliberate consent." In ,any event,both in 'moral theology and in pastoral practiceone is familiar with cases in which an act which isgrave by reason of its matter does not constitute amortal sin because of a lack of full awareness or<;leliberate consent on the part of the person per­forming it. Even so, "care will have to be takennot to reduce mortal sin to an act of 'fundamentaloption'-as is commonly said today-againstGod," seen either as an explicit and formal rejec­tion of God and neighbor or as an implicit anduneon,scious rejection of love. ",For mortal sin ex­ists also when a person knowingly and willingly,for whatever reason, chooses something gravelydisordered. In fact, such a choice already in­cludes contempt for the divine law, a rejection ofGod's love for humanity and the whole of cre­ation:The .person turns away from God and losescharity. Consequently, the fundamental orienta~

tion can be radically changed by particular acts.Clearly, situations can occur which are very com­plex and obscure from a psychological viewpoint,and which influence the sinner's subjective im­putability. But from a consideration of the psy­chological sphere one cannot proceed to create atheological category, which is precisely whatthe'fwldamental option' is, understanding it in sucha way that it objectively changes or casts doubtupon the traditional concept of mortal sin." (117) ,

The separation of fundamental option from de­liberate choices of· particular kinds of behaviordisordered in themselves or in their circum­stances which would not engage that option thusinvolves a denial of ,Catholic doctrine on mortalsin: "With the whole tradition of the church, wecall mortal sin the act by which man freely andconsciously rejects God, his law, the covenant oflov,e that God offers, preferring to turn in on him­self or to some created and finite reality, some­thing, contrary. to the' divine will ("conversio addrenturam"). This can occur in a direct and for-

" mal way in the sins of idolatry, ,apostasy and athe­ism; 'or in an equivalent way as in every act ofdis()bedienc~ to God's commandments in,a gravematter." (118)'

•

'E'16 The Anchor October 29, 1993

IV. The Moral ActTeleology and T.eleologism .

71. The relationship b~tween man's freedom• and God's law, which has its intimate and

living center in the moral conscience, is mani­fested and realized in human acts. It is .preciselythrough his acts that man attains perfection as'man, as ·one who is called to seek his Creator ofhis own accord and freely to arrive at full andblessed perfection by cleaving to Him. (119)

Human· acts are moral acts because they ex­press and determine the. goodness or evil of theindividual who performs them. (120) They do notproduce a change merely in the state of affairsoutside of man but, to the extent that they aredeliberate choices, they give moral definition tothe very person who performs them, determininghis profound spiritual traits. This was .percep­tivelynoted by·St. Gregory of Nyssa: "All thingssubject to change and to becoming never remainconstant, but continually pass from one state toanother, for better or wor;.;e...Now, human life isalways subject to change; it needs to be born everanew...But here birth does not come about by aforeign intervention as is the case with bodilybeings...; it is the result of a free choice. Thus weare in a certain way our own parents, creatingourselves as we will, by our decisions." (121)

.72 .Themorallty of acts,is defined by the rela­. • tionship of man's freedom with the ·au­thentic good. This good is established as the·eter­nallaw by·divine wisdom, which orders every be­ing toward its end: This eternal law is known bothby man's natural reason (hence it is "naturallaw"), and-in an integral and perfect way-byGod's supernatural revelation (hence it is called"divine law"). Acting is morally good .when thechoices of freedom are in conformity with man'strue good and thus express the voluntary orderingof the person toward his ultimate end: God him­self, the supreme good in whom man finds his fulland perfect happiness. The first question in theyoung man's conversation.with Jesus "What goodmust I do to have eternal life?" (Mt 19: 6) imme­diately brings out the 'essential connection be­tween the moral value of an act and man's finalend. Jesus, in His reply, confirms the youngman's conviction: the performance of.good acts,commanded by the one who "alone is good," con­stitutes the indispensable condition of and path toeternal blessedness: "If you wish to enter intolife, keep the'commandments" (Mt 19: 17) . Jesus'answer.and His reference to the commandments

. also make it clear· that the' path to that end ismarkedby·respect for the divine laws which safe­guard human good. Only the act in conformitywith the. good can be a path that leads to life.

The rational. ordering of the human act to thegood in.its truth and the voluntary pursuit of thatgood, known by reason, constitute, morality.Hence human activity' cannot be judged as mor­ally good 'merely because it is a means for attain­ing one or another of its goals or simply becausethe subject's intention ,is good. (122) Activity ismorally good when it attests to and expresses thevoluntary ordering of the person to his ultimateend and the conformity of a concrete action withthe human good as it is acknowledged inits truthby reason. If the object of the concrete action isnot in harmony with the true good of the person,the choice of that action makes our will and our­selves morally evil, thus putting us in conflictwith our ultimate end, the supreme good, GodHimself.

'Veritatis Splendor'

73 The Christian, thanks to God's revelation• and to faith, is aware of the "newness"

which characterizes the morality of his actions:These actions are called to show either consis­tency or inconsistency with that dignity and voca­tion which have been bestowed on him by grace.In Jesus Christ and in His Spirit, the Christian is a"new creation," a child of God; by his actions heshows his likeness or unlikeness to the image ofthe Son who is the firstborn among many breth­ren (d. Rom 8: 29), he lives out his fidelity or infi­delity to the gift of the Spirit, and he opens orcloses himself to eternal life, to the communion ofvision, love and happiness with God the Father,'Son and Holy Spirit. (123) As St. Cyril of Alexan­dria writes, Christ "forms us·according to his im­age, in such a way that the traits of his divinenature shine forth in us through sanctification andjustice and the life which is good and in confor­mity with virtue...The beauty of this image shinesforth in us who are in Christ, when we show our­selves to be good in our works." (124)

Consequently the moral life has an essential"teleological" character, since it consists in thedeliberate ordering of human acts to God, the su­preme good and ultimate end ("telos") of man.This is attested to once more by the questionposed by the young man to Jesus: "What goodmust I do to have eternal life?" But this orderingto one'sul~imate end is not something subjective,dependent solely upon one's intention. It presup­poses that such.acts are in themselves capable ofbeing ordered to this end, insofar as they are· inconformity with the authentic moral good of-man,safeguarded by the commandments. This is whatJesus Himself points out in His reply to the youngman: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the com­mandments"(Mt'l9: 17).

Clearly such an ordering must be rational andfree, conscious and deliberate, by virtue ofwhichman is "responsible" for his actions and subjectto the judgment of·.God, the just and good judgewho, as th~ apostl~ Paul reminds us, rewardsgood and punishes e:vil: '.'We must all appear be­fore the judgment.seat of Christ, so that each onemay receive good or evil, according to what hehas done in the body" (2 Cor 5: 10) .

74 But on what does the moral assessment of ". , • man's free acts depend? What .is it thatensures this ordering ofhuman acts to God? Is itthe intention of the 'acting subject, thecircumstances-and in particular theconsequences-of his action or the object itself ofhis act?

This is what is traditionally called the .problemof the "sources of morality." Precisely with re­.gard to.this problem there have emerged in thelast few decades new or newly revived theological·and cultural trends which call for careful discern­ment on the part of the Church~s magisterium.

Certain ethical theories, called "teleological,"claim to be concerned for the conformity of hu­

.man acts with the ends pursued by the agent and·with the values iritended by him. The criteria forevaluating the moral rightness· of an action aredrawn from the wejghing of the nonmoral orpremoral goods to'be gained and the correspond­ing nonmoral or premoral values to'be respected.

. For some, c'oncrete behavior would be right orwrong according as whether or not it is capable ofproducing a better state of affairs for all con­cerned. Right conduct would be the one capable of"maximizing" goods and "minimizing" evils.

Many of the Catholic moralists who follow inthis direction seek to distance themselves fromutilitarianism and pragmatism, wherethe moral­ity of human acts would be judged without anyreference to the man's true ultimate end. They

rightly recognize the need to find ever more con­sistent rational arguments in order to justify therequirements and to provide a ,foundation for thenorms of the moral life. This kind of investigationis legitimate and necessary, since the moral or­der, as established by the natural law, is in princi­pie accessible to human reason. Furthermore,such. investig'ation is well-suited to meeting thedemands .of dialogue' and cooperation with non­Catholics and nonbelievers, especially in pluralis­tic societies.

75 But as part of the effort to work out such a. • rational morality (for this reason it is

sometimes called an ."autonomous morality")there exist false solutions, linked ·in particular toan inadequate understanding .. of the ,object ofmoral action. Some authors do not take into suffi-

. cient consideration' the. fact that the will is in­volved in the concrete choices which it makes:These choices. are a condition of its moral good­ness and its being ordered to the. ultimate end ofthe person. Others are 'inspired by a notion offreedom which prescinds from the .actual condi­tions of its,exercise, from its objective referenceto the truth about the good, and from its detenru­nation through choices of concrete kinds of behav- ­ior. According to these theories, free will wouldneither' be morally subjected tQ specific obliga~

tions nor shaped by· its choices while nonethelessstill remaining responsible for its own acts andfor their consequences.

This "teleologism," as a method for discovering.the moral norm, can thus be called-according toterminology and approaches imported from dif­ferent currents of thought-"consequentialism"or "proportionalism.":The' former claims to drawthe criteria of the rightness of a given way of act­ing solely from a calculation of foreseeable conse­.qtiences deriving from a given choice. The latter,by weighing the various values and goods beingsought, focuses-rather on the proportion acknowl­edged between the good and bad effects of .thatchoice, with a view to the ~'greater good" or'~lesser evil" actually possible .in ap<;lrticularsituation.

The teleological ethical theories (proportional­ism, consequentialism) , while acknowledgingthat moral values are indicated by reason and byrevelation, maintain that it is. never, possible to 'formulate an absolute prohibition of particularkinds of behavior which would be in conflict inevery circu~stance and in every culture with

. those values. The acting subject would indeed beresponsible for attaining .the values pursued, butin two ways: The ~alues or goods involved in ahuman act would be, from one viewpoint, of themoral order (in relation to properly moral valuessuch as' love of. God and .neighbor, justice,. etc.)and, from another viewpoint, of the premoral or­der, which some term "nonmoral," "physical" or"ontic" (in relation to the adv.antages anddisad­

.vantages accruing both to the agent and to allother persons possibly'involved, such as, for ex­ample,health or its endangerment, physical in­tegrity, life, death, loss.of material goods, etc.).In a world where goodness 'is always mixed. withevil, and every good effect linked to other ev.il ef­fects, the morality of an act would be judged intwo different ways: Its .moral "goodness" wouldbe jUdged on the basis of the subject's ·intention in'reference to moral goods,·and its "rightness" onthe basis of a consideration of its foreseeable·ef­fects or consequences and .of their proportion.Consequently, concrete kinds of behavior could bedescribed as "right" or "wrong" withoutit beingthereby possible to judge as morally "good" or"bad" the will of the person choosing them. Inthis wayan act.which,·by contradicting a univer­sal negative norm, directly violates goodsconsid­ered as "premoral" could'be qualified.asmorally

"The Church's firmness in defending the. universal and unchanging moral normsis not demeaning at all. Its only purpose is to serve man's true freedom.

... there can'be no freedom apart from or in opposition to the truth... '

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E17'The Splendor of Truth'

MEDITATIVE MOMENT-The pope, whose depth of thought and comprehensivevision of the human condition are revealed again in the new encyclical, took abreak from last August's World Youth Day for a thoughtful stroll through a Colo­rado woodland.

acceptable if the intention of the subject is fo­cused, in accordance with a "responsible" assess­ment of the goods involved in the concrete action,on the moral value judged to be decisive in thesituation.

The evaluation of the consequences of the ac­tion, based on the proportion between the act and

, its effects and between the effects themselves,would rega:rd only the premoral order. The moralspecificity I)f acts, that is, their goodness or evil,would be determined exclusively by the faithful­ness of the person to the highest values of charityand prudence, without this faithfulness necessar­ily being incompatible with choices contrary tocertain palucular moral precepts. Even whengrave matter is concerned, these precepts shouldbe considered as operative norms which are al­ways relative and open to exceptions.

In this view, deliberate consent to certain kindsof behavior declared illicit by traditional moraltheology w(luld not imply an objective moral evil.

The Object of the Deliberate Act

76 These ·theories can gain a certain persua­• sive force from their affinity to the scien­

tific mentality, which is rightly concerned with. ordering teehnical and economic activities on thebasis of a calculation of resources and profits,procedures and their effects. They seek to pro­vide liberation from the constraints of a volunta­ristic and arbitrary morality of obligation whichwould ultimately be dehumanizing.

Such thec'ries however are not faithful to theChurch's teaching, when they believe they canjustify as :norally good, deliberate choices ofkinds of betaviol' contrary to the commandmentsof the divine and natural law. These theories can­not claim to be grounded in the Catholic moraltradition. Although the latter did witness the de­velopment of a casuistry which tried to assess thebest ways to' achieve the good in certain concretesituations, it is nonetheless true that this casu­istry concemed only cases in which the law wasuncertain, c.nd thus the absolute validity of nega­tive moral precepts, which oblige without excep­tion, was not called into question. The faithful areobliged to cicknowledge and respect the specificmoral precepts declared and taught by theChurch in the name of God, the Creator andLord. (125) When the apostle Paul sums up the ful­fillment of the law in the precept of love of neigh­bor as oneself (cf. Rom 13: 8-10), he is not weaken­ing the commandments but reinforcing them,since he is revealing their requirements and theirgravity. Love of God and of one's neighbor cannotbe separab:d from the observance of the com­mandments of the covenant renewed in the bloodof Jesus Christ and in the gift of the Spirit. It is anhonor characteristic of Christians to obey Godrather than men (cf. Acts 4: 19; 5: 29) and accepteven marty.rdom asaconsequence, like the holymen and women of the Old and New Testaments,who are considered such because they gave theirlives rather than perform this or that particularact contrary to faith or virtue.

77 In order to offer rational criteria for a• righ'; moral decision, the theories men­

tioned above take account of the intention andconsequences of human action. Certainly there isneed to take into account both the intention-asJesus forcefully insisted in clear disagreementwith the scri bes and Pharisees, who prescribed ingreat detail certain outward practices withoutpaying attention to the heart (d. Mk 7: 20- 21; Mt15: 19) -and the goods Qbtained and the evilsavoided as CI result of a particular act. Responsi­bility demands as mUCh. 'But the consideration ofthese consequences, and also of intentions, is notsufficient for judging the moral quality of a con­crete choice. The weighing of the goods and evilsforeseeable as the consequence of an action is notan adequate method for determining whether thechoice of that concrete kind of behavior is

"according to its species" or "in itself" morallygood or bad, licit or illicit. The foreseeable conse­quences are part of those circumstances of theact which, while capable of lessening the gravityof an evil act, nonetheless cannot alter its moralspecies.

Moreover, everyone recognizes the difficulty,or rather the impossibility, of evaluating all thegood· and evil consequences and effects-definedas premoral- not possible, How then can one goabout establishing proportion~which depend on ameasuring, the criteria of which remain obscure?How could an absolute obligation be justified onthe basis of such debatable calculations?

'78 The mora'uty of the human act depends• primarily and fundamentally on the

"object" rationally chosen by the deliberate willas is borne out by the insightful analysis, stillvalid today, made by St. Thomas. (126) In order tobe able to grasp the object of an act which speci­fies that act morally, it is therefore necessary toplace oneself in the perspective of the acting per­son. The object of the act of willing is in fact afreely chosen kind of behavior. To the extent thatit is in conformity with the order of reason, it isthe cause of the goodness of the will; it perfects usmorally and disposes us to recognize our ultimateend in the perfect good, primordial love. By theobject of a given moral act, then, one cannotmean a process or an event of the merely physi­cal order, to be assessed on the basis of its abilityto bring about a given state of affairs in the out- .side world. Rather, that object is the proximateend of a deliberate decision which determines theact of willing on the part of the acting person.Consequently, as the Catechism of the CatholicChurch teaches, "there are certain specific kindsof behavior that are always wrong to choose, be­cause choosing them involves a disorder of thewill, that is, a moral evil." (127) And St. Thomasobserves that "it often happens that man actswith a good intention, but without spiritual gain,because he lacks a good will. Let us say thatsomeone robs in order to feed the poor: In thiscase, even though the intention is good, the up­rightness of the will is lacking. Consequently, noevil done with a good intention can be excused.'There are those who say: And why not do evilthat good may come? Their condemnation is just'(Rom 3: 8)." (128)

The reason why a good Intention is not itself suf­ficient, but a correct choice of actions is alsoneeded, is that the human act depends on its ob­ject, whether that object is capable or not of being

ordered to God, to the one who "alone is good,"and thus brings about the perfection of the per­son. An act is therefore good if its object is in con­formity with the good of the person with respectfor the goods morally relevant for him. Christianethies, which pays particular attention to themoral object, does not refuse to consider the inner"teleology" of acting inasmuch as it is directed topromoting the true good of the person; but it rec­ognizes that it is really pursued only when the es­sential elements of human nature are respected.The human act, good according to its object, isalso capable of being ordered to its ultimate end.That same act then attains its ultimate and deci­sive perfection when the will actually does orderit to God through charity. As the patron of moraltheologians and confessors teaches: "It is notenough to do good works; they :r:.eed to be donewell. For our works to be good and perfect, theymust be done for the sole purpose of pleasingGod." (129)

'Intrinsic Evil':.It Is Not Licit to Do EvilThat Good May Come Of It

(cf. Rom 3:8).

