Doxy and Praxy were great friends. They had grown up together and each would feel lost without the other. Praxy was the more practical of the pair. She was resourceful and managed to accomplish what needed to be done. A ball of boundless energy, she was undaunted by the challenge of how to do things and always succeeded through sheer practicality. Doxy complimented her. He was the cerebral partner. He concentrated on purpose, on why things were, or why things had to be done. Together, Praxy and Doxy were a dynamic duo. Over time, the world they built around them flourished with prosperity and sanity. Each was beholden to the other. Praxy knew that her accomplishments were meaningless without reference to the relevant purposes Doxy identified for them. Doxy appreciated that his pursuit of the underlying reason for anything was pointless without the Praxy’s fruitful collaboration. They were a happy, fulfilled couple.
Then, one day, Crisy entered their lives and with beguiling insinuation transformed the dynamic duo into a trio, a comfortable one at first for Crisy passively deferred to the wisdom of Doxy and the common sense of Praxy. In time, however, Crisy’s protean nature manifested itself. The charm that had won their intimate trust was now a subtle force that separated Doxy and Praxy. With seductive rationalizing, Crisy had persuaded each of them that neither needed the other to lead a happy and fulfilled life. Praxy, Crisy insisted, could continue doing things just as happily with no reference to pertinent reason. The important thing, Crisy explained, was the outcome. As for Praxy, Crisy convinced him that the same degree of satisfaction he had heretofore experienced in his partnership with Doxy could be had by confining himself exclusively in the realm of postulations and theorems. Practical outcomes were irrelevant to the majesty of reason.
The dynamic duo ended. Chrisy had managed to sunder it. Now Doxy goes her own way convinced that her life is as full as life can be, and Praxy continues in his own cerebral world mindless of its physical applicability. Their lives are not what they used to be. Neither is the world they’ve made for themselves. If there is an emptiness, ironically, they assure themselves it is absent.
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People ask us what makes Catholic philanthropy Catholic. At NCCF we reply that any gesture on the part of one person that recognizes and promotes – in any way – the human dignity of another is a reflection of the Gospel and is therefore Catholic. Furthermore, our trustees would not approve distributions to organizations involved in activities that contravene the teachings of the Church. However, there is more to the definition.
Catholic philanthropy is as much a profession of faith as it is a practice of charity. The two are inseparably linked much as Praxy and Doxy were in the allegory above. To characterize philanthropy as Catholic with no reference to obeisance to the divine will is hypocrisy.
Let’s participate in the advance the Kingdom and leave Crisy behind.