“A people without understanding comes to ruin”. These are the words of the prophet Hosea who, addressing the Israelites in the northern kingdom in the eighth century before the Assyrian capture of Samaria, admonished them for their willful ignorance of the commands of God.Though addressed to a specific people at a specific place, the prophet’s oracular warning is just as relevant today for the global community as it was for the Israelites then.
Ten years ago this NCCF column reported on the work of Fr. George McLean, OMI, who in 1983 founded the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP). Fr. McLean has since departed this world, but the seed he had planted has beautifully blossomed. The NCCF column likened Fr. McLean’s vision to that of the English Benedictine, Bede Griffiths (d.1993) whose 1954 autobiography, The Golden String contained insights later echoed in Vatican II documents. He wrote: “The Word of God…..enlightens them (men) through their reason and conscience and prepares them for the revelation of himself”. He goes on: “All men, therefore, who are guided by their reason and conscience and follow the light which has been given them, are truly by their implicit faith and desire disciples of Christ and vitally related to his Church”.
It is this conviction about the universal access to Truth that undergirds RVP.
The goal of RVP is to understand and appreciate the cultures and values that shape the aspirations of different peoples. The Council does this by mobilizing research teams of scholars around the world both to study the nature, interpretation and development of cultures and to apply them to the challenges of contemporary change. Underlying RVP’s endeavor is the belief in the divine origin of human dignity. These teams which comprise serious thinkers in the major monotheistic religions and in Buddhism and Hinduism, hold highly organized symposia on relevant topics in university settings and then publish the result of their research and critical reflection. These symposia have been conducted in Europe, China, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. Regarding Sunni and Shiite Islam, lectures have occurred in Cairo, Tehran and Qom. The findings of RVP’s symposia are contained in 400 published studies which are available on the internet at www.crvp.org. These same publications have been distributed to hundreds of universities around the world.
As another year begins, let us hope that the critical apostolate of RVP – inspired by Fr. McLean – continues to engender global understanding without which we may ‘come to ruin’.
Like Hosea, Fr. McLean is prophetic. As mentioned in this column ten years ago, it would not be a stretch to suggest that centuries hence students of ecclesiology will recognize the groundwork laid by Fr. Mclean’s Council as the platform for another major advance of the Kingdom.
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