7(J. One must therefore reject the thesis,to • characteristic of teleological and propor­

tionalist theories, which holds that it is impossibleto qualify as morally evil according to itsspecies-its "object"-the deliberate choice ofcertain kinds of behavior or' specific acts apartfrom a consideration of the intention for which thechoice is made or the totality of the foreseeableconsequences of that act for all persons con­cerned.

The primary and decisive element for moraljudgment is the object of the human act, whichestablishes whether it is capable of being orderedto the good and to the ultimate end, which is God.This capability is grasped by reason in the verybeing of man, considered in his integral truth, andtherefore in his natural inclinations, his motiva­tions and his finalities, which always have a spiri­tual dimensIon as well. It is precisely these whichare the contents of the natural law and hence thatordered complex of "personal goods" whichserve the "good of the person": the good which isthe person himself and his perfection. These arethe goods safeguarded by the commandments,which, according to St. Thomas, contain thewhole natural law. (130)

I

J

E 18 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'... the fact that some believers actwithout following the teachings of the magisteriumor erroneously consider as morally correcta kind of behavior declared by their pastorsas contrary to the law of Godcannot be a valid argument for rejectingthe truth of the moral norms taught by the Church. '

80 Reason attests that there are objects of• the human act which are fly their nature

"incapable_ of being ordered" to God, becausethey radically contradict the good of the personmade in His image. These are the acts which, inthe Church's moral tradition, have been termed"intrinsically evil" ("intrinsece malum"): Theyare such always and per se, in other words, onaccount of their very object and quite apart fromthe ulterior intentions of the one acting and thecircumstances. Consequently, without in the leastdenying the influence on morality exercised bycircumstances and especially by intentions, theChurch teaches that "there exist acts which perse and in themselves, independently of circum­stances, are always seriously wrong by reason oftheir object." (131) The Second Vatican Council it-.self, in discussing the respect due to the humanperson, gives a number of examples of such acts:"Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kindof homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia andvoluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrityof the human person, &uch as mutilation, physicaland mental torture and attempts to coerce thespirit; Whatever is offensive to human dignitysuch as subhuman living c:onditions, arbitrary im­prisonment, deportation, slavery; prostitutionand trafficking in women and children; degrad­ing conditions of work which tr~at laborers asmere instruments of profit, and not as free re­sponsible persons: All these and the like are a dis­grace, and so long as they infect human civiliza­tion they contaminate those who inflict themmore than those who suffer injustice, and theyare a negation u[ the honor due to theCreator." (132)

With regard to intrinsically evil acts and in ref­erence to contraceptive practices whereby theconjugal act is intentionally rendered infertile,Pope Paul VI teaches: "Though it is true thatsometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moralevil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order topromote a greater good, it is never lawful evenfor the gravest reasons to do evil that good maycome of it (cf. Rom 3: 8)-in other words, to in­tend directly something which of its very naturecontradicts the moral order· and which musttherefore be judged unworthy of man, eventhough the intention is to protect or promote thewelfare of an individual, of a family or of societyin general." (133)

81 In teaching the existence of intrinsically• evil acts, the Church accepts the teaching

. of sacred Scripture. The apostle Paul emphati­cally states: "Do not be deceived: Neither the im­moral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexualperverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunk­ards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit thekingdom of God" (1 Cor 6: 9-10).

If acts are intrinsically evil, a good intention orparticular circumstances can diminish their evil,but they cannot remove it. They remain"irremediably" evil acts; per se and in them­selves they are not capable of being ordered toGod and to the good of the person. "As for actswhich are themselves sins" ("cum iam operaipsa peccata sunt") , St. Augustine writes, "liketheft, fornication; blasphemy, who would dare af­firm that by doing them for good motives("causis bonis"), they would no longer be sins or,

.'Veritatis'Splendor'·

what is even more absurd, that they would be sinsthat are justified?" (134)

Consequently, circumstances or intentions cannever transform an act intrinsically evil by virtueof its object into an act "subjectively" good ordefensible as a choice.

82 Furthermore, an intention is good when it• has as its aim the true good -of the person

in view of his ultimate end. But acts whose objectis "not capable of being ordered"· to God and"unworthy of the human person" are always andin every case in conflict with that good. Conse­quently, respect for norms which prohibit such,acts and oblige "semper et pro semper," that is,without any exception, not only does not inhibit agood intention, but actually represents its basicexpression.

The doctrine of the object as a source of moral­ity represents an authentic explicitation of thebiblical morality of the covenant and of the com­mandments, of charity and of the virtues. Themoral quality Of .human acting is dependent onthis fidelity to the commandments as an expres­sion of obedience and of love. For this reason-werepeat-the opinion must be rejected as errone­ous which maintains that it is impossible to qual-

. ify as morally evil according to its species the de­liberate choice of certain kinds of behavior or spe­cific acts, without taking into account the inten­tion for which the choice was made or the totalityof the foreseeable consequences of that act for allpersons concerned. Without the rational determi­nation of the morality of human acting as statedabove, it would be impossible to affirm the exist­ence of an "objective moral order" (135) and toestablish any particular norm the content ofwhich would be binding without exception. Thiswould be to the detriment of human fraternityand the truth about the good, and would be injuri­ous to ecclesial communion as well.

83 As is evident, in the question·of the moral­• ity of human acts, and in particular the

question of whether there exist intrinsically evilacts, we find ourselves faced with the question ofman himself, of his truth and of the moral cqnse­quences flowing from that truth. By acknowledg­ing and teaching the existence of intrinsic evil ingiven human acts, the Church remains faithful tothe integral truth about man; she thus respectsand promotes man in his dignity and vocation.Consequently, she must reject the theories setforth above, which contradict this truth.

Dear brothers in the episcopate, we must not becontent merely to warn the faithful about the er­rors and dangers of certain ethical theories. Wemust first of all show the inviting splendor of thattruth which is Jesus Christ Himself. In Him, whois the truth (cf. Jn 14: 6), man can understandfully and live perfectly, through his good actions,his vocation to freedom in obedience to the divinelaw summarized in the commandment of love ofGod and neighbor. And this is what takes placethrough the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit oftruth, of freedom and of love: In Him we are en­abled to interiorize the law, to receive it and tolive it as the motivating force of true personalfreedom: "the perfect law, the law of liberty"(Jas 1: 25).

Chapter 3'Lest the Cross of ChristBe Emptied of Its Power'

(1 Cor 1: 17).

Moral Good for the Life- Of the ChurchAnd of the World

'For Freedom ChristHas Set Us Free'

(Gal5:!).

84 The fundamental question which the• moral theories mentioned above pose in a

particularly forceful way is that of the relation­ship of man's freedom to God's law; it is ulti­mately the question of the relationship betweenfreedom and truth.. According to Christian faith and the Church's

teaching, "only the freedom which submits to thetruth leads the human person to his true good.The good of the person is to be in the truth and todo the truth." (136) .

A comparison between the Church's teachingand today's social and cultural situation immedi­ately makes clear the urgent need for the Churchherself to develop an intense pastoral effort pre­cisely with regard to this fundamental question."This essential bond between truth, the good andfreedom has been largely lost sight of by present­day culture. As a result, helping man to redis­cover it represents nowadays one of the specificrequirements of the Church's mission, for the sal­vation of the world. Pilate's question, 'What istruth?' reflects the distressing perplexity of aman who often no longer knows who he is, whencehe comes and where he is going. Hence we notinfrequently witness the fearful plunging of thehuman person- into situations of gradual self- .destruction. According to some, it appears thatone no longer need ackn.owledge the enduring ab­soluteness of any moral value. All around us weencounter contempt for human life after concep­tion and before birth; the ongoing violation of ba­sic rights of the person; the unjust destruction ofgoods minimally necessary for a human life. In­deed, something more serious has happened:Man is no longer convinced that only in the truthcan he find salvation. The saving power of thetruth is contested, and freedom alone, 'uprootedfrom any objectivity, is left to decide by itselfwhat is good and what is evil. This relativism be­comes, in the field of theology, a lack of trust inthe wisdom of God, who guides man with themoral law. Concrete situations are unfavorablycontrasted with the precepts of the moral law, noris it any longer maintained that when all is saidand done, the law of God is always the one truegood of man." (137)

85 The discernment wpich the Church car­• ries out with regard to these ethical theo­

ries is not simply limited to denouncing and refut­ing them. In a positive way, the Church seeks,with great love, to help all the faithful to form amoral conscience which will make judgments and.lead to decisions in accordance with the truth, fol­lowing the exhortation of the apostle Paul: "Donot be conformed t6 this world but be trans­formed by the renewal of your mind, that youmay prove what is the will of God, what is goodand acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12: 2). This ef­fort by the Church finds its support-the "secret"of its educative power-not so much in doctrinalstatements and pastoral appeals to vigilance as inconstantly looking to the Lord Jesus. Each daythe Church looks to Christ with unfailing love,fully aware that the true and final answer to theproblem of morality lies in Him alone. In a

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E19

particular way, it is in the crucified Christ thatthe Church finds the answer to the question trou­bling so many people today: How can obedienceto universal and unchanging moral norms respectthe uniqueness and individuality of the personand not represent a threat to his freedom and dig­nity? The Church makes her own the apostlePaul's awareness of the mission he had received:"Christ...sent me... to preach the Gospel, and notwith eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ beemptied of its power...We preach Christ crucified,a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles,but to these 'who are called, both Jews andGreeks, Crrist the power of God and the wisdomof God" (1 Cor 1: 17, 23-24). The crucified Christreveals the authentic meaning of freedom; Helives it fully in the total gift of Himself and callsHis disciples to share in his freedom.

86 Rational reflection and daily experience• demonstrate the weakness which marks

man's freedom. That freedom is real but limited:Its absolute and ,unconditional origin is not in it­self, but in the life within which it is situated andwhich represents for it, at one and the same time,both a limitation and a possibility. Human free­dom belongs to us as creatures; it is a freedomwhich is given as a gift, one to be received like aseed and to be cultivated responsibly. It is an es­sential part of that creaturely image which is thebasis of the dignity of the person. Within that free­dom there is an echo of the primordial vocationwhereby the Creator calls man to the true good,and even more, through Christ's revelation, to be­come His friend and to share His own divine life.It is at once inalienable self-possession and open­ness to all that exists, in passing beyond self toknowledge and love of the other. (138) Freedomthen is rooted in the truth about man, and it isultimately directed toward communion.

Reason and experience not only confirm theweakness of human freedom; they also confirmits tragic aspects. Man comes to realize that hisfreedom iH in some mysterious way inclined tobetray thi~ openness to the true and the good, andthat all too often he aCtually prefers to choose fi­nite, limit(~d and ephemeral goods. What is more,within his errors and negative decisions, manglimpses the source of a deep rebellion, whichleads him '~O reject the,truth and the good in orderto set hirr..self up as an absolute principle untohimself: "You will be like God" (Gn 3: 5). Conse­quently, freedom itself needs to be set free. It isChrist who sets it free: He "has set us free forfreedom" (cf. Gal 5: 1) .

87 c;1riSt reveals, first and foremost, that• tr e frank and open acceptance of truth is

the condition for authentic freedom: "You willknow the truth, and the truth will set you free"(In 8: 32) .1:139) This is truth'which sets one free inthe face of worldly power and which gives thestrength to endure martyrdom. So it was withJesus before Pilate: "For this I was born, and forthis I have come into the world, to bear witness tothe truth" (In 18: 37). The true worshipers of GO,dmust thus worship Him "in spirit and truth" (In4: 23): in bris worship they become free. Worshipof God and'a relationship with truth are revealedin Jesus Christ as the deepest foundation of free­dom.

Furthermore, Jesus reveals by His whole life,and not only by His words, that freedom is ac­quired in ]ove, that is, in the gift of self. The onewho says: "Greater love has no man than this,that a man lay down his life for his friends" (In15: 13), freely goes out to meet His passion (cf. Mt26: 46), anj in obedience to the Father gives Hislife on the cross for all men (cf. Phil 12: 6- 11).Contemplation of Jesus crucified is thus the high­road which the Church must tread every day ifshe wisheH to understand the full meaning of free­dom: the gift of self in service to God and one'sbrethren. Communion with the crucified andrisen Lord is the never-ending source from whichthe Church draws unceasingly in order to live in

'The Splendor of Truth'

freedom, to give of herself and .to serve. Com­menting, on the verse iu Psalm 100. "serve theLord with gladness," St. Augustine says: "In thehouse of the Lord, slavery is free. It is free be­cause it serves not out of necessity, but out ofcharity...Charity should make you a servant, justas truth has made you free ...You are at once botha servant and free: a servant, because you havebecome such; free, because you are loved by Godyour Creator; indeed, you have also been enabledto lq've your Creator...You are a servant of theLord and you are a freedman of the Lord. Do notgo looking for a liberation which will lead you farfrom the house of your liberator! " (140)

The Church, and each of her members, is thus,called to share in the "munus regale" of the cru­cified Christ (cf. Jn 12: 32), to share in the graceand in the responsibility of the Son of Man whocame "not to be served but to serve, and to givehis life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20: 28) . (141)

Jesus, then, is the living, personal summationof perfect freedom intotal obedience to the will ofGod. His crucified flesh fully reveals the unbreak­able bond between freedom and truth, just as Hisresurrection from the dead is the supreme exalta­tion of the fruitfulness and saving power of a free­dom lived out in truth.

Walking in the Light(cf. 1 In 1:7).88 The attempt to set freedom in opposition

• to truth, and indeed to separate them rad­ically, is the consequence, manifestation and con­summation of another more serious and destruc­tive dichotomy, that which separates faith frommorality.

This separation represents one of the mostacute pastoral concerns of the Church amidtoday's growing secularism, wherein many,

TOTAL GIFT-"Thecrucified Christ revealsthe authentic meaningof freedom," the popewrites. "He lives it fullyin the total gift of Him­self and calls His disci­ples to share in Hisfreedom." The artist'sconcept is by Durer.

-Religious News Service,-----------'

indeed too many, people think and live "as if Goddid not exist." We are speaking of a mentalitywhich affects, often in a profour..d, extensive andall-embracing way, even the attitudes and behav­ior of Christians, whose faith is weakened andlostes its character 'as a new and original criterionfor thinking and acting in personal, family andsodal life. In a widely de-Christianized culture,the criteria employed by believers themselves inmaking judgments and decisions often appear ex­traneous or even contrary to those of the Gospel.

It is urgent then that Christians should redis­cover the newness of the'faith and its power tojudge a prevalent and all-intrusive ctJ)ture. As theapostle Paul admonishes us: "Once you weredal,kness, but now you are light in the Lord; walkas children of the light (for the fruit of the light isfot:nd in all that is good and right and true), andtry to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take nopart in the unfruitful words of darkness, but in­stead expose them...Look carefully then how you'walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making themost of the time, because the days are evil" (Eph5: B:-11, 15-16; cf. 1 Thes 5: 4-8). ,

It is urgent to rediscover and to set forth oncemore the authentic reality of the Christian faith,which is not simply a set of propositions to be ac­cepted with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is aliv,ed knowledge of Christ, a living remembrance

.of His commandments, and a truth to be lived out.A word, in any event, is not truly received until itpa.sses into action, lintil it is put into practice.Faith is a decision involving one's whole exist­en'::e. It is an encounter; a dialogue, a communionof love and of life between the believer and JesusChrist, the way and the truth and the life (d. Jn14: 6) . It entails an act of trusting abandonment toChrist, which enables us to live as He lived (d.Gal 2: 20), in profound love of God and of ourbrothers and sisters.

E20 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'Veritatis .Splendor'

'Martyrdom, accepted as an affirmationofthe inviolability of the moral order,bears splendid witness... to the holinessof God's law and to the inviolabilityof the personal dignity of man. '

89 Faith also possesses a moral content. It• gives rise to and calls for a consistent life

commitment; it entails and brings to perfectionthe acceptance and observance of God's com­mandments. As St. John writes: "God is light andin him is no darkness at all. If we say we havefellowship with him while we walk in darkness,we lie and do not live according to the truth...Andby this we may be sure that we know him, if wekeep his commandments. He who says 'I knowhim' but disobeys his commandments is a liar,and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps hisword, in him truly love for God is perfected. Bythis we may be sure that we are in him: He whosays he abides in him ought to walk in the sameway in which he walked" (1 Jn 1: 5-6; 2: 3-6) .

Through the moral life, faith becomes"confession," not only before God but also beforemen: It becomes witness. "You are the light ofthe world," said Jesus; "A city set on a hill can­not be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put itunder a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light toall in the house. Let your light so shine beforemen, that they may see your good Works and giveglory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5: 14­16). These works are above all those of charity(cf. Mt 25: 31-46) and of the authentic freedomwhich is manifested and lived in the gift of self,even to the total gift of self, like that ofJesus, whoon the cross "loved the church and gave himselfup for her" (Eph 5: 25). Christ's witness is thesource, model and means for the witness of Hisdisciples, who are called to walk on the sameroad: "If any man would come after me, let himdeny himself and take up his cross daily and fol­low me" (Lk 9: 23). Charity, in conformity withthe radical demands of the Gospel, can lead thebeliever to the supreme witness of martyrdom.Once again this means imitating Jesus, who diedon the cross: "Be imitators of God, as belovedchildren,"- Paul writes to the Christiaps of Ephe­sus, "and walk in love, as Christ loved us andgave himself up for us, a fragrant offering andsacrifice to God" (Eph 5: 1-2) .

Martyrdom, the ExaltationOf the Inviolable HolinessOf God's law"90 The rel~tionship between" faith and mo-

• rality shines forth witb all its brilliance inthe unconditional respect due to the insistent de­mands of the personal dignity of every man, de­mands protecte<:l by those moral norms whichprohibit without exception actions which are in­trinsicallyevil. The universality and the immuta­bility of the moral norm make manifest and at thesame time serve to protect the personal dignityand inviolability of man, on whose face is re­flected the splendor of God (d. Gn 9: 5-6).

The unacceptability of "teleological,""consequentialist" and "proportionalist" ethicaltheories, which deny the existence of negativemoral norms regarding specific kinds of behav­ior, norms which are valid without exception, isconfirmed in a particularly eloquent way byChristian martyrdom, which has always accom­panied and continues to acCOmpany the life of theChurch even today. .-

91 In the Old Testament we already find ad­• mirable witnesses of fidelity to the holy

law of God even to the point of a voluntary accep­tance of death. A prime example is the story ofSusanna: In reply to the two unjust judges whothreatened to have her condemned to death if sherefused to yield to their sinful passion, she says:"I am hemmed in on every side. For if I do thisthing, it is death for me; and if I do not, I shall notescape your hands. I choose not to do it and to fallinto your hands, rather than to sin in the sight ofthe Lord!" (Dn 13: 22-23). Susanna, preferring to"fall innocent" into the hands of the judges, bearswitness not only to her faith arid trust in God butalso to her obedience to the truth and to the

-eNS

EXAMPLE-"The Church proposes the exam­ple of numerous saints who bore witness toand defended moral truth even to the point ofenduring martyrdom or who preferred death toa single mortal sin," the pope writes. The burn­ing of 81. Joan of Arc is depicted in painting byE. Lenepreu.

absoluteness of the moral order. By her readinessto die a martyr, she proclaims that it is not rightto do what God's law qualifies as evil in order to.draw some good from it. Susanna chose for her­self the "better part": Hers was a perfectly clearwitness, without any compromise1'"to the truthabout the good and to the God of Israel. By heracts, she revealed the holiness of God.

At the dawn of the New Testament, John the"Baptist, unable to refrain from speaking of the"law of the Lord and rejecting any compromisewith evil, "gave his life in witness "to truth and,justice," (142) and thus also became the forerun­ner of the Messiah in the way he died (cf. Mk 6: 17­29). "The one who came to bear witness to thelight and who deserved to be called by that samelight, which is Christ, a burning and shining lamp,was cast into the darkness of prison...The one towhom it was granted to baptize the Redeemer ofthe world was thus baptized in his ownblood." (143) "

In the New Testament we find many examplesof followers of Christ, beginning with the deaconStephen (cf. Acts 6: 8-7: 60) and the apostle James(d. Acts 12: 1-2), who died as martyrs in order toprofess their faith and their love for ChristJ un­willing to deny Him. In this they followed the LordJesus, who "made the good confession" (1 Tm6: 13) before Caiaphas and Pilate, confirming thetruth of His message at the cost of His life. Count­less other martyrs accepted persecution anddeath rather than perform the idolatrous act ofburning incense before the statue of the emp~ror

(d. Rv 13: 7-10). They even refused to feign suchworship, thereby giving an example of the duty torefrain from performing even a single concrete

act contrary to God's love and the witness offaith. Like Christ Himself, they obediently trustedand handed over their lives to the Father, the onewho could free them from death (cf. Heb 5: 7).

The Church proposes the example of numeroussaints who bore witness to and defended moraltruth even to the point of enduring martyrdom orwho preferred death to a single mortal sin. Inraising them to the honor of the altars, the Churchhas canonized their witness and declared thetruth of their judgment, according to which thelove of God entails the obligation to respect Hiscommandments, even in the most dire of circum­stances, and the refusal to betray those com­mandments, even for the sake of saving one'sown life.

92 Martyrdom, accepted as an affirmation• of the inviolability of the moral order,

bears splendid witness both to the holiness ofGod's law and to the inviolability of the personaldignity of man, created in God's image and like­ness. This dignity may never be disparaged orcalled into question, even with good intentions,whatever the difficulties involved. Jesus warns usmost sternly: "~hat does it profit a man, to gainthe whole world and forfeit his life?" (Mk 8: 36).

Martyrdom rejects as false and illusory what­ever "human meaning" one might claim to at­tribute, even in "exceptional" conditions, to anact morally evil in itself. Inde~d, it even moreclearly unmasks the true face of such an act: It isa violation of man's "humanity," in the one per­petrating it even before the one enduring it. (144)Hence martyrdom is also the exaltation of aperson's perfect "humanity" and of true "life,"as is attested by St. Ignatius of Antioch, address­ing the Christians of Rome, the place of his ownmartyrdom: "Have mercy on me, brethren: Donot hold me back from living; do not wish that Idie...Let me arrive at the pure light; once there Iwill be truly a man. Let me imitate the passion ofmy God." (145)

93 Finally, martyrdom is an outstanding" • sign of the holiness of the Church. Fidel-ity to God's holy law, witnessed to by death, is a .solemn proclamation and missionary commit­ment "usque ad sanguinem," so that the splendorof moral truth may be undimmed in the behaviorand thinking of individuals and society. This wit­ness makes an extraordinarily valuable contribu­tion to warding off in civil society and within theecclesial communities themselves a headlongplunge into the most dangerous crisis which canafflict man: the confusion between good and evil,which makes it impossible to build up and to pre­serve the moral order of individuals and commu­nities. By their eloquent and attractive exampleof a life completely transfigured by the splendorof· moral truth, the martyrs and, in general, allthe Church's saints light up every period of his­tory by reawakening its moral sense. By witness­ing fully to the good, they are a living reproof tothose who transgress the law (cf. Wig 2: 12), andthey make the words of the prophet echo everafresh: "Woe to those who call evil good and goodevil, who put darkness for light and light for dark­ness, who put bitter for sweet and" sweet forbitter!" (Is 5: 20) .

Although martyrdom represents the high pointof the witness to moral truth, and one to whichrelatively few people are called, there is nonethe­less a consistent witness which all Christiansmust daily be ready to make, even at the cost ofsuffering and grave sacrifice. Indeed, faced with

\\ The Anchor October 29, 1993 E21

'The Splendor of Truth'

Windsor Castle. Royal Ubrary. Her Majesty the Queen

THE CHARGE-Raphael's 16th-century drawin!l, II 'Feed My Sheep': Christ'sCharge to Peter," depicts the genesis of the call in Pope John Paul's new encycli-cal to 20th-century bishops to safeguard the faith of the people.

the many difficulties which fidelity to the moralorder can demand even in the most ordinary cir­cumstances, the Christian is called, with thegrace of Gcd invoked in prayer, to a sometimesheroic commitment. In this he or she is sustainedby the virtue of fortitude, whereby-as Gregorythe Great teaches-one can actually "love the dif­ficulties of this world for the sake of eternalrewards." (l46)

94 In this witness to the absoluteness of the• moral good Christians are not alone: They

are supported by the moral sense present in peo­ples and by the great religious and sapiential tra­ditions of East and West, from which the interiorand mysterious workings of God's Spirit are notabsent. The words of the Latin poet Juvenal applyto all: "Consider it the greatest of crimes to pre­fer survival to honor and, out of love of physicallife, to lose the very reason for living." (147) Thevoice of conscience has always clearly recalledthat there are truths and moral values for whichone must be prepared to give up one's life. In anindividual's words and above all in the sacrificeof his life for a moral value, the Church sees asingle testimony to that truth which, alreadypresent in creation, shines forth in its fullness onthe face of Christ. As St. Justin put it, "The Stoics,at least in their teachings on ethics, demonstratedwisdom, thanks to the seed of the word present inall peoples, and we know that those who followedtheir doctrines met with hatred and werekilled." (148)

Universal and UnchangingMoral Norms at the Service ofThe Person and of Society

95 The Church's teaching, and in particular• her firmness in defending the universal

and perma nent validity of the precepts prohibit­ing intrinsil~ally evil acts, is not infrequently seenas the sign )f an intolerable intransigence, partic­ularly with regard to the enormously complexand conflict-filled situations present in the morallife of individuals and of society today; this in­transigence is said to be in contrast with the I

Church's motherhood. The Church, one hears, islacking in understanding and compassion. Butthe Church s motherhood can never in fact be sep­arated fro:n her teaching mission, which shemust alwa ys carry out as the faithful bride ofChrist, who is the truth in person. "As teacher,she never tires of proclaiming the moralnorm...The Church is in no way the author or thearbiter of this norm. In obedience to the truthwhich is Glrist, whose image is reflected in thenature and dignity of the human person, theChurch interprets the moral norm and proposes itto all people of good will, without concealing itsdemands 0:: radicalness and perfection." (149)

In fact, genuine understanding and compassionmust mear. love for the person, for his true good,for his autnentic freedom. And this does not re­sult, certainly, from concealing or· weakeningmoral truth, but rather from proposing it in itsmost profound meaning as an outpouring of God'seternal wisdom, which we have received inChrist, ane, as a service to man, to the growth ofhis freedom and to the attainment of hishappiness. (150)

Still, a clear and forceful presentation of moraltruth can never be separated from a profound andheartfelt respect, born of that patient and trustinglove which man .always needs along his moraljourney, a journey frequently wearisome on ac­count of difficulties, weakness and painful situa­tions. The Church can never renounce "the prin­ciple of tntth and consistency, whereby she doesnot agree to call good evil and evil good"; (151)she must always be careful not to break thebruised reed or to quench the dimly burning wick(cf. Is 42: :1). As Paul VI wrote: "While it is anoutstanding manifestation of charity toward soulsto omit nothing from the saving doctrine ofChrist, thiB must always be joined with tolerance

and charity, as Christ Himself showed by His con­versations and dealings with men. Having comenot to judge the world but to save it, He was iun­cOrnprorrusingly stern toward sin, but patient andrich in mercy toward sinners." (152)

96 The Church~s firmness in defending the• universal and unchanging moral norms is

not demeaning at all. Its only purpose is to serveman's true freedom. Because there can be nofreedom apart from or in opp'osition to the truth,the categorical-wlyielding and uncompro­mising-defense of the absolutely essential de­mands of man's personal dignity must be consid­ered the way and the condition for the very exist­ence of freedom.

This service is directed to every man, consid­ered in the uniqueness and singularity of his beingand existence: Only by obedience to universal.moral norms does man find full confirmation ofhis personal uniqueness and the possibility of au­thentic moral growth. For this very reason, thisservice is also directed to all mankind: It is notonly for individuals but also for the community,for society as such. These norms in fact representthe unshakable foundation and solid guarantee ofa just and peaceful haman coexistence, and henceof genuine democracy, which can come into beingand develop onry on the basis of the equality of allits members, who possess common rights and du­ties. When it is a matter of the moral norms pro­hibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges orexceptions for anyone. It makes no differencewhether one is the master of the world or' the"poorest of the poor" on the face of the earth. Be­fore the demands of morality we are all abso-lutely equal. '

/

97 In this way moral norms, and primarily• the negative ones, those prohibiting evil,

manifest their meaning and force, both personaland social. By protecting the inviolable personaldignity of every human being they help to pre­serve the 'human social fabric and its proper and'fruitful development. The commandments of thesecond table of the Decalogue in particular­those which Jesus quoted to the young man of theGospel (cf. Mt 19: 19)-constitute the indispens­able rules of all social life.

These commandments are formulated in gen­eral terms. But the very fact that "the origin, thesubject and the purpose of all social institutions isand should'be the human person" (153) allows forthem to-be specified and made more explicit in a

detailed code of behavior. The fundamentalmoral rules of social life thus entail specific de­mands to which both public authorities and citi­zens are required to pay heed. Even though inten­tions may sometimes be good, and circumstancesfrequently difficult, civil authorities and particu­lar individuals never have authority to violate thefundamental and inalienable rights of the humanperson. In the end, only a morality which ac­knowledges certain norms as valid always andfor everyone, with no exception, can guaranteethe ethical foundation of social coexistence, bothon the national and international levels.

Morality and the RenewalOf Social and Political Life

\

910 In the face of serious forms of social andc() • economic irijustice and political corrup­

tion affecting entire peoples and nations, there is·a growing reaction of indignation on the part ofvery many people whose fundamental humanrights have been trampled upon and held in con­tempt, as well as an ever more widespread a!1dacute sense of the need for aradical personal andsocial renewal capable of ensuring justice, soli­darity, honesty and openness.

Certainly there is a long and. difficult roadahead; bringing about such a renewal will re­quire enormous effort, especiaI:.y on account ofthe number and the gravity of ti.le causes givingrise to and aggravating the situations of injusticepresent in the world today. But, as history andpersonal experience show, it is not difficult to dis­cover at the bottom of these situations causeswh~ch are properly "cultural," l:nked to particu­lar ways of looking at man, society and the world.Indeed, at the heart of the issue of culture we findthe moral sense, which is in turn rooted and ful­filled in the religious sense. (154)

I

919' Only God, the supreme good, constitutesI • the unshakable foundation and essential

condition of morality, and thus of the command­ments, particularly those negative command­ments which always and in every case prohibitbehavior and actions incompatible with the per­sonal dignity of every man. The supreme goodand the moral good meet in truth: the truth ofGod, the creator and redeemer, and the truth ofman, created and redeemed by Him. Only uponthis truth is it possible to construct a renewed so­ciety and to solve the complex and weighty prob­lems affecting it, above all the problem of

E22 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'Moral theologians are to set forth the Church's teachingand to give, in the exercise of their ministry,the example of loyal assent, both internal and external,to the magisterium's teaching in the areasof both dogma and morality. '

..;

:.

overcoming the various forms of totalitarianism,so as to make way for the authentic freedom ofthe person. "Totalitarianism arises out of a denialof truth in the objective sense. If there is no tran­scendent truth, in obedience to which manachieves his full identity, then there is no sureprinciple for guaranteeing just relations betweenpeople. Their self-interest as a class, group or na­tion would inevitably set them in opposition to oneanother. If one does not acknowledge transcen­dent truth, then the force of power takes over andeach person tends to make full use of the meansat his disposal in order to impose his own inter­ests or his own opinion, with no regard for the .rights of others...Thus, the root of modern totali­tarianism is to be found in the denial, of the tran­scendent dignity of the human person who, as thevisible image of the invisible God, is therefore byhis very nature the subject of rights which no onemay violate-no individual, group, class, nationor state. Nf\t even the majority of a social bodymay violate these rights by going against the mi­nority, by isolating, oppressing or exploiting it orby attempting to annihilate it." (155)

Consequently, the inseparable connection be­tween truth and freedom-which expresses theessential bond between God's wisdom and will-isextremely significant for the life of persons in thesocioeconomic and sociopolitical sphere. This isclearly seen in the Church's social teaching­which "belongs to the field ...of theology and par­ticularly of moral theology'~(156)-andfrom herpresentation of commandments governing social,economic and political life, not only with regardto general attitudes'but also to precise and spe­cific kinds of behavior and concrete acts.

100 The Catechism of the Catholic Church• affirms that "in economic matters, re­

spect for human dignity requires the practice ofthe virtue of temperance, to moderate our attach­ment to the goods of this world; of the virtue of .justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and torender what Is his or her due; and of solidarity,following the Golden Rule and in keeping with thegenerosity of the Lora, who 'though he was rich,yet for your sake...became poor, so that by hispoverty you might become rich' (2 Cor8: 9)." (157) The catechism goes on to present aseries of kinds of behavior and actions contrary tohuman dignity: theft, deliberate retention ofgoods lent or objects lost, business fraud (cf. Dt25: 13-16), unjust wages (d. Dt 24: 14-15), forcingup prices by trading on the ignorance or hardshipof another (cf. Am 8: 4-6), the misappropriationand private use of the corporate property of anenterprise, work badly done, tax fraud, forgery ofchecks and invoices, excessive expenses, waste,etc. (158) It continues: "The Seventh Command­ment prohibits actions or enterprises which forany reason-selfish or ideological, commercial ortotalitarian-lead to the enslavement of humanbeings, disregard for their personal dignity, buy­ing or selling or exchanging them like merchan­dise. Reducing persons by violence tQ use value ora source of profit is a sin against their dignity aspersons and their fundamental rights. St. Paul seta Christian master right about treating his Chris­tian slave 'no longer as a slave but...as abrother.. .in the Lord' (phlm 16)." (159)

10·1 In the political sphere, it m~st be noted• that truthfulness in the relations be­

tween those governing and those governed,

'Veritatis Splendor'

openness in public administration, impartiality inthe service of the body politic, respect for· therights of political adversaries, safeguarding therights of the accused against summary trials andconvictions, the just and honest use of publicfunds, the rejection of equivocal or illicit means inorder to gain, preserve or increase power at anycost-all these are principles which are primarilyrooted in, and in fact derive their singular ur-

. gency from, the transcendent value of the personand the objective moral demands of the function­ing of states. (160) When these principles are notobserved, the very basis,of political coexistence isweakened and the life of society itself is graduallyjeopardized, threatened and doomed to decay (cLPs 14: 3-4; Rv 18: 2-3, 9-24). Today, when manycountries have seen the fall of ideologies whichbound politics to a totalitarian conception of theworld-Marxism being the foremost of these'-

. there is no less grave a danger that the funda­mental rights of the human person will be deniedand that the religious yearnings which arise in theheart of ·every human being will be absorbed onceagain into politics. This is the risk of an alliancebetween democracy and ethical relativism, whichwould remove any sure moral reference pointfrom political and social life, and on a deeperlevel make the acknowledgment of truth impossi­ble. Indeed, "if there is no ultimate truth to guideand direct political activity, then ideas and con­victions can easily be manipulated for reasons ofpower. As history demonstrates, a democracywithout values easily turns into open or thinly dis­guised totalitarianism." (161)

Thus, in every sphere of personal, family, socialand political life, morality-founded upon truthand open in truth to authentic freedom-renders aprimordial, indispensable and immensely valu-

-able service not only for the individual person andhis growth in the good, but also for society and itsgenuine development.

Grace and ObedienceTo God's Law

102 Even in the most difficult situations• man must respect the norm of morality

so that he can be obedient to God's holy com­mandment and consistent with his own dignity asa person. Certainly, maintaining a harmony be­tween freedom and truth occasionally demandsuncommon sacrifices and must be won at a highprice: It can even involve martyrdom--: But, asuniversal and daily experience, demonstrates,man is tempted to break that harmony: "I do notdo what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.. .I donot do the good I want, but the evil I do not want"(Rom 7: 15, 19) .

What is the ultimate source of this inner divi­sion of man? His history of sin begins'when he nolonger acknowledges the Lord as his Creator andhimself wishes to be the one who determines, withcomplete independence, what is good and what isevil. "You will be like God, knowing good andevil" (Gn 3: 5): This was the first temptation, andit is echoed in ?ll the other temptations to whichman is more easily inclined to yield as a result ofthe original fall.

But temptations can be overcome, sins can beavoided, because together with the command­ments the Lord gives us the possibility of keepingthem: "His eyes are on those who fear him, andhe know~ every deed of man. He has not com­manded anyone to be ungodly, and he has notgiven anyone permission to sin" (Sir 15: 19-20).

Keeping God's law in particular situations can bedifficult, extremely difficult, but it is never im­possible. This is the constant teaching of theChurch's tradition and was expressed by theCouncil of Trent: "But no one, however much jus­tified, ought to consider himselfexempt from theobservance of the commandments nor should heemploy that rash statement, forbidden by the fa­thers under anathema, that the commandmentsof God are impossible of observance by one who isjustified. For God does not command the impossi­ble, but in commandlng He admonishes you to dowhat you can and to pray for what you cannot,and He gives His aid to enable you. His command­ments are not burdensome (cf. 1 Jn 5: 3); his yokeis easy and his burden light (cf. Mt 11: 30)." (162)

103 Man always has before him the spiri­• ttial horizon of hope, thanks to the help

of divine grace and with the cooperation of humanfreedom.

It is in the saving cross of Jesus, in the gift ofthe Holy Spirit, in the sacraments which flowforth from the pierced side of the Redeemer (cf.Jn 19: 34), that believers find the grace and thestrength always to keep God's holy law, evenamid the gravest of hardships. As St. Andrew ofCrete observes, the law itself "was enlivened bygrace and made to serve it in a harmonious andfruitful combination. Each element preserved itscharacteristics without change or confusion. In adivine manner, he turned what could be burden­some and tyrannical into what is easy to bear anda source of freedom." (163)

Only in the mystery of Christ's redemption dowe discover the' "concrete" possibilities of man."It would be a very serious error toconclude...that the Church's teaching is essen­tially only an 'ideal' which must then be adapted,proportioned, graduated to the so-called concretepossibilities of man, according to a 'balancing ofthe goods in question.' But what are the 'concretepossibilities of man'? And of which man are wespeaking? Of man dominated by lust or of manredeemed by Christ? This is what is at stake: thereality of Christ's redemption. Christ has re­deemed us! This means that He has given us thepossibility of realizipg the entire truth of our be­ing; He has set our freedom free from the domi­nation of concupiscence. And if redeemed manstill sins, this is not due to an imperfection ofChrist's redemptive act, but to man's will not toavail himself of the grace which flows from thatact. God's command is of course proportioned toman's capabilities; but to the capabilities of theman to whom the Holy Spirit has been given; ofthe man who, though He has fallen into sin, canalways obtain pardon and enjoy the presence ofthe Holy Spirit." (164)

104 In this context, appropriate allowance• is made both for God's mercy toward

the sin of the man who experiences conversionand for the understanding of human weakness.Such understanding never means compromising

, and falsifying the standard of good and evil in or­der to adapt it to particular circumstances .. It isquite human for the sinner to acknowledge hisweakness and to ask mercy for his failings; whatis unacceptable is the attitude of one who makeshis own weakness the criterion of the truth aboutthe good, so that he can feel self-justified, withouteven the need to have recourse to God and Hismercy. An attitude of this sort corrupts the mo­rality of society as a whole, since it encouragesdoubt about the objectivity of the moral law ingeneral and a rejection of the absoluteness ofmoral prohibitions regarding specific humanacts, and it ends up by confusing all judgmentsabout values.

Instead, we should take to heart the message ofthe Gospel parable of the Pharisee and the taxcollector (cf. Lk 18: 9-14). The tax collector mightpossibly have had some justification for the sinshe committed, such as to diminish his responsibil­ity. But his prayer does not dwell on such

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E23'The Splendor of Truth'

'When people ask the Church the questions raised by their consciences,when the faithful in the Church turn to their bishops and pastors,the Church's reply contains the voice of Jesus Christ,the voice of truth about good and evil.In the words spoken by the Church there resounds, in people's inmost being,the voice of God who alone is good, who alone is love. '

'...temptations can be' overcome,sins can be avoided, becausetogether with the corr1mandmentsthe Lord gives us the possibilityof keeping them... '

justifications, but rather on his own unworthinessbefore God's infinite holiness: "God, be mercifulto me a simer!" (Lk 18: 13). The Pharisee, on theother hane:, is self-justified, finding some excusefor each of his failings. Here we encounter twodifferent attitudes of the moral conscience of manin every :lge. The tax collector represents a"repentant" conscience, fully aware of the frailtyof its own nature and seeing in its own failings,whatever their subjective justifications, a confir­mation of its need for redemption. The Phariseerepresents a "self-satisfied" conscience, underthe illusion that it is able to observe the law with­out the he:.p of grace and convinced that it doesnot need mercy.

105 All people must take great care not to• allow themselves to be tainted by the

attitude 0:: the Pharisee, which would seek toeliminate awareness of one's own limits and ofone's own sin. In our ()wn day this attitude is ex­pressed particularly in the attempt to adapt themoral norm to one's own capacities and personalinterests, and even in the rejection of the veryidea of a norm. Accepting, on the other hand, the"dispropOltion" between the law and human abil­ity (that i:;, the capacity of the moral forces ofman left to himself) kindles the desire for graceand prepa:res one to receive it. "Who will deliverme from this body of death?" asks the apostlePaul. And in an outburst of joy and gratitude hereplies: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christour Lord! " (Rom 7: 24-25) .

We find the same awareness in the followingprayer of St. Ambrose of Milan: "What then isman, if you do not visit him? Remember, Lord,that you have made me as one who is weak, thatyou formed me from dust. How can I stand, if youdo not constantly look upon me, to strengthen thisclay, so th:lt my strength may proceed from yourface? When you hide your face, all grows weak(Ps 104: 29): If you turn to look at me, woe is me!You have nothing to see in me but the stain of mycrtmes; there is no gain either in being aban­doned or in being seen, because when we areseen, we offend you. Still, we can imagine thatGod does not reject those He sees, because Hepurifies those upon whom He gazes. Before himburns a fire capable of consuming our guilt (cf. Jl2: 3) ." (165)

Morality andNew Evangelization

106 Evangelization is the most powerful• and stirring challenge which the

Church has been called to face from her very be­ginning. Indeed, this challenge is posed not somuch py the social and cultural milieux which sheencounter::; in the course of history, as by themandate (If the risen Christ, who defines the veryreason fa)' the Church's existence: "Go into allthe world :lnd preach the Gospel to the whole cre­ation" (M:~ 16: 15 ) .

At least for many peoples, however, the presenttime is instead marked by a formidable' challenge.to undertake a "new evangelization," a procla­mation of the Gospel which is always new and al­ways the hearer of new things, an evangelizationwhich must be "new in its ardor, methods and

expression." (166) De~Christianization, whichweighs heavily upon entire peoples and communi­ties once rich in faith and Christian life, involvesnot only the loss of faith or in any event its becom­ing irrelevant for everyday life, but also, and ofnecessity, a decline or obscuring of the moralsense. This comes about both as a result of a lossof awareness of the originality of Gospel moralityand as a result of an eclipse of fundamental prin­ciples and ethical values themselves. Today'swidespread tendencies toward subjectivism, utili-'tarianism and relativism appear not merely aspragmatic attitudes or patterns of behavior, butrather as approaches having a basis in theory andclaiming full cultural and social legitimacy.

'107 Evangelization-and therefore the• "new evangelization"-arso involves

the proclamation and presentation of morality.Jesus himself, even as He preached the kingdomof God and its saving love, called people to faithand conversion (cf. Mk 1: 15). And when Peter,with the other apostles, proclaimed the resurrec­tion of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, He heldout a new life to be lived, a "way" to be followed,for those who would be disciples of the risen One(cf. Acts 2: 37-41; 3: 17-20).

Just as it does in proclaiming the truths of faith,and even more so in presenting the foundationsand content of Christian morality, the new evan­gelization will show its authenticity and unleashall its missionary force when it is carried outthrough the gift not only of the word proclaimedbut also of the word lived. In particular, the life ofholiness which is resplendent in so many mem- 'bers of the people of God, humble and often un­seen, constitutes the simplest and most attractiveway to perceive at once the beauty of truth; theliberating force of God's love, and the value ofunconditional fidelity to all the demands of theLord's law, even in the most difficult situations.For this reason, the Church, as a wise teacher ofmorality, has always invited believers to seekand to find in the saints, and above all in the vir­gin mother of God "full of grace" and "all-holy,"the model, the strength and the joy needed to livea life in accordance with God's commandmentsand the Beatitudes of the Gospel.

The lives of the saints, as a reflection of ~he

goodness of God-the one who "alone is good"­constitute not only a genuine profession of faithand an incentive for sharing it with others, butalso a glorification of God and His infinite holi­ness. The life of holiness thus brings to full ex­pression and effectiveness the threefold and uni­tary "munus propheticum, sacerdotale et regale"which every Christian receives as agift by beingborn again "of water and the Spirit" (In 3: 5) in

baptism. His moral life has the value of a"spiritual worship" (Rom 12: 1; cf. Phil 3: 3) flow­ing from and nourished by that inexhaustiblesource of holiness and glorification of God whichis found in the sacraments, especially in the Eu­charist: By sharing in the sacrifice of the cross,the Christian partakes of Christ's self-giving loveand is equipped and committed to live this samecharity in all his thoughts and deeds. In the morallife the Christian's royal service is also made evi­dent and effective: With the help of grace, themore one obeys the new law of the Holy Spirit, themore one grows in the freedom to which he or sheis ealled by the service of truth, charity andjustice.

108 At the heart of the new evangelization• and of the new moral life which it pro­

poses and awakens by its fruits of holiness andmissionary zeal, there is the Spirit of. Christ, theprinciple and strength of the fruitfulness of holymother Church. As Pope Paul VI reminded us:"Evangelization will never be possible withoutthe action of the Holy Spir.it." (167) The Spirit ofJesus, received by the humble and docile heart ofthe believer, brings aJ;>ouUhe flourishing of Chris­tian moral life and the witness of holiness amidthe great variety of vocations, gifts, responsibili­ties, conditions and life situations. As Novatianonce pointed out, here expressing the authenticfaith of the Church, iUs the Holy Spirit "who con­firmed the hearts and minds of the disciples, whorevealed the mysteries of the Gospel, who shedupon them the light of thipgs divine. Strengthenedby His gift, they did not fear eit.her prisons orchains for the name of the Lord; indeed they eventrampled upon the powers and torments of theworld, armed and strengthened by Him, havingto themselves the gifts which this same spirit be­stows and directs like jewels to the Church, thebride of Christ. It is in fact He who raises upprophets in the Church, instructs teacliers, guideston.gues, works wonders and healings, accom­plishes miracles, grants the discernment of spir­its, assigns governance, inspires counsels, dis­tributes and harn10nizes every other charismaticgift. In this way He completes and verfects theLord's Church everywhere and in allthings." (168)

In the living context of this new evangelization,aimed at generating and nourishing "the faithwhich works through love" (cf. Gal 5: 6), and inrelations to the work of the. Holy Spirit, we cannow understand the proper place which continu­ing theological reflection about the moral lifehol.ds in the Church, the community of believer's.We can likewise speak of the mission and the re­sponsibility proper to moral theologians.

E24 The Anchor October 29, 1993

The ServiceOf Moral Theologians109 The whole Church is calfed to evangeli-

• zation and to the witness of a life offaith, by the fact that she has been made a sharerin the "munus propheticum" of the Lord Jesusthrough the gift of His Spirit. Thanks to the per­manent presence of the Spirit of truth in theChurch (cf. Jn 14: 16-17), "the universal body·ofthe faithful who have received the anointing of theholy one (cf. 1 Jn 2: 20, 27) cannot be mistaken inbelief. It displays this particular quality through ­a supernatural sense of the faith in the whole peo­ple when, 'from the bishops to the last of the layfaithful,' it expresses the consensus of all in mat­ters of faith and morals." (169)

In order to carry out her prophetic mission, theChurch must constantly reawaken or "rekindle"her own life oi faith (cf. 2 Tm 1: 6), particularlythrough an ever deeper reflection, under the guid­ance of the Holy Spirit, upon the content of faithitself. The "vocation" of the theologian in theChurch is specifically at the service of this"believing effort to understand the faith." As theinstruction "Donum Veritatis" teaches: "Amongthe vocations awakened by the Spirit in theChurch is that of the theologian. His role is to pur­sue in a particular wayan ever deeper under­standing of the word of God found in the inspiredScriptures and handed 01) by the living traditionof the Church. He does this in communion withthe magjsterium, which' has been charged withthe responsibility of preserving the deposit offaith. By its nature, faith appeals to reason be­cause it reveals to man the truth of his destinyand the way to attain it. Revealed truth, to besure, surpasses our telling. All our concepts fallshort of its ultimately unfathomable grandeur(d. Eph 3: 19). Nonetheless, revealed truth beck­ons reason-God's gift fashIoned for the assimila­tion of truth-to enter into its light and therebycome to understand in a certain measure what ithas believed. Theological science responds to theinvitation of truth as it seeks to understand thefaith. It thereby aids the people of God in fulfillingthe apostle's command (cf. 1 Pt 3: 15) to give .anaccounting for their hope to those who askit." (170)

It is fundamental for defining the very identityof theology, and consequently for theology tocarry out its proper mission, to recognize its pro­found and vital connection with the Church, hermystery, her life and her mission: "Theology isan ecclesial science because it grows in thechurch and works on the church.. .!t is a service tothe Church and therefore ought to feel itself ac­tively involved in the mission of the Church, par­ticularly in its prophetic mission.'~ (171) By itsvery nature and procedures, authentic theologycan flourish and develop only through a commit­ted and responsible participation in and"belonging" to the Church as a "community offaith." In turn, the fruits of theological researchand deeper insight become a source of enrich­ment for the Church and her life of faith.

110 All that has been said about theology in• general can and must also be said for

moral theology, seen in its specific nature as ascientific reflection on the Gospel as the gift andcommandment of new life, a reflection on the lifewhich "professes the truth in love" (d. Eph 4: 15)and on the Church's life of holiness, in which thereshines forth the truth about the good brought to itsperfection. The Church's magisterium intervenes

'Veritatis Splendor'

not only in the sphere of faith, but also, and insep­arably so, in the sphere of morals. It has the taskof "discerning, by means of judgments normativefor the consciences of believers, those acts whichin themselves conform to the demands of faithand foster their expression in life and thosewhich, on the contrary, because intrinsically evil,are incompatible with such demands." (172) Inproclaiming the commandments of God and thecharity of Christ, the Church's magisterium alsoteaches the faithful specific particular preceptsand requires that they consider them in con­science as morally binding. In addition, the mag­isterium carries out an important work of vigi­lance, warning the faithful of the presence of pos­sible errors, even merely implicit ones, whentheir consciences 'fail to acknowledge the correct­ness and the truth of the moral norms whiCh themagisterium teaches.

This is the point at which to consider the spe­cific task of all those who by mandate of their le­gitimate pastors teach moral theology in semi­naries and faculties of theology. They have the

, grave duty to instruct the faithful-especially fu­lure pastors-about all those commandments andpractical norms authoritatively declared by theChurch. (173) While recognizing the possible limi­tations of the human arguments employed by themagisterium, moral theologians are called to de­velop a deeper understanding of the reasons un­derlying its teachings and to expound the validityand obligatory nature of the precepts it proposes,demonstrating their connection with one anotherand their relation with man's ultimate end. (174)Moral theologians are to set forth the Church'steaching and to give, in the exercise of their min­istry, the example of a loyal assent, both internaland external, to the magisterium's teaching inthe areas of both dogma and morality. (175) Work­ing together ill cooperation with the hierarchicalmagisterium, theologians will be deeply con­cerned to clarify ever more fully the biblical foun-

. dations, the ethical significance and the anthropo­logical concerns which underlie the moral doc­trine and the vision of man set forth by theChurch.

, 111 The service which moral theologians. • are called to provide at the presenttime -is of the utmost importance, not only for theChurch's life and mission, but also for human so­ciety and culture. Moral theologians have thetask, in close and vital connection with biblicaland dogmatic theology, to highlight through theirscientific reflection "that dynamic aspect whichwill elicit the response that man must give to thedivine call which comes in the process of hisgrowth in love, within a community of salvation.In this way, moral theology will acquire an innerspiritual dimension in response to the need to de­velop fully the "imago Dei" present in man, and,in response to the laws of spiritual developmentdescribed by Christian ascetical and mysticaltheology." (176)

Certainly moral theology and its teaching aremeeting with particular difficulty today. Becausethe Church's morality necessarily involves a nor­mative dimension, moral theology cannot be re­duced to a body of knowledge worked out purelyin the context of the so-called behavioral sciences.The latter are concerned with the phenomenon ofmorality as a historical and social fact; , moraltheology, however, while needing to make use ofthe behavioral and natural sciences, does not relyon the results of formal empirical observation or

. phenomenological understanding alone. Indeed,the relevance of the behavioral sciences formoral theology must always be measured against

the primordial question: What is good or evil?What must be done to have eternal life?

112 .The moral theologian must therefore• exercise careful discernment in the con­

text of today's prevalently scientific and'techni­cal culture, exposed as it is to the dangers of rela­tivism, pragmatism and positivism. From thetheological viewpoint, moral principles are notdependent upon the historical moment in whichthey are discovered. Moreover, the fact that somebelievers act without following the teachings ofthe magisterium or erroneously consider as mor­ally correct a kind of behavior declared by theirpastors as contrary to the law of God cannot be avalid argument for rejecting the truth of themoral norms taught by the Church. The affirma­tion of moral principles is not within the compe­tence of formal empirical methods. While not de­nying the validity of such methods, but at thesame time not restricting its viewpoint to theql,moral theology, faithful to the supernatllral senseof the faith, takes into account first and foremostthe spiritual dimension of the human heart and itsvocation to divine love.

In fact, while the behavioral sciences, like allexperimental sciences, develop an empirical andstatistical concept of "normality," faith teachesthat this normality itself bears the traces of a·fallfrom man's original situation-in other words, itis affected by sin. Only Christian faith points outto man the way to return to "the beginning" (cf.

,Mt 19: 8), a way which is often quite differentfrom that of empirical normality. Hence the be­havioral sciences, despite the great value of theinformation which they provide, cannot be consid­ered decisive indications of moral norms. It is theGospel which reveals the full truth about man andhis moral journey, and thus enlightens and ad­monishes sinners; it proclaims to them God'smercy, which is constantly at work to preservethem both from despair at their inability fully toknow and keep God's law and from the presump­tion that they can be saved without merit. Godalso reminds sinners of the joy of forgiveness,which alone grants the strength to see in themoral law a liberating truth, a grace-filled sourceof hope, a path of life.

113 Teaching moral doctrine involves the• conscious acceptance of these intellec­

tual, spiritual and pastoral responsibilities. Moraltheologians, who have, accepted the charge ofteaching the Church's doctrine, thus have a grave·duty to train the faithful to make this moral dis­cernment, to be committed to the true good and tohave confident recourse to God's grace. '

While exchanges and conflicts of opinion may. constitute normal expressions of public life in a

representative democracy, moral teaching cer­tainly. canriot depend simply upon respect for aprocess: Indeed, it is in no way established by fol­lowing the rules and deliberative procedures typi­cal of a democracy. Dissent, inthe form of care­fully orchestrated protests and polemics carriedon in the media, is opposed to ecclesial commun­ion and to a correct understanding of the hierar­chical constitution of the people of God. Opposi­tion to the teaching of the Church's pastors cannotbe seen as a legitimate expression either of Chris­tian freedom or of the diversity of the Spirit'sgifts. When this happens, the Church's pastorshave the duty to act in conformity with their apos­tolic mission, insisting that the right of the faith­ful to receive Catholic doctrine in its purity andintegrity must always be respected. "Never for­getting that he too is a member of the people of

'... in every sphere ofpersonal, family, social and:politicallife,morality-founded upon truth and open in truth to authentic freedom­renders a primordial, indispensable and immensely valuable service

not only for the indiviejual person...but also for society... '

The Anchor October 29, 1993 E25

'The Splendor of Truth'

ROME, 1963-Although 30years have passed since thisscene of the opening of thesecond session of VaticanCouncil II, Pope John Paull!is still interpreting it, buildingupon it, in his new encyclical.

-eNS

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God, th~ theologian must be respectful of themand be committed to offering them a teachingwhich in no way does harm to the doctrine of thefaith." (177) "

Our Own ResponsibilitiesAs Pastors114 As the Second Vatican Council reminds

• us, responsibility for the faith and thelife of faith cf the people of God is particularlyincumbent upon the Church's pastors: "Amongthe principal ':asks of bishops the preaching of theGospel is pre-eminent. For the bishops are theheralds of the faith who bring new disciples toChrist. "They are authentic teachers, that is,teachers endowed with the authority of Christ,who preach to the 'people entrusted to them thefaith to be believed and put into practice; theyillustrate this faith in the light of the Holy Spirit,drawing out of the treasury of revelation thingsold and new (cf. Mt 13: 52); they make it bearfruit and they vigilantly ward off errors that arethreatening their flock (cf.' 2 Tm 4: 1-4)." (178)

It is our common duty, and even before that ourcommon gral~e, as pastors and bishops of theChurch, to te2ch the faithful the things which leadthem to God, just as the Lord Jesus did with theyoung man in the Gospel. Replying to the ques­tion: "What good must I do to have eternal life?"Jesus referred the young man to God, the Lord ofcreation and (If the covenant. He reminded him ofthe moral commandments already revealed inthe Old Testament, and he indicated their spiritand deepest r~eaning by inviting the young manto follow him in poverty, humility and love:"Come, follow me!" The truth of this teaching,was sealed on the cross in the blood of Christ: Inthe Holy Spirit, it has become the new law of theChurch and of every Christian.

This "answer" to the question about moralityhas been entnlsted by Jesus Christ in a particularway to us, the pastors of the Church; we havebeen called to make it the object of our preaching,in the fulfillment of our "munus propheticum." Atthe same timE', our responsibility as pastors with'regard to Chr:~stian moral teaching must also beexercised as :;>art of the "munus sacerdotale":This happens when we dispense to the faithful thegifts of grace and sanctification as an effectivemeans for obeying God's holy law and when, withour constant and confident prayers, we supportbelievers in their efforts to be faithful to the de­mands of the faith and to live in accordance withthe Gospel (d. ColI: 9-12). Especially today,Christian moral teaching must be one of the chiefareas in which we exercise our pastoral vigi­lance, in carrying out our "munus regale."

115 This is the first time, in fact, that the• magisterium of the Church has set

forth in detail the fundamental elements of thisteaching and presented the principles for the pas­toral discernment necessary in practical and cul­tural situations which are complex and evencrucial.

In the light of revelation and of the Church'sconstant teaching, especially that of the SecondVatican Council, I have briefly recalled the essen­tial characteristics of freedom as well as the fun­damental values connected with the dignity of theperson and the truth of his acts so as to be able todiscern in obedience to the moral law a grace and

, a sign of our adoption in the o~e Son (cf. Eph 1: 4­6) . Specifically, this encyclical has evaluated cer­tain trends in moral' theology today. I now passthis evaluation on to you, in obedience to the wordof the Lord who entrusted to Peter the task ofstrengthening his brethren (cf. Lk 22: 32) , in orderto clarify and aid our common discernment.

Each of us knows how important is the teachingwhich represents the central theme of this encyc­lical and which is today being restated with theauthority of the successor of Peter. Each of us

, can see the seriousness of what is involved, notonly for individuals but also for the whole of soci­ety, with the reaffirmation of the universality andimmutability of the moral commandments, par­ticularly those which prohibit alWays and withoutexception intrinsically evil acts.

In acknowledging these commandments, Chris­tian hearts and our pastoral charity listen to thecall of the one who "first loved us" (1 Jn 4: 19) .God asks us to be holy as He is holy (cf. Lv 19: 2),to be in Ghrist-perfect as he is perfect (cf. Mt5: 48). The unwavering demands of that com­mandment are based upon GOd's infinitely merci­fullove (cf. Lk 6: 36), and the purpose of that com­mandment is to lead us, by the grace of Christ, onthe path of that fullness of life proper to the chil­drenofGod.

116 We have the duty, as bishops, to be vigi­• lant that the word of God is faithfully

taught. My brothers in the episcopate, it is part ofour pastoral ministry to see to it that this moralteaching is faithfully handed down and to haverecourse to appropriate measures to ensure thatthe faithful are guarded from every doctrine andtheory contrary to it. In carrying out this task weare all assisted by theologians; even so, theologi­cal opinions constitute neither the rule nor thenorm of our teaching. Its authority is derived, bythe assistance of the Holy Spirit and in commun­ion "cum Petro et sub Petro," from our fidelity tothe Catholic faith which comes from the apostles.As bishops, we have the grave obligation to be

personally vigilant that the "sound doctrine" (1Tm 1: 10) of faith and morals is taught in ourdioceses.

A particular responsibility is incumbent uponbishops with regard to Catholic institutions.Whether these are agencies for the pastoral careof the family or for social work, or institutionsdedicated to teaching or health care, bishops cancanonically erect and recognize these structuresand delegate certain responsibilities to them.Nevertheless, bishops are never relieved of theirown-personal obligations. It falls to them, in com­munion with the Holy See, both to grant the title"Catholic" to Church-related schools, (179)universities, (180) health care facilities and coun­seling services, and, in cases of a serious failureto live up to that title, to take it away.

11"'7 In the heart of every Christian, in the4 • inmost depths of each person, there is

always an echo of the question which the youngman hI the Gospel once 'asked Jesus: "Teacher,what good must I do to have eternal life?" (Mt19: 16). Everyone, however, needs to address thisquestion to the "good teacher," since he is theonly one who can answer in the fullness of truth,in aU situations, in the most varied of circum­stances. And when Christians ask him the ques­tion which rises from their conscience, the Lordreplies in the words of the new covenant whichhave been entrusted to His Church. As the apostlePaul said of himself, we have been sent "topreach the Gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom,lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (1Cor 1: 17). The Church's answer to man's questioncontains the wisdom and power of Christ cruci­fied, the truth which gives of itself.

When people ask the Church the questionsraised by their consciences, when the faithful inthe Church turn to their bishops and pastors, theChurch's reply contains the voice of Jesus Christ,the voi.ce of tM truth about good and evil. In thewords spoken by the Church there resounds, inpeople's inmost being, the voice of God who"alone is good" (cf. Mt 19: 17), who alone "islove" (1 Jn 4: 8, 16).

Through the anointing of the Spirit this gentlebut challenging word becomes ligh: and life forman. Again the apostle Paul invites us to haveconfidence, because "our competence is fromGod, who has made us competent to be ministersof a new covenant, not in a written code but in theSpirit...The Lord is the Spirit, anj where theSpirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all ofus, wit;1 unveiled faces, reflecting th~ glory of theLord, are being changed into his l:Ikeness fromone degree of glory to another; for this comesfrom the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Cor 3: 5-3, 17-18).

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E26 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'Veritatis Splendor'

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, Aug. 6, feast of theTransfiguration of the Lord, in the year 1993, the 15thof my pontificate.

everyone the demands of morality. Nor does shepermit sinful man to be -deceived by those whoclaim to love him by justifying his sin, for sheknows that the sacrifice of Christ her Son wouldthus be emptied of its power. No absolution of­fered by beguiling doctrines, even in the areas ofphilosophy and theology, can ma~e man trulyhappy: Only the cross and the glory of the risenChrist can grant peace to his conscience and sal­vation to his life.

-United Press Intemational

him with a

(Eph. 2: 4).

John Paul"

(Eph. 1: 12) . .

(cf. Eph. 2: 10)

May he carry outthe good works preparedby God beforehand

and so live completely"for the praiseof his glory"

OMary,Mother of Mercy,watch over all people,that the cross oJ Christmay not be emptiedof its power,that man may not stray fromthe path of the goodor become blind to sin,but may put his hopeever more fully in God,who is "rich in mercy"

MOTHER OF MERCY-"She understands sinful man and lovesmother's love," Pope John Paul writes of Mary, portrayed here inMichelangelo's "Pieta."

to embrace the entire human race. Thus Mary be­comes mother of each and every one of us, themother who obtains for us divine mercy.

Mary is the radiant sign and inviting model ofthe moral life. As St. Ambrose put i~, "The life ofthis one person can serve as a model foreveryone," (183) and while speaking specificallyto virgins but within a context open to all, he af­firmed: "The first stimulus to learning is the no­bility of the teacher. Who can be more noble thanthe mother of God? Who can be more gloriousthan the one chosen by glory itself?" (184) Marylived and exercised her freedom precisely by giv­ing herself to God and accepting God's gift withinherself. Until the time of His birth, she sheltered­in her womb the Son of God who became man;she raised Him and enabled Him to grow, and sheaccompanied Him in that supreme act of freedomwhich is the complete sacrifice of His own1ife. Bythe gift of herself, Mary entered fully into the planof God who gives Himself to the world. By accept­ing and pondering in her heart events which shedid not always understand (cf. Lk 2: 19), she be­came the model of all those who hear the word ofGod and keep it (cf. Lk 11: 28), and merited thetitle of "seat of wisdom." This wisdom is JesusChrist Himself, the eternal Word of God, who per­fectly reveals and accomplishes the will of theFather (d. Heb 10: 5-10). Mary invites everyoneto accept this wisdom. To us too she addresses thecommand she gave to the servants at Cana in Ga­lilee during the marriage feast: "Do whatever hetells you" (In 2: 5).

Mary shares our human condition, but in com-plete openness to the grace of God. Not havingknown sin, she is able to have compassion on ev­ery kind of weakness. She understands sinful manand loves him with a mother's love. Precisely forthis reason she is on the side of truth and sharesthe Church's burden in recalling always and to

120 Mary is also mother of mercy because• it is to her that Jesus entrusts His

Church and all humanity. At the foot of the cross,when she accepts John as her son, when she asks,together with Christ, forgiveness from. the Fatherfor those who do not know what they do (cf. Lk23: 34), Mary experiences, in perfect docility tothe Spirit, the richness and the universality ofGod's love, which opens her heart and enables it

ConclusionMary, Mother of Mercy

118 At the end of these considerations, let us• entrust ourselves, the sufferings and the

joys of our life, the moral life of believers and peo­ple of good will, and the research of moralists, toMary, mother of God and mother of mercy.

Mary is mother of mercy because her son,Jesus Christ, was sent by the Father as the reve­latiop of God's mercy (d. Jn 3: 16-18). Christcame not to condemn but to forgive, to show'mercy (cf. Mt 9: 13). And the greatest mercy of allis found in His being in our midst and calling us tomeet him and to confess, with Peter, that He is"the Son of the living God" (Mt 16: 16). No humansin can erase the mercy of God or prevent Himfrom unleasHing all His triumphant power, if weonly call upon him. Indeed, sin itself makes evenmore radiant the love of the Father who, in orderto ransom a slave, sacrificed His Son: (181) Hismercy toward us is redemption. This mercyreaches its fullness in the gift of the Spirit whobestows new life and demands that it be lived. Nomatter how many and great the obstacles put inHis way by human frailty and sin, the Spirit, whorenews the face of the earth (cf. PsI04: 30),makes possible the miracle of the perfect accom­plishment of the good. This renewal, which givesthe ability to do what is good, noble, beautiful,pleasing to God and in conformity with His will, isin some way the flowering of the gift of mercy,which offers liberation from the slavery of eviland gives the strength to sin no more. Throughthe gift of new life, Jesus makes us sharers in Hislove and leads us to the Father in the Spirit.

119 Such is the consoling certainty of Chris- \• tian faith, the source of its profound hu­

manity and extraordinary simplicity. At times inthe discussions about new and complex moralproblems it can seem that Christian morality is in

. itself too demanding, difficult to understand andalmost impossible to practice. This is untrue,since Christian morality consists, in the simplic­ity of the Gospel, in following Jesus Christ, inapandoning oneself to Him, in letting oneself be.transformed by His grace and renewed by Hismercy, gifts which come to us in the living com­munion of His church. St. Augustine reminds usthat "he who would live has a place to live, andhas everything needed to live. Let him draw n~ar,

let him believe, let him become part of the body,that he may have life. Let him not shrink from theunity of the members." (182) By the light of theHoly Spirit, the living essence of Christian moral­ity can be understood by everyone, even the leastlearned, but particularly those who are able topreserve an "undivided heart" (Ps 86: 11) . On theother hand, this evangelical simplicity does notexempt one from facing reality in its complexity;rather it can lead to a more genuine understand­ing of reality, inasmuch as following Christ willgradually bring out the distinctive character ofauthentic Christian morality, while providing thevital energy needed to carry it out. It is the task ofthe Church's magisterium to see that the dy­namic process of following Christ develops in anorganic manner, without the falsification or ob­scuring of its moral demands, with all their con­sequences. The one who loves Christ keeps hiscommandments (d. Jn 14: 15).

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The Anchor October 29, 1993 E27

...

'The Splendor of Truth'

Each of us knows how important is. theteaching which represents the centraltheme of this encyclicaland which is today being restated with ~he

authority of the successor of St. Peter.Each of us can see the seriousness ofwhat is involved, not only for individualsbut also for the whole of society,witH the reaffirmation of the universalityand immutability of the moralcommandments,particularly those which prohibit alwaysand without exception intrinsically evil acts.

Footnotes:1. Pastora1Constitution on the Church in the

Modern World "Gaudium et Spes," 22.2. Cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Consti-

tution on the Church "Lumen Gentium," 1.3. Cf. ibid" 9.4. "Gaudiltm efSpes," 4.5. Paul VC, Address to the General Assem­

bly of the United Nations (Oct. 'I, 1965), 1:Acta Apostol ica Sedis 57 (196S), 878; cf. encyc­lical "Popitiorum Progressio" (March 6,1967), 13: AAS 59 (1967), 263-:!64.

6. Cf. "Goudium et Spes," :6.7. "Lumen Gentium," 16.8. Pius X::r had already pointed out this doc­

,trinal develDpment: cf. radiD message for the50th anniv{'rsary of the encyclical "RerumNovarum" of Leo XIII (June I, 1941): AAS 33(1941), 195-205. Also John XXIII; encyclical"Mater et lIfagistra'" (May 15, 1961): AAS 5~(1961),410--:13.

9. Apostclic letter "Spiritus Domini" (Aug.I, 1987): AP.S 79 (1987), 1374.

10. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1692.11. A ~ostolic constitution "Fidei

DepOi>-i!.um" (Oct. 11, 1992),4.12. Cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Consti­

tution on Ilivine Revelation "Dei Verbum,"10.

13. Cf. Apostolic letter to the young people ofthe world on International Year of Youth"Parati Semper" (March 31, 1985), 2-8: AAS77 (1985), 5:11~00.

14. Cf. Decree on Priestly Formation"()ptatam :"otius," 16.

15. Enl:yclical '''Redemptor Hominis"(March 4, J979) , 13: AAS 71 (1979), 282.

16. Ibid., 10.17. "Exc,meron," Dies VI, Sermo IX, 8, 50:

CorPus Scriptorum EcclesiasticorumLatinorum 32, 241.

18. St. Leo the Great, Sermo XCII, Chap.III, Patrologia Latina 54, 454.

19. St. T.lomas Aquinas, "In Duo PraeceptaCaritatis et in Decem Legis Praecepta."Prologw;: Opuscula Theologica, II, No. 1129,Ed. Taulinen. (1954), 245; cf. SummaTheologiae, I-II, q. 91, a. 2; Catechism, 1955.

20. Cf. St. Maximus the Confessor,','Quaestim~ad Thalaso-ium," Q. 64: Patrolo­gia Graeca 90, 723-728.

21. "Gaudium et Spes," 24.22. Catechism, 2070.23. "In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus,"

'II, 10: Ccrpus Christianorum, Series Latina36,363.

24. Cf. ~:t. Augustine, "De Serm.one Dominiin Monte," I, I, 1: CCL 35,1-2.

25. "Ill Psalmum CXVIII Expositio,"Sermo 18, 37: PL 15, 1541; cf. St. Chromatiusof Aquileia, "Tractatus in Matthaeum," XX,1,1-4: CCL 9/A, 291-292.

'26. Cf. Catechism, 1717.27. "In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus,"

41.28. Ibid, 21, 8.29. Ibid" 82, 3.30. "De Spiritu et LiUem," 19,34: CSEL 60,

187.31. "Ccnjessiones," X, 29, 40: eCL 27, 176;

cr. "De Gi·atia et Libero Arbitrio," XV: PL 44,899.

32. Cf. "De Spiritu et Littera," 21, 36; 26,46.33. Cf. Summa TheologUie, I-II, q. 106, a. 1

conclusio.l and ad 2um.34. "In Matthaeum," Hom. I, 1: PG 57, 15.35. Cf. St. Irenaeus, "AdversUs Haereses,"

IV, ~6, 2-5: Sources Chretienne 10012, 718·729.36. Cf. St. Justin, "Apologia," 1, 66: PG 6,

427-430.37. Cf. 1 Pt. 2: 12 ff., cL "Didache," II, 2:

"Patres Apostolici," ed. F.X. Funk, I, 6-9;Clement of Alexandria, "Pciedagogw;," I, 10;II, 10: PG 8, 355-364; 497-536; Tertullian,"Apologel.icum," IX, 8: CSEL, 69, 24.

38. CL St. Ignatius of Antioch, "AdMagnesios,' , VI, 1-2: Pai:res Apostolici, ed.F.X. Funk, I, 234-235; St. Irenaeus, "AdversusHaereses," IV, 33: 1,6,7.

39. "Dd Verbum," 8.40. Cf. ibid.41. Ibid., 10.42. Calion 747.2.43. "Din Verbum," 7.44. "Gltudium et Spes," 22.

. 45. "0;1tatam Totius," 16.46. "a.zudium et Spes," 62.47. Ibid.48. Cf. "Dei Verbum," 10.49. Cf. Vatican Council I, Dogmatic Consti­

tution 0:1 the Catholic Faith "Dei Filius,"Chap. 4: Enchiridion Symbolorum (DenzingerSchonmBtzer) 3018.

50. V~tican Council II, Declaration on theRelationship of the Church to Non-ChristianReligions "Nostra Aetate," 1.

51. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 43-44.52. Declaration on Religious Freedom

"Dignitatis HU1nanae," I, referring to JohnXXIII, encylical "Pacem in Terris" (April 11,1963): AAS 55 (1963), 279; ibid., 265, and toPius XII, radio message Dec. 24, 1944: AAS 37(1945),14.

53. "Dignitatis HU1nanae," 1.54. CL "Redemptor Hominis," 17; address

to participants in the fifth international collo­quiumof juridical studies (March 10, 1984), 4:Insegnamenti VII, 1 (1984), 656; Congregationfor the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction onChristian Freedom and Liberation "Lilx:rtatisConscientia" (March 22, 1986), 19: AAS 79(1987) , 561. .

55. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 11.56. Ibid., 17.57. Ibid.58. Cf. "Dignitatis HU1nanae," 2; cl. also

Gregory XVI, encyclical "Mirari VosArbitramur" (Aug. 15, 1832): Acta GregoriiPapae XVI, I, 169-174, Pius IX, encyclical"Quanta Cura" (Dec. 8,1864): PH IX P.M. Ac­ta, 1,3, 687-700; Leo XIII, encyclical "liibertasPraestantissimum" (June 20, 1888): LeonisXIII P.M. Acta, VIII, Rome 1889, 212-24Ii.

59. "A Letter Addressed to His Grace theDuke of Norfolk: Certain Difficulties Felt byAnglicans in Catholic Teaching" (uniformed.: Longman, Green and Company, London,1868-1881), vol. 2, p. 250.

60. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 40 and 43.61. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, .summa

Theologia, I-II, q. 71, a. 6; see also ad 5um.62. Cf. Pius XII, encyclical "}[u1nani

Generis" (Aug. 12, 1950): AAS 42 (1950), 561­562..

63. Cf. Council of Trent, Sess. VI, Decree onJustification "Cum Hoc Tempore," Canons 19­21: Denz. Schon., 1569-1571. '

64. "Gaudium et Spes," 17.65. "De Hominis Opificio," Chap. 4: PG 44,

135-136.66. "Gaudium et Spes," 36.67. Ibid.68. Ibid.69. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Sum1na

Theologiae, I-II, q. 93, a. 3, ad 2um, cited in"Pacem in Terris," 271.

70. '.'Gaudium et Spes," 41.71. St. Thomas Aquinas,"In Duo Pra£cepta

Caritatis et in Decem Legis Praecepta."Prologus: Opuseula Theologica, II, No. 1129,Ed. Taurinen. (1954), 245.

72. Cf. Address to U.S. bishops on "ad limi­na" visit (Oct. 15, 1988), 6: Insegnamenti, XI,3 (1988), 1228.

73. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 47.74. Cf. St. Augustine, "Enarratw ,,:n Psal­

mum LXII," 16: CCL 39, 804.75. "Gaudium et Spes," 17.7~. Sum1na Theologiae I-II, q. 91, a. 2.

77. Cf. Catechism, 1955.78. "Dignitatis HU1nanae," 3.79. "Contra Faustum," Bk. 22, Chap. 27: PL

42,418.80. Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 93, a. 1.81. CL ibid., I-II, q. 90, a. 4, ad lum.82. Ibid., I-II, q. 91, a 283. "Libertas Praestantissimum."84. "In Epistulam ad Romanos," c. VIII,

lect. 1.85. Cf. Sess. IV, '''Cum Hoc Tempore,"

Chap. 1.86. Cf. Council of Vienna, constitUlion "Fide

Cathalicae": Denz. Schon., 902; LateranCouncil V, bull "Apostolici Regiminul": Denz.Schon., 1440.

87. "Gaudium et Spes," 14.88. Cf. "Cum Hoc Tempore," Chap. 15. The

postsynodal apostolic exhortation"Reconciliation and Penance in the Mission ofthe Church Today" cites other texts of the Oldand New Testaments which condemn as mor­tal sins certain modes of conduct involvingthe body: cf. "Reconciliatw et Paenitentia"(Dec. 2, 1984), 17: AAS 77 (1985),218-223.

89. "Gaudium et Spes," 51.90. Congregation for the Doctrine of the

Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Lifein Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation"Donum Vitae" (Feb. 22, 1987), Introduction,3: AAS 80 (1988), 74; cf. Paul VI, encyclical"Hu1nanae Vitae" (July 25, 1968), 10: AAS 60(1968),487-488.

91. Apostolic exhortation "Familiaris'Consortw" (Nov. 22, 1981), 11 AAS 74 (1982),92.

92. "De Trinitate," XIV, 15, 21: CCL 50/A,451.

93. Cf. Sum1na Theologiae, I~II, q. 94, a. 2.94. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 10; Congrega­

tion for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declarationon Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Eth­ics "Persona Humana" (Dec. 29, 1975), 4:AAS 68 (1976), 80: "But in fact, divine revela­tion and, in its own proper order, philosophi­cal wisdom, emphasize the authentic exigen­cies of human nature. They thereby necessar­ily manifest the existence of immutable lawsinscribed in the constitutive elements of hu­man nature and' which are revealed to beidentical in all beings endowed with reason."

95. "Gaudium et Spes," 29.96. Cf. ibid., 16.97. Ibid., 10.98. Cf. Sum1na Tll£OlouWe I-II, q. 108, a. 1.

St. Thomas bases the fact that moral norDlS,even in the context of the new law, are notmerely formal in character but have a deter­mined content, upon the assumption of humannature by the Word.

99. St. Vincent of Lerins, "Com.lIwnitoriumPrimum," c. 23: PL 50, 668.

100. The development of the Church's moral

doctrine is similar to that of the doctrine of thefaith (cf. "Dei Filius" Chap. 4, and Canon 4:bSJ 3024). The words spoken by John XXIII atthe opening of the Second Vatican Council canalso be applied to moral doctrine: "This cer­tain and unchanging teaching (Le., Christiandoctrine in its completeness) " to which thefaithful owe obedience, needs to be moredeeply understood and set forth in a wayadapted to the needs of our time. Indeed, thisdeposit of the faith, the truths contained in ourtime-honored teaching, is one thing; the man­ner in which these truths are set forth (withtheir meaning preserved intact) is somethmgelse": AAS 54 (1962), 792; cf. L'Osservatol'eRomano, Oct. 12, 1962, p. 2.

101. "Gaudium et Spes," 16.102. Ibid.103. "In Ir'Librum Sentent.," dist. 39, 8. I, q

3, conclusion Ed Ad Claras Aquas, II, 907b.104. Address (General Audience, Aug. 17,

1983), 2: Insegnamenti, 2 (1983), 256.105. Congregation of the Holy Office, in­

struction on situation ethics "ContraDoctrinam" (Feb. 2, 1fl56).

106. Encyclical "Dooninum etVivi/icantem" (May 18, 1986), 43: AAS 78(1986), 859; "Gawtium et Spes," 16;"Dignitatis HUlnanae," 3.

107. "Gaudium et Spes," 16.108. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, "De Veritate,"

q.17, a. 4.109. "Gaudium et Spes," 16.110. Cf. Summa Theologiae, q. 45, a. 2.111. "Dignitatis HUinanae," 14.112. "Dei Verbum," 5; cf. "Dei Filius,"

Chap. 3.113. Ibid. Cf. "Perscna. HU1nana," 10.114. Cf. "Reconciliotio et Paenitentia," 17.115. "Cum Hoc Tempore," Chap 15.!i6. "Reconciliatio d Paenitentia," 17.117. Ibid.118. Ibid.119. Cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 17.120. Cf. Sum1na Theologiae, I-II, q. I, 3:

"Idem sunt actus mOTiI.les et actus hU1nani:'121. "De Vita Moysis," II, 2-3: PG 44, 327­

328.122. Cf. Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 148, a.

3.123. The Second Vatican Council, in the Pas­

toral Constitution on the Church in the ModernWorld, makes this clear: "This applies notonly to Christians but to all men of good will inwhose hearts grace is secretly at work. SinceChrist died for all and since man's ultimatecalling comes from God and is therefore a uni­versal one, we are obliged to hold that theHoly Spirit offers to all the possibility of shar­ing in this pascha. mystery in a mannerknown to God" (No. 22).

124. "Tractatus (!d Tiberium DiaconumsocWsque," II. "Resparu,wnes ad TiberiumDiaconum sociosque": St. Cyril of Alexan­dria, "In Dim Johannis Evangelium," Vol. III,ed. Philip Edward Pusey, Brussels, Culture etCivilfzation (1965),590.

125. 'Cf. "Cum Hoc Tempore," Canon 19. Seealso: Clement XI, constitution "UnigenitusDei Filius" (Sept. 8, 1713) against the errors ofPaschasius Quesnel, Nos. 53-56: Denz. Schon.2453-2456.

126. Cf. Sum1na Ti,eologiae, I-II, q. 18, a. 6.127. C~techism, 1761.128. "In Duo Praecep!a Caritatis etin De­

cem Legis Praecept:r.." De Dilectione Dei:Opuscula Theologica, n, No. 116P', Ed. Taurin­en. (1954),250.

129. St. Alphonslls Maria de'Liguori,"Practica di a1nar Geb1t Cristo," VII, 3.

130. Cf. Sum1na Theologiae, I-II, q. 100, a. 1.131. "Reconciliatio et Paenitentia.," 17; cf.

Paul VI, address to the Redemptorists, (Sep­tember 1967): AAS 59 (1967), 962: ."Far be itfrom Christians to be led to embrace anotheropinion, as if the council taught that nowadayssome things are permitted which the churchhad previously· declared intrinsically evil.Who does not see in this the rise of a depravedmoral relativism, one that clearly endangersthe church's entire doctrinal heritage?"

132. "Gaudium et Spes," 27.133. "Hu1nanae Vitae," 14.134. "Contra Melu1acium," VII, 18: PL 40,

528; cr. St. Thomas Aquinas, "QuestionesQuodlibetales," IX, q. 7, ,a. 2; Catechism, 1753-1755. .

135. "Dignitatis l!umanae," 7.136. Address to p3rticipants in international

congress of moral t:1eology (April 10, 1986), In­segnamenti, IX, 1 (1986), 970.

137. Ibid., 2.138. Cf. "Gaudiu'in et Spes," 24.139. Cf; "Redemptln' Hominis," 12.140. "Enarratw in Psalmum XCIX," 7:

CCL39,1397.141. "Lumen Gentium," 36; cf. "Redemptor

Hominis," 21.

E28 The Anchor October 29, 1993

'Veritatis S lendor'

Truth and FreedomThey remain eternally connected, pope's encyclical asserts

~..

By FATHER RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS

This week Pope John Paul II issued his lOth en­cyclical, Veritatis Splendor ("The Splendor ofTruth"). The tabloids blazoned that the pope isclamping down on sexual ethics. And'yes, it turnsout that he hasn't changed his mind on fornicationand adultery, but that is rather to miss the pointof this extended (179 pages) and closely reasonedargument about the nature of morality. Other re­ports focused on his criticism of ethical theoriesthat go by cumbersome names such as"proportionalism" and "consequentialism." Thatis closer to the point, but still doesn't quite get it.Veritatis Splendor is much more than a pontificalsalvo in intramural disputes among moral philos­ophers and theologians.

In this document, the pope offers not so muchan analysis of the world's moral condition (whichwe all know is in a very bad way) as an examina­tion of why we moderns no longer make moralsense to one another. Making sense assumes thatthere is some truth about the matter in dispute.But when it comes to morality, it is widely as­sumed today that there is no such thing as truth.Indeed, "moral truth" is thought to be an oxymo­ron. You have your "values" and I have mine,and there the discussion comes to a screechinghalt. "What is truth?" asked Pontius Pilate. He,like many of our contemporaries, took that ques­tion to be a discussion-stopper. John Paul II ar­gues that it ought to be a discussion-starter.

Modernity, he notes appreciatively, has beenvery big on freedom. But now freedom has beenuntethered from truth, and freedom cannot standalone without degenerating into license. License,in turn, is the undoing of freedom, for then, asNietzsche and others recognized, all personal andsocial life becomes simply the assertion of power.If freedom is to be secured, power-and freedomitself-must be accountable to truth. Or, as JohnPaul puts it repeatedly, "Authentic freedom is or­dered to truth."

This, the pope emphatically insists, is not a newidea. The central text for Veritatis Splendor is theword of Jesus, "You will know the truth and thetruth will make you free" (John 8: 32). From thegiving of the Decalogue at Sinai, from Aristotlethrough to the American Founders ("We holdthese truths to be self-evident..."), it has beenthought that there is a necessary connection be­tween freedom and truth. The apparently newthing about our time is the proposal that freedomcan get along without truth. That proposal, JohnPaul argues, is intellectually unconvincing, spiri­tually incoherent and morally disastrous.

Clear thinking about moral truth founders onthe rocks of relativism and subjectivism. In aradically individualistic culture, we do not dis­cern and obey what is objectively true. Rather;each of us decides what is "true for me." Wecreate the truth. This, however, is really not sonew, according to the pope. It is a way of thinkingand acting that began with the unfortunate after­noon in the Garden of Eden and has resulted inherds of independent minds marching towardmoral oblivion with Frank Sinatra's witless boaston their lips, "I did it my way." .

The "postmodernist" twist on this is to arguethat all morality is created by culture. We are so­cially constructed, it is said, "all the way down."Freedom may be high among your "values," butthat is only because you are the product of a cul­ture that values freedom. Ergo, your freedom is adelusion.. In fact, you are as captive to your cul­ture as somebody else who is the product of a cul­ture that values collectivism, or child sacrifice, orwhatever. John Paul knows these arguments in­side out, but he is not buying.

'The human person, he contends, truly is free.~e is created for freedom and, although hindered

FatherRichard JohnNeuhaus

by the wound of sin, he is capable of freedom.That is the truth about the human person withoutwhich all talk about morality makes no sense.John Paul readily acknowledges the insights ofpsychology, anthropology and the behavioral sci­ences into the ways we are "conditioned" by cul­ture, genes and factors yet unknown. But deepwithin each "acting person" (a key phrase in thethought of this pope) is an aspiration toward thegood that he either follows or defies.

Veritatis Splendor opens with an extended andintriguing reflection on the rich young man whocomes to Jesus and asks, "Teacher, what goodmust I do to have eternal life?" (Mt 19: 16) That,says the pope, is the question of everyman, nomatter how tentatively or confusedly it is asked.And the answer of Jesus is the answer to every­man. "If you wish to enter into life, keep the com­mandments." Life is to know the truth and do thetruth. In the Christian account of things, life isultimately fulfilled jn the following the One whosaid, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."(In 14: 6)

But, it may be objected, this is impossibly ethe­real and offputtingly religious. Anyway, there isno going back to "simpler days" when it was pos­sible to assert that '~We hold these truths" asthough there are actually truths to hold, and to beheld by. We live in a pluralistic society; there isnot agreement on what truths we hold; and soforth. Just so, says John Paul, and that is pre­cisely why we need so urgently to engage in argu­ment about the truth that undergirds human free­dom and dignity. Our differences notwithstand­ing, we can make sense to one another becausewe have in common our human nature and thecapacity to reason, and these are universal.

The pope is keenly aware that in contending foruniversal nature and reason he is going upagainst regnant views in many of our eliteinstitutions-views that have metastasized withremarkable virulence in popular culture. As free­dom has turned against itself, so also reason hasturned against itself, with the result that confi­dence in what is distinctively human has been se­verely undermined.

The idea that at the end of the second millen­nium the Catholic Church has turned out to be thepremier institutional champion of. humanism andreason in the contemporary world will strikemany as improbable, if' not preposterous. Theyshould read Veritatis Splendor and other writingsof this philosopher pope. Or, for that matter, theymight consult again, or consult for the first time,Augustine and Aquinas.

John Paul is for sure no friend of "secularhumanism," nor is his defense of reason to beconfused with the truncated and reductionist ra­tionalism of the Enlightenment philosophes. Truehumanism, he contends, is directed toward the ul­timate 'good, who is God. And reason participatesin the fullness of truth through revelation. But tothose who are made nervous by references to Godand revelation, the pope is saying in this encycli-

. cal that we still have a lot to talk about. And wehad better get on with it before humanity stag­gers more deeply into the night of moralnothingness.

Some might think John Paul's sense of urgency

slightly apocalyptic; others, more alert to the in­tellectual and cultural drift of our time, will wel­come his argument as a bracing call to reaffirmreason and human dignity in the face of nihilismboth theoretical and practical.

Human rights and duties, says the pope, are"universal and immutable." That is the positionthe U.S. has taken against countries claiming thatthe idea of universal human rights reflects the"cultural imperialism" of the West. In fact, suchcountries may have a case. The human rightsagenda is no more than an ideological impositionby the West, if the cause of freedom is divorcedfrom the claims of truth.'

The contention that there is no objective or uni­versal truth has achieved a measure of -officialstatus among us by fiat of the Supreme Court. InPlanned Parenthood vs. Casey, for example, thecourt declared that it is up to each individual todetermine "the concept of existence, of meaning,of the universe and of the mystery of human life."John Paul, by contrast, warns against "the risk ofan alliance between democracy and ethical rela­tivism." When truth itself is democratized-whentruth is no more than the will of each individual ora majority of individuals-democracy, deprivedof the claim to truth, stands naked to its enemies.Thus does freedom, when it is not "ordered totruth," undo freedom. .

Moral truth, evident in a "natural law;' that isaccessible to all reasonable persons, includescommands both positive and negative. But not fornothing are the "10 words" delivered at Sinaiframed in the negative. We cannot always do thegood that we would, but we can always refuse todo evil.

Some acts are intrinsically evil, evil per se­always and everywhere, without exception. Asexamples, the pope cites homicide, genocide,abortion, slavery, prostitution, and trafficking inwomen and children. He quotes Pope Paul VI:"Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful totolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid agreater evil or in order to promote a greater good,it is never' lawful, even for the gravest reasons, todo evil that good may come of it." Evil mustnever be called good, nor good evil.

Here John Paul II takes on those moralists, in­cluding Catholic theologians, who say that an evilact may be justified by the end to which it is di­rected ("consequentialism") or by weighing theother goods at stake ("proportionalism"). It isnever licit to do evil- in order to achieve good. Tothose of a contrary view the question might beput: When is rape morally justified? Or the tor­ture of children? Or Auschwitz? John Paul's an­swer is never. Intentions may be noble, peoplemay claim that they are acting "in goodconscience," circumstances may mitigate per­sonal responsibility, but the act remains, alwaysand everywhere, evil.

The moral person is prepared to die rather thando evil. The words of the Latin poet Juvenal, saysJohn Paul, apply to everyone: ."Consider it thegreatest of crimes to prefer survival to honor and,out of love of physical life, to lose the very reasonfor living." The encyclical includes an extendedmeditation on the meaning of martyrdom, draw­ing examples from the Hebrew Scriptures, theNew Testament, and the chronicle of courageousresistance to tyranny. Martyr means witness. Weare not all called to martyrdom but we are calledto bear witness to the truth that makes, andkeeps, us free. And that, according to VeritatisSplendor, is the splendor of living in the truth.

Father Neuhaus is a priest of the Archdiocese ofNew York and editor-in-chief of First Things: AMonthly Journal of Religion and Public Life. Thisarticle was reprinted with permission from the WallStreet Journal of Oct. 8, 1993.

Haiti, churc:h leaders awaittomorrow's U.N. deadline

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in 1988 for his political activities,the officials said. Father Aristidehas not practiced his priestly min­istry since then.

One official said the Vaticancannot forget that "people around"Father Aristide were responsiblefor 1991 attacks on church per­sonnel and property. The attacksincluded destruction of churchbuildings and stripping the papalnuncio to his underwear. FatherAristide later expressed regret overthe happenings.

But when the Vatican replacedthe papal nuncio in 1992, fourmonths after Father Aristide'souster, there was another disa­greement with the priest. The Vat­ican said it was merely replacing anuncio who had been transferredto Africa. But Father Aristideinterpreted the move as recogni­tion of the army-backed govern­ment and condemned the Vaticanin a speech at the V nited Nations.A Vatican official said the speech'was deeply disturbing to the Vat­ican.

Human rights activists have cri­ticized most of Haiti's bishops forfailing to speak out in support ofFather Aristide.

However. Detroit AuxiliaryBishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, whohas actively campaigned for Hai­tian human rights, explained thatHaiti's bishops were appointed ata time when. former dictator Jean­Claude Duvalier exercised the rightto approve such nominations.

Bishop Gumbleton said he be­lieves that, in part, explains thereluctance of bishops' conferencesfrom other parts of the world tospeak out about the situation.

"They just never want to appearcritical of another bishops' confer­ence," he said.

In Port-au-Prince, CatholicRelief Services country represen­tative Douglas Greene said thevolatile political situation hasblocked the CRS food programand forced the agency to suspendbusiness travel by its staff outsidethe Haitian capital.

The office, across the street fromthe presidential palace, is "closingup early these days," he said.Staffers come in "around 7 [a.m.)and leave before 2 [p.m.)," he said.

"I n the afternoons, the roadsstart getting more deserted," hesaid, and there is sporadic gunfire.

"Right now it could be as nor­mal as possible ... then all of asudden these Toyotas could comeby and people would' scatter," hesaid. The reference to T oyotas is topickup trucks full of gunslinging"attaches" - plainclothes policeauxiliaries said to be used byanti­democratic elements of the policeand army leadership to terrorizethe population.

He said CRS has changed licenseplates on its vehicles from interna­tional plates to private to avoidattracting the attention of theattaches.

Nevertheless, in Haitian villagesand the countryside, where V.S.and Canadian missionaries work,eight Sisters of the Holy Names ofJesus and Mary decided to remain,despite government warnings andrecommendations to leave.

"It is bad if, when everything isbad, you will leave the people youwork with,' said Sister DeniseGirard, a spokeswoman for theorder in Montreal. S he added thatthe nuns "love these people."

Full Value"Grief can take care of itself, but

to get the full value of joy, youmust have somebody to share itwith." - Mark Twain

"had previously l:5een able only todream ofa democratic order, haveexpressed themselves through theballot; their will must be respected."

His statement reiterated insist­ence on "a more compassionateresponse by our government to thepleas of the Haitian boat peoplefor refuge, a safe haven from thedanger and persecution they fearin Haiti."

Archbishop William H. Keelerof Baltimore, president of theNational Conference of Catholic

.Bishops, said that the church inthe United States has a deep inter­est in Haiti for several reasons: it isa V.S. neighbor; there are manyHaitians in the Vnited States, andthe situation .01' Haitian refugeeshas prompted several statementsby V.S. bishops.

In addition, he said, some localchurches have "partnerships" withHaitian dioceses, and so are acutelyaware of how much the people aresuffering there.

At the Vatican Oct. 20, PopeJohn Paul II met with the papalnuncio in Haiti, Archbishop Lor­enzo Baldisseri, to discuss thegrowing crisis.

The Vatican released no detailsof the papal meeting, but said ithad not received any official requestfor mediation. The head of Hai­tian armed forces, Gen. RaoulCedras, reportedly had suggestedin an interview that the pope mightpersonally intercede to help find asolution to the political impasse.

As the pope discussed the situa­tion in Haiti, his aides said theVat­ican supports a restoration of dem­ocracy and is ready to deal withFather Aristide as the country'slegitimate leader if he returns topower.

At the same time, the Vaticanmaintains some reservations aboutFather Aristide, who was expelledfrom the Salesian religious order

WASHINGTON(CNS)- V.S.bishops and the Vatican reiteratedsupport for reste,ring democracyin Haiti as tomorrow's V.N. dea.d­line for the return of the country'sdeposed presidem neared.

In Haiti, the nation's bishopsurged citizens to avoid succum b­ing to fear as vioknce increased.

CRS officials in the capital ofPort-au-Prince, meanwhile, saidthey were closing :heir office earlyto get off the streets to avoid pos­sible run-ins with roving gunmen.

Some V.S. and Canadian nunshave vowed to remain in theCaribbean nation with the poor,despite the troubles.

Diplomats said they hoped toget a V. N.-brokered plan back ontrack for returning Haiti's oustedpresident, Father Jean-BertrandAristide, to power Oct. 30. FatherAristide was elected in the coun­try's first democratic elections andserved seven monl hs - Februaryto September 1991 - before beingdeposed in a military coup.

Following the collapse of a peaceplan to return th(: president, theV.N. Security Council impo~ed

economic sanctions on Haiti.As a result of the economic quar­

antine, gasoline supplies haveevaporated, elect'ical blackoutshave become mort: frequent, (oodprices have soared "nd public trans­portation has beell curtailed. Theimpoverished nat on's telephoneservice is said near collapse due tolack of fuel.

In Washin'gtoll, ArchbishopJohn R. Roach, head of the V.S.bishops' Committee on Interna­tional Policy, reiterated supportfor Father Aristide's government.but cautioned outsiders againstseeking to impose an outcome tothe crisIs.

Without mentioning Father Aris­tide, Archbishop Roach emphz.­sized that the Haitian people, who

THE WIFE OF Haitian Justice Minister Guy Mallaryarrives at the scene of her husband's Oct. 14 assassinationmoments after he and two bodyguards were shot. The killingstook place outside a Port·-au-Prince Catholic church whereanother supporter of exiled president Father Jean-BertrandAristide, had been killed the previous month. (eNS/ Reutersphoto)

..

By FATHER ROGERKARBAN

Pope thanks K of C

ans, "we were as gentle as anynursing mother fondling her littleones." Paul's style of leadershipguaranteed "that in receiving his[God's] message from us you tookit, not as the w.ord of men, but as ittruly is, the word of God at workwithin you who believe." Thepower of such a message couldonly have come from the mostimpractical of all forces: love.

Against this background of theLord's commands, Paul's practice,and our reluctance to reform ourpresent structures, Malachi's wordsecho in our ears: "You have turnedaside from the way, and havecaused many to falter by yourinstruction... Have we not all theone Father? Has not the one Godcreated us? Why then do we breakfaith with each other, violating thecovenant of our fathers?"

,We who follow the Lord mustalways be willing to return to theoriginal "way" he laid out for hiscommunity. No matter how effi­cient our newfangled structuresare, they're simply not the ones hewanted us to spend our time andeffort developing.

VATICANCITY(CNS) PopeJ(Yhn Paulll recently thanked theKnights of Columbus for the organ­ization's generosity to church-re­lated sen'ice and education pro­jects throughout the world.

.. A K of C delegation. led bySupreme Knight Virgil Dechant.went to Rome to prescnt the popewith a check for $2 million. theproceeds of its Vicarius Christifund.

In welcoming the group. thepope praised the U.S.-based or­ganization for its "outstandingfidelitv to the successor of Peter"and iis deep commitment to thechurch's universal mission. He alsocited K of C support of the Wash­ington. DC. John Paul II Institutefor Studies on Marriage and theFamily as another invaluable con­tribution.

Jesuswantsunity

Malachi 1:14-2:2,8-10I Thessalonians 2:7-9,13

Matthew 23:1-12

Those who think our churchdoesn't need constant reform obvi­ously have not read today's Gospelpassage.

We Catholics simply do not fol­low these commands of the Lord.Secure in the authority structureswe've accumulated over the cen­turies, we prefer to maintain ourcozy compromise with "the world"instead of striving to achieve thegoals Jesus set for his community.

What makes the Lord's demand­ing words even more significant isthat the early Christian commun­ity had almost 45 years to developits leadership patterns before Mat­thew composed his Gospel. Theevangelist is not just writing aboutsomething untried; a dream still to

, be implemented. For the most partthis pericope seems to be a reflec­tion on mistakes which have al­ready been made! In other words,Jesus isn't just saying, "Don't dothis!" He's actually telling hischurch, "Stop doing this!"

There's no way to water downthis passage. Ifwe accept the Lord'swords literally, we're never to useany titles which show the presenceof a hierarchical classification ofpersons in the Christian commun­ity. (Actually, "Rabbi," "Father"and "Teacher" are quite harmlesscompared to "Excellency," "Emi­nence," "Holiness.") On the otherhand, if we take the Lord's com­mands symbolically, then our com­munities should never be struc­tured in such a way as to create aneed for distinctive titles. (Surewould feel strange to call everyonein our parish and diocese "Sister"or "Brother" - and mean it!)

Jesus wants to build his com­munity on a unique principle ofunity. That's why he first strikesout at the "holier than thou" atti­tude of the religious leaders of hisday; an attitude which shows atotal lack of solidarity with thepeople to whom they minister.Their-love of power a,nd prestigestops them from truly becomingone with those they serve. Theyprefer to "bind up heavy loads" toplace on others' shoulders ratherthan to help those people expe­rience the freedom God offers.

In the Lord's plan, "the greatestamong you will be the one whoserves the rest." After all, "whoeverexalts himself shall be humbled, DAILY READINGSbut whoever humbles himself shall',be exalted." Jesus obviously be- ", N l' Rv 7'2 4 9 14 Ps" ov.. . - , - ;lieves thfe problemhs wh!ch rItfight 24:1-6; 1In 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12develop rom sue a 'umque orm "-of leadership would be nothingN-ov. 2: Dn 12:1-3; Ps 23:compared to those which had al- 1-6; Rom 6:3-9; In 6:37-40ready developed from adoption of "-the Roman Empire's leadership Nov. 3: Rom 13:8-10; Psstructures. Always emphasizing the 112:1-2,4-5,,9; Lk 14:25-33importance of the individual, he Nov. 4: Rom 14:7-1t Psencourages us constantly to fall 27 1 4 13 14 Lk 15 1 10back on the power of love, "the : " - ; . :-only force," Teilhard de Chardin Nov. 5: Rom 15:14-21; Pstaught, "which can make us one, 98: 1-4; Lk 16:1-8 'yet still maintain our individuality."

Before we scoff ~t Jesus' dream Nov. 6: Rom 16:3-9,16,22-and label it impractical, we must 27; Ps 145:2-5,10-11; Lkperusetoday'ssecondreading. This 16:9-15part of the earliest of Christian Pwritings makes sense only because Nov. 7: Wis 6:12-16; sPaul based his ministry on such 63:2-8; 1 Thes 4:13-18; Mtideals. "While we were among 25:1-13you," he reminds the Thessaloni-

not to turn their backs on his dia­logue. saying: "I still believe thereis real hope of achieving lastingpeace."

British Prime Minis.ter JohnMajor said of the Hume-Adamsdialogue: "I have read about it. Ihave heard about it but I have notse.en it."

Major described the IRA apol­ogy for the Belfast bombing as"cold comfort" for the victims anddenounced the attack as "premedi­tated murder."

Protestant extremists who havekilled 30 Catholics this year vowedthat the IRA would "pay a veryheavy price" for the bombing.

Sixteen-year-old Suzanne Walk­er, whose fingers were blown offby the Oct. 23 blast. and later sewnback on, said of the IRA: "It is notworth their while living if they aregoing to do things like that. Theyare scum. just scum."

"I hate them for what they havedone." said Gina. Murray. whose13-year-old daughter was blownto bits.

The bomb. planted by two IRAmen disguised as butchers. wentoff prematurely, causing carnageamong shoppers on Shankill Road.the heartland of Belfast Protestants.

Mrs. Murray. clutching thefavorite teddy bear of her dead

. daughter Leanne. gulped back tearsas she said of the bornbers: "I haveno love for them. I kno'wpeoplesay you should forgive and forgetbut I can't. not after what theyhave done."

She said·of Leanne: "She was aquiet little girl who hardly everwent out. She never left my side."

But the young girl had made atrip to a fish shop and was therewhen the bomb exploded.

Michelle Williamson's elderlyparents were killed after theydecided to go out at the last momentto buy some curtain material fortheir new home.

'... will never get over this. Thebombers are nothing but scum.evil bastards. Innocent people werekilled. Why, why. why. why?" sheasked. .

Michael Morrison. his wife and7-year-old daughter had gone tothe Shankill Road to buy a wreathfor the funeral of Michael's father.

They died in the explosion.

IRA bombing condemned,called disaster

.~

THE 39th ANNU AL Bishop's Charity Ball will take place8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 14 at Venus de Milo restaurant,Swansea, with dancing to the music of Al Rainone and hisorchestra. New Bedford area members of the Ball Committeeare shown, front row, from left, Mrs. V. Vincent Gerardi,hospitality; Miss Dorothy A. Curry, presentees; Miss TheresaLewis, 2nd vice-president, Diocesan Council of ·CatholicWomen; back, from left, Mrs. Ella Dutra, hospitality; Rev.Maurice O. Gauvin, New Bedford area Ball director; Rev.Daniel W. Lacroix, assistant area director. (Gaudette photo)

BELFAST. Northern Ireland(CNS) - The leader of the IrishRepublican Army's political winghas condemned a botched andbloody IRA bomb attack as adisaster.

Sinn Fein President GerryAdams, using his strongest lan­guage since an Irish RepublicanArmy bomb killed II Protestantsat a war memorial ceremony in1987, said of the Oct. 23 blast: "Itwas wrong. It cannot be excused."

The bomb killed 10 people andinjured 59 in a Protestant area ofBelfast. The IRA. battling to oustBritain from Northern Ireland,apologized for the carnage it causedamong shoppers.

It said its intended target was anearby meeting of leaders of anoutlawed protestant extremistgroup which it said has been mur­dering Catholics in a campaignthat began in August.

Adams has been negotiating withthe provi nce's moderate Irishnationalist leader, John Hume.Nationalists are those generallyCatholic residents of Northern Ire­land who favor. to a greater orlesser degree, reunion with theIrish Republic.

Hume has hailed the talks as thebest chance for peace after a quar­ter century of conflict in NorthernIreland in which more than 3.000people have been killed.

He urged Britain and Ireland

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'i jln our schoolsTHE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., Oct. 29, 1993 A 7

Stonehill College

TRUCK TOPICS: Kt:vin McCann, left, and "Driver John" of Consolidated Freightwaysrecently visited St. Jean Baptiste School, Fall River, to speak on safety, substance abuseawareness and vocational training. First- and third-graders had the opportunity to climb intothe cab of McCann's tractor trailer. -

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Alumni Hall. For information callGrant at 230-1306.

Douglas Calnan, evening di­vision faculty member and invest­ment broker, will speak on sociallyand environmentally responsibleinvesting in the presentation "Greenlnvesting" 4 p.m. Nov. 15 in room105 of the Martin Institute. Forinformation, contact Ms. Cruz aslisted above.

All even~s are free, open to thepublic and accessible to personswith disabilities.

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Stonehill College, North Easton,will host a six-part series, "Changes,Challenges and Choices," examin­ing areas of hatred and prejudice.Sessions will be held at 4 p.m. inthe Martin Institute, beginningNov. 7 with a panel discussion onsexism moderated by Janet Jeghe­lian of Boston radio stationWHDH. A second session Nov. 21wiIl examine homophobia. Infor­mation on the ~,eries is availablefrom Judith Cruz, 230-1120.

Other upcom:ng programs in­clude a presentation by John Stew­art, director of education at theJohn F. Kennedy Library, on"John F. Kennedy: A Thirty-YearPerspective" 4 p.m. Nov. 8 inroom 105 of the Martin Institute.For information call ProfessorJames Kenneally, 230-1128.

Richard J. Grant, assistant deanfor academic services at Stonehill,will give a lecture and slide presen­tation, "A Field Guide to the Birdsof Easton," 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at

Bishop Connolly

Disarm, says prelateSAN SALVADOR (CNS) ­

Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damashas called on authorities to disarmSalvadoran society, in the midst ofa rising and violent crime wave.The archbishop said the problemof-civilian possession of weapons"must be resolved in a convincingmanner." Under the 1992 peaceaccords that ended El Salvador's12-year civil war, the governmentagreed to confiscate all weaponsthat the army distributed to civili­ans during the conflict. Unofficialestimates put the figure at morethan 30,000 weapons.

Kathryn Marino of Warren, RI,and Matthew Tracy of Fall Riverare Teenagers of the Month forOctober at Bishop Connolly HighSchool, Fall River.

Miss Marino is a semifinalist inthe National Merit Scholarshipprogram, recipient of the Bauschand Lomb Award and a TandyTechnology Scholar. She is presi­dent of the National Honor Societyand a participant in drama cluband varsity volleyball, tennis andbasketball.

Tracy is a commended scholarin the National Merit Scholarshipprogram and a Tandy TechnologyScholar. He is a member of theNational Honor Society, ,dramaclub and winter and spring trackteams.

The Teenager of the Month pro­gram is sponsored by Fall RiverElks Lodge 118 in order to bringrecognition to outstanding areayouth.

Jaime Caron of Swansea andErik Reis of Westport were ath­letes of the month for September.

Miss Caron "is the heart andsoul of the girls' varsity soccerteam," said wach Tony Presto."Her skill level is far above every­one in this league - not just thisteam. She is invaluable on bothoffense and defense. The teamwou'ld not be as successful withouther."

Reis is a four-year member andthree-year varsity player on theboys' soccer team. He is 1993cocaptain of the squad and in 12games earned 12 goals and threeassists.

"Eric has an outstanding knowl­edge of the game and is a leader onand off the field," said coach DavidAudet. "He is considered one ofthe top plaYI~rs in the EasternAthletic Conference."

ELECTED to the Father Damien Student Council at St.Joseph's School, Fairhaven, are Sarah Powers, Brian Bevilac­qua, Bethany Stephens, Danielle Tullis, Mathieu Santos, Ste­fanie Polchlopek, Jessica Froh, Lee Desrosiers, Kristen Dzi­alo, Peter Luca~., Nicholas Collins, Kalee Ann Dutra, Jacque­line Jozapaitis, Timothy Whitehead.

EIGHTH GRADE class officers recently elected at Holy,Name School, Fall River, are (standing, from left): AmyLevesque, secretary; Michelle Boutin, vice president; JocelynCosta, president; and Riley Canuel, treasurer. Richard Grundyand Jennifer Clark (kneeling) are in charge of public relations.The officers' duties include communication with the schooladministration, directing service activities and planning classactivities.

"I think this idea is inevitable."said Alexander, education secre­tary under President Bush. ofschool choice. "We must be doinga pretty lousy job in promoting it ifwe haven't been able to do it inwhat's supposed to be the freestcountry in the world."

Ohio Rep . .John Bo'ehner saidthe decision on school choice is"whether to empower governmentsand bureaucracies more. or em­power parents to do what's rightfor their children."

Michael Guerra. executive di­rector of the secondary schooldepartment for the National Cath­olic Educational Association, toldCatholic News Service that Amer­icans for School Choice is "a veryexciting and positive movement. Ithink it demonstrates the maturityof the movement."

SISTER KERWICK

the Venus de Milo, suggested thatit become a yearly event.

"We found out that peopleenjoyed coming together and sowe kept adding to the guest list,"said Sister Alban, adding. how­ever, that many of the dinner'soriginal patrons are now gone,'therefore new friends are neededto attend the dinner and also tosupport its program booklet.

Dinner tickets are $50 per per­son and program advertisementsrange in cost from $ 100 to $5000.Donors of $100 receive a compli­mentary dinner ticket; donors ofover $100 receive two tickets.Further information on tickets andprogram space is available fromSister Alban at (401)333-6352 orSister Marie Lourdette at 679­8511, ext. 319.

INDEFATIGABLE Mother Teresa greets a well-wisherupon her arrival in Singapore Oct. 19, en route to China toopen a home for the poor. She had been released from aCalcutta hospital just weeks previously following heart surgery.

(CNS/ Reuters photo)

Sisters of Mercy set23rd annual dinner

It's going to be Sister AlbanKerwick's 23rd year to organizethe annual fund raising dinner atthe Venus de Milo restaurant,Swansea, in support of Mt. S1.Rita Healthcare Center in Cum­berland, RI. The center cares forretired Sisters of Mercy.

This year's dinner, to be fol­lowed by dancing, will be at 12:30p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, and willhonor Sister Alban's near quartercentury of masterminding the event.

When she is asked how thedinner project began, she remem­bers it as if it were yesterday.

"Sister Marietta Walsh and I,:'she explains, "under the provincialat the time, who was Sister KieranFlynn, were challenged with mak­ing the novitiate at M t. St. Ritainto a healthcare center. This wasprompted by a study Sister Mar­ietta did as a thesis at Salve ReginaCollege [now Salve Regina Uni­versity) in Newport."

The thesis, "A Study of the Per­ceptions of Older Sisters Regard­ing Their Health and Social Needs,"indicated there would be a largepopulation of elderly sisters by theyear 2000.

But as the sisters worked to setup the healthcare center, "We ranout of money," said Sister Alban."So I had this idea that we would

,have a dinner and invite our'oldand good friends."

The event was successful andMonsour Ferris, the late owner of

ST. ANTHONY OF DESERT, FRExposition of Blessed Sacrament

noon to 6 p.m.; holy hour 5 to 6 p.m.Nov. 7, St. Sharbel Chapel, 300North Eastern Ave.ST. MARY, FAIRHAVEN

Boy Scout Troop 52 is in need ofadult committee members; informa­tion: Father Benedict Folger, 992­7300.

CORPUS CHRISTI, SANDWICHThe book Prayer to Entrust Our

Unborn Children to God's Love isavailable in parish center for parentswho have lost unborn children.Names of unborn children may beinscribed in a prayer book.

ST. MARY, SEEKONKHospice of Community Visiting

Nurse Agency mem~rial service fordeceased patients 2 p.m. Nov. 7;information: Pat Potter, 222-0118.Canned goods drive at all MassesNov. 6 an~ 7,

The pansh prayer group and pro­life committee will sponsor an even­ing of prayer and enrichment 7:30 to9 p.m. Nov. 4, CCD center. Allwelcome.PRO-LIFE PROGRAMS,CAPE CABLE TV

Pro-life films sponsored by CapeCod Citizens for Life will be shownon Cape Cod Cable TV channel 3 at4 p.m. each Tuesday of November.The channel serves Barnstable, Yar­mouth, Dennis, Harwich and Chat­ham.

O.L. CAPE, BREWSTERHealing Mass with Father Dick_

Lavoie, MS, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3.HOLY NAME, FR

Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph LaVaultare founding donors of a tuition aidfund for Holy Name School stu­dents.

~Oct. 30

1992, Msgr. Robert L. Stanton,Retired Pastor. St. Paul, Taunton

Nov. I1924, Rev. William H. McNa­

mara, Pastor, St. Mary, Mansfield1927, Rev. Louis N. Blanchet,

Assistant, St. Jean Baptiste, FallRiver .

1944. Rt. Rev. Msgr. John F.Ferraz, Pastor, St. Michael, FallRiver

1953, Rt. Rev. Msgr. George F.Cain. Pastor, St. Mathieu, FallRiver

1987, Rev. William E. Farland,Pastor, St. Joseph, Taunton

,1988. Rev. William F. Gartland,CSC, Stone hill College, NorthEaston

Nov.2A memento for the repose of the

souls of our bishops, priests andpermanent deacons not on this list

1923, Rev. Joseph S. Fortin,Founder, St. Jean Baptiste, FallRiver

1933, Rev. Michael V. McDo­nough, Chaplain, St. Mary's Home,New Bedford

Nov. 31988, Rev. Jose M. 'Bettencourt

E. Avila, Retired Pastor, O.L. Mt.Carmei, New Bedford

Nov. 41990, Permanent Deacon James

M.O'Gara

O.L. GRACE, WESTPORTPro-life vigil 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. N' ..... I h . t d

today, including readings, rosary, ew SC.,OO C olce group se sagen aexposition of Blessed Sacrament. WASHINGTON(CNS)-WithAll welcome. 'such heavy hitters as former Secre-ST. JULIE BILLIART, tary of Education Lamar Alex-N. DARTMOUTH ander and former Vatican ambas-

Vincentians will begin collecting sadorThomas Melady behind it. a

~~~~~~g~?~gd;o~~~as~~~s\~n:eJ~~ , . new group, Americans for Schooltributed Nov. 21. Choice. has been launched to pro­

mote school choice at the stateST. DOMINIC, SWANSEA

Deacon Gene Food Bank IS In level.need of donations; collection bins At a recent press conference. theare located at church and center group said it favors creating char-entrances. ter schools. and said it would also

assist proponents of California'sschool voucher ballot proposal.

Charter schools would need tobe created, according to a scenariooffered by the group, because therewould not be enough availablespace in existing nonpublic schoolsto accQmmodate the numbers ofstudents who would be taken outof public schools under choiceplans.

JEFFREY E. SULLIVANFUNERAL HOME550 Locust StreetFall River, Mass.Rose E. Sullivan

William J. SullivanMargaret M. Sullivan

672-2391

LaSALETTE CENTER,ATTLEBORO

Sister Elaine Twitchell, SND, willpresent "Beginning Steps TowaroContemplation: Contemplative Re­treat I" Nov. 26-28; information:222-8530.ST. JOSEPH, TAUNTON

Bishop O'Malley will preside atevening prayer 7 p:m. Nov. 3.CATHEDRAL CAMP,E. FREETOWN

Tres Dias Women's Retreat con­tinues through Sunday. Our Lady ofGrace, Westport, confirmation re­treat tomorrow.ST. ANTHONY,MATTAPOISETT

Memorial Mass for Legion ofMary founder Frank Duff 7:30 p.m.Nov. 3 celebrated by Father BarryWall, diocesan director of the Le­gion, and Father Matthew Sullivan,SS.Ce., NB curia spiritual director.Refreshments follow. All welcome.BISHOP FEEHAN H.S.,ATTLEBORO

Seventh- and eighth-graders andtheir families are invited to openhouse 2 p.m. Nov. 7; information:226-6223.CATHOLIC WOMAN'SCLUB, NB

Guest Night 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3,Wamsutta Club, NB; information:Diane Shenk, 999-2882.

D. of I., ATTLEBOROFather Kevin Harrington will cele­

brate Mass for deceased members ofDaughters of Isabella Alcazaba Cir­cle 65 6 p.m. Nov. 4, K. of e. Hall,Hodges St., Attleboro. Andre Jaywill demonstrate rosary-making atmeeting following.

LEARY

FRANCISCAN FRIARSMASS AND DEVOTIONS

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PUBLICITY CHAIRMENare asked to submit news Items for this

column to The Anchor, P.O. Box 7, FallRiver, 02722. Name of city or town shouldbe Included, as well as full dates of all activ­ities. Please sen'd news of future ratherthan past events.

Due to limited space and also becausenotices of strictly parish affairs normallyappear In a parish's own bulletin, we areforced to limit Items to events of general.'Interest. Also, we do not normally carry'notices of fundraising activities, which maybe advertised at our regular rates, obtain­able from The Anchor business office, tel­ephone (508) 675-7151.

On Steering' Points Items, FR IndicatesFall River; NB Indicates New Bedford.

to

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World Community Day 9:30 a.m.Nov. 5, Eastham United MethodistChurch. Child care provided; partic­ipants should bring brown bag lunch.

LaSALETTE SHRINE,ATTLEBORO

Shrine Ministerial Team and Pas-. toral Counseling Center will presentworkshop "Is It Still a Sin?" 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. tomorrow, Shrine theater.Information: 222-5410.

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